"Does anyone have anything interesting to say?" After a long pause, seeing that all the food in the store had been eaten up by a group of young officials in their prime, and that only a large basin of water with mung bean sprouts was served, Hu Quan, who was a little impatient, wanted to turn back and simply asked again.

"There is one thing... it's not important, but it's a little strange... maybe it's worth talking about." A fairly reliable official from the Ministry of Justice frowned and replied. "Do you remember when someone knelt down in front of the gate of the Imperial College to file a complaint to the Emperor during the Imperial College's political consultation a few years ago?"

"Yes...Is it still unresolved? Is it a major case?"

"The case is from Fujian. It took two months to go back and forth. Besides, it's not a sinister thing like killing a relative for inheritance. It's just a trivial matter."

"I see. Then what's so strange about it?"

"The story is this: there have always been foreign merchants living in Quanzhou, and perhaps they built their own foreign temples in the area. Recently, a foreign temple was built opposite the county school of a county under Quanzhou. However, the foreign temples have to chant scriptures, which inevitably affects the students' classes, so the students reported it to the county magistrate... Who would have thought that such a simple matter was just fooled by the county magistrate, and finally angered the locals. They thought that the county magistrate might also believe in foreign religions, so some local scholars and officials found their old Fujian people in Dongjing City and asked them to help make the matter bigger so that they could deal with the county magistrate and demolish the foreign temple."

Hearing this, Hu Quan, who was holding a large bowl of bean sprouts, already knew what was going on. However, he glanced at Mei Sheren who was staring at the bean sprouts and sneered, "If my guess is correct, the Minister of Justice Ma must have sided with the local scholar-officials, asking the county magistrate to explain and then demolish the foreign temple. As a result, the Fujian local government was just perfunctory and repeatedly defended the county magistrate. This is how things went on, right?"

"That's right... People in Fujian generally support the magistrate." The deputy director of the Ministry of Justice immediately became alert.

"Mao Xiu (Mei Li's pen name), what do you think?" Hu Quan indeed asked Mei Li.

Mei Li smiled bitterly and shook his head upon hearing this: "Why? The court is now focusing on finances, and everything is done around building up finances. Political performance also depends on this... Let alone a county under Quanzhou, even the whole of Fujian is counting on Quanzhou's foreign merchants to make more trips... Moreover, the foreign merchants in Quanzhou were very upset after the government issued a strict order to refuse foreign merchants from receiving royal documents and flags. At this time, the local government in Fujian naturally doesn't want to interfere! If the commercial tax is really reduced, and it affects the official career, who will be responsible?"

Everyone suddenly realized.

"Besides that, there is another layer." Mei Li continued with a wry smile. "Since the Jingkang period, the turmoil has spread from the north to the south, and Taoism has also moved southward. After the Baima Shaoxing incident, Taoism has gained the support of many scholars and officials, so that there are many academies in the southeast. The county schools are okay, but the so-called local scholars and officials are mostly involved with Taoism... The reason why the Grand Marshal (Liu Ziyu of the Ministry of War) took his brother out of Fujian was because he was afraid that he would follow the path of Taoism... So in my opinion, this matter fell to the Grand Minister of Justice (Ma Shen of the Ministry of Justice). Otherwise, anyone would have suppressed the matter out of consideration for Fujian's difficulties."

Yes, someone nearby applauded and responded: "But after all, it has fallen into the hands of the Grand Secretary, and the matter is ultimately the fault of the local scholar-officials and the Grand Secretary. The local people in Fujian can only go around in circles with the Ministry of Justice. Sooner or later, they will be unable to bear it, and then they may even report it to the provincial governor or even the government."

Everyone became more and more confused.

However, the official from the Ministry of Justice hesitated for a moment, and then added a little more seriously: "This matter is roughly as Brother Hu and Mao Xiu said, but I think it is a little strange. There is another thing, which is that the prefect of Quanzhou is different from the people in Fujian. He advocates severe punishment and demolishing the temple immediately."

"He is probably a Taoist, what's so strange about that?"

"If this is the case, it will only make the matter more serious, and it may even be reported to the prime minister or the emperor... But it is ultimately a trivial matter and has nothing to do with the court."

Everyone nodded and said no more. The matter was over. At this time, even the bean sprouts in the basin of water had been eaten up. Everyone looked at Hu Quan and waited for the leader to speak. Then they would disperse and prepare to turn back by boat, find a place to release the water, and then go home...

However, for some reason, Hu Quan was silent for a while. After a moment, he laughed and sighed, and rarely took the initiative to speak: "What you said reminded me of the matter of Li Xueshi's suggestion to expand the regulations on important officials in the Secret Cabinet. If you say that he had selfish motives in this matter, I don't believe it, but he himself did not have any. The people who gave him advice or persuaded him to make such suggestions may not be without selfish motives..."

"What do you mean, Brother Hu?" Everyone was slightly stunned, and then someone became curious.

"Two theories... First, there are only six chancellors inside and nearly twenty envoys outside. The court talks about the shift between the inside and the outside, so it is a bit narrow for the outside world right now; second, the court is generally stable, and will launch the Northern Expedition after the money and grain are stored and the military equipment is sophisticated. The places where meritorious deeds are made are all in the north and the center. At this time, it is possible that some envoys from the south are ready to move and want to take the opportunity to be transferred back." Hu Quan said calmly with a smile, and everyone was stunned, and then thought quietly.

At this time, Hu Quan had already turned around and asked the boatman to turn around and dock.

By the way, Hu Quan still had some capital and channels. Only five days after the meeting at Jinmingchi, the emperor issued an edict. Just as he said, the prime minister would not be expanded for the time being, but the six ministries would be given priority in handling world affairs. The left and right vice ministers would be permanently appointed, and the number of staff in the Censorate would be expanded. The number of Hanlin academicians, Zhongshu Sheren and cabinet attendants would be slightly increased.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!