The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

Wang Tianguan walked away leisurely with the result of the imperial recommendation, without any solemn expression, as if he had just come out to visit a temple fair.

Although the result of the imperial recommendation seemed unreliable and the emperor would not approve it at all, it seemed like he had wasted his energy and done useless work today, but Wang Tianguan still did not seem to take it seriously.

Lu Guangzu stared at Wang Tianguan's back, and at this time he finally figured it out. There was an essential difference between him and Wang Tianguan, the main opponent.

He wanted to accomplish something in the imperial recommendation. He wanted to put people in the cabinet, he wanted to deprive Zhao Zhigao of the prime minister, and he wanted to disgust Lin Tailai.

Wang Tianguan did not have any specific goals, and it didn't matter if he messed up the imperial recommendation.

Generally, the result of the imperial recommendation also had to consider whether the emperor would approve it. How could it be like Wang Tianguan, who was only focused on messing it up.

This is called not being able to accomplish things, but being able to do more harm than good!

Then the other people who participated in the imperial recommendation slowly figured out why the result of "Lu Guangzu first and Lin Tailai second" appeared.

It is obvious that all the iron votes of the Lin Party must have voted for Lu Guangzu and Lin Tailai, which is very concentrated and unified. Both of them have a guaranteed minimum of about seven votes.

In addition, if Lu Guangzu has a few more votes from the Qingliu Party and a few scattered votes, he can have 15 votes; if Lin Tailai has a few more scattered votes, he can have 11 votes.

At the same time, the iron votes of the Qingliu Party, facing the three options of Xu Guo, Shen Li, and Lu Guangzu, are inevitably scattered when they write their own votes.

The last three people each have only a few iron votes from the Qingliu Party, but Lu Guangzu has the "assistance" of the Lin Party's iron votes, so he can stand out.

As for Xu Guo, who the Qingliu Party plans to push hard, and Shen Li, a big boss with strong conditions, their votes will definitely not exceed Lu Guangzu and Lin Tailai under the premise of random scattered votes.

Thinking of this, everyone can't help but sigh that the election skills of the old leader of the literary world are so terrifying that he can achieve his goal just by manipulating the procedures.

In the past thirty years, the literary world has selected the "Five Sons" every ten years or so, and the old leader's experience in elections is not in vain.

On that day, Wang Tianguan reported the results to the palace. At this point, Wang Tianguan's work for the year came to an end, and he could prepare for the New Year with peace of mind.

At noon the next day, Zhang Cheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, was waiting in the front corridor of the Yikun Palace with a memorial in his arms.

After the hungover Emperor Wanli climbed up from Concubine Zheng, he heard that Zhang Cheng was waiting, so he summoned him in.

Zhang Cheng did not beat around the bush and reported directly: "Previously, there was an imperial approval of Lu Guangzu's memorial, and the ministers of the ministries and courts were ordered to recommend two cabinet ministers. The Ministry of Personnel had already reported the results yesterday evening."

The selection of the two cabinet ministers was of course a major event for the court, and only the emperor could make the final decision, so Zhang Cheng had to disturb the emperor.

Emperor Wanli drank a few sips of soup and asked curiously, "Who was nominated?"

Zhang Cheng replied, "Left Censor Lu Guangzu and Lin Tailai."

Emperor Wanli was stunned. Was he hallucinating or did Zhang Cheng make a slip of the tongue?

Zhang Cheng repeated, "It was Lu Guangzu and Lin Tailai."

After Emperor Wanli came to his senses, he blurted out, "Isn't this nonsense!"

You, Lu Guangzu, jumped up and down in front of him and strongly demanded fair, just and open court nominations of ministers, and also shouted not to give private gifts, preventing him, the emperor, from directly appointing.

The result of the nomination after a long time of arguing was to nominate you, Lu Guangzu, into the cabinet?

What else could be the result? Nominating Lin Tailai, who was only in his twenties, into the cabinet, could it be more ridiculous?

Zhang Cheng proposed a reply and said, "Reject the result of the court nomination, and then fine all the ministers who participated in the court nomination?"

Emperor Wanli snorted coldly and said, "This result can be approved!"

In the entire court, there is only one person who can make a fuss at will, and that is him, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty! No one is allowed to be more absurd than him!

Zhang Cheng felt tired and hurriedly advised: "Not really! Your Majesty, think twice!"

Although eunuchs act according to the emperor's will most of the time, they still need to persuade him sometimes.

It's okay to stir up trouble, but you can't stir up trouble for the sake of stirring up trouble, otherwise the government will be in chaos?

However, Zhang Cheng was a little worried. Now there are still the old people in the palace who have watched the emperor grow up, and the Holy Mother Empress Dowager Li is still alive, so that things inside and outside the palace will not be too outrageous.

But when these old people gradually pass away, who in the palace can persuade the willful emperor who keeps letting himself go?

Then Zhang Cheng continued: "Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factory Sun Long reported the day before yesterday that it is expected that there will be ships sailing from the new Wusongkou next year.

If Lin Tailai is allowed to join the Wenyuan Pavilion, it will be inconvenient for him to work outside. Young people are physically strong and should be allowed to move around more."

