Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 160 A big reshuffle in the court! The fun begins! 【Please subscribe! 】

Zhu Yijun was really angry to death. Why were Yu Shenxing and Wang Jiaping the first candidates recommended by the Ministry of Civil Affairs twice?

Isn't it clear that he is deliberately 'disgusting' his emperor! ?

After all, everyone knows that the people His Majesty the Emperor dislikes the most are Yu Shenxing and Wang Jiaping, two people who are obsessed with each other and only attack ministers and officials!

Zhu Yijun even wanted the officials to recommend Shen Shixing to come back as his chief assistant, and he didn't want to see these two people who gave him a headache enter the cabinet!

"Your Majesty, please don't be angry. It would be bad if you injure the dragon's body." Chen Ju said, and quickly put away the memorial that annoyed His Majesty the Emperor, and then said:

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs has always liked to rank ministers based on their seniority when recommending them to the cabinet. This is their old tradition."

Chen Ju's words could be said to be rough but not rude. Zhu Yijun felt uncomfortable hearing it, but he did not blame Chen Ju. After all, these were all facts.

To be honest, with Yu Shenxing's qualifications, he should have joined the cabinet long ago.

After all, although Yu Shenxing is almost ten years younger than Wang Jiaping, he, like Wang Jiaping, was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing.

But in the past two or three months, he seemed to have never heard about Zhang Chonghui borrowing money.

Although the emperor Zhu Yijun had no "real power," the "privileges" that the Ming emperor should have were still in his hands, such as the appointment and removal of officials and personnel transfers.

"Your Majesty, I remember that Shen Li was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing's reign, and he was also your lecturer. In terms of seniority, his qualifications are higher than those of Zhao Zhigao and Shen Guangyi."

Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "Indeed, the cabinet always complains that there are not enough people. If this is the case, let's transfer a few more people to the cabinet at once."

In this 'good day' when the new year is approaching and we are about to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty ushered in three new members - Shen Yiguan, Shen Li, and Zhu Geng.

"Don't they like to rank based on seniority? Okay!" Zhu Yijun sneered, turned around and asked: "I remember, Shen Yiguan was also a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, right?"

Chen Ju replied: "Back to your lord, Shen Yiguan was the top three Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, and his ranking seems to be...a bit low."

"Back to your lord." Chen Ju replied: "As early as September this year, the gambler Zhang Chonghui helped stopped bothering him. Therefore, in the past two or three months, he has not borrowed money from Shen Yiguan and the others. money."

Since ancient times, literati have looked down on each other. Zhu Yijun wanted to make these officials who think highly of themselves and have a first- or second-class Jinshi background take a good look!
So what if Shen Yiguan is only a top three scholar? As long as he, the Ming Emperor, wants to! A top three Jinshi can also join the cabinet!

December 29, the twenty-second year of Wanli.

Chen Ju immediately opened the memorial handed over by the Taoist officials. After scanning it, he locked his eyes on a name.

Chen Ju thought for a while and replied: "Back to your Majesty, I remember that Zhao Zhigao seems to be from Jinhua Mansion in Zhejiang Province."

As His Majesty the Emperor's favorite old eunuch, although Chen Ju is old and deaf, he is very knowledgeable.

As long as he, the emperor, does not give his nod in these matters, the people below will not be able to make the decision!

"Your Majesty, Zhao Zhigao has always been timid and afraid of getting into trouble, and he is not in bad health. As long as Shen Zhiguang joins the cabinet alone, won't the cabinet manpower be insufficient?"

"Wait a minute." Zhu Yijun seemed to feel that something was not right, and suddenly asked: "Where is Zhao Zhigao from?"

All in all, the ministers of the DPRK and China had to bite the bullet and recommend Yu Shenxing to the cabinet even if they just wanted to maintain the 'interests' rule of 'ranking according to seniority'.

Chen Ju was about to retreat after receiving his orders, but he was stopped by His Majesty the Emperor.

Seniority is just an excuse, hostile checks and balances are the real purpose!
Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with Chen Ju's recommendation and nodded in agreement: "Okay! It's Shen Li!"

"Oh..." Zhu Yijun didn't care what Zhang Chonghui was doing to help a gambler.

After getting this answer, Zhu Yijun suddenly fell into deep thought. After all, he remembered that Shen Guan was also from Zhejiang.

