Dominate the Country

Through the glass window, a lantern quickly approached Pang Zhenkun's study, and in the light and shadow behind the lantern, two figures walked quickly.

Soon, a familiar voice came from outside the door: "Master, Master Dai is back."

While Shen Guozhen was busy, Pang Zhenkun was also busy, but his purpose was to consolidate his position. The emperor had already built a step for him, and Pang Zhenkun needed to carve some patterns on the stone steps to make it more majestic.

Pang Zhenkun paused for a while before responding: "Hezhi [Dai Quheng's name], come in." Dai Quheng, 45 years old, is Pang Zhenkun's secretary and also serves as deputy director of the Cabinet Office.

He was originally from Longfu, Xiuning, Anhui, but fled to Dayu, Jiangxi because of the war. His father Dai Yuandi was an editor of the Hanlin Academy of the Qing Dynasty. It can be said that even without the Chen Han Revolution, he would not have had much of a future. Uncle Dai Junyuan and brother Dai Xinheng were both Qing officials who entered the official career from Jinshi. The Dai family can be said to be a family of scholars and officials. But Dai Quheng is different. He is not a Jinshi of the Qing Dynasty, but a Jinshi of the Chen Han Dynasty. He was only 22 years old when he passed the Jinshi of the Chen Han Dynasty, and he was the third in the first class, that is, the third place.

After 23 years in the officialdom, Dai Quheng is now a third-rank official. When Pang Zhenkun officially becomes the sixth chief minister of the Chen Han Dynasty next month, Dai Quheng is likely to be promoted to a higher level. The Cabinet Office and the attendant room around the emperor are at the same level, and the top official is more senior than the minister of most ministries. In the Rabbit Era, it is equivalent to the vice-ministerial level.

"Prime Minister." Dai Quheng came in and saluted Pang Zhenkun, handing over a letter: "This is the reply from Shen Ge Lao."

The Shen Ge Lao mentioned by Dai Quheng is Shen Chu, the current Minister of Culture and Education. Of course, he will also go to the Council of State after this term.

Shen Chu is also from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but he is completely different from Shen Guozhen. Although they both come from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, have the same surname Shen, and are both from a scholarly family, they are not related by blood. The former was sentenced to be a slave to the armored men by the Tartars, while the latter is a legitimate official family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Pang Zhenkun is very clear about Shen Guozhen's connections and influence. The Shen family can be called the first family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. When Wang Huizu was at the peak of his career, the reputation of the Wang family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was weaker than that of Shen Guozhen. Pang Zhenkun needs to build a relationship with the second Shen.

Shen Chu's family reputation is weaker than that of Shen Guozhen, but Shen Chu's family is also qualified to be listed as the "Second Shen of Jiangsu and Zhejiang" together with Shen Guozhen's family.

"Yeah."

Pang Zhenkun's expression was surprisingly calm, as if the letter in front of him was not the reply he had been waiting for two or three hours. There was no urgency or irritability on his expression. He took the reply from Dai Quheng and opened it. Soon, a smile appeared on his lips, and Pang Zhenkun couldn't help shouting, "Good!"

The notes in the letter fully explained Shen Chu's attitude.

Pang Zhenkun had his own calculations on the selection of cabinet members. There was no place for Shen Guozhen in the left and right assistants he liked. Now Shen Guozhen was jumping up and down here, which made Pang Zhenkun very unhappy.

Although in some ways, they should be considered as one country. They both have an unclear relationship with Prince Yu, but when it comes to practical matters, there are still big differences.

Dai Quheng bowed his head and waited for questions. A smart secretary would not pay attention to his boss's misbehavior.

Pang Zhenkun was excited for a moment, then put down the letter and asked in a gentle voice: "What else did Lord Shen say?"

"Lord Shen agrees with the Prime Minister's support for the French. When it comes to European affairs, the competition between the two powers is more beneficial to our dynasty than the dominance of one power. But the French politics is a crooked way, which is completely different from the way of China. France can be used but not taken!"

What Shen Chu said seemed to be his opinion on the situation in Europe, but in fact, he was not really praising or criticizing the competition between Britain and France in Europe. This actually refers to the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Although Shen Guozhen has not had close contact with the outliers of the New Confucian Party, they have invisibly come closer. Shen Chu is firmly opposed to this.

And the outliers of the New Confucian Party are outliers, they still have a lot of influence. When they are mixed with Shen Guozhen, Shen Guozhen's strength will naturally be strengthened. The influence of the Shen family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is too great, which is not good for the central government. Europe is a competition between the two powers, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang should learn from Europe. And Shen Chu's family is willing to be the challenger.

Pang Zhenkun's mouth twitched slightly, revealing a mocking smile under the light. Officials, born actors, are all hypocritical. But since Shen Chu is so self-aware, he can rest assured.

"Thank you for your hard work. Rest in the guest room tonight." This is Pang Zhenkun's praise for Dai Quheng. Not everyone can sleep in the home of the next prime minister.

Dai Quheng naturally withdrew with gratitude. Pang Zhenkun pulled out an account book from the table, opened it and wrote down the "deal" neatly.

When Pang Zhenkun could relax and rest, a sense of security surged in his heart.

He has brought himself another ally.

Shen Chu has been in the Ministry of Culture and Education for many years, and has personally presided over the construction and preparation of many universities. It can be said that he has a great influence in today's society. Being able to pull such a person onto your ship is like adding a large ballast stone to the bottom of the cabin.

As long as the situation of the past few days continues, Pang Zhenkun will not worry about not being able to intervene at the last minute of the court promotion, and naturally he will not worry about not being able to control the cabinet when the new era comes.