After the morning grumpiness disappeared, the slightly calmed Emperor Wanli ordered again: "This time, let Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Wang Jiaping each nominate one person!

In addition, Lu Guangzu will be punished to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors for three months, and all the ministers who participated in the court recommendation will be fined for one year!"

Zhao Zhigao, the chief minister who was guarding the cabinet alone, was the first to see the decree and finally felt relieved.

No wonder Lin Jiuyuan said that whether the chief minister was happy or not mainly depended on the support from the outside court.

If there was no support from the outside court, I am afraid that the chief minister would not be able to issue orders outside the Wenyuan Pavilion.

However, Chief Minister Zhao felt that the revenge on Lu Guangzu was not enough. Just reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors for three months and that was it? It seemed that no one would not be politically persecuted.

So Zhao Shoufu picked up two more memorials from other provinces that had been backlogged for several days. One was that several officials in Henan jointly reported that Henan inspector Zou Xuezhu had failed in his supervision, which had led to numerous abuses in the province and frequent occurrences of fraud in the examination room.

Second, several officials from Huguang jointly reported Huguang's envoy Hou Shiqing for serious dereliction of duty. As a result, a large number of people had no way to redress their grievances after being tortured by the Chu king and clan, and even disturbed passing officials.

When the situation was still unclear before, it was not easy to decisively deal with these two memorials, but now the time is almost here.

Just as I finished drafting these two notebooks, an urgent notebook suddenly came in.

After looking at the content, it makes perfect sense - there was a civil uprising in Songjiang Prefecture next door to Suzhou Prefecture, and people rioted to resist taxes!

Zhao Zhigao had just become the first assistant, and his fresh energy had not worn off yet, so he started writing and drawing up votes with great interest.

The old chief assistant doesn’t want to take a break during the Chinese New Year, but everyone else is on holiday, what should I do?

In fact, Emperor Wanli's decision to veto the recommendation was basically expected by the ministers, and they only approved such a recommendation if they were smart.

Everyone collectively rejoiced that the salary penalty was just a trivial matter. The most unlucky person was Lu Guangzu. Being fined to sit in seclusion for three months was equivalent to a temporary suspension.

Although there was a Chinese New Year celebration in between, the actual suspension was more than two months ago.

Of course, according to the principle of conservation of energy, if someone is unlucky, someone will benefit.

After reviewing the situation, the court officials recognized that two people benefited, one of whom was the chief minister Zhao Zhigao.

It can be regarded as a successful counterattack against Lu Guangzu, and it also temporarily eliminated the potential hidden danger of Xu State, which can be regarded as establishing the authority of the new chief minister.

As for the other beneficiary, Lin Tailai, who was two thousand miles away, was simply a loser.

Although it seemed like a joke that he was elected to the cabinet by the ministers, and in the end he "failed", this is a real qualification.

At the age of twenty-four or five, he may have been the only one in the entire Ming Dynasty to have the qualification of being "recommended as a cabinet candidate".

Although it was approaching the end of the year, all government offices had not been closed yet, so Lu Guangzu received the order while working at the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Therefore, Lu Guangzu could only put down all official duties and prepare to go home and think about his mistakes behind closed doors.

After hearing the news, the Qingliu censors came to the Zuodu censor's public house to see and say goodbye.

After all, President Lu will not be able to see each other for three months after he leaves. Generally, he cannot see outsiders if he thinks about his faults behind closed doors.

Mr. Lu lost his previous fighting spirit and was a little depressed. Everyone comforted him: "This is just a small setback. Why should Mr. Lu be so discouraged?"

Lu Guangzu sighed: "Am I discouraged because I was punished to think about it for three months?"

Usually, whenever Lin Tailai is away from the capital, he can always get some benefits.

But this time, I didn't get any benefits. Instead, I suffered a big loss. The situation in the cabinet further collapsed, and I was also punished. How could I not feel depressed?

Looking at the dozen fellow censors in the room, Lu Zongxian warned: "This time Lin Tailai is not in the capital, and Lin's party still has the upper hand. How can I not be worried?"

Afraid that his colleagues would not understand, Lu Zongxian further explained: "This is enough to show that the Lin Party has condensed into a solid group around the core of Lin Tailai!

Now even if Lin Tailai is not in the capital, they can still exert a strong fighting force in the court. You should be alert!

This court promotion incident may not seem to have very serious consequences, but it proves the formation of the Lin Party!

Although Shen Shixing is gone, a more powerful enemy than Shen Shixing and his gang has appeared! "

After this lesson, all the censors looked at each other and suddenly felt the pressure doubled.

Suddenly someone broke the silence and shouted impassionedly: "This is a clique, a blatant clique! No one in the court is blind!

Although thieves are rampant, I still want to impeach Lin Tailai immediately for forming a party and monopolizing power. Even if I am shattered to pieces, I will have no regrets! "

Everyone looked at the sound and found out that it was Qian Yiben, the senior chief censor.

Another senior imperial censor, He Zhuo, also shouted excitedly: "I am willing to sign a joint signature with Brother Qian! Even if I have to fight for it, it can boost morale and let the world know that there are still people in the court who dare to speak out!"

