When the Imperial Household Department received the resignation letter from the Ministry of Public Security, several senior eunuchs were stunned.

Teng Xiang hurriedly crawled to the Qianqing Palace to report the sudden situation.

"Wan, Wansui, this is bad..." Eunuch Teng knelt on the ground with a sad face, holding up a joint resignation letter with both hands and said: "Woo woo, the six departments have collectively resigned."

"Puff..." Emperor Longqing spat out a mouthful of tea three feet away, quickly stood up from the imperial couch, took the resignation letter and quickly glanced at it.

The gist of it was that the six departments were the emperor's closest officials, and today we behaved in an unruly manner and disturbed the forbidden area. Although your majesty was magnanimous and only punished Shi Xing, we felt deeply ashamed and dared not continue to be the emperor's confidants, so we collectively resigned from the six departments to thank your majesty.

Behind it were two pages of densely packed official titles and names, as well as a number of bright red handprints, which were shocking to see.

Emperor Longqing's eyes went dark all of a sudden and he fell directly onto the imperial couch.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." Teng Xiang and Li Fang, who was on duty, quickly supported the emperor, pinched his Ren Zhong acupoint and poured him tea, before Weng Weng could recover.

"Alas, these damn grandchildren, what's wrong with the general?" Longqing let out a long breath, staring at the caisson above his head with lifeless eyes, tears about to fall.

As mentioned before, the six departments had an important power called "department copying", which meant that each department would copy the papers sent by the Ministry of Public Administration and send them to the relevant government offices according to the categories and instructions.

Among them, the copy sent to the corresponding department is called the original copy, and the copy sent to other government offices is called the external copy.

But no matter it was the original copy or the external copy, only the transcript was sent, and it was originally supposed to be kept in the Six Departments Gallery...

Therefore, the six departments are an indispensable part of the entire government operation. Once the six departments go on strike, all the six ministries and government offices below will have to stop working.

Some people say, can’t we just download the original copy?

This is not only difficult to audit, but also the rules that have been in place for two hundred years. Without extraordinary courage and compelling reasons, who is willing and able to change them?

What's more, these officials were cunning. In order to prevent the emperor from defeating them one by one, they first brought a few back to work so that the court could barely function. They did not resign separately, but only used one resignation letter, signing jointly.

This way, even if some traitor changes his mind, he won't be able to act on his own.

Of course, there is also the benefit of not punishing everyone by law...

~~

West Warm Pavilion.

Seeing that Weng Weng was completely confused, Eunuch Teng quickly comforted him, "They are just some seventh-rank officials. Who are you trying to scare? If they don't want to do it, then don't do it. Your Majesty can just appoint a few more."

"..." Upon hearing this, Long Qing and Li Fang looked at Teng Xiang as if he were an idiot.

"Eunuch Teng, the Ministry of Personnel is unable to receive imperial edicts, so how can you appoint a Censor-in-Chief?" Li Fang reminded him in a muffled voice, thinking that this guy was truly a disgrace to the Imperial Household Department.

"Uh, your Majesty seems too nervous, I was just joking, haha." Teng Xiang knew that he had made another stupid mistake and tried to get away with it.

Fortunately, Longqing was very tolerant of him. After all, Eunuch Teng was not useful here.

He waved his hands and said weakly, "Hurry up and invite Master Zhang. No, invite Mr. Li and Master Chen as well."

"Yes, I'll go right away!" Teng Xiang rushed out like a rabbit, fearing that if he stayed here, he would be sacrificed to the six departments by the emperor.

At Wenyuan Pavilion, the three gentlemen were discussing going to visit Lord Xu together after get off work.

On the one hand, it shows concern, and on the other hand, it gives the elderly a sense of crisis.

As they were talking, Eunuch Teng ran in, sweating profusely, and announced the bad news to them.

This is indeed very bad news for the cabinet.

After all, even without an imperial edict, the six ministries can still do a lot of things within their authority.

But if the cabinet cannot issue an edict, then we will be completely at a loss.

