As for Xu Jie's affairs, Meng Chong knew a lot. Xu Jie is not only the head of the cabinet who has been sent to the office, but also a representative of some local governments. Xu Jie, who was born in the Jiangnan Shi clan, not only has a big family and a big business, but also has a high prestige in the local area. This is also the reason why Yan Song hated Xu Jie very much, but he didn't dare to really kill Xu Jie. Yan Shifan was very arrogant, and even dared to sleep with Emperor Jiajing's palace concubine semi-openly, but he didn't dare to target Xu Jie. The reason is that Xu Jie and the local forces he represents had warned Yan Shifan, and Yan Shifan didn't dare to deal with Xu Jie. When Yan Shifan was most proud, he once criticized Zhang Juzheng and satirized Gao Gong, but he did not target Xu Jie in front of outsiders. Everyone thought that Yan Shifan still had a little respect for the politeness of his predecessors, but in fact, Yan Shifan didn't dare to embarrass Xu Jie in public. Xu Jie's ability to serve as the second assistant of the cabinet is also the meaning of the local forces he represents, and the same Emperor Jiajing is also to contain Yan Song's forces. After Yan Shifan's affairs were gradually exposed, Emperor Jiajing began to alienate Yan Song's father and son. Xu Jie conveyed his wishes to the local forces through the people of his own faction, and the local forces decided to nominate Xu Jie as the new chief assistant of the cabinet based on various factors. Xu Jie had the support of local forces and the tacit approval of Emperor Jiajing, so he openly and secretly began to take over Yan Song's power territory. Xu Jie served as the chief assistant of the cabinet during the two emperors of Jiajing and Longqing, not because both emperors trusted Xu Jie, but because of the importance of the local forces that Xu Jie represented.

After Gao Gong forced Xu Jie away, Xu Jie thought that the local forces would stand up for him, so he didn't care at all. Unexpectedly, Gao Gong made a promise to the local forces through a third party, and the local forces had differences on whether to support Xu Jie. The reason for the people who support Xu Jie's is that Xu Jie's is the person they know the roots, and everyone can use and rely on such people with confidence, but Gao Gong can't be of the same mind as them. The reason for those who do not support Xu Jie's reason is that Xu Jie's age is too old, and since Gao Gong, who is relatively young, has taken the initiative to come over, it is better to give up Xu Jie's full support for Gao Gong as the first assistant of the cabinet. For this reason, shortly after Xu Jie's reactivation by Emperor Longqing, he was once again forced away by Gao Gong. This time, the local forces saw Xu Jie's old age and powerlessness, so they decided not to fully support Xu Jie.

After Xu Jie left the core of power, Gao Gong and Emperor Longqing discovered that the local power had not been completely handed over. Xu Jie used his connections to still control and remotely control some people and some families. These people are inextricably linked with the family and Xu Jie, some are Xu Jie's relatives, some are Xu Jie's protégés, and some are core members of Xu Jie's interest group. It was impossible for them to break off their relationship with Xu Jie immediately, and Xu Jie used this to try to force Gao Gong to bow to him. But Xu Jie's thinking was wrong, Gao Gong, who had a bad temper and an arrogant personality, would not bow his head to Xu Jie. Gao Gong was not afraid of Yan Song or Xu Jie, and now he will not bow to Xu Jie, who is already a common person. In this way, the local forces, Xu Jie, and the imperial court were so embarrassed, and almost no one side benefited. Because the local forces did not have the support of the imperial court, they had a lot of trouble when doing things. Xu Jie's two ends were not pleased, the court was unwilling to pay attention to him, and local forces often complained to him.

Because of the non-cooperation of local forces, the imperial court continued to collect grain and pay taxes, and Jiangnan owed more and more money, which became a big problem for the imperial court. Empress Dowager Li, Zhang Juzheng and others did not dare to push Xu Jie and the local forces too hard, for fear that Xu Jie or the local forces would do something out of the ordinary, and it would be the imperial court that would be in trouble.

Meng Chong also told Qin Tai a piece of news that he wasn't too sure about. It is said that Xu Jie has a lot of salt in his hands, and these salt guides alone can make many people have several lifetimes without running out of money. After all, Xu Jie has been the second assistant of the cabinet for more than ten years and the first assistant of the cabinet for several years, and there are countless protégés and old officials. If these old men and businessmen join forces, their power cannot be underestimated.

