prosperous age

The memorials submitted by the censors of the Censorate naturally bypassed the Office of Transmission and were sent directly to the palace. After being reported to the Directorate of Ceremonial, they were forwarded to the Grand Secretariat.

Therefore, the memorial mentioned in Chen Kai's letter should have been sent to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs and has not yet been transferred to the Grand Secretariat.

The sudden emergence of so many censors impeaching Pan Sheng today is clearly influenced by the emperor's decision regarding his posthumous title.

Although these censors were stubborn, they were clear-headed and knew that now was their time to show their abilities, as the emperor had already made his stance clear.

This time, Pan Sheng's position is probably in jeopardy.

However, this person was shrewd enough to know how to protect himself, and submitted his resignation early on.

Even if the emperor asked him to leave, at least he saved face.

Unfortunately, while he managed to save some face, Zhang Juzheng's face was completely trampled on.

Fortunately, he's already dead, so there's no need to fight for that little bit of face.

Wei Guangde continued processing the memorials in his hands, looking at the tax reports submitted by various provinces.

About an hour later, Lu Bu finally came in carrying a stack of memorials and placed them on the desk. He whispered to Wei Guangde, "Master, the memorials sent by the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs are from the Censorate, impeaching Lord Pan Sheng."

"Okay, put it there."

Wei Guangde said something, and after Lu Bu left, he put down the memorial in his hand and pointed to the stack of memorials, thirteen in total.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Guangde decided not to prioritize dealing with the stack of memorials. Instead, he read through all the memorials from the provinces in front of him, and by then it was lunchtime.

"Reed cloth".

Wei Guangde shouted to the outside.

"Master, what are your orders?"

Lu Bu strode into the house and bowed as he spoke.

"Is it mealtime? Is the master hungry?"

Wei Guangde said.

Upon hearing this, Lu Bu immediately replied, "Then I will prepare the meal right away, sir, please wait a moment."

After speaking, Lu Bu turned to leave.

"Wait a moment, take this stack of memorials with you. I've already read them. Hand them over to the front and have them send them to the Directorate of Ceremonial this afternoon."

Wei Guangde pointed to the memorials he had processed that morning and said.

The large desk was already a third full of two large stacks of memorials, and with the writing implements already placed on it, the space on the desk seemed rather cramped.

Now that a batch has been processed, let the reeds be taken away promptly to free up space.

"Yes."

Lu Bu went over, picked up the memorial that Wei Guangde had processed, and then quickly left the duty room.

Wei Guangde didn't rush to read the impeachment memorials. After lunch and a half-hour rest, he slowly began to look through the pile of memorials.

He handled the matter slowly and methodically, but the cabinet did not send back the impeachment memorials for a long time, which made Feng Bao anxious.

He was unaware that someone was secretly plotting to impeach him. At this moment, he was single-mindedly focused on bringing down Pan Sheng as soon as possible so that he could nominate his favorite person to the cabinet.

Once someone enters the cabinet, Eunuch Feng's influence in the previous dynasty will remain unchanged.

"Grandpa, should I go and urge him?"

Inside the Directorate of Ceremonial, a junior eunuch smiled obsequiously at Feng Bao.

He was the person in charge, having just been promoted by Feng Bao to the Directorate of Ceremonial as a court eunuch, a position similar to that of a secretary in the Grand Secretariat, responsible for receiving and sending memorials.

"Is that a place where you can just go and urge them? Don't you have any manners?"

Unexpectedly, Feng Bao did not nod in agreement, but instead scolded the little eunuch.

If Zhang Juzheng were the Grand Secretary, this kind of thing would have been done without consequence, but that's not the case now.

Wei Guangde was a man who usually kept a low profile, but Feng Bao knew that in the young emperor's eyes, his status was probably no less than that of Zhang Juzheng.

However, in the past few years, Zhang Juzheng has taken over the limelight in the court, which is why he has kept a low profile.

But Wei Guangde was adept at pandering to people's tastes, especially in front of the young emperor.

If Zhang Jing gained imperial favor by collecting strange and ingenious skills, then Wei Guangde was in no way inferior to him.

In the Qianqing Palace, many of the trinkets that the young emperor loved and personally collected were all sent in by Wei Guangde.

He still needed to maintain a good relationship with Wei Guangde, at least not to let it sour, lest he send someone into the cabinet only to be rejected or even suppressed by Wei Guangde, which would be disastrous.

After all, even if Wang Zhuan were to enter the cabinet, all he could rely on was his connections within the Ministry of Personnel, which wouldn't do.

Once you're in the cabinet, you have to keep one or two officials under your control, even in the worst government offices, otherwise your position as Grand Secretary won't be secure.

After thinking for a moment, Feng Bao stood up and said to the eunuch, "You keep watch here. When the cabinet sends the memorial back, immediately have someone notify me."

I am now going to the Cining Palace and Ciqing Palace to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager, understand?

