Daming talker

Chapter 550: A Post

Being imprisoned does not mean being completely isolated from the outside world. That night, someone quietly entered the residence of Minister Xu Guo through the back door.

This person is Wang Yingjiao, a fellow townsman of Lord Xu from Huizhou, or a fellow villager.

He was a Jinshi in the second year of Wanli. In recent years, he has been serving as an official in other provinces and has reached the third rank of political advisor.

I recently returned to Beijing after completing my term of office and underwent an inspection, so I have been active in the capital.

In the dim study, Wang Yingjiao said to Lord Xu: "Duke Yingyang! Someone from Qingliu asked me to bring you a message. It will benefit both of us if we work together!"

He did come with a mission, to help the Qingliu forces persuade Xu Guo and Lord Xu to cooperate.

At the same time, it was also for his own sake. If Lord Xu stepped down, wouldn't his fellow villagers lose their support?
Xu Guo remained silent, thinking about his own thoughts.

Since the liquidation of Zhang Juzheng, the emperor has deliberately supported censors and curbed the power of the cabinet, and the so-called clean stream forces took the opportunity to grow stronger.

Coincidentally, he entered the cabinet just when Zhang Juzheng was being liquidated.

Therefore, starting from the 12th year of Wanli, he was pushed to the front by Shen Shixing and became the main output of the cabinet, and he fought with the Qingliu forces for six full years.

Under the targeting of the Qingliu forces, even his own party members could not form their own forces, which led to a vicious cycle.

In this kind of "battle royale and melee" situation, what matters is momentum, and one's own situation is very bad.

To put it bluntly, even his nominal disciple Lin Tailai doesn't help him, who else can he count on?
Seeing that Xu Guo was still hesitant to speak, Wang Yingjiao advised: "Duke Yingyang! Let the past grudges be put behind us. We should always focus on the present and the future!
Looking at the current court, only the Qingliu forces are willing to fully support you, so why should you stick to some prejudices of the past?
Moreover, they have recently taken the lead in showing goodwill and have been attacking Wang Xijue with all their might. This is a strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao!

Don't you want to stay in office, Lord Yingyang? You are only one step away from becoming the Prime Minister. Wouldn't it be a pity to resign at this time?

As long as there is a chance to make Shen Wumen resign in the future, you will be the Prime Minister! "

So Xu Guo finally said, "What do they want me to do?"

Seeing that Lord Xu had finally wavered, Wang Yingjiao was overjoyed and quickly replied:

"You don't have to do anything at the moment. Everything will be handled by the Qingliu forces. You just need to accept their kindness!"

Xu Guo thought about it for a while and sighed, "It's good for both sides to cooperate. It's OK."

I can feel these past two days that many people have suddenly turned around and focused on criticizing Wang Xijue, which has greatly reduced my pressure.

He had been quarreling with the Qingliu forces for six years and he would never have thought that there would be a day when the Qingliu forces would support him and he would need the support of the Qingliu forces.

After he parted ways with Shen Shixing and openly broke with Lin Tailai, such a magical thing happened.

Lord Xu knew very well what the Qingliu forces wanted this time.

After being an official for so many years, his greatest value is actually the identity of "Lin Tailai's Grand Master". How ironic and ridiculous.

The next morning, Wang Yingjiao hurried to the Ministry of Personnel and took the opportunity to report the good news to Chen Younian, the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Division.

Walking down the street, I saw new large-character posters hung in many places along the roadside - this has been a feature of the streets in Beijing in recent years, with people often hanging large-character posters to criticize current affairs and express political views.

However, Wang Yingjiao was anxious to go to the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Office to report the good news, so he did not pay much attention to these new notices.

Walking straight to the outside of the right gate of Chang'an, he saw a large group of officials surrounding a newly appeared notice, which aroused Wang Yingjiao's interest.

A new revelation that can attract a group of officials and stay for a long time must be a response to current affairs and have explosive content.

So Wang Yingjiao also squeezed into the crowd and looked at the wall.

The title on the poster read: "Attacking the officials who deceived the world and stole their reputation!"

The main text is: "I am Liu, an eunuch with a humble name, and my duty is to guard Xizhimen.

While on duty, I saw many officials leaving the city from Xizhimen on the day when they were supposed to be on official business, and going to Gaoliang River and Haidian to indulge in spring outings.

In March and April of the past two years, there are thirteen officials who witnessed and can still remember the spring outing on official business days, including Wang Sanyu, Zhao Nanxing, Wang Ruxun, Wan Guoqin and others.

I can't help but feel indignant. How can such a situation of complacency between the civil and military officials benefit the country?
I have also heard that these playful people have been making remarks recently, one saying that it is the foundation of the country, the other saying that they are impeaching ministers for harming the country. Isn't this ridiculous and absurd, deceiving themselves and others?

Although I am disabled, I still know how to perform my duties conscientiously and dare not leave my public position without permission. Who would have thought that an official who reads the books of sages and deceives the world and steals fame is actually worse than a disabled person?
I was sitting at Xizhimen, unable to bear to see the chaos, so I posted this to warn the world!"

When officials with a little political sense saw this notice, they immediately thought "Oh shit!"
Therefore, many officials gathered here because the content of the poster is very valuable to interpret, and everyone wants to exchange their experiences with each other in order to have a deeper understanding of the poster.

On the surface, this post was a revelation by a eunuch that scolded civil officials for "traveling in violation of regulations", and the scolding was very harsh, and he even named thirteen people.

