Without Wang Fu standing in the way, Zhang Dun's actions became extremely smooth, the progress of the audit was extremely fast, and various problems were exposed.
However, Cao Bin did not engage in a major purge. In addition to getting rid of the corrupt officials, most of them rewarded and punished them according to the degree of their mistakes.
With such a combination of kindness and power, Cao Bin quickly took control of the three departments.
To the satisfaction of the imperial court, this operation turned out more than two million guan of silver, which was more than enough to reward hundreds of officials when the new emperor ascended the throne, not to mention paying back the salary arrears.
When the old guy Wang Yanling found out, he was also smiling and felt happy in his heart.
No one is immune to the happiness that money brings.
With this money, the court could hold the funeral of Emperor Daxing in a glorious manner, and all the officials could celebrate the New Year happily.
It can be said that except Wang Fu and others, everyone is happy.
Of course, Pan Renmei was also a little unhappy. Looking at the ministers who had received their salaries and rewards, he always felt that the money that belonged to him had been taken away.
"Dad, now that the overall situation has been decided, is it time for my son to recognize Zhong Jinghou as his adoptive father?"
The Queen Mother Pan herself was a little worried about not fulfilling her promise, so she invited Pan Renmei to the palace to discuss with him the little emperor's recognition of his father.
Pan Renmei was a little unhappy when she heard this and said:
"Why should my daughter be anxious? Let him dry first."
Queen Mother Pan was very surprised:
"Dad, why is this? You don't want to break the promise, do you?"
Pan Renmei sneered:
"Even if he breaks the promise, what can he do to me? This kid Cao Bin didn't take enough advantage. He is also the deputy envoy of the Third Division and the future queen. All the benefits have been taken advantage of by this kid."
"Those who are plotting against my father have never known it in advance. If I don't give him some color, he will think that his father has no temper."
That night when the emperor asked him to leave, he held his breath.
He risked his own life and plotted for the emperor's own son, but in the end he didn't get any benefits, and even lost his job. All the benefits went to Cao Bin and Wang Yanling.
Even the Yang family got a piece of Yubian, which is so damn depressing.
Queen Mother Pan said with some doubts:
"Since Wang Fu is my father's man, why didn't you object? My daughter thought you wanted to deal with him too?"
"If I had known this earlier, my daughter might have been able to save his life."
Hearing this, Pan Renmei waved her hand disdainfully:
"It doesn't matter, then Wang Fu is not considered a father. He has a family fortune of one million guan, but he only paid 100,000 guan for his life. Do you think I am a fool?"
"At that time, he became the target of public criticism again. He had no value anymore. It was not worth getting into trouble for this little money."
Queen Mother Pan wrinkled her pretty face and couldn't help but roll her eyes at her biological father, and said speechlessly:
"Regardless of whether Wang Fu is my father's son or not, it's better not to offend Cao Bin by breaking the promise."
"Not to mention his superb martial arts skills, he can keep my son in a stable position, and he can also cure my son's misfortune and cure his illness..."
Pan Renmei sneered:
"What about resolving disasters and illnesses? He is just lying to you. Do you think he is a god?"
Cao Bin did say this, and that was because "Yizika" had the effect of enhancing physical fitness. This was also the reason why he was not afraid of the little emperor dying midway.
At this time, Queen Mother Pan also saw that her father was mentally unbalanced.
But she didn't want to regret it, because in her heart, Cao Bin was much more reliable than her father.
The question now is whether to let him go, put some pressure on him, and make him be more obedient to you...
Cao Bin didn't know what the Pan family's father and daughter were thinking. At this time, he and Pang Yu were drinking tea and chatting in the tea tent at the south pier of Bianjing City.
Pang Ji and his family will arrive in Beijing by water today.
While drinking tea, the servant suddenly came to report:
"Master Hou, our ship is here..."
When Cao Bin and Pang Yu heard this, they quickly got up and ran to the dock. Sure enough, they saw a fleet of ships slowly docking, with a large flag of "Zhongjing Houfu" floating on the big ship in front of them.
All the official and merchant ships around them gave way.
This fleet has a total of about twenty large ships with thousands of materials.
Cao Bin's family members were all on the first two ships, and behind them were the soldiers who were trapped in the formation. This force was already under the control of the Dianqian Division, and Gao Shun was appointed as the military commander.
At this time, Pang Ji had already stepped off the boat first.
At this time, his face was full of joy and his eyes were smiling. When he saw Cao Bin saluting, he quickly stepped forward to help him up and laughed loudly:
"Okay, okay, okay, I was originally worried that Juncai was in danger and that it would be a near-death situation. I didn't expect you to be able to turn everything around."
After saying that, he patted his shoulder hard and said:
"This time Juncai really gave me a big surprise!"
Pang Yu felt a little depressed when he saw Pang Ji looking overjoyed and completely ignoring his salute, so he had to get up by himself. This father is a bit snobbish...
But he also understood Pang Ji's mood. The head of the third division was about to reach the peak of power.
At Cao Bin's age, as long as there are no accidents along the way, it is just a matter of course to take over the central government and become the prime minister.
After meeting Pang Ji, Pang Yanyan also came down with a group of concubines.
After everyone saw the ceremony, Du Shiniang's eyes were red, she held Cao Bin tightly with both hands and said:
"Cao Lang, will our daughter be the queen in the future?"
Cao Bin patted her hand and comforted her:
"This is the late emperor's last wish... Don't worry, I know that the palace is not a good place, and I will find a way to cancel the engagement."
Hearing this, Du Shiniang said anxiously:
"I...I didn't mean it like that, I just didn't expect that my daughter could become the queen..."
As she said that, she was stunned for a moment, seemed to have thought of something, hugged Cao Bin tightly and said:
"Well, the palace is indeed not a good place. I will listen to Cao Lang and regret the marriage."
When Master Li heard this, he slapped her in anger and said:
"A few days ago, you said that your daughter's life is precious, but now you say it in a confused way. Be careful if people hear it and laugh at you."
"The honor of a queen is an honor that ordinary women can only dream of, let alone your and my origins?"
After saying that, she quickly reminded:
"My father-in-law and uncle are here, please don't be rude..."
Although Pang Ji and Pang Yu had already walked to the tea tent to talk, Du Shiniang felt rude and quickly smiled apologetically at Pang Yanyan and let Cao Bin out.
Cao Bin took Pang Yanyan's hand and smiled:
"This is not the place to talk. Let's talk about it back home."
After saying that, he asked the maids to lead the girls into the carriage, and asked Fu Bo to direct the servants to dress up and salute on the carriage before going to see Pang Ji.
Pang Ji was in a good mood. When he saw Cao Bin coming, he smiled and asked:
"Juncai, are you in trouble in charge of the Third Division?"
Cao Bin smiled and said:
"Don't worry, father-in-law. A few days ago, Wang Fu tried to compete with me, but he was knocked down."
Then, he briefly talked about Wang Fu.
Pang Ji nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile:
"good."
He pondered for a moment and then said:
"Let's do this. After the national funeral, I will hold a birthday banquet in the capital and introduce some officials to you."
Cao Bin remembered clearly that Pang Ji's birthday was in August. Did he want to use the birthday banquet to help him build his own power?
His plan was to slowly recruit talented people and keep a low profile as much as possible, so he hesitated when he heard this:
"Isn't this a bit too public?"
Pang Ji laughed and said:
"With your current status, it doesn't hurt to show off a little!"
"If you want to work in the court, you can't keep a low profile. The more powerful you are, the smoother you will be as an official."
"Don't underestimate those mediocre officials. You and they are using each other."
"With their support, others will not dare to easily provoke you or stumbling upon you..."
