"Humph, you don't know how high the heaven is or how deep the earth is. A kid who hasn't even fully grown his hair wants to establish his mind for the world, to establish his destiny for the people, to carry on the lost knowledge of the ancient sages, and to bring peace to the world for eternity?" Gao Gong snorted sarcastically, but he had to admit it: "But he did a good job. When I was his age, I had never left Gaojiazhuang..."

"It's a pity that he has no intention of taking the imperial examination. No matter how many times I advise him, he won't listen." Lin Run sighed with regret.

"If you don't make the leap, you will never achieve your goal. The so-called science is nothing but a piece of wild fox Zen." Gao Gong sneered and in his mind, he reduced the threat level of Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group by one level.

But sooner or later, I will have to deal with him. Who let that kid surnamed Zhao dare to take advantage of my situation and threaten me, and agree to so many excessive conditions? !

And there's that old bastard Zhao Liben. Gao Huzi won't be able to get rid of the hatred in his heart unless he gives him a good beating!

It is normal for Gao Gong to have such thoughts, because all magnanimity is done out of necessity. Who doesn't want to take revenge if there are conditions? Therefore, big figures often appear to be petty and narrow-minded. How can a prime minister hold a boat in his stomach?

Just like now, there is unrest in both the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty, and the Yellow River shipping is in chaos. Gao Gong has to rely on the cooperation of the south of the Yangtze River, otherwise he can't accomplish anything. Of course, he has to remain magnanimous at this time.

When he has settled all his troubles one day, you’ll see if he is still magnanimous!

However, although Gao Gong looks rough, he is actually very cunning. He didn't even tell Lin Run about this idea... After all, Lin Run's life was saved by Zhao Hao, so it is inevitable that he would have the idea of ​​repaying his gratitude. It would be troublesome if he revealed it to Zhao Hao.

So Lin Run just thought that Enxiang simply wanted to know about the situation of the Jiangnan Gang, and did not think too much about it.

After leaving Gao Gong, he went to Zhaojia Hutong to visit Zhao Liben. Just as Gao Gong thought, after all, Lin Run's life was saved by Zhao Hao, and it would be unreasonable not to visit his grandfather in the capital.

It happened that Minister Zhao was also going to Guangzhou because Zhao Hao wrote to say that he wanted the old man to be the representative to negotiate face to face with the Portuguese.

Zhao Liben thought that he had traveled through mountains and rivers but had never experienced the scenery of Lingnan, and he could not help but feel fascinated. Besides, as he got older, he felt uncomfortable when the weather got cold. He heard from his grandson that people could still wear shorts in Guangzhou during the twelfth lunar month, and there were all kinds of nourishing soups. So he decided to go to Macau himself and spend the winter in Guangzhou.

Little did she know that when her good grandson asked his godmother for help in promoting the sea transportation of grain to Emperor Longqing, the only condition the princess put forward was that Zhao Hao should find a way to get him away so that she and Zhao Lang could spend some time alone together without being disturbed...

Everything becomes familiar the second time you do it. Mr. Zhao had done something like selling his grandfather once, so he had no psychological burden to do it again.

In fact, Zhao Hao also wrote to Lin Run, asking him to help take care of the old man as he went south. Zhao Hao just wanted to send his grandfather away, and he didn't intend to send him to another world forever...

So Lin Run invited Zhao Liben to go on the journey together. Although the old man said that this was not good, he was very happy in his heart. The governor's pomp and circumstance could not be bought with money.

Then Zhao Liben, accompanied by Ye, followed Lin Run on the journey south to Guangdong.

But the old man never expected that Lin Run, as if stimulated by something, actually chose to go south by sea, and gave up many opportunities to be picked up and sent off by officials along the way... From the capital to Guangzhou, even if it is not the longest route to take office, it is the route that passes through the most provinces, counties and is the most lucrative.

Considering Lin Run's rank as a provincial governor and a favorite of Prime Minister Gao, wherever he passed through, all officials would present him with a gift of Fenghou's Chengyi, even the governor-general, provincial governor and provincial governor would be included.

At least a few hundred Chengyis could be collected, at least tens of thousands of taels of silver! Zhao Liben wanted to collect them for him just because he didn't want them.

When he occasionally docked for supplies, Lin Run would still refuse all hospitality from the coastal defense officials, and would not accept their gifts. He spent every day rushing on the road, and as a result, he managed to get from Beijing to Guangzhou in just one month!

If Zhao Liben hadn't taken the boat all the way, his bones would have been broken.

This made the old man very upset because he was seasick...

~~

In the courtyard of Kunshan County Government Office.

Zhao Hao and his son imagined the scenery along the way that the old man had traveled. Zhao Shouzheng seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead and said:

"Oh, by the way, my nephew wrote to me the day before yesterday."

Zhao Hao was stunned for a moment before he realized that his father was referring to his older brother Zhao Jin.

It has been two years since Zhao Jin took office as the governor of Guizhou. During these two years, he has made remarkable achievements.

He followed the policy agreed upon with Zhao Hao, used both kindness and force on the local chieftains, and focused his work on building a provincial capital for Guizhou. As a result, in the past two years, all the chieftains were respectful, and Guizhou had a new look... Guizhou didn't even have a provincial capital before, and it was the Guiyang City built by Zhao Zhongcheng. How could this change not be big?

After successfully gaining a foothold in Guizhou, Zhao Jin became more and more impressed with his younger brother Zhao Hao, because facts proved that the route he set for him was not wrong at all!

Zhao Zhongcheng didn't know, because this route was originally taken by him...it was just told to him in advance by some dirty-hearted teenager.

