Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 370 Chain Reaction
Wei Zhongxian's condition was actually not too serious at the beginning. It was just high blood pressure that is very common in the elderly. As long as you pay attention to conditioning and rest, it will generally not deteriorate rapidly, let alone life-threatening.But it is a pity that Ming Xizong was ill first, and Wei Zhongxian was busy working day and night to cure Ming Xizong's illness. The emperor's condition had just improved and Wei Zhongxian himself collapsed again, and then the mysterious murderer started to attack. The strategy of driving tigers and wolves pushed Wei Zhongxian, who was sick in bed, to the cusp of the storm, and was criticized by everyone, forcing Wei Zhongxian to drag his sick body to wash away his grievances and run around, continue to work, and constantly get angry. The more tired you are, the easier it is to get angry, and the more you get angry, the higher your blood pressure, forming a vicious circle. However, Young Master Zhang made a mistake in employing people. He clearly saw some clues that could have saved the crisis. Song Xiance, the master who was sent back to assist Wei Zhongxian in dealing with political opponents, deliberately treated Wei Zhongxian for personal gain. Wei Zhongxian refused to save him.The result was very accidental and inevitable. Wei Zhongxian's old and frail body finally couldn't hold on. High blood pressure caused cerebral thrombosis, hemiplegia caused by stroke, and he fell to the ground. death knell.

Wei Zhongxian's fall was so fast and so sudden, which naturally caused a sensation both inside and outside the court and the people in the capital, and completely disrupted the positions of the Eunuch Party and the Gou Shao Party.On the side of the eunuch party, it started almost at the moment when the imperial physician announced that Wei Zhongxian had a stroke and hemiplegia and would lose his walking forever. If it's not right, submit a letter of resignation, and flee from the capital, this right and wrong nest is sad, and exchange the black yarn for the head; if you don't show loyalty, just prepare a memorial to scold Eunuch Wei, just waiting for a new strong father-in-law or a strong old man to appear , just send this thing up and submit it as a ladder for promotion.But no matter whether they are loyal or not, these officials dare not go to the Wei Mansion to visit Wei Zhongxian's condition. In the past, the gate of the Wei Mansion, which was full of people and sedan chairs could be lined up for several miles, suddenly became crowded. .

Unlike the officials of the Eunuch Party who were preparing for the future, the members of the Gou Shao Party were completely caught off guard by Wei Zhongxian's sudden stroke and hemiplegia, especially Song Xiance, the current commander of the Gou Shao Party, was completely dumbfounded!Song Xiance only intends to use Zhu Youjian and the royalist party to overthrow a large number of eunuch officials, to make room for the rapidly rising Gou Shao party officials to climb up, and at the same time greatly weaken the power of other factions of the eunuch party, forcing the court and Wei Zhongxian to go further He reused Young Master Zhang and Shaodang Gou, but he didn't expect to bring down Wei Zhongxian right now, let alone want Wei Zhongxian's old life!Because to overthrow Wei Zhongxian now, and under the circumstances that Young Master Zhang cannot immediately take over Wei Zhongxian's class, it may not be a good thing for the Gou Shao party, which has a weak foundation in the capital, and it may also create opportunities for other parties. Someone else made a wedding dress!So when the news came, Song Xiance's first reaction was to be caught off guard, not knowing what to do next.

Also disrupted were the Royalist Party and Zhu Youjian's Royalist Party, because they never expected Wei Zhongxian to fall back so quickly, and he was paralyzed on the bed all of a sudden, completely losing the ability to struggle and hope of counterattack. All the various plans to overthrow the Wei and downcast the party that had been prepared before could only be overthrown and re-enacted.To make matters worse, because Wei Zhongxian fell too fast, Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty fell ill, and the two main pillars of the Ming Dynasty fell at the same time, and Zhang Ruitu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, and Li Yongzhen, the second eunuch of the Silijian, could only play Tai Chi with mud Fist, courage and wrist are seriously lacking, unable to lead civil and military officials to continue to maintain the normal operation of the court, so when the power of the Ming court began to reshuffle, there was no leader in the entire court!More than 800 serving officials, large and small, in the capital were like scattered sand, falling into chaos. The huge machine of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have lost its power, and stopped running all of a sudden!It is also up to this moment that the members of the royalist party have even begun to miss Wei Zhongxian a little-under such circumstances, if there was such a powerful chief assistant as Wei Zhongxian in the Ming court, it would not be like it is now. Who, I don't know who to turn to for salary, and I don't know who to turn to to formulate various policies for the coming year.

