Han Xu became a little excited. Although he was submissive in front of the emperor, he still liked to express his opinions in front of his cabinet colleagues, so he hurriedly said: "Yuan Fu, what are you talking about? Special Jian Gu Kunshan became the imperial edict to become the chief minister." , neither of us has done anything about it, you just drew up the decree, how can you shirk it?"
"Where is my excuse? But this is a sudden edict from the inner court. Gu Kunshan is to be promoted to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Justice and I am asked to draw up the decree. How can I not obey it!"
Fang Congzhe pretended to be helpless and spoke.
"In this case, since you are Yuan Fu, you can banish him and persuade him with secret revelations. Who doesn't know that this person has bad character, how can he be qualified for the position of chief minister."
Han Xu continued to ask.
"It's easy for Mr. Han to say it. I don't know what Gu Kunshan's character is like. When an edict comes from the inner court, I can only obey it. Besides, I don't think there is anything wrong with using Gu Kunshan. He is the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and he was promoted to the minister of the Ministry of Punishment." Qualified. In addition, the servant had heard that he was a shrewd man, so he thought that the emperor's special briefs had profound meanings. Besides, how could one disobey the holy order? If Han Gong really felt that Gu Kunshan was not qualified to hold the post of chief commander, he could write the secret code himself. Reveal it to Your Majesty!"
Fang Congzhe retorted angrily.
Seeing this, Han Xu couldn't help but said: "Yuan Fu, do you know what the outside world is saying about us now? They say that our cabinet is just a paper-copycat of the Three Pavilions! It has no other use than drafting a decree!"
At this time.
Li Ruhua, the Minister of Personnel, and Sun Ruyou, the Minister of Rites, came here, and even Wang Yingjiao, the Minister of Hubu, also followed.
As soon as he arrived at the cabinet, Li Ruhua asked Fang Congzhe: "Yuanfu, I heard that Gu Kunshan became the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment because of your master's manipulation?"
Fang Congzhe replied directly in a bad tone: "If you want to ask, just ask the traitor! How could I know this?"
"No, Yuanfu, why are you so angry? There are rumors outside that Gu Kunshan is in charge of Qiuguan (the Ministry of Punishment) because of Lingzi's operation. If we don't ask you, who else can we ask? If Lingzi is really capable, Isn’t it because of your strength?”
Sun Ruyou asked.
"Why are you taking advantage of my power? I can only serve as an assistant minister. How can I decide the appointment of a minister without authorization? What the eldest uncle said really makes me don't know how to answer. If the eldest uncle really feels that the servant is taking power and messing up the government, he can go directly to the court. I am here to impeach you!"
Fang Congzhe replied directly.
"The official made a mistake!"
Sun Ruyou didn't dare to really offend Fang Congzhe. Seeing that Fang Congzhe was angry, he handed over his hands and apologized, and then said: "If it is really your master's fault, your master may have other ways, but this matter is not trivial, it is related to the safety of the country." , it is also related to Yuanfu’s family tradition, please ask Yuanfu to ask your young master carefully after he returns.”
"Why do you ask me? I've already broken the leg of that traitor because he was restless! Do you want me to kill him directly and let me break him? He's an only son like this."
Fang Congzhe spoke excitedly.
"That's not what we meant."
Li Ruhua hurriedly replied.
For a moment, the ministers didn't know what to say.
At this time, the eunuch from the clerk's room came over and said, "According to the order, Yuan Fufang Congzhe enters the palace to see you."
"I accept the decree!"
Fang Congzhe hurriedly followed the eunuch.
Han Xu, on the other hand, looked at Fang Congzhe's passing back and said with some jealousy: "Among all the ministers in the court, he is the only one who can play in front of you every day, but every time he acts like he is powerless!"
"Yuan Fu must also have his own difficulties."
Wang Yingjiao said something for Fang Conzhe,
"What trouble can he have? Liu Jihui (Liu Yishui) and Li Xiuwu (Li Sancai) both scolded him before they were executed. Ever since he became the head of the civil service, the world's scholars have never had a good day! He is a loner on the surface. , no one knows whether he is secretly forming a clique for personal gain."
Sun Ruyou said angrily.