The theme is also obvious - these 13 officials who went out traveling during working hours are worse than a disabled father-in-law like me. They are people who are harming the country themselves, so what qualifications do they have to pretend to impeach others for harming the country?

But upon closer inspection, we can find many subtle points in the poster. In this era, there was indeed a custom of spring outings in March, and the location of the spring outing in the local customs of the capital was outside Xizhimen, and this was the case for everyone from officials to the common people.

It can be said that hundreds of officials, both large and small, have gone out of Xizhimen for an outing, and they all traveled in violation of regulations during official hours!

But why did Liu Gonggong, who posted the exposé, only remember these thirteen people? Was this accidental or inevitable?

So the first point to look at when exposing the post is: there must be some internal relationship between these thirteen people.

The second point of interest is why the eunuch Liu of Xizhimen, who has always been unknown and obscure, suddenly became so brave?
A third-rate eunuch actually dared to openly interfere in the civil service public opinion war. What unusual changes have taken place in Xizhimen recently?
Fang Congzhe, an editor at the Hanlin Academy, saw the notice on his way to work and quickly turned around to the residence of Lord Wang Xijue.

"The teacher's prediction is indeed brilliant. Lin Jiuyuan has taken action!" Fang Congzhe told Wang Xijue the good news.

After Wang Xijue was suddenly hit by a wave of powerful impeachments, he did not go to find Shen Shixing again, but asked his trusted disciple Fang Congzhe to find Shen Yongmao.

Fang Congzhe and Shen Yongmao were both Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli, so they had a certain friendship as classmates.

When Wang Xijue is smart, he can see it very clearly.

At present, the only person to contact is Prime Minister Shen, and the only person to contact is Lin Tailai.

If we look for Shin Yongmao, we may be able to take into account both Lin Tailai and Shin Shoufu. If Lin Tailai can't handle it, the kind-hearted Shin Yongmao will definitely ask Shin Shoufu to remedy the situation.

Fang Congzhe couldn't help but admit, "Lin Jiuyuan is indeed a man of unique ideas. He can always find a way in."

Who would have thought that even the youth outing that everyone does would be brought up as an issue?

Wang Xijue said calmly: "This is just Lin Tailai putting pressure on the Qingliu gang. It is far from deciding the final outcome."

Fang Congzhe replied: "Based on my observation of Lin Jiuyuan in the Hanlin Academy, once he makes a move, he will definitely have a backup plan.

So the exposure is probably just the beginning, there will definitely be more things to come, but I can’t guess what will happen.”

On the other side, after Wang Yingjiao finished reading the notice, the joy in his heart was unconsciously overshadowed.

Others may not be able to see any clues in a short period of time, but he, who knows the inside story, has already discovered the meaning.

The thirteen names mentioned in the post by Eunuch Liu are all the main players in the recent attacks on Wang Xijue. This is definitely not a coincidence!

Lin Tailai had only been exiled to Xizhimen for a few days, and the eunuchs at the gate of Xizhimen had become so brave. It was definitely not a coincidence!
According to the original plan, Wang Yingjiao came to the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, but saw Chen Younian, the doctor of the Selection Department, sitting in the public housing with a grim face.

Wang Yingjiao knew that in this "cabinet melee" project, Chen Younian was the commander-in-chief of the Qingliu forces.

Judging from Doctor Chen's expression today, he was obviously very angry about the content of the exposed post.

"Lin Tailai is a beast! This is outrageous!" Seeing that it was one of his own people coming in, Chen Younian couldn't help but curse to vent his anger.

At the beginning, he strongly advocated that Lin Tailai be exiled to Xizhimen in the northwest corner of the capital, which was the city gate farthest away from politics that one could think of!

Both physically and spiritually, Xizhimen is far away from politics!
Another advantage of guarding the city gate is that you cannot leave at will, which is equivalent to being imprisoned at the city gate.

But no one would have expected that this bastard Lin Tailai could find such a lame excuse as "illegal travel" to harass the political situation from more than ten miles away!

The most infuriating thing is that they found a eunuch to be the mouthpiece for scolding people. What a humiliation!

There is no way to justify it because this behavior is indeed against the system.

The Zhu family treated their ministers too harshly. Not only were their salaries low, but their vacations were also extremely scarce.

In theory, officials had no holidays throughout the year except during the Spring Festival, unless the emperor granted special permission.

Therefore, customs such as outings and elegant gatherings can only occupy "official time". This is the tacit agreement in official circles, and it has been done this way for more than a hundred years.

The key point is that Lin Tailai did not show up himself to commit such a pot-smashing act that aroused public outrage among officials, but instead let an unknown eunuch come forward to ridicule him.

The current situation is that the thirteen main players of this melee are just stuck there.

Although "illegal tourism" will not cause serious damage, it is still embarrassing. How can people have the nerve to impeach others?
If I forcefully fight back and curse at Eunuch Liu? That would be even more disgraceful!
Seeing Wang Yingjiao coming over, Chen Younian thought for a moment and said, "The only solution now is to ask Lord Xu to come forward and break the impasse."

Since Lord Xu has realized that "cooperation is beneficial to both sides", let's start cooperation.

Wang Yingjiao didn't react for a moment, and asked doubtfully: "What can Lord Xu do?"

Chen Younian gritted his teeth and said, "Please ask Lord Xu to go on a spring outing at Xizhimen! I want to see how Lin Tailai, who is guarding Xizhimen, will handle it as a disciple!"

(End of this chapter)