East Pavilion of the Forbidden City.

Zhang Siwei sang the votes of the ministers.

"Wang Bengu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, supports Jiaolai."

"Liu Guangji, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, supports maritime transport."

"Liu Yingjie, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War..." Zhang Siwei paused for a moment before he slowly said, "Neutral."

With a humming sound, there was an uncontrollable cry of surprise in the East Pavilion.

Liu Yingjie was from Weixian, Shandong. Shouldn't he have supported Jiaolai? Why did he suddenly become neutral?

Especially those officials who supported the canal transportation, all looked at Minister Liu in surprise, wondering what was in his mind.

Shandong Governor Jiang Tingyi's face changed drastically. When he visited Minister Liu before, he clearly said that they should support Jiaolai River together. Why did he change his mind?

But Liu Yingjie kept his head down and said nothing, so everyone had no choice but to continue listening with a lot of questions in their minds.

"Wang Guoguang, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue's Warehouses, supports Jiaolai." Zhang Siwei had no choice but to continue reading.

"Chen Shaoru, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue... is neutral."

There was another buzz. The ministers did not expect that officials from Guangdong would also remain neutral.

The officials from the canal transport faction were now feeling uneasy.

Fortunately, all the officials from Shanxi and Huguang supported Jiaolai, so the votes for sea transportation were never too far apart.

After the ranks of assistant ministers and junior nine ministers were read out, Haiyun received sixteen votes, Jiaolai received fourteen votes, and there were two abstentions.

The atmosphere in the East Pavilion also became tense.

Next came the twelve votes from the Kedao and the one vote from the Langzhong of the Processing Department.

"Qi Yuanzuo, a doctor in the Ministry of Water Resources, supports sea transportation."

"Zhang Sizhong, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, supports Jiaolai."

"The military department has given full support to the matter and supported maritime transportation."

“…”

"Han Ji, the Left Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, supports Jiaolai."

When the last two people were left, Shipping had received 20 votes, Canal Transport had only 18 votes, and there were 4 abstentions.

If one of the two censors chooses to abstain or support sea transportation next, the grain transport will be lost.

Everyone held their breath involuntarily and looked at the two question books in Zhang Siwei's hands.

It was summer in Beijing in May, and Xiao Wei was wearing a thick official uniform, with sweat dripping from his forehead. He took out a handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his face and palms, then cleared his throat and continued reading:

"Ye Mengxiong, the Censor of Shandong Province, is neutral..."

The sweat that Zhang Siwei had just wiped off came out again, and the ministers who voted were all stunned.

There were actually five neutral votes in Shandong and Guangdong. If it weren't for the Shanxi gang's help, the Caoyun Group would have been defeated!

Now, the outcome depends on the last ticket in Xiao Wei's hand. He thought for a long time before announcing with a trembling voice:

"Zhili Provincial Governor Hou Juliang supports Jiaolai..."

After reading it, he packed up the questions expressionlessly and prepared to send them to the cabinet to be compiled and sealed.

"My Lords, have you read all your questions correctly?" Li Chunfang asked the ministers who were voting.

"That's right." Everyone nodded.

"Well, let's take a look at the results." Li Chunfang then turned his eyes to the blackboard beside him. There were four "positive" characters under "Jiaolai". There were also four "positive" characters under "Haiyang". In addition, there was also one "positive" character under "Zhongli".

"As a result, twenty people supported the reopening of Jiaolai River, twenty people supported sea transportation, and five adults held a neutral attitude." Li Chunfang was satisfied with the tie result. Anyway, it would take time to restore the canal transportation, so it was better to delay it.

"Then let's report this result and ask for your judgment." After saying this, Prime Minister Li announced the end of the court meeting.

~~

By the time Zhang Siwei delivered the court agenda documents to the cabinet and completed the registration and handover, it was already noon.

Coming out of Wenyuan Pavilion, the scorching sun made him dizzy.

Xiao Wei was weak to begin with, and now he felt extremely uncomfortable, so he had to follow the shade of the wall and walk out of Donghua Gate with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

At the gate of Donghua, Zhang Siwei's attendant was waiting with an umbrella. When he saw him coming out, the attendant hurried forward to hold up the umbrella to shade him, and whispered to him that Yang Bo was waiting for him in the car.

Zhang Siwei nodded and looked at the black carriage parked under the shade of the tree, feeling a little hesitant.

"Alas..." He sighed, thinking that he couldn't escape what he had to face, so he got on the carriage with gritted teeth.

In the carriage, Yang Bo was fanning himself with his arms open and eating cherries with a slurry. The Persian jacquard carpet was covered with cherry pits that he had spit out.

"Uncle." Zhang Siwei lowered his head in fear.

Although Yang Bo was born in the military and was not particular about small matters, he still paid attention to his image since he became a heavenly official. His relapse into old ways showed that he was very upset.

"Well, is everything handled?" Yang Bo nodded and asked vaguely.

"Everything has been handled." Zhang Siwei nodded.

In fact, the draw in today's court was not a natural outcome, but was manipulated by him.

