Zhao Hao stayed on Xishan Island until Zhao Shili's birth was one month old, and then he had to set off.

This year is the year for the big exam, and as a teacher he still has to teach Chinese students, so he really can't delay any longer.

So on the seventh day of the second lunar month, he took Xu Kezheng, the descendant of Xu Chai Lao, and boarded the Science to Chongming Island to meet up with the shipping fleet heading north.

Early in the morning on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the Science arrived in Chongming, and Mr. Zhao immediately boarded the Pingjiang.

Seeing that there was no woman around him, Chen Huaixiu looked at him in surprise.

"Qiaoqiao is in confinement after childbirth, and Sister Ma is taking care of her. Mingyue is in her dangerous period and doesn't dare to take the boat, so she has to stay in Suzhou..." Zhao Hao replied embarrassedly.

"It seems that men have the advantage. No wonder they have three wives and four concubines." Chen Huaixiu smiled charmingly.

"You can just gloat over my misfortune. When Xiao Teng takes over, I will make you suffer." Zhao Hao glared at her viciously.

"It's too early. Who can say for sure what will happen then?" Hearing his arrogant tone, Chen Huaixiu avoided the topic. "I don't know where Xiaojing is?"

"It was still years ago when I received the last letter. We should have passed the Lion Country of Ceylon by now." Mr. Zhao's mind was indeed distracted, and he said with a worried look on his face, "The road is long and arduous, and we have only walked one tenth of the way."

"Oh my god, the world is so big." Chen Huaixiu covered his mouth in shock and said, "How dare you let her go?"

"You're the one who taught her?" Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and said, "Why did you teach her how to drive a boat? If you had only taught her how to drive, wouldn't there be all this trouble?"

"She just said she wanted to go out to sea. How could I know she would go so far?" Chen Huaixiu smiled bitterly, and suddenly leaned closer to ask Zhao Hao: "You haven't reported to the Prime Minister yet, have you?"

"Well..." Zhao Hao's expression froze for a moment, and he said awkwardly, "I did tell my father-in-law that Xiao Jing went out to sea, but I didn't dare to tell him that she went that far."

"Anyway, just wait for your punishment." Chen Huaixiu looked at Zhao Hao sympathetically and said, "I heard that your father-in-law can shake the whole city of Beijing if he stamps his feet now. This test will definitely be difficult for him."

"What are you afraid of? He also has one nose and two eyes. He's just a little more handsome than the average guy." Zhao Hao said nonchalantly, "No matter how powerful he is to others, he is still very polite to me, his son-in-law."

~~

"Kneel down, you evil beast!" In the Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhang Juzheng, the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, shouted angrily with a cold face. Zhao Hao quickly knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe.

After half a month's voyage, he arrived in Beijing with his permission. He didn't even have time to see his father, but reported to the cabinet first...

Zhang idol now holds the power of heaven and sits on the dragon bed, with unparalleled power and prestige. His momentum is even greater than that of Gao Gong back then!

"Dad, I was wrong..." The young cabinet minister who acted like a big shot in front of the young widow now looked pitiful, weak and helpless.

"Don't try that on me!" Zhang Juzheng cursed angrily, "You still know how to be afraid? If you knew how to be afraid, you wouldn't let my daughter go out and have fun!"

"It's going out to sea..." Zhao Hao corrected in a low voice: "But what my father-in-law said is also correct. After all, the sea is full of waves."

His words almost made Yao Kuang laugh, but Zhang Juzheng was not moved at all and continued to criticize him, "What's even more hateful is that you didn't stop her, but you actually helped her hide it from Bu Gu!"

Zhang Juzheng was so angry that he slammed the table and said, "Even if you can't stop her, just tell me and I won't blame you!"

"Father-in-law, please allow me to tell you. Xiaojing didn't allow me to tell you because she was afraid that you and your wife would be angry." Master Zhao was not knowledgeable and decisively sold out his teammates.

"Why don't you say it if she doesn't want you to? Why do you listen to her so much?!" Zhang Juzheng said angrily, "I told you to take good care of her, why didn't you listen?!"

"Because I think that loving her means helping her realize her dream and becoming the first female navigator to complete a circumnavigation!" Zhao Hao saw that the more she pretended to be a grandson, the more she became a grandson, so he simply changed his tactics and fought poison with poison:

"Xiao Jing is my father-in-law's daughter. Didn't he always say that she is the one who is most like you? Once my father-in-law has chosen a path, he will go forward without hesitation. The same is true for Xiao Jing. If she is determined to do something, can a mere son-in-law stop her?"

"Uh..." Zhang Juzheng's expression relaxed involuntarily, obviously thinking of his daughter's insistence on marrying Zhao Hao and even going on a hunger strike with him.

I thought to myself, that's true. Even Bu Gu couldn't stop Xiao Jing, so how could this evil creature ever make my daughter change her ways?

"Besides, if I force her to do it, she will be very upset! Doesn't this conflict with my father-in-law's order?" Young Master Zhao pounded his chest and burst into tears.

"For the past six months or so, I have suffered from insomnia almost every night. As soon as I close my eyes, I dream about Xiaojing. I worry about whether she will encounter storms and whether she has eaten well and slept well. Woo, father-in-law, I miss Xiaojing so much..."

As he spoke, he burst into tears. The sound of his cry spread out of the Prime Minister's duty room, and the people outside were stunned. They thought, could it be that the Prime Minister's daughter had a shipwreck?

In the duty room, Zhang Juzheng's nose was sore because of Zhao Hao's crying. Although he had many sons, he only had one daughter, Xiaojing, who was stunningly beautiful and extremely smart, so naturally he favored her the most. So when he heard that Xiaojing had actually set sail, his heart was broken...

Seeing Yuan Fu's facial lines gradually soften, Yao Kuang knew that the alarm was over.