On the night of December [-]nd in the tenth year of the Apocalypse, in this night in the capital of Ming Dynasty without Wei Zhongxian, countless people in the capital were sleepless, and countless young people with their own ghosts gathered in groups of twos and threes to discuss countermeasures , study the plan, and prepare for the upcoming reshuffle of imperial court power...

Others can ignore it, of course they have to look at Gou Shaodang, in the small house in Yali Hutong where Song Xiance is hiding, the core members of Gou Shaodang Song Jin, Xiao Chuan, Yu Huang, Liu Ruozai, Yang Jingchen, He Yucheng, Chen Jianhuang, Bo Jue Sitting in a crowded room with Li Shi’s representative of the capital, the eunuch Gao Dawei, who is the representative of the Shangshan Supervisor, and the eunuch Gao Dawei. In addition, Lin Yuji, the teacher of the young master Zhang and the cousin of Zhang Ruitu, the current chief assistant of the imperial court, also accepted the invitation and came to the secret meeting on behalf of Zhang Ruitu—although Zhang Ruitu is the most skilled It's Tai Chi with the mud, but it doesn't mean that he is not self-motivated!At this moment when the power of the imperial court is being reshuffled, Zhang Ruitu, who has also been deeply branded as an eunuch, must of course collude closely with his favorite student—and the best part is that Zhang Ruitu and Master Zhang, the teacher and student, are tied to each other. A pair of grasshoppers on a rope hold each other deadly, and no one dares to betray the other, so naturally they can work closely together with confidence.

"My lords, everyone is aware of the current situation." Song Xiance made the opening speech: "Nine thousand years old suddenly suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on the bed. According to my father-in-law's knowledge, the emperor has not eaten for two days, and is completely dependent on ginseng soup. I'm afraid he won't be able to last long. Under such circumstances, the adjustment of the six ministries of the imperial court, the cabinet, and the supervisor of rituals is imminent. We have also seen that we are faced with a life-and-death choice. If we choose the right one, it is like playing a game for the adults here. On behalf of the owner, I implore all the adults to be closely united and unite with the outside world, and must not be tempted by the petty profits of other parties, harming friends and harming themselves. How did the three parties of Qi, Chu and Zhejiang in the three major cases be divided by the Donglin party? Everyone who has been defeated, please be a warning, and don’t repeat the same mistakes.”

Song Xiance's words did not hide the slightest bit, they were blatantly shameless and blunt, but none of the officials present frowned to express their disdain, because all the officials and eunuchs present knew that they colluded too much with Young Master Zhang It's tight, being able to rise to the top position in the imperial court controlled by the eunuch party is either due to the glory of Young Master Zhang's military exploits or the help of Young Master Zhang overtly and secretly, so once Young Master Zhang loses power in this power reshuffle, none of us can escape .Only Lin Yuji, the representative sent by Zhang Ruitu, said darkly: "Master Song is right. The great turmoil in the imperial court this time is our opportunity and our danger. If we slack off a bit, it will be a situation that is beyond redemption. So this time, we must defend ourselves." Take advantage of existing positions while striving to control the most important positions."

"Master Lin is quite right. In this change of personnel in the imperial court, two yamen are the most important, that is, the Supervisor of Ceremonies and the Cabinet." Song Xiance was not polite, and said directly: "The Supervisor of Ceremonies, No. [-] The palm print Nine Thousand Years is over, No. [-], Li Yongzhen, Eunuch Li, is too timid and a hardcore Nine Thousand Years old, and No. [-], Eunuch Li Qinmeng, the follower, is also Nine Thousand Years old. No one will allow them to stay. The Supervisor of Ceremonies is in power, so the two father-in-laws Li are destined to fall, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies has vacated three positions. But, everyone, don’t forget that the owner was single-handedly promoted by Nine Thousand Years, and the two This Eunuch Li is considered to be from the same family. If we help Baiguan to overthrow them, we will definitely give Baiguan the impression of being double-decker. At the same time, Li Shi is far away in the south of the Yangtze River and cannot rush to the capital to participate in political struggles. After we overthrow them , and no suitable person could be found to replace them in a short period of time, so the students thought that we should at least keep one of them and let him hold the seal first, and it would not be too late to replace him when Eunuch Li Shi returned to the capital. Eunuch Jin Song pushed him to the position of Supervisor of Rites Bingbi to control Dongchang and Zhenfu Division, as for Eunuch Gao, I believe you have long wanted to join the Supervisor of Rites, right?"

"Of course." Gao Dawei was not shy, and said directly with a smile: "Our family has dreamed of the Supervisor of Rituals every day 20 years ago. gone."

