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"Zhan suspected of betrayal? Zhan?... Zhan Shanchang?"
After reading Huo Zhengyuan's letter, Fang Ru raised her head and asked Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly and said slowly: "It can only be him! Huo Zhengyuan has always been resourceful and thoughtful, but his courage is a bit lacking. He should have noticed some signs, but he can't be sure whether they are true or not, so this The letter was also vague, it was just a warning."
Having said this, Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment and then ordered: "Get all the information related to Zhan Shanchang in the past three months. I want to take a closer look."
Zhao Junchen personally formulated the file management method in Zhao's study, so Fang Ru quickly found all the information about Zhan Shanchang.
So far, Zhao Junchen has a total of three independent intelligence channels.
The first intelligence channel is the "Zhao Party". The source of information is mainly concentrated on Zhao Junchen's cronies. The intelligence collected is also mainly aimed at officialdom trends. However, this information channel is only owned by Zhao Junchen himself. Can be mobilized.
The second intelligence channel is Tongji Temple, which has become more and more influential in the past year. It has been collecting information by spreading faith and contacting believers. Most of the intelligence personnel are low-level officials and servants of the imperial court, as well as subordinates of various imperial officials. The activities of people, concubines, and eunuchs and maids in the palace are mainly concentrated within the capital. The advantage is that they are the most targeted, but the disadvantage is that they are easily exposed.
The third intelligence channel is the various trading houses controlled by Zhao Junchen. This information channel has the largest scope of activities. Information can be collected from all over the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, the disadvantage is that the efficiency is slow, and the various information collected The information is also extremely mixed.
In fact, with the establishment of the Storytellers' Guild, Zhao Junchen is currently building a fourth intelligence channel, which is to use the Storytellers' Guild to infiltrate taverns and teahouses in various places and establish eyes and ears. This intelligence channel is mainly for news among the market. The means of gathering intelligence are more covert, but the efficiency is also slower, and they are also tasked with influencing public opinion and spreading certain concepts.
In this way, when Zhao Junchen collects information, he often adopts a four-pronged approach. Even if he does not deliberately collect information, there are not many things between the government and the opposition that can be hidden from Zhao Junchen's eyes and ears.
At this time, all kinds of information about Zhan Shanchang was also collected by these intelligence channels. It was more than ten pages long and the content was quite detailed.
After Zhao Junchen carefully reviewed the information content, his expression became more solemn and a little embarrassed.
"According to the information, during the three months since I left the capital, Zhan Shanchang has been deliberately targeted by His Majesty. The imperial censor impeached him almost every day, and many of his old accounts were also uncovered. The situation is quite tense. Unfortunately, not only was he about to be dismissed from his post, he was also about to have his house raided and imprisoned... But just before I returned to the capital, Zhan Shanchang went to the palace to see His Majesty once, and then most of his troubles suddenly disappeared. Although I still lost my official position, I am no longer in danger of having my home raided and jailed.”
After Zhang Yu'er took over the information about Zhan Shanchang from Zhao Junchen, she also reviewed it carefully for a moment, and then added: "The censors talked about Zhan Shanchang one after another because they suddenly received a lot of information about Zhan Shanchang's crimes... If you want to come up with so much information about Zhan Shanchang's crimes in a short period of time, only the Supervisor of Ceremonies can do it, where all the memorials of hundreds of officials over the years are stored."
Zhao Junchen nodded again, sighed softly, and said: "It seems that Zhan Shanchang has most likely betrayed me and is now serving His Majesty."
Seeing the dilemma in Zhao Junchen's expression, Fang Ru said doubtfully: "Master, he is just Zhan Shanchang. He has never been an important person. If he betrays, he will betray. We have many ways to punish him, so why bother?" Do you want to feel embarrassed for him?"
Zhao Junchen replied slowly: "In normal times, Zhan Shanchang's betrayal would not be important, but now this opportunity puts me in a dilemma! Speaking of which, my current situation is somewhat similar to that of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, both of whom are in physical condition. It's a bit bad, but it's not a serious illness that's hard to get rid of, so I take advantage of my physical condition...
When facing His Majesty and the officials, I will pretend that my condition is getting more serious, taking the opportunity to avoid the current chaos in the court, and also take the opportunity to bargain with Your Majesty; but when facing my own people, I will Showing that you are in good health is the only way to allow your cronies to follow you with peace of mind. If I still look critically ill when I see them, they will probably become panicked and secretly consider their options... "
After a pause, Zhao Junchen continued: "Originally, I planned to convene everyone in the 'Zhao Party' for discussion in two days, to show them that I was in good health and could still protect them and give them peace of mind. Do something for me!
But at present, Zhan Shanchang has been bribed by His Majesty. However, all this is just speculation. We have no concrete evidence. He is the first member of the imperial court to serve me. He is the most senior among the "Zhao Party" and has the general political envoy Tong. Huan goes forward and retreats with him, and the 'Zhao Party' cannot avoid him no matter what when discussing matters!
In this way, how should I behave when I summon everyone from the 'Zhao Party' to talk? If I act weaker, everyone in the 'Zhao Party' will lose confidence; if I act healthier, His Majesty will be able to seize the opportunity and force me to take over the Ministry of Household's mess again..."
