I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 837 It’s not easy at all!
Wang Yi'e picked up the teacup, "Yunying, have some tea first. You rushed to the Imperial Envoy's Office right after arriving in Kaifeng, so have some tea first. Lord Hai is still meeting with Ren Bo'an and Li Xuan, so it will take a while."

Li E temporarily suppressed his doubts, picked up the teacup, took two sips, and asked, "Master, is it really the young marquis of Deping Marquis Mansion who came to Henan with Ren Jingxiu?"

"Yes, it was him. That's why Lord Hai met them first and sent you to me first. Lord Hai often went in and out of the West Garden and was familiar with Li Xuan. Although Lord Deping was the emperor's grandfather, he was humble and polite, and he was kind and generous, and he had a very good reputation in the court and the country.

Lord Hai must give him some face."

Li E shook his head, "I didn't expect Hai Gong..."

I didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Does Yunying mean to say that Lord Hai has lost his upright and aloof demeanor?"

Li E smiled and said, "This little thought of a student cannot escape the notice of my mentor."

"Yunying, what were your thoughts when you first passed the imperial examination? And what are you thinking now that you have been transferred to the position of governor and acting governor? Haven't you thought about it?"

Li E thought for a moment and replied, "Master, when I first passed the imperial examination, I wished that all the gloom in the world would be wiped out, and I felt a fire burning in my heart day and night.

More than a decade has passed, and the fire in my heart has not gone out, but it has changed from a fiery fire to a true fire of three flavors. "

"Since Yunying has this experience, she naturally understands what Lord Hai is thinking now. His position is not only that of the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, but also carries the heavy responsibility of upholding justice in the world.

Hai Gong is no longer alone. Now that we have a bond, many things are not so easy. "

Li E nodded, "Teacher, I understand your teachings."

Wang Yi'e then turned his attention back to the major case in Henan.

"Yunying, in your opinion, Liang Cen is the mastermind behind the Henan case, so what should he do?"

Li E thought for a moment and said, "Master, Liang Cen should either suppress the Henan case and prevent it from being exposed for the time being, and then find a way to distance himself from the matter."

"Disassociate yourself? How do you disassociate yourself?"

"Murder to silence witnesses. I think it is impossible that all the major cases in Henan are related to him. It must be that only a few of the major cases are related to him, and the rest are just the result of the upper beam being crooked.

Liang Cen's identity certainly would not be directly connected to those corrupt officials and evil gentry."

Li E pondered for a moment, "In the past, there were staff and advisors, but during the Wanli New Deal, all those bad policies were abolished. The people who directly contacted corrupt officials and bad gentry on behalf of Liang Cen were either his family members or his chief and deputy secretaries."

Wang Yi'e smiled, "Qi Chaomin, the chief secretary of Liang Cen, and Shi Langjueshan are all safe and sound, but I found one person among the officials involved in the case, Yu Wenzai, the co-governor of Nanyang County.

Among the arrested evil gentry and evil people, we found An Zhiwen, the largest grain and oil merchant in Kaifeng City and the owner of Wan'an Company. He is Liang Cen Jixian's elder brother.

Li E understood, "Were these two arrested by Shi Gongchen?"

"Yes, it was Shi Xing who caught him, and he was kept in extremely secret custody. He and six other important criminals were quietly placed in Caozhou County by Shi Xing."

"Caozhou County, Shandong? Did Shi Gongchen get the secret help of Liu Tangchen?"

In order to detain someone in a county in Shandong and to dispatch guards to guard him, Shandong must have strong support. The only people in Shandong who could do this were the provincial governor and the provincial governor.

Shandong Governor Liu Yupu is a man of ruthless determination and has a high reputation in Shandong in the past two years. He is also very skilled and has a strong control over Shandong.

If Shi Xing wants to do this, he will definitely have to go through Liu Yupu.

"Teacher, why is Liu Tangchen willing to help Shi Xing?"

Liu Yupu is one of the leaders of the New Party's Progressive Faction. In terms of ability, qualifications and the degree of trust he enjoys in the emperor's heart, he may be second only to Pan Yinglong and above Li Sanjiang.

Li E cannot compare with him at all.

To put it bluntly, they can set up their own business, but Li E is still just a follower of Wang Yi'e.

Shi Xing is one of the conservative leaders of the New Party.