"That's right, but Master Song, we are soft-spoken, so even if we recommend it, it won't be of much use, right?" He Yucheng, the old subordinate of Young Master Zhang at the Hanlin Academy, asked worriedly.Song Xiance smiled, turned to Lin Yuji and pouted, and said with a smile: "That's why the students invited Mr. Lin, the old sect of Zhang Ge, to come over for a discussion today. Zhang Ge is always the chief assistant of the imperial court. Help fist, there is still some hope for this.”

"Mr. Zhang Ge can recommend Song Gonggong to take over as the supervisor of ceremonies." Lin Yuji said quickly: "However, Mr. Zhang Ge's current position as the chief assistant of the imperial court is not stable. You all know that Feng Quan, the second assistant of the cabinet, is very strict with Zhang. It has not been a day or two since Ge Lao's position as Chief Assistant, and now such a good opportunity is in front of him, and he is so close to the King of Dishonored Letters and Empress Empress, he will definitely not let this one go A chance to overthrow Elder Zhang Ge."

"Master Lin, please don't worry, please tell Mr. Zhang Ge." Song Xiance said darkly: "Our master will never forget the relationship between him and Mr. Zhang Ge as a teacher and student. This time there is a big change in the imperial court. Others may The master will not protect it, but Mr. Zhang Ge, the master will support it no matter what!"

"Of course Zhang Ge believed Zhang Taibao's words." Lin Yuji said with a bit of a headache: "But the problem is that at present, the empress and the others are obviously getting closer to Feng Quan, and they will definitely support Feng Quan."

"It's simple, let's get Feng Quan down first." Song Xiance sneered and said, "It took us a day or two to start preparing to get Feng Quan down. Just the evidence that he corrupted the law and accepted bribes, we collected Half the room! Starting tomorrow, the people on the side of the boss will try their best to impeach Feng Quan, bring him down and make him a bad smell, so that he can't pose a threat to Mr. Zhang Ge, until he is kicked out of the cabinet!"

"If Feng Quan can be kicked out of the cabinet, then everything will be easy." Lin Yuji's eyes lit up, and he said in a dark tone: "The third assistant to the cabinet, Huang Liji, is a nine-thousand-year-old die-hard buddy. I can't escape!" Lin Yuji smiled and added, "In this way, two positions will be vacated in the cabinet. One must belong to Tan Hualang, and who should we recommend for the other?"

"Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Wang Yongguang!" Song Xiance said firmly: "Wang Yongguang is a neutral faction, and he has a good relationship with our boss. Pushing him up will be of great benefit to Mr. Zhang Ge and the boss! At the same time, it can also bring him Get over it and let him join us."

"Even if Wang Yongguang is brought over, our strength is still far from enough." Lin Yuji wondered, "Of the six divisions and nine ministers, Mr. Zhang Ge controls the Ministry of Officials, and Wang Yongguang controls the Ministry of War. We only have two divisions to win over Wang Yongguang." In addition to the strength of Master Yang’s Guozijian at most, the strength is too weak. The other four ministries, Dali Temple, Metropolitan Procuratorate and Tongzheng Commissioner, except for Xu Guangqi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, who walked a little closer to us, the other churches Even the officials are not ours, how can this little power push all of us to the top?"

"It's okay." Song Xiance smiled treacherously, "Shangshu Wang Ji of the Ministry of Punishment, Cui Chengxiu, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Yang Shaozhen of the Minister of General Affairs, they are all nine thousand years old. Involved, ransacking their homes and beheading is also certain. We can use saving their wealth and life as a bait to win them over. Nine thousand years old is critically ill. These people are now helpless. Trick! As long as we win them over, coupled with the jealous character of the empress and the empress, it will be easy for us to kill Feng Quan, and then push Wang Yongguang to the Ministry of Households to be a hall official, and leave the position of the hall official of the Ministry of War to the The boss who is about to return triumphantly. In this way, half of the six parts are in our hands...?"

........................

Just do what you say, and in the early morning of the next day, when the officials of the imperial court are still in disarray, the Gou Shao Dang officials who are confident in the military exploits of Master Zhang as the backstage immediately start the booking operation, and the Gou Shao Party first Pushed to the point of the cannon is Feng Quan, the Minister of the Household Department who is dreaming of becoming the chief assistant of the cabinet!First, Liu Ruozai, who had been promoted to Zuoqian capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, opened fire, impeached Feng Quan for taking bribes, selling officials and nobles, and presented iron-like evidence; To impeach Feng Quan, Yang Jingchen led a large group of Guozijian Hanlin to jointly impeach Feng Quan, and they all showed real evidence; He ran out to join in the fun, and in the evening, Wang Yongguang, who was persuaded by Song Xiance, decided to join forces with Gou Shaodang and join the team that fired on Feng Quan for the sake of the Second Assistant of the Warring Pavilion. Feng Quan is mean and ungrateful, and his heart is notoriously vicious, far inferior to Zhang Ruitu's generosity and kindness. Of course, these people don't want to see Feng Quan bring Zhang Ruitu down, and deal with themselves in the future.

