"Sir, Fan Yongcheng from the Fan family of Shanxi merchants in Xuanfu is here to visit. He is outside the house."
A servant walked into the study and said respectfully to the middle-aged man sitting at the head table.
"Mr. Wang also has contacts with the Fan family of Shanxi merchants," asked an old man of fifty who was sitting with him.
Wang Wenyan smiled and said, "I did a small favor to the Fan family. I pushed Fang Congzhe to be the first assistant, so that Fang Congzhe could resign earlier, and Mr. Liu could ascend to the position of first assistant earlier."
Sitting on the other side was none other than Liu Yishen, the scholar of Dongge University, the Minister of Rites.
Liu Yishen sighed slightly and said, "It's a pity that Fang Shoufu has become the scapegoat of Liaodong. He cannot be entirely blamed for what happened in Liaodong. It was the legacy left by Uncle Ning Yuan back then. If Uncle Ning Yuan hadn't raised the bandits to respect themselves, it wouldn't have happened." The current situation in Liaodong appears."
Wang Wenyan, who was sitting on the other side, said angrily, "Undoubtedly Uncle Ning Yuan was at fault, but Fang's first assistant was even more responsible. When Fang Congzhe became the first assistant, he sat back and watched the Jurchen Tatars step by step and occupy our land in Liaodong. For plundering the population of our Ming Dynasty, for these two reasons alone, he, the chief minister, should apologize for his sins and abdicate in favor of others."
Seeing Wang Wenyan's excited look, Liu Yishen said nothing more.
Fang Congzhe does not belong to the Donglin Party. Now that the Donglin Party is gaining momentum, it is natural to support a Donglin Party member to rise to power, and the first assistant must naturally be replaced by a Donglin Party member.
This is a partisan struggle.
Liu Yishui knew that even if he admired Fang Congzhe, he could not speak for Fang Congzhe at this time, not to mention that he was the biggest beneficiary after Fang Congzhe became an official.
Wang Wenyan looked at the servant who came in to deliver the letter and said, "Tell the people in the Fan family that I accepted the items on the gift list and disappeared. What they asked for has been completed. The court will send someone to Datong soon." "
"yes."
The servant respectfully agreed and backed out of the study.
Liu Yishen, who was sitting aside, put down his bowl and said, "What do the Fan family ask you for?"
Although Wang Wenyan is just a small supervisor, he has a high status in the Donglin Party. Not only is he on good terms with many important figures in the Donglin Party, he is also on good terms with Wang An in the palace, and he has a wide range of skills.
Although Liu Yishen was a bachelor of Dongge, the Minister of Rites, he was acquainted with Wang Wenyan and treated him as an equal.
People like Ye Xianggao and Han Xu interacted with Wang Wenyan on an equal footing, without any airs of being important officials in the imperial court.
Wang Wenyan said, "There was a banditry in Datong that was called the Tiger Flag. The Fan family entrusted people to ask me for help, and I gave him an idea. Let the censor who just returned from Datong patrol, and the Xuanfu Or the censor who was born in Datong could write a memorial about the banditry in Datong. Datong was an important town on nine sides, so the emperor would definitely pay attention to it and send people to investigate. In the end, regardless of whether there was banditry in Datong or not, it would be an explanation to the Fan family. "
Hearing this, Liu Yishui frowned slightly and said, "Now that everyone in the court is impeaching the chief minister, there should be fewer extraneous matters."
Saying this showed that he was extremely dissatisfied.
If someone else had done such a thing at this time, he, the Master of Dongge, the Minister of Rites, would definitely have taught him a lesson.
"My lord, please don't be upset." Wang Wenyan said with a smile, "This matter is still related to your lord."
"What does it have to do with me?" Liu Yishen frowned.
