My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 49 Secret Game
After the emperor said this, the four smart men in the cabinet understood that the publication of "Yuefu Xinbao" was a foregone conclusion.

The four ministers in the cabinet had mixed feelings. How could Su Ze accomplish it?

However, as Su Ze said in his memorial, "Yuefu Xinbao" was actually beneficial to the cabinet.

It could expand the channels for speech and take power away from the censors, which was a good thing for Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng who wanted to make a difference.

The matter is settled, and the next step is to fight for interests.

The Prime Minister Li Chunfang, who always tried to smooth things over, lost his temper at this moment and said directly:

"According to Su Zilin's suggestion, the Yuefu New Newspaper should be established under the leadership of Monsignor Wenyuan."

Emperor Longqing nodded and said:
"Then you will be the chief executive officer."

This result is natural. Such an important institution should naturally be controlled by the cabinet, and this is also the design in Su Ze's memorial.

Li Chunfang is the chief minister of the cabinet, so it is natural for him to serve as the chief executive officer as well.

This position was unimportant. As everyone knew, "the president is the president, the general manager does not cut corners." He was too lazy to take care of the affairs of Li Ge Lao's cabinet, so how could he be in charge of all the affairs of Yuefu Xin Bao? This was just a title, with only the power of review.

Gao Gong stood up and said:
"Su Ze was the initiator, so he should be appointed as the editor-in-chief."

Gao Gong thought very clearly that the editor-in-chief of this newspaper must be more effective than the president. This time Su Ze helped him to completely overthrow Xu Jie, so he had to return the favor and support him.

This is how the officialdom works, relationships are all two-way.

A leader who cannot stand up for his subordinates should not expect to gain their support.

If even close associates who have made contributions are not rewarded or promoted, then the subordinates will leave the leader.

Since Su Ze was the first to initiate the publication of the "Yuefu New News", Gao Gong naturally had to help him gain benefits.

Emperor Longqing had no objection to this. He nodded and said:
“This is the right thing to do.”

At this time, Zhang Juzheng stood up and said:
"According to Su Ze's memorial, we should follow the example of historians and transfer editors from the Hanlin Academy."

Since the former president of the Hanlin Academy, Yin Shidan, was promoted to the position of Chancellor of the Chancellery, Zhang Juzheng took over the affairs of the Hanlin Academy. The Hanlin Academy was originally under his control. He transferred people from the Hanlin Academy to set up the editorial department. This was Zhang Juzheng filling people into this new institution.

Naturally, there was no objection to this matter, but Zhao Zhenji was anxious.

Among the four ministers in the cabinet, Li Chunfang has gained fame, Gao Gong has gained people, and Zhang Juzheng has gained benefits. What has he not gained?

No, it’s not that I didn’t get anything, it’s that I still have to eat shit!
Zhao Zhenji also served as the Minister of Rites, and the Imperial College was also in his hands. According to Su Ze's memorial, the person who collected folk songs for the "Yuefu Xinbao" should be selected from the Imperial College.

Who will be the envoy? What salary and benefits will be given to the envoy? These are all personal matters!
Zhao Zhenji knew the combat effectiveness of the Imperial College, and he didn't want to be blocked by the students of the Imperial College!

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhenji immediately stepped out and said:

"Your Majesty, the Imperial College's stipend has already been determined, and now the Imperial College is unable to come up with the money. If we want to publish the 'Yuefu New Newspaper', we need the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds."

Everyone looked at Zhang Juzheng, the Ministry of Revenue was his sphere of influence.

Zhang Juzheng stroked his shiny beard and said:
"The Ministry of Revenue didn't approve this amount of money this year, so I really can't spend it."

Zhang Juzheng's words did not mean that he wanted to suppress Su Ze.

The Ministry of Revenue's disbursements of funds were all monitored by the censors from the six departments and thirteen departments, and the power of budget supervision lay in the hands of the censors.

This time the emperor punished Chen Zan, the leader, but the fighting power of the Ming Dynasty censors was extremely strong.

If Zhang Juzheng allocated money to Yuefu Xinbao in violation of regulations, he would definitely become a new target of censors.