"Oh? Just a top three Jinshi?" Zhu Yijun seemed to be even more excited, and ordered with a strange smile: "That's even better! Let Shen Yiguan join the cabinet!"

In fact, Zhu Yijun had already made his own guess about this matter.

Because Zhu Yijun also knows that the handle is a double-edged sword!

Zhu Yijun's purpose this time was extremely strong. He specially selected the Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, and it was clear that he wanted to embarrass Yu Shenxing!
After Chen Ju scanned it again, he finally locked on a name - Zhu Geng!
……

"Okay, Your Majesty, I will give you your orders now."

Chen Juming recommended Shen Li on the surface because of his high qualifications, but in fact he understood everything!
Who in the DPRK has the most trouble with Shen Yiguan? He’s not Shen Yiguan’s student Guo Zhengyu! And Guo Zhengyu is very close to Shen Li!

And the most important thing is that Zhu Yijun has long heard that Shen Yiguan likes to form gangs in private. He also heard that the 'gang' members Shen Yiguan has attracted are basically all from Zhejiang.

"By the way, why haven't you heard of that kid borrowing money from Shen Yiguan and Shen Li recently?"

Zhu Yijun only said "to transfer a few more people" to the cabinet, but did not say who to transfer to the cabinet. Obviously, he was waiting for Chen Ju's "recommendation".

However, knowing is knowing.

It is worth mentioning that Zhao Zhigao, the only minister in the cabinet now, was also a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing. That year, although Zhao Zhigao was already over forty, he still won the title of Tanhualang, who ranked third in the first class that year...

After all, although Zhang Chonghui has borrowed money so many times, he has never repaid it once!
Moreover, Zhang Chonghui must still have countless secrets in his hands!
Zhu Yijun knew all this, and it was precisely because he knew that he allowed Shen Yiguan and Shen Li to enter the cabinet without any panic.

Zhu Yijun also knew that these ministers were just trying to wait until they had enough seniority so that he could have a chance to be elected to the cabinet.

But now Wang Jiaping is about to enter the palace for the second time, but Yu Shenxing has not even touched the threshold of the cabinet.

Zhu Yijun remembered that in the first half of this year, Zhang Chonghui would send people to borrow money from Shen Yiguan and Shen Li from time to time.

Chen Ju instantly understood His Majesty the Emperor's concerns. He knew very well that His Majesty the Emperor was afraid that the cabinet would be dominated by the Zhejiang Party. After thinking about it, he proposed to His Majesty the Emperor:

But almost as soon as he agreed, Zhu Yijun remembered something else!

Zhang Chonghui can use his "handle" to threaten these two people, but will these two old loaches obediently let him threaten them?
Dogs will jump over walls when they are anxious, cats will bite people when they are anxious, let alone humans?
"Two are not enough." Zhu Yijun said to Chen Ju: "Let one more person join the cabinet. He must be a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing."

He guessed that Zhang Chonghui wanted to use this to 'threaten' Shen Yiguan and Shen Li, and use money to warn these two wrongdoers. If they become successful in the future, they must remember to rehabilitate Zhang Juzheng!

Wang Jiaping had already joined the cabinet a few years ago, and was about to ascend to the position of chief minister of the cabinet.

Although Zhao Zhigao had repeatedly expressed to His Majesty the Emperor that he was not qualified to be the chief assistant of the cabinet, he also begged the emperor to give up the position of chief assistant to his new cabinet colleagues.

However, Emperor Wanli ignored Zhao Zhigao's 'cowardly' request and directly ordered Shen Yiguan to be the second assistant in the cabinet, followed by Shen Li and Zhu Geng, and the three of them together assisted Zhao Zhigao, the first assistant, to serve as director.

……

Shen Yiguan finally got his wish and joined the cabinet, and he did it in one step, directly sitting on the high position of "secondary assistant" in the cabinet!

Shen, who wants to join the ministry and cabinet, is always excited!

What makes Shen Guangyuan even more excited is that although he is only the second assistant in the cabinet, Zhao Zhigao, the chief assistant in the cabinet, has a reluctant temper!

Once the 'nominal' chief minister encounters any problem, he directly leaves the decision-making power to Shen Yiguan, the second minister of the cabinet!

In this way, although Shen Yiguan sits in the position of the second assistant, he exercises the same power as the first assistant!
Shen Yiguan also didn't expect that he could be so lucky!

