Chapter 84: The party struggle has a long history.
Ju Yan was so embarrassed that he broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this question.
Gui Yang thought of the king just now. Facing the impeachment memorial, the king's reaction was very calm. The words that you can hide it from the king but not from the prime minister made Gui Yang feel flustered when she thought about it.
What exactly does the king mean? Is he dissatisfied with his own excessive power, or is he dissatisfied with the incompetence of his subordinates?
Gui Yang felt that he could no longer see the king clearly. In the past, he could still guess some of the king's thoughts, but now the king's heart is really hard to predict.
"Okay, stop kneeling here and crying. Touch your head. We haven't moved yet, have we?" Gui Yang became more and more annoyed the more he thought about it. He became even more annoyed when he heard Ju Yan's honest voice. He kicked Ju Yan aside.
Ju Yan not only did not feel that the kick was humiliating, but he felt even happier. He was certainly not a masochist. He felt that since the Prime Minister paid attention to him, it meant that there was room for improvement.
Ju Yan didn't dare to stand up, so he knelt in front of Gui Yang and waited for her to speak.
Gui Yang pinched her brows and said coldly, "If anything can be solved by just begging and kneeling, then I really want to kneel before the king right now and kneel for three days and three nights."
"The Prime Minister has always enjoyed the King's favor. This time, when the King investigated corrupt officials, he did not send any female officials from the palace to the Prime Minister's residence. This shows that the King has great trust in the Prime Minister. Why is the Prime Minister mocking himself like this?"
Juyan thought that if the king trusted him so much, his tail would be able to reach the sky, and he would have to spread red cloth on the ground every day before he would set foot there, and he would have to be carried by people every day.
No matter who sees him, they have to be respectful and he can do whatever he wants!
Ju Yan felt his blood boiling when he thought of that scene. Power! This is the charm of power.
Who wouldn’t be moved by being second only to one person and above everyone else?
"If you really reach my point, you will be in power today and die tomorrow, without a complete body!" Gui Yang somewhat understood Wen Tao's previous situation. No wonder Wen Tao even gave up on her father and persuaded him to resign.
Gui Yang now wants to disperse all the guests, and it would be best not to keep any of them around, so as to prevent these idiots from holding him back.
But no, he still had to let these people work for him, otherwise the workload of the Prime Minister would really exhaust him to death.
"I've done everything I could. Now it all depends on what the king thinks. You don't need to be so panicked. Even if you and Boyou are really found out, it will only patch up the hole, and you'll be fined or demoted. It's far from the point of losing your life."
Gui Yang had no intention of causing trouble for the king, nor did he want to do anything to displease the king for the sake of his subordinates, so he handed over what he had found out.
As for why the author only lists people related to Wen Tao? Of course, it’s because Gui Yang only focuses on these people.
Ever since he returned to Jingchang and became the Prime Minister, Wen Tao's former subordinates have all become treacherous and have caused him countless troubles, both openly and covertly.
Gui Yang knew that these people's actions were spontaneous and not directed by Wen Tao, so his move was not directed at Wen Tao, but purely to vent his anger.
However, Shen Zhiwei did not quite understand Gui Yang's behavior.
"Yanxia, come and take a look."
Shen Zhiwei called the female official who had been very busy recently and pointed to the memorial on the table.
Yanxia bent down and picked it up. As soon as the memorial reached her hands, her heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't that she fell in love with literary works, but the timing of the appearance of this memorial was really unfortunate.
Gui Yang directly wrote on the cover of the memorial that it was an impeachment of corrupt officials, and Yanxia was fully responsible for investigating the corrupt officials this time.
Yanxia had just finished her investigation when new evidence emerged. Doesn't this clearly mean that she is incompetent?
"Please forgive me, my king. I have failed to live up to your trust."
Yanxia didn't even open it to read it before she apologized.
Shen Zhiwei waved his hand, not caring at all. "Catch the big ones and let go of the small ones. That was my order. It's not a crime that you didn't investigate those small things. I let you see it because I want you to guess. What does the Prime Minister mean?"
Yanxia heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that the king really had no intention of blaming her, and then she opened the memorial to read its contents.
After reading a few lines, she began to frown, and soon her brows were locked together, with a look of embarrassment.
"Whatever you say, no third person will ever know what happened today."
As soon as Shen Zhiwei saw Yanxia's expression, she knew what she was worried about. As a female official in the palace, it was indeed not a wise thing to offend the ministers of the previous dynasty.
After all, being in the harem, she had to get approval from court officials for anything she wanted to do, not to mention that Yanxia was a member of the cabinet and the Prime Minister was her immediate superior.
Even in front of the biggest boss, the King, there is no reason to speak ill of your direct superior.
Yanxia lowered her head and organized her words. She couldn't speak too harshly or too softly. This was really a difficult question that tested her ability.
"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has always personally inquired into matters of all sizes. The investigation of corrupt officials has caused a lot of uproar. I don't know how many officials have come to the Prime Minister for help, but the Prime Minister has never said a single good word for them. This shows that the Prime Minister has no selfish motives."
"So what you're saying is that this is the result of his personal involvement, that these people came to him with requests, and he didn't know how to deal with them, so he simply wrote a memorial to give me a headache?"
