Poor Family 1

  Chapter 639 Two-phase Cold War

  Cai Jing only came to Zhizheng Hall in the afternoon. The reason was that he felt a little sick today and was unwell. This excuse was a bit unreasonable for ordinary officials, but for a seventy-six-year-old prime minister, no one dared to say anything wrong.

At present, the Zhizheng Hall is composed of four ministers, Wang Fu and Cai Jing are the left and right ministers, and the remaining two deputy ministers are Zhang Bangchang and Li Bangyan. Wang Fu controls Zhang Bangchang, and Li Bangyan is loyal to Cai Jing. This has long been an open secret in the court , while Wang Fu recruited Tong Guan and Li Yan as internal aid, and Cai Jing got close to Liang Shicheng and Tan Zhen. This is also a well-known secret in the court.

  However, as Tong Guan was demoted, Li Yan could not be reused. Starting this year, Wang Fu's arrogance was not as arrogant as in previous years. He did not dare to make decisions on many proposals without authorization. They had to be jointly reviewed by the Zhizheng Hall before they could be submitted to the emperor.

Li Yanqing's report was delivered to the Ministry of War yesterday evening, and the Ministry of War submitted it to the Zhizheng Hall overnight. It was originally to be interrogated this morning, and then Wang Fu submitted it to the emperor, but because Cai Jing was ill, the report had to be postponed. Come in the afternoon for consideration.

   "Is Cai Xianggong feeling better?" Zhang Bangchang greeted Cai Jing flatteringly at the gate.

  Cai Jing snorted coldly in his heart, this **** who betrayed him still has the face to say hello to him? Cai Jing still smiled on the surface and said: "I am old, there is nothing I can do, Bangchang, I should be fine today!"

   "There is an urgent report today, and it must be submitted to the emperor immediately after hearing."

   "What urgent report?" Cai Jing stopped and asked pretending not to know.

   "It was the riot in Gyeongju to quell the Qiang rebellion. It was sent to the Ministry of War yesterday evening. It was originally planned to go to court early this morning, but Cai Xiang happened to be away. We can only wait for the afternoon."

"ah!"

  Cai Jing was taken aback, his eyes widened suddenly, and his tone became very severe, "Why didn't you report such an important matter to the officials first? How did you arrange it?"

   Zhang Bangchang felt disgusted as if he had eaten a fly. He was not allowed to report any government affairs without authorization, and the rule that he must know the government affairs before the court was not set by the prime minister in front of him? Now he yelled more fiercely than anyone else.

  No choice, Zhang Bangchang had to lower his head and whispered: "However, reporting to the hall may not conform to the rules set by the Zhizheng Hall at the beginning of the year."

Only then did Cai Jing come to his senses, and patted himself on the forehead, "Don't tell me, I almost forgot, it's the rule, hey! People's memory declines when they get older, but... I still criticize you, things can be changed! There are only four people in total. Xiangguo, it’s really not good, you come to my mansion to communicate, I have no objection, so you hand it in, am I so stubborn that I must participate in the discussion of the Zhizheng Hall’s merchants?”

  Zhang Bangchang was really suffering in his heart and couldn't express it. He didn't dare to argue any more, so he could only be obedient. Cai Jing snorted, "The matter is so urgent, so let's go to court as soon as possible!"

Wang Fu finally got the report signed by the four prime ministers, and hurried to the palace, but within a quarter of an hour Wang Fu came back with a livid face. Just now he got the news that Gao Taiwei of the Privy Council had sent the report to went to the palace.

  Until this moment, Wang Fu didn't know that he had been sold by Cai Jing. Although the morning and evening papers did not harm his own interests, Cai Jing obviously held him back and gave Gao Qi the opportunity.

   "Why is Wang Xianggong back?"

  Wang Fu slammed the report on the table and yelled, "You old bastard!"

  Wang Fu cursed in anger, Zhang Bangchang was taken aback, and quickly asked, "What happened?"