After a series of combined punches, Feng Quan immediately became a street mouse of the Ming court, and his bad reputation became a bad reputation.As a result, not only Zhang Yan and the royalist party were embarrassed to support Feng Quan to take over as chief assistant, but even Feng Quan, who thought yesterday that the position of chief assistant belonged to him, panicked and ran to the British government to ask Zhang Weixian Waiting for someone to cry with snot and tears, "You two princes, Zhang Guozhang, you have to make decisions for the lower officials! This is Zhang Haogu's trick, his trick! He saw Wei Laogou's downfall I'm afraid that I will be the chief assistant and ask him to settle accounts, so I made up evidence to get rid of me first! In front of the empress, you have to speak for the humble position!"

"Old Feng Ge, the evidence presented by Liu Ruozai and the others doesn't seem to be fabricated, does it?" Zhang Weixian said with some embarrassment. Is it the bank notes that were sent to the bank, they are all clearly listed, and there is an account to check, if it is fabricated, it will be so real?"

Feng Quan had nothing to say, and Zhu Chunchen next to him also said in embarrassment: "Mr. Feng Ge, you can succeed in overthrowing Wei this time. You have indeed made a lot of contributions. You should be rewarded for your merits. But more than 100 officials participated in the impeachment You even showed the real evidence, how do you ask us to protect you? Let me tell you the truth, after waking up today, the emperor has read several memorials to impeach you, saying that if the contents of these memorials are true, you This cabinet minister disappointed him so much! In the end, the emperor also said..., we must strictly investigate whether there are such things."

"What?" Feng Quan's head was dizzy——Feng Quan knew Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen, and Zhang Guoji, the die-hard royalists too well, his head was as stubborn as a lump of elm, he didn't know what flexibility was, and he didn't know what weighing pros and cons was. He respected the emperor's words like a god, and the emperor must do what he said, and hated those who violated the court's laws and regulations and endangered the Zhu family's country—otherwise, he wouldn't be so at odds with Wei Zhongxian.So after Feng Quan's head was dizzy, his first reaction was, "It's over! After waiting for so many years, it seems that he is about to monopolize the power, and it turned out to be a failure."

"Mr. Feng Ge, we discussed it." Sure enough, Zhang Weixian said hesitantly: "What do you think about this? You see that half of the civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty are already impeaching you. There must be more tomorrow. If you stay I'm afraid it's not very suitable for the position of the cabinet's second assistant, so why don't you plead guilty and resign temporarily, temporarily avoid the limelight, and when the limelight comes over, how about we find a way to get you back into the cabinet?"

"When this limelight is over, will I still have a place in the cabinet?" Feng Quan roared in his heart, wishing to strangle Zhang Weixian, a conspirator and political idiot, to death!After trying hard to suppress the anger in his chest, Feng Quan said cautiously: "The two princes, Zhang Guozhang, and this humble minister said a word of condemnation. If this humble minister resigns from the position of cabinet assistant, there will be no one in the cabinet." Now, do you think that Zhang Ruitu’s half-running dog of Wei Wei can replace the humble minister to assist the emperor in governing? Could it be that you have already prepared candidates to succeed the humble minister?”

The last question, Feng Quan originally asked casually as if angry, but what Feng Quan never dreamed of was that after he asked this question, Zhang Weixian, who was very rich in the city, was better, and the faces of Zhu Chunchen and Zhang Guoji changed Once changed, it started to become a little awkward.Feng Quan looked at his words and asked tremblingly: "You two princes, are you really ready to replace the humble minister in the cabinet? Who is it? Wang Yongguang? Xu Guangqi? The qualifications of the two of them are enough, but there are three people in the cabinet. There are only two? The other hall officials and bachelors are all Wei Zhongxian's people, do you still want to let another Wei Zhongxian lackey into the cabinet?"

Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen and others were silent, and it was at this time that Feng Quan's heart suddenly moved, and he jumped up and shouted: "Zhang Haogu! You are going to let Zhang Haogu replace the humble minister and enter the cabinet to assist the government! Jiannu and The rebels are all gone, Zhang Haogu's military power should be taken back, and the only place where he can be placed is the cabinet!"

