In this game, many people are chess pieces, Hu Hui, Yang Pu, Wang Zhen and the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee are all chess pieces.

The emperor may be a chess player, but who is his opponent?

I can't tell, Hu Hu, no, he can only be regarded as a chess piece that can jump out of the chessboard and be involved in it.

Wang Zhen is also a chess piece, Wang Zhen has not been able to jump out of the chessboard, and is still jumping out as much as possible, but he has not yet broken free from the shackles of the chessboard.

As for Meng Yan, in this game, he is also a pawn, but he has the identity of a bystander, and he is also at the mercy of him, but more freely.

All the ballots are collected, whether they are damaged or abstained, they must be handed in, and this thing will be ruined in the end, leaving no scrap of paper.

"Mr. Hu, all the ballots have been collected, including the invalid votes." After the eunuch Xing'an threw the last waste ticket into the charcoal basin and burned it to ashes, he walked up to Hu Hu and bowed slightly.

"It's hard work to rejuvenate my father-in-law."

Xing'an nodded and stepped aside.

"Your Majesty, have the ministers begun to count the votes?" As soon as he was ready, it was time for the counting of votes, but he couldn't make the decision without authorization, and he had to ask the emperor sitting on the dragon chair, which was the rule.

"Old Aiqing can start." Zhu Qizhen nodded with satisfaction, although the emperor is supreme and his words are high, he is also a human being, he is still a young man, he needs to be respected, he needs to be recognized, and he needs to be looked up to.

"Wang Weng, you are the supervisor of today's vote counting, and this process is carried out under the supervision of your eyes."

"The old man is strict, the emperor trusts you so much, don't I trust you yet, besides, there are so many pairs of eyes in this hall." Wang Zhen smiled slightly, although he secretly subsected Chen Xun first. But in the end, who will get the first vote, he himself is not easy to say.

After all, it is impossible for him Wang Zhen to let the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty listen to him, and in such a short period of time, what can be done is very limited.

However, under his instructions, those officials who are attached to him will not disobey his will and vote for Chen Xun. In addition, Chen Xun also has his own group of supporters, and the two combined, the odds of winning are very high.

Hu Hu ordered the chamberlain to move all six ballot boxes to the top of the main hall, and a vacant space under the Danqi was placed in order.

"Lux, unbox!" Hu Hui pointed to the Jinyi Wei Han General who was standing on the side, and ordered loudly.

Meng Yan and the other five Jinyi Wei Han generals on duty stepped forward and opened the copper locks on the ballot boxes one by one!

After unlocking the copper lock, they took a step back. Then five attendants stepped forward and completely opened the ballot box, revealing the ballot papers cast by hundreds of officials inside.

"Start tidying up, count!"

"Box No. 1, a total of one hundred and three votes, there are no invalid ballots, one hundred and three people voted, check it correctly!"

"Box No. 2. A total of 117 ballot papers were cast, 2 invalid ballot papers. A total of 117 voters were verified! ”

……

The ballot papers in the six ballot boxes were quickly counted, and excluding the invalid ballots, a total of 691 officials cast their ballots, and the number of votes and numbers were checked correctly!

"Someone, bring the blackboard up!"

Four brocade guards walked in through the side door carrying a huge blackboard. Place it on the left side of the Danji.

Emperor Zhu Qizhen also got up from the dragon chair, walked down from the danqi, and came to the ministers.

He had never seen how this record was sung, and besides, he was sitting on the dragon chair, although facing the hundred officials. I couldn't see anything on the blackboard, so I had to come down.

"This kind of chalk, speaking of which, I have to thank Master Meng Yan of Jinyiwei, this is really his little invention, with this chalk and blackboard, this young child's enlightenment and teaching have become easier!" Hu Hu praised Meng Yan's invention of the blackboard and chalk.

Meng Yan's face turned red when he was praised, his original intention of making the blackboard and chalk was just to make his subordinates accept what he said more quickly, as for literacy enlightenment, this was not in his consideration at first.

However, with these two things, it is indeed of great help to children's literacy enlightenment, and it can also reduce the cost of reading, so that more people can be literate, reduce illiteracy, and promote social progress.

"Oh, these two things are still from Meng Aiqing's hand?"

"Weichen just felt it by chance, and sat down with these two things, but it's actually nothing, it's easy to do."

"Although these two things are insignificant, they are good things that are beneficial to the present and the future."

This old man Hu, can you stop boasting, you must know that the higher you hold it, the more it hurts to fall.

"Hu Lao Aiqing, let's start, I can't wait to know the final result." Zhu Qizhen commanded.

"The old minister obeys!" Hu Hu agreed, walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote the names of Chen Xun, Gao Gu, Ma Yu and Cao Nai on the top line.

"The old man said about the statistical method, in fact, it is very simple, starting from the No. 1 ballot box, a person reports the name of the ballot tick in his hand, a person supervises whether he has made an error, and then a person writes on the blackboard, we use a 'positive' word to mark, the word "positive" has a total of five strokes, who has a vote, write a stroke below whom, and see who gets the most straight words in the end, the most strokes, that is the one who wins! In front of the officials and the emperor, Hu Hu briefly explained the procedures and procedures.

