Bachelor

Chapter 384 Power ([-])

However, Bi Yun still had some concerns. He said to Sun Dan: "I have heard about Zhang Cong. He has lived in the capital for many years, and he is quite a celebrity. It is said that one minister does not serve two masters. Since he has followed Concubine Zhang , if he were asked to change his family now, I'm afraid he wouldn't wipe that face off."

Scholars pay attention to loyalty, filial piety, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, and this character of loyalty ranks first.Zhang Cong usually said that he must be a sage, Master Yun said, but now he wants to change his boss. I guess that guy also feels very humiliated, at least on the surface.

This is also the moral bottom line of all people in this era.

"No, no, old Bi, you still don't understand what I mean." Sun Dan waved his hands again and again, explaining: "I don't want to directly pull Zhang Cong into our camp, in fact, Zhang Cong is a factor of instability. Not to mention his arrogance, he is also quite ambitious. He is not easy to be controlled by others. This kind of person is only suitable for working alone, and does not need the cooperation of others at all, or he disdains forming cliques. Instead of pulling him over to us To make trouble, it is better to keep him with Huang Jin and Concubine Zhang Gui. Zhang Cong was quite angry with Huang Jin a while ago. Once he has the chance, this guy will definitely get this place back. We only need our assistance. Help him in his official career and send him to the top."

In fact, as far as Sun Dan knew, among the powerful ministers of the Jiajing Dynasty, especially Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, and later Yan Shifan, they appeared to be personable, calm and open-minded on the surface, but they were strong and aggressive in their hearts. There is no room for sand.There is also no mercy for those political enemies who have a festival with themselves.

Sometimes, when Sun Dan was reading history books, he even thought that there was a ferocious beast called Legalism lurking in the hearts of these Confucian masters.

It is certain that once Zhang Cong is given a chance, he will definitely not let Huang Jin go.

All Sun Dan needs to do is to release the beast in Zhang Cong's heart.

This method is called - power.

Just give Zhang Cong power.

Bi Yun now fully understood, and asked again: "So, how should we help him on the road?"

Sun Dan smiled slightly: "Shanren has his own second plan, Bi Gong will look at my methods."

Bi Yun nodded: "If you want to do it, you just have to do it. Old Bi, I'll just sit back and watch the clouds rise and wind blow."

That night, Bi Yun and Sun Dan stayed overnight in Tongzhou. They woke up early the next day, greeted Mao Cheng, and said they would go back to Beijing to meet the saint and report the situation in Tongzhou.

Mao Shangshu also felt that it was not an option to be stuck in Tongzhou like this, so he wrote a memorial and asked Sun Dan to submit it to Jiajing.No need to look, Sun Dan also knew what was written in his memorial. Before leaving, Mao Shangshu held Sun Dan's hand and said: "Master Sun, you are now the champion of the new department and the editor of the Imperial Academy. The people around His Majesty. You can report the situation in Tongzhou to His Majesty according to the facts, and fight hard on the basis of reason. The identity of the Queen Mother of Xing is related to the country, and there must be no chaos."

Although Sun Dan didn't take it seriously, he could only nod his head and said vaguely, "I will definitely report to His Majesty what happened in Tongzhou."

He didn't have the heart to go to the emperor's face. There are two main things to do when he goes to the capital this time.One is about Zhang Cong, and the other is about reporting to the Imperial Academy. As for the emperor, it's not something you can see if you want to.The imperial decree brought by Bi Yun was to let Sun Dan settle the matter in Tongzhou before returning to the capital. Now that he is going to meet Jiajing, isn't that making him feel uncomfortable?
Speeding up the horse and walking on the road for a long time, he finally entered the capital.

When the parade of riding horses and wearing flowers for the top three in the palace examination is over, the red shreds of firecrackers can be vaguely seen on the street, and the common people can be heard talking about the grand occasion of the day before yesterday and Sun Dan’s name, but now all these things are at the same time. Sun Dan has nothing to do with it.

To be honest, Sun Dan didn't like this kind of big scene very much, since he couldn't participate, it wasn't a pity.

After breaking up with Bi Yun, Sun Dan returned home.

The house was naturally decorated with lights and festoons, and it was full of joy, but no laughter was heard.

When Sun Dan reached the door of the house, the concierge screamed: "The old man is back, the old man is back, go and tell the lady!"

A servant ran desperately towards the inner house, shouting loudly as he ran.

The porter came over to lead Sun Dan's horse, and shouted: "Master, where have you been these few days, and why did you come back?"