Yanxia couldn't feel Shen Zhiwei's mood at the moment from her tone. She didn't know whether the king was angry or not, so she had to consider every word she said before she could spit it out.
"Your Majesty, throughout history, countless friendships between ministers and monarchs have been ruined by suspicion. The Prime Minister is Your Majesty's most capable minister. The idea of a monarch and his subjects being united is a common saying. Please treat this with caution."
"I naturally believe in the loyalty of the Prime Minister, but his loyalty alone may not be able to influence the course of events. Gui Yang is far less intelligent than Wen Tao in this regard."
Shen Zhiwei never thought that Gui Yang would betray her. It was not because she believed in her own charm, but because betrayal often requires bargaining chips, and no one in the world could afford the bargaining chips of Gui Yang's betrayal.
She doesn't believe in the so-called center, but she believes in human nature and believes that people will not go against their nature.
Especially smart people.
It's just that Gui Yang is smart but too profit-oriented. In fact, he also values feelings. However, what influences his decisions at the moment is still interests. Although he has a good family background, he is not an aristocrat who was raised by his family like Wen Tao, so he does not have Wen Tao's long-term vision.
After hearing what Shen Zhiwei said, Yanxia's eyes flickered for a moment, and then she asked softly, "Your Majesty, would you like me to check the court officials listed in this memorial?"
"We can't let the Prime Minister's efforts go to waste. Let's investigate. If the evidence is true, we will do what needs to be done. And by the way, we will also investigate the court officials who are dependent on the Prime Minister. You will control the balance yourself."
It is impossible for Shen Zhiwei to investigate exactly according to what was written in the memorial, because that would become an action to clean up Wen Tao's power, rather than anti-corruption.
If someone finds out who Wen Tao is, they will have to find out who Gui Yang is as well. Both sides will suffer losses in order to maintain the stability of the court.
Yanxia responded with a yes and left with the memorial.
Shen Zhiwei called the system panel in the letter, and the special achievement panel popped up. Two of the three gears on it were about to end. The new gear had the words "Anti-Corruption" written on it, followed by a series logo. Obviously, anti-corruption, like other special achievements, is a protracted war that cannot be ended overnight.
This is also why Shen Zhiwei did not kill all the corrupt officials in this anti-corruption campaign, and even adopted the strategy of catching the big and letting the small go. After all, there were not enough manpower. If she was really so strict, she would be facing an empty court.
The world is not stable yet. If there are no people working, the country will be destroyed without having to wait for the next anti-corruption campaign.
It was precisely because they knew Shen Zhiwei's concerns that no one did anything extra at the beginning. Shen Zhiwei originally thought that this anti-corruption campaign could end smoothly, but she didn't expect that in the end, Gui Yang suddenly jumped out and delivered a memorial.
Wen Tao only found out about Gui Yang's impeachment memorial on the third day.
Because on the third day, Yanxia started arresting people again.
I thought the anti-corruption campaign was over, but Yanxia made a surprise counterattack, and at the beginning, all those arrested were Wen Tao’s classmates and former accomplices.
Ever since Wen Tao realized that the Wen family was too powerful, she began to intentionally reduce the number of people around her. Classmates are lifelong relationships, and Wen Tao cannot change the facts. Only former accomplices can be cut off.
Although they had already severed ties, they still had some ties of kinship. After Yanxia captured several of them, their relatives came to Wen Tao for help.
Wen Tao had no choice but to go to Yanxia's house to mediate. She found Yanxia, and Yanxia told her about the memorial.
"Originally, this matter shouldn't be disclosed to outsiders. Considering that the Grand Master has suffered an unprovoked disaster, Yanxia is speaking boldly. Please, Grand Master, please do not disclose today's events to anyone else."
"Of course, you helped me, how could I betray you?"
Wen Tao originally thought that he would return empty-handed, but unexpectedly, Yanxia would take the initiative to speak.
The reason why Yanxia spoke was not because of any old friendship. One of them was in the former court and the other in the harem. They met on weekdays for official business and had no personal relationship. Where did the old friendship come from?
The reason she spoke was for the king. To be more precise, she told Wen Tao about this matter for the sake of the balance that the king mentioned.
Otherwise, Gui Yang was in the dark and Wen Tao was in the light. Gui Yang took the initiative again, and Wen Tao was too passive. In the confrontation between the two sides, she was directly at a disadvantage.
After Wen Tao thanked Yanxia, she left alone without asking any other questions. She knew that Yanxia had basically said everything she could.
What to do next depends entirely on what Wen Tao thinks.
What could Wen Tao think? She didn't want to do anything, because she and Gui Yang had never been political enemies. They even got along well and worked together happily. They were friends who could talk to each other.
Although the two have completely different personalities and ways of doing things, this does not prevent them from being friends. It's just that when they are in the court, sometimes things do not develop according to one's personal will. Whether it is her before or Gui Yang now, they are all pushed around by others.
Wen Tao turned around and presented a memorial similar to Gui Yang's impeachment memorial, except that the names in her memorial were all officials from Gui Yang's faction.
Shen Zhiwei looked at the two memorials lying on her desk, and a sentence seemed to emerge in her mind.
Come on, let’s hurt each other!
Shen Zhiwei chuckled, then asked Yanxia to take the memorial and arrest the person. If she had known that the two would fight, she would not have let Yanxia waste time investigating them in the first place.
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