Feng Bao was well aware of his position. Even though he was an inner minister, he was still just a private servant of the imperial family, and all the imperial favor and honors were in the hands of powerful figures.

Therefore, he now visits the two empress dowagers every day.

To be honest, the young emperor's decisiveness towards Zhang Juzheng had already made him wary, and he worried that the young emperor might also harbor resentment towards him.

In this situation, only the Empress Dowager can break the deadlock.

If you serve the Empress Dowager well, even if the young emperor wants to punish you, as long as the Empress Dowager puts a word on your behalf, you will be fine.

As for currying favor with the emperor, forget about it.

I'm afraid that if I hang around in front of him too much, he'll find it an eyesore.

It's a pity that they took advantage of the emperor's youth and were blinded by greed, doing such a stupid thing.

At that time, I actually felt a strange sense of pleasure watching the young emperor being punished by the Empress Dowager.

They brought this on themselves; it was a terrible mistake.

Feng Bao felt regretful, but he didn't slow down and quickly walked towards Cining Palace.

The actions on this side naturally did not escape the notice of Zhang Siwei's room.

Zhang Jing had a weak foundation and naturally couldn't get involved in the Directorate of Ceremonial, but he still had a powerful godfather, Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong is now the second most important person in the inner court, second only to Feng Bao, so he naturally has connections within the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Zhang Siwei learned about the Censorate's memorial through his people planted in the Censorate, and they even fueled the fire.

As for the Directorate of Ceremonial, that was Feng Bao's territory. Zhang Hong's men could bring out information, but they couldn't influence decision-making because all the power was in Feng Bao's hands.

However, what happened in Feng Bao's room was overheard and quickly passed through several hands before reaching Zhang Siwei.

Just like Wei Guangde, Zhang Siwei has now chosen to remain calm and collected.

It's fine to fan the flames, but it's better to avoid getting involved yourself.

Once the matter of Pan Sheng is settled, they will begin to arrange for someone to impeach Feng Bao.

To be honest, the controversy over Zhang Juzheng's posthumous title played a significant role in persuading those people to submit a memorial impeaching Feng Bao.

After all, the relationship between Feng and Zhang was common knowledge throughout the court.

The emperor seemed to be annoyed with Zhang Juzheng, and naturally wouldn't overlook Feng Bao either.

Under such circumstances, and with the promise from the Vice Minister, it would be strange if they weren't tempted.

Now, those gunmen are all polishing their reports, making them sharper, aiming for a single, fatal blow.

In Zhang Siwei's view, everything was ready except for the final push. As soon as the emperor dismissed Pan Sheng, he would immediately impeach Feng Bao.

His idea of ​​recommending others for the cabinet was a pipe dream. What right did a eunuch like him have to interfere in matters between civil officials?

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde spent more than an hour in his duty room reading through thirteen memorials.

The drafting of the document is simple; it's nothing more than asking His Majesty for a decision.

This is not something he should be getting involved in.

He's just waiting for Zhang Siwei to defeat Feng Bao, then he'll expel Wang Zhuan from the capital and have Lao Kan take his place.

After two years, Chen Kai's health deteriorated, and Lao Kan's seniority was almost up to par, so he was transferred back to the Censorate as the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Using Lao Kan to check and balance the Minister of Personnel recommended by others is just right; at the very least, no one will include the Ministry of Personnel under Wei Ge Lao's control.

With Vice Minister Lao Kan in office, there is enough room for the newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from Jiangxi in recent years.

Paving the way for their careers and enabling them to better serve the court naturally leads to faster promotions.

He called Lu Bu in and took away the thirteen memorials. There was another stack of memorials on the desk, which had been delivered by the Office of Transmission at noon. Wei Guangde picked up one and began to read it.

Since Lu Bu didn't offer any reminders, the stack of memorials was just an ordinary document, nothing worth paying attention to.

Indeed, aside from natural disasters, it seems that the Ming Dynasty only has one major task at present: collecting taxes.

Since tax collection is linked to official performance evaluations, naturally no one would risk their future by messing around with it.

The entire court is still implementing the system clarified by Zhang Juzheng. To get promoted, one must have good performance records, and to have good performance records, one must complete tasks on time.

In fact, being a grassroots official is busier than being a high-ranking official, because all sorts of unpredictable problems will arise at the grassroots level that require their solutions.

The adults in the capital only needed to handle various routine issues step by step.

Those new and emerging issues are first dealt with at the local level.

If a matter cannot be handled, it will be handed over to the capital for consideration and disposal. Therefore, the higher the official rank, the fewer problems there are.

This "fewer things to do" doesn't mean he has fewer official duties, but rather fewer matters that require his brainpower and personal handling. Therefore, he has more time to think about intrigue and how to climb the ladder by stepping on others.

Before the end of the day, Wei Guangde, as usual, summoned Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing and briefly explained the official documents that had been handled that day. He also recounted the matter of the Censorate's impeachment of Pan Sheng.

This time, neither Zhang Siwei nor Shen Shixing said a word.

