Ge Xingxian's actions made the Shandong officials very excited.
Regardless of whether they were willing to come forward at this moment, at this moment, they all clenched their fists for him, hoping that he could hold on longer.
More activists have come forward and joined Ge Xingxian on a hunger strike. They also sent people to spread the news of this kind of hunger strike throughout the country, causing people in Zhongdu to talk about it.
Although most people don't know the specific details, they have seen too many things like imperial struggle as a group of people who live under the emperor's feet.
And they naturally thought that this was not a good thing - it was probably not good for something like this to happen just one month after the founding of the new dynasty.
This incident reached the ears of Kong Zheng. Kong Zheng was startled, then turned pale with fright, and immediately found Zhou Jiang, who also looked unhappy, to discuss countermeasures.
"Why didn't I know about this kind of thing before? Why did they act on their own? Why didn't they consult with me before doing anything? If I knew, I couldn't let them act like this even if I tried my best!"
Zhou Jiang didn't know about this at first. He knew about it not much earlier than Kong Zheng.
But he didn't foresee this happening.
"After the imperial examination reform happened, our Ministry of Rites also supported His Majesty's reform plan. Perhaps in the eyes of those people, we and Your Majesty are already like grasshoppers on the same rope. They may no longer believe that the Ministry of Rites will stand with them. At least neither of us will."
"This...I..."
Only then did Kong Zheng react.
He thought he had become the leader of the Shandong civil servants, but at this moment he realized that his series of compromises and concessions had greatly reduced his image and influence among the Shandong civil servants.
Some people no longer trust Kong Zheng. Out of their own sense of urgency and insecurity, they decide to take the initiative and use their own power to turn the tide.
But these people have not understood the current situation at all, and the Ministry of Rites is powerless. What can they do with a group of stragglers?
"This approach is so stupid! His Majesty has just ascended the throne, and it is the time when he is trying to revive the shortcomings of government reform. If you go against your Majesty at this time, aren't you seeking death?!"
Zhou Jiang was also very nervous.
"What's more important is that except for us, all other forces will support His Majesty. Once they join forces to suppress us, our situation will become very passive! Those people... are too impulsive!"
"It's either impulsive or self-righteous! I have been doing whatever I want for too long. I don't know that the person sitting on the throne now is someone I can't afford to offend! I don't know that the current situation does not allow anyone to act recklessly, except His Majesty!"
With that said, Kong Zheng was about to run out.
"Where are you going?"
Zhou Jiang chased and asked.
"Go to the palace! Deal with them!"
Kong Zheng said angrily: "If we really mess things up for them, our lives will be difficult in the future!"
Of course what Kong Zheng said was right, and his efforts were in the right direction, but unfortunately, when he rushed to the palace, he suddenly heard that Zhao Zuoliang, the head of the Shangshu Province and Pingzhang political minister, took the initiative to apologize to the emperor Su Yonglin for this matter, and committed suicide. Please be demoted.
Kong Zheng was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that his legs felt a little weak.
Zhao Zuoliang's apology to Su Yonglin really surprised many people.
This matter had nothing to do with Zhao Zuoliang, but Zhao Zuoliang still stood up and said that the officials who caused the trouble were all subordinate to the Shangshu Province and under the control of the Shangshu Province. As the head of the Shangshu Province, Zhao Zuoliang failed to stop his subordinates from doing such stupid things. Be responsible too.
The education reform plan and the imperial examination reform plan are clearly beneficial to the country and the people, but there are so many people who do not understand the current situation who do such stupid things to stop them, and even arouse public opinion. As a matter of political affairs, he restrained his subordinates. If you are not strict, you cannot absolve yourself of the blame.
So he asked for demotion.
Su Yonglin was "very emotional".
"Even I would not have thought of some delusional people doing random things, let alone Prime Minister Zhao?"
He comforted Zhao Zuoliang, thinking that he had not made a big mistake and was not confused about major issues of right and wrong, so major punishment was not needed.
But if he fails to do small things in daily life, it will sometimes cause some troubles, so Zhao Zuoliang should be punished.