He couldn't help but secretly give Zhao Hao a thumbs up. A young cabinet minister, the big boss of Jiangnan Group, was so desperate! He deserved to marry the daughter of the Prime Minister and make such a big career.

~~

Zhang Juzheng, still angry, scolded Zhao Hao for a while, and then asked him to stand up and answer.

"Father-in-law, how are you these days? I miss you very much..." Zhao Hao immediately greeted him with a shameless face.

After all, he is my father-in-law, there is no shame in licking him.

"I am a very good father. It would be even better if you two evil beasts hadn't come to claim my life!" Zhang Juzheng snorted, unable to hide his smugness.

In the blink of an eye, he had been assisting the government for one year and eight months. In the past twenty months, Zhang Xianggong had gotten whatever he wanted, and no one dared to disobey his orders!

The reason for this was that, apart from the fact that Eunuch Feng, the supervisor of the Eastern Depot's Imperial Stables, who admired him immensely, and Empress Li, who secretly loved him, it was also because he had a tough life and was always unlucky with his colleagues.

First of all, among the three regents appointed by Emperor Longqing, the second one, Gao Yi, died in the sixth year of Longqing.

This is not surprising, because Gao Yi was already seriously ill, and it was Gao Gong who insisted on bringing him from his hometown in Hangzhou to the capital and forcibly brought him to Wenyuan Pavilion.

After Gao Gong's death, Gao Yi lost his backing and naturally allowed Zhang Juzheng, the Prime Minister, to stir up trouble. He saw Zhang Juzheng eliminating dissidents and dismissing all those who had worked with Gao Gong. Gao Yi was angry and anxious. He fell ill in the fall and died in the winter. This regent of the Wanli New Dynasty did not last until the change of the reign.

Another regent, Duke Cheng, also died last winter from the belly of his eighty-first concubine. The old man died a worthy death, and was posthumously named the King of Dingxiang, with the utmost honor. There was really nothing to be pitied about.

Prime Minister Zhang became the only regent and cabinet minister, and now no one could restrain him.

However, in order to silence the gossips and to find an assistant, Prime Minister Zhang arranged for his deputy when he presided over the previous imperial examination, the new Minister of Rites Lu Diaoyang, to join the cabinet to avoid being scolded as "the sole prime minister" behind his back.

This Lü Ge Lao was from Guilin, Guangxi. In those days, scholars in the land of Guangxi rarely made a name for themselves, so Lü Diaoyang never had any decent fellow villagers. He was able to get to where he is today because he was a man who knew the current situation. Although he was very capable, he wisely positioned himself in the position of "Lü Lü Diaoyang", which naturally pleased different superiors.

So no matter who his boss is, he will always be able to be a high-ranking official!

Zhang Juzheng was very satisfied with this perfect deputy, feeling that he had added wings to a tiger, so he appointed him as the chief examiner for this year's spring examination.

At this time, the examination was over and the examination papers were finished. The results would be announced in three days. So it would take a few more days for Lu Ge Lao to see the light of day again.

~~

Outside the cabinet, Yang Bo, the only person who could check and balance Zhang Juzheng, finally waited until Gao Gong retired and was finally able to return to the Ministry of Personnel to take charge of the personnel department.

However, before he had the chance to place his confidants in positions of power and recruit his followers, Zhang Juzheng made his life a living hell.

In the sixth year of Longqing, Prime Minister Zhang used the imperial edict to inspect all officials again.

Yang Bo was quite critical of this and said to Zhang Juzheng: "In the first year of Longqing, I was ordered to inspect officials in Beijing. In the second year, I went to the imperial court to inspect officials outside Beijing. In the third year, I followed the rules to inspect officials in Beijing. In the fourth year, I was ordered to inspect censors. In the fifth year, I went to the imperial court to inspect officials outside Beijing. That's five inspections in six years, and almost all of them have been eliminated. All government offices have been severely damaged. It is really not easy to make a big move again."

However, Zhang Juzheng was just trying to establish his authority through this investigation, so how could he agree to Yang Bo's request? So on July 6, the sixth year of Longqing, the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate conducted another investigation and dismissed Han Ji, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Public Administration, Mu Wenzhao, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Song Zhihan, Cheng Wen and 32 other officials;

Fifty-three officials including Xu Fuyuan, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, and Li Chun, the censor, were demoted and transferred to other posts.

In addition, two officials including Zhang Qi, the secretary of Guanglu Temple, were idle, the Minister of Shangbao, Cheng Zhongsheng, was transferred to another post, and the secretary Chen Yide and others were idle...

After this investigation, Gao Gong's followers in all the government offices in the capital were almost wiped out. Especially those disciples who spoke for him, all of them were dismissed and sent away, without a single one left!

After eliminating the Paw Patrol, Zhang Juzheng did not stop there. He instructed Yang Bo and Left Censor-in-Chief Ge Shouli to conduct an investigation into the six ministries.

The result was not surprising. Gao Ge Lao's personal spittoon, Minister of Justice Liu Ziqiang, was the first to be ordered to retire.

Next, the Minister of Revenue Zhang Shouzhi was impeached and dismissed from office.

Then the following year, Qin Minglei, the top scholar in the same year as Gao Gong and the Minister of Rites of Nanjing, was also impeached and retired.

Then came Nanjing’s Minister of Revenue Cao Bangfu; Minister of Rites Lu Shusheng retired… Finally, even Yang Bo himself couldn’t stand it anymore and retired…

In short, it took Zhang Xianggong just over a year to completely eliminate Gao Gong's allies and disciples with thunderous means. He also took the opportunity to wipe out the opposition. There was no more opposition in the court, and he could finally let go and implement the Wanli New Deal that he had been brewing for a long time!

ps. Post first and revise later.