The six-yearly grand plan of the Jingchao has officially begun, and a bloodless battle has already been surging under the microwave like an undercurrent.
In the capital, everyone is walking on thin ice. If there are thousands of local officials, it will not be easy at this time.
The Ministry of Officials has been very busy these past few days, and the results of the local level-by-level assessments have been continuously gathered in the capital through cobweb-like post stations, and the assessment of officials still in Beijing is even more complicated.
Liu An, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, is not a ten-tenth eunuch. Most of the time, he is an official who is dedicated to his duties and upright. He has the ideal of being loyal to the emperor and serving the country in his heart. The two of them have a very close personal relationship. The reason why he was able to become the Minister of the Ministry of Officials was also Wang Shengsheng's efforts when he was appointed as the second assistant of the cabinet. In a few years, Xie Zhongren will find a way to transfer him back to the capital, and most of the officials are promoted by Wang Shengsheng, so the advantage is completely biased towards Xie Zhongren.
Sure enough, the Beijing inspection has just started, and Yan Sikong has already discovered several officials from the gentry faction, and the results of the assessment are worrying.
Yan Sikong is just a small manager, even if he has doubts, he can't speak out, but he can tell Yan Zilian what he knows as soon as possible.
In order to avoid suspicion, he agreed with Yan Zilian not to visit Yan's mansion easily, but to meet in a small tea house opened by Yan Zilian's nephew, which is very safe.
On this day, Yan Sikong brought Feng Ye with him.
The two met and saluted each other.
"My son."
"Old Yan Ge."
"Your Majesty, please take your seat."
"Mr. Yan Ge." Feng Ye was quite dissatisfied with the royal family that Yan Zilian begged for Yan Sikong, but he didn't show it, but his tone was a bit cold.
Yan Zilian didn't try to shirk, he sat down in Yiyi, and said with emotion: "Thank you, my son, for being willing to help us eradicate the eunuchs and the ruling and opposition parties."
"My Feng family has been loyal to three generations. How can I sit back and watch the eunuch party wreak havoc on the government and fish the common people, let alone make the villain who tries to usurp the position of the prince succeed."
"Your Majesty understands righteousness deeply." Yan Zilian praised. He naturally knew in his heart that the most important thing for the Feng family was to take the opportunity to get rid of Wen Youchi's serious trouble, otherwise reducing Datong's military expenditure this year would be extremely detrimental to the Feng family.
After exchanging pleasantries, they got down to business.
Yan Sikong gave Yan Zilian a list: "This is the list I have so far. Sun Beiqing, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhang Mao, the head of the Honglu Temple, Yu Fei, the left servant of the Ministry of War, and Bai Xinghai, the chief of the military department. Ge'duo failed, this is only in Beijing, and the final result of the local assessment has not yet come out."
"Four criteria" are the standards for assessment, referring to obedience, politics, talent, and years. Shou means integrity, which is divided into integrity, peace, and corruption; The year is the age, divided into young, middle and old. According to the standards of these four grids, the three grades of competent, diligent, and service are judged, and usually they will leave if they are not promoted.
However, among these four grids, except for age, which cannot be falsified, the other three grids are all for superiors to test subordinates. If you offend your superiors and say that you are unqualified, you are unqualified. to dominate. Of course, in the Beijing inspections over the years, it was inevitable that some people were dissatisfied with the results of the assessment and wrote to impeach their superiors. At this time, a review was required, but most of them would swallow their anger.
Therefore, Beijing's grand plan is a grand feast of personnel and power, and everyone will use everything they can, and the party will fight against differences.
Yan Zilian snorted coldly: "The eunuchs are really quick to attack. These are all subject to review by the Ministry of Officials. I will try my best to keep them."
Yan Sikong nodded: "The eunuch party also judged a few unqualified ones, but I'm afraid Liu Shangshu will be partial."
"Before the Beijing inspection, I talked to Liu Shangshu." Yan Zilian caressed his beard, "Although he has a good relationship with Wang Shengsheng, but Wang Shengsheng is neither in Beijing nor in the pavilion, so he must have some seriousness in his heart."
"hope so."
"Where's Wen Youchi?" Yan Zilian looked at Feng Ye, "What did Shizi find out?"
Feng Ye nodded, and handed them a stack of documents: "Time is running out, so I will first sort out the evidence that Wen Youchi's son stuffed with Chen cotton for his winter clothes."
"I remember this incident." Yan Zilian recalled, "At that time, Concubine Wen Gui had a miscarriage, and His Majesty loved her very much. He only punished her secretly, but did not pursue it. At this time, bringing up the old matter again, I am afraid it will not be effective."
Feng Ye said: "Actually, during Wen Youchi's tenure, Wen Weixi did a lot of false work for his own benefit, just in terms of Datong's military equipment, he has gained a lot of benefits, but my father told me that this matter must not involve Datong, otherwise I'm afraid it will be even worse. Suspected by His Majesty, so..."