Wang Wenyan said with a smile, "Datong is mostly mountains and hills, so there must be a lot of banditry. As long as the people sent by the imperial court to verify Datong determine that there is banditry in Datong, the governor and the commander-in-chief of Datong will not be able to escape their responsibility. Fang Congzhe will inevitably have to bear the responsibility." How can he, the chief assistant, have the nerve to continue doing this job if he doesn't understand people's responsibilities? Once he is gone, your Excellency can take over the position of chief assistant."
Liu Yishui was stunned.
I didn't expect that a small local banditry incident would involve the chief minister, but then I thought about it. The governor of Datong was the candidate recommended by Fang Congzhe. If something happened in Datong, Fang Congzhe would naturally not be able to escape the blame.
From this, he understood better that many people in the Donglin Party could not wait for Fang Congzhe to step down from the position of chief assistant and replace him with one who was a member of the Donglin Party.
Although he doesn't like party strife, he also knows that he can't stop it and can only go with the flow.
Outside the gate of Wang Wenyan's house, a servant of the Wang family said to the man dressed as a scholar in front of him, "My husband said that the court will send people to Datong to verify the Tiger Flag in the near future. You should go back early to make preparations."
"Can I meet Mr. Wang?" Fan Yongcheng asked politely.
The servant of the Wang family said, "There are distinguished guests here. It is inconvenient for my husband to see you, so please go back."
"Thank you for your hard work, brother." Fan Yongcheng took out a piece of silver and stuffed it into the hands of the servants of the Wang family, and said, "Please also tell Mr. Wang that once the matter is completed, the Fan family will be very grateful."
The servants of the Wang family looked around, but no one noticed. Then they put away the money and whispered, "Don't worry, I will tell my husband truthfully. At this time, my husband is drinking tea with the Minister of Rites, and he will definitely not see you." "
Fan Yongcheng's expression paused and he suddenly said, "But Mr. Ji Hui"
"Otherwise, who do you think it is?" the servant of the Wang family said with a look on his face, "The person who drank tea with my husband is the Grand Bachelor of Dongge, and it is also rumored that Mr. Liu Yishui will succeed Fang Congzhe as the first assistant."
A minister, one of the six ministers, and a popular candidate for the future chief minister. Such a big shot sat with their husband and drank tea, which made him, a servant, happy and prosperous.
Fan Yongcheng looked envious.
But he knew that the Fan family was still unable to make friends with such a big shot as Liu Yishen, so he decided that when he returned, he must persuade his eldest brother Fan Yongdou to try his best to make friends with Wang Wenyan.
As long as the Fan family can make friends with Liu Yishen, a high-ranking member of the court, through Wang Wenyan, it will be worth it no matter how much money the Fan family spends.
The Wang family's servants returned to the Wang family's residence.
Fan Yongcheng walked towards the carriage parked outside the door. Just as he was about to get in, he suddenly stopped, turned around and said to the people following him, "You stay here and watch to see if the person coming out of Wang's house is Liu, the Minister of Rites." A glimpse."
After explaining, he got on the carriage and drove away.
Flags with tiger characters were displayed in shops in the capital.
Wang poured a cup of tea by himself and handed it to the person sitting in front of him.
The tea is poured from the teapot. It has been drying for a while. It is not too hot and is just right for your mouth.
The other party took the tea cup, drank the tea in a big gulp, wiped his lips for the last time, and then said, "We have found out everything. The memorial written by two imperial officials in the Metropolitan Procuratorate mentioned the banditry in Datong. One of the imperial officials mentioned it. Shi is Liu Bingyuan, the inspector who just returned from Datong not long ago, and the other is Wang Cheng, the censor who was born in Xuanfu."
"Damn it," Wang Ziji punched the table and said angrily, "These people colluded with the Fan family to put our Tiger Flag to death."
The matter of their tiger-character flag cannot be hidden from anyone. As long as the imperial court sends people to investigate, the flaws will inevitably be exposed. They are making cannons, firecrackers, and other soldiers and armor. Even if they want to say that it is not a rebellion, no one will believe.
Whose business can produce thousands of soldiers, hundreds of cavalry, and all kinds of armor and weapons?
