Daming talker

Chapter 618 What does it have to do with me?
At this time, Lin Tailai was still thinking about the location of the Communications Department. If he couldn't squeeze into the prime area of ​​the Imperial City South, could he find a place in the nearby commercial district?

For example, Qipan Street in the south, Dengshikou in the east, and Jiaofangsi Hutong
Lin Tailai's mentality is a bit like that of young people who buy houses in later generations. Within the budget, he strives to be as satisfied as possible with respect to location, supporting facilities and other aspects.

While he was hesitating between Jiaofangsi Hutong and Qipan Street, Shen Yongmao suddenly came to visit and brought the news of the death of Song Xun, the Minister of Works.

Lin Tailai sighed with emotion, "Time flies! The old people are gradually leaving the stage."

Historically, the court officials have changed frequently in the past two years. In addition to the great disaster that hit the country, another reason is that many of them died.

Regarding Song Xun's death, Lin Tailai did not show any emotion such as joy, and commented objectively: "In fact, Minister Song was a good person."

Song Xun is different from another Qingliu Party leader Lu Guangzu. He is the kind of person who is swept up in the general trend and has no choice.

He and Shen Li, the leader and founder of the Qingliu faction, were from the same hometown as Guide Prefecture, so he had no choice politically.

But Song Xun is not as jumpy as Lu Guangzu, and he doesn't do as many outrageous things as Lu Guangzu. He can be said to be a decent person.

"My father wants to ask you, what should we do?" Shen Yongmao asked.

Lin Tailai seemed to be nonchalant and answered casually: "Cold!"

Shen Yongmao was stunned for a moment. "After all, a minister is gone. Don't you care about the future development of the situation at all?"

Lin Tailai replied, "The Emperor was originally using Song Xun's official position as a pawn to wrestle with the Qingliu Party.

For the sake of appearances or unity, the Qingliu Party had to protect Song Xun.

But now Song Xun suddenly passed away, and this chess piece disappeared in an instant.

For the Qingliu Party, this is actually a good thing. They no longer need to spend resources to protect Song Xun, and at the same time, the post of Left Censor-in-Chief Lu Guangzu can be preserved. "

Shen Yongmao asked in confusion, "Wait, why did Song Xun die but Lu Guangzu survive?"

"Please think about the reasons yourself!" said Lin Tai.

If you see that the emperor is now very annoyed with the Qingliu forces, and think that the emperor wishes all the Qingliu forces would disappear, you are totally wrong.

To be in the imperial court during the first thirty years of the Wanli reign, one needs to understand a basic principle - the Qingliu forces were actually fostered by Emperor Wanli himself in order to curb the power of the cabinet.

After all, in the heart of Emperor Wanli, there is a childhood shadow called "Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng".

Although the issue of the foundation of the country is important, the checks and balances on the cabinet are also important. Based on this logic, Emperor Wanli would not allow the Qingliu forces to be completely eliminated.

Comparing the performance of Emperor Jiajing in the "Great Ceremony Debate", it can be seen that the main action of Emperor Wanli in the "Dispute over the National Foundation" was to pull, rather than direct political elimination.

Those ministers who died in the struggle for the country's foundation were more likely to be forced by the situation rather than being actively politically eliminated by the emperor.

Therefore, after Song Xun's death, another leader of the Qingliu forces, Lu Guangzu, was safe and would definitely be retained by Wei to continue serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Finally, Lin Tailai concluded: "In short, now that Lu Guangzu is safe, the Qingliu Party members no longer have to worry about anything and can do whatever they want!
They will not let this climax of the struggle pass by and they will certainly try their best to expand its impact.

They will use public opinion to force the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Rites to express their views on the issue of the country's foundation, or directly carry out a strong impeachment! "

Shen Yongmao was listening intently when he suddenly heard Lin Tailai say, "So, what does the future situation have to do with me?
The excitement is all in the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites. I am just a person who is obsessed with the art of gongs and dances and is busy looking for a new site for the government office."

Shen Yongmao felt that his brain was not enough, and said in confusion: "If the future situation has nothing to do with you, then why did my father ask me to tell you in a hurry?"

After thinking for a while, Lin Tailai guessed, "Perhaps your father sensed that he would be fiercely attacked soon, so he hinted to me to help?

After all, your father is the Prime Minister, and he can't bring himself to ask a junior like me for help, so he can only hint through you."

Shen Yongmao thought about this possibility and nodded, "It's groundless."

Lin Tailai then skillfully offered the price, "Go back and tell your father that all you have to do is give me the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. Isn't that a good deal?
I had previously promised Hanlin Academy Scholar Chen that I would let him go to the Ministry of Works to avoid the limelight, so it’s a good opportunity to do it all at once.”

Application: "."

Dad said he didn’t want to bother with Lin Tailai, and Lin Tailai said the subsequent situation had nothing to do with him. He really believed your lies!

After Shen Yongmao got the OK, he went back to report.

