prosperous age

Chapter 641 Chapter 640 Ignorance
Wei Guangde believed that Ge Shouli was incompetent as the minister of the household department of the imperial court. After the news that the court stopped the "one-whip law" came out, the internal officials of the household department had great opinions, especially the doctors and principals of the Qing Dynasty in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

Originally, Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang did not discuss with Ge Shouli in advance about the matter of the last memorial, but they deceived their subordinates, but naturally they would not admit that it was their fault after the incident happened.

In their mouths, it was Ge Shangshu who was capricious, deceived them, became a victim himself, and made the household officials lose face in the court.

The "One Whip Law" is widely supported at the central level, but there is a lot of resistance at the local level, and many local officials are reluctant to implement it. It is difficult.

It's all right now, the imperial court has stopped the "one whip method", and they no longer have to worry about the pressure from the capital.

The implementation of this policy has reduced the government's tax revenue, especially the tax and silver, and many of them have become hard-to-realize physical objects and labor force.

There is less money, and there are fewer places where the officials of the household department can work together. Naturally, there are many complaints.

Xu Jie was dissatisfied with Gao Gong's incident last time, but this time he finally found an opportunity. With Xu Jie's secret support, a turmoil was staged in the household department.

"Jifu, are you serious?"

Liu Ziqiang looked at Xu Yangzheng and asked.

"Although Mr. Xu Ge has no famous sayings, I can still understand the meaning inside and outside the words. As long as we do something, even if Mr. Shang Shu goes to the cabinet to complain, he will find a way to suppress the matter."

Xu Yangzheng said with a proud face: "Also this time Ge Shangshu asked to strike down the tax law. I had a dispute with Xu Gelao's student Zhang Gelao. You know it too, hehe."

"Well, I understand."

Liu Ziqiang nodded and smiled, it was obvious that Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng couldn't understand Ge Shouli, so they hoped they could push him away.

After all, Ge Shouli is a minister. As cabinet ministers, they can speak to the emperor, but they cannot replace the emperor to make personnel adjustments to the court.

As long as the emperor unintentionally punished Ge Shouli, Xu Jie would naturally have nothing to do with him.

But as long as they contact the household department to isolate and exclude him, so that he completely loses control of the household department, Ge Shouli should know to go early if he wants to be sensible, otherwise, if the people below deliberately mess up something, he will have to take the blame .

"Then what are we going to do?"

Liu Ziqiang figured it out, but he didn't know what Xu Yangzheng was up to, how to isolate Ge Shouli and make him lose control of the yamen.

"From now on, the important documents in the yamen will be held down and not handed over to him, and will be issued with stamps when we take turns to print, just pick some trivial documents and deal with them.

After a long time, that old boy Ge Shouli should understand. "

Xu Yangzheng said in a low voice.

"Then you and I have the clean-up officer."

"Let's restrain our own subordinates, and some things must be kept secret."

"Just do it."

The tacit understanding cultivated by the two of them working together for many years quickly reached a consensus, and then each summoned their subordinates in the duty room.

As for Ge Shouli, he didn't notice the turmoil brewing in the yamen against him at all.

In any case, Ge Shouli was new to the household officials and was not familiar with this place.

He was an official in the local area all the year round, and later he was also a minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing. His relationship with the capital was relatively weak, so naturally he could not quickly install people in the Ministry of Household Affairs.

But after all, he was an old Jianghu, and within a few days, Ge Shouli quickly noticed something was wrong with the official documents he had passed.

The Ministry of Households is in charge of the world's money and food, so it is impossible to have no important official documents all day long, but in the past few days, there have been no documents requesting the transfer of money and food, which is really wrong.

He felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't skip the minister and go directly to a dozen or so officials to inquire. He could only observe secretly, and asked the clerks around him to inquire about the situation.

The entire household department, that is, the scribes were brought by him himself, so he can rest assured.

It took only two days for Ge Shouli to know the news that the household department yamen had great opinions on him, and behind it was all random arrangements of his right and wrong.

Although he was gnashing his teeth, Ge Shangshu did not turn his face immediately, but began to think about countermeasures.

He is not an idiot, and he also understands that he did not sign the memorial to denounce Gao Gong at the Ministry of Accounts, which made the officials of the Ministry of Accounts a bit embarrassing, which made him and his subordinates a little bit at odds.

But he has no choice, he just arrived in the capital, at the foot of the emperor, he is not familiar with Gao Gong, so naturally he doesn't know the truth of the impeachment charges.

Gao Gong is the emperor's teacher, choosing between the first assistant and the emperor's teacher, he would rather be a turtle than easily stand in line.

As for asking to stop the "one whip method", he did not propose it under the pressure of Xungui, but made a decision based on the actual situation.