Of course, you can still talk to the heads of the six ministries and give them instructions in person. But if you don't listen to them, you may end up bringing disgrace upon yourself.

The three of them hurried out of Wenyuan Pavilion, without even having time to sit in the sedan chair, and followed Teng Xiang, jogging all the way into the West Warm Pavilion.

Emperor Longqing was so anxious that he immediately exempted the three people from the formalities and rushed to ask:

"My three lords, what should we do?"

"Your Majesty, don't panic. There are always difficulties every day, but there are always more solutions than difficulties." Li Chunfang is best at preaching big principles, but it only has a limited effect.

"Your Majesty, please be patient." Chen Yiqin was more honest than him. He comforted Longqing in a deep voice: "We are all witnesses of today's events. Now that we know the whole story, we can prescribe the right medicine."

"Master Chen is right." Long Qing could naturally tell the good from the bad, which was also the reason why he had never liked Li Chunfang.

Having me, a flat-faced melon, is enough. What's the point of having a flat-faced university scholar like you? Are you going to form a 'second cake'?

"Then how can we prescribe the right medicine?" Long Qing looked at Chen Yiqin eagerly.

In fact, Master Chen was also an old friend of the residence. He was just not as conspicuous as the perfect match of Master Gao and Master Zhang.

"They just feel that they have been wronged today. Don't they just want Your Majesty to vent their anger and then find a way out?" Chen Yiqin always looks at problems in a simple and direct way, hitting the nail on the head.

Unfortunately, most things in this world are not that simple.

Not choosing the right option but insisting on going down the wrong path, this is what human beings do...

The excitement on Longqing's face gradually disappeared, and his expression became unhappy. He said, "When the government adjudicates a case, it will punish the one who started it first... I only punished one person, and they feel wronged? Do they have to let the tiger's butt be touched before they feel wronged? Then I am too wronged!"

"Shi Xing beat them up, so be it." Chen Yiqin didn't look at Long Qing's expression, and said in a deep voice: "They think that there are people behind Lu Yong and others, and they want Your Majesty to investigate and punish them!"

Teng Xiang and Li Fang, who were standing by, almost fainted after hearing this. The former was even more furious, thinking, what's wrong with you, Old Chen? Don't you know that our family is the mastermind behind this?

"Oh..." Long Qing looked at Teng Xiang, unable to make a decision.

Teng Xiang was so frightened that he was staggering and almost fainting.

In the end, Longqing still couldn't bear to do something that all emperors would do. He turned his gaze to Zhang Juzheng and said:

"Master Zhang, what do you think?"

Zhang Juzheng remained silent all the way, and said nothing after entering the hall.

He thought the matter would just pass, but he still underestimated the censor's willfulness and arrogance.

They have been spoiled by Lord Xu, and they can't stand any grievances...

In fact, Zhang Juzheng knew that the problem at hand could be solved with just one sentence - 'Please ask Lord Xu to come out immediately.'

As long as Lord Xu comes back to take charge, all problems will naturally be solved.

But at the same time, the three of them will definitely have a hard time...

What's more troublesome is that this incident has caused such a big stir that Emperor Longqing may never dare to provoke Lord Xu again.

Wouldn’t it be a long time before you can return to Gaoxinzheng?

In fact, Zhang Juzheng also thought of a way that could solve all problems instantly.

But he must not propose this method, otherwise Bu Gu's conscience will be hurt, and the gains will outweigh the losses...

After a while, under the emperor's eager gaze, Zhang Xianggong lowered his beard and said, "No matter what, Your Majesty must not react in a hurry."

"Even if we have to make concessions, they must pay a heavy price, otherwise the six departments will be completely lawless in the future." After a pause, Zhang Juzheng said, "I will think of a solution and give your majesty a reply within three days."

"Oh, okay..." Emperor Longqing sighed and nodded. He also knew that it was best not to make decisions in a hurry.

Because this is what Master Zhang taught me.

ps. The fifth update, 12700 votes plus more. The Beijing volume has entered the final stage, please vote for the monthly ticket and recommendation ticket~~