The next day, Lin Tailai did not study the art of gong song, nor did he rush around to choose a site.

He came to the Ministry of Personnel early in the morning and asked Wang Tianguan for instructions, saying, "I think we should hold a meeting today to nominate candidates for the Ministry of Works."

Wang Tianguan was a little surprised and said, "Shangshu Song's body is still warm, isn't it a bit hasty to nominate a successor now?"

Lin Tailai emphasized: "He did not die in office. He had been dismissed from office before. Our Ministry of Personnel recommended a successor candidate, which has nothing to do with his death!"

Seeing that Lin Tailai was anxious, Wang Tianguan passed the message down and asked all relevant officials to come to the meeting.

After Wang Tianguan announced the theme of the meeting, Liu Yukui, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, proposed:
"Zeng Tongheng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, has a long history and rich experience, and he has made great contributions. He should have been promoted to Shangshu long ago, but the court just didn't have a vacant position. Now it is only natural for him to be promoted to Shangshu."

Lin Tailai thought about it and finally did not object to Liu Yukui's proposal.

Everyone was a little surprised. Zeng Tongheng had a younger brother named Zeng Qianheng, who was a typical member of the Qingliu Party. Yet, you, Lin Tailai, did not speak out against it.

Zeng Tongheng was an old man who had passed the imperial examinations in the Jiajing reign. He had served as the Left Vice Minister in the Ministry of Works for many years and had personally supervised the construction of the Shou Palace for several years. In terms of his seniority and merits, he should have been promoted to the rank of Shangshu long ago.

Therefore, Zeng Tongheng was the kind of person who was recognized by the court as someone who should be promoted to the Minister of Works. If he insisted on going against public opinion to stop it, he would lose his popularity and pay a huge price, which was totally not worth it.

Although Lin Tailai promised Chen Xueshi that he would help transfer Chen Xueshi to the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Justice, the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works would be enough.

It's really not worth it to pay a huge price to fight for the position of Minister of Works for Mr. Chen. The relationship between the two has not reached that level yet.

Wang Tianguan had consulted with Lin Tailai beforehand and knew what Lin Tailai was thinking, so he did not delay and spoke again:

"If Zeng Tongheng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, is promoted to the position of Shangshu, who can be replaced as the Left Vice Minister?"

At this moment, Lin Tailai said without hesitation: "The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy Bachelor is in charge of the Imperial Academy, Chen Yubei!"

When the proposal was heard, there was an uproar in the room and everyone was shocked by it.

Are you, Lin Tailai, serious about transferring an extremely powerful president of the Hanlin Academy to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works?
Is this something a civil servant would say? Only an amateur among amateurs would arrange personnel work in this way, right?

Although they are both third grade, the difference in clarity and turbidity is huge, and the two are completely incompatible.

When the Minister of Personnel Wang Shizhen said nothing, the Left Vice Minister Liu Yukui questioned, "It is not appropriate to let Chen Xueshi go to the Ministry of Works."

Lin Tailai asked, "Who do you think is more suitable to be appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works?" Liu Yukui replied, "Wang Jiguang, the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Rites."

With a loud bang, Lin Tailai slammed the table and stood up.

This frightened all the officials in the Ministry of Personnel. Why did such a sudden outburst happen?

If Lin Tailai really wanted to explode, it should have happened when he nominated Zeng Tongheng just now. It is too late now.

Then Lin Tailai pointed at Liu Yukui and shouted, "You nominated Zeng Tongheng as the Minister of Works, and we all agreed.

But you are so greedy that you even want to nominate the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works!

This is a typical one-man show! I will impeach you for attempting to control the civil service and monopolize power in the Ministry of Personnel!"

Liu Yukui: “.”

Who wants to have the final say? Who wants to monopolize power in the Ministry of Personnel? How dare you, Lin Tailai, criticize others?
Wang Tianguan also reminded: "Liu Zuotang, be careful about your influence and don't always think about nominating your own candidates.

As officials in the Ministry of Personnel who are in charge of the selection and appointment of personnel, we must maintain our original intentions and restrain the desire to abuse power.

You should know that Zeng Tongheng's brother Zeng Qianheng had old grudges with both Prime Minister Shen and Lin Tailai, but Lin Tailai did not object to your nomination of Zeng Tongheng as the Shangshu.

This is the virtue of promoting the virtuous without avoiding the enemy. So in terms of impartiality, Liu Zuotang, you still need to learn more from Lin Tailai, the younger generation."

Everyone: "."

Is Lin Tailai changing his tactics now? Is he starting to focus on improving his soft power?
Liu Yukui's health was not good either, and he almost vomited blood on the spot.

He was a little suspicious. If he continued working like this in the Ministry of Personnel, he would probably die of anger before he could live for ten years.

Wang Tianguan made the decision and said, "It seems that everyone has no other opinions. Let's nominate Chen Yubi as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. The meeting is adjourned!"

Lin Tailai felt that he had completed his stage-by-stage task and continued to ask the Ministry of Industry for the construction map of Dongcheng District.