"The old man understands King Jingyuan's concerns." Yan Zilian flipped through the case file, "But this alone can't shake Wen Youchi."
Yan Sikong said: "Teacher, don't worry, we will find ways to find more."
Yan Zilian said in a deep voice: "The biggest difficulty in this matter is that Wen Youchi himself is extremely cautious in his actions, and he can hardly catch the handle. Wen Weixi is responsible for arrogating power and accumulating wealth. Even if we get rid of Wen Weixi, Your Majesty For the sake of Concubine Wen Gui, her father will not be involved."
"Your Majesty's love for Concubine Wen is the biggest difficulty in this matter." Feng Ye said, "Your Majesty is nepotism, whether it is Concubine Wen or Concubine Xie Zhongren."
Yan Zilian sighed lightly, noncommittal.
Yan Sikong also felt very difficult. Even if Wen Youchi did not have outstanding achievements in government, he has been conscientious for many years. He has never made mistakes in appointing generals, arranging strategies, and managing armaments. Not a big deal. It is also because of this that the second prince's threat to the reserve is so great. If he is just the son of a favorite concubine, he will never be able to defeat the conservative ministers of the Manchu Dynasty who follow the ancestral system.
The three of them discussed for a while, but they didn't come up with any good solution for the time being. It was getting late, so they decided to leave.
Yan Zilian politely said to Feng Ye: "Can Shizi take a step ahead, Sikong and I still have a few words to say."
Feng Ye glanced at Yan Sikong, cupped his hands slightly, and walked away.
"Teacher..." Yan Sikong intuited that what Yan Zilian wanted to say had something to do with Feng Ye.
Sure enough, after Yan Zilian watched Feng Ye's back disappear, he turned to Yan Sikong and said meaningfully: "Are you reconciled as before?"
Yan Sikong said: "It doesn't mean that the reconciliation is as good as before, but last time I asked him for the prince's affairs, he agreed, and he proposed to join hands with us to get rid of Wen Youchi."
Yan Zilian nodded, stroking his gray beard, pondered for a moment, and said bluntly: "I heard about you and Shizi in Baisheng Building a few days ago."
Yan Sikong's heart skipped a beat. There were so many onlookers that day, it was impossible not to spread gossip. As for how others viewed it, whether it meant that Feng Ye really drank too much alcohol, it was unknown, and he had been worrying about it these days.
Yan Sikong had no choice but to laugh dryly and said: "That day Zhou Mixing hosted a banquet, and he wanted to make the two of us reconcile, but he just wanted to take the opportunity to sell his favor."
Yan Zilian squinted at Yan Sikong: "It's rare for me to see you feel guilty and avoid the topic."
Yan Sikong realized that he really did not deal with it properly, and he was confused if he was concerned, he said: "The student just feels a little embarrassed, the prince is indeed drinking too much."
"Sikong, you don't have to hide it from me." Yan Zilian said, "I always thought that the prince overreacted to the matter of giving the marriage. Now that I think about it, it's reasonable." He stared at Yan Si with sharp eyes null.
Yan Sikong took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Students are ashamed."
Yan Zilian shook his head: "You are really too young. Fortunately, the marriage has been settled. His Majesty will not destroy the marriage because of unfounded rumors, but you must be careful in your actions in the future. It is always indecent to spread such things."
Yan Sikong's cheeks were a little hot: "... yes." He later asked Feng Ye how he got home, Feng Ye only told him not to worry, and the handyman in Baisheng Building kept silent.
It's just that Yan Sikong has always been cautious in his actions, but how can he seal the mouth of the handyman, how can he seal the officials and celebrities who are feasting with him, but he never expected such a stupid mistake to happen, and he doesn't know how this matter will be spread. General appearance. Since Feng Ye objected to the marriage at the banquet and let him freeze outside the gate for two hours, he hoped outsiders would think that Feng Ye just wanted to humiliate him.
"However, it's not a bad thing for you to be close to the crown prince." Yan Zilian narrowed his eyes, his gaze was deep, "With the support of King Jingyuan, the position of crown prince can be preserved."
"King Jingyuan doesn't want to get involved in the battle for the reserve position, for fear of being suspected by the Lord."
"There are a few Guo Ziyis in the world, whose merits are so high that the master is unquestionable." Yan Zilian said coldly, "In the court, no one can stay out of the matter. Only by supporting the crown prince as hard as possible can he be safe."
Yan Sikong knew that Yan Zilian asked him to bring these words to Feng Ye, he couldn't figure out Yan Zilian's true thoughts for a while, so he could only agree with him on the surface.
Yan Zilian saw his hesitation, and changed the subject: "Wen Youchi's matter, let's continue to find a way. If the Jingcha can't pull him off this time, the prince may not be able to escape the next catastrophe."
"yes."