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During the morning session the next day, several major events occurred one after another that shocked both the government and the public.
On this day, when Emperor Deqing arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony and was about to announce to the officials that Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing were temporarily out of the capital for inspection, he suddenly saw several court officials jumping out impatiently. .
After these officials came out, they all violently impeached Fang Shiwen, the former Minister of Dali Temple who was about to be appointed as the governor of Shandong. They said that during his tenure as Minister of Dali Temple, Fang Shiwen had repeatedly used power for personal gain and judged a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases, which caused complaints among the people and the country. Don't conquer the country.
Interestingly, when these officials wanted to impeach Fang Shiwen, they also stated that they had no conclusive evidence. However, Yang Xun, the current Minister of Dali Temple and a great scholar, had collected a large amount of personal and material evidence, which was enough to prove Fang Shiwen's various crimes.
This matter was naturally planned by Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen, and it was also one of the various countermeasures that the two of them agreed upon during their conversation yesterday.
In fact, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing had already reached a deal to overthrow Fang Shiwen and make the position of Shandong Governor vacant again. Then the two parties jointly supported Zhao Junchen's crony and Shandong Chief Minister Li Lide to take over as Shandong Governor. There was a vacancy, and Zhao Junchen returned the favor and fully supported Lu Yuanan, the former governor of Shandong who had just been dismissed not long ago, to take over the vacancy of governor of Shaanxi.
Originally, something like this involving a feudal official would have to be solved slowly and through a lot of temple disputes and interest exchanges. Moreover, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing initially expected Yang Xun, the current Minister of Dali Temple, to personally He stepped forward to bring down Fang Shiwen, believing that Yang Xun had always been intolerant of criticism. When he discovered Fang Shiwen's various crimes over the years, he would definitely stand up and publicly impeach him as soon as possible.
Who would have thought that although Yang Xun has a tolerant eye and a fair personality, he has always been rigorous in his work and attaches great importance to the conclusive evidence during trial and conviction. Therefore, Yang Xun heard about Fang Shiwen's various crimes from Zhao Junchen After that, he did not immediately jump out to express his stance on impeachment. During this period, he had been trying to collect personal and material evidence, planning to wait until all the evidence was irrefutable before he came forward to impeach Fang Shiwen's crimes to Emperor Deqing.
At the beginning, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing were not in a hurry for the past few days, and had been waiting patiently. But now the situation in the temple has undergone major changes, and both of them will be out of Beijing for inspection in the next period of time. Naturally, this matter cannot be delayed any longer, otherwise the positions of governor of Shandong and governor of Shaanxi are likely to fall into the hands of others.
It was precisely because of this consideration that Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen arranged for some court officials to take the lead in impeaching Fang Shiwen, in order to force Yang Xun to express support, and then they could overthrow Fang Shiwen before they left the capital, and then Take the opportunity to confirm the appointments of the governor of Shandong and the governor of Shaanxi.
The subsequent development of this matter was as expected by Zhou and Zhao. When Emperor Deqing heard that Yang Xun had obtained a large number of personal and material evidence, he immediately consulted Yang Xun for his opinion.
Facing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Yang Xun had no choice but to report all the evidence he had so far.
In the eyes of a legal expert like Yang Xun, the evidence he currently has is still not conclusive and thorough enough, and there is still a possibility of overturning the verdict. However, Emperor Deqing is not as rigorous as Yang Xun. When he heard After Yang Xun reported various evidences, Fang Shiwen's guilt was confirmed on the spot.
Under such circumstances, coupled with the successive impeachments of Zhou and Zhao party officials, and the instigation of some neutral officials, a situation was created where people and gods were angry. Emperor Deqing did not hesitate at all, and quickly dismissed Fang Shiwen. Dismissed and convicted.
In the eyes of Emperor Deqing, Fang Shiwen was just a dispensable person from beginning to end, and he would not hesitate in dealing with it.
But when things got to this point, as Fang Shiwen was dismissed and convicted before taking office, the topic in the morning quickly turned to the appointment of Shandong governor.
