In a cunning move, Mr. Pan Sheng first lost his concurrent post as Minister of Rites, and then recommended Xu Xuemo, Shen Shixing's in-law, to take over the vacant eldest uncle.
If there is no problem here, Gao pragmatism is willing to write the word "gao" upside down!
However, what is the crux of this problem is highly debatable.
At first glance, the most likely scenario for this incident is that the old guy Pan Sheng saw that the chief assistant had been changed, so he jumped to Shen Shixing's side according to his usual style. The root of this cunning operation was simply to take sides.
But this is doubtful, because although Pan Sheng has not had a strong sense of presence in the cabinet for several years, he is mature and it is impossible not to know the true situation of the cabinet.
What is the real situation? Although the cabinet is now headed by Shen Shixing, due to the sudden death of Yu Youding, Shen Shixing is now completely alone. As long as he wants to oppose the opinions or suggestions of the Real School, he has to personally come out and make a clear statement, no matter how big or small the matter is. It is actually quite taboo among the cabinet.
Why is it taboo? Take the example of Gao Gong. Gao Gong was undoubtedly strong enough in the Long Qing Dynasty, but he actually had helpers in the cabinet. For example, Zhang Juzheng, who tried every means to revive him and invite him back to Beijing, was his helper at that time. And as one helper was not enough, Gao Gong also invited Guo Pu back under Gao Pragmatic's suggestion - in the original history, he promoted Gaoyi, but there is no difference in the original intention between the two. helper.
It can be seen that even Gao Gong, who is as powerful as Long Qingchao, knows that he cannot be alone in the cabinet. He must adhere to the principle of "one hero and three gangs" in order to firmly control the situation.
The situation Shen Shixing is facing now is even worse than when Gao Gong first returned to Beijing, and although his holy family is not bad, it is certainly not as good as Gao Gong in the past. At this time, would an old fox like Pan Sheng really choose to side with Shen Shixing, the chief assistant who had a low chance of winning, without saying a word?
This may be a question mark.
Another point is that Pan Sheng's fundamental position in the cabinet can be summed up as "basically neutral, slightly leaning toward the wind."
To put it bluntly, this attitude is to listen to whichever side is strong, but never take the lead at any time. Every time, it shows the appearance of "the general trend is like this, and there is nothing I can do about it."
The advantage of this attitude is that it does not offend the "real prime minister" who controls the direction of the situation, nor does it offend the other faction too much - the other faction is not a child, and of course knows the weight of his old Pan. He can't object at all and is just taking advantage of the situation to express his position. Do you want to punish him to death and eventually turn him to the side of the "real prime minister"?
A dignified old man, who could be so naive? Neutral factions are all trying to win something they can, and if they can't win it, they should try their best to prevent them from going against them.
After all, this is not yet the most severe period of party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty in history. It has not reached the point where it is either you die or I die. Everyone still maintains the final clarity of mind.
So from these two points, two basic conclusions can be drawn: First, there is no need for Pan Sheng to jump into the fire pit; second, it is unlikely that Shen Shixing will force Pan Sheng to take a clear stance.
This was so strange. Gao Pingshi drank two cups of tea in a row without figuring out the logic behind it. After all, we can't come to the conclusion that Mr. Pan is simply crazy, right?
You can't joke like this when engaging in politics. Even if someone is really crazy, his behavior must be viewed as a decision made after careful consideration.
It is better to worry too much than to miss something. This is a consistent principle of high pragmatism.
But this matter seems to have reached a dead end now. Looking at it horizontally and vertically, it doesn't make sense.
"It doesn't make sense. That means there must be situations that I can't control." Gao pragmatically tapped his fingers on the table, while his mind kept recalling some of the recent actions of Pan Sheng and Shen Shixing, carefully examining these actions. Is there possibly some connection.
Oh, by the way, there is Xu Xuemo.
Xu Xuemo is Shen Shixing's in-law. This is the first thing that everyone in the Practical School will think of when they hear this name. However, at this time, Gao Pragmatic suddenly felt that he should not be limited by his prejudices and always look at the problem from this perspective. Now he should break out of this shackles and look at it from a higher perspective.
What kind of person is Xu Xuemo? This person's given name is Shuming, also known as Ziyan, and his nickname is Taishishanren. He is a native of Jiading, Suzhou Prefecture, South Zhili. He was a gold medalist in the 29th year of Jiajing. His qualifications can be said to be extremely old, but he is not young either. He is already sixty-four years old (virtual age).
Being from Suzhou, that is, Shen Shixing's hometown, it is not surprising that they became in-laws.
But why did Pan Sheng recommend Xu Xuemo? Pan Sheng was from Zhejiang, not from the same hometown as Shen Shixing and Xu Xuemo. Moreover, he was named on the gold medal earlier. He was the second in the 20th year of Jiajing, and he was not in the same year as Shen Shixing and Xu Xuemo.
