Moreover, the four people, Gu Xiancheng brothers, Zhao Nanxing, and Li Sancai, all graduated from Yufeng Academy.

Together with Zou Yuanbiao, they formed the famous... er, infamous, well, the founders of the Donglin Party, who were both praised and criticized...

In the second year of the Wanli reign, Zhao Hao instructed Zhao Jin to send Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing and Li Sancai to the most remote prefectures and counties. However, they were indeed very talented, and under the system of performance evaluation, they naturally stood out and returned to the capital. With their strong operational capabilities, they occupied the two most important departments of the Ministry of Personnel, the Performance Evaluation Department and the Literature Selection Department.

The Ministry of Examination was in charge of the punishment and promotion of civil servants, that is, the performance appraisal of officials.

The Ministry of Selecting Officials was even more powerful, as it was in charge of the appointment and promotion of civil servants!

The heads of these two departments, Kaogonglang and Wenxuanlang, were only fifth-rank officials, but they held the official hats of all civil servants. If the two joined hands, the entire civil service group of the Ming Dynasty, except for a few high-ranking officials, could be arranged by them.

If someone says you can do it, then you can do it no matter if you don’t. If someone says you can’t do it, then you can’t do it no matter if you do it.

Horizontal banner: You have to accept it.

Therefore, even high-ranking officials in the ministry had to give them some leeway. Although they were not under their jurisdiction, everyone had subordinates and old officials, and they had to support the younger generation. If they offended them, they would be left with nothing but helpless eyes.

Although there are Shangshu and Shilang above them, there are more than 20,000 civil servants in the world. How can the leaders ask about each one? It is already the limit to be able to arrange the important positions. Therefore, most official positions have to be arranged by the doctors below.

These three ambitious guys joined hands and promoted a large number of their fellow starters, so as to increase their influence.

Gu Xiancheng also foresaw that Zhang Juzheng would be liquidated after his death, so he took the opportunity of the emperor reinstating Zhang Juzheng's deposed officials to assign a large number of them to the positions of censors.

These officials were attacked for their advice, demoted, and even exiled for more than ten years. Naturally, they were filled with resentment and dreamed of revenge. Now that Gu Xiancheng had put them in a position to criticize him, how could these self-proclaimed righteous people hold back?

The target of their criticism was naturally the senior officials of Zhang's party. With the emperor's tacit approval and connivance, the senior officials of Zhang's party would surely fall one after another.

After the Zhang party members left, the Jiangnan gang would naturally come up. This would not only make great contributions to the sect, and perhaps even become a direct disciple; but also take the opportunity to promote their people to a higher level. Given time, they would definitely occupy the court after being exposed to the flesh and blood.

So Gu Xiancheng was very proud. In his opinion, the current political trend was largely caused by his personnel arrangements. It was really great to hide in the dark and watch the people on the stage fight, but not realize that they have become his pawns.

The sense of superiority in terms of IQ made him firmly believe that he was the second smartest person in the world.

As for the smartest person in the world, it was of course his master who was unpredictable, powerful, and vaguely the second sun in the sky. In fact, all that Gu Xiancheng did was to imitate Zhao Hao as much as possible.

While listening to Zou Yuanbiao telling about the censors' vicious plots, he was also gaining the upper hand in the chess game with Zhao Nanxing, and was about to capture and kill his opponent's dragon.

It was not until Zou Yuanbiao mentioned that Li Zhi was going to use "Last Words on the Sickbed" and the "Gao Qiyu Case" to force Prime Minister Zhao not to get involved in this muddy water that the calmness on Gu Xiancheng's face froze, and his hand that was about to make a move was suspended in the air.

The sound of a pin drop could be heard in the room, and everyone held their breath and looked at the leader of the Donglin party.

After a while, Gu Xiancheng asked in a hoarse voice: "What if my master insists on getting involved in this mess?"

"This, shouldn't be possible..." Zou Yuanbiao said unsurely, "This matter involves the palace, and there is also the crime of treason. Prime Minister Zhao shouldn't dare to get involved, right?"

"Bullshit!" Zhao Nanxing, who was about to lose, slapped the chessboard, sending black and white pieces flying everywhere. "Whether the emperor can keep his throne depends on our master's support! What is there for our master to be afraid of?!"

"They are so bold that they dare to threaten our master." Li Sancai also shook his head and said, "They really don't know how to write the word death."

"It shouldn't be that serious..." Zou Yuanbiao felt that the reactions of the three people were a bit exaggerated.

"Of course not." Gu Xiancheng threw the chess piece in his hand back into the chess box and tried to take a cigarette out of the cigarette box, but his trembling fingers could not pull it out. "Erzhan, you have been exiled to Guizhou for ten years and have been too isolated. You just joined the gang after returning to Beijing, and we didn't have time to tell you - now the country is safe, but in fact the world has changed a lot!"

He was too lazy to talk nonsense with Zou Yuanbiao and said, "Go find Li Zhi now and warn him that the damn "Last Words on the Sickbed" and the Gao Qiyu case must be taken back. Don't reveal a single word of it, otherwise you will be doomed!"

"I'm afraid Ru Pei has already given the manuscript to Eunuch Zhang." Zou Yuanbiao felt a little embarrassed: "Besides, I'm not on the same side as them. If they really don't listen to me, I can't do anything."

