The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Cabinet value.

Four cabinet ministers, namely Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Cheng Minzheng and Wang Ao, sat together. Li Dongyang was holding a file on a case investigated by the East Factory, which was about to be handed over to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple.

Li Dongyang said: "This case started more than ten days ago. Initially, no government office was informed. It was not until today that His Majesty asked the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to investigate. However, I heard that the Censorate knew about it a long time ago, but concealed it and did not report it."

The spearhead was directed at Wang Qiong, who had just been promoted to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief.

Cheng Minzheng asked, "How big is this case? I heard some rumors recently, but it didn't cause much trouble."

Wang Ao said, "That's because you, Master Cheng, don't ask about the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War. If you went there often, you would know that these two ministries are now in chaos and everyone is in danger. The situation in the Ministry of Works is slightly better, but it's still... not much better."

Cheng Minzheng asked curiously, "As long as you have a clear conscience, it's fine. Since you haven't done anything corrupt or illegal, why should you worry about yourself? Or is it that everyone is involved in the case, and now that they are being investigated, they are starting to worry about themselves?"

This sounds like sarcasm.

It also seemed like he wanted to shut Li Dongyang's mouth.

You see, you look down on us, but we are not involved in the case, so we are truly innocent.

Do you, Li Binzhi, still want to intercede for those corrupt officials or even protect them?

Li Dongyang said coldly: "From the beginning, the court gave the mining matter to a single person in the Ministry of War. From top to bottom, it was basically kept secret from the court. Until the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works took over the matter."

Cheng Minzheng asked: "I want to know, is someone deliberately making things difficult for these officials? Is someone deliberately framing them? Or is it... completely fabricated?"

"You!" Li Dongyang was a little angry.

Do you, Cheng Minzheng, like to interrupt people when they are talking?

Liu Jian said calmly, "We just sat down to discuss it. I didn't say that we must discuss the results of the discussion in court. It's okay for everyone to express their own opinions."

What I mean is, you two should stop arguing.

Liu Jian added: "Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with the fact that the East Factory secretly investigated the mines. Now it is not just about the mines, but also about the procurement of the Beijing camp over the years, the shortage of grain in the south, and even the construction of Nanjing. This move is likely to mean that the court is short of money."

Obviously Liu Jian is more open-minded about this matter.

Don't argue over short-term rights and wrongs. If we do, it would be bad if people say that we traditional civil officials are speaking for the criminals.

The key point is that in order to get money, the emperor started to investigate cases on a large scale. Even if the starting point of the matter was right, doing so was tampering with the court and using the court's laws to disrupt the court... Of course, the blame for disrupting the court should be put on Zhang Zhou.

Who made it so that everyone knew this time that the East Factory was investigating the case with the help of Zhang Zhou?
Cheng Minzheng continued to chatter, "If you haven't done it, then you don't have to worry. If you have done it, you should have expected this day to come. I really don't understand. It's obviously a prosperous dynasty, but those people dared to take advantage of it."

Li Dongyang was so angry that he almost wanted to throw the document on the ground.

I feel like I have nothing in common with Cheng Minzheng anymore.

Wang Ao seemed very calm about this matter and said, "Cabinet affairs involve matters such as drafting bills, and they are responsible for consulting Your Majesty in handling court affairs. Now that the corruption case has been exposed, the people in the court are panicking. I have suggested to Your Majesty that the Ministry of Justice take over this case and investigate it according to the previous rules. It seems that it is inevitable."

Liu Jian nodded and said, "That's right."

Cheng Minzheng asked: "Is there any difference whether it is the East Factory or the Ministry of Justice that investigates?"

Li Dongyang said, "Keqin, you should know that the factory guards do not follow rules when investigating a case. Once they rely on torture to extract a confession, do you know where the connection is behind it?"

"Haha." Cheng Minzheng laughed, "I only know that the Ministry of Justice will not be lenient when it comes to interrogating cases. I don't think it's valid to use torture to extract a confession. In fact, I think it's best not to ask about this case. Once you ask, it's easy to bring bad luck to yourself. It has nothing to do with the cabinet, and people will think we are secretly shielding him."

"How can this be considered sheltering?" Li Dongyang almost wanted to argue with Cheng Minzheng again.

Finally, Liu Jian interrupted and said, "I agree with Jizhi's point of view. At this point, His Majesty has begun to transfer the case to the Ministry of Justice. Then all the case details should be transferred to the Ministry of Justice, and the people in the court should know the reasons behind this case. If we continue to ignore it, I am afraid that the next step... where the case will develop, no one knows. Some unrelated people will also be wantonly dragged into the case."