Therefore, as soon as Gao Gong returned to power, Zhao Jin immediately followed Zhao Hao's plan and submitted a memorial titled "Please Change the System of Natives to Han Chinese for Long-term Stability and Prosperity". Referring to the implementation policies of his predecessor, he wrote a memorial of thousands of words full of insights, requesting that the system of natives to Han Chinese be piloted in Guizhou and then promoted nationwide.

As soon as this proposal was put forward, it really caused an uproar in the court. The officials from the south of the Yangtze River began to cheer for him vigorously, and for a time it seemed that "changing the native system to the Han system" was inevitable.

Who would have thought that at this time, the Dali Temple Minister Gu Cunren retired, and the court recommended Zhao Jin as the new Dali Temple Minister and ordered him to go to Beijing immediately to take up the post...

After receiving the imperial edict, Zhao Jin's face was full of disbelief.

His officials all thought he was stunned by this unexpected surprise.

In fact, they were also very surprised, because they had been secretly speculating before that once Gao Gong came to power, the good days of officials like Zhao Jin who had been rehabilitated by Lord Xu would be over.

Everyone has remembered that when Xu Ge Lao reinstated the officials who had been convicted for their advice, Gao Gong had fiercely opposed it. He said that this was a naked denial of the previous emperor's winning people's hearts and minds, which would seriously undermine the authority of the royal family. Unfortunately, Xu Ge Lao was very powerful at the time, and Gao Gong's words had no effect. Instead, he offended all the officials and aroused the disgust of many people - how can you, a civil servant, consider for the emperor if you don't speak for the civil servant group? You sit on the wrong side of the wall, do you know?

Those officials who were reinstated by Xu became the main force in the subsequent cabinet rebellion. They had all been imprisoned and beaten with sticks in the court, so they naturally cursed their mothers in a loud and strong voice, which made Gao Gong so embarrassed that he had to resign and return to his hometown to hide from the limelight.

Now that Gao Gong has returned to the capital and is serving as an assistant to the emperor, how could he easily let off these "remnants of the previous dynasty"?

This is not a fabricated imaginary thing, because Gu Cunren, who replaced Zhao Jin, was one of them. In the 17th year of Jiajing, Gu Cunren petitioned for the people and submitted a five-point memorial, which offended the previous emperor. He was caned 60 times in the court and exiled to the frontier for nearly 30 years. It was not until the first year of Longqing that he was reinstated by Xu Ge Lao. After only half a year as the Minister of the Dali Temple, he was forced to retire due to illness because he attacked Gao Gong during the cabinet movement...

Who would have thought that Zhao Zhongcheng, who was also an official reinstated by Xu Ge Lao, was actually promoted. Moreover, he was promoted ahead of schedule after only two years of his three-year term as governor.

Although they were both of the third rank, being promoted from a peripheral official to a Beijing official has always been considered a high promotion. Moreover, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple was one of the nine ministers. Zhao Jin had now completely entered the ranks of dukes and ministers.

Thinking about how he was a bandit soldier three years ago, and even after his reinstatement, he was only a seventh-rank imperial censor. How could he not become a high-ranking official in just three years?

Suppressing their jealousy, the civil and military officials of Guizhou hurriedly congratulated him and begged the Minister of Justice not to forget the days when they had suffered together in Guizhou...

In fact, what shocked Zhao Jin was that Zhao Hao had predicted this matter correctly again, and he had predicted it three years ago - at that time, Zhao Hao told him that no matter whether Gao Gong liked it or not, he would not let him do it.

Since Zhao Jin was a direct descendant of the School of Mind and had a close relationship with Xu Jie, how could Gao Gong entrust this century-long plan to him to implement? If it succeeded, who would get the credit? Should the now-disgraced Xu Ge Lao come out to take a breath?

But under the instigation of Jiangnan officials, Gao Gong could not ignore his proposal. Moreover, Zhao Jin had become a well-known capable official in the court and the public under the influence of the Jiangnan Gang. If Gao Gong did not use such an official who had both theoretical knowledge and practical achievements, people would question whether he was qualified to be the Minister of Personnel.

As a result, Gao Gong promoted Zhao Jin to the position of one of the Nine Ministers and transferred him away from Guizhou. As expected, the successor governor was Wang Zheng, a classmate of Gao Gong.

Even Zhao Hao was right about this point, it’s amazing!

Shocked, Zhao Jin quickly wrote a letter to Zhao Shouzheng to report the good news to his uncle.

He knew that Zhao Hao had gone out to sea and could not be contacted.

~~

Zhao Hao naturally knew about the big news that his elder brother had been promoted to the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, but he was not very happy.

Because he and his advisers smelled something disturbing from this arrangement - Gu Cunren, who was replaced by Zhao Jin, was from Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture, and was the highest-ranking official in the Gu family in the court!

Gao Gong killed a member of the Gu family, and then let Zhao Jin, who was only related to Zhao Hao but had nothing to do with the Jiangnan Group, take over. This not only shut up the Jiangnan Gang, but also provoke the relationship between Zhao Hao and the Jiangnan Group, which was equivalent to weakening the strength of the Jiangnan Gang in disguise.

This kind of blatant provocation made Zhao Hao angry but not surprised. Because if he were in Gao Gong's position, he would also take every opportunity to interfere with the forces of all parties. In the court where the clouds are treacherous and the enemies are unpredictable, the only way to have the last laugh is to constantly strengthen yourself and weaken others.

But Gao Gong still didn't see the relationship between Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group clearly. He thought Zhao Hao was just a pawn of those powerful families in Jiangnan. But he didn't expect that the entire Jiangnan Group belonged to Zhao Hao, and the so-called "Nine Families" had already knelt at the feet of Master Zhao.

Therefore, this kind of provocation is doomed to be useless.