So Su Yonglin symbolically fined Zhao Zuoliang three months' salary.
Okay, the head of the Shangshu Province has been punished, what crime should those people below deserve?
Su Yonglin's counterattack came very quickly.
The twelve civil servants who resigned in the above list were allowed to resign, and they all rushed back to their hometowns and never used them again.
The eight civil servants who went on hunger strike were demoted to lower-level officials, losing their original leadership positions and power.
The power of the Shandong civil servants was relatively weak, and they did not have time to mobilize more forces to support them. It was useless to just rely on the stance of maintaining tradition to carry out this struggle.
So they just caused a small disturbance and provided Zhongdu residents with something to talk about after dinner for a period of time.
In this minor disturbance, a total of twenty people were punished. According to the political factions, they will undoubtedly be classified as Shandong faction.
Su Yonglin made this decision quickly, and the official department passed it directly, and the punishment was confirmed. Twenty civil servants from Shandong were struck by the emperor's thunder.
And when they learned the news that they were being punished, they still didn't react.
Because it was too fast, the emperor's counterattack was too fast.
The court was also too cooperative.
They didn't know that in the Southern Song Dynasty, their approach might have been successful.
But they failed to see the situation clearly.
This is not the Southern Song Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty.
Facing their counterattack, Su Yonglin smiled.
Is there such a good thing?
Come on, that's the uncertainty I want.
I just want to smash this ultra-stable social structure that has plagued China for two thousand years and create a new possibility.
If we don’t seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, when the power of traditional Confucianism has been suppressed to its lowest point, it will be too late to regret it.
If we don't take action at this time to suppress your meager counterattack, do we have to wait until you are full-fledged and have passed the imperial examination to achieve full status before taking action?
At that time, the general trend of the world will change again.
With such a thunderous blow, before the resistance of the Shandong civil servants had reached its peak, the counterattack wave was cut off by Su Yonglin, and the protest ended suddenly, as if it had never happened.
The positions they vacated were allocated by Su Yonglin to the Yanyun, Foreign and Yuancong families in a certain proportion.
The three major factions who had benefited were very excited about such a thing. While laughing and scolding the Shandong scholars for being stupid, they also criticized them in public, showing the attitude of beating up the fallen dog.
Huo Jianbai's memorial pointed the finger directly at Kong Zheng, the Minister of Rites.
He said that Zhao Zuoliang, as the Pingzhang political official of Shangshu Province, took the initiative to stand up and take the blame. However, among the twenty officials who caused the biggest trouble this time, eight were from the Ministry of Rites. Didn't he, Kong Zheng, need to stand up and take the blame to express his position? .
After Su Yonglin received Huo Jianbai's memorial, he did not approve it. Instead, he directly sent Huo Jianbai's memorial to the Ministry of Rites and handed it over to Kong Zheng.
Kong Zheng read Huo Jianbai's memorial and broke into a cold sweat. While wiping the cold sweat, he cursed Huo Jianbai's ruthlessness and determination. He felt that Huo Jianbai's move directly hit him in the seven inches, leaving him unable to fight back.
Zhou Jiang also read this memorial and was very worried.
"Xiangong Zhao directly confessed, which has a huge impact. He is a political official in Pingzhang. He directly stood up and confessed, and was fined three months' salary. If he is like this, the next person will not be punished less than this. .”
"That's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Huo Jianbai's move is to force me to confess and to plead guilty. Then I will face His Majesty's punishment."
Kong Zheng smiled bitterly and said: "I guess Huo Jianbai wants to force me to resign this time. He has this idea."
"One month after the founding of the new dynasty, the Minister of Rites resigned from office. This kind of thing is too shocking."
Zhou Jiang shook his head repeatedly and said, "You must not do this. Things must be turning around. It is impossible to reach this point."
"Of course I won't do this, otherwise why would Your Majesty send Huo Jianbai's memorial to me?"
Kong Zheng threw Huo Jianbai's memorial aside, took a breath and said, "Your Majesty is giving me a chance. I have to follow your Majesty's wishes to make a turn for the better."
