Although they no longer traveled incognito, the freezing cold, windy and snowy weather still kept the father and son stuck on the road. They even spent the Spring Festival in Jinan Prefecture, and did not arrive in Beijing until February of the 16th year of the Wanli reign.

Hai Rui did not bring any family or followers with him this time... Hai An, the all-weather multifunctional old servant, was already over eighty years old and could no longer work, so he stayed in Qionshan to retire and did not follow him to Beijing.

He refused the large house prepared by the Ministry, and the father and son moved directly into the Shangshu official residence of the Ministry of Justice.

As one of the Seven Ministers, the Minister of Justice was required to submit a letter of thanks before taking office. He could only take office after being personally received by the emperor. So Hai Rui followed the rules and submitted a letter of thanks. Then he waited for the emperor to summon him.

Who knew that he waited and waited, but he was not summoned for ten days. Although officials came to see him one after another, if he didn't take office for one day, it would delay the work of the ministry for one day!

Hai Rui could no longer sit still, so he called Zhang Wei, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who shared the same suffering, to discuss the matter.

Zhang Wei was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, in the same class as Zhao Shouzheng. After passing the imperial examination, he was selected as a scholar in the Imperial Academy and appointed as an editor in the Hanlin Academy. Then, he was transferred to Zhan Han according to the procedures, and his career was very bright.

But in the sixth year of the Wanli reign, because he was very close to his fellow townsmen He Xinyin, Luo Rufang and others, Zhang Juzheng suspected him of being involved in the love affair storm against him. He once ordered people to collect evidence to arrest and try him.

Fortunately, in the same year as Gui, Zhao Shouzheng entered the cabinet, so he had someone above him. Zhao Shouzheng tried his best to persuade him and finally saved him from imprisonment. However, he was still demoted to the position of Tongpan of Huizhou, and later promoted to Tongzhi of Xuzhou, wasting many years in the position of Assistant.

After Master Zhang left, all the officials who had been attacked by him collectively turned over. Zhang Wei was no exception. He was promoted to Nanjing Shangbao Cheng in September last year, and was promoted to Imperial College Jiji before he took office. When he arrived in the capital at the end of the year, he was promoted again to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

After the assistant minister presented his thanks, although the emperor would receive him if he was in the mood, it was normal for him to take office directly without receiving him, so he did not have the same troubles as Hai Rui.

"Hong Yang, you returned to Beijing earlier than me. Could you give me some advice?" Hai Rui asked after sitting down.

"The old minister has said it before. If you have any questions, I know I will answer them all." Although Zhang Wei was in his fifties, he was like a younger brother in front of Hai Rui.

"Okay." Hai Rui got straight to the point and asked, "The Emperor has been reluctant to summon me. Is this true for everyone, or just for me?"

"Well..." Zhang Wei twirled his beard and pondered for a moment, "Both?"

"What do you mean?" Hai Rui frowned slightly.

"It is said that since the death of the Grand Master, the Emperor has indeed rarely attended court, and the daily lectures on the classics have also stopped. Even the cabinet ministers have not been summoned many times." Zhang Wei smiled bitterly and said, "Anyway, since I came to the capital, except for the New Year's Day court, I have not seen the Emperor's face again."

"It's already the end of February..." Hai Rui was speechless.

"There is an oral decree saying that Your Majesty feels dizzy and unsteady every time he gets up. So the morning court and the daily lectures need to be stopped." Zhang Wei said: "Prime Minister Zhao pays respects on the platform every day, but the reply he gets is that His Majesty is still not feeling well."

"The emperor is so young, is he really sick?" Hai Rui asked in a deep voice.

"I dare not make irresponsible remarks about His Majesty." Zhang Wei smiled bitterly and lowered his voice, "Anyway, I heard that the Emperor was riding a horse in the Forbidden City and personally commanding the internal exercises in the orchard. Then there was also a rumor that he fell on his forehead while riding a horse and did not want the court officials to see it. In short, there are many different opinions and it is confusing."

