Chapter 573: Hard Bones to Chew (asking for monthly tickets)

Court.

The resignation of Minister of Personnel Li Yu was formally approved by the emperor. That day was Li Yu’s last appearance in court. After hearing the good news, he burst into tears and kowtowed three times and nine times to Zhu Youtang as a token of gratitude to the emperor.

This head of the ministry, who had always been regarded by scholars as a puppet pushed forward by Li Zisheng, finally landed safely.

The issue of the new Minister of Personnel was also discussed at the court meeting that day.

Wang Shu was proposed by a censor and quickly gained the support of almost all the officials present. In a court discussion about the new Minister of Personnel, Wang Shu gained an almost overwhelming advantage, but the decision was not made on the spot.

The meeting ended.

As the ministers were walking on their way out of the palace, the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Ji, was so angry that he was fuming and shaking all over.

Because Liu Ji and Wang Shu did not get along well.

When Wang Shu was working in Nanjing, he submitted memorials many times, explicitly opposing many of the actions of Wan Wan’an and Liu Ji. He also openly impeached Liu Ji for being in office and doing nothing. In addition, the two had different ideas on employing people, which made Liu Ji hate Wang Shu to the core.

The more Liu Ji thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn’t help but look at Li Zisheng, who was walking to the side as if nothing had happened.

Before leaving the palace, Liu Ji stopped Li Zisheng and asked, “Why? Lord Li, do you not intend to block Wang Shu from the central government and allow him to return to the capital and do whatever he wants?”

Li Zisheng pointed at himself, looked very surprised, and asked, “What does this have to do with me?”

Liu Ji said sternly, “Wang Shu has impeached many treacherous officials in the court. I almost forgot who the most frequently mentioned person in the treacherous party was… I wonder if you know who it is, Lord Li?”

“No doubt, it must be me!”

Li Zisheng seemed very calm and said with a smile, “Whether it is Wang Shu or other people in the court, they don’t take me, a envoy who was born as an alchemist, seriously. Alas…some things just take getting used to. For now, I can only lie down and wait and see how the situation develops!”

After saying this, without waiting for Liu Ji to continue expressing his views, Li Zisheng walked away right under the nose of the “cotton” Prime Minister.

……

……

Because his rival Wang Shu would probably return to the court to serve as the Minister of Personnel soon, Liu Ji was furious the whole day.

That night he met the Minister of Justice Du Ming, who had resigned many times but had not yet received the court’s approval.

Du Ming personally visited Liu’s residence in order to seek a chance to leave the court.

“Go, go, go, all of you go! If you go, I’ll go too! The court of love is like a sea of ​​fire and a mountain of swords. You can’t stand there for even a moment, right?”

Liu Ji said angrily.

Du Ming said: “That’s not what I meant. Actually… I can’t stay even if I want to! It’s a new dynasty, a new atmosphere. Now a large number of new people are eager to take the position. If I cling to power and don’t leave, I’m afraid there will be unexpected disasters.

“Besides, I’m at an age where I can’t concentrate on anything anymore. I can only… think about going back early and living a peaceful life.”

After the new emperor ascended the throne, the identities and situations of these old ministers left over from the Chenghua period became rather awkward.

Everyone knows that during the reign of the previous emperor, there were many treacherous ministers in the court, and it was Li Zisheng who started the trend of selling official positions and titles. As a result, if officials in the court did not give gifts to Li Zisheng, they would not even be qualified to stay in the central government as officials, let alone get promoted.

Nanjing, the capital of the Liu family, is a good place to go. Whether you want to go or not, you can just go there and spend your retirement there, waiting for the day to retire and return home.

Du Ming is a top civil official who has been the Minister of Justice since the 22nd year of Chenghua. Although he has a reputation for being a virtuous person in the Ministry of Justice in recent years, the problem is that he has contacts with people like Wan’an, Liu Ji, and Li Zisheng… No one cares whether you are capable or not, but others will say that you are a traitor and cannot be kept.

So, taking advantage of the fact that the Minister of Personnel Li Yu had landed safely, Du Ming also wanted to get the opportunity to retire and return to the countryside.

It’s not that I want to leave, but I’m afraid that if I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to leave in the future.

After all, with Peng Hua as a precedent, everyone has to be cautious, for fear of making a wrong step and bringing disaster to themselves and their families.

Liu Ji stared at Du Ming for a while, and suddenly said: “You can leave if you want, but you have to leave something behind.”

“Ah? Leaving something behind? What do you mean?” Du Ming asked in surprise, “In order to stop Wang Shu from returning to the court, are you planning to…”

“What? Even you can see that I don’t want Wang Shu to return to the court?”

Liu Ji was extremely surprised.