Cheng Minzheng said, "I understand. Just report it to the higher authorities. Then why are we still discussing it here? The Hanlin Academy still has some book editing work to do. I'll go there first."

After saying that, Cheng Minzheng ignored Li Dongyang's angry look, stood up and walked out.

……

……

After Wang Ao left, only Liu Jian and Li Dongyang were left in the cabinet.

Li Dongyang said angrily: "Cheng Keqin is becoming more and more outrageous. The cabinet should have a unified opinion. Lian Jizhi can keep pace, but it is him..."

"Do you think he can do anything else besides saying a few angry words?" Liu Jian asked.

Li Dongyang didn't say anything else.

The cabinet is a place where seniority is emphasized. Liu Jian and Li Dongyang relied on the fact that they entered the cabinet first and used the rules to suppress Cheng Minzheng and Wang Ao.

Wang Ao might be able to tolerate it, after all, he was the last to enter the cabinet, ranked last, and did not have access to much real power.

However, Cheng Minzheng entered the cabinet earlier and had a considerable amount of seniority in the court. In addition, he had been left out of the core management for a long time. According to Liu Jian, it was inevitable that he would have some emotional fluctuations and even complaints.

Liu Jian said: "It's really puzzling. With the case at this point, the people involved should be of the duke or marquis level, but up to now, only the deceased An Yuan Marquis has been involved, and none of the other families have been involved. Could it be that these families don't feel the slightest bit of danger?"

Li Dongyang narrowed his eyes and asked, "You mean, people like Zhang Tingmian should also do something?"

Obviously, Li Dongyang also couldn't forget the best solution to Zhang Zhou's troubles.

It is physical eradication.

Of course, it cannot be done by their civil servants, but by Zhang Zhou's political enemies in the army. Only those who hold military power will act ruthlessly and leave no room for others. Moreover, they have strong backgrounds and can easily withdraw from the matter without being discovered afterwards.

Liu Jian shook his head and said, "The matter escalated to an unusual level, but in the end it became unreasonably quiet."

Li Dongyang said, "Where there should be big waves, there are only a few waves. Where there should be calm, there are waves again. Is that what you mean?"

"Yeah." Liu Jian nodded.

The two of them were simply playing charades, trying to guess each other's intentions.

Li Dongyang said: "Should we make the wind blow again? For example, from the east or the west..."

To the east is Liaodong, and to the west is Sanbian or Xuanfu.

Liu Jian asked: "Do you have a plan?"

Li Dongyang smiled and said, "We still have connections in the court. With so many people watching us, how long did it take us to get to where we are today? It's not an exaggeration to say that we have gone through countless difficulties and dangers, right?"

To be able to become a top civil official is like one among millions of people trying to cross a single-plank bridge, and only a few can finally walk down.

They are not ordinary people, and their methods are incomparable to those of ordinary people.

To get things done, you need helpers, and being an official, especially a top-level civil official, will have a bunch of supporters, whether in the officialdom of the capital or in the local officialdom.

These people are not their guests or disciples, but when they are doing things, they can find these people to help them solve problems, and they also call it for the sake of the clean stream of the court and for the sake of maintaining the backbone of the Ming Dynasty. In general, it is a party-building campaign to unite and attack dissidents.

"I didn't think it was necessary before, but now it is urgent." Liu Jian said, "I'm afraid the days of you and me in the court are numbered. Zhang Bingkuan is still young and energetic. If he is given a few more years, maybe he can cover the sky with one hand. If not now, when?"

Li Dongyang nodded and said, "Then we should start with Zhang Tingmian. Many people have already impeached him. The mistakes made in the Northwest War, plus the troubles in the Beijing Camp... If Zhang Bingkuan doesn't want to investigate further, we will give him a push."

"Yeah." Liu Jian nodded, seeming to agree very much with Li Dongyang's point of view.

……

……

Zhang Mao suddenly became the target of public criticism.

In his own words, disaster may come from the sky when you are at home.

Zhang Mao sat at home, listening to Zhong Decai's report to him, his face dark.

“Sir, there are already hundreds of people impeaching you. The East Factory’s investigation has not yet reached you, but I heard that there is a long queue of people secretly reporting you. Even those who followed you in the past have turned against you now. Perhaps they have seen that Duke Cai is now extremely powerful and decided to join him and become your enemy…”

Although Zhong Decai also has certain insights.

But he would never have imagined that the instigator of this incident was not Zhang Zhou, but the cabinet.

The cabinet wanted to force Zhang Mao into a desperate situation and make him do something desperate.