The two men are of similar age, hold the same position, and have the same official title, and in a sense are competitors.

So Li E was a little confused as to why Liu Yupu was willing to help Shi Xing.

"Yunying, this is the pattern!" Wang Yi'e pointed out, "Although Liu Tangchen and Shi Gongchen are different in their conservative and progressive tendencies, they both belong to the New Party and are committed to reforming national affairs and promoting new policies.

What is Liang Cen? To praise him, we can say that he is a remnant of the stubborn conservative party; to put it bluntly, he is a lonely ghost who does not seek progress but only seeks personal gain.

Such people are obstacles to our reform. By eradicating them and their forces, not only the people of Henan will benefit, but also our new party that insists on reform.

Liu Tangchen helped Shi Gongchen out of trouble this time. Would Lord Hai like to remember this favor?"

This favor must be remembered!

Li E finally understood. So that's how it was.

Liu Yupu had underestimated him before.

Not only did he manage Shandong in an orderly manner and implement various new policy reforms in an orderly manner, he was also able to lend a hand to Shi Xing and together they eradicate the remnants of stubborn conservative forces. Everyone in the New Party, whether conservative or progressive, had to admire him.

The conservatives are grateful for his kindness, while the progressives admire his magnanimity.

Great!

There is also Shi Xing, whose boldness and daring actions are beyond everyone's expectations, and he is also a ruthless person.

Li E said: "Master, now as long as we can pry open the mouths of Qi Chaomin and An Zhiwen, Liang Cen's crimes will be exposed.

The mastermind behind the Henan case was uncovered, and at the same time, a hidden cancer was eradicated for Henan, and Shi Gongchen’s guilt for dereliction of duty was largely removed.”

Yes, Shi Xing could have said in his summary report that what I did was not dereliction of duty, but luring the snake out of its hole.

What is important is the result; the process is not important when it comes to rewarding people for their contributions.

What is the meaning of hard work without any credit?
Those are just words used to fool people, or they may be the same old words used by those in a higher position to save face for their confidants.

Without merit, it's nothing. Military merits and awards are based on beheadings, annihilation of enemies or captured spoils. You can't say that I walked from Liaodongku to the Fergana Valley through hardships. Although I didn't kill a single enemy, I didn't have any merit, but I worked hard, so I should be awarded a medal or a title.

Li E secretly praised him in his heart, saying that he was indeed one of the capable men that the conservative faction had high hopes for.

Wang Yi'e nodded: "It's good that Yunying knows what's going on. You should be prepared to partner with Shi Gongchen to govern Henan's government."

Li E understood what the teacher had said. His teacher had judged that after the case was concluded, Shi Xing's merits and demerits would be offset and he would continue to serve as the governor of Henan. As the governor of Henan, he could no longer serve as the acting governor of Henan and had to work with him honestly to manage the government affairs of Henan.

"Master, I have already known this and I am ready to gain experience as the governor of Henan for a few years."

Hearing Li E say this, Wang Yi'e nodded with relief.

Although Li E said this, the turmoil in his heart did not dissipate so easily. He could not help but ask, "Master, I don't understand how Shi Gongchen did it?"

Wang Yi'e glanced at him and decided to tell Li E his analysis so that his good student could also learn from it.

"When Shi Xing was appointed governor of Henan, the person who was most dissatisfied was definitely Liang Cen. He had been the governor of Henan for two or three years and had achieved the political achievements of paying full grain taxes and advancing as an administrative secretary. He thought it was only natural for him to take over as the governor of Henan, but then Shi Gongchen came.

You can imagine the resentment in their hearts.

Shi Gongchen was not an ordinary person. After he arrived in Henan, he quickly sensed Liang Cen's hidden hostility. The two fought openly and secretly. However, Liang Cen had been an official in Henan for more than 20 years, and he was deeply entangled with various local forces.

Shi Gongchen is new here, even if he has three heads and six arms, he won’t be able to break this spider web in a short time.”

At this point, Wang Yi'e stopped and asked Li E, "Yunying, if it were you, how would you respond?"

Li E thought for a moment and said, "Liang Cen is already over fifty years old, and has been serving as the governor of Henan for more than three years. According to the new official system set by the emperor, Liang Cen is very likely to retire after completing this term.