Anyway, these chamberlains have been trained by Hu Hu before this, as long as they do it, they can understand it at a glance.

The counting of votes began, and the little yellow door holding the ballot box No. 1 in his hand opened the first ballot and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Chen Xun!"

At this time, Xing'an, the eunuch in the hall who had been waiting on the edge of the blackboard for a long time, picked up the chalk and drew a horizontal line under Chen Xun's name.

"Takaya!"

Draw a horizontal line below the high valley.

"Cao Nai, Cao Nai!"

Two Cao Nai in a row, and suddenly Cao Nai surpassed the two people in front of him, and there was a slight commotion in the crowd of hundreds of officials.

On the contrary, the four candidates are very calm, although the fate is decided by the votes, but they can't lose too much points in front of the emperor, and they are old and steady, which is one of the necessary qualities to be the first assistant of the cabinet.

The efficiency of the record is fast. Soon the one hundred and three ballots in box No. 1 had been counted.

Chen Xun had 37 votes, Ma Yu had 32 votes, Cao Nai had 23 votes, and Gao Gu had the lowest number of votes, only 11 votes.

Chen Xun temporarily took the lead, which made the officials who supported Chen Xun couldn't help but show a hint of joy on their faces.

Chen Xun himself saw this result. A smile appeared inadvertently between the corners of his mouth.

Although Cao Nai ranked third, he was nine votes less than Ma Yu in second, and there was a fourteen votes gap from Chen Xun in first.

The gap is already very obvious.

Now it seems that the position of the first assistant seems to be the competition between Chen Xun and Ma Yu.

The counting and counting of the ballots in box No. 2 began.

Use a eraser to erase all the "positive" characters under the four names above, and then recalculate.

In this way, the ballot papers in the last six ballot boxes can be added up to a single sum.

Chen Xun got the most votes, with a total of 38 votes, followed by Ma Yu with 34 votes, followed by Cao Nai. Thirty votes, and finally Takakuya, fifteen votes! ”

The results of box No. 2 were soon announced.

There is no change in the ranking, but the gap between the first Chen Xun and the second Ma Yu has narrowed by one vote, the third Cao Nai is still third, and the second Ma Yu has pulled down four votes, the gap is thirteen votes, and the fourth trough is needless to say. Unless there is a negative number of votes later, it will be difficult for him to turn the tables.

Box 3 statistics then began.

The high-pitched voice of the little yellow door from the beginning. Gradually, it became lower, and finally it became a little hoarse.

The third ballot box had a total of 115 valid ballot papers, and this time, Ma Yu won the first place, reaching 34 votes, followed by Chen Xun. Thirty-three, and then Cao Nai unexpectedly got thirty-two votes, and Gao Gu continued to be at the bottom, but the number of votes rose by one vote.

There is only a difference of eight votes between Chen Xun and Ma Yu, and there are three ballot boxes. Ma Yu still has a chance to turn the tables.

Cao Nai's total of 85 votes was obtained, fifteen fewer than Ma Yu in second place, and 23 fewer votes than Chen Xun in first place, which was almost the number of votes Cao Nai's in the first ballot box.

Chen Xun's advantage is not obvious, so the ownership of the ballots in the next three ballot boxes is very crucial.

The fourth ballot box began to count the votes, and the voice of the little yellow gate eunuch who sang the votes was hoarse, and a young one came up.

The result was somewhat unexpected, Chen Xun and Ma Yu actually got the same number of votes, both of which were thirty-four votes, while Cao Nai got twenty-eight votes, and the magical high valley added one more vote and got seventeen votes.

The gap between the first and second is still eight votes, and the third Cao Nai has pulled down six votes, and the overall gap has reached thirty-one votes at once!

"It seems that there is no suspense for Chen Xun to take over the cabinet!"

"Yes, Chen Xun is the second assistant, and he has experience and prestige, he is the right person to take over the cabinet?"

"Doesn't it mean that the person the emperor likes is him, this is just a formality?"

"Providence is like this, Hu Lao is lifting a stone to shoot himself in the foot this time!"

"Hey......"

"It may not be Chen Xun, then Ma Yu is only eight votes away, and there is still a chance to overtake!" There are also officials who don't like Chen Xun's rigidity and domineering, and naturally don't want such a person to be in power.

However, almost most of the officials did not doubt that Cao Nai and Gao Gu were foiling the votes of the two ballot boxes below, and the two of them basically had no chance.

It's the fifth ballot box, although it's not the last, but it's the penultimate one, there is a difference of eight votes between Chen Xun and Ma Yu, the gap is very small, and it can be overtaken this time.

Chen Xun's face was not so confident, but he couldn't be overtaken by Ma Yu.

Ma Yu was a little excited, his mustache kept trembling slightly, he didn't get some gossip, Wang Zhen supported Chen Xun as the first assistant, but Chen Xun could not necessarily win, this secret ballot method is very fair, it is almost impossible to cheat, the person who presided over the vote is still the elder of the Four Dynasties, Hu Hu, the minister of the Daxing Emperor Tuogu, although this old minister is tactful, but he has ethics and principles.

Therefore, Hu Hu will definitely not help Chen Xun, otherwise why would he have to come up with such a secret ballot method to elect the first assistant, just build Emperor Yì and let Chen Xun ascend. (To be continued......)