Before Sun Dan could answer, Zhi Niang and Ting Lan had already run over.The two women had lost weight with worry.

Zhi Niang couldn't help complaining: "Master, where did you go? I heard that you won the first prize, but we didn't see you coming home. We thought you had a business, so it was delayed. The day before yesterday, Ting Lan and I had a special meeting. I went to the street to see you riding a horse in a parade, but I only saw the second place and the third prize, but not your people. Why did you disappear on such a happy day?"

The more Zhi Niang talked, the angrier she became, she was on the verge of crying.

Sun Dan hurriedly comforted her softly.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, Ting Lan hurriedly came over to smooth things over: "Sister, don't be angry, the master is busy with affairs, and there must be other important things to do. Anyway, the master has also won the first prize, and it doesn't matter whether you swim or not. "

Ting Lan smiled and took Zhiniang's hand: "Sister, master won the first prize!"

"Ah, the number one scholar!" Zhiniang seemed to realize the extraordinaryness of the number one scholar, and she burst into ecstasy on her face: "Why did I just come back to my senses now. People have said that the number one scholar is a star from the sky. How good it is to be together in the same constellation, it's so scary!"

Sun Dan shook her head again and again, Zhi Niang was crying and laughing for a while, and her spirit was very unstable. It seems that this pregnant woman's mood fluctuates greatly, so don't be careless.

It's good to be home, having rested at home overnight and recovering from fatigue.Woke up early the next day, just after dawn, Sun Dan took a sedan chair to Xiyuan.

When we arrived in Xiyuan, the courtiers just dispersed for the early court.Sun Dan went to the cabinet first.The three major ministers of the cabinet have not yet arrived, and only a few secretary offices and small officials are on duty. Sun Dan handed over the memorial written by Mao Cheng to them, which is considered to have given the matter entrusted by Mao Shangshu.

Next, Sun Dan should report to the Ministry of Officials.He won the first prize and was assigned to the Imperial Academy. He had to go to the Ministry of Officials to get a name first, and then he went to meet Zhang Cong by the way.

Zhang Cong's performance in this exam was very bad, and he only got about 71 in the top two.His ranking was a bit higher than in the real history. In the real history, he won the [-]st place in the second class.Although his grades have improved, it is not enough to change history and his personal destiny.Because of his close relationship with Huang Jin and Concubine Zhang, he violated the taboo of civil officials, Zhang Cong was not released to be a county magistrate, but went to the Ministry of Officials as historical facts and became an ordinary official.

He is 47 years old this year, although the Ministry of Officials is a key institution.But there are also departments in key institutions that don't want to be harmed. In addition, he used to have a close relationship with Huang Jin and Concubine Zhang, and the officials in the department also despised him very much and ignored him at all.

This is Zhang Cong's second day at work in the Ministry of Officials, and yesterday's experience was simply a nightmare for him.

It's a nightmare, but it's not that someone else took his little shoes and gave him a splint. If so, Zhang Cong's resourcefulness can naturally deal with it calmly.The problem was, no one paid him any attention at all.

When he came to report to the official department, no one said a word to him. Only a small official led him to a small room and said, "This is the place." Then he walked away without any arrangement for him. work.

Zhang Cong sat in the room for a long time before waiting for a sixth-rank official to come with a few subordinates, and nodded to him, "Here we are."

Zhang Cong hurriedly stood up, and said with an apologetic smile: "Your Majesty, Zhang Cong, if you dare to ask your lord's name, what orders do you have?"

Before he finished speaking, the man sneered: "I know you are Zhang Cong, a well-known famous scholar in the capital, and his family even runs an academy named Luo Feng. Humph, so what about the famous scholar, didn't you just win the second prize?" Fifty first grades. I won the No. 30 first grade in the second grade. If it wasn't for the poor writing of the policy theory in the palace examination, I would have been a good scholar and was selected into the Imperial Academy. Why, Mr. Luo Feng still claimed to be the next Officer. You are Eunuch Huang’s man, how dare I order you.” As he spoke, he sat down on the head.

The word "Mr. Luo Feng" made Zhang Cong's face hot, and he was extremely angry: villain, villain, if I, Zhang Cong, have a high position and power in the future, I will definitely make you look good.

But on the surface, Zhang Cong still laughed along with him: "Don't dare, Zhang Cong is a subordinate of your lord, so don't bring it up again in the future."