Damn it, he can't possibly support his juniors for no reason, right? If the younger generation wants to support him, there are simply too many people he can support - this old man has been the Minister of Etiquette for so many years, and he has a lot of disciples, but his power in the cabinet is not very "real", I'm afraid. If you can't even support your disciples, how can you still have time to care about Xu Xuemo's business?
Besides, Xu Xuemo is now the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and his status is not low. He can also be regarded as one of the big bosses of the Xin School. Does he deserve to be promoted by Mr. Pan? After all, Shen Shixing is also the first assistant. Even if it is not convenient for him to recommend his in-laws, there are still ways to accommodate him - for example, if Shu Hua, the Minister of Punishment, is given an opportunity to promote him, wouldn't Shu Hua reciprocate the favor and recommend Xu Xuemo to take over? Your own position?
As an official, you don't understand the logic of carrying people in a sedan chair, so why are you messing around? Wouldn't it be better to go back to your hometown and roam around in the forest earlier than Tsinghua University?
Okay, we've reached a dead end again.
Gao pragmatically picked up the tea cup with some upset and found that the third cup of tea was also empty. He was stunned for a moment, couldn't help but shook his head, stood up, and let out a long breath.
While he was troubled, Gao Mo asked to see him outside the door.
Gao pragmatic let him in and asked, "Have you found anything?"
Gao Mo bowed slightly and said, "Sir, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has some clues, but I don't know if it is related to Mr. Pan Ge's actions this time."
"Say!" Gao Pingshi's eyes lit up and he said immediately.
Gao Mo didn't say much. He opened a book that looked like an account book in his hand, turned to the place where the bookmark had been inserted, looked at it, and said: "Two months ago, two maritime merchants in Zhejiang transferred the Ningbo private company belonging to their home to There are a total of twenty-seven berths in the port, and they were sold to Pan Yi - the nephew of Mr. Pan Ge - at a price far lower than the market price."
Gao Pragmatic's eyes suddenly narrowed, and a flash of light flashed in his eyes.
"There must be something related?"
"The master has seen thousands of miles, and there is indeed more." Gao Mo turned over two more pages, looked at it, and said: "The Xujia Private Port in Songjiang divided the shares previously held by Liu Shouyou's family into two, half of which It was transferred to Pan Yi privately, and the reason used was that he would be hired at a lower level."
If you want to be hired, you must get married. However, Gao Pragmatic was not interested in asking more about who from the Xu family was marrying who from the Pan family. He just wanted to know the meaning of it.
"Haha, that's what happened." Gao pragmatically nodded, already understanding the root of the problem, but still subconsciously asked: "Is there anything else?"
Unexpectedly, Gao Mo replied: "Yes, there is more."
Gao Pragmatic was stunned this time and frowned: "Shen Shi... Shen Yuanfu shouldn't have any port shares, right?"
"It's not Shen Yuanfu, it's two other people who also sold some shares at low prices, and even some ships to Pan Yi." Gao Mo turned over the account book in his hand and said: "The value of the port shares is about 110,000 It is about two to one hundred and thirty thousand taels, and the market price of the ship is higher, about one hundred seventy or eighty thousand taels. Added together, it can be calculated as almost three hundred thousand taels."
"Such a big deal?" Gao Pingshi couldn't help but be a little surprised.
Three hundred thousand taels, one-twentieth of the annual income of the imperial treasury. If this money were saved a little, it would even be almost enough to fight a war in Yunnan and Burma (only counting the part spent by the court).
"Which family paid for this?" Gao Pragmatic became serious.
"Wang Xijue, Xu Xuemo."
Gao Pragmatic was stunned: "Wang Xijue?"
Xu Xuemo was the final beneficiary of Pan Shengsao's operation. It was not surprising that he was involved. Gao Pragmatic had already estimated it in his heart just now. But Wang Xijue...why did he get involved? Isn't this guy Ding You at home? Isn't he even inexplicably learning some magical magic from Wang Shizhen's daughter who claims to be an immortal? (Note: This matter has been mentioned in the previous article and is a historical fact. It is recorded in official history.)
Gao Mo simply replied: "Yes, sir, it is Wang Xijue. But he did not handle it personally, but it makes no difference - the person in charge of this matter is the Wang family's chief steward."
No wonder the "amount involved" is as high as 300,000 taels. The Wang family has been the richest man in Suzhou many years ago. You can imagine the wealth of the family with your toes. It is definitely not less than 300,000 taels - this is Suzhou. This land has contributed nearly one-tenth of the world's land to gold. How good is the richest man in Suzhou? Is there any need to doubt me?