The emperor looked at two important ministers. The Ministry of Revenue said there was no budget, and the Imperial College said there was no funds. He then looked at the Prime Minister Li Chunfang.

Li Chunfang stood up under pressure and said:
"Your Majesty, since this matter was initiated by Su Zilin, let him think of a solution first. If the response to the Yuefu New News is good, then let the nine ministers discuss the allocation of funds." Slippery!

Gao Gong glanced at the Prime Minister. No wonder Xu Jie recommended him to be the Prime Minister. This ability to please everyone was inherited from Xu Jie.

But Gao Gong was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and had no influence over the Ministry of Revenue, so he couldn't help Su Ze get money.

Hearing Li Chunfang's words, the emperor nodded and said:

"I order the Secretary of the Central Secretariat to draft the imperial edict, and Su Ze to be the chief editor, responsible for the preparations for the Yuefu New Newspaper."
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This small-scale Zuo Shunmen knocking incident came to an end.

Four cabinet ministers personally went to Zuo Shunmen and read out the emperor's edict. Chen Zan, who was the first to knock on the palace gate, didn't know what was happening and wanted to struggle, but was hit with a stick by eunuch Zhang who was guarding Zuo Shunmen.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards arrested Chen Zan, and the four cabinet ministers pretended not to see anything. Only after the emperor's edict reprimanding the six departments and thirteen provinces was read out did they understand what had happened.

The censors present all looked ashen, knowing that their political future was completely over. Although the emperor only demoted Chen Zan, in the subsequent personnel adjustments, they would definitely be cleared out of the Ministry of Justice and demoted to serve outside the capital.

But that's how political speculation works. Faced with the gatekeepers holding wooden sticks, the censors, who were already in the wrong, didn't want to experience six sticks in one second, so they could only accept the reprimand and leave the palace in despair.

The one who suffered the most was Chen Zan. He was beaten several times in secret and then taken back home by the Jinyiwei. He was then escorted to Xuwen to take up his post that same day.

After the incident, the emperor issued an order to establish a new "Yuefu New Newspaper". The six departments and thirteen sections licked their wounds and dared not submit any more petitions of opposition.

Seeing the storm subside, Su Ze finally returned home from the History Museum.

But when he entered, he found that his small yard was full of wine jars, and Xu Wei was sitting on a chair in front of the door, drunk.

"Mr. Qingteng?"

Su Ze walked forward, and upon hearing his voice, Xu Wei stood up and said to Su Ze:
"Dong Weng."

This time, the entrance to the courtyard was clean, unlike the previous time when Su Ze was attacked and the threshold was kicked in. He asked doubtfully:

"Didn't you ask Mr. Qingteng to stay away from the limelight for a while? Didn't you stay at home?"

Xu Wei nodded, and Su Ze asked again:
"Those Imperial Academy students didn't come?"

"Here they are. They sent me those wine jars."

"what?"

Xu Wei smiled and said:
"Dong Weng, please listen to me."

It turned out that after Su Ze gave instructions to Xu Wei, the students of the Imperial College surrounded Su Ze's courtyard.

At first, these students were just cursing outside the door, so Xu Wei sat in the yard and cursed back. After cursing for a whole morning, these students didn't curse Xu Wei alone.

Then someone tried to rush into the yard, so Xu Wei opened the door himself and stood in the yard to continue cursing with these students.

Xu Wei's ability to curse was so strong that he didn't use any dirty words but each word was sharp, making the scholars in the Imperial College angry and uncomfortable. However, Xu Wei quoted from classics and cursed them so hard that they were speechless.

Originally, these Imperial College students wanted to attack Su Ze, but strangely, it turned into a quarrel with Xu Wei, competing to see who could curse more eloquently and with higher level.

I don't know who suggested that the winner be decided by playing pairs.

Xu Wei smiled and said:

"Mr. Dong, Xu made a pair."

"The first line of the couplet is, 'It's good to study, but not good to learn.' I wonder what Dong Weng thought he would do with it?"

(End of this chapter)