[Correction: The person mentioned by Zhang Xianggong in the previous article as Hu Ji, the director of the Engineering Department, should actually be Wang Wenhui; in addition, Wan Mi Zhai, who came to Beijing, was previously written as Li Lunming, which has been corrected as well.]

Zhang Juzheng's revelations made Gao Huzi's head buzz. He thought, could it be that all those students colluded to deceive him? There was not even one person who told the truth?

How is this possible?

Gao Ge Lao quickly calmed down and decided to interrogate the disciples later. For now, he should first find out what Feng Bao was up to by trying to win over Zhang Juzheng. Did he really think that the two of them could deal with me if they joined forces? He couldn't be so naive, could he?

No way?

"How does that eunuch want to deal with me?" Gao Gong asked with a dark face.

"I have repeatedly told him that with the emperor's favor, ability and prestige, the position of the prime minister is as stable as a rock and he will never be able to shake it." Zhang Juzheng said, "After my persuasion, he has given up the idea of ​​taking risks. But he does not want to miss this good opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Please help me to nominate his candidate as a grand secretary while the cabinet is short of people."

"Who?" Gao Gong asked in a deep voice.

"Pan Shuilian." Zhang Juzheng answered slowly.

"Him?" Elder Gao took a deep breath and his face became even gloomier.

"Shuilian" is the nickname of Pan Sheng, the Minister of Rites. The Minister of Rites has always been the first choice for the cabinet's Grand Secretary. Whoever becomes the Grand Secretary will be highly favored to join the cabinet. Pan Sheng is no exception.

Moreover, Pan Sheng was Gao Gong's classmate. Ming officials relied on three similarities to get into the officialdom, and "being of the same age" was one of them. Naturally, this relationship could not be ignored.

Therefore, there are actually two people in Gao Gong's pocket who are qualified to join the cabinet. It's just that Pan Sheng's joining the cabinet is a matter of time and he doesn't need to worry about it, so Gao Gong has been building momentum for another person of the same age, Gao Yi.

Gao Yi was originally recuperating at home, and Gao Gong was the foil for recommending Yang Bo, so he submitted a petition to request his reinstatement. After entering the capital, Gao Gong occupied a position of Shangshu, which resulted in Gao Yi not being able to become the head of a ministry, so Gao Gong also had a compensatory mentality.

However, Gao Yi was too honest and didn't have much of a small circle. Gao Gong was worried that he wouldn't be able to pass the imperial nomination, so how could he not help him canvass for votes?

But this does not mean that Pan Sheng is not important. In Gao's vision, Pan Sheng is the candidate to replace Zhang Juzheng in the future. As for Gao Yi, he is just a mascot used by Gao to prove that he can get something for nothing by mixing with him.

~~

Zhang Juzheng was like a calm falcon. When everyone's attention was focused on Gao Yi, he turned his gaze to Pan Sheng.

He knew that adding more cabinet members was inevitable, so he had to try his best to avoid being so passive. If the Ministry of Personnel drafted the candidates for the imperial nomination, all of them were people that Gao had in his pocket, he would definitely avoid having Gao Yi and Pan Sheng in the cabinet at the same time. If that happened, he would have two men on his left and right, and Gao Huzi on his head. Wouldn't he be living a life of ecstasy every day?

If only one person was allowed to join the cabinet, the sickly Gao Yi would certainly pose less of a threat to him than the young and strong Pan Sheng.

Zhang Xianggong knew that Pan Sheng thought he was a sure thing to enter the cabinet, so he deliberately kept his distance from Gao Ge Lao to avoid suspicion. So he came up with this trick to kill two birds with one stone, which could not only regain Gao Ge Lao's trust, but also eliminate a potential rival!

Oh, yes, it can also explain why Feng Bao has been so close to him recently... It's all because of the dead eunuchs that he's been pestering him, but his heart is still with Yuan Weng. This time, Zhang Xianggong has won a lot.

Zhang Xianggong was a disciple of Xu Ge Lao, and his framing skills were already full. Why did he link Pan Sheng and Feng Bao? Because when Pan Sheng was a Hanlin, he was responsible for teaching the inner school for a long time... that is, teaching cultural classes to eunuchs. Feng Bao was his student, and this dead eunuch showed great respect for his teacher, and he would always give generous gifts to his teacher during festivals to thank him.

In fact, this is a normal interpersonal relationship, and no one would say anything about it under normal circumstances. But at this sensitive moment when Ziwei was dark, Gao Ge Lao could not help but worry that Pan Sheng would collude with Feng Bao once he entered the cabinet. Wouldn't that be like shooting himself in the foot?

In fact, Gao had planned to talk to Pan Sheng in a few days and tell him that he would try his best to get two cabinet seats, so that he and Gao Yi would each get one. But if the emperor only agreed to add one, he would have to give up this time. Anyway, he would definitely be able to join the cabinet, so what would the harm be if he was late for a few days?

Unexpectedly, Feng Bao wanted to intervene and do him a favor...

As an eunuch of the East Factory, Eunuch Feng has leverage over countless officials. If he interferes, Gao Yi will not be able to defeat Pan Sheng even with the support of Lord Gao or the recommendation of the court.

In addition, when Yin Shidan entered the cabinet, he followed the path of a eunuch. Now it is entirely possible that Pan Sheng is following suit.

Lies are like this, only when they are 70% true and 30% false can they be believed. Mr. Zhang is even more so when he is 90% true and 10% false, making it hard for people to doubt him.

Moreover, people with impatient tempers are often easily credulous and impulsive. Under various reasons, Gao Ge Lao believed it without a doubt.

"Uncle, the news you brought is so valuable!" He shook Zhang Juzheng's hand gratefully and said, "Otherwise, the legitimacy of the imperial recommendation will be tarnished by the eunuchs!"

