Not only Wu Xukuan claimed sick leave, but only in the cabinet, there were Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, Grand Secretary of Yingwu Palace, and Minister of Personnel, all of whom had sick leave. Including Wu Xukuan, there were only four people in the cabinet who claimed sick leave. There were only seven people in the cabinet, all of whom were first-rank officials!

Below the six ministries, except for the Minister of Personnel who entered the cabinet, three of the other five courts claimed sick leave and five ministers took sick leave!

There were also the Censor of the Censorate, the Minister of Dali Temple, Guanglu, the General Secretary of the Tongzheng Department, and others who all claimed their sick leave.

Not only are a large number of civil servants and important officials taking sick leave collectively, but also military officers.

The generals, commanders, generals, governors, commanders and commanders of all the troops in the capital were all taking sick leave!

In Donggan, ministers attend court, and there are differences between regular dynasties and major dynasties. Changgan is used every day. In fact, it is not the case. During the period of peace and stability, the regular dynasties usually take place once every three days, or even once every five days. However, in recent years, Donggan has suffered constant natural disasters and man-made disasters, so the regular dynasties are used once a day.

The Great Dynasty has not changed since the founding of Donggan. It is once a month, and the time is the fifteenth day of each month. When the Great Dynasty is held, all the officials of the seventh rank or above are obliged to attend the court. Every time the Great Dynasty is reached, there are a thousand officials of the court. Among them, only a few dozen people can stand in the hall, and the rest can only stand outside the hall and wait.

Even if it is a regular court, there are usually seventy or eighty people coming to the morning court. Occasionally, there are only three or five people who take leave for a long time.

But on the eighth day of October, Wu Xukuan, the chief minister of the cabinet and the military commander-in-chief, filed a sick leave. There were as many as thirty or forty important officials in the court who fell ill with him.

The number of people coming to the morning court was almost half the usual ones.

There is no doubt that the ministers who were able to "get sick" with Wu Xukuan are all those who have defected to Wu Xukuan. Whether they were voluntary or forced, they are now Wu Xukuan's people.

Wu Xukuan was not just empty talk about his power in the court and the country. It doesn’t matter if he was sick, half of the court followed him with illness!

The empress seemed to be indifferent to this!

She was not angry, at least on the surface.

The morning court seemed a little cold that day. Kanglongi as usual announced that "there is a memorial to start the court, but no memorial to leave the court." The empress sat upright on the dragon throne, without showing anger, and of course she did not laugh.

And after the morning court this day, the entire Ganjing City was shocked!

Everyone understands, including the empress, she knows that Wu Xukuan has begun to put pressure on him! He is also putting pressure on the entire court and those who are still swaying from side to side! He has shown his fangs and forced the palace, not far away!

On the ninth day of the 10th, many important officials in the court filed sick leave, and the morning court became a little colder.

In the next few days, the number of ministers attending the court was still gradually decreasing. By the morning court on October 13, there were only less than twenty ministers attending the court, and there should be no more few. Even if there are few, there will be a few.

The remaining people who can withstand the pressure and still come to the morning court are either upright old ministers or officials from high and low power, and clean yamen.

For example, the Imperial College Priest, Kong Chuiwen, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Palace.

Kong Chuiwen is already eighty years old this year and is an old minister of the three dynasties. He is a model of being upright and upright, and his temper is a kind of stink and hard. Wu Xukuan challenged him, so he dared to scold Wu Xukuan!

This Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, who is full of students all over the world, is an existence that Wu Xukuan doesn't easily offend, because this old man's students can be said to be spread all over the world, and he is also a saint in the minds of scholars all over the world.

Kong Chuiwen insisted on going to court. In this matter, he would not be controlled by Wu Xukuan. Although Wu Xukuan was very concerned about him standing on the empress, he would not touch him easily.

Because the gain is not worth the loss.

Kong Chuiwen has no real power. Although he is a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, the cabinet is controlled by Wu Xukuan. Kong Chuiwen has no right to speak. He is the priest of the Imperial College... This can be said to be the principal of the highest institution of Donggan. His rights can only be used on scholars in the world, but it cannot affect the court.

Therefore, if Wu Xukuan does not move Kong Chuiwen, it will be difficult for Kong Chuiwen to seize power. However, if he moves Kong Chuiwen, all the scholars in the world will criticize him, and even some of his confidants may have a grudge against him, because some of his current confidants and some important officials in the court were once students of Kong Chuiwen.

Therefore, Wu Xukuan not only couldn't touch Kong Chuiwen, but also wanted to win over him.

I have used all kinds of coercion and inducement.

This also had some effect. In the past two years, Kong Chuiwen often reported to impeach Wu Xukuan. Even if it was useless, it would make Wu Xukuan very disgusted. However, in the past year, especially after the death of the Empress of the God Capital and the Empress of God Zhao ascended the throne, Kong Chuiwen never reported to impeach Wu Xukuan again, but did not give Wu Xukuan a good face.

Kong Chuiwen also thought about his descendants. He was strong enough and Wu Xukuan could not touch him. But he was so old that he had buried his loess. He knew that he would not live for a few years, and he would have to fight Wu Xukuan hard, which would probably cause harm to his descendants!

In the face of the "general trend", Kong Chuiwen is helpless and powerless!