I think I hid it very well, how did you see that?

Du Ming said helplessly: “Although you didn’t say anything in the court today, your unhappy expression was clearly seen by me. When you came out of Fengtian Gate, you had been frowning… Now it’s like this again, it’s hard not to make associations.”

“Ah.”

Liu Ji’s breath was unusually heavy, and he roared, “Yes, I do hate Wang Shu and don’t want him to work in the Central Committee, but now, the person I am most wary of is not him, but someone else.”

“hehe.”

Du Ming shook his head and smiled bitterly.

You, the “cotton” Prime Minister, don’t seem to work very hard in your daily work, but you are doing a good job in uniting the party and fighting against dissidents.

You have to guard against Wang Shu and another court official who poses a threat to you?
You are very busy!
But… no matter how busy you are, why do you have to drag me into this?

Liu Ji’s face darkened and he asked, “Why, I asked you to do something so small, but you want to refuse?”

“No… No, Lord Liu, you should just speak frankly. Who has offended you? The appointment of officials in the court is actually very different from when the previous emperor was in power. It must go through a whole process of recommendation and discussion in the court. There is even a discussion of the ministry before that… If some people are annoying you, but they don’t have the qualifications, it will definitely not affect your position in the court. Why bother…”

Du Ming probably guessed that Liu Ji had political enemies and was afraid of losing his authority as prime minister, so he asked him, Du Ming, for help.

“hehe!”

Liu Ji was also a man who cared about his reputation. He would not speak easily, but once he spoke, he would not tolerate rejection. He sneered at Du Ming and said, “That person, according to normal channels, is absolutely not qualified to join the cabinet, but I’m afraid that His Majesty will appoint him… Um, you know who I’m talking about, right?”

“Father-in-law Zhang Luan!?”

Du Ming asked.

“Humph!”

Liu Ji snorted twice and didn’t give a direct answer, but he obviously agreed.

Du Ming thought for a moment, shook his head and said, “Let’s talk about Zhang Luan first… This man is deeply trusted by His Majesty. Although he is often not seen on weekdays, he has been involved in many things since the new emperor ascended the throne… “But this guy is very cautious in doing things, rarely shows up at the gate of the government, and there is no big fault if he does nothing. Even if someone is found to impeach him, it is not easy to do it except that he is a relative of the emperor!”

In Du Ming’s opinion, apart from the fact that Zhang Luan is easily attacked because of his reputation as a relative of the emperor, he really has no obvious weaknesses.

Liu Ji asked sinisterly, “Do you think I want you to deal with Zhang Laizhan?”

Du Ming smiled bitterly and said, “Besides him, who else is there?”

“Admittedly, I want Zhang Laizhan to leave the East Class of the court as soon as possible and go back to his West Class, but it is not so easy to take action against him directly. I still have some sense of propriety!” Liu Ji replied.

“Too.”

Du Ming thought that as long as he didn’t deal with Zhang Luan, things would be much easier.

Speaking of…

I’m afraid of getting into trouble now and just want to land safely. You want me to fight with Zhang Luan who doesn’t play by the rules?

Am I the birthday star who hangs himself because he thinks his life is too long?
“but……”

Liu Ji changed the subject and sneered, “To deal with Zhang Laizhan, there is more than just one way to attack him.”

When Du Ming heard this, his heart tightened.

I thought, this is bad, this is bad. Judging from what Liu Ji said, we still have to deal with that father-in-law Zhang. This means we are indirectly confronting the emperor!

What sin have I committed to deserve such a disaster?
“You mean… we should focus on attacking Zhang Guozhang’s weak spot first… Li Zisheng? Isn’t this… too risky?” Du Ming asked tremblingly with a pale old face.

“Hey, what are you thinking? Can you touch Li Zisheng? That old fox, relying on his great achievements in opposing the ‘change of crown prince’ and supporting the establishment of the Eastern Palace, and having the support of the late emperor and the current emperor, who does he take seriously? Moreover, he has the leverage over many people, who dares to provoke him easily? Aren’t you afraid that he will fall into the toilet and splash everyone with feces?”

Liu Ji had a gloomy face and gritted his teeth, “But the current emperor is not the previous emperor after all. He is most disciplined and principled in doing things. Li Zisheng is already on the decline, so there is no need to worry. I am talking about Zhang Laizhan’s son, Zhang Yanling. He may be the best target to attack!”

“Who?”

Du Ming was a little confused for a moment, and obviously he didn’t know the situation of his in-laws, the Zhang family.

