The six-yearly imperial inspection has officially begun, and a bloodless war has already begun like an undercurrent.

Everyone in the capital is walking on thin ice, and I imagine that the tens of thousands of local officials are not having an easy time at this time either.

The Ministry of Personnel has been very busy these days. The results of the assessments from the local levels are constantly being reported to the capital through a spider-web of post stations. The assessments of officials in the capital are even more complicated.

Minister of Personnel Liu An was not a complete member of the eunuch party. Most of the time, he was an official who performed his duties conscientiously, was impartial and upright, and had the ideal of being loyal to the emperor and serving the country in his heart. His political achievements during his tenure were not flawless. However, he and Wang Shengsheng were from the same hometown and were Jinshi in the same year. They had a close personal relationship. The reason why he was able to become Minister of Personnel was also due to the efforts made by Wang Shengsheng when he was the Assistant Minister of the Internal Cabinet. Although Wang Shengsheng was demoted now, his reputation still existed with Xie Zhongren. Many people believed that in a few years, Xie Zhongren would find a way to transfer him back to the capital. In addition, most of the people in the Ministry of Personnel were promoted by Wang Shengsheng, so the advantage was completely in the favor of Xie Zhongren.

As expected, when the imperial examination just started, Yan Sikong had already discovered several officials from the aristocratic families, and the assessment results were worrying.

Yan Sikong was just a small official, so even if he had doubts, he couldn't say them out loud. But he could tell Yan Zilian what he knew at the first opportunity.

In order to avoid suspicion, he and Yan Zilian agreed that Yi Yi would no longer visit Yan's house, but would meet in a small teahouse, which was run by Yan Zilian's nephew and was very safe.

On this day, Yan Sikong brought Feng Ye along as well.

When the two met, they greeted each other.

"Prince."

"Master Yan Ge."

"Please take a seat, my lord."

"Please come in, Mr. Yan." Feng Ye was quite dissatisfied with the royal relative that Yan Zilian had asked for Yan Sikong, but he did not show it, only his tone was a little cold.

Yan Zilian did not shirk his responsibility and sat down slowly, saying with emotion: "Thank you, Prince, for helping us to eliminate the eunuch party and clean up the government and the country."

"My Feng family has been loyal for three generations. How can we sit back and watch the eunuchs disrupt the government and oppress the people? We cannot let the traitors who are trying to usurp the throne succeed."

"The prince is very righteous." Yan Zilian sighed. He knew in his heart that the most important thing for the Feng family was to take this opportunity to get rid of Wen Youchi, the biggest worry in their heart. Otherwise, the reduction of Datong's military expenditure this year would be extremely disadvantageous to the Feng family.

After the pleasantries, they got down to business.

Yan Sikong handed Yan Zilian a list: "This is the list I have so far. Sun Beiqing, the historian of the Censorate, Zhang Mao, the director of the Honglu Temple, Yu Fei, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and Bai Xinghai, the military department secretary, most of them failed the 'four categories' of this assessment. This is only the list in Beijing. The local assessment has not yet released the final results."

The "four grids" are the standards for assessment, which refer to integrity, politics, talent, and age. Integrity refers to integrity, which is divided into honest, fair, and corrupt; politics refers to government affairs, which is divided into diligent, fair, and lazy; talent refers to ability, which is divided into long, fair, and short; and age refers to age, which is divided into young, middle-aged, and old. Based on these four grids, three grades are assessed: competent, diligent, and available. Usually, if they are not promoted, they will leave.

However, among these four categories, except for age, which cannot be falsified, the other three categories are all about superiors testing subordinates. If you offend your superiors, they will say you are unqualified, and you are unqualified. The Ministry of Personnel will not have a dominant position in the review of the official's performance. Of course, in the past years of Beijing inspections, there were always people who were dissatisfied with the assessment results and wrote letters to impeach their superiors. At this time, a review was required, but most people would just swallow their anger.

Therefore, the imperial examination was a grand feast of personnel power, and everyone would use everything they could to unite and eliminate dissidents.

Yan Zilian snorted coldly: "That thief acted very quickly. All of this needs to be reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel. I will do my best to protect them."

Yan Sikong nodded: "The eunuchs have also rated a few as unqualified, but I'm afraid Minister Liu will be biased."

"Before the imperial examination began, I talked to Minister Liu." Yan Zilian stroked his beard and said, "Although he is good friends with Wang Shengsheng, Wang Shengsheng is neither in the capital nor in the court. He should have some regard for the importance of this matter."

"I hope so."

"Where is Wen Youchi?" Yan Zilian looked at Feng Ye, "Did the prince find out anything?"

Feng Ye nodded and handed them a stack of documents: "Time is tight, I will first find out the evidence that Wen Youchi's son used old cotton to fill winter clothes and passed off inferior ones as good ones."

"I remember this incident." Yan Zilian recalled, "At that time, Concubine Wen had a miscarriage. His Majesty felt sorry for her and only punished her secretly without pursuing the matter. I'm afraid it won't be very effective if we bring up the past again now."

