Idle courtiers

Chapter 174 Who Has the Motivation
Recalling what Ah Jiu said just now that he would get 200 taels of silver for a door bag once he met Xu Jie, Zhou Nan couldn't help shaking his head.

If this money is in modern society, it is enough to invite a third- and fourth-tier film and television star to participate in the company's annual meeting.

But...it's really worth it.Old Xu is the second assistant of the cabinet and one of the core decision makers of the Ming Dynasty.

In the power structure of the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing should be ranked first, and Yan Song, the chief assistant, should be next.Next are Huang Jin, the palm seal of the Lijian, Xu Jie, the second assistant of the cabinet, the Minister of the Ministry of officials, and Chen Hong, the chief secretary of the Lijian, who supervised the Dongchang affairs.

Mr. Xu was one of the top five grandmas. Before he entered the cabinet, he served as Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites. He held the official hat of officials all over the world. Now he also has a certain influence in the personnel system of the Ming Dynasty.

If ordinary officials can meet such a big man and say a few words, let alone 200 taels, 2000 taels are also willing.You know, the local governors and political envoys come to Beijing every year to meet with elders, and offer 3000 taels of charcoal as an offering, which is only enough time for the first half stick of incense to talk.

It's a pity that Zhou Nan is almost useless to such a courteous person.

He put the film in his sleeve and was about to leave when Feng Chuan came out from nowhere.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked carefully into the distance, and heaved a long sigh of relief: "The evil star Ninth Young Master has finally left. Fortunately, the little one ran fast just now, otherwise I would really eat her." hit."

Zhou Nan asked curiously: "Feng Chuan, let me ask you, who is Ah Jiu from the Xu family? Is he a daughter-in-law? Why are you afraid of this?"

"How could it be the daughter-in-law of Xu Ge's hometown? I heard people say that Cifu is in her 60s and almost [-]s. Even if there is a daughter-in-law, she is probably in her fifties. Besides, if it is a nobleman of the Xu family, how can she show her face all day long?" .”

"Then she is..."

Feng Chuan said: "I heard that she is the daughter of a family slave. The Xu family is a big family in Songjiang. Isn't there a Japanese problem in Su and Song? The Xu family has all been in the capital a few years ago. This ninth son relies on the power of the Xu family , kept a lot of litigants on hand, and wandered around Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice all day long, wanting to get money from litigation for others."

Zhou Nan asked curiously: "The Xu family is so rich, how can the ninth son be short of money?"

Feng Chuan: "A daughter who was born a slave, even if she works in the prime minister's mansion, she can have a little money every month, just two or three taels of silver. A small case, that is, handing over a photo of Mr. Xu Ge, only a few dozen Two into the account, benefit without cost, why not do it?"

Zhou Nan nodded: "Yes, but this Ninth Young Master is too domineering."

"Yeah, it's really domineering. This Ah Jiu should be able to talk in the prime minister's house. When she first came here to take jobs, we wanted to trouble her because she didn't obey the rules. But we didn't want to, she He directly called the servants from the mansion to come over and beat us all together. Oh, the beating was so ruthless, everyone was scared. Therefore, whenever there is hair growth, the Sanfa Division must first be close to them. Can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke !"

Zhou Nan was even more curious: "A small family with a child can handle a case and earn money?"

Feng Chuan: "The prime minister's family is a seventh-rank official. Whenever there is a small case, the government will give some face."

After speaking, he asked Zhou Nan with a smirk: "Master Zhou must have something to do when he comes to Dali Temple today. If the ninth son is involved, as long as the matter is not serious, it should be easy, but how can you thank me? According to the rules, I have to tap."

Zhou Nan was completely shocked by his shamelessness, and furiously said, "You are so wicked, I can't beat you to death!" Just now he was robbed of all the gold and silver on his body, full of anger and had nowhere to vent, raised his fist will fight.

"Oh, Mr. Zhou, if you have something to say, don't do it!"

"Bah, I really slipped into the eyes of money. I told you that my lord has nothing to do with Mr. Xu Ge...Si..." Zhou Nan's fist stopped in mid-air, and a strange feeling suddenly appeared in his heart. thought.

On the surface, Zhao Jing's death appeared to be due to the embezzlement of the royal property from Qingzhang Li Wei's house, and then he was punched to death by Li Guozhang. This was just an accident, an ordinary case of manslaughter.

Zhao experienced family dissatisfaction and sued Li Wei to Shuntian Mansion and Metropolitan Procuratorate.

In the evil old society, it is impossible to ask Li Wei to pay for his life with his life, not even a prison sentence.The final result was that the various judiciary offices delayed for a while, and then asked the Li family to pay for the matter.