Liu Ji said: “Zhang Luan has been cautious and careful so far, and has not revealed any major flaws. However, he has a son who likes to stir up trouble. He insisted on weaving cloth in the palace, alarming His Majesty and the Queen. He even asked a large number of palace servants to participate in it, saying that he wanted to make full use of manpower to weave cloth and save money for future river construction projects… How ridiculous!”

“Ah, this…”

Du Ming asked curiously: “Is there anything wrong?”

Liu Ji chuckled and said, “This is clearly disrupting the imperial court! Why should the court care about the meager money and food earned from weaving? He did this just to embarrass the Ming imperial family and destroy their dignity. He deserves death!”

Du Ming thought, your blame is really quite black, but it seems a little awkward, so he said immediately: “Lord Liu, actually, I have heard about this incident occasionally… It is said that idle palace maids are used to weave cloth, and the looms with improved technology are used. It is said that the production efficiency has been greatly improved, so the price of cloth in the capital has begun to drop this autumn and winter.”

“Is there such a thing?”

Liu Ji frowned.

Du Ming became even more speechless after hearing this.

You, Liu Ji, wanted to take advantage of the wrongdoing of Zhang Luan’s son to suppress Zhang Guozhang. Why didn’t you do your homework in advance?

I’m just a passerby who has never paid attention to this matter before. I just heard a few rumors, but it seems that I know a lot more than you.

Du Ming explained: “Your Majesty and the Queen are willing to lead the palace maids to weave cloth. This can be regarded as a way to educate the world. It seems that there is nothing wrong with it, right?”

Liu Ji said disapprovingly: “Does the court lack that little money and food?”

“But maybe… the looms used in the palace really improved efficiency?”

Du Ming obviously didn’t want to get involved, so he tried his best to sabotage it.

“Clap!”

Liu Ji slammed the table twice and shouted, “You are so disrespectful. Who is it you who is speaking or I?”

“You said it, you said it.”

Du Ming remained speechless.

Liu Ji said sternly, “We have to deal with Zhang Luan directly. I’m afraid that if he joins forces with Li Zisheng to fight back too fiercely, I will avoid his attack and first attack his son who disturbed the palace, and use this as a breakthrough point.”

Du Ming thought to himself, I understand, you can’t chew the hard bones, so you pick the soft persimmon first.

You think his son is the soft persimmon, right?

Du Ming advised: “Even if you act properly, Lord Liu, and get the support of your colleagues in the court, and even get His Majesty to stop this matter, I’m afraid… it will be difficult to blame Zhang Luan’s son. And by that time, Zhang Luan will definitely take action. How will we deal with it then?”

“Hey, Zhang Laizhan better take action!”

Liu Ji’s eyes flashed with ferocity, and he said fiercely, “As long as he takes action, it means that everything was planned by him behind the scenes, and he just let his son take the lead as a cover.

“If he doesn’t take action, he can’t even protect his own son. How can such a person have the face to stand in the court? After all, the son of the Zhang family represents the Zhang family. As long as Zhang Yanling’s lack of knowledge of the general situation is identified, then everything… will fall into place naturally, and there will be no Zhang Luan entering the cabinet.”

Du Ming saw that Liu Ji’s plan was so inferior and he had no way to refute it, so he could only agree weakly: “Oh… maybe…”

Liu Ji frowned: “From what you said, it seems like you don’t want to help?”

“Where there!”

Du Ming seemed very hesitant and asked, “You said you want to impeach Zhang Yanling, where should we start?”

“Well, I’ll have someone write you an impeachment petition, and you can find someone you know to bring this up.”

Liu Ji earnestly advised, “Whether it’s the officials of the Ministry of Works or the people in the Ministry of Justice, as long as you can find out that the son of the Zhang family disturbed the palace, especially wasted money and did nothing, and caused the royal family to lose its dignity, then you can impeach him as much as you can…

“Then find some scholars from the public to discuss this. The argument is that the Zhang family is ignorant of the general situation and is interfering too much in the affairs of the royal family…interfering in government affairs as a relative of the emperor, trying to repeat the old days of the Xinmang Dynasty…anything else, as long as it is a bad reputation, you can put it on the Zhang family.”

Liu Ji became more and more excited as he spoke. “I will not show up at this time. Isn’t Wang Shu going to court soon? Isn’t he the one who fears the tyranny of the treacherous party the most? He hated the Wan family, his former relatives, to the core. Now that the Zhang family is causing chaos in the court, can he just sit back and watch?

“Why don’t you just go find Wang Shu and let him speak for this matter. When the time is right, I, the Prime Minister, will come forward to administer justice and make the final judgment… Let’s see if Zhang Laizhan will fall! When the time comes, our father-in-law should just do his military exploits and not get involved in the affairs of civil officials!”

(Please give me a monthly ticket on the last day of the month, thank you!)
(End of this chapter)