Chapter 570 569 Impeachment of Dong Fen

Dong Fen was smart, good at dancing in the officialdom, and had both sides. Especially the father and son of the Yan family who took the initiative to cater to the rising power, he benefited a lot and received promotions many times. It was not surprising that he fawned over King Jing.

However, as the saying goes, Xiao He succeeds and Xiao He loses. By this time, Dong Fen's life was naturally not easy.

But such a guy who was not favored by everyone was able to serve as the Minister of Rites.

Although it cannot be said that Dong Fen is morally corrupt, in this era when it is politically correct to scold the Yan family and his son, as a former licking dog of the Yan family, he was promoted to the Minister of Rites, and he could not convince the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty no matter what.

When King Yu was angry that Dong Fen was promoted to Minister of Rites, the official circles in the capital were slightly shaken.

After receiving the decree from the palace, Xu Jie locked himself in the cabinet duty room and immersed himself in dealing with the squeezed official duties.

Although Gao Gong was angry, he made the same choice as Xu Jie. At this time, as the chief official of the school's recording ceremony, he was handing over the work of transcribing the "Yongle Dadian" with Yan Na and Li Chunfang.

Yan Ne and Li Chunfang were dragged here by Gao Gong. Originally, at this time, the two of them should have written a memorial to resign.

It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but I want to make a gesture to express that I am not a power-hungry person.

However, the two of them couldn't resist the high arch.

Although Gao Gong was just a minister and they were ministers, they were from Prince Yu and had a promising future. They were not ignorant people, so they would not refute Gao Gong's face.

In making such an action, Gao Gong certainly had an element of anger in it.

As for taking over the job of CEO of "Chengtian Ambition", both Li Chunfang and Yan Na knew that Xu Jie would definitely do the same after joining the cabinet, and they would hand over the work as soon as possible after joining the cabinet.

After receiving the news from Lu Bu, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng hurriedly said goodbye to King Yu and returned to the school recording hall.

In any case, when the chief campus officer changes, branch officers like them will naturally have to be present.

In fact, scribes are responsible for organizing the manuscripts that have been proofread, those that have not yet been proofread, and those that have not been copied. There is nothing that needs to be handed over.

But the process has to go.

After Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng hurried back, they happened to catch up with the people brought by Li and Yan to sort out the manuscript and sign the draft handover procedures.

Gao Gong had already signed and left, returning to the office of the Gift Department.

When they went out, they met Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng who were rushing back. The three of them just said a few words at the door.

Wei Guangde told Gao Gong what King Yu said after he learned the news, and Gao Gong nodded.

Although he is a bit short-tempered, he knows the importance and Prince Yu should not say those words.

"You are doing the right thing. You should go to Prince Yu's place more in the future. The Ministry of Rites is busy with affairs, and I don't have much time to go back."

After saying this, he bowed his hands to the two of them, returned to his sedan chair, and left the school registration hall.

He didn't want to stay here any longer.

"Meet Mr. Li Ge and Mr. Yan Ge."

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng entered and immediately saluted the two newcomers.

"Uncle, Shandai, please don't be too polite. From now on, you will have to worry more about the school records office."

When Li Chunfang was in the Hanlin Academy, she had more contact with Wei Guangde and was familiar with him. When she saw him and Zhang Juzheng coming over, she hurriedly returned the courtesy.

"It's better not to call me Mr. Ge at this time. Zishi and I haven't written our resignations and memorials of gratitude yet, so we can't count."

Yan Ne said from the side.

They are all people in the officialdom, so they naturally know some conventions.

It was like he and Li Chunfang, although they had accepted the decision to join the cabinet, the process had not been completed after all.

It does not mean that after receiving the order, you will immediately go to work in the cabinet. Instead, you must first submit a resignation letter, which will be rejected by His Majesty the Emperor, and then submit a memorial of thanks, and then you can go to the cabinet to join the job.

Yan Ne was here, so he didn't have to be polite to Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng, and just said it directly.

"There is pen and ink in the school record office, so the two cabinet ministers would have written the speech here and sent someone to send it to the cabinet.

From what I can see, the teacher is probably also waiting for the memorial from the two cabinet ministers. He is in charge of the cabinet alone and is exhausted these days. "

Zhang Juzheng said.

He would go to the Xu Mansion to see Xu Jie every now and then. Naturally, he knew the situation of the cabinet since Yuan Wei fell ill. The teacher's aging state had become more obvious, all due to the fatigue of dealing with a large number of memorials.

In this era, there is no such thing as mental work, but all readers know that reading for a long time will give you a headache.

Zhang Juzheng naturally knew what was going on with Xu Jie's current situation.