If you can kill Liu Jing, then adding Zhang Zhou shouldn't be a problem, right?
Zhang Mao said angrily: "Check, check, check, what is there to check? No matter how much silver I have in my house, they might as well just confiscate it all. This way they will know whether I am an honest official or a corrupt official."

Zhong Decai looked at Zhang Mao and was somewhat surprised.

Sir, you have really good acting skills.

People who don’t know you would really think you are an honest and good official, but have you forgotten all the dirty things you have done?
Or do you only remember the good things you've done?
So, have you ever done anything good?

I really can't remember it for the moment.

Zhang Mao said, "I have submitted my self-introduction letter. Why hasn't it been approved yet? They want me to retire and return to the countryside, or even banish me to Binhai City to carry banners and loads for others with Zhu Dongyang. Isn't that what's going on?"

"Sir, please don't say such angry words. We are different from the Baoguo Mansion." Zhong Decai said.

Zhang Mao said angrily, "It's different. Zhu Dongyang was a coward who was afraid of fighting, so he was exiled for his crimes. I am a meritorious official, but I am exiled just because I didn't flatter Zhang Bingkuan enough. Is that what you mean?"

Zhong Decai thought about it and thought that you have quite a lot of opinions in your mind.

Is it that simple?

"Sir, how about this? Please submit a few more memorials to explain your crimes to His Majesty..."

"Bullshit, what crime have I committed? Give him face!"

Zhang Mao said angrily.

Zhong Decai hurriedly reminded: "My Lord, please be careful with your words."

"What do you mean by be careful with your words? Do you think I dare to criticize the royal family? I'm just saying that I'm not good enough?" Zhang Mao continued to be furious.

When he calmed down a little, it seemed that there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Mao asked, "What about the Duke Cheng's Mansion? What they did was no less serious than what I did. Isn't there anyone from their family who wants to impeach them?"

"I don't know." Zhong Decai said, "Even if there is, it won't make a big fuss. You also know that there is a Marquis of Anbian in the mansion. He is a person who has a say around Duke Cai. Who dares to impeach him casually?"

"These bastards don't follow the rules when doing things, and they claim to be clean. It turns out they are just a bunch of bullies who only care about the weak and the strong. But they don't know who is soft and who is hard in this court! I'm going to let them know the benefits."

……

……

Inside the theater.

Yang Peng handed over some case files to Zhang Zhou, and also brought him bad news.

"Sir, it seems that someone is deliberately trying to stir up conflict between you and the Duke of England and others. Recently, many people have impeached the Duke of England." Yang Peng said with a worried look on his face.

Zhang Zhou laughed and said, "I am under the emperor's feet, what should I be afraid of?"

Yang Peng said: "That being said, there are some things that we have to guard against. The Duke of Ying still has prestige and power in the army. After all, he has been in the army for decades. Some things... are hard to say, and cannot be said openly."

Zhang Zhou nodded to indicate that he understood.

Yang Peng immediately stood up and was about to leave.

Zhang Zhou asked Liu Gui to take him downstairs.

When Yang Peng went downstairs, he saw Mrs. Chengguo, Zhu Xu, coming over with someone.

Yang Peng took another look.

"Deputy Captain Liu, do you know what that is for?" After walking out of the door, Yang Peng turned back and asked.

Liu Gui hurriedly said, "You are too polite, sir. Just call me Xiao Guizi."

"You are too polite. Following Mr. Zhang, you are worth a lot of money." Yang Peng said with a smile.

Liu Gui said, "Eunuch, you are too kind to me. The one who went in earlier was Madam Chengguo. They are working on matters related to the Chengguo Mansion. It is related to the case. I don't know the details and I can't tell you."

"Yes, yes, yes. We should always consider Mr. Zhang's interests first." Yang Peng said with a smile, "Go back to the Northern Pacification Office and have a drink with our family."

"It's my pleasure."

Liu Gui was so happy that he couldn't express it in words.

Although he is still a centurion, he is already a well-known figure in the Jinyiwei. Even Yang Peng has to be polite when he sees him.

When he thought of this, Liu Gui felt elated.

Liu Gui sent Yang Peng away, then turned around and warned the people guarding the door: "Be careful, there may be someone trying to harm us recently. If you find anyone, arrest them. If anyone dares to use knives or guns, you should rush over and kill them! The safety of our master cannot be compromised at all."

"I understand, Master Liu." A group of people followed Liu Gui, and they all seemed to be in high spirits.

At least Liu Gui wasn't mean to them. (End of this chapter)