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The next day, at 3:30 p.m., with the respectful farewell from all walks of life in Yangzhou, the Southern Patrol Fleet finally left Yangzhou after staying for seven days and slowly sailed to the next stop - Changzhou.
At this time, Suzhou was getting closer and closer, and the secret struggle between Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing was gradually becoming known and could no longer be concealed.
As the saying goes, "When gods fight, mortals suffer." The conflict between the emperor and the chief minister of the cabinet will not affect the scope much less than the fight between gods. In this way, no one knows whether they will be implicated, especially the middle and lower-level officials of the court. They have no access to detailed information and can only get some specious rumors. They can't help but feel a little panic, but they don't know that they are involved. What exactly are you panicking about?
The accompanying ministers had their own news channels, and they did get some news. However, in the past two days, most of them had been attracted by Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing. They were either considering self-protection or siding with each other. They looked thoughtful, and their behavior further aggravated the worries of the officials below.
Therefore, when leaving Yangzhou, the atmosphere of the southern patrol team was somewhat strange and solemn.
Among all the people, they were the only two who remained calm and composed.
These two people are none other than the two protagonists of this game - Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing!
Obviously, they are all full of confidence!
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But at this moment, the capital was thousands of miles away. It is also a scene of turbulent undercurrents.
A few days ago, in the official circles of the capital. Suddenly a rumor spread more and more widely - it was said that the alliance between Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao was actually malicious and contained evil intentions. The alliance was just an illusion. Huang Yourong planned to take advantage of Emperor Deqing's southern tour and Shen Changmao to leave Beijing. , annexing Shen Changmao's power and buying off Shen Changmao's party members!
The officialdom is a gathering place for rumors. There are 80, if not 100, similar rumors every day. No one would have taken it seriously. However, this rumor is really flesh-and-blood, vivid and vivid. It is not only logically rigorous and clear, but also lists many supporting evidences, which makes people believe it.
The most important thing is that this rumor is not just a convincing point of view, but also contains a series of questions to guide people's thinking, and let people analyze the doubts and draw conclusions by themselves.
For example, the timing of Huang Yourong's alliance with Shen Changmao was really strange. It would be too coincidental to form an alliance early or late, but to wait until the southern tour is about to begin. You know, wait until the southern tour starts. Huang Yourong stayed in Beijing to assist the government and the family was the sole leader. Shen Changmao accompanied him on the southern tour and was out of reach. Isn't this a good opportunity for Huang Yourong to annex Shen's party?
For another example, Huang Yourong has deliberately given many favors to Shen Party officials during this period of time, just to win over them, and this is still the case to this day. The position of many Shen Party officials is already biased in favor of Huang Yourong and has left Shen Changmao behind. This can be seen just by looking at how many Shen Party officials actively go to Huang Yourong's residence to express their goodwill every day. What will be the result in the long run?
For another example, Shen Changmao has been running the court for many years and naturally has many cronies. It is absolutely impossible for these cronies to be bribed by Huang Yourong. However, where are Shen Changmao's cronies now? As long as a detailed investigation is carried out, it will be found that they were either transferred to work outside the capital by Huang Yourong for reasons, or were promoted and demoted by Huang Yourong, and lost their positions of real power. So, what was Huang Yourong's purpose in doing this?
Many doubtful points are thought-provoking,
In the officialdom, everyone prides themselves on being smart and has no doubts about the conclusions drawn by their own analysis. When people are guided by rumors and carefully analyze many doubts, they naturally come to similar conclusions. in conclusion! As a result, most people believed the contents of the rumors, because in everyone's eyes, these conclusions were "independently" analyzed by themselves and could never be wrong!
It can be said that this rumor not only takes advantage of people's gossip and gloomy psychology, but also takes advantage of people's self-confidence. In this way, the smarter people are, the more they will believe this rumor!
In just two or three days, everyone in the capital knew about this rumor! Then, the atmosphere between Shen and Huang, who had been working closely together, gradually became more subtle.
If that was the case, Huang Yourong could still barely control the situation. But at this moment, a seemingly unexpected incident completely broke the cooperative relationship between Shen and Huang.
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Before the Shen and Huang factions joined forces, in order to compete for power, it was natural that they would inevitably fight openly and secretly and stumble against each other. As a result, there were many mortal enemies among the two parties.
Among them, Wang Xin from the Yellow Party and Sima Zhuo from the Shen Party are mortal enemies!
Wang Xin is the left general secretary of the General Affairs Department, and Sima Zhuo is the right general secretary of the General Affairs Department. They belong to the same yamen, and they are such a crucial yamen as the General Affairs Department. For the benefit of their respective backers, the two of them were naturally former After fighting countless times, they have formed a deadly feud with each other. Although the Shen and Huang factions have joined hands, they still dislike each other. However, under the strict orders of the two pavilion elders, they can still maintain their hatred. restraint.