Every time I see Xu Jie, someone is pressing his head.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Xu Ge is looking forward to the two cabinet elders. I'm afraid he can't wait any longer. Please take the world as your own responsibility and take office as soon as possible. I heard that the cabinet has accumulated a lot of official business and has no time to deal with it. "

Wei Guangde also took Zhang Juzheng's words and complimented him.

"When I came in, I heard from the clerk that you had gone with Prince Yu to see Mr. Yuan Ge off. How is he doing?"

Li Chunfang did not agree immediately, but asked.

Wei Guangde shook his head, "It's not too good, but Yuan Ge Laoji has his own destiny, so it should be fine."

"I went to see him two days ago."

Yan Ne said something, then shook his head and said nothing more.

Zhang Juzheng, over there, had already asked the clerks in the room to clear the desks and start grinding.

Gao Gong's displeasure was actually not directed at these two people. He was dissatisfied with Dong Fen.

Therefore, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng naturally would not neglect the two elders because of him.

On the contrary, the two of them had been on King Yu's side, either explicitly or covertly, and were considered supporters of King Yu, so it was normal to be respectful.

They have reached the ultimate goal of civil servants, which is to be senior officials.

Regardless of whether others have opinions or not, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang's entry into the cabinet can be regarded as helping Xu Jie share the pressure, and the speed of handling official business in the cabinet is also much faster.

In fact, there were early signs that the two would enter the cabinet.

When Yuan Wei was sick, Emperor Jiajing had issued an order to let the two enter the Zhilu, and the court officials did not think there was anything wrong at the time.

A minister of rites and a minister of personnel, aren't they aiming to enter the cabinet?

It's just that there was Yuan Wei in front, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang in the back, and then there was Guo Pu, the minister of personnel, who was the candidate for the cabinet, and Dong Fen, a flatterer, took the position of minister of rites. I don't know when it started, when the officials in the capital gathered privately, the term "Qingci Prime Minister" began to spread.

Although Dong Fen's Qingci was not as imaginative and ingenious as Yuan Wei and Li Chunfang, it was not bad, and it was also a leader in the Hanlin Academy.

The four people completed the procedures in two days, handled the handover work and started to take up their new posts.

Although there were disturbances from the outside world, it did not have a substantial impact on them.

That is, Prince Yu was still upset about Dong Fen's appointment as the Minister of Rites, and he would consult Wei Guangde from time to time.

At first, Wei Guangde was a little resistant, and he did not want to offend Emperor Jiajing.

The promotion of officials this time broke the usual practice, which itself explained the problem.

Besides, no matter what kind of person Dong Fen was, he was the Minister appointed by Emperor Jiajing after all. How could he be dismissed just after being appointed?

However, he could not contradict Prince Yu in person, so he could only persuade him with kind words, and he was a little excited in private.

Regarding Dong Fen, Prince Yu certainly could not discuss it with Gao Gong. If he agreed, it would seem that Gao Gong was too eager for quick success and his moral character was not noble enough. Even if he wanted to be the Minister of Rites again, he still had to pretend to be calm and indifferent.

As an official, of course, one's duty is to serve the people of the world, not to get promoted or make money.

Let's look at the other people in Prince Yu's mansion. Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde can also give advice.

But Zhang Juzheng is Xu Jie's disciple after all. Prince Yu trusts him, but he is also worried that he is closer to Xu Jie, so he can't say some things.

That is, Wei Guangde can say something. He has no backing in the court and can only rely on himself. His family is a hereditary hundred households. He is the son-in-law of Duke Wei and is considered one of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.

Just as Emperor Jiajing felt that he could trust Wei Guangde, Prince Yu also believed in him, so he privately consulted with him on how to target Dong Fen.

Dong Fen has been the Minister of Rites for more than a month. Wei Guangde said from the beginning that he would take a long-term view, but gradually he felt that he could not continue to perfunctory. Didn't he see that Prince Yu's face was already a little ugly?

On this day, Wei Guangde was summoned by the eunuchs of the palace again, so he had to rush to Prince Yu's mansion.

After meeting Prince Yu, Prince Yu was the only one left in the room, and he kept repeating the same old tune.

"Shandai, have you come up with an idea?"

With Prince Yu in front of him, Wei Guangde naturally couldn't roll his eyes and curl his lips to show his disdain, but said seriously: 'Your Highness, Lord Dong has just taken office, and there is no handle to catch in the Ministry of Rites, so it's really hard to find a reason. '

"Do we have to wait? It's a long-term plan again?"

Prince Yu's face turned unfriendly, and today was three times uglier than the previous two days.

"Don't you pay attention to rumors in the Censorate? Just find some rumors to impeach him. Even if you can't pull him down, you have to disgust him."

At this point, Prince Yu said seriously: "I heard that officials have talked about Dong Fen a lot in private."

Wei Guangde widened his eyes when he heard this, and blamed Li Fang in his heart for pouring everything into Prince Yu's ears.