The only thing that makes Shen Yiguang unhappy is that Shen Li has also joined the cabinet, but he is not panicked. With his crony power, it is easy to defeat Shen Li and add Guo Zhengyu!
As for the last cabinet minister Zhu Geng? He is also from Zhejiang, and he is a more honest Zhejiang person than Zhao Zhigaodu.

At this time, the situation in the cabinet was almost settled.

There are only four people in the cabinet, the first assistant, the second assistant, and one cabinet minister. Three of them are from Zhejiang!

Three against one, the advantage is obviously on the side with more people!
Shen Li, an old man from Henan, seemed so 'out of place', and it was obvious that he would be 'ostracized' by the other three and attacked by his cronies!
At the same time, far away in his hometown of Wuxi County, Gu Xiancheng, who had just "rebuilt" Donglin Academy, received a letter secretly sent by his "confidant".

……

The twenty-two years of Wanli have passed, and the twenty-third year of Wanli has arrived.

In this new year, everyone has new yearnings, looking forward to a smooth and prosperous new year!

However, just as the new year began, something happened.

It's not a big deal, but it's something that's hard to put into words.

Yang Tianmin, who was in charge of the Etiquette Department, and Niu Yingyuan, the censor of Sichuan, presented the report to Emperor Wanli:

"It is not appropriate to abolish the Jianwen year number. When compiling the history of the country, the 32nd to 35th year of Hongwu should be corrected and restored to the first, second, third and fourth year of Jianwen."

This memorial not only stunned the cabinet, but also the Supervisor of Ceremonies...

What? Restoration date?
Is this seeking death? Or are you looking for death?
I think back then, Taizong... ah no, he was already an ancestor. I think after Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di successfully rebelled, in order to erase the existence of his nephew Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen, he not only removed the Jianwen reign title, but also forcibly imposed it on his old father, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. His life was extended for four years, so there were four unreasonable year names from the 32nd year of Hongwu to the 35th year of Hongwu.

The lineage of the King of Yan is originally a rebellion, and has been criticized for a long time. Now there are actually people who have restored the Jianwen reign name to Shang Shu. This is not pointing at Emperor Wanli's nose and saying - your ancestors rebelled against his nephew!
Such an act of seeking death is really unfathomable.

However, something even more unimaginable happened!
Emperor Wanli actually agreed!

Emperor Wanli not only agreed to restore the Jianwen reign, but he didn't even refute it and got angry!
Anyone who doesn’t know better will think that His Majesty the Emperor ordered those two people to go to Shangshu...

The specific reason for this, no one knows.

Maybe His Majesty the Emperor is out of his mind, otherwise why would he agree to such a request that slaps his ancestors in the face?

But looking back, this is actually nothing. After all, His Majesty's biological grandfather, Emperor Sejong, also did such ridiculous things as changing Taizong's emperor's temple name to 'Chengzu'.

When it comes to the extent of slapping their ancestors in the face, the grandfather and grandson are equally matched.

The restoration of the Jianwen era name seemed to be just a small and surprising thing at the beginning of the new year in the 23rd year of Wanli.

However, there is a group of people who cannot sit still. This group of people is the 'Donglin Party' headed by Shen Li.

...Wanli twenty-three years, the tenth day of the first lunar month.

Shen House.

"Oh...as expected..." Guo Zhengyu rubbed his brows and said with a sad expression:

"The emperor even agreed to the restoration of Jianwen's reign... What else can't he do? I just said that it is so difficult for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to live in the East Palace, why does the emperor ignore it! Now it seems... the emperor has already I’ve thought about deposing the prince!”

As the teacher of the Crown Prince Zhu Changluo, Guo Zhengyu could not stand the emperor's neglect of the prince. For this reason, he went to court many times, but those memorials seemed to have disappeared into the sea, and there was no news...

Guo Zhengyu originally thought that His Majesty the Emperor was just too lazy to read, or had not seen his memorials.

Now that I think about it carefully, His Majesty the Emperor has no intention of watching it at all, let alone taking the current crown prince seriously!
Zhao Nanxing, who was the director of the Civil Service Examination Department at the time, consoled him: "It's not that easy to depose a prince. Today's prince has good moral character and is cautious. The emperor can easily depose him if he wants to!"