However, another way of thinking, if it was Zhou Nan who was beaten yesterday.Then, the next day, I died because of my serious injury, and things might look different.

A clean official who was beaten to death because he offended his relatives was a challenge to the civil service system, intellectuals, and political correctness of the Ming Dynasty.In the end, it can't be solved with money, and the nature of the matter has also risen from a criminal case to a political one.

For political events, you can't just look at the surface, but look at the essence through the phenomenon.

What is certain is that someone wants to make trouble through this case.

Here comes the question, who gains and who loses.

Needless to say, the one who benefits is the mastermind behind the scenes.

Let's talk about who is unlucky first. If the one who died was the Kodao speaker, the unlucky one is naturally Li Wei.The reason why Li Wei is so arrogant and domineering is because behind him is Prince Yu's Mansion, which is a related force attached to the Palace.As a result, King Yu and the officials in the mansion will be troubled to find him.

Therefore, it is obvious that someone pointed a sword at the palace.

So, who benefits?
According to the routine of historical time travel novels, the future heir of King Yu must be another prince who is qualified to succeed.But King Yu is Jiajing's only son, and he has no competitors at all.

Therefore, the dispute over the heir apparent can be ruled out first, and the rest is the strife between the officials of the DPRK and China.

The palace now gathers a large number of elites from the Ming Dynasty, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Zhang Juzheng. These three will be the chief ministers of the cabinet in the future.By the way, King Yu's son, grandson Zhu Yijun, who was later the companion of Emperor Wanli, Feng Bao, also served as the supervisor of ceremonies during the Wanli period.

Once the emperor and the courtiers, in the future when King Yu ascends the throne, he will naturally reuse his hidden staff. Now the princes in the court will naturally be shot to death on the beach.

As an old wave, it is natural to strangle the signs of danger in the infancy.

Who could have done it?
Yan Song and Yan Shifan are suspected, as are the other three assistant ministers in the cabinet and even the heavenly officials of the Ministry of Officials.In the future when King Yu ascends the throne, they will definitely be replaced.

In the 40th year of Jiajing, there were four people in the cabinet, namely Yan Song, the first assistant, Xu Jie, the cabinet minister Lu Ben, and the cabinet minister Yuan Wei.

Among these four people, if anyone was the least suspicious, it would probably be Xu Jie.

As far as Zhou Nan, a traveler, knew, old man Xu was very tolerant.At that time, Yan Song was monopolizing power, and Xu Jie refused to attach himself to Yan Song at first.So Yan Song often spoke ill of him in front of the emperor.

Xu Jie's situation was very dangerous at one time, which made him realize that he could not hit a stone with an egg, so he changed his strategy, followed Yan Song in everything, and never argued with him.In order to gain his trust, he even married his granddaughter to Yan Song's grandson, superficially very submissive.Yan Song's son Yan Shifan is very domineering and has been rude to him many times, but he also swallows his anger.

This old man is simply a copy of Tokugawa Ieyasu, an old turtle from the Warring States Period in Japan. He relied on his single-handed appearance as a young daughter-in-law, and survived until Yan Song was dismissed as Prime Minister, and finally became the chief assistant of the cabinet and became the No. 1 in the political arena of the Ming Dynasty.

From the point of view of Xu Jie's life, he was born in a wealthy family, rich as a country, and an extremely personable official. After retirement, he landed safely and enjoyed his life. He is simply a model of successful people.

Therefore, among the four cabinet ministers, old man Xu is the least suspicious.

This case is really weird. Zhou Nan doesn't bother to think about who will be unlucky in the end and who will benefit. The power struggle is not something that a small person like him can participate in. The most urgent thing now is how to protect himself.

In fact, it is also simple, find a big backer.As long as there is a backer, other forces have to weigh whether it is worthwhile if they want to move him.

Originally, because of the relationship with Zhan Tong, Prince Yu's Mansion was a good place to go.But it was obvious that someone was going to target the Wang family, and Yu Wang was a timid and cowardly person, so if he went to him, he would definitely be rejected.

After much deliberation, perhaps there will be a ray of hope when I go to see Xu Jie.As a party involved, and keenly aware of the tricks behind this case, Zhou Nan feels that he is still of some value, and old man Xu should be interested.Besides, he and Xu Jie still have the relationship of Xinxue disciples, which is not without origin.

Man, how can someone be a knife and I be a fish, so I have to gamble.

Thinking of this, Zhou Nan felt a little more at ease, and asked Feng Chuan, "Do you know about Xu Ge's residence?"

"know."

"Trouble leading the way."

"It's easy to say, Mr. Zhou, which one of us is with whom?"

(End of this chapter)