Feng Ye said: "In fact, Wen Weixi abused his power for personal gain during Wen Youchi's tenure. He gained a lot of benefits just from the military of Datong. But my father told me that this matter must not involve Datong, otherwise it would probably arouse the suspicion of His Majesty, so..."

"I understand Prince Jingyuan's concerns." Yan Zilian flipped through the case file, "But this alone will not shake Wen Youchi."

Yan Sikong said: "Don't worry, teacher. We will find more."

Yan Zilian said in a deep voice: "The biggest difficulty in this matter is that Wen Youchi himself is extremely cautious and it is almost impossible to find any evidence against him. The abuse of power and money was all done by Wen Weixi. Even if we get rid of Wen Weixi, His Majesty will not implicate her father for the sake of Concubine Wen Gui."

"Your Majesty's favoritism towards Concubine Wen is the biggest difficulty in this matter," Feng Ye said. "Your Majesty appoints people based on personal connections, whether it is Concubine Wen or Xie Zhongren, it is the same."

Yan Zilian sighed lightly and did not comment.

Yan Sikong also felt it was difficult. Even if Wen Youchi did not have outstanding political achievements, he had worked diligently for many years and had never made any mistakes in appointing military generals, arranging strategies, and managing military equipment. He was highly respected in the court. His son's greed for money was not a big deal at all. It was also because of this that the second prince was such a threat to the succession. If he was just the son of a favorite concubine, he would never be able to fight against the conservative ministers who followed the ancestral system in the court.

The three of them discussed it but couldn't come up with any good solution for the time being. As it was getting late, they decided to disperse.

Yan Zilian said politely to Feng Ye, "Prince, can you please go ahead? Si Kong and I still have a few words to say."

Feng Ye glanced at Yan Sikong, bowed slightly, and left.

"Teacher..." Yan Sikong intuitively felt that what Yan Zilian wanted to say was related to Feng Ye.

Sure enough, after Yan Zilian watched Feng Ye disappear from view, he turned to Yan Sikong and said meaningfully, "Have you two reconciled?"

Yan Sikong said, "It can't be said that we are back on good terms. It's just that last time I went to ask him for help regarding the Crown Prince, he agreed. He also proposed to join forces with us to get rid of Wen Youchi."

Yan Zilian nodded, stroked his gray beard, pondered for a moment, and said bluntly: "I heard about what happened between you and the prince in Baisheng Building a few days ago."

Yan Sikong's heart skipped a beat. There were many onlookers that day, so it was impossible for rumors not to spread. As for how others viewed it, whether they meant that Feng Ye was really drunk, it was unknown. He had been worried about this matter these days.

Yan Sikong could only laugh dryly and said, "Zhou Mixing held a banquet that day in the hope that we would reconcile. He just wanted to take the opportunity to curry favor with me."

Yan Zilian glanced at Yan Sikong and said, "It's rare for me to see you feel guilty and avoid the topic."

Yan Sikong realized that his response was indeed inappropriate. He was indeed too concerned and confused. He said, "The student just felt a little embarrassed. The prince was indeed drunk."

"Sikong, you don't have to hide it from me." Yan Zilian said, "I have always believed that the prince overreacted regarding the marriage offer, but now that I think about it, it is reasonable and logical." He stared at Yan Sikong with sharp eyes.

Yan Sikong took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Students are ashamed."

Yan Zilian shook his head and said, "You are really too young. Fortunately, the marriage has been arranged and His Majesty will not break up the marriage for groundless rumors. But you must be careful in the future. If such things get out, it will be indecent."

Yan Sikong's cheeks were a little hot: "...Yes." He later asked Feng Ye how he got home. Feng Ye just told him not to worry, because all the servants in Parkson Building had kept their mouths shut.

However, if he could silence the servants, how could he silence the officials and celebrities who were present at the banquet? Yan Sikong had always been cautious, but he had never expected to make such a stupid mistake. He also didn't know how this matter would be spread. In view of Feng Ye's opposition to the marriage at the banquet and freezing him outside the mansion for two hours, he hoped that outsiders would think that Feng Ye just wanted to humiliate him.

"However, your closeness to the Crown Prince is not a bad thing." Yan Zilian narrowed his eyes, his gaze deep, "If you have the support of King Jingyuan, you can keep the position of Crown Prince."

"Prince Jingyuan does not want to be involved in the succession dispute, fearing that he will be suspected by his master."

"How many Guo Ziyi are there in the world? Their achievements are so great that they shock their masters, but their masters do not doubt them." Yan Zilian said coldly, "When you are in the court, no one can stay out of it. Only by doing your best to support the prince to ascend the throne can you keep him safe."

Yan Sikong knew that Yan Zilian asked him to convey these words to Feng Ye. He could not figure out Yan Zilian's true thoughts and could only agree with him.

Yan Zilian saw his hesitation and changed the subject: "We will continue to think of a solution for Wen Youchi. If the imperial examination fails to bring him down, the crown prince may not be able to escape the next disaster."

"yes."