  Wang Fu sat down angrily, and said for a while, "The Privy Council has already sent the report to the palace early in the morning."

Zhang Bangchang's complexion suddenly became ugly. Of course he knew that the Privy Council could not bypass the Zhizheng Hall and send the memorial to the palace without authorization, but since Gao Lian made a bad mouthful in the Yang Lin incident last time, the officials actually acquiesced Zhizhengtang was extremely dissatisfied with this blatant violation of regulations.

Fortunately, Gao Li doesn't care about the affairs of the Privy Council, Gao Shen is in charge, but Gao Shen behaves very well, never crossing Zhizheng Hall, everyone is safe and sound, but at a critical moment, Gao Li violated the rules again, Zhang Bangchang was really depressed.

  However, Zhang Bangchang also seemed to feel that Wang Fu's anger was not aimed at Gao Qiu, but at other people. Who is this 'old bastard' referring to?

  Wang Fu gave Zhang Bangchang a hard look, "Don't you understand? Why didn't we send the report in the morning?"

  Zhang Bangchang immediately understood that Cai Jing asked for sick leave in the morning and delayed Zhizhengtang.

   "Wang Xianggong, could it be that the two of them have already..."

   "Who knew? Huh! This old thing is vicious!"

   "He wins Gao Qiu, what should we do?" Zhang Bangchang asked cautiously.

  Wang Fu sneered, "To tell you the truth, I wish he could win Gao Qiu over!"

   "What did Mr. Xiang say?"

   "Tong Guan has always been indifferent to us. He just looks down on me, Wang Fu, and thinks I have low qualifications. Now that Cai Jing is wooing Gao Qiu, I think he is in a hurry?"

  Zhang Bangchang was stunned for a moment, it turned out that Wang Fu had already known it, and he secretly admired Wang Fu's brilliant ideas.

  At this time, he pointed to the report on the table again, "Then... what about this report?"

   "What should I do? I wanted to report the good news to the official family, but the Privy Council preempted it. I am too lazy to deliver this report. Zhang Xianggong, please come and go!"

  Zhang Bangchang was a little embarrassed, isn't this putting himself on the fire? He didn't go to the right and left, but asked himself to report, and the officials thought he didn't know the rules.

   "Why don't you mention this matter at the court meeting the day after tomorrow?"

  Wang Fu was actually just holding a sigh of relief in his heart. Of course he knew that this kind of thing couldn't be delayed until the court meeting, so he got up and said, "Forget it, I'll go by myself!"

  At this moment, an **** came running from outside, "Wang Xianggong, the official called you and Cai Xianggong to go to the imperial study immediately!"

  When Cai Jing and Wang Fu came to the imperial study, Zhao Ji was still reading the report written by Li Yanqing, and saw the prince standing aside with his hands down, without any expression on his face.

  Cai Jing knew very well that officials rarely came to the imperial study this year, unless there was a major event. Obviously, the officials attached great importance to calming down the chaos of the black party, and the prince was also called, the meaning of which is self-evident.

   "The veteran sees Your Majesty!"

   "My minister sees Your Majesty!"

  Both bowed and saluted at the same time, Zhao Ji said with a smile: "The two gentlemen are here, please sit down!"

   An **** moved two soft chairs, but there was no place for the prince. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the prince standing, but the two prime ministers felt a little uneasy sitting.

   But Cai Jing was still much more savage. Although he was standing outside, he walked around first and sat on the chair inside. The chair next to the prince outside could only be wronged by Wang Fu.

  Wang Fu hesitated for a moment, but Cai Jing preempted him, so he had no choice but to sit down, but just as he sat down, he felt the pressure of the prince standing beside him, and Wang Fu couldn't help scolding Cai Jing for being treacherous and cunning.

  Zhao Ji didn't care about the subtle difference between their seats. He raised the report in his hand, "This is an urgent report sent by the Privy Council early in the morning. Zhizheng Hall should have a copy too!"

