Chapter 280 279 Falling

Time has quietly arrived in August of the 36th year of Jiajing. Wei Guangde had already learned from Gao Gong and Yin Shidan that Prince Yu's Mansion had decided to promote Jia Yingchun to compete for the position of Minister of Works.

The Nanjing Minister of Revenue’s struggle for the position of Minister of Works, which seems a bit derogatory, but in fact the status of the two capitals in the north and the south is a world of difference.

Jia Yingchun passed the investigation of Prince Yu's Mansion. At this time, he knew that Prince Yu's Mansion wanted to win him again, so he was naturally overjoyed.

In fact, the Six Ministry of Nanjing is still a bit good, but the power is much smaller and is suppressed by the Beijing Ministry of War everywhere.

Just issuing salt indices every year is enough for Jia Yingchun to live in Jiangnan to die. In fact, he is not very concerned about whether he goes to the capital or not. However, if he can really go to the capital to be a minister, it will be considered a honor to return to his hometown.

Jia Yingchun is from Zhending County, Zhending Prefecture, Zhili, Northern Zhili, so naturally he would not give up this opportunity.

The senior officials of the Yu Mansion lacked the right to speak in the court. In order to win this position, Gao Gong also secretly entered the Xu Jie mansion to secretly meet Xu Jie with him under the order of King Yu.

The purpose is self-evident, and it is to convince Xu Jie to provide assistance in the position of Minister of Works.

In recent years, the Yan family has taken advantage of the opportunity to control the Ministry of Industry and made a fortune in construction projects, but the quality of the project is worrying.

The Prince Yu's Mansion naturally also took a fancy to the key department of the Ministry of Industry. In fact, if the project quality is guaranteed, the money will not be reduced. This is why King Yu was worried about the money two years ago. He is thinking about making money and filling his own treasury.

Xu Jie didn't understand the situation at the beginning when he learned the truth about Prince Yu's request, and he was still a little unbelievable.

Emperor Jiajing wanted to take Zhao Wenhua as the Minister of Works, but the news was not circulated in the court, and it was the first time he heard about this.

Gao Gong naturally would not reveal the news channel, not to mention that Wei Guangde's news must have come from Da Nei, so he would not even ask.

Xu Jie agreed skeptically, but his experience in the struggle in the court still played a role at this time.

"Suqing, you and I understand the role of the Ministry of Works, but I will not know that they will not easily give up the position of the Minister of Works over the years, otherwise many things will be exposed."

Xu Jie said here, staring at Gao Gong, waiting for his response.

Gao Gong was reminded by Xu Jie and quickly realized.

At the beginning, they only considered that the Minister of Works was taken down, so the vacant position was naturally to fight for it.

However, when he heard Xu Jie's words just now, Gao Gong understood what he meant. The Yan family would not give up the position of Minister of Works, but it seemed that there was something in his words.

"Gemaster Xu, please tell me if you have anything to do."

Gao Gonggong bowed his hand to Xu Jie.

"If there is preparation there, it is hard to say the result of the struggle. If there is no preparation, then the most likely person to take over the position of Minister of Works is the other ministers in the six ministries who are transferred to the Ministry of Works."

Xu Jie looked at Gao Gong with a smile and said.

"Switch?"

When he heard Xu Jie say that the Yan family might move the positions of other ministers among the six ministries and also keep the Ministry of Works, he quickly calculated in his mind that the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War have little to do with the Yan family, so it is definitely not something that the Yan family can do.

The Yan family actually controls the remaining three departments, namely the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice.

Now that the Minister of Works has been taken down, the Ministry of Personnel will never move. The Tianguan has the power to appoint and remove officials from the fourth rank in the country. The Yan family may have the adjustment to use the Minister of Justice to replace the Minister of Works. In fact, such a simultaneous transfer is the most likely to be recognized by Emperor Jiajing.

"It may also be other ministries and governments, but for now, the emperor is unlikely to nod."

Among the six ministries, the Yan family occupied three seats, which should be the biggest delegating statement from Emperor Jiajing. If you want to talk about the relationship between the three and the Yan family, Emperor Jiajing did not know that it was impossible.

But he still agreed to their appointment and removal, which also showed that he gave Yan Song enough power to maintain the operation of the government.

