eldest son of Ming dynasty

After Min Gui became an official, Zhao Shen, the servant of the Ministry of Punishments, took over as Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.

Zhao Shen is the former governor of Southern Jiangxi. Since the early years of Zhengde, under the leadership of Zhu Houzhao, the officialdom has set off an important change of "Beijing officials and local officials".

This change is not bloody, nor does it change important ancestral systems.

The emperor only used one method, which was to vigorously promote local officials who did well.

Zhao Shen was the first.

Since then, Yang Tinghe, Wang Qiong, and the new Minister of the Ministry of Industry, He Jian, have all been in this situation.

At the same time, the emperor sent his cronies to other places one after another, such as Fei Hong, governor of Sichuan, Peng Ze, governor of Henan, Fengxi, governor of Fujian, and so on.

Vote with your feet. It doesn't matter which one is more fragrant, the current Beijing official or the local official.

The reason why Zhao Shen was promoted quickly was that he was good at practical work, he did not have a prominent position in the literary world, and he did not belong to the Qingliu. Such a background made him rely on the emperor.

Of course, he also has an even more amazing student, Yan Song.

But Yan Song encountered a difficult situation recently, which made him a little worried.

When he was in court, Yan Song still avoided him, as if he knew that he was a 'God of Plague'.

But Zhao Shen is not that kind of snobbish person, he himself found Yan Song in the crowd, and quickly chased after him.

So under the high walls of the palace, on the stone road, many people can see the picture of the master and the apprentice walking together.

"Weizhong, why are you walking so fast today?"

Yan Song felt a little warm in his heart. The Forbidden City is a place where people go to cool off. I didn't expect him to be a teacher with some affection. "Students... don't want to cause trouble for the teacher. Besides, it is unnecessary trouble, and it will have to wait for a while. "

"If that's the case, how will the world see me?"

After saying a simple sentence like this, Zhao Shen didn't say any more. He urged, "Let's go together."

Yan Song had no choice but to keep up.

One in a red robe and one in a blue robe walked slowly.

"Today, His Majesty borrowed Zhang Gongshi to become an official, and put the matter on hold for the time being. But those people are aggressive. You and I are not in the cabinet, and I don't know how many memorials there are. Weizhong, what happened to you this time?" Zhao Shen mentioned this, I really worry about him.

"Teacher, don't worry, the student's matter is actually simple, so don't worry about me, but I'm afraid my reputation will be bad."

These days, fame has nothing to do with the matter itself, it depends on who you are on the opposite side of.If he doesn't deal with Li Mengyang and Bian Gong, these people will naturally label him a traitor.

"Instead, the cabinet has to submit a list of eight people to His Majesty. Of these eight people, the cabinet must have four people. If the remaining four people come from various ministers, the teacher and the Ministry of War Qi Shangshu must account for two."

The cabinet did not have to think about such a big matter as cleaning up the eight towns. If the cabinet, as the head of the hundred officials, hid aside, it would be unreasonable no matter what. Qi Chengsui, Minister of the Ministry of War, was Yang Yiqing's old subordinate, and Yang Yiqing could not protect his shortcomings at this time.

As for Zhao Shen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, all his foundations lie in the emperor.

So this matter, he can't get rid of it.

The key is the farmland of the remaining eight towns, which one is the easiest.Loyalty isn't the same thing as being a fool to pick the hardest thing, and the other seven want you to pick the hardest thing.

"According to what the students saw, Gansu has King Su and King Han, Datong has King Dai, Liaodong has King Liao, and Shanxi has King Jin and King Shen. These four towns all have vassal kings, which must be inseparable from the current court affairs. Opening up relationships, naturally, is the most difficult thing to do well.”

Zhao Shen walked forward quietly, "Everyone can understand such things, and His Majesty can understand even more."

Yan Song also understands that if he wants to play smart at this juncture, he can't hide it from the emperor, but there is always a bias in the choice.

"Your Majesty gave Mr. Yang Ge three days. Mr. Yang should have handed it over, right? No one is tempted?"

It should be like this, but these things are discussions between the cabinet chief and the emperor, and so far they have not been disclosed to the outside world.

"It's useless to think about it. There is His Majesty's decree to clean up the military settlements, and there are elite officers and soldiers. No matter how unwilling the towns are, they can't disobey the decree. It's just that it's more difficult to do. If you don't handle this matter well, If you lose your black hat, it’s still small.”

