Soon, Zhang Runde had a general understanding of the whole incident through the subordinate officer's narration.
What surprised him the most was that those officials actually thought of using the solar eclipse as an excuse to persuade His Majesty to take back his life!
After that, Zhang Runde came back to his senses and assured the subordinate official.
"Please go back and tell Mr. Xiaoge that I know what to do, so he can rest assured!"
When the subordinate official heard this, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and immediately responded respectfully.
"Yes, sir, I will definitely bring your words to Mr. Ge, exactly as they are!"
After that, the subordinate didn't stop at all, and immediately turned around and left the room.
After the subordinate official left the room, Zhang Runde had no intention of dealing with the remaining affairs.
At this moment, a trace of hesitation could not help but appear on his face. After all, according to what the subordinate official said earlier, he was going to face those officials head-on!
Mr. Yange and Mr. Xiaoge have high positions and are deeply trusted by His Majesty. Therefore, they do not need to worry about the criticism from the official.
But he is just a minister of the Ministry of Justice, and his foundation in the court is still shallow. He is unable to compete with those officials. What's more, his butt is not clean to begin with. If he is caught by those officials, I'm afraid... …
Zhang Runde tried to continue thinking along this line of thought. After he imagined his end, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
But, then again, this is an order personally issued by Mr. Yan Ge. If he shrinks from the battle, the end may not be much better.
Finally, after weighing the pros and cons, a determined expression gradually appeared on Zhang Runde's face. He clenched his fists and muttered silently to himself.
"Damn it, I will risk my life to fight Yan Guan today!"
"If something happens by then, Mr. Yan Ge and the others will definitely not sit idly by and do nothing!"
After comforting himself in this way, Zhang Runde quickly calmed down. Immediately, he summoned a few cronies and gave instructions.
"Go, call Luo Longwen and Yan Maoqing over to me, and tell Mr. Yan Ge that they have something we need to handle. Go quickly!"
Seeing Zhang Runde's eagerness, the few cronies did not dare to neglect at all, and immediately responded in a deep voice.
"Yes, sir!"
After those cronies left the room, Zhang Runde sat back on the chair again, lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
Zhang Runde did not wait too long. After a while, Luo Longwen, Yan Maoqing and other key members of the Strict Party all arrived.
When Zhang Runde saw everyone arriving, he immediately stood up from his seat, nodded, and said.
"Well, everyone is here!"
As soon as Zhang Runde finished speaking, someone couldn't restrain their curiosity and asked him.
"Master Zhang, may I ask Mr. Yan Ge and the others, what do they need from us to do, and why do they go to so much trouble?"
Zhang Runde didn't mean to go around in circles with everyone. After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately recounted the whole story.
"The thing is like this. Not long ago, Mr. Xiao Ge sent someone to inform me..."
After Zhang Runde recounted the reasons for the incident, he successfully caused an uproar.
The first person who couldn't sit still was Yan Maoqing. His face was full of horror, and he immediately spoke and confirmed to Zhang Runde.
"What, you said we have to confront those officials next time!"
Zhang Runde met Yan Maoqing's gaze, nodded and responded.
"Well, that's right, Xiaoge Lao sent someone here just now for this matter!"
After getting Zhang Runde's confirmation, the last trace of luck left in Yan Maoqing's heart disappeared. Immediately, he came back to his senses and asked Zhang Runde with a smile.
"Then...that, can you not go?"
As soon as Yan Maoqing finished speaking, several officials immediately responded.
"Yes, Master Zhang, what Master Yan said makes sense. If we rashly confront those officials, we will not be able to gain any favor!"
"That's right, this matter should be discussed in the long run. Otherwise, we should go and persuade Mr. Yan Ge and the others!"
"That makes sense. Mr. Yan Ge and Mr. Xiao Ge are confident. After all, we are just small characters. If we anger those officials, we will not be able to live with them. !”
Zhang Runde did not comment on this, but just watched indifferently.
The reason why Yan Maoqing dared to stand up boldly was because, on the one hand, he felt that he was worthy enough of the Yan family. After all, last time, he successfully completed the task of collecting salt tax. Not only that, he also got rid of Qingliu for Yan Song. There are several key members.
On the other hand, it is because he is afraid of angering those officials!
After all, it can be said that his corruption has already been known to the whole court. If he accidentally angers those officials and makes them desperate to impeach them, once the matter gets serious, Your Majesty will Side will also have to step in to deal with himself.
It is precisely because of this that he, Yan Maoqing, wants to remain neutral and try not to offend anyone!
Just when Yan Maoqing was still thinking about what words to use to deal with this matter.
Luo Longwen, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, could not sit still. He stepped forward, pointed at the noses of the officials who wanted to escape and cursed.
"Bah, what a bunch of ungrateful people. Have you forgotten that if Mr. Yan Ge hadn't been protecting us in recent years, would we be where we are today?"
When Luo Longwen said this, he paused for a moment and then continued.
"Let me ask you again, if Mr. Yan Ge's illness was not cured by Your Majesty last time, what would be the fate waiting for us?"
"Don't talk about holding on to your seat, none of us can escape Qingliu's reckoning!"
"Now, Mr. Yan Ge only asked us to do some trivial things, and you just resisted. I, Luo Longwen, really look down on you ungrateful villains!"
After Luo Longwen's words fell, the room suddenly fell into a dead silence, perhaps due to a guilty conscience or other reasons. In short, no one stood up to refute.
I don’t know how much time passed, but Zhang Runde, who had been watching with cold eyes, spoke up, breaking the silence.
"If you want to go, please stay and go with me later. If you don't want to go, you can leave now!"
After Zhang Runde's words fell, those officials who had previously wanted to retreat couldn't help but feel a little moved, but after thinking about it, they still didn't take action and just stood there with tangled expressions.