So in Xu Jie's opinion, it is not important to take over the position of Shangshu. What is important is that the emperor's attitude towards the Yan family can be distinguished through this matter.

In fact, if such a thing happens, the emperor will communicate with their cabinet in advance and discuss personnel transfers. When he mentions the candidate, it doesn't matter whether the emperor nods.

It is a good thing that Xu Jie is not his, but he can show his selfless side. Moreover, Xu Jie does not want to stand opposite to the Yan family at this stage.

After so much tolerance, he would not make any moves before he saw the emperor's attitude change.

On the second day, Xu Jie entered the cabinet to handle the work, and was worried with an impeachment memorial sent by Governor Xuanda.

Governor Xuan Da Shanxi Military Affairs, Yang Bo, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, impeached Wu Bin, deputy envoy of Huailong's army, and was appointed as the deputy governor of Hebei Province, and was appointed as the Senator of the North Hebei Province. He did not take up his post for a long time and was in a position to play in the autumn defense.

Xu Jiechou was worried that Wu Bin and Ren Xizu seemed to be recommended by Yan Shifan, and they probably spent a lot of money to buy officials. They were all in August and were not yet in the place. After autumn, when the soldiers and horses in the grassland were strong, it was time for them to take large-scale operations, so this was naturally not possible.

Xu Jie didn't plan to write anything in this memorial, so he simply took the memorial to Yan Song's public housing next door.

"The elder of the Pavilion was summoned to the West Garden by the emperor early in the morning."

He did not see Yan Song, only Yan Shifan was in the house. From the clerk, Xu Jie realized that Yan Song had been called away by Emperor Jiajing, so he had to go into the house to find Yan Shifan to talk about this.

Xiyuan, in Yongshou Palace.

"Yizhong, I have issued an edict to ask the Ministry of Works to revise the Yangmen Tower. I went to see it yesterday. The wood, stone and materials on the gate tower were all prepared. Why? What is the Ministry of Works doing? What is Zhao Wenhua going to do?"

Emperor Jiajing asked in a stern tone.

After practicing, Emperor Jiajing always reminded himself to control his emotions, knowing that this bad mood will also affect his cultivation.

In the past two months, he has been suppressing his dissatisfaction, but he only sent oral instructions to urge the Ministry of Works. He did not expect that he would still be the same when he passed by Zhengyang Gate Tower yesterday. He sent someone to inquire and found out that although the Ministry of Works finally agreed to the order, the materials were delayed and not prepared.

Yan Song heard that Emperor Jiajing's tone was not good, but as his godson, he still had to protect him, at least he had to save him before he was ready to take over the new candidate.

However, Yan Song also heard that Emperor Jiajing was quite dissatisfied with Zhao Wenhua. Perhaps he could pass the test by chance this time, but he still had to prepare to make a comeback to ensure his safety.

"The department is in charge of the official affairs, and now the preparations for the wood, stone and materials of the gatehouse are all collected, and it is best to order the minister and the supervisor to be in charge."

Yan Song thought about it and said: "Wenhua's illness caused by the heat of the south expedition last year was not cured in ten months. If the two ministers were all different and the affairs of the ministers were short of management, please add a minister to assist in the administration."

When Yan Song left Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing just casually raised his eyes and looked at Yan Song's back, and then closed his eyes and continued to practice.

When Yan Song returned to the cabinet and saw Yan Shifan, he briefly said that he was Emperor Jiajing in Xiyuan to Yan Shifan. Yan Shifan felt bad.

Xu Jie, who was next door, naturally didn't know that just recently, Emperor Jiajing finally couldn't help but plan to rectify the six departments.

In the past, Emperor Jiajing would summon cabinet ministers to say that for such important personnel appointments and removals as the six ministers of the Secretariat, but this time it seemed that he had considered what he had summoned Yan Song alone.

The next day, a memorial from the Ministry of Works was sent to the Silijian and to the Yongshou Palace.

The Ministry of Works submitted a memorial to ask Lei Li, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, and the eunuch Yuan Heng, to manage the construction of the Zhengyang Gate Tower. At the same time, he also asked to add a member of the Ministry of Works to order the Ministry of Personnel to recommend it.

It was exactly the same as Yan Song's meaning yesterday. Emperor Jiajing was silent for a long time after listening to the following people reading the memorial.

