Lunch was eaten in the ward. Pang Xian and other hospital staff tactfully left, leaving only Master Zhao and the two old Pans, sitting around a small square table, eating and chatting.

Of course Pan Butang ate while lying down.

Because of the injury, lunch consisted mainly of light food to reduce internal heat. Fortunately, Chaoshan cuisine is light in nature and its flavor is very different from Suzhou cuisine. At least Zhao Hao prefers the former.

He scooped a bowl of refreshing olive lung and handed it to Pan Zhongzhan first, and then served another bowl to Pan Jixun.

"Why are you in such a hurry to serve the soup? Pour me some wine first." Pan Jixun didn't appreciate it.

"You didn't have such a strong alcohol addiction before." Zhao Hao poured him a glass of the local famous wine, Pearl Red. "Drink to drown your sorrows?"

"What's the point of worrying? I'm not that ambitious!" Pan Jixun groaned, picked up the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp, and said angrily: "I'm just angry. I'm obviously right, and I've proved that the method of binding water to flush sand is feasible. Why do those people in the court turn a blind eye and insist on mobilizing troops and spending ten times the cost to open the Yan River?!"

"You are just stupid. In the two hundred years since the founding of the country, when has the Yellow River been cured? It has been flooding every year and has been repaired every year!" his second brother criticized him mercilessly.

"I just don't believe it!" Pan Jixun said with his neck straight.

"You are so capable, but you still don't believe it!" Pan Zhongxian sneered and said, "When I was in Beijing, I heard why the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan was in charge of the Ministry of Works. Most of the time, it was because of the Yellow River. How much money does the court spend every year to control the Yellow River? You know it better than anyone. Moreover, all this money is thrown into the Yellow River and wasted. There is no place to check the accounts afterwards! If you really cure it, what will those termites eat?"

"..." Pan Jixun was silent for a long time before slowly shaking his head and saying, "No, at least Gao Huzi is not such a person. He doesn't care about money, but wants to be remembered in history."

"Hehe, Gao Suqing and I are of the same age, don't I know him better than you?" Pan Zhongxian sneered and said, "He just doesn't like money, but he lacks control over his subordinates. It doesn't matter if they are corrupt or have bad personal ethics, as long as they can work for him - Yin Zhengmao is the best example! Gao Suqing has no son so he can be noble, but his subordinates want to make money. If you want to cut off their financial resources, they will of course cut off your retreat and send you back home!"

"Forget it, it's useless to sort it out now. The minister should just stay in office for a few years. Chaozhou Prefecture has a lot to offer." Young Master Zhao smiled and filled Pan Jixun's glass again. "At the moment, you can't beat me. Why bother to argue?"

"Hehe, that's true." Pan Jixun nodded and said, "Now that Lord Li has retired, Lord Zhao has also been driven away by him. The new Lord Yin is also a straightforward person, and I'm afraid he will also be driven away by him."

Yes, after Li Chunfang retired, Zhao Zhenji was also eliminated in the cabinet tide in late spring and early summer.

But unlike Li Gancao who knew he was no match for his opponent and voluntarily gave up his position and made a dignified exit, the usually violent Zhao Ge Lao dared to draw his sword even though he knew he was no match for his opponent and staged a spectacular and life-and-death battle with Gao Gong!

Without Li Chunfang's protection, Zhao Zhenji could not stand alone, so Gao Gong completely ignored him. After finishing the external inspection at the beginning of the year, Gao Gong immediately issued an order in the name of the emperor to inspect the censors! And all the officials who were promoted and left the censors during their term of office were subject to strict inspection!

In fact, the fifth year of Longqing was not a year for imperial examinations, and censors should not be examined. Moreover, according to the rules, once you leave the imperial examination system, you can no longer be examined as a censor. But Gao Gong was full of resentment towards censors - during the cabinet crisis, the censors attacked him together under the command of Xu Jie, and he would never forget the hatred!

After he was reinstated, he only promised the censors that he would forgive the past in order to calm people's hearts and stabilize his position. But who knew that the Paw Patrol not only did not want to repay his loyalty, but was ungrateful and returned to their old ways. In the matter of Altan Khan's tribute, under the instigation of Zhao Zhenji, they attacked him!

For the sake of the overall situation, Gao Gong endured until this year. He endured until Li Chunfang left and he became the Prime Minister and the Heavenly Official. When his position was completely unshakable, he finally wanted to settle all the old and new grudges!

Zhao Zhenji also served as the Left Censor-in-Chief, and was regarded as a leader by the leaders of the Ministry of Personnel. Therefore, when Gao Huzi's butcher knife came, he had to stand up to protect the censors even though he knew he could not defeat them. So the old Zhao father and son led the memorial and said:

'Not long ago, because the censor Ye Mengxiong made an inappropriate discussion, he offended His Majesty. His Majesty strictly instructed to examine the censors, and even the ministers who were promoted during their term of office were not spared. Now nearly 200 people were subjected to the unusual examination, and rumors spread everywhere, causing panic among the people. Our ancestors set up censors to give advice and refute in order to help the emperor, so the vast majority of those selected were loyal to the country and dared to speak out for justice.'

"Now the court wants to examine them all as unbridled and treacherous people. I am really worried that officials will abuse public resources for private purposes and attack loyal officials. This will block the channels for speech, which is really not good for the country!"

Zhao Zhenji and his censors were indeed professionals. They brought up the incident in which Ye Mengxiong, a student of Gao Gong, had impeached their master. This not only slapped Gao Gong in the face, but also emphasized the man's arrogance and domineering behavior, which even his own students could not stand.