"Meng Bai!" Shen Li said calmly:
"The prince is still young now, what if he is older? No one is a saint, and no one can make mistakes! Even if he is a prince, he is still a human being first! Human beings will make mistakes!

The current emperor was almost deposed as emperor because he chopped off the hair of two palace maids! What if the current prince accidentally commits such a minor mistake in the future?
It was so easy to depose the emperor! What's more, he is still a deposed prince! "

Although Shen Li's words are ugly and bold, they are also the most realistic!
Zhao Nanxing was a little unhappy. He originally wanted to boost the morale of his teammates, but unexpectedly he was poured cold water on him. He complained angrily: "Then what should we do now? Just sit back and wait for the emperor to find us." Why did you depose the prince?"

"Stop making trouble!" Guo Zhengyu said weakly with a headache that was about to explode:

"The top priority right now is not to depose the prince, but to Shen Yiguan! He is very prosperous now, and he seems to be the one in charge of the cabinet!
If he continues to develop like this, we may all pack up and leave before the day when the prince is deposed! "

This time, Zhao Nanxing was also speechless, and Shen Li frowned even more.

Seeing that the atmosphere had calmed down, Guo Zhengyu took the initiative and asked, "Is there no letter from Uncle Gu yet? Now we can only see if he can do anything."

"Here we come." Shen Li replied coldly.

"You didn't tell me if you were here!" Guo Zhengyu immediately cheered up and asked excitedly: "Quick! What did he write? I knew he must have something up his sleeve!"

Shen Li shook his head and said solemnly: "His method is too dangerous. If one of us fails, we will all die! So, we can't do it!"

When he heard the word 'death', Zhao Nanxing was also shocked and asked in surprise: "Is this... so serious?"

"Yeah!" Shen Li said very seriously, "It's just that serious!"

"Let me see what Uncle Gu wrote!" Guo Zhengyu was eager to read it.

"I can't see it, I've already burned it." Shen Li knew very well that with the temperaments of Guo Zhengyu and Zhao Nanxing, after seeing Gu Xiancheng's method, they might just decide to take this risk with a rush of heat and a slap on the thigh!
But they can't take this risk! Because if you are accidentally found out! It is a serious crime of beheading and ransacking the house!

……

Facts have proved that Shen Li's mouth is quite hard. Even if Guo Zhengyu and Zhao Nanxing used both soft and hard words, they still could not get a useful word out of Shen Li's mouth.

They were so angry that they threw up their sleeves and left, preparing to go back and write a letter to ask Gu Xiancheng.

……

At the same time, another Shen Mansion.

Shen Yiguan, who has been promoted to the second assistant in the cabinet, but seems to hold the power of the first assistant in the cabinet, has an uninvited guest.

There was no one other than Zhang Chonghui as this uninvited guest.

"Mr. Shen Ge." Zhang Chonghui came up and said straight to the point:

"I will help you get rid of people like Wang Xijue, Song Yingchang, and Zhang Wei, so that you can enter the cabinet.

Although you are now the second assistant, you are as powerful as the first assistant. It is time for you to fulfill your original 'promise' and rehabilitate my grandfather, right? "

Zhang Chonghui's attitude was not very good, and it felt like he was 'coercing' the other party. Shen Yiguan was already a high-ranking elder, how could he tolerate Zhang Chonghui's disrespectful behavior.

But Shen Yiguan is still Shen Yiguan after all. He could even tolerate Guo Zhengyu's rudeness for so many years, let alone a young and arrogant boy like Zhang Chonghui.

"Oh, little brother Chonghui, what are you in a hurry for?" He put on that 'good old man' look again and said:

"I will definitely do what I promised you. But now that I have just joined the cabinet, you have to let me gain a firm footing before I start again, right? I know you are in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry first, okay?"

Facts have proved that Shen Guanguan's delaying strategy does not seem to work very well.

"What, you want to delay it again?" Zhang Chonghui saw through it, and threatened the opponent again with a 'fish or die' attitude:
"I only give you ten days, and on the 20th of this month at the latest, I want to see you go to Emperor Shu in person to clear my grandfather's name!"

