As a high-end person and the head of a thousand-year-old aristocracy, Kong Zheng felt that he had to have an accent when doing things.
"I understand what you mean, but you should take these things back. His Majesty has repeatedly ordered officials not to give each other gifts of more than two thousand dollars, so I will not accept them."
Kong Zheng shook his head and said: "Of course, you can rest assured that I will not treat this matter as if I didn't see it. This matter is of such great concern that I will do my best to work for you. As for the outcome, I don't dare ensure."
The fact that Kong Zheng could say this meant that he would work hard to protect him, so the officials of the Shandong Department received a relatively safe answer and left the Kongfu Mansion with many thanks.
Only a few prominent figures from the Shandong faction remained.
For example, Zhou Jiang, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Chen Jichang, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Cao Kai, the right minister of the Ministry of Finance, etc. These are the leading figures of the Shandong faction and hold the power that truly belongs to the Shandong faction. They are of great significance to Kong Zheng. .
"How did you go to Shangshu Province to inquire about it?"
Kong Zheng asked Cao Kai, who had gone to Shangshu Province to inquire about information.
Cao Kai looked worried and shook his head.
"I didn't find out anything. We got into a quarrel in the middle of the investigation, and then Kong Maojie came. How could we be his opponent? We had no choice but to run away, but according to what he said, he must know about this matter. , knew it earlier than we did, so I’m worried..."
Kong Zheng frowned slightly.
"This doesn't mean anything, and it's not important. What's important is that we now need to know how far things have progressed in Shandong and how many officials have been punished. Otherwise, we don't know anything and we are too passive."
Zhou Jiang seemed to have thought of something when he heard this.
So he whispered: "Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, I had vaguely heard that Your Majesty had a team specially responsible for inquiring about information. With this team, Your Majesty took an advantage on the battlefield against the Jin people. I think this Once, will it be..."
Several people were silent for a while.
"Anyway, we must know what happened. From the letters sent, we can know that at least many officials in Dongping Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture have been captured. There is such turmoil in these two prefectures, and the entire Shandong is afraid that it will not be stable."
Kong Zheng sighed and said slowly: "Although our hometown is not in Dongping Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture, it is difficult to say whether our hometown will be affected. All in all, we need to stabilize people's hearts first. This time is about the foundation and cannot be slacked off. Everyone first To stabilize people's hearts, I will figure out the rest."
"Understood."
"knew."
"please."
Zhou Jiang, Cao Kai and Chen Jichang took the order together.
At this moment, they can only trust Kong Zheng and leave everything to Kong Zheng.
After that, Cao Kai and Chen Jichang took the first step, and Zhou Jiang was left behind.
"This time Shandong is experiencing a catastrophe, and I am very worried that someone in the DPRK will add insult to injury, which will be detrimental to me."
Kong Zheng looked at Zhou Jiang: "We must prepare in advance to avoid such a thing from happening. Otherwise, if it happens, we will be in catastrophe. The foundation of Shandong scholars will be completely destroyed, and it will be too difficult to make a comeback."
Kong Zheng's body was shaking slightly when he said this.
Zhou Jiang noticed.
He realized that Kong Zheng might be in a state of high tension or even fear, and his calmness just now was just a fake.
His heart tightened.
"You mean, Yelu Chenghui and Huo Jianbai's group? They will add insult to injury?"
"Well, who else but them would do such a bad thing?"
Kong Zheng said in a low voice: "I even suspect that they were behind the scenes and revealed this matter to His Majesty, so that His Majesty was so angry that he went to Shandong in person to take charge. If they were not responsible for this, I would not have done anything wrong. Don’t want to believe it.”
"You mean, this matter was instructed by Yelu Chenghui or Huo Jianbai?"
"It's very possible that only they would do something like this."
Kong Zheng's eyes became sharp: "If I have to make a guess, I think Yelu Chenghui is more likely to lead this matter. Don't forget, Yelu Jin has always worked with us in the same official office."
When Kong Zheng said this, Zhou Jiang reacted immediately.
"If you put it this way...it's true! Yelujin has indeed been working with us in the same official office. If he did it deliberately, it is indeed very possible! If he bribed someone and learned about something about us, then it would really be Very dangerous!"
Zhou Jiang immediately had a look of horror on his face, feeling that he had noticed something extraordinary.
"So, I think this matter must have something to do with him! We must find out their dirty deeds before the dust settles and use them to counterattack. We must not just let them go!"
Kong Zheng slapped the table and decided to blast the foreign officials represented by Yelu Chenghui and Yelu Yuanyi, and decided to counterattack them so that their evil intentions could not succeed.
At the same time, Kong Zheng also believed that the Yanyun faction should stand with the foreign faction on this matter. They are all northern captives and bastards, and they must be dealt with.
Now that the opponent has made a move, the Shandong team must also counterattack.
Therefore, they must seize the time to collect dirty information about the Yanyun Clan. When Su Yonglin is ready to accuse the Shandong Clan, they will also have to come up with corresponding information to counterattack the foreign Clan and the Yanyun Clan, so as to preserve the Shandong Clan to the maximum extent. power.
Otherwise, it would be the same as sitting still and waiting for death.
The Shandong faction had been warned and dealt with by the emperor before. If they were dealt with again this time, they would be completely at a disadvantage.
The Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations have been consciously tilted towards the spheres of influence behind the other three factions in the imperial court. After the selection results of more than a thousand people were released, candidates with Shandong faction background did not account for a quarter of the number.
This fully shows that the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty are consciously biased towards the other three factions with smaller numbers and shallower foundations, while the Shandong faction, which is the most powerful, is being suppressed and its power is being restricted.
The emperor is engaging in balancing tactics.
The Shandong clique cannot suffer another political blow.
Driven by emotions of tension and fear, Kong Zheng made what he thought was the right decision.
They really didn't expect or think about who was leading this matter.
And like them, the officials of the Foreign Clan and Yanyun Clan also didn’t know who caused this incident and who was secretly guiding it.
"Although I really want to do this, it's really not what we do."
Facing Huo Jianbai's private inquiry, Yelu Chenghui smiled helplessly and said: "Although we have heard about this matter and are collecting evidence, we didn't expect that something happened in Shandong before we had time to act."
Yelu Chenghui shook his head and gave a negative answer to Huo Jianbai's question.
This made Huo Jianbai very puzzled.
"I don't know anything else. Anyway, none of my friends can do this. Shandong will definitely cause a big fuss this time. Although I am very willing to see this kind of thing happen, who does it belong to?" Where’s the credit? If it’s not Yelujin.”
"Indeed, who can be so capable to expose this matter? This is not a matter of offending one or two people, it is an enemy of the entire Shandong officials."
Yelu Chenghui thought for a while and asked: "In my opinion, there are not many people who dare to do this, otherwise His Majesty would not go to Shandong in person to take charge. According to this, it is very likely that Yuan From that group of people, what do you think?"