Gao Pragmatic even suspected that the Zhang family in Puzhou might not be as rich as the Wang family in Suzhou. After all, although the monopoly of the Changlu Saltworks was very powerful, the Zhang family's rise in the business world was shorter than that of the Wang family. The accumulation of wealth always takes time, and not everyone can be as pragmatic as him and build a Jinghua Group in more than ten years.
The crux of the problem was found, but the sharpness behind it made Gao Pragmatic a little unable to sit still.
He asked Gao Mo to keep all the relevant information for him to check and confirm, and then asked Gao Mo to rest first while he carefully studied the sequence of events in his room.
Now that these things have surfaced, Pan Sheng's actions can be explained. It is no longer a dead end. This is the only good news among the bad news at the moment, which can prevent him from being blind.
However, the meaning behind this incident really made Gao pragmatic take a breath.
When he told the information in Gaomo, he remembered what Wu Xun, Wu Dui's son, had analyzed with him (note: see "Fu Liaodong" volume, Chapter 233 "Humble and Refusal").
It seems that in the end, the Zhejiang maritime merchant families did not choose to simply form a "Zhejiang Maritime Trade Alliance" or "Zhejiang Maritime Trade Alliance". Instead, they at least contacted the representatives of the civil service group in Nanzhili, who were born in the Xinxue School. The big guys in the southern Zhili area - united.
The specific development process of this matter is not clear to Gao Jingshi, and it is impossible to speculate in detail, but generally speaking, it may be the result of the Zhejiang maritime merchant family and the Nanjing nobles seeking help after failing .
What Gao Pragmatic can conclude is that even though the evidence in his hand only shows that Xu Xuemo and Wang Xijue gave Pan Yi shares and ships, there must be other transfers of interests behind it. And this transfer of interests must be the result of the bleeding of Zhejiang maritime merchants, supplemented by Xu Xuemo and Wang Xijue - Xu and Wang would not buy Pan Sheng at a loss on their own. They should actually be the dynasty that the Zhejiang maritime merchant family is prepared to spend money to support. spokesperson.
Among them, Xu Xuemo needless to say, his qualifications are not bad, he was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing, and he is already the minister of the Ministry of punishment. With a little push, he can find an opportunity to take the position - no, Pan Sheng took the initiative to give up!
And Wang Xijue is even more powerful. Even though Ding You is in his hometown now, he is the Huiyuan who took the imperial examination in the 41st year of Jiajing. The second place in the imperial examination is one of the iron triangle of "Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Yu Youding" one.
It can be said that if his father had not happened to be seriously ill before and he had to go back to his hometown to take care of his father, and then Ding was really worried, then since Shen Shixing and Yu Youding have both joined the cabinet, it is basically certain that he will join the cabinet. thing. Even with his reputation in court and Shilin, he should at least have a better chance than Yu Youding.
Gao Pragmatic did the math and discovered a big problem: Wang Xijue and Ding You's period is about to expire!
"Fuck, one link after another!" Gao Jingshi thought of this, couldn't help but pat the table, and cursed in a low voice: "The level of the Xin School has improved now...or is it because the first assistant has always been Are our people unable to perform even if they are capable?"
But no matter what, the situation is now in front of us. The old man Pan Sheng must have been knocked down by sugar-coated bullets, and he even plans to use his own way to pave the way for the Heart School.
This is really ironic.
Sugar-coated bullets have always been a specialty of my high pragmatism. Who knew that this time the Heart School would actually take the lead? Who would dare to believe it?
However, "Jinghua will give double the amount Zhejiang Maritime Merchant gives." This kind of pragmatic thing is not considered. It's not that you don't want to give up the money. The key is that there may be regional factional issues in this matter - Pan Sheng himself is from Zhejiang. He is a very young man, and it only takes two or three years for him to become an official. If he offends the deep-rooted Zhejiang maritime merchants, no one can guarantee what kind of situation he will face when he returns to his hometown in the future.
Direct killing may not be enough, but if a few "Japanese pirate remnants" emerge from a place like Zhejiang and wipe out Pan Sheng's family... Although this incident is shocking, it is really not a big deal. You want to know how many high-ranking officials' homes were looted when Japanese pirates were rampant? Everyone is used to it.
Even if it is not so rampant, once Pan Sheng himself dies, if there is no up-and-coming star in his family who can be the pillar, wouldn't it be easy for the Zhejiang Maritime Group to kill their family? So since Pan Sheng chose to "surrender to the enemy", there is no need to fight anymore.
There is no turning back when the bow is drawn.
Gao pragmatic sighed softly and shook his head slightly.
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Thanks to book friends "willwolf", "Long.Shang", "sitting at the door of the tavern", and "Cao Mianzi" for their monthly support, thank you!