However, although Wang Xin and Sima Zhuo could maintain restraint, the people around them were used to fighting each other, but they did not have such a city.
On this day, Wang Ye, Wang Ye's son, and Dong Qing, Sima Zhuo's nephew, met in a brothel. Under the instigation of some thoughtful people, the two became jealous over a red card. I don't know who made the move first. , the two got into a fight, and the entourage also participated. In the end, in the melee, it was unknown who made the heavy blow, and Dong Qing was seriously injured!
This matter was no small matter, and it naturally came to Huang Yourong's side in the end. Sima Zhuo wanted Huang Yourong to administer justice, and Wang naturally resisted to the end in order to protect his son.
As a result, Huang Yourong naturally felt embarrassed. On the one hand, Wang Bin had followed Huang Yourong for many years and had always done his best. He was considered one of Huang Yourong's most capable disciples. Huang Yourong did not want to treat Wang Bin badly; on the other hand, Shen Dang Sima Zhuo After all, his nephew was seriously injured, and Huang Yourong was worried that if he favored Wang Bin, it would cause a backlash from Shen Party officials.
Coupled with the interference of rumors, Huang Yourong was even more hesitant and unable to make up his mind.
According to Zhao Junchen's evaluation, Huang Yourong is too smooth but not courageous. When encountering problems, he only knows how to compromise the interests of all parties, but he only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Huang Yourong's performance at this time also proves the correctness of Zhao Junchen's evaluation. !
In the end, Huang Yourong actually brought together the main figures from the Shen and Huang parties to solve the problem through mutual consultation!
It was this decision that completely broke down the cooperation between the Shen and Huang parties!
Before that, Huang Yourong did intend to take advantage of the opportunity of the southern tour to gradually encroach on Shen Changmao's sphere of influence and bribe Shen Party officials for his own use. Today, some preliminary results have been achieved, and the stance of many Shen Party officials has gradually changed. I am leaning toward Huang Yourong.
Therefore, when officials from the two factions met for consultations, the stance of some Shen Party officials was surprising. Not only did they fail to uphold justice for Sima Zhuo of the Shen Party, but they always put in good words for Wang Xin of the Yellow Party. Such a situation Afterwards, the final result of the negotiation was that Wang Xin only needed to pay a few hundred taels of medical expenses and the matter would be over!
Faced with such a result, how could Sima Zhuo be convinced? In addition, he himself was not a deep-seated person, so he caused a scene on the spot!
In addition to the commotion, Sima Zhuo was disturbed by rumors, and Sima Zhuo even spoke more eloquently, claiming that some Shen Party officials had been bribed by Huang Yourong, so they turned their elbows outward! Huang Yourong was also uneasy and took advantage of the opportunity of the southern tour to poach Mr. Shen Ge! He also said that everyone in the Shen Party had no vigilance at all and watched helplessly as Huang Yourong encroached on the Shen Party, but remained indifferent!
Then, Sima Zhuo repeated all the rumors he had heard in public!
Then, you can see that all the Yellow Party officials have strange expressions. Some Shen Party officials have serious expressions, as if they are worried, while other Shen Party officials have unpredictable expressions, as if they are a little guilty.
Shen Changmao was not a fool. Before he left Beijing, he also thought about the possibility that Huang Yourong would take the opportunity to encroach on the Shen Party, and he also left many countermeasures!
After Shen Changmao left Beijing, the person in charge of the Shen Party was Shaobao Zhao Zhenghe. In these days, Zhao Zhenghe also heard many rumors and was quite suspicious. He was already thinking of guarding against Huang Yourong. At this time, he was guided by Sima Zhuo. , and this consultation did allow Zhao Zhenghe to see many clues, so Zhao Zhenghe finally made up his mind. After getting up to appease Sima Zhuo, he suddenly announced to Huang Yourong that the cooperation between Shen and Huang was temporarily suspended. Wait until Shen Changmao returns to Beijing!
Then, Zhao Zhenghe didn't say anything more, and didn't give Huang Yourong a chance to explain. He just led all the officials of the Shen Party to leave Huang Yourong's mansion. Huang Yourong was left staring at their departing figures in shock, feeling confused!
In fact, Huang Yourong's troubles are still to come!
Prince Zhu Heyu wanted to take advantage of Emperor Deqing's southern tour to carry out commercial tax reform, but was unable to carry out the reform due to Huang Yourong's suppression. However, the reason why Huang Yourong was able to suppress the crown prince Zhu Heyu was also because of the strong assistance of Shen Party officials. Now that the Shen and Huang parties suddenly broke up, because of Sima Zhuo's incident, there might be conflicts in the future. Huang Yourong only relied on the Huang Party's The power and influence were once again partly contained by the Shen Party. How could they continue to suppress the Crown Prince Zhu Heyu?
As a result, Prince Zhu Heyu’s ambitious business tax reform plan is inevitable!
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……(To be continued.(.com))