"Hmph..." Hai Rui cursed inwardly. If he didn't learn good things from his father, he would just learn to be sick all day long!

"So you said it was directed at me too, what does that mean?" he asked again.

"Oh, although the emperor doesn't attend court or classes, the difference between him and the previous emperor is that he is holding power instead of giving it up." Zhang Wei explained: "For all the cabinet's proposals, the emperor has to read them through the Imperial Household Department before approving them. If he is not satisfied with something, he will send it back to the cabinet, and he will not say what he is not satisfied with, and let the three university scholars guess for themselves."

"It turns out that he inherited the power tactics of the emperor from his grandfather." After hearing Zhang Wei's sincere words, Hai Rui estimated that it was probably Lord Zhao who complained to him.

"Moreover, His Majesty often bypasses the cabinet and directly issues decrees to the ministries and agencies, breaking the rules as much as he can." Zhang Wei lowered his voice and said, "Duke Hai is an important official of the country who was personally reinstated by the emperor. Even if it is really inconvenient to summon him, he will issue a decree to explain and let you take office first, and then summon you later."

"Do you think that His Majesty is deliberately leaving me alone?" Hai Rui frowned slightly.

"That's probably the case. But you don't have to worry, old minister." Zhang Wei hurriedly comforted him, "It's very likely that this is not the emperor's original intention, but someone instigated it."

"Who?" Hai Rui really knew nothing.

"There is a group of censors, some from the six ministries and some from the Censorate." Zhang Wei coughed and said, "They felt deeply that the censors had been suppressed by two prime ministers for twenty years, and the channels for speech were blocked. So after Zhang Wenzhong passed away, they vowed to revive the channels for speech and not be humiliated by cabinet ministers anymore!"

"The reason they concluded for their failure was that they had always been against the emperor. Their leader was Zhang Yangmeng, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel. He decided to change his ways and take advantage of the emperor's eagerness to seize power to actively cooperate with the emperor." Zhang Wei said with a sneer, "This section chief Zhang argued that they were originally the guard dogs of the royal family, so why should they serve as dogs for the ministers? This is purely a self-degradation and self-humiliation!"

"..." Hai Rui thought to himself, what a fellow, he has no respect for himself at all.

"But last fall, Zhang Yangmeng suddenly took sick leave and returned to his hometown in Shanxi. I thought this gang would calm down, but they still acted as they pleased..." Then, he said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "And it is said that before Zhang Yangmeng left, he helped them get in touch with Zhang Jing, the now popular eunuch of the East Factory."

Feng Bao had spent all his family wealth and returned home to live out his retirement with his private collection of Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Zhang Hong took over his position as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, and Zhang Jing was promoted to the chief eunuch and the eunuch in charge of the East Factory, becoming the right-hand man of Emperor Wanli.

"The censors are in touch with the Eastern Depot?" Hai Rui was stunned. It's not that he didn't understand, but the world is changing too fast.

"Haha, isn't that strange?" Zhang Wei said with a smile, "The world is going downhill, how can there be any integrity left?"

"Go on." Hai Rui picked up the large teacup and took a sip of the liquor.

"Now, whatever the emperor wants to do, let Zhang Jing inform them, and these censors will submit their opinions according to the emperor's wishes, and then the emperor will approve it." Zhang Wei continued:

"For example, last autumn, right after Grand Tutor Zhang's coffin left the capital, Shandong Province Censor Ding Ci Lü wrote a letter to the emperor, accusing Grand Tutor Zhang of being too hasty in his administration and usurping the emperor's power. He therefore suggested reinstating the ministers who had been suppressed and demoted during his administration. Although Your Majesty did not approve it, it was reported to the emperor! Naturally, it was interpreted as a strong signal!"

Hai Rui nodded. Before the teacher's body was even cold, the students had already made public the letter of criticism that others had given him. It was not a statement of opinion, but it was better than a statement of opinion!

