Unparalleled Concubine

However, Liushufang is not too far from the imperial city. Not long after, the four ministers from Shangshutai arrived at the gate of the Yan Mansion. Zaifu bowed his hands and saluted.

"Several prime ministers have arrived, and Mr. Yan is far away to welcome them."

Shen Broadband returned the salute, and said with a smile: "Yan Sikong is polite, today is Yan Sikong's birthday, and I am an official at the court, so naturally I should come and celebrate."

Yan Shouzhuo frowned slightly.

It is true that his birthday is this month, but the birthday is still six days away from today. If one prime minister remembers it wrong, it is understandable, and there is no reason for four prime ministers to remember it wrong together.

He reacted very quickly and reached out to pat his forehead.

"Oh, I've been busy with government affairs these days, Prime Minister Shen didn't mention it, I almost forgot that today is my birthday."

"It's going to be sunset now, and I'm afraid it's too late to hold a birthday banquet."

Shen Xiang smiled slightly: "Many people are not beautiful. Wouldn't it be good if I came to celebrate Yan Sikong's birthday?"

Yan Shouzhuo moved away and made a gesture of please.

"Several prime ministers are here, and the Yan family is very honored."

Soon, the four prime ministers and Yan Shouzhuo, a total of five people, sat down in the study of the Yan Mansion. The servants of the Yan Mansion arranged the food and wine, and each of the five sat at a low table, toasting and drinking together.

After drinking a glass of strong wine, Yan Shouzhuo looked around at the four people, and said in a deep voice, "You guys come here hand in hand, I wonder?"

The four prime ministers looked at each other, and the left minister, Shen Kuan, was the first to put down the wine glass in his hand, and gave Yan Shouzhuo a faint look.

"Sikong, haven't you noticed something is wrong in the past few days?"

Yan Shouzhuo frowned slightly, shook his head: "Never."

Shen Kuan looked around and asked the other three prime ministers, "Where are the three?"

The new Prime Minister on the Right, Cheng Yi frowned, and said, "Something is wrong, someone has already written to me."

Shen Kuan took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"I am not the same as you. I am from the Ministry of Rites. I have been a servant in the Ministry of Rites for many years. I have served as the chief examiner of Chunwei for three terms. There are many students of mine in the court."

The Ministry of Rites is not the same as the other five departments. The other five departments are affiliated to the Shangshutai, but the Ministry of Rites is more or less aloof. It is directly under the emperor. The rules of worship.

Shen Kuan has been a servant in the Ministry of Rites for more than ten years, and has also been an examiner for several sessions.

In other words, anyone who won a Jinshi in the class he was the chief examiner can be regarded as his student, and he will have to be with his teacher in the court in the future, otherwise it will be a big treason.

Therefore, this Prime Minister Shen has a very wide network of contacts in the ruling and opposition parties.

Moreover, he entered Shangshutai to succeed Zhang Qu, that is to say, in the eighth year of Taikang, he had already become the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty. In the past few years, his disciples have each received a lot of benefits, so naturally they are very concerned. To this master.

Nowadays, there are almost all his students in the yamen of various departments in the capital.

This is the newspaper group behavior of the civil official group. There are only five Zaifu in the Shangshutai, but behind them is a huge network of interests woven by the relationship between master and apprentice, the relationship between the same township, and the relationship between the same subjects. These five people, at least It can affect [-] to [-]% or even more civil servants.

Shen Kuan took a deep breath and closed his eyes slightly.

"You are all veterans of the three dynasties, and have worked together for many years. I don't beat around the bush, and just speak up when I have something to say."

He glanced at these people, and said, "In recent days, someone has been checking some old things."

Shen Kuan lowered his brows and said: "Not only is he looking into me, but also the old accounts of all the gentlemen here. It seems that this person also wants to dig out and recalculate."

As he spoke, he looked at Yan Shouzhuo, and said calmly, "Yan Sikong is also included."

Yan Sikong frowned.

"Mr. Chen, this old man was born as a speech official and has been working as a censor all his life. How can there be any old debts?"

"Then I have to ask Yan Sikong himself."

Shen Kuan sighed: "I remember that Yan Sikong was not a Beijing official in his early years, but a censor in charge of supervising the local government. Maybe he was a little unclear with the local officials at that time?"

Yan Shouzhuo's face darkened, and his frown deepened.

In his early years, he was in charge of the supervisory censor of Jiangnan East Road. At that time, he was in his 30s and was walking in the local area. There were too many temptations in front of him, and it was inevitable that he would make some mistakes.

However, after he was transferred back to the capital and became the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, for the sake of his future in the officialdom, he restrained himself a lot in his work, and basically stopped taking anything on the surface.

It's Chengde Dynasty's business for him to be the supervisory censor...

Thinking of this, Yan Sikong raised his head to look at Shen Kuan, and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Shen, there are no outsiders here. Since you have found my house, you can just speak up."

Shen Kuan's voice was heavy.

He said slowly: "It should be... people in the palace are investigating."

"Their targets are obvious. They are mainly Yan Sikong and me, and the brothers in the Shangshutai are also among them, but they just check it out along the way."

Shen Kuan let out a breath slowly.

"Now, what that person meant is very clear."

Yan Sikong's eyes widened first, then he looked at Shen Kuan, and said in disbelief, "What Prime Minister Shen means is... who is investigating?"

"Someone has already gone to Jiangnan East Road."

Shen Kuan glanced at Yan Shouzhuo, and said slowly: "The matter is already clear, it depends on how Yan Sikong will deal with it?"

"There are two options before us now."

Shen Kuan said unhurriedly: "The first choice is to take advantage of the fact that the person has not obtained the evidence, we will admit defeat first, directly write to invite the person in charge, and then write to resign. Although this will not keep the official position, but our lives Probably safe."

Speaking of this, he laughed at himself: "Of course, it depends on whether that person is a benevolent monarch, and whether the Marquis of Jing'an is willing to let us go when he returns to Beijing in the future."

After saying this, the expressions of the other four people present all changed.

It is not certain whether the emperor is a benevolent king, but that Lord Jing'an is not a good person, he is still a vengeful character, if you offend him once, he will bite back fiercely, based on the fact that they offended the Marquis of Jing'an that time To a certain extent, if you lose your official position, your life may be in danger!

Yan Sikong's expression was uncertain, and after a long time, he raised his head to look at Shen Kuan, and said in a harsh voice, "Mr. Shen, what about the second way?"

Shen Kuan was silent for a while, then raised his cup and took a sip of tea.

"This second way allows me to wait for a few more years as a minister. If things go well, I'm [-]% to [-]% sure about this matter. I just don't know if you have the guts."

Chapter 900 A Court Lady

The seventh day of November in the first year of Yuanzhao.

There are still three days until the Great Court Meeting.