"Then I'll have to let you die first!" Gu Xiancheng made a prompt decision and asked his brother, "Where is the eldest brother tonight?"

"It should be Xiangshan Academy." Gu Yuncheng replied quickly: "The emperor won't hold the imperial lecture anyway, and the eldest brother has been busy reopening the academy this month."

"Damn it..." Gu Xiancheng crushed the cigarette box, put on his shoes and went downstairs, saying: "Then let's go to Zhaojia Hutong and ask to see Mr. Wu!"

"Isn't it inappropriate to bypass the eldest brother?" Li Sancai said worriedly. They were just regular disciples, not qualified to enter the Zhao family at any time. If there was anything, he would first report it to the senior brothers of the Yang generation and ask them to pass it on.

Now, Wang Wuyang is the only one in the capital, and the eldest brother is the spokesperson for the master among all the younger brothers. Reporting to a higher level may lead to serious consequences.

"I can't care about that anymore!" Gu Xiancheng said anxiously while putting on his shoes, "Big Brother will at most make things difficult for us. If Master thinks we are threatening our Grandmaster, he will definitely exile us all to Africa!"

"That makes sense. Once the movement starts over there, yellow mud will fall into our crotch, and it will be shit anyway!" Zhao Nanxing also quickly put on his shoes and got off the kang.

"The young minister is thousands of miles away. What's the difference between reporting tonight and tomorrow morning?" Zou Yuanbiao's face was full of question marks.

"There's a huge difference." Li Sancai also stood up, picked up his cloak from the hanger, and said with a wry smile: "You don't understand the rigor of our science. Everything is based on evidence, and the time is accurate to the second! What's more, the difference is eight hours?"

The Donglin Party was in a panic and was about to go out when they suddenly heard someone knocking on the courtyard door.

"Who..." Gu Yuncheng asked in a trembling voice after opening the door.

"From the Academic Affairs Office." The man outside answered loudly.

"Oh, oh, here it comes..." Gu Yuncheng hurriedly staggered out to open the door and almost tripped over the threshold.

"It's over..." Gu Xiancheng's legs went limp and he fell onto the kang.

"It's still too late..." Zhao Nanxing also squatted down dejectedly.

"I knew they were watching..." Li Sancai muttered in panic.

Zou Yuanbiao was stunned. In his impression, these three behind-the-scenes masters always looked down upon the heroes of the world and remained calm even when faced with a huge disaster.

I never expected that they would be so frightened by a simple sentence, just like children caught in the act of causing a big disaster.

Is that damn 'Department of Academic Affairs' more terrifying than the Northern Pacification Office or the Eastern Depot?

At this time, Gu Yuncheng led in a middle-aged man wearing a gray Confucian robe and a Tang Dynasty scarf on his head.

Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing and Li Sancai had already stood in the room. They saluted the man politely and called him the general manager.

"Are you Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing, and Li Sancai?" The other party called out the names of the three people, obviously knowing that they were all here.

"The students are here." The three of them didn't dare to breathe.

"The headmaster wants to see you. Please follow me." The general manager looked at Zou Yuanbiao again and said, "Who is this?"

"This is Chief Zou from the Civil Service Department. He is not from our Science Department." Zou Yuanbiao quickly replied, "He lives next door and came here to discuss something."

"Oh, my apologies." The General Manager clasped his fists towards Zou Yuanbiao, but there was no sign of disrespect on his face. He then said to Gu Yuncheng, "You come too."

After saying that, he turned around and went out.

Seeing that the four people were following behind in silence, Zou Yuanbiao hurriedly asked Gu Xiancheng, who was walking at the end, in a low voice: "What should I do?"

Gu Xiancheng waved at him from behind, but did not dare to turn his head, let alone say a word.

When the four of them came out of the alley, they saw two four-wheeled carriages with maple leaf logos painted on them parked outside. That was the emblem of Xiangshan Academy.

The driver opened the door, and the general manager got on the first car, and the four people obediently got on the second car.

Zou Yuanbiao followed out and watched the two carriages disappear into the night, feeling as if he were in a dream.

~~

The four were taken out of the capital overnight and reached Xiangshan at midnight.

After arriving at the academy, the general manager took them into the reflection hall and made them kneel on the cold marble floor for a whole night in front of the portrait of their master, who looked awe-inspiring without even being angry.

At dawn the next day, the tightly closed door of the Siguo Hall was reopened, and Wang Wuyang walked in with an expressionless face.

This first disciple of Zhao Hao now heads the Hanlin Academy as the Chancellor of the Chancellery, but most of his energy is focused on the Jiangnan Education Group.

Zhao Hao had talked to him last year, saying that Pan Zhongzhan was old and would retire in two years, and that he would take over Jiangnan Education. It was a natural thing for Wang Wuyang to take over Jiangnan Education. After the group was established, he was the vice chairman of the education group and presided over the work of the academy system for a long time.

Moreover, with Zhao Hao being such an irresponsible master, Wang Wuyang was responsible for all the students' schoolwork and ideological education from the beginning. Therefore, the students were more afraid of him than their master.

Well, the main reason is that they haven’t seen the master very often…

Wang Wuyang stood in front of Zhao Hao's portrait, lit a stick of incense respectfully, then turned around and stood beside the armchair that Zhao Hao had never sat on, and asked in a cold voice, "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"Replying to Senior Brother, we understand..." Gu Xiancheng and the other three burst into tears, feeling regretful and afraid.