Shen Chu is already seventy years old, and he has long been considering his family. Now that he has entered the Council of State, he has almost no conflict of interest with Pang Zhenkun, but his actual status is really weaker than that of the elder Shen Guozhen.

When a person reaches a certain position, he does not represent himself, but the interests of a group.

People in later generations often say that the president of the Lighthouse Country is just a puppet in the hands of a big consortium, a toy pushed to the front. But how can any politician in any country not have the support of power behind him? So are they also puppets of the power behind them?

Of course not. Because there is a difference. There is a difference between being "self" as the main and being "self" as the auxiliary.

There are powerful economic forces behind the two Shens in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The biggest difference between them and the president of the Lighthouse Country in later generations is that they themselves are the core of this interest group.

China is still a standard official-oriented society. If you want to pull up a force and a mountain, you will only be qualified after you sit in a certain position. "People leave and the tea gets cold" and "people leave before the tea gets cold" are the same principle. That "position" is the key to everything!

Now Shen Chu, the core of Shen Er Group, is going to fall behind, while Shen Guozhen, the core of Shen Yi Group, can still serve another term. This has a huge impact on the interests of the two groups. In order to maintain its existing interests, Shen Er Group has now climbed up to the boss Pang Group in an attempt to compete with Shen Yi. And the boss Pang Group also needs Shen Er to be a guide so that they can enter Jiangsu and Zhejiang more conveniently. At the same time, they also hope that Shen Er Group can be part of them and involve part of Shen Yi Group.

Pang Zhenkun is uniting all forces that can be united.

Shen Chu left the center of the political stage-the Council of State is far from being comparable to the real government. Shen Er Group lost its biggest support point in the court. Several juniors trained by Shen Chu in the center have been thinking about "externalization" early on. However, if it is just "externalization", there is no powerful person behind to protect the wind and rain. That "externalization" is likely to really become a local position.

That is, from a Beijing official to a local official, and then I don't know how he will be "adjusted" by others. To put it bluntly, the details are not worth mentioning, but no one dares to ignore them.

Humming a tuneless song, Pang Zhenkun opened a notebook and turned to the page with Shen Chu's name at the top.

These pages record Shen Chu's life experience in detail, as well as the network of relationships that extend from him upward, downward, left and right. Among them, there are the senior officials who appeared in the court recommendation process. Not to say that 100% of them have been included in Pang Zhenkun's pocket, there will be seven or eight.

If you want to step down, you can't expect all your younger brothers to be in the center. The saying "tea gets cold before people leave" has always been popular in the officialdom. However, the political attributes of officials who have reached the third rank have been solidified to a certain extent, or people who have reached this level of officialdom have begun to pay attention to dignity and style. Chameleon-like characters like Pei Ju are rare throughout history.

Therefore, it is impossible for Pang Zhenkun to have 100% control over these relationships that Shen Chu has extended. There are some.

This is a very gratifying phenomenon. If Pang Zhenkun does not have an extra strength, he will not have an extra chance of winning in the future.

To be honest, although Chen Han’s current court recommendation system has various restrictions, it is definitely not bad.

How many officials above the third rank are there in the entire Chen Han? Even if the governors and officials of overseas territories who cannot participate are crossed out, the number of officials of the third rank and above in mainland China is added together. There are at least 500 to 600 if not 1,800. This number is really not small.

"There is almost no one left." Pang Zhenkun packed up everything and said with emotion.

The time is coming, and the people who should be finalized have been finalized. For those who cannot be finalized, if there is no definite news in the next ten days, there is no need to wait any longer.

Pang Zhenkun thought with a relaxed mood. Among the remaining group of people, Shen Guozhen cannot find many supporters.

Twenty-five days later is the day of the imperial recommendation. The list of people who can participate in it will be longer than it is now. Pang Zhenkun firmly believes this because he is the emperor's confidant. He will be the prime minister of the cabinet for the next five years, and even China in the next ten years will leave his deep personal imprint.

This is a grand event for the entire Chinese political arena, a grand event that will catch more than 80% of the civil servants above the third rank in the entire court.

Within ten days, all officials above the third rank who can fight a round trip within ten days can participate in the imperial recommendation.

How shocking the court was when this decision appeared.

Even the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which is not interested in developing homing pigeons, has developed "pigeon nests" like crazy, including Tibet on the roof of the world.

No one wants to be marginalized in the political arena. But without the imperial recommendation, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Tibet, and Myanmar will really be automatically marginalized.

If the governors are ranked, the governors of these places will be the last ones to rank.

Pang Zhenkun never thought that being the Prime Minister of the Cabinet was a pie-in-the-sky good thing. If he took the position of Prime Minister but could not effectively integrate the cabinet, Pang Zhenkun would become a big joke in the government and the public.

Therefore, Pang Zhenkun has been much busier these days than last year and the year before.

He wanted to suppress Shen Guozhen, and he had to communicate properly with Wang Huizu and Xiong Bingzhang. They could take one of the left and right assistants, but Pang Zhenkun had to control one of them.

There couldn't be only one voice in the cabinet, but his voice must be the loudest and the loudest.

In terms of identity, status, and prestige, Pang Zhenkun is really in the limelight in the current Chen Han political arena. Some people represented by Shen Guozhen might work hard, but as long as Pang Zhenkun can visit them, or just write a few personal letters, he can pull some neutral or even clearly belong to other important officials to his side, which can at least play a coercive role. Unless the emperor can clearly express his opposition, others will really bow to him under Pang Zhenkun's power, as long as they show a certain degree of respect.

But this also requires Pang Zhenkun to make some efforts for this.

In this world, there is no good thing that can be achieved without any hard work. Some people are born superior to others, but there are many people in the world who surpass ordinary people, and not all of them can achieve superhuman achievements.