In fact, only three of the Jin Party and Huguang Clan voted for Jiaolai, namely Yang Bo, Huo Ji and Wang Guoguang. The other five votes were left blank, and Zhang Siwei decided who to vote for according to circumstances.

He originally thought that with his three votes, the water transport and sea transport would be tied. With the remaining five votes, he could play tricks on the Jiangnan Gang, for example, by giving two votes to each side to make them nervous, and then abstaining from the last vote. By playing cat and mouse to tie the score, he could achieve the goal of teaching the Jiangnan Group a lesson without completely offending them.

Who would have thought that the other party would actually let the canal transport camp cast a neutral vote!

If there is a neutral vote, he has to add an affirmative vote.

If another one appears, he will have to draw another one.

In the end, five tickets appeared, and he had to use all the tickets he had!

The result was that all the votes from the Shanxi Gang and the Huguang Gang were cast against the shipping company. Didn't this still offend the Jiangnan Gang?

What's even more disgusting is that those garbage from the Canal Transport Department haven't even won yet...

After leaving the East Pavilion, Xiao Wei, who was filling out the test paper in the duty room of the Cabinet, failed to kill the fox and got into trouble, burst into tears when he thought about it.

How can the five goods from Shandong and Guangdong be like this? As long as there is one who does not give up, no matter whether you vote for sea transportation or canal transportation, Xiao Wei will have room for maneuver and can always save face.

How can five people give up at the same time? Isn't this just playing tricks on people?

Thinking of this, Zhang Siwei's eyes turned red again. He felt that he had never been so humiliated in his life.

~~

In the carriage.

"Pah!" Yang Bo spat fiercely. Zhang Siwei was startled, thinking that he was spitting at him, but he actually spat out five or six cherry pits.

"Didn't expect that?" In fact, Xiao Wei was overthinking. An old tiger won't bite anyone. The Yang family will still rely on him in the future. Even if they are unhappy, they won't embarrass him. "Do you want to eat?"

"I really didn't expect that." Zhang Siwei shook his head and declined the cherries Yang Bo handed over. "Zhao kid actually got those five people to give up at the same time. He is really capable."

As he spoke, Xiao Wei sighed with some fear, "Fortunately, he could only ask them to abstain. If any of them had voted for him, we would have lost."

"No, you're wrong." Yang Bo put down the white porcelain plate, wiped the cherry juice on his hands on the white curtains, and said lightly: "You haven't faced your opponent squarely until now. If Zhao Hao lets those people vote for him, people won't be so afraid of him."

"Oh?" Zhang Siwei looked at Yang Bo in surprise. "Uncle means that he deliberately let those five people vote neutral to disgust us?"

"Well, of course, how could it be such a coincidence?" Yang Bo said with a grin, "He must be thinking, you old Xier schemed against me, and you still want me to thank you? No way! I won't let you vote for me, and you won't have the face to ask me for shares in the future."

"Despicable..." Zhang Siwei muttered, feeling that this guy was extremely hateful.

"But to a greater extent, he still considers that winning in this way will have a bad impact." Yang Bo couldn't help but admire: "Let alone, with the strength of one family, it would be too eye-catching to win the transport group that has the support of the Prime Minister, the Grand Secretary, and the Minister of Personnel. Even if they win this time, can the opponent just admit defeat? It is definitely impossible."

His tone became low as he spoke: "Both sides will still fight to the death. Even if they win, they will still be restless. So a draw is completely acceptable. We can move Gao Xinzheng out and use him to complete the transportation of grain by sea."

"Uncle, what you mean is that Jiangnan Group is deliberately seeking peace this time and forcing me to vote against it?" In the stuffy carriage, Zhang Siwei suddenly felt his hands and feet cold.

"That's right." Yang Bo nodded.

"I see..." Zhang Siwei leaned against the carriage with a look of being teased, muttering, "That cunning guy has seen through me and is playing me like a monkey."

Yang Bo did not add more vinegar to his wounds. He just ordered the car to start and opened the tightly closed car windows to let the cool air flow in and cool down the dizzy Xiao Wei.

When the carriage was about to reach Yang Bo's house, Zhang Siwei suddenly looked up and asked, "Uncle, if it were you today, how would you respond?"

"How can there be so many ifs?" Yang Bo laughed.

"I'm here to ask for advice from my uncle." Zhang Siwei bowed deeply to him and asked for advice humbly.

"Well... If it were me, as soon as I saw someone abstaining from voting, I would change my strategy and give Mr. Zhao a big victory." Yang Bo smiled and said, "With Mr. Zhang and me backing him up, his victory won't be so eye-catching. He has to accept this favor even if he doesn't want it. Not only will this turn hostility into friendship, but we can also accept the 10% of the shares that we agreed on before with peace of mind."

"This, this, this is too..." Zhang Siwei was dumbfounded when he heard this. It was obviously our side that started the fight, so how could we kneel down as soon as the other side showed signs of fighting?

Where is your moral integrity? Do you still have any shame? You are not a good person!

After all, the other party was his respected Uncle Yang, and Xiao Wei had to swallow the word "shameless".