Being impeached by his disciples was a treatment that even the treacherous minister Yan Song had never enjoyed!

Moreover, Zhao Zhenji pointed out that Gao Gong was actually attacking loyal officials, hoping that the emperor would stop him from abusing public resources for personal gain and avenging his personal grudges. He also hinted sinisterly that Gao Gong, as the chief minister of the cabinet and the official of heaven, was already so powerful that he could shake the country!

If it was Emperor Jiajing, he would have been so frightened that he would have snapped Gao Huzi. Unfortunately, the current emperor was Emperor Longqing, who simply laughed off the accusation and did not doubt his master Gao's motives at all.

As a result, the inspection began as scheduled, and Gao Gong dismissed all the censors who had offended him in the past and were still offended by him like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, leaving no one alive.

Zhao Zhenji saw that he could not stop Gao Gong, so he simply started killing people. The inspection of officials was the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate, so Zhao Ge Lao could naturally take action against the censors who defected to Gao Gong. As a result, the remaining censors were killed again.

It turns out that double loss means that the censor lost twice...

Gao Gong was fine. For him, the fewer censors, the better. But Han Ji, his trusted student, number one henchman, and head of the Personnel Department, was not happy. Because all those killed by Zhao Zhenji were the people he had worked so hard to recruit and cultivate. How could he act arrogantly when he was left alone... Oh no, how could he serve his teacher better?

So Han Ji personally took action and impeached Master Zhao for being mediocre and tyrannical, and for taking revenge during the inspection.

Seeing Gao's party crying "Catch the thief", Zhao Zhenji was furious. He resigned as required and wrote a memorial to defend himself:

'Han Ji impeached the minister for being mediocre and arrogant, but this is self-contradictory. Because a mediocre minister cannot be arrogant, and tyranny is not something a minister can do! For example, Gao Gong is truly arrogant! And he has the wings of Han Ji, so he will be uncontrollable one day! '

Then he asked the emperor, "After I am released, please return to the cabinet and don't let me monopolize power for too long and build up a large party! So that future treacherous officials who want to steal power to pursue their own selfish interests will not be able to use this as an example."

It’s fine to let Gao Gong continue to be the Prime Minister, but he cannot be allowed to be in charge of the Ministry of Personnel at the same time. Otherwise, once this bad precedent is set, treacherous officials in the future will surely follow suit!

Master Zhao's counterattack was powerful, and every word hit the sore spot of the emperor's power. Moreover, he was very self-aware... He knew that his weight in the emperor's heart was far less than Gao Gong's, and it was not realistic to want to kill Gao Gong together with him, so he was a little humble and wanted to exchange himself for Gao Gong's position as the Minister of Personnel, and just cut off one of his arms.

The power of a cabinet elder's self-detonation was truly terrifying, so Gao Gong naturally had no choice but to submit a petition to resign...

~~

In the ward, Pan Zhongxian took the latest official newspaper and read the confession of Gao Gelao:

"Since I entered the court, I have seen many people talk about Zhenji with fear and even look at him sideways. I always explain that Zhenji is upright and generous, and is a person selected by the emperor, so it is not appropriate to criticize him rashly. Therefore, people rarely talk about him, and Zhenji also thinks that I am his confidant."

The ministers had been suffering from Zhao Zhenji for a long time, and it was me, Gao, who spoke well of him, and this suppressed the criticism. At that time, Zhao Zhenji also regarded me as a confidant, didn't he?

"But now, you are using Han Ji's memorial to slander me. If Ji's memorial was really in my favor, then Zhang Lu, the attendant official, and Wang Youxian, the censor, all had their say last year. What's the point? The reason is self-evident, and I have no need to argue."

As a result, now that Han Ji impeached him, he suspected that I was the one who instigated it. When I was away, many people impeached him. Could it be that I was the one who instigated it? Han Ji is the head of the six departments. His duty is to supervise and impeach all officials. He will impeach those who should be impeached without being instructed by anyone. This is a very simple reason, and I don't need to explain it for me.

Even at this point, Zhao Hao and Pan Jixun still looked normal, eating their meals and drinking their soup as usual.

But what followed shocked the two so much that they spit out their food.

"I think of myself as a Hanlin scholar with Zhenji for more than 30 years. Recently, I have been in the same cabinet with him. We have been appointed to different positions and have been in charge of different ministries and departments. I have been with him day and night, but my sincerity has not been able to convince Zhenji. Now that I have become so angry, I am not a person of low moral character. The cabinet supports the emperor's plans, and the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of many positions. Even a person of high moral character cannot be forgiven, let alone a person of low moral character."

But I, Gao Gong, and Zhao Zhenji have been in the Imperial Academy together for thirty years, and we have been in the cabinet together, managing state affairs together, and seeing each other day and night, but I still cannot influence his heart. This shows that I am a real failure. De Shang alone is not enough for such important positions in the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel, let alone I have no virtue, how can I have the face to continue to stay?

So I also want to resign to prove my innocence.

"Damn it, why is it so strong?" Pan Jixun laughed so hard that he slapped the bed with his hands and feet, and said like an old turtle paddling in the water: "Are you sure it wasn't written by Lord Xu for him?!"

"Lord Xu and Lord Zhao are from the same school of mind, so it's not possible, not possible." Zhao Hao also smiled and wiped his tears and said, "It's true that when you meet someone after three days, you should look at him with new eyes. I didn't expect that Lord Gao, the upright old boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would eventually become the person he hates the most, and become a white lotus like Lord Xu!"