After all, failure to protect them would offend Mr. Yan Ge and the others. Just as they were hesitating, Zhang Runde's voice sounded again.
He turned his gaze to Yan Maoqing and asked coldly.
"Yan Maoqing, what about you, what do you think?"
Seeing this situation, everyone's eyes fell on Yan Maoqing, waiting for his answer.
After thinking about it for a long time, Yan Maoqing seemed to have made a decision. He gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice.
"I...I'll go with you!"
When Zhang Runde heard this, he didn't have much trouble in his eyes. Instead, after looking Yan Maoqing up and down, he looked away and turned to speak.
"In that case, let's start preparing!"
…
There is no airtight wall in the world. The officials soon learned from many channels about the two orders issued by Zhao Zhenji in the Inspectorate.
Zhao Zhenji's sudden backstab undoubtedly caught these officials off guard. At this moment, an indescribable sense of crisis enveloped everyone's hearts.
"This Zhao Zhenji is really a wallflower, bah, shameless!"
"Yes, that's right, shameless. In order to flatter the cabinet, he, Zhao Zhenji, actually did such a disgraceful thing, this weakling!"
"Thanks to Zhao Zhenji, he is still the supervisory censor. He can't even distinguish the right from wrong. This shows how seriously your majesty has been deceived!"
"Yes, after this matter is over, we will impeach Zhao Zhenji!"
Seeing those people becoming more and more excited and speaking more and more openly, Hu Yingjia's eyelids jumped and he quickly changed the topic.
"Everyone, calm down and don't forget what our purpose was in the first place!"
After Hu Yingjia's reminder, everyone's emotions gradually calmed down and they began to think about the next response.
After all, they originally just wanted to persuade the emperor not to include arithmetic as a subject in the next year's imperial examinations.
But now, the development of things is no longer under their control. It has gradually evolved into a conflict between two political forces, and there is no possibility of stopping.
Thinking of this, Hu Yingjia sighed helplessly. After putting aside all the complicated thoughts in his heart, he faced everyone and said in a deep voice.
"Everyone, at present, Zhao Zhenji of the Supervisory Council has handed over the list of officials to be impeached by Shangshu to the cabinet. In other words, we no longer have any way out!"
"Because of this, we can no longer sit back and wait for death. We must take the initiative and take advantage of the gap before the opponent has accumulated enough strength to catch them off guard!"
Hu Yingjia's words quickly aroused the echo of many officials present. After all, their officials had never encountered such setbacks before, so how could they swallow this sigh of relief?
Seeing that no one raised any objections to this, Hu Yingjia quickly started to divide the work after looking around.
"Master Wang, you are responsible for publicizing this matter. Master Li, you are responsible for always paying attention to the movements of the cabinet. Master Zhang..."
After Hu Yingjia completed the division of labor, he looked away from the many speakers present and said loudly.
"Everyone, success or failure depends on this one move. What we do today will be recorded in history and praised by future generations!"
After Hu Yingjia finished speaking, the officials present all said in unison.
"Yes, it will be praised by future generations!"
"Let's go and meet His Majesty!"
Soon, under the leadership of Hu Yingjia, this group of public officials set off in a mighty manner. They wanted everyone to see the noble character of scholars!
…
At the same time that Yan Guan officially set out, a surge of public opinion quickly spread among the government and the public, causing great discussion.
Ministry of Rites, at this moment, the extremely turbulent public opinion in the DPRK also made many officials have no intention to deal with the government affairs at hand, and began to gather together in small and small groups to discuss cautiously.
"Hey, have you heard that those officials seem to be clamoring to petition His Majesty to withdraw his orders?"
"I've heard about it a long time ago. Alas, I don't know whose slander your Majesty actually listened to. He actually thought of adding arithmetic as a subject in the next year's imperial examination. Such a ridiculous thing has never happened in the past dynasties. matter!"
"Needless to say, it must be the good deeds of Xu Jie, the deputy minister of the cabinet. Didn't you see those officials clamoring to impeach him?"
"Shh, keep your voice down, do you dare to say such a thing in public?"
"What are you afraid of? There is no one else here. Let me tell you, those officials are truly role models for us!"
Seeing this, a white-haired old man put down the brush in his hand tremblingly and interjected: "Humph, these officials nowadays don't have the slightest bit of scholarly character in them. Each generation is really inferior to the last. I think. When I was young..."
While the old man was still boasting to everyone about his "glorious deeds" in his youth, he did not notice at all that the colleagues who had looked curious before had silently withdrew their gaze and began to pretend to handle the official documents in their hands.
When the old man reacted, he suddenly realized that Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites, had quietly appeared behind him.
At this moment, Li Chunfang was holding her hands behind her back and looking at the old man with a playful expression.
When the old man saw this, he was so frightened that he suddenly stood up from his seat and saluted him in fear.
"Xia...Xia Guan has met Lord Shangshu!"
Li Chunfang did not make any comment, nodded slightly, and gave instructions.
"Well, sit down!"
"Thank you, Lord Shangshu!"
When the old man heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down in his seat with tears of gratitude.
Just when everyone thought the matter was over, Li Chunfang looked around and reminded him unhurriedly.
"You'd better not talk about this matter. Otherwise, if something happens, don't blame me. Do you understand?"
Seeing Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites, speaking in person, everyone dared to continue the topic. They all fell silent and began to deal with the affairs at hand. Everything seemed to have returned to the way it was before.
Seeing this, Li Chunfang nodded slightly, then turned around and left with her hands behind her back, just as when she came.
After Li Chunfang left, everyone had this thought in their minds: "This incident actually prompted Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites, to personally come forward. Could it be that something big will happen next?" (End of Chapter)