At the same time, the position of governor of Shaanxi, which had been vacant for several months, was also mentioned again by some officials.
The appointment of two feudal officials naturally triggered fierce competition and quarrels between the various factions in the DPRK and China.
Under such circumstances, officials from the "Zhou Party" and "Zhao Party", led by Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen, stepped forward to express their support for Li Lide and Lu Yuanan to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively. Position, pretending to be determined to win.
Although Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen are the two most powerful officials in the temple, and the "Zhou Party" and "Zhao Party" are also the largest factions in the temple, the temptation of feudal officials is too great, even for Zhou , Zhao two people joined forces, and the candidates they recommended still caused a lot of controversy.
In fact, it is normal for these disputes to arise, because Li Lide and Lu Yuanan do have many shortcomings. Among them, Li Lide has only served as the chief envoy of Shandong for more than a year, and his qualifications and achievements are both insufficient. And Lu Yuanan was convicted and dismissed by the court not long ago. It can be said that the current situation of these two people is not suitable for serving as the court's frontier officials.
However, amid such controversy, Emperor Deqing, after a period of silence and reflection, unexpectedly expressed his support for Li Lide and Lu Yuanan to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively.
In this way, when Emperor Deqing, Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing stood on the same position, the general trend was determined. No matter how unsuitable Li Lide and Lu Yuanan were to serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi, this matter It was still decided in this way, and those forces and officials who were jealous of the position of feudal official could only give up.
The reason why Emperor Deqing chose to support Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen's proposal to let Li Lide and Lu Yuanan serve as governors of Shandong and Shaanxi respectively was also very simple - if this matter continued to be debated, it would definitely take a long time. Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen must be unwilling to give up, and it will inevitably affect Emperor Deqing's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.
Therefore, out of overall consideration, Emperor Deqing was extremely rare and directly supported Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen's proposal to support their cronies, which also allowed the matter to be settled quickly - this was also the reason why Zhou and Zhao were selected Another important reason to act at this time.
For the sake of greater and longer-term interests, Emperor Deqing did not mind making slight concessions on small short-term interests. Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen also understood Emperor Deqing's style, so the two of them often took advantage of Deqing. Emperor Qing's style was somewhat advantageous.
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After Fang Shiwen was convicted and dismissed, and the vacancies of governors in Shandong and Shaanxi were decided, Emperor Deqing calmed down a little and was about to mention again that Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen were about to go out to the capital for inspection, but... I saw Zhao Junchen again eagerly showing up to present his memorial.
Next, compared to Fang Shiwen's various crimes, the content of Zhao Junchen's report was even more shocking to all officials. Zhao Junchen first enumerated the natural and man-made disasters in various parts of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and then reported to Emperor Deqing and the All the officials in the court made a detailed calculation.
Since this year, due to various natural and man-made disasters, how much food is expected to be in short supply in various parts of the imperial court?
In the second half of the year, how much food must the court prepare to provide relief to victims in various places?
At the same time, how much available grain is left in the granaries across the imperial court?
Wait, wait, etc., it can be said to be extremely detailed, and they are all astronomical figures.
In the end, Zhao Junchen's final conclusion was that the court would have a shortfall of 30 million stones of food and grass this year. The food shortage was already a major concern for the court. If the court could not make up for these shortfalls in time before autumn this year, then it would have to wait until the end of the year. Nowadays, there may be millions of people fleeing famine in various parts of the country!
Zhao Junchen suddenly mentioned the court's serious food shortage problem again, but it was not one of the countermeasures agreed in advance with Zhou Shangjing, but Zhao Junchen acted without authorization.
The reason why Zhao Junchen would do this is also very simple. When he discovered that Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing were probably working together to plot against him, but he couldn't figure out their specific methods anyway, naturally he felt in his heart I was so anxious that I didn't sleep all night last night. Now my eyes were bloodshot and there were obvious dark circles.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen once again emphasized the food shortage in the court, and his tone was also bitter, just to remind Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing again that now is not the time to kill the donkey, if you really want to plot against me , we can’t kill them all, so we should be gentler?