Yan Song smiled confidently, "Teacher should trust me more, and you should also trust the emperor."

The emperor is advancing the matters of the vassal and the army station in an orderly manner.

The dispute between Li Mengyang and Yan Song has started and is fermenting. Even Zhang Fuhua, who has left office, wants to stand by Li Mengyang.

After this gust of wind blows, it happens to be able to promote Qingtun, a border town.

Zhu Houzhao felt that the royal families in the eight towns would soon receive the news of the change in the direction of the court, so their reactions should also be shown.Either explaining the crime by oneself, or simply cooperating honestly, there should always be an attitude.

So now he has to wait.

Of course, this is what should happen in the inference, and the reality may not be exactly as I imagined.

Therefore, the imperial court still had to take the initiative, electing eight people to be in charge of the eight towns each, was to take the initiative.

Before that, the guard eunuchs of the eight towns also wrote letters. After all, Liu Jin had an accident earlier.

You Zhi may be newly appointed, and he dare not 'make a mistake' yet, he honestly handed over the replies from the eight guard eunuchs to the emperor, with an appearance of never hiding anything.

Zhu Houzhao read them one by one, and then said: "Liu Jin has painstakingly raised a group of people, and in the end they are all scrambling to curry favor with you. Even I, I feel worthless for him."

"Yes, Liu Jin taught me a lesson, and I will never forget it. In fact, a person like a servant only serves His Majesty wholeheartedly, and that's enough."

"These people, what do you think they are going to do?"

You Zhi lowered his head, "We can't deal with all of them, and we can't not deal with them at all."

Zhu Houzhao smiled a little, and thought of going with him.

"What's the point?"

"We can't deal with it all, because if we want to return to the fields, we will steal people's money. This matter needs to be done by killing chickens and monkeys. Only one Liu Jin is not enough. We can't deal with everything because the overall situation of cleaning up the army is the most important thing. The local guard eunuch If they are willing to cooperate, it is better not to change, after all, they are the only ones who are most familiar with the local area, and the outer court officials sent by His Majesty still need their cooperation."

"Then do it. No more than two."

"Yes."

After Youzhi left, Zhu Houzhao took out the eight-person list that Yang Yiqing had made to read.The so-called eight people are actually four members of the cabinet, plus four members of the Jiuqing.Among them, the status of the Tongzheng envoy is not obvious, so such a major event is not appropriate.So it's four out of eight.

The list drawn up by Yang Yiqing is the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment.

There is no need to say more about the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment.

The Minister of the Ministry of Officials is a heavenly official with a lot of power, and he can order the people below.

Wang Hua, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Shouren are father and son, so Yansui Town, which is close to Hetao, is also suitable for him.

However, Zhu Houzhao wanted to replace Zhao Shen with the new Zuodu Yushi, that is, Zhang Mao.

Zhang Mao is an upright and honest official, and doing this requires a bit of the uprightness of a Confucian old man, and he was named the new Zuodu censor, so he naturally wanted to take advantage of the momentum of his new official appointment.

Yan Song is now advancing under artillery fire, so the imperial decree to clean up the eight towns' military settlements cannot be delayed.

After making some changes, the emperor summoned Jin Gui, "Write a note and ask someone to pass it out of the palace. Tomorrow morning, the court will be temporarily exempted, and the cabinet and the six ministries and nine ministers will be allowed to enter the palace. By the way, don't forget the Shaofu order Gu Zuo."

"The minister leads the order."

Zhu Houzhao didn't want to read the memorials that followed, so he casually flipped through a few copies and threw them aside, "Put them away first."

Either they are supporting Yan Song, or they are criticizing Yan Song, all of these, it is a waste of time to look at it, and now everyone wants him, the emperor, to express his opinion, but he will not express his opinion.

Stretching, Zhu Houzhao put on a piece of clothing and left the Qianqing Palace. The cold wind outside blew away all the feeling of dizziness in his head. Although it was cold, he was a little more awake.

Today happened to be ample time, so he walked back from Qianqing Palace.

"Your Majesty, where are you going today?"

Zhu Houzhao rubbed his hands, he wanted to be quiet today, "Let's go to Concubine Xian."