The north and south of the empire, and the land in the north were annexed fiercely. If the "one whip law" is forced, the local gentry will try their best to destroy it.

Because of the implementation of this law, there are countless families in Shandong alone who did not hesitate to leave their homes and become refugees. He is also very clear about the few small riots.

He is completely dedicated to the public, at least he feels that the "one whip method" should be suspended until a suitable method is found.

It's just that he didn't expect that the subordinates of the household department would hate him because of this.

Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang must be replaced.

Ge Shouli made up his mind in his heart that these two people were the black sheep in the yamen, and only by taking them down could the yamen regain control.

Ge Shouli thought that after coming to Beijing, he handled things fairly and would not offend those high-ranking officials. At least he and Zhang Juzheng had disputes in the cabinet.

After half a month of observation, he understood what was going on with the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he was convinced that Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang were the ones doing the tricks.

On the two-day holiday of Shangshu every month, the big seal of the household department is hand-printed by the left and right ministers in turn. It is at this time that a large number of official documents of the household department will be stamped and sent out.

Calmly, Ge Shouli wrote a statement and planned to hand it over to the cabinet.

This time it is not aimed at Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang, but he wants to attack the most active members of the following few clean officials.

Directly targeting officials at the first level of the minister, it is easy to directly make the situation worse, and the whole court knows about it.

In his opinion, to make a report to the cabinet and ask for approval to replace the following doctors and principals is a knock on the mountain, telling the lower-level officials in the yamen that he is the minister, and it is enough not to think about obeying him.

After that, he will try to find a way to transfer Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang away, and he will be able to control the Yamen.

The adjustment of these officials below the fifth rank does not need to be approved by the emperor, it is nothing more than the cabinet and the Ministry of officials.

After writing the paperwork, Ge Shouli went directly to the cabinet to meet with the Chief Assistant Xu Jie.

Xu Jie knew that the household department was a hard job, so he didn't plan to make a move on this yamen, and put in his own people, it would be too much trouble to get it in his hands.

Originally, he had no prejudice against Ge Shouli, but who told him that he was unwilling to support him at critical times.

Although he knew that if he put himself in another place, he would do the same, but if he didn't put himself in another place, he would see that nothing was right about Ge Shouli.

What's more, he heard Zhang Juzheng complain twice in private that Ge Shouli was conservative and not suitable for great things.

Since Zhang Juzheng didn't like him, Xu Jie naturally wanted to change him, no matter who he was.

"Yu Li, this is the Yamen."

Xu Jie smiled bitterly, shaking Ge Shouli's official document in his hand.

"Old Ge, the yamen of the household department is too high. I came here from Nanjing, and the people below probably think that I have never seen the world, and I am no better than them officials of the capital."

Ge Shouli's requirements were not high, he was just a fifth-rank doctor and a few sixth-rank chiefs, and belonged to middle and low-level officials in the household department.

In fact, in a similar situation, all ministers will do it after they take office, transfer some people away, and install some people, so that they can control themselves.

Ge Shouli had no experience in managing the household department, so it took a little longer to straighten out the household department before he realized that it was out of control, so he hurriedly made up for it.

"Well, it's time to beat them. You don't need to give me the list. Go directly to the official department to find Weiyue to deal with it."

Xu Jie remained calm, signed the official document and handed it back to Ge Shouli, saying, "Yu Li, of course the cabinet has no objection to this matter, you can discuss it with the Ministry of Officials."

"Thank you, Mr. Ge."

Seeing that the cabinet's purpose had been achieved, Ge Shouli got up, took his leave and left for the Ministry of Officials.

It's just that he didn't know, when he turned around, a sneer appeared on the corner of Xu Jie's mouth.

Ge Shouli thought that his work was going smoothly, but he didn't know that others had already arranged everything.

"Ge Shangshu, please sit down and drink some tea. What kind of wind brought you here?"

Wei Guangde was on duty, and Ge Shouli found this place when he came out from Yang Bo's side, and handed over the documents signed by Xu Jie and Yang Bo.

Wei Guangde was cheerful, took the document from Ge Shouli's hand, looked at it and was taken aback.

This document is a bit inappropriate. It stands to reason that it should be transferred from the cabinet to the Ministry of Officials for processing. How can it be a document from the Ministry of Households, just add two signatures.

"Yang Shangshu said that the replacements are officials, and the Examination Department has their records of passing the exams over the years, and they can arrange other errands for them according to their performance."

Ge Shouli held the tea and looked at Wei Guangde with a smile.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this move. It is normal for Shangshu to change a few of his own people when he takes office.

"Okay, I will arrange someone to investigate in the next few days, and I will inform you when I make arrangements."

Wei Guangde was suspicious, but still respectfully agreed.

