My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 17 Prestige Increase
Su Ze naturally understood what Zhang Juzheng meant at once.

Zhang Juzheng had just passed the imperial examination and was also a passionate young man. He once wrote "On Current Affairs" to criticize the current social ills.

But he soon discovered that his power was too small. Due to his frustration, he retired due to illness for a period of time. Later, when he re-entered the Hanlin Academy, he began to bide his time and follow in Xu Jie's footsteps.

Zhang Juzheng used his own experience to persuade Su Ze not to get involved in the cabinet struggle.

Yan Song was extremely powerful in those days, but ended up living in a tomb and dying.

Zhang Juzheng was also pointing fingers at Su Ze. Although Gao Gong was in power now, the situation in the court was changing rapidly. Once Gao Gong lost power, Su Ze would definitely be liquidated because he followed Gao Gong so closely.

This is what the literati called "hide in troubled times and emerge in prosperous times." Zhang Juzheng was admonishing Su Ze, telling him not to rashly get involved in the struggle at the top.

Of course Su Ze disagreed with this.

He was hiding before he traveled through time. Now that he has traveled through time and has a golden finger, does he have to hide again?

But Zhang Juzheng was his elder and his superior, so when he humbled himself to persuade Su Ze, Su Ze had to respond.

Su Ze said:

"Master, when I was young, I attended a school. There was a couplet on the wall of the school that read: 'The sounds of wind, rain, and reading fill my ears; family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs are all of my concern.'"

Zhang Juzheng's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he quickly asked:

"Which great scholar proposed this?"

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"It's so old that it's impossible to verify."

"Su Ze took this couplet as a warning. Fan Wencheng also said, 'When one is in a high position in government, one must worry about the emperor.' Su Ze submitted this memorial not for his own fame, but for the sake of state affairs."

"Among the ministers, who cares about the state? For the sake of the state, I do not care about life or death."

After hearing what Su Ze said, Zhang Juzheng stopped trying to persuade him. He looked at Su Ze with a complicated expression, then turned and left the History Museum.

Su Ze knew that after this conversation, his "personality" was established.

Friends who have worked in the workplace know that the most important thing for a person is his or her "personality".

No matter what kind of workplace it is, it is "people" who ultimately decide things.

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and there are human relationships and social customs in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad.

Personal communication is naturally one way, but there is another way to get close to the leader, which is to establish a good personal image.

Of course, this character was not created casually.

Gao Gong, who was about to take power, and Zhang Juzheng, who would historically rule during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, were both pragmatic politicians.

So they value practical talents more.

Su Ze established himself as a person who dared to take on responsibilities and was capable of getting things done. Even if he had a political conflict with Zhang Juzheng, he would consider his abilities and let him go.

After all, a higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking official, and Zhang Juzheng is more than one level higher than Su Ze.

If Zhang Juzheng really wanted to suppress Su Ze, even if Su Ze really completely sided with Gao Gong, it would still hinder his promotion.

If a practical person is established, even if Zhang Juzheng does not promote him, he will not make things difficult for him.

For Su Ze, who was a seventh-rank official, this was enough. As for Xu Jie, the system said that he would be dismissed from office next month and would be nothing more than a pile of dry bones in a grave!
The court situation was just as Su Ze had expected. The issue of the three emperors was still a hotly debated issue in the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Justice.

The censors who had originally attacked Su Ze were now in danger themselves.

Several censors submitted memorials proposing three issues, but even the most basic questions were not discussed clearly, and some even included unofficial historical records in the memorials.

Emperor Longqing was also very troubled by this. The court was arguing endlessly about the issue of the three emperors, and normal government affairs could not be carried out.

At this moment, Gao Gong stood up again.

When Lu Shude, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Revenue, submitted a memorial to the emperor to discuss the issue of the Three Emperors, he incorrectly wrote the reign title of the previous emperor, Emperor Jiajing.

Gao Gong seized this opportunity and requested that Lu Shude be punished on the grounds of disrespect.

Emperor Longqing, who was always lenient towards his ministers, was also furious because of this typo and wrote in red ink:

"The petty officials of the Ministry of Personnel impeach the ministers without hesitation. They have no moral integrity and should be demoted three levels and transferred to other posts!"

Lu Shude was directly demoted to a post outside the capital, which put an end to the discussion. Emperor Longqing kept all the memorials from officials and did not send them out, gradually suppressing the discussion on the issue of the three emperors.

The court was temporarily peaceful, but the result was that the National History Museum project was aborted just after it was launched.

Xu Jie, the chief officer of the National History Museum, never visited the National History Museum once, and vice-presidents Zhang Juzheng and Chen Yiqin did not come either.

A few days later, the clerks transferred from various government offices returned to their original departments.

In the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, these grassroots clerks and scribes are the main force in handling official documents. Now that the national history project has failed, the heads of various departments will secretly transfer people back, and the president and vice president will naturally turn a blind eye.

Immediately afterwards, the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy who were transferred there also began to stop coming to work at the National History Museum.

They all found reasons to return to their original departments. The national history project was about to fail, and staying here would only delay their future, so they hurried back to their original offices to make their presence felt and look for new promotion opportunities.

These days, Shen Yikuan has been running between the National History Museum and the Hanlin Academy, and Shen Shixing, the Deputy Minister of Rites, was directly asked by his superiors to go back to work.

Only Luo Wanhua followed Su Ze and spent the whole day in the History Museum reading.

Su Ze, who blew up the "shit pit", became the safest person in this storm.

During the holiday in mid-to-late May, the turmoil in the outer court gradually calmed down, and Su Ze finally left the History Museum.

Living in the History Museum all day was not a good idea. After Lu Shude was demoted to an external post, the censors did not dare to continue impeaching Su Ze.

Su Ze's strong criticism of the Three Emperors earned him a lot of reputation among the scholars in the capital. Several students from the Imperial Academy who had blocked his door sent someone to apologize to Su Ze. After this reversal of reputation, Su Ze also received a notification of [Prestige Value +50].

Sure enough!

The prestige value is Su Ze’s personal prestige. The official position itself will increase prestige regularly, and if Su Ze does something to enhance his prestige, he can also increase his prestige at one time!
This time, submitting the "Memorial on Three Matters in National History" was an experiment for Su Ze, who wanted to see if he could increase his prestige in this way.

Sure enough!

In other words, in addition to increasing your daily prestige value through promotion, you can also increase your reputation and [prestige value] through events.

After figuring out how to obtain prestige points, Su Ze focused his attention on the system task - [Promotion].

Unfortunately, the National History Museum project fell through, and Yin Shidan, the president of the Hanlin Academy, did not get along with him. If Su Ze wanted to get promoted, he had to find another way.

Su Ze also had a plan in mind. June was coming soon, so he would do it after the CD of the portable court was refreshed.

(End of this chapter)