As for the impeachment of Prime Minister Shen, we will just have to wait and see. Anyway, it is difficult to impeach Prime Minister Shen unless he himself doesn't want to do the job anymore.

As many people had expected, Song Xun's sudden death triggered a chain reaction and the court's political direction became chaotic.

On this day in the cabinet, the Second Assistant Minister Wang Xijue arrived first and took the opportunity to receive today's memorials from the Junior Eunuch Sun in the secretariat.

Then Wang Xijue stood in front of the desk in the central hall of Wenyuan Pavilion and casually flipped through the important memorials.

As he watched, Wang Er's expression became strange.

Just at this time, Prime Minister Shen walked briskly into Wenyuan Pavilion and saw Wang Er standing in a daze in the hall.

"What's wrong with you? Are you in trouble again?" Shen Da asked.

Wang Er came to his senses and pointed to the memorial on the table and said, "Someone is impeaching you, very strongly."

Shen Da said calmly: "I expected this to happen! I think there is no need to accept this kind of slanderous memorial, just submit it directly to the emperor!"

Impeachment is not something to worry about at all.

Wang Er's expression was still very strange. "You should take a look yourself."

Now Shen Da was a little surprised. Isn't it just impeachment of himself? What's the big deal?

Since I became the Prime Minister, I have been impeached dozens of times. What kind of scenes have I not seen?

Then Shen Da picked up the memorial and first looked at the name of the person who submitted it at the beginning. It was Li Guan, the deputy censor of the Ren Man Censorate.

So he couldn't help but smile contemptuously and said to Wang Er, "I never thought that the person who impeached me was not a censor.

Using a non-official to impeach the Prime Minister is really a precedent. Is it because too many censors have been used up that they dare not use them anymore?

Is this what you think is special?"

Wang Er reminded him, "This is not the special thing I'm talking about. Please continue reading."

So Shen Da became even more curious and continued reading, only to see words like "impeachment of the ten major crimes of Prime Minister Shen Shixing".

Shen Shixing snorted coldly, "You actually came up with such a shocking list of ten crimes. Do you want to settle accounts with me once and for all?"

Then he looked down and saw the main body of the impeachment read:

"The first major crime was that when the ministers said that there were water and rocks in the Shou Palace, which were inauspicious, Shen Shixing ignored them and did not report them. Instead, he listened to Lin Tailai's evil words and advised Your Majesty to choose the site.

His second major crime was advocating the establishment of another crown prince and seeking credit for supporting him. He also repeatedly accepted assistance from Lin Tailai and undermined the country's foundation.

The third major crime is to follow Lin Tailai's advice. Please issue an edict to ban all speech.

The fourth major crime was that for several years he withheld a large number of memorials accusing Lin Tailai of crimes, which was even more deceiving the emperor than Zhang Juzheng.

The fifth major crime was that the second son, Shen Yongjia, followed Lin Tailai and ran rampant in the village, causing trouble to the local area and committing many illegal and prohibited acts.

The sixth major crime was that he sheltered and condoned Lin Tailai in committing crimes in the capital for several years, injuring hundreds of people, and yet he escaped punishment.

The seventh major crime was that he had accepted bribes from Gao Guangxian and privately appointed him as the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi, which led to the enemy's invasion of the two Sichuans and the deterioration of the situation in the northwest. Later, he instructed Lin Tailai to be the military counselor of Shaanxi to eliminate evidence of the crime and deceive the court.

The eighth major crime was that he privately accepted bribes from Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, to cover up his defeat and persuaded Lin Tailai to help Li Rusong.

The ninth major crime was to avenge a personal grudge on behalf of Lin Tailai and to exclude wise ministers such as Xin Zixiu, the former Left Censor-in-Chief, and Yang Junmin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

The tenth major crime was that he promoted Zhao Zhigao privately at the request of Lin Tailai. In recent years, he followed Lin Tailai's instructions on several occasions when appointing and dismissing officials such as the governor of Yingtian, the prefect of Suzhou, and the prefect of Songjiang. "

At first glance, nothing seems wrong, it’s still a familiar formula, but the more I look at it, the more it seems wrong, and the more I look at it, the more it seems wrong.

After reading it twice, Prime Minister Shen was in a daze and almost doubted his life.

He was clearly impeached for ten major crimes, but in the end each of them was linked to Lin Tailai. What the hell is this?

Either he obeyed Lin Tailai, or he protected and indulged Lin Tailai; either he was assisted by Lin Tailai, or he eliminated dissidents and protected Lin Tailai.

As the Prime Minister, I have nothing else to do. Are all the crimes committed because of Lin Tailai?
Do those bastards want to impeach me as the Prime Minister, or do they want to impeach Lin Tailai?
Is it because he didn't dare to impeach Lin Tailai directly, but felt that the Prime Minister was easier to bully, so he used the Prime Minister as a pretext to attack Lin Tailai?
What a bunch of bastards!
(End of this chapter)