"Tell me, of course I have to mention it." The man sneered: "Eunuch Huang is so powerful, I can't afford to offend him. By the way, my name is Song Wuxing, and I am the Secretary of the Ministry of Officials. .These are the most important matters in the department. Of course, these errands can't bother you. Mr. Luo Feng just sits here and watches, if you are interested, you may give me some pointers."

The role played by the Secretary Affairs Office in the Ministry of Officials is a bit like the office of the ministries and commissions of later generations. It accepts some daily affairs that are assigned, reminded, and assigned. In fact, it is just a miscellaneous department.

Song Wuxing had suffered a great loss from Huang Jin before, and he hated the Eunuch party deeply in his heart, and he also disapproved of Zhang Cong, a general of the Huang party.Hating the house and Wu, he naturally regarded Zhang Cong as his enemy.

Naturally, Zhang Cong didn't know the ins and outs of all this. He was trembling with anger at Mr. Song's outrageous words, and he didn't socialize, just sat on the chair with his head depressed and didn't speak.

Zhang Cong stopped talking, and Song Wuxing also regarded him as an invisible person.The department doesn't call him whenever there is something to do, and handles its own affairs on its own.

He was really bored, so he took the initiative to talk to his colleagues.But the colleagues in the same department ignored him at all, all of them looked disgusted.

In the eyes of colleagues, Zhang Cong is a member of the Eunuch Party at all, and has been the enemy of civil servants from ancient times to the present.Zhang Cong doesn't have any language with them. If you want to communicate, you Zhang Cong go and communicate with the people who work in the official department of Dongchang.

During the Ming Dynasty, people from Dongchang and Jinyiwei were on duty in every major yamen in central Beijing to supervise the daily affairs of the yamen.Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and the Six Divisions are responsible for the affairs. The three departments exercise supervisory intelligence at the same time, but they are not governed by each other. In a sense, the supervision system of the Ming Dynasty is very complete.

The strange thing is that Dongchang belonged to Bi Yun, and those people were already political enemies with Huang Jin. Seeing Zhang Cong's eyes full of hostility, how could they be willing to make out with him.

As a result, Zhang Cong was almost a loner in the administration of officials. After working all day, he was so depressed that he died.

But people can't just sit here like this, they have to find something to do.

So, Zhang Cong simply picked up the broom and cleaned the house, and then picked up the rag to wipe it out, so that the day was finally passed.

In the early morning of the next day, another incident happened. A Jinshi from a new department came to the Ministry of Officials to wait for a position.He was born in a poor family, and he has lived in the capital for three years, and he was so poor that he was about to lose his pants.Now that he has finally survived, he can finally be sent out to be an official without having to starve to death in the capital.He has good grades, No. 30 and No. [-] in the second class. According to the arrangement of the Ministry of Officials, he should go to a county in Suzhou Prefecture to be a county magistrate.I don't know whether the official department sympathized with him, or saw that he was an upright person with good moral character, so they let him go to a rich place like Suzhou and Hangzhou to be an official.

But things always come first, then come first. The imperial court needs to arrange positions for so many Jinshi, fellow Jinshi, and bestowed Jinshi in this palace examination.The Beijing officials are better and can take office directly, but the local officials are a little troublesome, and they have to wait in line for a long time.After arranging a position, it is also possible to wait three or two months in the capital before receiving an official letter.

The surname Xu given to Jinshi by the new department was probably too poor to bear, so he decided to come to the Ministry of Officials to see if he could be arranged to take up the post sooner.He thought for a long time, and suddenly remembered Zhang Conglai.In the past, he had met Zhang Cong several times at literary conferences and recognized him.Besides, everyone is the same year again.In the same year, the relationship was the strongest in the Ming Dynasty. If you find him, maybe this will be done.

So Xu Jinshi found Zhang Cong.After all, the department Zhang Cong works for is in charge of the function of urging, so if he helps urge him, he may be able to go to Suzhou earlier.

According to Xu Jinshi's thinking, Zhang Cong is also a well-known celebrity all over the world. He has been in the capital for so many years and has a wide range of people. Naturally, he has a good life in the official department.Hugh said that the small officials below, even the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, would give Zhang Cong some face.

But he never expected that when he found Zhang Cong and talked about it, Zhang Cong faltered for a long time before carefully saying, "Brother Xu Nian, I'm afraid it's not easy to handle this matter!"

Xu Jinshi was an impatient person, so he immediately became angry, and said in a loud voice: "Brother Zhang, you are now an official of the Ministry of Officials anyway, and it is nothing more than a little effort for you to remind you, why is it difficult to handle?" gone?"