In fact, this time it was Zhao Junchen who was overly worried. Emperor Deqing just wanted to thoroughly confirm whether Zhao Junchen was loyal or traitorous. Zhou Shangjing also just wanted to strengthen Emperor Deqing's determination to completely eradicate Zhao Junchen to avoid future troubles. It is just to speed up the process of Zhao Junchen's demise, but both of them also understand that the donkey Zhao Junchen still needs to continue to grind, and it is not the time to kill him.
According to Emperor Deqing's thinking, if Zhao Junchen can abide by his duty as a minister and resolutely refuse the border general's offer of surrender when he is tested, then Emperor Deqing will also take into account Zhao Junchen's various achievements and future historical evaluation. I would seriously consider giving Zhao Junchen a good death, but only if Zhao Junchen is willing to voluntarily give up all his power and perhaps half of his family wealth.
On the other hand, if Zhao Junchen is really ambitious and is proven to want to interfere with military power, then Emperor Deqing will not immediately take action against Zhao Junchen. Instead, he will treat Zhao Junchen with more "trust", but as long as he waits until the court transfers Overcoming the immediate food shortage crisis, Zhao Junchen and his cronies would soon face catastrophe. By then, Emperor Deqing would already have conclusive evidence that Zhao Junchen had evil intentions and colluded with military generals. Even if he used violent means to destroy Zhao Junchen, There is no need to worry about history books criticizing him as being mean and unkind and not accepting of meritorious officials.
Therefore, even if Zhao Junchen really jumped into the pit, he could still linger for a year or two, but what was waiting for him was the countdown to death.
There is no need to mention Emperor Deqing's thoughts, but it is said that after the officials heard the series of astronomical figures listed by Zhao Junchen, they immediately started talking again.
The million-scale refugee rebellion cannot be overemphasized.
Then, after a period of discussion and debate, the officials quickly came to a definite conclusion, that is - Zhao Junchen, you need to work extra hard to raise food and grass!
Although this conclusion makes people laugh or cry, it is also the conclusion that Zhao Junchen is most happy to see at the moment.
On the other side, Emperor Deqing's expression became more and more serious, but he was not frightened by the astronomical figures listed by Zhao Junchen. He just encouraged Zhao Junchen with a few words, and then took the opportunity to announce to the officials that Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing were together. The person is about to make a decision to go out to Beijing for inspection.
Since the food shortage is the top priority of the court, it is natural for Zhao Junchen to go north to inspect Liaodong and take the opportunity to reduce the cost of border defense in Liaodong, and then to have Zhou Shangjing go south to inspect the current situation of floods in Henan and assess the court's follow-up situation.
After hearing Emperor Deqing's announcement, the officials were naturally in an uproar again. They felt that all the things that happened in the court this morning were really dizzying, and major events that were enough to shock the government and the public came one after another.
Regarding the fact that Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen went out to inspect the capital at the same time, not only was Emperor Deqing's firm attitude, Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen also acquiesced and did not object. Therefore, although this matter had a greater impact in the eyes of the officials, it did not appear In any dispute, everyone is only thinking about the changes in the temple situation in the future.
For a moment, the Hall of Supreme Harmony fell into an eerie silence.
In such an eerie quiet atmosphere, the day's morning session came to an end quickly.
Afterwards, Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen were about to leave the center of the capital and go on inspections in the north and south.
Under such circumstances, the situation in the temple will inevitably move in an unpredictable direction.
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This chapter has no dialogue and no detailed description, so it is naturally a bit dry.
But this plot is just a transition after all. If dialogue and detailed descriptions were added, it would be unstoppable in 10,000 words. Zhao Junchen hinted that the part where he asked Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing to never kill the donkey could be written. It's a bit more interesting, but overall it's still too watery and draggy.
So Chongzi thought about it over and over, but couldn't find a better way to deal with it. In the end, he decided to just talk about it in a straightforward way. Please forgive me.
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