"I have always been frank with you, Yuan Fu." Zhang Juzheng said in a deep voice, "It's just that Pan Shuilian does have a good chance of entering the cabinet, Yuan Fu should persuade him well and don't go astray!"

"What advice! I will arrange for him to retire right now, and see how he can go to court again!" Gao Gong said sternly.

He hated people who took advantage of others the most, of course, those who took advantage of themselves and took advantage of others...

~~

The two were talking in the Prime Minister's duty room when the door was suddenly pushed open.

"Master, this Wang guy is committing treason..." Han Ji walked in angrily and suddenly saw Zhang Juzheng there.

He shrank his neck and tried to retreat quickly.

"Come in!" Gao Gong cursed with a dark face: "You're already wearing a scarlet robe, but you're still so reckless!"

"Hey..." Han Ji walked in awkwardly and saluted Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

"What's the matter?" Gao Gong turned his head and looked at him with some displeasure.

"Haha, nothing happened..." Han Ji said vaguely and glanced at Zhang Juzheng.

"Then I will take my leave first." Zhang Juzheng stood up tactfully.

"No need. I have nothing to hide from others, especially Uncle Da!" Gao Gong said decisively: "Speak!"

"Hey." Han Ji had no choice but to respond. He took out a copy of the imperial edict from his sleeve and presented it to Gao Ge Lao, saying, "This was just received by the Ministry of Public Security."

Gao Gong took it and saw that the impeachment was submitted by his student, Wang Wenhui, the Minister of Engineering. Zhang Juzheng quickly took the reading glasses from the table for him, his movements more swiftly than Han Ji's.

Han Ji sighed helplessly. He was careless and lost his position.

Gao Ge Lao put on a mirror and quickly skimmed over the nonsense at the beginning, looking at the main content and said:

'The ministers appointed by the late emperor in his last years were all respectful and helpful, without any suspicion of provocation. It started when one or two censors saw some differences in the opinions in the court, and secretly observed the ups and downs, tried to see where the emperor was going, and attacked what he disliked. This led to the reversal of right and wrong, misleading the emperor's ears, and hurting the country. If they continue the previous bad practices, incite and plot, and make upright people uneasy in their positions, I am afraid that the disaster of Song Yuanyou will happen again today, which is a downfall!'

Wang Wenhui actually said that the Paw Patrol was the source of the chaos that caused the Longqing court to be in turmoil! And the insults were so harsh, no wonder Han Ji was so angry that he forgot everything.

This is the censor impeaching the censor, and the Paw Patrol is fighting among themselves - dog biting dog!

In addition to "demolition", he listed three other crimes of the censors, one of which was "frequent changes", meaning that because the censors made random comments, the six ministries changed the ancestral system and accommodated for a while in order to "deal with the censors". However, when problems arose, no one was responsible, so they could only continue to make random changes, leaving officials and people at a loss and causing chaos.

The second is "harsh", which means that these censors find faults in every detail and demand perfection from officials. "Searching for small flaws, pointing them out as big worms, slandering them with extreme words, and then dismissing them. If we look for people in this way, how can the country find talents and use them?"

The third is "seeking victory". "The censors can criticize the ruler and criticize the ministers. However, who points out the shortcomings of the censors? "Nowadays, when the censors criticize things or people inappropriately, the ministers will be angry and indignant. The censors also protect each other and never impeach the censors, calling it "the proper way". This is "seeking victory"!

Wang Wenhui said sarcastically, "These censors are unwilling to accept a single word of criticism, so how can they blame the emperor and his father?" They themselves cannot bear to hear a harsh word, but they can't stop scolding the emperor. They are really shameless and double-standard dogs!

Gao Gong said that although these four points were harsh, they were still to the point. He hated the censors to the core, but when he replaced the officials with his own people... Damn, it smells so good!

But a dog is still a dog after all, so it's fine to be scolded. But Wang Wenhui's last words deeply hurt Gao Gong.

In this passage, he advised the selection of ministers not to use "troublemakers" as censors. Because troublemakers are not upright and only flatter the emperor, which will lead to "ministers acting arbitrarily, and if there are mistakes, who will hear about it? The job of the prime minister should not be to save the country, but to examine the heart. I hope Your Majesty will clearly discipline the country and the outside world, eliminate the private interests of cliques, and restore the simple customs, and the world will be blessed."

Especially the last two sentences, they are simply a slap in the face of Lord Gao!

Gao Gong usually called himself the "Prime Minister who saved the country", but his disciples said that the most important thing for a prime minister is not to "save the country", but to "correct people's hearts". In other words, Gao Huzi was not qualified for the job!

His disciples even advised the emperor to "eliminate the selfishness of his cliques and restore the honest customs", which meant that Gao Huzi and his cliques were treacherous and formed factions for selfish ends, which had caused a serious corruption of the moral atmosphere!

How could Gao, who always thought highly of himself, tolerate such insinuating accusations? And they came from his own disciples!

Hey, why do you say again...

Because before, when Altan Khan was conferred the title of tribute, his student Ye Mengxiong had already done it once. But at least that was because of different political views and opposition to the title of tribute, and it did not directly slap the teacher in the face.

But even so, Gao Gong was so angry that he scolded him and demoted him to the position of county magistrate!

Now Wang Wenhui slapped him in the face and spat on his old face. Gao Gong was so furious!

"This is outrageous!" He cried out, tilted his head back, and almost passed out. Zhang Juzheng and Han Ji quickly pinched his Ren Zhong point and poured him tea, finally helping him to recover.

Gao Gong was filled with shame and anger, and trembling, he ordered Han Ji, "Bring me the evildoer who betrayed his master and ancestors. I want to ask him in person whether he still has a conscience!"

ps. I will write one more chapter. No leave for 520...