However, Meng Chong felt that this was unlikely, because the officials and businessmen were the most practical people. Once Xu Jie leaves the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, the protégé will not be able to do it, and the businessmen will gradually alienate Xu Jie. If Xu Jie used the identity of an old leader to persecute these people, these people would also resist. It's a big deal that they united to resist Xu Jie, and Xu Jie's can't offend all these people in one go. The easiest way to deal with the merchants is to declare that the salt in their hands is fake or expired. If the merchant wanted to obtain a new salt introduction or other proof, he would be completely out of Xu Jie's control.

Xu Jie had a good relationship with the eunuchs, and Qin Tai had heard some of this news at the beginning. Back then, each of these cabinet bigwigs was almost related to the big eunuchs of the harem, which had made Qin Tai almost numb. At the beginning, Yan Song and Lu Fang were a couple, one was the head of the cabinet who was in charge of hundreds of civil and military officials, and the other was Lu Fang, the eunuch who was in charge of the inner palace. The two joined forces to almost empty the power of Emperor Jiajing, and Emperor Jiajing almost had to rely on the two of them. The relationship between Xu Jie and Chen Hong, the first eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor at that time, was also not ordinary. Xu Jie was the future head of the cabinet elected by the local forces, and Chen Hong was the successor of Lü Fang appointed by the Jiajing Emperor. These two future No. 1s, like the current No. 1, are a pair of life and death partners. Gao Gong and this Meng Chong also have an indescribable relationship, and they are a pair of Hu. The relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao is even more unusual, and it is almost certain that it will be the stage for the two of them in the future.

Xu Jie met a lot of eunuchs through Chen Hong, Xu Jie was kind and willing to spend money, so Xu Jie had a good reputation among the eunuchs. Meng Chong secretly paid attention to it for a long time, and found that many eunuchs were still in contact with Xu Jie's people. They either overtly or secretly monitored or paid attention to the people Xu Jie wanted them to care about, and told Xu Jie about the affairs of the capital palace all the time. Xu Jie still spends a lot of money every year to support a large group of eunuchs.

Meng Chong also vaguely mentioned Feng Bao and the others, telling Qin Tai that Feng Bao might have a handle on Xu Jie. Xu Jie was the chief teacher of Yuwang's Mansion at the beginning, and Yuwang almost relied on Xu Jie and the forces behind Xu Jie to defeat his opponent. Not only King Yu, but even the palace maid Li, who is now Empress Dowager Li, Empress Chen, Feng Bao and others, have made some sacrifices or promises in order to have a good relationship with Xu Jie. Meng Chong was originally a person of Emperor Jiajing, and he was the chief eunuch of Emperor Jiajing's Qianqing Palace. When King Yu became Emperor Longqing, Meng Chong completely surrendered to Emperor Longqing. Emperor Longqing had just become emperor and was not very familiar with the palace, so he had to retain Meng Chong. Meng Chong pondered for a long time on the question of who to ally with, and finally decided to abandon Xu Jie's cooperation with the promising Gao Gong. Because of this, Meng Chong was the only eunuch who didn't have much to do with Xu Jie, so Zhang Juzheng and Empress Dowager Li asked Meng Chong to come to the front line to cooperate with Qin Tai. Everyone knew that the relationship between Qin Tai and Xu Jie was very poor, so they simply sent one who did not deal with Meng Chong like Xu Jie to help Qin Tai.

After listening to Meng Chong's explanation, Qin Tai asked Meng Chong a few questions. "The first question, why did the vassal king say that the emperor's bloodline was not correct? The second question is, which royal relatives have discussed this issue so privately? The third question, why is Xu Jie not convinced? The fourth question, what would you do if you were Xu Jie? ”

