The next day, Zhao Shouzheng began to frequently summon the Shangshu Duyushi in accordance with Zhao Hao's instructions. Even Hai Rui, who had not yet officially taken office, was invited to Wenyuan Pavilion for a secret talk.

The content of the secret talks is unknown, but considering the recent crazy attacks on Zhang's party by the censors, it is conceivable that the Prime Minister must be doing this for this matter.

The well-informed censors quickly gathered in the Six Departments Corridor to discuss countermeasures. Not only the Six Departments' Secretaries, but also the Censors of the Censorate came. They were united in their hatred of the enemy and their morale was high!

The censors had been suppressed for too long. During the twenty years when Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng successively ruled, they were tied with dog leashes and gagged, and were not allowed to bark or bite. They could only become the running dogs of the Prime Minister, obeying his orders, biting whoever they were told to bite, and absolutely not speaking to whoever they were not told to bite. This seriously belittled the status of the censors, and made the censors, who were originally powerful and powerful, become the laughing stock of the court and the public.

Moreover, not all censors were those who sought fame and integrity. There were also many who were willing to sacrifice their lives to practice their beliefs. Especially when sacrificing one's life for justice would bring extremely high rewards, it further encouraged the censors' spirit of sacrifice to speak out against their superiors.

At least they firmly believe that they are great and glorious and will go down in history!

It is conceivable how much they hated Zhang Juzheng! Naturally, in their eyes, everything related to Zhang Juzheng was evil and must be eliminated!

"Everyone, Zhang's party must have bewitched the Prime Minister and wanted him to lead the memorial against us!" Yang Keli said loudly to the gathered officials: "They have stolen high positions and have the sympathy of the Prime Minister. If they lead the memorial, the emperor will probably not be able to withstand the pressure!"

"It's entirely possible..." The censors nodded one after another. Li Zhi said worriedly, "The emperor has been avoiding the prime minister, which in itself shows that he is afraid of the prime minister."

"Yes, his disciples, his peers, his hometown people, and the old friends and colleagues he has helped over the years probably account for more than half of the total. They all listen to him." Even at this time, Jiang Dongzhi's tone was still respectful. "The prestige of the prime minister is probably only comparable to that of Xu Gelao when he was in office."

In fact, Jiang Dongzhi was originally from She County, a student of Yufeng Academy, and one of Zhao Hao's three thousand disciples...

But Zhao Hao never interferes in the careers of ordinary disciples, nor does he give them any instructions. There is nothing that can be done about it.

On the one hand, 3,000 disciples were too many, and he could not recognize them all, so it was good enough for him to worry about his direct disciples. On the other hand, when Zhang Juzheng was in power, Zhao Hao could not interfere too much in the appointment of officials, because Zhang Juzheng would not agree to it in the first place!

Third, and most importantly, he wanted to improve the status of the group's cadres so that he could use a new cadre system to replace the corrupt bureaucratic system to govern the country in the future. He could not invest too much in his disciples outside the group. This would attract them to work in the group and improve the quality of the group's cadres.

Although the disciples generally gathered together for warmth after entering the officialdom, they also inevitably went their own way. Besides, the breakup between Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Hao was too realistic. When the fake was made real, the real became fake. Zhao Hao never clarified it. Except for the people in the core circle, everyone thought that the father-in-law and son-in-law had really fallen out.

There were many disciples like Jiang Dongzhi who were eager to avenge the destruction of the academy. He even thought he was venting his anger for his master.

Yang Keli was unhappy when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "That also depends on whether the Prime Minister is willing to open up the channels of public opinion and restore the status of the Ministry of Education! If he still wants to be like his two predecessors, we will never agree!"

"Yes, we don't agree!" Those censors who were not from the Jiangnan Gang immediately echoed loudly. At this time, they were obviously on the side of justice, so their voices were particularly loud.

The censors of the Jiangnan Gang could only wait in silence.

Seeing this, Li Zhi gave a wink to his classmate, the new head of the Personnel Department, Zou Yuanbiao, and the two of them quietly went into his duty room and had a secret conversation behind closed doors.

"This won't work." Li Zhi said worriedly, "The pressure from Yuan Fu is too great. He hasn't expressed his opinion yet, and at least half of the people outside are silent."

"Yes." Zou Yuanbiao was the most determined anti-Zhang faction. In the fifth year of the Wanli reign, he had just passed the imperial examination, but because he spoke up for his colleagues who opposed the seizure of love, the Wanli Emperor ordered him to be caned 80 times in the court. Although he was later exempted from the caning for some reason, he still could not escape the punishment and was exiled to the smoke-stained land of Guizhou, where he stayed for ten years...

In the past ten years, he had survived many hardships and finally outlasted Zhang Juzheng. He finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, he had to vent his anger!

"If the Prime Minister wants to be a peacemaker, he might be able to calm the situation down." Zou Yuanbiao coughed twice and said worriedly, "Then wouldn't our efforts be in vain?"

"I think we can't beat around the bush anymore. We have to get straight to the point!" Li Zhi gritted his teeth.

"You mean?" Zou Yuanbiao lowered his voice and asked, "High?"

"Yes, Gao Xinzheng's "Last Words on His Sickbed" can be presented to the emperor." Li Zhi nodded.

Zou Yuanbiao's face turned pale when he heard this, and he had obviously read the booklet. He said in a tense voice, "It is difficult to tell whether this book originated from Gao Wenxiang. It is still unclear whether it was dictated by Gao Wenxiang. If we rashly present it to the emperor, what if a thorough investigation proves that it has nothing to do with Gao Gong? Wouldn't we be in trouble?"