"Yuan Fu will not form a clique. If he forms a clique, those of us who are not a private party with him will not occupy the position of Dajiuqing! What I am worried about now is that his son is secretly forming a clique. Party, I heard that he has been interacting with several officials in the court, and some even call him Mr. Xiao Ge in private! This seems to be following in the footsteps of Yan Donglou."
Li Ruhua said at this time.
The other ministers nodded and frowned after hearing this.
…
"There are rumors in the market that your son is secretly forming a clique. I don't believe it. Yuan Fusu is very strict in managing the house, and I know it. Those people outside are disgusting. You broke your legs, and you still spread rumors like this. It's obvious that you want to You can’t force your son to death!”
Zhu Youxiao also talked about this matter after calling Fang Congzhe.
Fang Congzhe was quite moved after hearing this, and he naturally understood in his heart that the emperor meant that he would not embarrass his son about forming a clique so that he could feel at ease.
Therefore, Fang Congzhe choked up with gratitude: "Your Majesty, the Holy Ming Wu Guo!"
"Why are you choking? I know your difficulties. The ability to maintain the discipline of the imperial court this time is all thanks to Ai Qing's policy. After you return to the cabinet, you will draft a decree and make your son Shang Bao Sicheng.
In addition, I also asked Shang Gongjian to make a carved wheelchair for Lingzi with more functions, and also gave it to Lingzi as a gift from me. I told Lingzi that as long as the body is disabled and the mind is strong, even if the movement is inconvenient, he can still Can serve the country! "
Zhu Youxiao comforted Fang Congzhe.
He knew that His Majesty was encouraging his son in disguise to make friends with some political enemies of the Donglin Party.
But Fang Congzhe knew that he couldn't expose it, so he wisely pretended to be stupid and thanked him.
"One more thing, I have finalized the list of chief and deputy examiners for next year's general examination and the next main and deputy examiners for the Beizhili Township Examination. You can take it back to the cabinet and issue it."
Zhu Youxiao said one more thing next.
"yes!"
Fang Congzhe accepted the order. He wanted to ask the emperor if he was worried about whether the killing of a group of scholars who were making a fuss in the Jinyiwei Hall to protect the imperial court and the killing of Li Sancai would affect the imperial competition and the grain supply. thing.
But Fang Congzhe still didn't say anything. He felt that he had better think of a countermeasure first, so that when it really happened, he could show his importance as the first assistant.
…
In fact, because of the murder of Li Sancai and the troublemaking scholars, many officials had begun to foresee that this would anger the scholar-bureaucrats, leading to a cutoff in grain supplies and even an increase in taxes.
For example, the governor of Shandong was in Jin at this time.
"Li Sancai was captured by the Yi clan and lost his property. The mansion built with more than 200,000 pieces of golden nanmu has been taken over as official property. The soldiers who forced their way into the Jinyiwei Hall have been executed! Your Majesty, if you do this, you will What makes the scholar-bureaucrats all over the world even more dissatisfied is that there will be a big problem with this year's water transport."
Wang Zaijin couldn't help but frown after seeing the latest news published in the Di newspaper.
Wang Zaijin therefore hurriedly sent people to summon all the officials of Shandong's seventh rank and above, saying: "There will inevitably be a big problem with the grain supply this year. No matter how dissatisfied the southern gentry is with the court, we cannot abandon the country and ignore it, and the world cannot be in chaos. Yes, therefore, I would like to ask us in Shandong to immediately use the feudal treasury to purchase grain, and mobilize the grain from Changping warehouses in various places, and try to raise two to three million shi of grain before winter, so as to ensure that when the time comes Cope with the sudden change in grain transportation!"
"yes!"
Shandong civil and military officials hurriedly replied.
"Well, hurry up and prepare! In addition, the prefecture and county officials should immediately prepare enough river workers in each section of the canal. Once the capital and Jiubian are short of grain, they can have the grain transport ship replaced without stopping, so as to save Shandong's The grain was quickly transported to North Zhili! The wages of river workers in various places will be temporarily paid with taxes from Linqing Prefecture! This matter will definitely happen, and after it happens, if our Shandong civil and military forces can solve this matter for the imperial court, the imperial court will definitely Reward me for my Shandong civil and military achievements!"
Wang Zaijin continued.