Speaking of this, Zhao Junchen looked a little annoyed.
Such annoyance was mainly directed at his own mistakes.
After confirming the news of Zhan Shanchang's betrayal, Zhao Junchen was able to quickly guess the reason for Zhan Shanchang's betrayal.
Emperor Deqing's persecution and threats were only superficial reasons. The underlying reason was that Zhan Shanchang's position within the "Zhao Party" was gradually marginalized. This made Zhan Shanchang dissatisfied, and his relationship with Zhao Junchen gradually became estranged.
In fact, Zhan Shanchang's position within the "Zhao Party" was gradually marginalized, which was also deliberate by Zhao Junchen.
When Zhao Junchen initially established the power of the "Zhao Party", almost all of the "Zhao Party" team members were former "Wen Party" officials who were personally instigated by Zhan Shanchang to rebel, such as Zuo Lanshan, Chen Dongxiang, Li Lide and others. The cronies of Wen Guanliang, the former cabinet minister, were all recruited into the "Zhao Party" by Zhan Shanchang.
In this way, Zhan Shanchang's influence within the "Zhao Party" is too great. Zhan Shanchang has too deep connections and similar experiences with everyone in the "Zhao Party", and it is easy to ignore Zhao Junchen.
It was precisely out of this consideration that Zhao Junchen secretly suppressed Zhan Shanchang, allowing Zuo Lanshan, Chen Dongxiang, Huo Zhengyuan and others to gradually overtake him in status, so Zhan Shanchang's "Zhao Party" status was gradually marginalized.
When things have developed to this point, there is actually no problem.
The real problem is that after Zhao Junchen secretly suppressed Zhan Shanchang, he did not comfort him in time!
Zhan Shanchang was the first court official to serve under Zhao Junchen, and he was a rich man. After Zhao Junchen completely controlled the power of the "Zhao Party", he should have deliberately appeased him.
It's a pity that Zhao Junchen was busy with various things at that time, and Zhan Shanchang's own ability and mind were ordinary, so Zhao Junchen subconsciously ignored it, which ultimately led to Zhan Shanchang's dissatisfaction and betrayal.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen shook his head slightly.
Growth always comes at a cost.
Even Zhao Junchen is like this.
Zhao Junchen was not as far-sighted as he is today from the beginning. When he initially gained power, he actually made a lot of mistakes!
The wrong attitude towards Zhan Shanchang was just one of Zhao Junchen's mistakes.
When Zhao Junchen targeted the crown prince Zhu Heyu, he acted too hastily. Now he was about to be deposed, but the new crown prince turned into the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, who was even more threatening. This was also one of Zhao Junchen's mistakes. one.
At the same time, Zhao Junchen did not realize Zhou Shangjing's true plan in time. He only wanted to expand his power, but he unknowingly replaced Zhou Shangjing as the leader, and became the most hostile and confidant of Emperor Deqing. This was one of Zhao Junchen's mistakes.
In addition to these mistakes, when Zhao Junchen was checking all kinds of intelligence in the past three months, he also discovered that his "New Zhao Party" plan was on the verge of failure!
At the beginning, Zhao Junchen believed that the "Zhao Party" was just a group of corrupt officials who would never achieve great things, so he wanted to start a new business and recruit a group of young scholars into his sect while taking advantage of the opportunity. During this period of strong plasticity for these young scholars, they formed a relatively clean "New Zhao Party" force.
But Zhao Junchen finally underestimated the big dye vat of officialdom. After all, there are only a few lotus flowers that can emerge from the mud without being stained.
Before entering the officialdom, most people always pat their chests to ensure that they are firm-willed and have the world in mind, and they strongly despise corrupt officials. However, in fact, it often only takes half a year for them to completely degenerate, forget their original intentions, and become corrupt officials. One of the corrupt officials.
When Zhao Junchen checked the intelligence just now, he discovered that most of the members of the "New Zhao Party" in his mind have now committed corruption and bribery, and gradually they are no different from the old officials of the "Zhao Party" .
This can be regarded as one of Zhao Junchen's original mistakes. He underestimated the temptation of officialdom and overestimated human nature. He spent a lot of effort and energy to promote the "New Zhao Party" plan, but the final result was only for the "Zhao Party" Corrupt officials have just added a batch of fresh blood.
Fortunately, these mistakes are either recoverable or the losses are not significant and will not affect Zhao Junchen's final success or failure.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen just lamented his naivety before turning his attention to Zhan Shanchang's affairs again.
Under the gazes of Fang Ru and Zhang Yu'er, Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment and finally said: "This Zhan Shanchang... I'm afraid I can't keep him!"
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The continuous outbreaks in the past few days have made the insect wander a little, and many hallucinations have emerged in his mind - "Am I no longer a handicapped gangster?", "Can I continue to explode?", "Am I a legend? The kind of kid who can do whatever he wants?"
But today, after sitting in front of the computer all afternoon, I choked out a total of 3,000 words. Cruel things immediately shattered the beautiful illusion of the insect.
So, today there are only three thousand words.
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