After Ge Shouli left the guard room, Wei Guangde went to the desk and sat down, took out a note, picked up a pen and started writing on it.

At this moment, Lu Bu came in quickly from outside the door, bowed in front of the desk and said, "Master, Mr. Chen Ge has delivered a note."

"Ok?"

Wei Guangde put down his pen and was about to write him a note asking about the situation when Chen Yiqin's note arrived.

Looking at the unfinished note in front of him, he knew that this thing should be useless.

He took the letter from Lu Bu, opened it, and read the contents inside.

Chen Yiqin has never known about Ge Shouli, and there are no secrets in the cabinet, unless he is not working in the cabinet.

He crumpled the note in front of him and threw it aside, took out another note and quickly wrote down a few names, then handed it to Lu Bu, and ordered: "Go and find out which side these people belong to."

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde went directly to Chen Yiqin's residence after leaving the office, and didn't even return to his own home.

"Brother Yifu, what do you mean by asking your younger brother to drag Ge Shangshu? The cabinet doesn't intend to give him face?"

In the study, Wei Guangde asked in a low voice after seeing Chen Yiqin.

"The cabinet doesn't have any written words, don't you understand what it means?"

Chen Yiqin smiled, "Sit down and talk."

"What's the point of Xu Jie and Yang Bo? What are you doing to fool Ge Shouli? They're still making things difficult for me. Aren't they afraid that I'll take care of things and let them fetch water from a bamboo basket?"

Wei Guangde said.

"Otherwise, how could the news have reached me? Xu Shoufu had calculated it all."

Chen Yiqin put away his smile and said solemnly.

"Don't say that you conspired with the two of them."

Wei Guangde sensed something was wrong, looked at Chen Yiqin and said seriously.

"This matter, if my guess is correct, it should be Xu Jie who was approached by Yang Bo."

Chen Yiqin looked at Wei Guangde and said in a low voice.

"Appreciate further details."

Wei Guangde was very curious, how did these cabinet chiefs conspire when they had nothing to do, discussing about fighting for power in the court.

"You should know how Guo Gan, Minister of the Ministry of War, came here."

Chen Yiqin asked with a smile, saw Wei Guangde nodding, and then continued: "After Yang Bo was transferred from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Officials, he always hoped that his fellow villager Huo Yi would take over the Ministry of War, but His Majesty chose Guo Gan in the cabinet meeting .”

Wei Guangde knew that Emperor Longqing made this choice to express his dissatisfaction with Yang Bo, and to express his attitude towards them with backstabs and high arches.

"I always feel that the actions of the Ministry of War in Shanxi are inappropriate, but you also said that there is no good solution. I suspect that this matter may be secretly arranged by Yang Bo, who wants to make a mistake in Shanxi, and then let Guo Gan resign."

Chen Yiqin said leisurely, with a low tone.

"What does that have to do with the household department?"

Wei Guangde knew what Chen Yiqin meant. Yang Bo wanted to use a defeat to drag Guo Gan off his horse. Although it was cruel, it was also a test.

All we can do is wait for the outcome of the war.

If Guo Qian handled it properly and won the battle, Yang Bo naturally had no other choice.

"It's no secret that Yang Bo wants to push Huo Yi. Xu Jie's support is very important."

"Xu Jie seems to be the Minister of the Household Department?"

Wei Guangde still couldn't believe it.

"I don't know, but Ge Shangshu didn't come to the cabinet this afternoon."

Chen Yiqin just replied.

"Yang Shangshu didn't tell him that the official document was wrong."

Wei Guangde replied lightly, lowered his head and thought quickly, and Wei Guangde probably understood what was going on.

Xu Jie hated Ge Shouli, so he didn't want him to continue serving as Minister, Yang Bo wanted Xu Jie's support, hoping to help the fellow fight for the Ministry of War, and the two hit it off.

At first, Wei Guangde still couldn't figure out why Chen Yiqin was involved in this matter?

Suddenly, a name suddenly appeared in Wei Guangde's mind.

Raising his head suddenly, Wei Guangde looked at Chen Yiqin, and asked a little uncertainly, "Ma Sen?"

Chen Yiqin nodded, "I recommended Ma Sen to Mr. Xu Ge, and Mr. Xu Ge also believed that besides the usual affairs of the household department, Fujian affairs are also very important.

As a native of Fujian, Ma Shilang has many advantages, especially he has supported the strategy of opening the sea a long time ago. "

"What is Xu Jie trying to figure out?"

It seems reasonable, but Wei Guangde is still a little puzzled.

It seems that both Yang Bo and Chen Yiqin benefited from such an operation, but what did he get?
"What do you think our Chief Assistant needs?"

Chen Yiqin smiled lightly, "As long as he is happy."

(End of this chapter)