  Wang Fu hurriedly submitted the report in his hand, "The Zhizheng Hall has completed its deliberation, and we are preparing to submit it to His Majesty!"

  Zhao Ji said lightly: "It seems that Zhengzhengtang doesn't care too much about this matter, so I just gave it to me now."

Wang Fu glanced at Cai Jing, seeing that he half-closed his eyes and said nothing, he couldn't help but feel great hatred in his heart, so he could only whisper: "It was originally planned to be sent to His Majesty after the deliberation in the morning, but it happened that Prime Minister Cai was ill in the morning. So it was half a day late."

Cai Jing smiled lightly, and said lightly, "Wang Xiangguo, deliberation and timely reporting of the military situation are two different things. To be honest, it doesn't matter if the deliberation is postponed until the day after tomorrow, but reporting the military situation to His Majesty should be the first time. After all, it is Wang Xianggong." If you don’t pay much attention to this matter, what does it have to do with the old man’s illness?”

   "Cai Xianggong, you can't say that, when the rules are set at the beginning of the year"

  Wang Fu wanted to argue again, but Zhao Ji refused to give him a chance. Zhao Ji waved his hands impatiently, "Stop arguing about this matter, let's talk about the report!"

Wang Fu had no choice but to hold back his hatred in his chest, and said for a long time: "We have also studied this report carefully, and the results are always very good, and the problem can be resolved through negotiation. Chaos' consistent position, but Li Tongzhi has some ways to deal with it, which Wei Chen personally thinks is worth discussing."

   "It seems that the Zhizheng Hall has not reached a unity?"

   "There is a little disagreement, but considering that this is an important military situation, we think that we will go through the court first and put the differences aside."

   "Let's talk about it! What did Li Tongzhi not handle properly?" Zhao Ji put the report aside and asked calmly.

   "Weichen mainly feels that there are three things wrong!"

Wang Fu glanced at Cai Jing out of the corner of his eye, and seeing that he was still half-closed, Wang Fu thought for a while and continued: "First, the killing is too ruthless. The black gang is originally a small clan, but he slaughtered more than 10,000 people." The name is young and strong, it is too cruel, although the black party Xiang also killed many Han people, but since the other party has surrendered, he should forgive and convince others with benevolence and righteousness, I think Li Yanqing's actions are very inappropriate, and should even be severely reprimanded!"

  Beside Zhao Huan was about to speak, but found that Cai Jing's half-closed eyes flashed an imperceptible coldness, and he immediately swallowed the words that came to his mouth.

   "And then?" Zhao Ji asked lightly again.

"The second problem is that he squeezed too much money from the black party. His redemption and compensation almost took away more than half of the century-old money from the black party. What's more, he negotiated with the black party without reporting to the court in advance. My minister I feel that this is an act of ignoring the court, and the court cannot passively accept it like this, and must express its position."

   "Then what's the third point?" Zhao Ji still asked calmly.

"The third point is the handling of Linde, the prefect of Gyeongju. The official felt that Li Tongzhi was completely covering up Linde. Excuse me, I don't understand why?"

Wang Fu's first two points made Zhao Huan's heart ache. He also felt that Li Yanqing had gone too far, but as soon as Wang Fu's third point came out, Zhao Huan immediately felt relieved. Wang Fu's third point was obviously Xiang Zhuang. The sword dance was aimed at Pei Gong, but he was aiming at Cai Jing next to him!

Since you want to make trouble for Li Yanqing, you shouldn't make extra troubles, and push Cai Jing to Li Yanqing's side by adding a strong enemy. This is an extremely unwise move. With Wang Fu's status and official experience, Zhao Huan I also believe that Wang Fu will never make such a stupid mistake, but Wang Fu still took this step. It is not a question of stupidity, but that he has been blinded by selfishness.

  Cai Jing's face darkened as expected, Zhao Ji glanced at Cai Jing, and said with a smile: "What is Xianggong Cai thinking?"

  (end of this chapter)