"What are you afraid of? The Ministry of Personnel has the right to report matters upon hearing rumors." Li Zhi snorted nonchalantly, and after thinking for a while, he said, "But it is true that the matter above is too big and involves the palace. It is better for us not to intervene personally."

"Yes." Zou Yuanbiao nodded. He was a man who valued having a clear conscience.

"Then give it to Zhang Jing." Li Zhi said with a wicked smile, "The East Factory can always verify the authenticity."

"This..." Zou Yuanbiao frowned. One of the two clowns in "Last Words on the Sickbed" is Feng Bao. Zhang Jing is just catching wind and shadows, how can he verify it? Even if it is false, he will make it true.

But the manuscript was in Li Zhi's hands, and he would not listen to him. Zou Yuanbiao said nothing more.

"But the 'Last Words on the Sickbed' alone is not enough." Li Zhi changed the subject and said, "Although His Majesty will be furious after reading it, you can't just use this book to make a fuss."

"Of course." Zou Yuanbiao nodded. "Last Words on the Sickbed" contains all the secrets of the palace. The emperor must wish that no one in the world knew about it. How could he use this book to start a prison?

"So we need to bring another high-ranking one to give the emperor a fair reason to settle accounts!" Li Zhi clenched his fist, his face ferocious with excitement, and said, "By then, the people of Jing will be doomed. I wonder if Zhao Xiuning dares to wade into this muddy water?!"

Zou Yuanbiao was horrified when he heard this. Such a meticulous plan was full of murderous intent at every step, leaving no chance for the opponent to counterattack!

These guys are so scary...

He estimated that since these guys had been planning for many years, even if the 'double high door knock' did not work, they would still have follow-up measures.

"Ru Pei, do you want me to impeach Gao Qiyu?" Zou Yuanbiao asked tentatively.

"That's right, Erzhan." Li Zhi nodded and said, "We have already fired the cannon. If we impeach again in a short period of time, the effect will be very poor and it will not arouse public anger. Therefore, it is best for Gao Qiyu's case to be solved by a righteous person like you who is famous all over the world!"

After a pause, he continued, "As for Mr. Qiu, Mr. Zhao, and Mr. Yu, you'd better ask them to sign it as well. This way, we can ensure that it is foolproof and will not be suppressed!"

Qiu was the Right Censor-in-Chief Qiu Yu; Zhao was the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Zhao Shiqing; Yu was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Yu Maoxue. All three of these high-ranking officials had been demoted for many years because they had offended Zhang Juzheng, and had only recently been reinstated by Emperor Wanli.

"If we drive Zhang's gang of evildoers out of office, they will be the ones who benefit the most. They can't just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor, right?" Li Zhi said coldly, "We have to get our hands dirty so that we can be good friends in the future."

"Okay, leave it to me." Zou Yuanbiao nodded.

~~

After returning home and having dinner in the evening, Zou Yuanbiao changed into casual clothes and went to his backyard.

He lives in a small courtyard with two entrances in front and back. Almost every house here has this layout, and the neighbors are separated by only a wall.

There was actually a small door on the wall separating Zou Yuanbiao's backyard from the east.

He asked the old servant to look after the house while he gently knocked on the door.

After a while, the door opened, but nothing strange happened. Only a man a few years younger than him opened the door.

The man looked out and saw that Zou Yuanbiao was alone, so he let him into his yard.

The lights were on in the main room, and the two walked in in silence.

Inside the room, two people were playing chess on the kang. They were about the same age, and there was another person sitting on the edge of the kang watching the game.

These people, including Zou Yuanbiao, were all about the same age, in their early thirties, and they were all officials.

In fact, these people have all appeared before, so there is no need to keep them in suspense.

The person who just opened the door is called Gu Yuncheng, a Jinshi in the 14th year of Wanli, and the director of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination Department.

The person sitting in the main seat playing chess was his brother, Gu Xiancheng, a Jinshi in the second year of the Wanli reign and a Langzhong in the Ministry of Personnel's Wenxuan Division.

The person who played chess with Gu Xiancheng was called Zhao Nanxing, who was a fellow Jinshi as Gu Xiancheng and a Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination Office.

As for the red-faced scholar watching the chess game, his name is Li Sancai. He was also a Jinshi in the second year of Wanli, but because he offended Zhang Siwei, he was demoted and sent away, which affected his progress. Currently, he is working under Gu Xiancheng as a deputy director of the Ministry of Personnel.

Looking at the three people on the kang who were not impressive in appearance and had low official positions, Zou Yuanbiao felt a sense of absurdity.

If he had not been recruited into their organization and understood the whole story, he would never have imagined that Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing and Li Sancai, three lower-level officials of the fifth and sixth ranks, were actually the initiators of this anti-Zhang wave that affected the entire court!

Seeing Zou Yuanbiao coming, Li Sancai, who looked simple and honest, smiled and said, "Shushi is really good at predicting things. He said that you must come over after dinner."

"Haha, nothing can be hidden from Uncle Shi." Zou Yuanbiao smiled and sat down on the edge of the kang on the other side, quietly watching the two people who were making their moves very quickly.

Gu Xiancheng, however, was able to do two things at once. While playing chess, he smiled and said to Zou Yuanbiao, "Tell me, what is the next move for our chess pieces?"