Wei Guangde naturally didn't know about the incident on the first day, but when the Ministry of Works asked the Minister of Ding and the Supervisor to take charge of the Zhengyangmen Tower Project, he also learned about it through the rapid spread of the Wanshizhi.

If everything is known, it is naturally the staff in the ministry. If there is any disturbance between the ministry and the ministry, it will soon spread throughout the civil servants in Beijing.

Wei Guangde's throat was almost smoking because of Zhao Wenhua's incident, and he had been slow to see the following.

Although Prince Yu's Mansion did not ask anything, Wei Guangde also knew that passing on the past was not a trivial matter and could not be careless.

The news that spread today finally made Wei Guangde feel that the wind was starting to blow.

In the afternoon, Wu Peng, the Minister of Personnel, received a note from the palace and asked to elect the candidate as Minister of the Ministry of Works.

Last night, he had already received the news from Yan Shifan, so he was naturally prepared.

In fact, there were recommended candidates in the news sent by Yan Shifan yesterday, namely Zuo Tongzheng Lu Xun, the chief minister of the Tongzheng Department, and Yan Shifan himself.

Yan Shifan himself had the title of Left Minister of Works, but he did not nominally join the Ministry of Works to handle the work, but assisted his father in handling cabinet affairs. However, through Zhao Wenhua, he had already controlled the real power of the Ministry of Works.

As for the Tongzheng Envoy, Zuo Tongzheng Lu Xun, was naturally a member of the Yan family. At this time, letting him leave the Tongzheng Envoy and enter the Ministry of Works is a reward for his hard work over the years.

It doesn't matter who the emperor will choose, but what is important is that they must be prepared.

Once Zhao Wenhua loses power, they can still control the Ministry of Works.

On the third day, Wu Peng, Minister of Personnel, sent the list of recommendations to Xiyuan. In the evening, news came out that Emperor Jiajing ordered Lu Xun to serve as the left minister of the Ministry of Works.

Of course, Wei Guangde knew more in detail.

In terms of choosing the candidates for the Minister of Works, Emperor Jiajing did not object to Yan Shifan's appointment, but Yan Shifan was the left minister of the Ministry of Works in charge of Shang Bao's official position at this time, so he chose Lu Xun after weighing the pros and cons.

Although Yan Shifan was greedy for money, his talent was also famous. He was not only a crooked talent. He was quite familiar with classics, history, history, etc., and was also a master of treasure appraisal. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was talented, but most of the later generations only said that he was a "genius".

At least Emperor Jiajing was satisfied with Yan Shifan's talent, so he was asked to be responsible for Shangbaojian, so he naturally didn't want to distract him from the Ministry of Works.

Give the little servant a few taels of silver. The little servant left happily, and Wei Guangde got on the carriage that had been prepared long ago, and he was about to go out.

What happened in Xiyuan these days is naturally known about the affairs of the Ministry of Works.

This afternoon, Gao Gong sent someone to invite him to the banquet in the evening, which is also a way of communication with each other.

It was still the restaurant and Wei Guangde soon learned about the information collected by Prince Yu's Mansion. This time, Emperor Jiajing did not summon Xu Jie, but only summoned Yan Song the day before the incident.

Wei Guangde had already learned about these things from Chen Ju before.

Wei Guangde's judgment was that Emperor Jiajing had not yet thought about whether to cut off the Yan family's rights.

Emperor Jiajing had already felt that it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the government, mainly because of money.

Yan Song's financial management is actually just a trick of moving around and tearing down the east wall to repair the west wall. It was fooled for a while but it could not last long. There will always be a day of collapse.

What to do then?

What he needs now is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure and find new sources of wealth for the court. Although the previous maritime trade was OK, the scale was limited after all.

Emperor Jiajing did not like to develop maritime trade on a large scale and sell a large number of Ming Dynasty goods to the public, so that his people could not enjoy these items, and he always felt that something was wrong.

Therefore, in his heart, he still felt that the ancestral system was right.

"We used to think that after taking Zhao Wenhua, we might elect the Minister of Works. At that time, as long as Mr. Xu can nominate Jia Yingchun, the rest will be our business. Now it seems that we have miscalculated.

The emperor probably hasn't made a decision yet, so we should not get involved, just wait for Mr. Xu to be nominated."
To be continued...