Zhang Cong: "Brother Xu, it's only been a few days since the list was released, are you so anxious?"

Xu Jinshi looked sour, and sneered: "I knew that Mr. Luo Feng had high vision and looked down on me as a poor scholar and magistrate. Now, you are also a high-ranking official in the official department, and you actually know how to play bureaucracy when you meet in the same year. What, need I will send some money over to be filial and respectful. Hmph, I don’t have any money.”

Now Zhang Cong is most afraid that others will call him "Mr. Luo Feng." Hearing Xu Jinshi's ugly words, he blushed with embarrassment, gritted his teeth, and wrote an official letter: "Come on, I'll write a letter to help you urge me at the principal's place." Hurry up."

In this way, Xu Jinshi looked much better.

Zhang Cong knew that he was hated by everyone in the official department, so it was useless to say anything.But this letter was already within the scope of his duties, but it was just a bureaucratic article. After writing it and handing it to the master, it is estimated that the master would not take it to heart.Just get rid of today's embarrassing incident, that is, write two words, it's not worth anything.

But as soon as he picked up the pen, Song Wuxing, who was sitting opposite Zhang Cong, had a frosty face and shouted: "Zhang Cong, what are you going to do?"

Zhang Cong stopped writing in astonishment: "My lord, I'm just writing a reminder letter."

Song Wuxing sneered, and shouted: "What do you write? What are you going to do? Appointment by officials is the most important thing in the country, but you give and accept it privately. It is in vain that you have read sage books for so many years. Why do you have power in your hands when you become an official?" , but to act recklessly like this, and ignore the laws and regulations of the country, who gave you the courage."

Zhang Cong didn't expect that Song Wuxing would take the opportunity to attack him for just writing an official article. There was a "buzz!" in his ears, and he almost lost his hearing.

Xu Jinshi didn't expect things to turn out like this, he looked at Zhang Cong in astonishment, and whispered: "Brother Zhang Nian, why is this?"

"Why?" Song Wuxing slammed the table and yelled at Xu Jinshi: "Xu Yifu, I have seen your resume, and I thought you were a sincere gentleman, so the Ministry of Officials let you work in Suzhou. But this official never expected that you are also a shameless villain who only knows how to make money. The country selects talents, and the most important thing is character. If a person like you can become the magistrate of such an important place as Suzhou and Hangzhou?"

From the looks of it, this Xu Jinshi is also from Huang Jin.People in the eunuch party are not good people, no, they must not be let go.

When he slapped it down, the cups and inkstones on the table jumped up.

Xu Jinshi's body was shaken by Song Wuxing's palm, and his face turned pale.Song Wuxing is no more than a fifth-rank official, but he holds real power.Don't say that Xu Yifu is just a small new scholar.Even if he is the governor of a province, when he sees the officials and principals of the Ministry of Officials, he can only bow his head and listen to him, and let them scold him.

Then, Song Wuxing's words made him almost faint.

Song Wuxing said coldly to Xu Jinshi: "It seems that you can't go to Suzhou. I'll go to the master immediately. There is still a vacancy in Liangzhou. You can go there to be the county magistrate."

From Suzhou to Liangzhou all of a sudden, it is like falling directly from heaven to hell.What kind of place is Liangzhou, a place of bitter cold, and a place of wildness.A county in Suzhou has a population of more than 5000, while a county in Liangzhou has a population of [-], which is not bad.

Xu Yifu jumped up in shock and opened his mouth wide: "How could this be?"

Song Wuxing didn't answer, he just took a pen and wrote quickly on the paper, he couldn't help sneering: Eunuch, eunuch, if you are allowed to go to a rich place in the south of the Yangtze River, I don't know how many people will be harmed.This kind of people is only suitable to be put on the frontier and let them fend for themselves.

Xu Jinshi stared at Zhang Cong with resentment, and gritted his teeth: "Zhang Cong, I was killed by you this time. Come on, come on, I, Xu Yifu, should be unlucky to meet you. From today on, you I am absolutely right, the same year or something, don’t mention it again in the future.”

Zhang Cong's heart was about to bleed, his face was burning hot, and he just bowed his head and remained silent.

It's really embarrassing to go home today.

At this moment, a person walked into the room and laughed loudly: "Don't mention anything, what's the big deal, what about it? Brother Zhang Nian, brother Xu Nian, and Master Song."

Everyone looked up, and it was Sun Dan who spoke.

(End of this chapter)