With that said, Zhang Chonghui took out an envelope and stuffed it into Shen Yiguan's hand. At the same time, he threatened again:

"These are relevant evidence to rectify my grandfather's name. I hope you can keep your promise and present these to the Holy One to vindicate him!
Otherwise... Mr. Shen Ge, you know, I know a lot of your secrets! If I'm unhappy, I'll expose all your bad things!
Whether you can secure your position as secondary assistant depends entirely on your performance! I hope we can have a happy cooperation this time! "

After Zhang Chonghui put down these extremely rude and arrogant words, he left without looking back.

Shen Yiguan, who had been threatened so many times, also darkened his face and looked even more ugly, as if he had eaten a lot of shit and still couldn't vomit.

Ten days? Give him ten days?
"Ha...what a loud tone!"

Shen Yiguan was so angry that his teeth almost broke, and he tore the envelope in his hand!

Rehabilitate Zhang Juzheng? This is absolutely impossible!
Shen was always angry, but soon he began to feel uneasy!

no way! Zhang Chonghui knows too much! Regardless of his private life style! It's all those bad things he got involved in!

The most important thing is! Not only did Zhang Chonghui know that he had protected Shen Weijing! I still know him...

All in all, once these things are exposed, dismissal will be considered a light punishment for him, let alone the position of deputy cabinet minister!
"What should I do?" Shen Yiguan's brain was running wildly. After thinking about it for a while, there was only one possible way at the moment!

The solution is to kill Zhang Chonghui!

Only dead people are the most honest!
So what if Zhang Chonghui had some backup plans before his death? No personal verification! No matter how big the backhand is, it will be in vain!

"Come here!" Shen Yiguan summoned his confidants and ordered:

"The day after tomorrow is the Lantern Festival! Zhang Chonghui will definitely go out that night! By then you...

remember! Must be fast, accurate and ruthless! Just wipe your neck and run away! No matter how quick he reacts! I definitely can’t react! "

……

After coming out of Shen Yiguan's house, Zhang Chonghui did not return to Zhao's house immediately, but wandered around aimlessly.

It is now the tenth day of the first lunar month, and the market is very lively as it approaches the Lantern Festival.

While wandering around, Zhang Chonghui came to one of the busiest stalls.

This stall is not small, with more than a dozen shelves hung on them are toys like tiger dolls for children.

The customers are almost all parents and children choosing dolls, and there are also girls from the boudoir who gather together to play with each other.

This stall is already lively, and when there are more people, noise is inevitable.

All that could be heard here were the cries of children or the bargaining voices of adults, which was very noisy.

However, Zhang Chonghui, who was always happy and quiet, stopped in front of this stall and stepped forward to pick up the toy with interest.

"Sir, you are really discerning! This is our latest style! It is also the most popular style!" Soon a vendor came up to sell it enthusiastically.

"Is it the hottest seller?" Zhang Chonghui seemed dissatisfied, and kept making demands, saying:

"I like things that are unpopular and not popular, but at the same time they have to be chic, elegant, and a little festive. In fact, I don't ask for much. I just don't want my children to be contaminated with some vulgar aesthetics after they are born. Can you Do you understand?”

"Uh... I understand..." The vendor was also speechless. He originally wanted to do a 'quick, accurate and ruthless' business, but he didn't expect that this customer who looked like a human being turned out to be a troublemaker. .

Normally, vendors would be too lazy to pay attention to such bullshit, so he pointed directly to a shelf with the least people around and said hastily: "Sir, there should be what you want there, go and see for yourself."

After saying that, the vendor walked away without looking back and went to the next customer.

After getting directions from the vendor, Zhang Chonghui walked towards the empty shelf.

"There really aren't many people!" Zhang Chonghui suddenly sighed. After all, the only person picking at the shelves besides him was a young man wearing a big hat.

"Yes, these are old goods that cannot be sold when they are old. How can anyone be there?" The young man wearing a big hat agreed with dignity.

"Fashionable styles are often reincarnated. The styles that are selling well now are not the old styles that were not sold more than ten years ago. As long as they are renovated and the materials are changed, they can become new again."

Zhang Chonghui picked toys and gossiped all the way to the man in the big hat.

Only then did Zhang Chonghui lower his voice.

"How have you been doing over the years?"

"It's okay, but I'm a little acclimatized. What about you? You have children?"

"Come on, don't mention this, there are people following me, but they won't come in a short time."

"The Dog Emperor's people?"

"It should be more than that. Anyway, Shen Yiyi is going to kill me. Are you ready?"

"Ready."

(End of this chapter)