Daming talker

Chapter 553 Two Wills (ask for monthly ticket!)
In fact, the emperor asked Sun Yong, the junior supervisor of the Secretariat of the Imperial Household Department and the commander of the Twenty Gates, to deliver two decrees to the cabinet.

One option is to give a respectful burial to the loyal and heroic gatekeeper surnamed Liu, and the other option is to uncover the post of the gatekeeper surnamed Liu, identify him and report back.

Now there is only one Grand Secretary in the cabinet, Shen Shixing, the Prime Minister, so he is the only one who can receive the imperial edict.

Prime Minister Shen thought about these two imperial edicts and decided to just be an emotionless forwarding machine without adding any subjective comments.

The matter of lavishly burying the eunuch surnamed Liu was assigned to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry of Rites is the base camp of the Qingliu forces, and the Minister of Works Song Xun is a high-ranking figure of the Qingliu forces. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them working together to build a shrine for the eunuchs!
It is definitely not because the Ministry of Rites is in charge of rituals and sacrifices, and the Ministry of Works is in charge of construction!

Speaking of the two high-ranking figures of the Qingliu forces, the Minister of Works Song Xun and the Minister of Justice Lu Guangzu, they have been very low-key in the past two years and basically have not directly participated in the fight.

It may be because Lin Tailai killed too many people in the past few years, which led to the fact that the Qingliu forces now rarely use high-level and key position figures to play games, and instead rely on the tactic of piling up cannon fodder from the middle and lower levels.

As for the emperor's second order to "investigate the leaked letter and report back", Prime Minister Shen also skillfully forwarded it to the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel.

After all, with the involvement of the Ministry of Personnel, it is easier to directly formulate a punishment plan and avoid further delays.

Xizhimen at the northwest corner of the capital was still sunny and peaceful, as if the suicide of the gatekeeper eunuch had no effect on the city's defense.

Lin Tailai didn't want to stay in the city gate tower, so he set up a tent under the city wall and took a nap in it.

In a daze, I heard someone calling out, "Brother Jiuyuan! I'm here to see you!"

Lin Tailai opened his eyes and found that Li Rusong, the son of the Earl of Ningyuan, was standing outside the tent under the leadership of General Pang.

So Lin Tailai went out to meet him and asked, "Brother, are you going out of town for an outing and passing by here?"

Li Rusong laughed a few times and said, "Only a fool would dare to go out of the city for fun. Ah, I'm not talking about your division.

In fact, I came here specially to visit you, and I have something happy to thank you for!"

"What good news?" Lin Tailai asked curiously.

Li Rusong replied, "The emperor has ordered me to temporarily take charge of the rear army governor's office. I finally have something to do."

Two years ago, Li Rusong was impeached and removed from his position as the general of Xuanfu Town. After returning to the capital, he has had difficulty arranging a new assignment.

It is a humiliation for an official of the first rank to work in the patrol camp.

Now, I have been ordered to temporarily take charge of the Rear Army Commander's Office, which is considered a serious assignment.

Lin Tailai said in surprise: "Isn't the Rear Army Command Office headed by Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi?"

Li Rusong laughed a few times, "Didn't hundreds of military officers gather outside the left gate of Chang'an some time ago and beat up Sun Yu, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, because of the rumor of reducing the salary of rice?

Duke Dingguo was dismissed from his post as head of the Rear Army Commandery because of his poor management and suppression.

Lin Tailai was stunned. He did not expect this kind of follow-up. He said meaningfully: "You reap what you sow."

You, Li Rusong, helped spread the rumors and in the end you even got some benefits from it.

Li Rusong laughed and said, "This is called good people get good rewards!"

Lin Tailai pointed at General Pang next to him and said, "The troops at each city gate are under the command of the Rear Army Commander's Office?"

Li Rusong nodded and said, "Indeed, does he want anything?"

Lin Tailai said, "He wants to go to Chongwenmen, but there is no rush. Let me test him again."

General Pang really wants to ask, what else is there to test?
I have already helped you kill the gate officials and eunuchs, can't I prove my loyalty?

As they were talking, they suddenly saw Zhao Yongxian, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, riding a horse towards Xizhimen with a sullen face.

Behind Zhao Yongxian were several officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Ancestral Temples.

Li Rusong asked, "How can he still be the left minister when the case of breaking off the engagement has happened?"

Lin Tailai said meaningfully: "Wouldn't it be good to let him continue to be the left minister?"

Under normal circumstances, the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites is already qualified to join the cabinet.

If Zhao Yongxian was dismissed from office and replaced by someone else as the Left Vice Minister of Rites, Zhao Zhigao would immediately have a new competitor for entering the cabinet.

Zhao Yongxian's reputation has been severely damaged after the broken engagement case, and he definitely has no hope of entering the cabinet.

It would be better to let Zhao Yongxian continue to occupy the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and prevent others from using it as a stepping stone to enter the cabinet.

To destroy the opponent's competitiveness is the true way to destroy the opponent.

When the Ministry of Rites rode their horses to the city gate, the conscientious Lin Tailai called out:

"Are you planning to go out of town for a spring outing?

Take my advice, don’t be so stubborn! Collective behavior is even worse! "

Everyone in the Ministry of Rites: “.” Originally they didn’t want to pay attention to the gatekeeper named Lin, but if they didn’t answer him, they were afraid that if the news got out, it would cause further misunderstanding!
During this sensitive period, we cannot allow any unnecessary misunderstandings and rumors to arise!

Yu Kongjian, a doctor from the Ministry of Rites, answered on behalf of the crowd: "We are ordered to build the Martyrs' Shrine. We will go out of Xizhimen to survey the site!"