But thinking about it, I feel relieved. As a eunuch, he would never care about the affairs of civil officials. It's good enough that he doesn't cause trouble for you.

When Prince Yu said this, Wei Guangde naturally understood that you can't impeach him by making a memorial.

Although he felt that it was a bit of a joke, Wei Guangde had to think about it seriously.

He was asked by Prince Yu for a solution nearly ten times in more than a month. If he continued like this, Prince Yu would have an opinion of him sooner or later, which would not be worth the loss.

Thinking about the recent official affairs, it seems that there is really no suitable reason.

Wei Guangde felt a little irritable and thought of the troubles at home unconsciously.

He had been writing letters to his hometown for a long time, but there was no reply from there. He didn't know how his plan to get those fields in Jiujiang Prefecture was going.

In order to ensure smooth progress, Wei Guangde gave Cheng Shoujie a big gift when he left Beijing for Jiangxi to confiscate the assets of the Yan family.

After all, if Cheng Shoujie insisted on enforcing the law impartially, it would be difficult to cut off the relationship between the land and the Yan family.

Yan Family

Thinking of the Yan family, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of the past. It seemed that Dong Fen had also sent gifts to the Yan family. Was he digging up old scores?

These things were fine for them to talk about privately, but it would not look good if they formed a memorial.

In those days, there were really few officials who didn't send gifts to the Yan family.

Even Xu Jie actually sent a lot of things to the Yan Mansion.

However, with a direction, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of Yang Yusun and Fan Weipi.

Blinking, Wei Guangde looked at Prince Yu and found that he was looking at him with Xiqi's eyes. Obviously, the daze just now made Prince Yu realize something.

Wei Guangde laughed twice, and then said: "Your Highness, where is Eunuch Li? I didn't see him when I came in today."

"He is in the backyard. Do you have something to do with him?"

King Yu was a little suspicious and replied.

"There are some things I want to ask him so that I can have some ideas."

Wei Guangde replied.

"Someone, go and send Li Fang over."

Without any hesitation, King Yu immediately shouted outside.

Not long after, Li Fang entered the room, saluted King Yu, and then Wei Guangde handed him over.

"Eunuch Li, let me ask you something."

They were all old people in the palace, so Wei Guangde said directly without being polite.

"Master Wei, it's okay to say it. I know everything I can say."

Li Fang was a little strange. He knew very well why King Yu wanted to find Wei Guangde. He had been by his side several times.

There was something going on later today, so he was not with King Yu, but he knew what King Yu asked Wei Guangde to discuss without asking.

"Eunuch Li should know about Yang Yusun and Fan Weipi."

Wei Guangde asked.

Li Fang nodded, "I know. He has been visiting various houses in the capital some time ago. He should be working as a lobbyist for Yan Song."

"Have they ever entered Dong Shangshu's house? Can they send gifts?"

Wei Guangde was also acting as a doctor at this moment. He didn't know whether Dong Fen accepted or not received their gifts. But from his understanding of Dong Fen, if he had an advantage, he would not take advantage of the bastard. Dong Fen should be able to accept things.

You must know that Dong Fen's entry into the officialdom is definitely an example of the rise of a poor family in the Ming Dynasty. He has no family background and no background, and he worked completely on his own.

Such a person will either uphold the way of a saint, or he will...

On Li Fang's side, when she heard Wei Guangde ask this, she blinked and then lowered her head to think back.

Not long after, Li Fang suddenly raised his head and said, "Someone reported that Yang Yusun's family once sent two boxes of things to Dong Shangshu's house, but it's unknown what they were."

"Have someone check it out. It's best to find out what it is."

Wei Guangde said.

"Okay, I'll go down and make arrangements."

Li Fang agreed and then looked at King Yu.

After all, the biggest person in this room is His Royal Highness Prince Yu.

King Yu heard the conversation between the two and naturally knew what Wei Guangde meant.

Regardless of whether Dong Fen accepted financial gifts from Yan Song, he could actually sue him once, and his mood would become cheerful.

Seeing Li Fang looking at him, he immediately waved his hand, "You go down and do this first, it's important."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Li Fang agreed, and then went out to arrange for someone to investigate the matter.

"Shaloan, no matter what the outcome of this matter is, he can be impeached."

King Yu said to Wei Guangde again after Li Fang left.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I know the seriousness of this matter."

Wei Guangde replied.

"No, I meant you to impeach him, and you've never failed."

King Yu looked at Wei Guangde and couldn't help but smile.

Wei Guangde understood that in the palace, Yin Shizhen once joked about this, saying that Wei Guangde was the "god of playing ball" and could play accurately every time.

If he is not sure about impeaching officials, he will not take action.

Moreover, too many impeachments are actually not a good thing. He does not want to be used as a censor.

"I'll consider it."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to answer first.