Meng Chong seemed to have considered these questions as well, so he immediately replied: "The reason why the vassal king wants to say that Wan Sui Ye is not the heir of the first emperor is to force Wan Sui Ye to abdicate. At that time, not only Long Live Lord, but even Empress Dowager Li, Zhang Gong and others will be unlucky. Of course, the miscellaneous family and Lao Gao will also step down together, and I don't know how the miscellaneous family died at that time. There are people from Jinyiwei and Dongchang in Beijing, so the ordinary relatives and nobles don't dare to say it openly, and they don't know if there is any discussion behind their backs. However, in the past few months, there have been a lot of rumors in the vassal palaces of various places, as if they were deliberately letting everyone know about this matter. The reason why Xu Jie is not convinced is that Yan Songgan is the first assistant of the cabinet to be eighty-one years old, and Xu Jie probably wants to work until he is eighty years old before leaving. felt that it was not only dishonorable but too early to leave like this, so he was angry with the first emperor and the old man. If the miscellaneous family were Xu Jie, they would let go when they were angry, anyway, all of this was already a fact. Lao Gao is reluctant to bow his head, the first emperor has passed away again, so he can't keep being angry, right? Meng Chong's "Long Live Lord" is the little emperor who has ascended the throne, "First Emperor" is the Longqing Emperor who has died, "Zhang Gong" is Zhang Juzheng, "Lao Gao" is Gao Gong, and "Miscellaneous" is the eunuch's name for himself. Some things can be seen from Meng Chong's tone of speech, he has completely accepted the little emperor and regarded the little emperor as his new master. Zhang Juzheng's status was also determined, and Meng Chong decided not to work against Zhang Juzheng anymore. Meng Chong called Gao Gong Lao Gao, which shows that their personal relationship is really good. Meng Chong said such a passage without mentioning Feng Bao a word, which shows that he still has resentment and dissatisfaction with Feng Bao, and deliberately ignores Feng Bao, the No. 2 figure in the Inner Palace.

After Meng Chong left, Qin Tai was still thinking about the four questions he asked Meng Chong just now. Meng Chong only said the most superficial answer, which could not satisfy Qin Tai. Meng Chong didn't say it deeply, not that he couldn't think it through, but that he didn't dare to continue. Meng Chong didn't know who would win in the future, although he hoped that Qin Tai's side would achieve a final victory, but he didn't dare to offend the other party too much. So he regarded him as an ordinary person and deliberately did not analyze this matter in depth. But if he didn't say it, it didn't mean that Qin Tai wouldn't know the outcome and direction of this matter. Qin Tai smoked a cigarette while thinking about these questions in the smoke.

The reason why the vassal king had to say this about the little emperor was mainly to create an atmosphere and force the little emperor to step down. Even if the little emperor is the son of Emperor Longqing, his reputation will be damaged because of this matter, and an emperor with a damaged reputation cannot be an emperor. The vassal king would convene a royal meeting to take down the little emperor and replace him with a royal descendant as the emperor. They secretly changed their concepts, and treated the king of a country as if he were an ordinary family patriarch, without taking into account the feelings of civil and military officials and ordinary people. Once the little emperor is out of power, which vassal king is most likely to ascend to the throne? According to the precedent of Emperor Jiajing, the successor should be ranked from near to far with the first emperor. At the beginning, Emperor Zhengde had no son, and Emperor Xiaozong only had one son, Emperor Zhengde, so he found other sons of Emperor Xianzong, the father of Emperor Xiaozong, that is, Emperor Xiaozong's younger brother, a line of descendants to inherit the throne. Because King Lu An at that time was the elder of Emperor Zhengde, he could not pass on the throne of his nephew to his uncle, so King Lu An's son succeeded to Emperor Xiaozong, who was regarded as the younger brother of Emperor Zhengde, and this child inherited the throne of Emperor Zhengde. For example, if the vassal king acknowledges the lineage of the little emperor, he will let the younger emperor's younger brother King Lu inherit the throne. However, the vassal king was bent on discrediting the Empress Dowager Li and the little emperor, which shows that they did not recognize the bloodline of the little emperor, so King Lu could not be the emperor. Emperor Longqing has no heirs, so he will have to choose an heir from the other sons of Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Longqing's father. Emperor Longqing has a younger brother, who is King Jing who failed to fight with Emperor Longqing for the heir to the throne. The throne of Emperor Longqing was either inherited by King Jing or inherited by the prince of King Jing. The mastermind behind this incident immediately surfaced, he was King Jing who was unwilling to make trouble after the defeat.