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In ancient officialdom, especially in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, it was common for officials to sell memorials and excerpts. The relevant transaction processes were extremely complete, and the relevant industrial chains were also extremely mature. There were even professional brokers. Especially common.
In short, in the temple, if anyone, whether he is an eunuch in the inner court or a civil or military official in the outer court, as long as he has the authority to submit memorials to the emperor and make suggestions to the court, there will definitely be all kinds of people with ulterior motives. I came to you and proposed a deal. I hope you can write a memorial in your own name and according to their ideas and submit it to the emperor and the court.
The specific content of this memorial can be to impeach someone, or it can be to recommend someone, or it can even be to express political opinions and influence the court's decision-making; the method of submission of this memorial can be a secret document submitted directly to the emperor. , or it can be handed over through the normal process, or you can even choose to throw it out in public at the court meeting, which will trigger a debate among officials and cause greater repercussions;
Ultimately, depending on the status of the person who submitted the memorial, the importance of the contents of the memorial, and the different ways in which the memorial was submitted, the price will vary, but it is basically a clear price.
By the way, among the various contents of the memorial, the one with the content of "Impeaching Zhao Junchen for corruption and bending the law" has the lowest price.
The reason is that too many people have impeached Zhao Junchen for corruption and bending the law in recent years. Not only Emperor Deqing and all the officials in the court have long been accustomed to it, but even Zhao Junchen himself has too many lice and no longer itches. Therefore, the sparseness of this kind of content cannot have any impact. There are too many similar products, and the price cannot be raised.
As one of the powerful officials in the court, Zhao Junchen has not only sold memorials many times - as long as the content of your memorials exactly matches Zhao Junchen's thoughts at the time, or the content of your memorials is insignificant but the price is sufficient, then Zhao Junchen will Junchen is definitely a warm and considerate store, and even proactively provides after-sales service; and Zhao Junchen has bought memorials many times - sometimes Zhao Junchen wants to create more momentum for a certain political opinion of his, and sometimes Zhao Junchen wants to create more momentum for a certain political opinion of his. , Zhao Junchen wanted to express a certain point of view, but this point of view was not convenient for him and his cronies to come forward directly. In this case, Zhao Junchen would not hesitate to buy a large number of memorials from other officials at any price.
Some time ago, in order to bring down Lu Yuanan, the former governor of Shandong, Zhao Junchen purchased nearly a hundred memorials from more than 20 officials in the court and spent more than 100,000 taels of silver in one go. He was the biggest customer of those official brokers. one.
However, Zhao Junchen was still a little surprised when he saw that Xu He actually wanted to buy a memorial from him, and that it was a memorial that was submitted directly to Emperor Deqing.
Not only was I surprised by Xu He's straightforwardness, but I was also surprised by the specific content of this memorial.
But soon, Zhao Junchen guessed what Xu He was thinking.
It stands to reason that such matters as business memorials should not be spoken directly to one's face. It is really too shameful. Instead, one should find an official broker with wide connections to convey the message in circles - in this world, the filthier it gets. The more dirty things are, the more we pursue the superficial glamor.
Unfortunately, Liaodong Town is located in a remote place. It does not have a well-established market system like the capital city, and there are no decent official brokers. In addition, time is tight, so Xu He took the risk and proposed the deal to Zhao Junchen face to face.
And this transaction is not only Xu He's plan to draw money from the bottom of the cauldron, but also the escape route he seeks for himself.
For Emperor Deqing and several cabinet elders, the huge expenditure on Liao's salary over the years has always been one of the most troublesome things for them. Once the Liao's salary reform is implemented, it will undoubtedly be able to significantly reduce Liao's salary expenditure. Deqing Emperor Qing and the elders will also feel deeply relaxed and very happy.
Although with the experience and wisdom of Emperor Deqing and several cabinet elders, they could see at a glance that the specific content of Liao's salary reform was Zhao Junchen's handiwork and style, they did not think that Zhao Junchen had the ability to make Liaodong Town accept Liao's salary reform. Rates reform.
Under such circumstances, once Zhao Junchen agreed to Xu He's deal, he wrote a secret letter to Emperor Deqing explaining that the reason why Liaodong Town was willing to accept Liao's salary reform plan was all because of Xu He's vigorous promotion. , then Emperor Deqing would definitely have a good impression of Xu He.
Under such circumstances, Emperor Deqing might bypass Liaodong Town's internal recommendation and directly appoint Xu He to be the legitimate commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town. By that time, Xu He's status would naturally be more stable, and there would be no need to Worry that you are just a transitional figure, and you no longer have to worry that you will be forced to abdicate if you make just a few mistakes in the future.
To take a step back, even if Emperor Deqing did not directly appoint Xu He to be the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, and Xu He was forced to abdicate because he could not quickly solve the various crises in Liaodong Town during his tenure as commander-in-chief, as long as Emperor Deqing Because of this tight seal, I have a good impression of Xu He, and I will soon arrange another good job for Xu He, so that Xu He can get out of the muddy water of Liaodong Town, and I don’t have to worry about myself fighting for various interests during this period. and suffered retaliation afterwards.
It has only been a quarter of an hour since Xu He was elected as the acting commander-in-chief by the senior military attaches in Liaodong Town. He was able to conceive of such a plan in such a short period of time, and he was also willing to risk the plan being exposed. Risk directly proposed a deal to Zhao Junchen. Such quick wit and courage were both impressive, and Zhao Junchen had to admit that he had underestimated this person in the past.
