The words of the businessman surnamed Li made Zhang Sizhi gasp, 200,000 taels of silver is actually just a deposit, and there will be 200,000 taels after the matter is completed. How much temptation is the general army of a mere Shanxi town to make a cunning person like Wang Pu pay the price of 400,000 taels of silver?

Zhang Sizhi didn't have the heart to delve into the things behind Shanxi and Wang Pu's thoughts, all he cared about was whether the follow-up 200,000 taels of silver could be put into his pocket, and it seemed that he really had to plan carefully.

Early the next morning, Zhang Sizhi came to the cabinet hall in Donghua Gate for a long time, but saw several old ministers staring at each other, seemingly unbelievably gathered together. He coughed, signaling that he had arrived. Although Zhang Sizhi is not the first assistant of the cabinet now, he already has the frame of the first assistant, and the other ministers in the cabinet are far from each other in terms of qualifications and backgrounds, so they also acquiesce to this fact.

"Ge Lao, you can count it, this morning the saint issued an edict, say yes, say yes ......" Li Shi, a scholar and head of the household department, shook his gray beard, and sighed halfway to Zhang Sizhi, "Alas, Xue Xiang, you should come and talk to Ge Lao." ”

Zhang Sizhi is inexplicable, this Li Shiwen is easy to get confused when he is old, why is he going to do with a sad face early in the morning? But the bearing of "Shoufu" can't be messed up, he came to his place and sat down unhurriedly, and quickly brought up the hot tea that had just been brewed, first took a small sip of the tea bowl, moistened his throat and said: "Say, what is the matter, panic like this?" ”

Xue Guoguan's eyes suddenly flashed a little bit of mockery, which made Zhang Sizhi's heart beat a few times for no reason, thinking that this guy had always been in cahoots with Yang Sichang and didn't deal with himself, this look seemed to be looking at his own jokes?

Sure enough, Xue Guoguan opened his mouth and made the tea bowl in Zhang Sizhi's hand almost fall to the ground without holding it steadily, but fortunately, the table on the right hand side was the table, and he only shook it and leaned on the edge of the table, and finally lost face.

"What? The saint let Hong Chengchou enter the cabinet? What about the Shanhaiguan in Liaoxi? If you don't send a young and powerful person to sit in the town, is it a long-term plan for Sun Chengzong's half-paralyzed old man to stay there? ”

Xue Guoguan seemed to be very satisfied with Zhang Sizhi's surprised expression, but his words were also full of worry, "Who said it wasn't, I'm afraid that the Holy Lord's arrangement has another deep meaning, but I'm afraid that this Liaoxi will have to find another candidate." ”

What is the significance of the emperor's arrangement of Hong Chengchou into the cabinet? It is nothing more than for the existing cabinet members, and it is very likely that it is for Zhang Sizhi, the quasi-first assistant, everyone knows that Hong Chengchou and Li Xin have a friendship in western Liaoning, and the two of them are indeed cooperative, frank and selfless, which is obvious to the courtiers, even if there have been some dirty things in the past, I am afraid that it will have long disappeared, Li Xinneng sent troops to escort Hong Chengchou into Shanhaiguan is a clear proof. From this, it can be judged that the two are afraid that they have formed some kind of unknown offensive and defensive alliance, if this person is allowed to enter the cabinet, the two of them cooperate inside and outside, wouldn't it be like a tiger with wings?

I am afraid that from today onwards, I will not be able to follow the vote of the cabinet.

Back then, Li Xin led his troops to surround Li Shiwen's mansion, and forced him to bow his head and give in, making him lose face in front of the world. This person and Li Xinna have an inextricable enmity, and he strongly opposes all decisions in the court that are beneficial to Li Xin, and now Hong Chengchou is faintly entering the cabinet as Li Xin's backstage, how can he feel at ease? As for Zhang Sizhi, he also spared no effort to suppress Li Xin, when Li Xin lost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in the first battle of Xuanfu, this account naturally cannot be lightly revealed.

Although the people in the court did not know the specific details of Zhang Sizhi's grudge with Li Xin, they all knew that this Zhang Ge Lao was also a person who hated Li Xin's bad luck and was quick to do so. In this way, it is not surprising that the mockery or schadenfreude that flashed in Xue Guoguan's eyes just now.

The more chaotic the cabinet, the better, the more beneficial it is to Yang Sichang, who is in Henan to suppress the thieves, and Xue Guoguan is of course happy to see it.

Seeing that several important ministers in the cabinet hall had their own ghosts, Zhang Sizhi's good mood of about to have 400,000 taels of silver in the bag was all disturbed, and he must think of a way to deal with it, but he also knew that this matter must not be protested to the emperor, which was a big taboo.

But under the impetuousness, Zhang Sizhi can have any good ideas for a while, Yang Sichang's entry into the cabinet is irreversible, and he can only pinch his nose and admit it first. This person is shallow, and he is afraid that it will be difficult to stir up any storms in a short period of time after entering the cabinet, but he cannot delay the plan of making money, and no matter what, he must first transfer Wang Pu to the chief military officer of Shanxi Town.

As soon as he thought of this, his mind immediately calmed down, and he picked up the tea bowl in his hand and poured it twice, before he said: "It's a good thing that there are new people in the cabinet, don't be sad, but today there is a matter that cannot be delayed and urgently discussed." ”

Li Shiwen has always been the only one in the cabinet who knows that the horse is the first to look forward, and when he heard Zhang Sizhi say this, he hurriedly asked very cooperatively: "I don't know what the urgency is, please show the cabinet elder!" ”

Zhang Sizhi had already prepared, and took out an official document from his sleeve and put it on the table.