Going to court is Kong Chuiwen's bottom line. Going to court is the duty of a minister. If you don't go to court, it is equivalent to choosing to stand in a team and choose to surrender to Wu Xukuan. Kong Chuiwen naturally cannot surrender to Wu Xukuan, but he is just sticking to his own bottom line.

...

On the morning of August 13th, after the morning court, a group of people were executed in the palace, including the former eunuch Gu Huaiyong, the chief eunuch.

After several days of turmoil, the inner court finally completed the cleaning.

Killing people is the rolling head!

After this purge, the empress took back control of the inner court, and the crisis of the inner court was completely eliminated.

Because they killed too many people in the Great Inner Army who held real power, a large number of important positions were vacant, and it was not enough to rely solely on promotion and addition. Therefore, only a part of the people who were cleaned up in the Great Inner Army and the four guards were directly promoted from the Four Guards Mali, and some were dispatched from the Shence Army and the Tiance Army to airborne their military positions.

There is no way to do it!

In fact, this is better. Kill a group of people and inject fresh blood. The original old network of relationships will be completely broken.

In the afternoon, in the Ganshou Palace, in the garden.

Zhou An was fighting with Princess Yunjing again. Today, Zhou An was rarely free, and he didn't have to do the beheading himself. So on this day, except for going to pay tribute to the empress in the morning, he had been working in the Birthday Palace, practicing qigong, or accompanying Princess Yunjing to practice qigong.

In fact, Zhou An was waiting for news. The incident of Wu Xukuan colluding with the Pure Land Sect had spread, and Gu Huaiyong was also killed, so the neighboring country was able to clear it up. Therefore, Zhou An understood that his reward should be brought down!

In recent days, news about Zhou An's promotion again has been very fierce in the inner court.

"Hey!" Princess Yunjing raised the saber and shouted and slashed towards Zhou An.

Zhou An raised his hand and slapped it, and then resolved Princess Yunjing's offensive.

Princess Yunjing almost didn't hold the knife. She stopped and threw the knife away, shouting unhappily: "I won't play anymore, I won't play anymore, I'll die. I don't say let me give in to this princess..."

"Your Highness, I have never let you go. When have you been happy?" Zhou An said with a smile.

Princess Yunjing raised her hand and took off her helmet, rolled her eyes to Zhou An, and then pouted slightly, saying to Zhou An: "Xiao Anzi, I ask you, the emperor is using you now, are you going to transfer you away? I heard that if you want to transfer you to the Imperial Horse Prison to replace the position of Gu Huaiyong's old turtle, then can't you play with me in the future?"

"Oh, Your Highness, who did you hear? This is impossible...it's impossible!" Zhou An shouted hurriedly.

"What's wrong, it's spreading, Hong Xing told me about it." Princess Yun Jing pinched her waist and snorted: "If you become the seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, you are so busy every day that you can still come to play with me?"

"Yes, of course!" Zhou An nodded, but glanced at him. Seeing that there were no outsiders present, he changed his voice and said, "Your Highness, I'm telling the truth, I don't want to go to the Imperial Horse Prison..."

"Are you crazy?" Princess Yunjing's attitude changed again, "You don't want the position of the Second General Manager? Why? I can't bear to leave this princess?" Princess Yunjing's last question was naturally a joke.

Zhou An nodded and said, "Yes, I can't bear to leave you, Your Highness! If I go to the Imperial Horse Prison, I will have fewer opportunities to see you in the future. I really can't bear to leave."

This is a bit ruthless and means teasing the princess.

"Bah! Good, you little Anzi, you are so slick." Princess Yunjing snorted, but her face looked flushed and she felt beautiful.

"What the slave is telling the truth." Zhou An said another sentence.

In fact, half of Zhou An is true. He doesn’t want to go to the Imperial Horse Supervisor to serve as the eunuch in charge of seals!

Because it's too busy!

Being busy may even drag Zhou An down!

Currently, the twenty-four yamen in the inner court are under the command of the chief general Kang Longji. However, in fact, Kang Longji does not personally manage those big and small matters. He is busy giving advice to the empress to deal with Wu Xukuan, so in fact, the people who handle big and small matters in the inner court are several other chief general managers.

Before Gu Huaiyong was the busiest in the inner court, and he also had to manage the four guards of the inner court.

Zhou An didn't want to be so busy, because although he seemed to be reused, he would be restricted, and his rights would be limited to the inner court. And most importantly, once he became the seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, it would be difficult to make contributions as before.

In comparison, although Zhou An was just a supervisor in the direct palace before, he was in a free position and had time to do things for the empress, and the empress would also let him do things. He once became one of the most important people to help the empress fight against Wu Xukuan.

Once he becomes the seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, his role will no longer be to help the Empress deal with Wu Xukuan, but to protect the Empress, manage the inner court, control the four guards of the inner court, and ensure the safety of the Empress in the inner court, that's all.

This is a position where there is a high position and great power in the inner court that makes people envious, but it is difficult to make progress and make contributions again.

Given what happened in recent days, Zhou An had a new idea in his mind and had a clearer plan for his future, so he felt that the position of the Royal Horse Supervisor's Seal is not suitable for him! He wanted to continue to participate in the confrontation between the Empress and Wu Xukuan.

For this reason, he may not be the second general manager.

Of course, he still wanted to become one of the major power managers in the inner court.

So now he has already thought about it. If the Empress really takes him as the seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, he will make excuses to refuse. He wants to win one for himself, so that he can continue to make contributions and extend his power tentacles to a position outside the big inside!
Chapter completed!