But at the same time, Zhao Junchen also believed that he had overestimated Xu He.
Compared with Li Zehe's wit and willingness to succeed in the city, Xu He's behavior has always seemed a bit mediocre, but mediocrity also has the advantages of mediocrity. First, it is not easy to arouse hostility, and second, it is not easy to make big mistakes.
After Xu He changed his usual mediocre style, he immediately made two very obvious mistakes.
First, he completely misjudged Zhao Junchen's position in the mind of Emperor Deqing. Emperor Deqing seemed to favor Zhao Junchen on the surface, but in fact he was full of suspicion. Therefore, if Zhao Junchen submitted a secret to Xu He, Well, not only would Emperor Deqing not have a good impression of Xu He, but he would regard Xu He as a potential military henchman of Zhao Junchen, and then he would try his best to suppress him.
Second, Xu He completely underestimated Zhao Junchen's despicableness and shamelessness. He had no idea how cruel Zhao Junchen was when he stabbed him in the back. He actually revealed his feelings to Zhao Junchen directly, allowing Zhao Junchen to find an excellent opportunity. As long as he Leaking this matter out can quickly intensify the conflicts between him and Li Zehe, Gan Cheng and others, and then allow Zhao Junchen to fish in troubled waters again.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but look at Xu He with pity.
Of course, this kind of pity can also be regarded as ridicule.
But soon, Zhao Junchen calmed down his emotions and began to think about another thing - if he agreed to this deal, what benefits should he take the opportunity to get for himself?
After seeing Zhao Junchen's silence, Xu He couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.
He had no confidence that he could control the situation in Liaodong as the acting commander-in-chief, so he proposed the deal to Zhao Junchen in person. Xu He also knew that his approach was extremely risky, so he was naturally extremely worried about Zhao Junchen's reaction.
Under Xu He's nervous inspection, Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment and finally said slowly: "General Soldier Xu, you should understand the rules. With my status and status, the price is already very high. In addition, your letter The weight represented by the memorial... I can agree to this transaction, but you must pay a very high price."
Seeing that Zhao Junchen finally relented, Xu He was overjoyed. He was not afraid of Zhao Junchen's high bid. He was only worried that Zhao Junchen would directly reject the deal, so he quickly said: "Zhao Junchen, you can just bid, as long as it is within the scope of your humble position, you will definitely do it." Not counter-offer."
Prices, sales, bids, counter-offers... If someone who didn't know the inside story heard this conversation, they would probably mistakenly think that both parties were businessmen full of copper odor - in fact, it was similar. The copper emanating from Zhao Junchen's body The stench is stronger than that of ordinary businessmen.
Zhao Junchen looked at Xu He with a flash of pity again, as if he saw a fool who took the initiative to sell himself and still helped count the money, then shook his head and said: "Because I can set the price at will, on the contrary I can't figure out how I should offer the price in a short period of time... Let's do this. I have temporarily agreed to this transaction. After I go back to rest, I will prepare this memorial for you, and then it will be accompanied by the memorial on Liao's salary reform. Send it to the capital. As for what kind of reward you want to give me, I have to wait until I think about it clearly."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Xu He felt that he had taken advantage of it. He could receive the goods first and then bid. He was even more overjoyed. He nodded in agreement and thanked Zhao Junchen again.
After Zhao Junchen nodded lightly, he said meaningfully: "I deeply admire and feel pleased that General Xu has such determination. I only hope that General Xu will not regret this transaction in the future. "
After saying that, Zhao Junchen turned and left.
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In Xu He's view, Zhao Junchen's agreement to this transaction is definitely good news with a profit but not a loss.
Perhaps due to the fate of time, Xu He soon received more good news.
First, after Xu He awakened He Bandi, He Rensheng, and Liu Xiong, although he was immediately questioned angrily by He bandit and others, after a lot of talking, he finally managed to persuade He bandit and others to accept it. After understanding the new situation in Liaodong Town, and going through various negotiations, concessions, and promises, they also obtained a certain degree of tacit consent from He Bandit and others, and would not interfere with Xu He taking over their Liaodong Cavalry.
Later, Li Zehe, Gan Cheng, Huang Shenming and others also received good news. Li Zehe and Gan Cheng successfully contacted their trusted military attachés among the reinforcements, and successfully regained their military power, allowing more than 7,000 reinforcements to After returning to the command of various generals, the threat from He Bandit and others was initially eliminated. After Huang Shenming distributed a large amount of meat and wine, he also successfully boosted the morale of the entire army and initially stabilized the morale of the army.
Finally, before Chen time the next day, with the tacit consent of He Bandi and others, Xu He also took preliminary control of the 3,000 Liaodong cavalry under He Bandit and others. He temporarily had a military advantage and temporarily controlled Liaodong. town situation.
However, just when Xu He felt deeply blessed by heaven, Zhao Junchen could no longer care about these things.
This is because when Zhao Junchen returned to the Forbidden Army station, he finally discovered the serious injuries Xu Qingyan suffered when he escaped from He Yu's control.
Moreover, when Zhao Junchen saw Xu Qingyan, Xu Qingyan's injuries had shown signs of infection and he fell into a coma.
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