"Although the Prime Minister, Lord Shen, and the ministers of the six ministries all spoke up for Grand Tutor Zhang and demanded severe punishment for Ding Cilu, His Majesty kept their memorials, and Ding Cilu is still fine. Instead, the decrees to reinstate us were issued one after another by the Ministry of Personnel. In particular, all of Zou Yuanbiao and others who were beaten in the court during the love-stealing incident were reinstated, which was a clear signal!"

"Then, the censor Jiang Dongzhi impeached Xu Jue for twelve major crimes, and said that the Minister of War Liang Menglong and Xu Jue had an affair. As a result, Xu Jue burned himself to death, and General Liang had no way to defend himself, so he could only ask to leave. Your Majesty allowed him to retire." Zhang Wei sighed and said:

"And Ding Cilu and Jiang Dongzhi became your majesty's confidants, and were often brought into the palace to meet the emperor. It is said that your majesty was delighted when he saw the treasures of Feng Bao's party that were confiscated, and he called them 'good children'."

"What a complete loss of civility!" Hai Rui slammed his fist on the coffee table.

"Inspired by the success of the two, the officials could not hold back and jumped out one after another. They opposed everything promoted by the Grand Tutor during his lifetime, and they wanted to re-establish everything abolished during his lifetime. For example, the Grand Tutor rectified the post and ordered officials not to take the post unless on official business, and also prohibited officials' family members and servants from using the military permits. But thanks to the efforts of the censors, the ban on taking the post has now been lifted. Officials and their families can take advantage of the country at will again!"

Although Zhang Wei was deeply persecuted by Zhang Juzheng, he still said indignantly:

"The Grand Tutor had a hard time cutting redundant officials, but now all redundant officials have been restored; the Grand Tutor strictly ordered not to increase the number of students in school excessively, but now the number of students has been lenient. The Grand Tutor strictly ordered the provinces to enforce the law, but now they are lenient. He even followed the instructions of Emperor Shizong and ordered that the titles of foreign relatives should not be inherited, but now they are all inherited. And his reduction of the number of vassal states is also invalid! I think it won't be long before the Wanli New Deal will exist in name only!"

"Hmm..." Hai Rui nodded. He had basically heard all these things from Zhao Hao. If it weren't for the fact that Emperor Wanli was so determined to do the opposite, he wouldn't have come to Beijing to be Bi Gan without trying to persuade Zhao Hao.

"Zhang Wenzhong's new policies are for the sake of the court and the Ming Dynasty. We cannot let the government perish and completely reverse its policies!" He said firmly, and then asked:

"What about the cabinet members? Are you just going to watch?"

"Didn't I say it? The emperor doesn't see Yuan Fu and Shen Ge Lao and the others. There are also six departments to cooperate with the emperor, what can the ministers do?" Zhang Wei spread his hands and said:

"Moreover, the enemy's offensive was fierce, and the senior officials themselves could hardly protect themselves. Just the day before yesterday, Ding Cilu, Li Zhi and others impeached Ji Yingke, the deputy minister of the Ministry of War, Lu Xi, the deputy envoy of Shanxi Education, and Dai Guangqi, the councilor of Henan, for secretly having acquainted with Zhang Taishi's sons Sixiu, Maoxiu, Jingxiu and Yunxiu when they were examiners for the provincial examinations, and helped them steal the honors!"

"But their target is not Ji, Lu, Dai and other insignificant characters, but Xiang Zhuang's sword dance is aimed at Pei Gong!" Zhang Wei said sternly: "The four university scholars in the cabinet are either the chief examiners or deputy examiners of Zhang Wenzhong's four sons, without exception!"

This month, Xu Guojin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, was promoted to the Grand Secretary of the Dongge and entered the cabinet to work, becoming the fourth Grand Secretary after Zhao Shouzheng, Shen Shixing and Liu Dongxing.

Among them, Shen Shixing was the chief examiner who passed the Sixiu exam, and Zhao Shouzheng was the vice examiner. Liu Dongxing passed the Maoxiu and Jingxiu exams as the vice examiner; Xu Guoze was the chief examiner of the previous exam and passed the Yunxiu exam.