"This is an urgent delivery sent by Liu Lingyu, the political envoy of Shanxi, the 12th battalion of the Shanxi New Army has just made a mess, but fortunately, several parents and officials are competent and responsible, and the chaos has been quelled. But there is one article, a few battalion officers who took the lead in making trouble were protected by Tian Fuzhen, the prefect of Taiyuan, this Taiyuan is the head of the nine sides, located in the east of the river, there is no chaos, a few people discuss it, discuss a charter, how to deal with it. ”

Li Shi asked shaking his gray beard, and said hatefully: "It's not Li Xin's Qiu Ba, who left his post without permission, and the armies in Shanxi have no leader, so it's strange that those Qiu Ba who don't know anything don't get up to make trouble." ”

Zhang Sizhi nodded and did not say anything, and turned his gaze to Xue Guoguan, "Xue Xiang can have a way to deal with it?" ”

Xue Guoguan sat calmly on the chair, squinted his eyes but shook his head and said: "Xue doesn't know much about Shanxi, so it is not appropriate to make conclusions. If the elder of the pavilion has to say a way for Xue, Xue thinks that this matter should not be urgent, it is better to send someone to Shanxi to investigate first, if there is no big problem, the big thing is a small matter, after all, the court is still suppressing thieves in Henan, and the north of Liaoxi is fighting fiercely with the east, if it is not handled properly and then provoked a lesion in Shanxi, will we not become the sinners of the Ming Dynasty? ”

Zhang Sizhi originally didn't plan that Xue Guoguan could come up with ideas according to his own thoughts, but he never imagined that this guy would actually get into the mud, not only that, but also the accusation of carrying a gun and a stick, if he Zhang Sizhi acted too hastily, he would provoke a mutiny.

Isn't this a blatant threat? Zhang Sizhi has been an official for decades, how can he be frightened by Xue Guoguan's few words, even if he wants to retreat, he can't resist the temptation of 400,000 taels of silver.

Zhang Sizhi's eyes continued to scan the lobby, and the next one was Fan Fucui, who had been silent, as early as everyone was talking about Hong Chengchou's entry into the cabinet, he didn't participate in the slightest, but he didn't wait for Zhang Sizhi to open his mouth, so he took the first step to give his opinion.

"Fan believes that Xue Xiangshicai is indeed a serious remark of the old man, but according to his words and deeds, first send a capable official to Shanxi to find out the truth, and then deal with it as appropriate, or there is no need to send someone at all, and Shanxi political envoy Liu Lingyu and Shanxi envoy Lu Sizhen and Taiyuan prefect Tian Fuzhen work together to thoroughly investigate the matter, report it to the cabinet, and then weigh and dispose of it......"

Fan Fucui's proposition is roughly the same as Xue Guoguan's, but he is out of public interest, and he even thinks that there is no need to send personnel to investigate, the so-called 12th battalion is in turmoil, and it must not be a very urgent matter, otherwise the official letter of Xingwen would have been sent to the military department in a hurry, how could this political envoy overstep the level and report to the cabinet scholar Zhang Sizhi? There is obviously something behind this, but I am afraid that even if there is a real thing, the matter has already been resolved, but it is just that he does not follow the wishes of the political envoy Liu Lingyu, and he is complaining about it.

Without waiting for Fan Fucui to finish speaking, Zhang Sizhi unceremoniously interrupted his speech, "This is inappropriate, there is no trivial matter in the army, and you must not be sloppy at all, otherwise the embankment of thousands of miles will be destroyed in the anthill, are you Fan Fucui responsible for this crime?" ”

Fan Fucui held back in one breath, of course he would not be stupid enough to say that it would be up to him Fan Fucui to continue, knowing that there would be no result if he continued to fight, so he kept silent.

At this time, Li Shiwen went out again, "It's an old man's word not to send someone to Shanxi, and the old man also thinks it's appropriate......" Zhang Sizhi's nose was almost crooked, if it weren't for everyone's eyes, he really wanted to point to Li Shiwen's nose and ask, you Li Shiwen is helping me or pam me! However, Li Shi's next words made Zhang Sizhi feel smooth.

"Shanxi's problem lies in the fact that the dragons have no leader, and it will be solved soon after sending a leader?"

As soon as this remark came out, the words shocked everyone.

Whether it is Xue Guoguan, Fan Fucui, or Liu Juesi, they are silent. Everyone knows that Shanxi is the territory run by Li Xin, and now he is leading the troops to fight against the Tartars in Liaoxi, and even his life has been lost in Liaoxi, whether he is still encouraging resistance, or has sacrificed his life to martyrdom, so in the case of the bones are not cold, he wants to take the meal on the plate, is it not kind? Zhang Sizhi, Zhang Sizhi, your appearance is too ugly, but no one is willing to take the lead for Li Xin, and the ministers in the cabinet all chose to be silent.

The attitude is obvious, they don't mix in this matter, as for Zhang Sizhi's willingness to contribute to this matter, they are optimistic that it will be successful, anyway, the appointment and dismissal of such a key position will eventually be approved by the emperor himself, and the cabinet is just coming up with a mature opinion.

Seeing that the situation was like this, Zhang Sizhi had already fallen to the ground with a big stone hanging in his heart, and said with a little pride in his heart: "Since you have no opinions, this matter will be handled according to Li Xiang's opinion!" ”

Suddenly, the door to the cabinet hall was pushed open from the outside, and with a refreshing breeze, a red-robed official entered.

"I have an opinion!"