Lin Tailai muttered loudly, "Does it take a minister and so many officials to survey the site?

I guess they'll use this as an excuse to go out of town for a spring outing! "

The officials in the Ministry of Rites were instantly shocked and expressed their importance to the Emperor's order. Was it wrong to have a few more people?

The leader, Zhao Yongxian, shouted angrily, "Everyone go back! Report that the gatekeeper Lin Tailai prevented us from leaving the city to build the Martyrs' Shrine!"

Li Rusong hurried out to try to make peace: "Not at all! The officials of the Ministry of Rites should leave the city immediately to do their work. Lin Jiuyuan was just joking!"

Watching the officials from the Ministry of Rites leave the city, Lin Tailai was speechless. This emperor could really disgust people to death when he was disgusting.

Build a shrine outside Xizhimen for those who committed suicide because they opposed "illegal tourism", so that you can see it whenever you go out of the city.
Li Rusong beside him sighed, "It seems that you scholars will have to take the long way around from Fuchengmen or Deshengmen in the future."

At the same time, in the official room of the Ministry of Personnel's Wenxuan Division, Chen Younian, the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Division, and Zhao Nanxing, the Yuwenlang of the Kaogong Division, sat opposite each other with bitter expressions.

Chen Younian sighed and said, "Yang Tianguan said that the thirteen people named in the notice may all have to be demoted to a lower level and reflect on their mistakes for a month before they can deal with this."

Zhao Nanxing felt even more bitter because his name was among these thirteen names.

The year before last, he was still the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Literature, just waiting to take over from Chen Younian.

As a result, after meeting Lin Tailai, he became a member of the Ministry of Examination. His rank remained the same, but his status was downgraded.

If I get demoted one level again this time, I will become the head of the Examination Yuan!

How could an official become lower in status as he gets promoted?
Thinking of this, Zhao Nanxing said angrily: "Does everyone really believe that the gatekeeper surnamed Liu really committed suicide?"

Chen Younian said helplessly: "Now all those who are qualified to inquire about the case hope that the gatekeeper surnamed Liu is a loyal hero who committed suicide. What can we do?"

Zhao Nanxing was still unwilling to be demoted to a lower position, so he proposed:
"Can we launch a protest? After all, we were named because of Liu Menguan's one-sided statement. Strictly speaking, it can't be considered as evidence."

Chen Younian was speechless. This was too obvious a double standard.

When they attacked others in the court, when did they ever strictly follow the evidence?
After further careful consideration, Chen Younian replied: "We cannot just wish for something like the petition. We also need to see the situation at Xizhimen."

Zhao Nanxing: "."

Since when did the political situation of our imperial court depend on the mood of Xizhimen? Since when did Xizhimen become the political center?
But after thinking about it for a while, Zhao Nanxing said, "I have a good friend in the Military Selection Department. I will ask him to ask one or two suitable military officers to go to the Xizhimen General to get the upper hand."

Chen Younian agreed: "This is the safest way."

You have to know your opponent's intentions before you can take action.

If the opponent has a target on you, launching a protest would just be a ridiculous self-entertainment. What's the point?
Punishment was imminent and time for recovery was extremely tight, so Zhao Nanxing quickly got up and went to ask for favors.

Watching Zhao Nanxing leave, Chen Younian sighed repeatedly.

As the commander-in-chief of this struggle against the Qingliu forces, I had originally had a good idea -

Protect the fourth assistant Wang Jiaping, hold on to the second assistant Xu Guo, use the third assistant Wang Xijue as a scapegoat and clean him up, and then prevent Zhao Zhigao from entering the cabinet.

In this way, there will be two thorns in the cabinet, Xu Guo and Wang Jiaping, who can jointly clamp down on the minority Prime Minister Shen Shixing.

But after just one day, the second-in-command Xu Guo was directly deposed, and he was deposed to the point where he could not be deposed any more.

Moreover, the thirteen main attackers on our side were suppressed at the same time, and the situation was completely out of control.

Now, let alone aggressiveness, we are already overwhelmed with self-preservation!

Why can someone still cause trouble by going to Xizhimen, a remote place?

Do we have to send someone to dig coal in the Xishan coal mine in order to live in peace?
That night, when General Pang was off duty, an old man named Zhang, who was a former commander and served as a captain in the Beijing camp, came over to invite him for a drink.

After a round of toasts, Zhang Qianzong asked, "Brother! I heard that things have been really thrilling over there lately."

Pang Bazong replied with a sympathetic look on his face: "Who said it wasn't true? I live in fear all day long, and my life span will be shortened by ten years!"

General Zhang Qian comforted him again, "Fortunately, it's all over. You have survived it. Everything will be peaceful again in the future."

Pang Bazong said with a sad face: "We have only reached this point. There may be troubles ahead!"

Zhang Qianzong asked doubtfully, "Your gatekeepers and eunuchs are all dead, what else can happen?"

Pang Bazong drunkenly replied: "I have to be ready at any time. I might go to the memorial drum holding a memorial written by someone else!
Just because I am grateful for the loyalty and bravery of the gatekeeper Eunuch Liu, and after seeing that Eunuch Liu died a martyr, if the current situation remains unchanged, then I will inherit Eunuch Liu's last wish and continue to expose the truth!
Because I am also a gatekeeper military officer, I have witnessed more violations than Eunuch Liu!
If Eunuch Liu has exposed thirteen people, I can expose twenty-three people, or even thirty-three people!
With a loyal and brave eunuch like Liu Gonggong, we can have a loyal and righteous military officer like me!"

General Zhang Qian: “.”

Oh my god, the water in Xizhimen is too deep!
I can’t ask any more questions. Just give my reply to the Minister of War like this!
(End of this chapter)