What Feng Quan said, in order to keep the Ming court going, Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen, Zhang Guoji and others' ideal candidate for the cabinet is of course the young master Zhang who is both civil and military, brave and resourceful, and let Zhang Weixian's nephew and son-in-law, young master Zhang Joining the cabinet can also take the opportunity to take away the military power of Young Master Zhang, which is a good thing for both public and private purposes.At the same time, Zhang Weixian and others were overjoyed that they were worried that Zhang Yan, who hated Wei Zhongxian to the core, would not agree to Young Master Zhang, Wei Zhongxian's own son, to join the cabinet, but when they tentatively proposed this suggestion to Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan was only silent After a while, he immediately nodded and agreed to this personnel change - only Young Master Zhang and Zhang Yan knew the reason.So in this way, Feng Quan, who is despicable and capricious, naturally becomes a dispensable discarded child in the eyes of the royalists.

After hesitating for a long time, Zhang Guoji lowered his voice and said: "Mr. Feng Ge, let me tell you the truth. After the old dog Wei was paralyzed, the empress empress had already sealed the imperial decree for Zhang Haogu to return to his teacher in triumph, and the imperial decree was also sent out. When Zhang Haogu came back, he was awarded the title of Grand Bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, entered the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister, and assisted the emperor in governing the government."

Zhu Chunchen also said: "Originally, we planned to promote you to the chief assistant. Wang Yongguang and Xu Guangqi were in the second and third seats, and Zhang Haogu was in the last seat. But suddenly so many people impeached you, and they all showed iron-like If we want to protect you, we have no way to protect you, so we have no choice but to let you avoid the limelight for a while. After all, the emperor needs face, and it is really impossible to let an official with a lot of misdemeanors serve as the chief assistant of the court."

He tried his best, but in the end he made wedding clothes for others, cleared the obstacles and opened the way for others to be promoted to the cabinet.Under such a heavy blow, Feng Quan didn't even know how he left the British government.After leaving the gate of Zhang Weixian's house, Feng Quan didn't get into the sedan chair, but walked in a daze against the boundless wind and snow on the snow-covered street under the night, slipped three times at one step, fell several times, and followed up to help , were all thrown away by Feng Quan, and what he sang was just a play, "dried blood, boiled white heads, in the end, I made wedding clothes for people.... Boiled dry blood, boiled white heads, in the end, I made wedding clothes for people." Marriage clothes... boil dry blood, boil whiteheads..."

"Mr. Feng Ge." Suddenly, a short passerby stopped Feng Quan, and said with a faintly familiar Cantonese accent, "Long time no see, how is Mr. Ge? Are you okay?"

"Who are you?" Feng Quan raised his head and asked with difficulty.The short man raised the hat on his head and said with a smile: "Master Ge really forgets things a lot. Two years ago, Caomin visited Mr. Ge together with Mr. Li, Governor of Water Transport."

"It's you!" Seeing the short man's face clearly, Feng Quan snapped up his wits, looked around quickly, and said in a low voice trembling: "You are so courageous! Your brother's business must be to exterminate the nine clans , Dongchang and Zhenfusi are arresting you everywhere, how dare you show up in the capital?!"

"I don't want to hide from Mr. Ge, the grass people have been in the capital these days." The short man like a baboon said with a sly smile: "And he lives in a place that you are very familiar with, Mr. Ge, and lives with people you are very familiar with. Feng Elder Ge, I already know about the fact that British officials want to force you to resign, if Elder Ge doesn’t want to make wedding clothes for others, and let your mortal enemy Zhang Haogu enter the cabinet to pay homage, you still have another chance.”

"What chance do I have?" Feng Quan asked tremblingly: "Also, how can you, a wanted criminal, be so clear about my affairs?"

"Of course someone told the grass-roots people." The short man replied darkly: "As for who that person is, with your ingenuity, Mr. Ge, you can't guess it, right? How about it, Mr. Ge, if you don't want to give Zhang a good name?" Gu made a wedding dress, are you interested in meeting that person with me?"

"Xin Wang——!" Feng Quan was indeed not stupid, and quickly said through gritted teeth: "I understand, I finally understand, it turns out that you and him joined forces to plan the assassination of the eldest prince behind the scenes! Let me tell you , What is the purpose of assassinating the First Prince, so it was you who did these things to save your brother!"

"Elder Ge is really smart." The short man said with a smirk, "But Elder Ge must not know that the power in my hands is far greater than you imagined, and even the power of the Dajin court in Beijing City belongs to me." That's all! How is it, Mr. Ge, are you interested in cooperating with me now?"

(End of this chapter)