We just need to hold on for two years and accumulate strength in secret. When Liang Cen retires, the monkeys will naturally scatter and everything can be handled calmly.

only"

"Yunying, just what?"

"From the students' point of view, they are unwilling to give up. Why should they wait two more years? In order to realize their ambitions, promote reforms, clean up the local areas, and give justice to the people of Henan, the students don't want to wait even a day."

Wang Yi'e laughed, "You Yunying don't want to wait, but Shi Gongchen wants to wait?
He, Shi Gongchen, is only thirty-nine years old, not much older than you, and like you, he is full of ambitions. And..."

Wang Yi'e said in a serious tone, "Shi Xing was appointed by the emperor to serve as the governor of Henan. When the Advisory Council deliberated, there was a lot of criticism that Shi Xing was young and inexperienced. In the end, the emperor convinced everyone and decided on it."

Li E understood, "Shi Gongchen is a man of high esteem, and he certainly doesn't want to waste his time any longer. He has been in Henan for more than half a year, and on the surface he is fighting with Liang Cen, but in fact he is secretly investigating the real situation in Henan.

The governor's office received several reports, and Shi Gongchen sent out several special task forces led by inspectors and censors. On the surface, they were controlled by Liang Cen behind the scenes, but they only found some superficial findings and were perfunctory in their response.

In fact, these inspectors must have found out some truth, but Shi Gongchen suppressed it secretly. Then, by chance, several correspondents from the Xinming News Agency and reporters from the Ta Kung Pao came. "

At this point, Li E shook his head violently, "No, how could it be such a coincidence. Maybe Shi Gongchen secretly asked someone to instigate the families of the victims to write letters to their relatives who were correspondents and reporters.

Furthermore, even if these correspondents and reporters were extremely powerful, without someone secretly tipping off the case and providing support and protection, how could they have investigated the case so thoroughly in just three months? "

"Haha, Yunying really understands. Sometimes when one's heart is willing but the strength is insufficient, one must seek help from outside forces.

But how to use external forces is a very delicate matter. "

Li E said happily: "Teacher, I really learned a lot."

"It's good as long as you feel you have learned something. There are always better places to go. Just stay in Henan and learn from Shi Gongchen."

"Yes, mentor."

Wang Yi'e asked again: "Yunying, when you were away from the capital, did anything important happen in the capital?"

"event?"

"Correct."

Li E thought for a moment and said, "Master, when I left Beijing, I heard that the Sixth Research Bureau of the Ministry of Finance had developed a new gadget called a generator."

"Generator, electricity? The electricity from thunder and lightning?"

"Yes. The Sixth Research Bureau is also conducting an experiment in public at the Imperial Observatory in the Temple of Heaven. Students are curious and went to see it. It is a generator driven by a Type 1 Assault Steam Engine, which is said to be able to generate electricity.

But we can't see this electricity, so the research institute connected the wires to two tall copper rods, with the tips of the two copper rods facing each other and a distance of several inches in between.

Once the electricity was turned on, the students and the onlookers were stunned to see electricity crackling between the two copper tips, just like thunder and lightning.

Several newspapers also reported this grand event, which caused a sensation in Gyeonggi Province."

It was just a new scientific invention, Wang Yi'e didn't care about it, and continued to ask: "Besides this, there are no other major events?"

Li E thought about it carefully and it seemed not.

The major events that caused a stir in Beijing a few days ago, apart from the generator of the Sixth Research Bureau, were that Lord Hai and his mentor went south together to investigate a major case in Henan; and Lord Liang Mingquan led the Eastern Expedition Strategy Office to go out to sea.

My teacher knew about these two major events.

"Teacher, I can't think of any other major events happening in the capital."

Wang Yi'e stopped asking questions, feeling somewhat surprised. Why hasn't the emperor made a move yet? It's been several years, and he has been holding back. Now that the time is ripe, why hasn't he made a move yet?

Wang Yi'e was lost in thought when a clerk came to report, "Mr. Minister, Mr. Li, word came from the Left Court that Lord Hai is free now."

"Mr. Hai is free, Yunying, go and visit him."

"Yes, sir, I will go over first."

Li E said goodbye and left with the clerk.

Wang Yi'e continued to ponder in his mind.

Or maybe the emperor has already taken action, but the news has not yet been leaked?
(End of this chapter)