Lu Guangzu was very pleased. Although the just cause was temporarily frustrated, as long as there are people with lofty ideals who are not afraid of death, we will definitely win the final victory!

Just when the atmosphere was in place, suddenly Zuo Qiandu's censor came in with a chapter book and said: "The inspectors of Henan and Huguang provinces have been jointly reported by the provinces, and the memorial has been approved to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, requiring strict investigation and handling!"

Mr. Lu could guess without even looking that Zhao Shoufu must be torturing people!

After all, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and there are only a few days left before the official seal is released. Under normal circumstances, who would make any noise?

At this time, the left deputy censor Zhan Yangpi, who usually had no presence at all, also walked in.

There is really no sense of existence. This Zhan Fuxian is nominally the second-in-command of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but his reputation is not as great as that of the senior censors.

But Zhan Yangpi and Wu Shilai, the former censor of Zuodu, can be called "double arrogance". They are both famous for their uprightness in their early years, and then "unprotected in the later years".

When he was young, Zhan Yangpi was extremely staunch in both his words and deeds. His writings offended Emperor Longqing, and he was dismissed from office for thirteen years before being brought back by Shen Shixing.

Since then, Zhan Yangpi's public image has become that of an "affiliated dignitary", and he has been scolded by the Qingliu forces.

At this moment, Zhan Yangpi asked Lu Guangzu: "The chapter was just sent to the Procuratorate. Has the General Constitution read it?"

Lu Guangzu said coldly: "So what if I've seen it?"

Zhan Yangpi didn't care about Lu Guangzu's attitude. Over the years, he had become accustomed to this kind of treatment in the clean house of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

The businessman asked again: "The red batch said that there have been problems with Fengxian officials in different important provinces one after another. There must be profound reasons for this, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate is required to conduct a thorough investigation.

I wonder what the General Constitution’s opinion is? What is the cause of the problem? "

Lu Guangzu answered to the point: "Why are the two major provinces of Henan and Huguang having problems one after another? The reason is very simple!

It's because this is the province Lin Tailai passed through on his way back to his hometown! "

Zhan Yangpi: "."

I have good intentions to discuss official business with you, but you are here to make fun of me?

Lu Guangzu said sarcastically: "Am I wrong? Isn't it because of Lin Tailai?"

After taking a deep breath, Zhan Yangpi continued to say seriously: "I think that the successive problems with the officials of these important provinces indicate that there is something wrong with our selection and inspection mechanism in the past few years!

Therefore, we must correct it from the root and carefully investigate the selection and inspection of the provincial magistrates in the past few years! "

The provincial procuratorate accepts the leadership of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs in terms of business operations, and at the same time accepts the inspection of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

In the past few years, Lu Guang's ancestor happened to be the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment and later the Yushi of Zuodu. If we check back, he will definitely bear the brunt.

Lu Guangzu said habitually and contemptuously: "Is this your intention or the chief minister's intention? Shen Wumen has just left the country not long ago, and you have a new benefactor so quickly?"

Zhan Yangbi couldn't bear being so despised. He suddenly reached out and snatched the book away, and sprayed it at Lu Guangzu!

"You have been suspended! Why are you still pretending to be here? What does these official duties have to do with you?

Why don't you get out of here and go home and think about the past behind closed doors! Are you greedy for power and reluctant to leave? "

Lu Guangzu: "."

Damn it! I was used to being arrogant in front of Zhan Yangpi, and I forgot for a while that I had been suspended!

Zhan Yangpi, who had been suppressed for many years, was still angry and continued to curse:

"I wanted to have a nice talk with you, give you a few token consultations, and send you away as a gift, but you insist on pretending to be smart here!

Act like your mother! You have been suspended, and I am temporarily in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate!

I can do whatever I want to do with these official duties, and the reasons are whatever I say!

You are a person who wants to go home and shut yourself up to think about your past, and you are here gesticulating like an egg! "

Lu Guangzu: "."

It’s over! I'm afraid this loss is far greater than imagined!

If he went home and reflected behind closed doors for three months, it would be enough for Zhan Yangpi to use the topic to his advantage and cause a lot of things!

Obviously, this is a political pursuit from the chief minister! They don’t even stop celebrating the New Year, they can’t even wait to celebrate the New Year!

A man who had kept a low profile in the Metropolitan Procuratorate for many years suddenly became so angry that the censors in the room were shocked.

Crazy, all crazy, it seems like all honest people started to show their teeth and claws overnight. Have they all been infected by Lin?

Zhan Yangpi walked to the door and suddenly turned back to Lu Guangzu and said: "Don't pretend to be faint, don't pretend to be sick, otherwise someone will accuse you of being old and weak and you should get out of here!"

Everyone finally understood why Zhan Yangpi was able to arouse Emperor Mu Zong to such a rage that he was beaten a hundred times with a stick during the Longqing Dynasty.

How can the emperor endure such nonsense? Could it be that it had been forcibly sealed by Shen Shixing before?

Half a month after Shen Shixing resigned, the Qingliu party members began to miss the old chief minister who at least pretended to be tolerant on the surface.