Indeed, normally cabinet ministers are recommended by the Nine Ministers, meaning they must be approved by at least a majority of the ministers before the emperor issues an edict to summon them. This reduces the amount of trouble involved.
This time it was Zhang Juzheng who made the recommendation, and the emperor followed suit. However, many problems arose afterward, and with others interfering, things ended up like they are now.

However, this time, the palace should issue the memorial very soon.

Wei Guangde had thought of this when he left the cabinet.

The next day, Wei Guangde entered the cabinet to carry out his duties. Sure enough, not long after, Zhang Jing, the eunuch by the emperor's side, brought over Pan Sheng's resignation memorial.

The emperor personally approved it.

When Wei Guangde saw the memorial, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least they had saved face by returning Pan Sheng's memorial instead of the impeachment memorials.

Upon receiving the imperial decree, Wei Guangde, as before, personally drafted the decree and then had Lu Bu deliver it to Zhang Siwei.

Pan Sheng's dismissal was thus concluded, allowing him to retire gracefully and escape the quagmire of Zhang Juzheng.

Before leaving the office, Wei Guangde stared at Zhang Siwei, who was secretly pleased with himself, and couldn't help but smile.

The court is now turbulent and unpredictable; it's not that simple. If he were satisfied with this, Wei Guangde would look down on him.

Yes, don't think that the court is very stable at this time. Wei Guangde has long been on guard.

Messy, very messy.

This is Wei Guangde's definition of the current court.

With the signs of Zhang Juzheng falling out of favor, many people will inevitably continue to take action against those who support Zhang's faction.

This is just the beginning of a storm.

Wei Guangde was unaware that Zhang Siwei had seen his unintentional smile, which instead reminded him of something.

Yes, Zhang Siwei would not underestimate Wei Guangde. Although the emperor was now in power, Wei Guangde was still one of the regents chosen by the Longqing Emperor, and the last regent in the court.

That alone is enough to suppress him.

To Zhang Siwei, Wei Guangde's smile seemed to indicate that everything was within his calculations.

After the court session ended, Zhang Siwei sat in his sedan chair without saying a word, Wei Guangde's smile from earlier still flashing through his mind.

"Has he discovered my plan?"

Zhang Siwei kept thinking, searching for possible oversights.

His plan was known only to him, Zhang Jing, and a few officials he had recruited.

These people are all his loyal disciples.

He didn't tell any of his trusted confidants who weren't involved in the matter.

Zhang Siwei was somewhat suspicious, but he couldn't figure out where he had slipped up.

That night, Zhang Siwei politely declined all the guests who came to visit, and sat alone in his study, lost in thought.

At the same time, they didn't forget to send people to investigate those people to see if anyone had been behaving strangely recently.

Wei Guangde had no idea that his smile was putting so much pressure on Zhang Siwei, and was also unknowingly giving the other party a reminder.

Zhang Siwei couldn't figure it out, so he could only crawl into bed to rest, since he still had business to attend to the next day.

However, today Zhang Siwei's wife felt that the person next to her couldn't fall asleep and was tossing and turning in bed.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Siwei suddenly sat up.

He realized where the oversight had been.

Influenced by Zhang Jing, he thought he could get rid of Feng Bao by marrying Princess Yongning, but he overlooked the attitude of the nobles in the palace.

If Empress Dowager Li truly believed that your daughter's unhappy marriage was a reason to punish Feng Bao, he would have been in trouble long ago.

The key to overthrowing Feng Bao was not actually Feng Bao, but Zhang Juzheng.

The safest course of action would be to first bring down Zhang Juzheng, or at least make him a controversial figure, before taking action against Feng Bao.

After all, there was a lot of evidence pointing to Zhang Juzheng regarding many of the matters Feng Bao was involved in.

It must be said that Zhang Juzheng did a lot for Feng Bao in the previous dynasty, but also left many hidden dangers.

First impeach Zhang Juzheng, and then implicate Feng Bao through Zhang Juzheng; this seems to be a more covert approach.

Moreover, once Zhang Juzheng is impeached and his crimes are listed, Feng Bao will inevitably have to cover it up.

And these cover-ups are, of course, evidence of their involvement in the case.

Finally, the matter of Princess Yongning was brought up as the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Sitting on the bed, Zhang Siwei felt unusually clear-headed and had already thought out all the arrangements for the next step.

As for whether it was still necessary to do so after Zhang Juzheng's death?
In fact, there were certain benefits to taking action against Zhang Juzheng, namely, it could win over a large number of officials who were dissatisfied with Zhang.

Moreover, Zhang Siwei felt no psychological burden about overthrowing Zhang.

Although everyone says he was promoted by Zhang Juzheng, those who are truly old-timers in the court should know that Zhang Juzheng had actually been suppressing him all along.

The one who truly wanted to promote him was Gao Gong, not Zhang Juzheng.

The downfall of Zhang, which would also implicate Feng Bao, would benefit Zhang Jing, as it would prevent him from being exposed even if the plot failed. (End of Chapter)