The so-called Zhejiang Party is, of course, a political group composed mainly of people from Zhejiang. However, not all Zhejiang officials are Zhejiang Party members, and not all Zhejiang Party members are Zhejiang people.

The former is like Wen Tiren. As a native of Wucheng, Lao Wen is notoriously non-party and is naturally not a member of the Zhejiang Party. The representative of the latter is Li Dai, who has just been promoted to the third assistant in the cabinet.

This person is from Henan, but as a close confidant of Shen Yiguan, the leader of the Zhejiang Party in his early years, he is an out-and-out general of the Zhejiang Party.

Many years ago, under Shen Yiguan's instruction, Li Dai used the Beijing Police to attack the Donglin Party. After being strongly counterattacked by the Donglin Party, he had no choice but to retire. After resting at home for several years, he resumed his position as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing: this position was in addition to Every six years, the idle officials in Nanjing are evaluated and nothing happens. It is purely a sinecure.

Originally, he thought that this would be it for the rest of his life: he was already over sixty years old, and he would be ready to beg for his bones in a few more years. Who knew that this was a pie in the sky, but now he was directly allowed to join the cabinet!

As an old bureaucrat who has matured with age, he understood with a quick thought: This was the emperor playing imperial tricks.

There is no doubt that after this cabinet adjustment, the Imperial Master Party has taken an absolute advantage in the court. Although the Imperial Master Party will naturally stand with the emperor because of their origins, as a king, they cannot do it anyway. Accepting that there is only one party in the court and appropriately introducing officials from other parties or non-imperialist parties to the court is a choice that a qualified emperor must make.

After understanding this, Li Dai immediately set off from Nanjing without any secret and went directly to Ningbo Prefecture in Zhejiang Province.

Here is the tomb of Shen Yiguan, the former leader of the Zhejiang Party. With this move, Li Dai publicly stated his identity: Although I am from Henan, I am a member of the Zhejiang Party, and I want to take over Shen Yiguan's mantle!

"I have met my wise brother Tongda."

"Hahaha, after seeing the announcement from Jinling Daily, I went to the Brothers' Association to pay homage to my father."

"My dear brother, with this keenness, hey, Duke Wen Gong was really too cautious back then."

"Hey, it happened in the past few decades, there's no need to talk about it anymore."

The so-called wise brother is Shen Yiguan's eldest son Shen Taihong. This man is also very talented and learned. If he develops normally, he may not be guaranteed to be a first-class scholar, but there is absolutely no problem for a second-class scholar. But if it is bad, it will be bad. When Shen Guanyi became the chief minister, he was just a civil servant.

In order to prevent Shen Taihong from attracting criticism from his political opponents when he became a Jinshi in the future, Shen Yiguan directly offered him the official position of Shang Baocheng (who was responsible for managing the emperor's seal): according to the practice of Ming Dynasty official circles, scholars and candidates did not obtain official official positions in the imperial court. Previously, you could take the Jinshi exam indefinitely. But once you have an official position, you cannot take the Jinshi exam again. And for officials who do not have a Jinshi background, except for exceptions like Hai Rui, generally speaking, they will not break through to the fifth rank until they die.

Therefore, Shen Taihong's official career was completely ruined. After keeping the jade seal for Wanli for several years, he could only return home sadly.

After accompanying Li Dai to pay homage in front of Shen Yiguan's tomb, the two of them went down the mountain and returned to the ancestral home of the Shen family, where the servants of the Shen family prepared an exquisite meal.

"Congratulations, brother. You will go to Beijing to join the cabinet. You will definitely make a big difference."

"Hey." Chi Liu drank the wine in the glass and Li Dai said: "Young brother, you should know that now the emperor's master's party has become a general trend. Brother Yu's departure is just an embellishment. When the time comes, my colleagues will be constrained and the emperor will not trust me. This will be uncomfortable."

"Haha." As the son of the former leader of the Zhejiang Party, Shen Taihong's knowledge is not bad. Of course he knows that Li Dai is being hypocritical, but as someone whose whole family has too much involvement with the Zhejiang Party, Shen Taihong still has to tolerate him. This kind of pretentiousness, and try to speak more proactively.

"In my opinion, although the Imperial Master Party is a party, it is not monolithic within it. People like the Chief Assistant may not be liked by Sun Kaiyang and Xiong Feibai. And nerds like Zhang Junyi are afraid that Nor can I be loved by a practical man like Yuan Keli..."

"My dear brother, what you said is absolutely true. However, after all, these people have been together for sixteen or seventeen years. There may be internal conflicts, but if we really encounter foreign enemies, we will soon be able to unite as one." When it comes to wine. After pouring wine for Shen Taihong, Li Dai said: "Everyone understands that the emperor ordered me, an old general, to establish an opposition party for the emperor's army. This party does not need to be too powerful, but it must be against the emperor. The divisional party forms a constraint and a clampdown. It has to stand up when necessary and wipe their butts if the imperial divisional party does something bad. Therefore, this requires this party to have some specific ability to handle things."

"Brother, I understand." Without any pretense, Shen Taihong took out a small book from his sleeve and said, "This is a directory of relevant personnel written by my father before his death. Now let me hand it over to my brother. "

"Thank you!" Didn't he come all this way just because he wanted this list in the hands of the previous party leader? With this, we can reluctantly gather the Zhejiang Party again. Well, how about gradually absorbing people from Henan in the future? Come in and slowly cultivate the Henan Party on the corpse of the Zhejiang Party?

"Brother Xian is not even fifty yet, right? Do you want to go out to work again? Brother Yu sees the emperor's employees as being very particular. What's wrong with Juren's background? Then Cao Sanxi is still a white man!" - For the sake of it! Since you gave me this list so readily, do you have any requirements? Do you want to become an official again?

"Hahaha~" Shen Taihong waved his hands and simply rejected Li Dai's overtures: "Nowadays, the tide of the times has begun, and I have decided to join the business of merchants. My Shen family now has two There is a salt mine, a small coal mine, three silk weaving factories, and a shipping company... I am so busy with these things every day, how can I still have the energy to return to the court. And..."

"and?"

"Brother, don't you think it's strange that the emperor's adjustment this time has allowed someone as fiery as Xiong Tingbi to go to the Ministry of Punishment, and instead let Zhao Yan, who is not from the imperial division's party, take charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate?"

"Strange? What's weird? Although the Metropolitan Procuratorate is not as powerful as before, it is responsible for picketing and impeachment of hundreds of officials. The Imperial Division is in power, so we can't leave the supervision to the Imperial Division, right?"

"My brother's analysis is good, but I think that the emperor has deep intentions when an old man like Zhao Yan goes to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. In the future, I am afraid that this official position will become more and more difficult, so I will not go into this muddy water. ."

…

Shen Yiguan, who has been the chief assistant for so many years, has really produced a good son. While Shen Taihong and Li Dai were negotiating, in Beijing, in the Qianqing Palace, Zhao Yan, who had hurried back from Huaibei, was reporting his work to Zhu Youdong.

According to the law that the economic base determines the superstructure, due to the ecological degradation of Shaanxi since the late Tang Dynasty, China's political and economic centers have all moved eastward and southward. Starting from the Song Dynasty, Shaanxi's glory finally ceased.

The decline in political and economic status has caused Shaanxi's people's livelihood to gradually lag behind the eastern and southern provinces. As a result, the proportion of scholars in Shaanxi is much lower than that in Zhejiang and South Zhili, which are strong imperial examination provinces. Without a large number of scholars, this

Every three years in the Ming Dynasty examination, there are naturally very few Jinshis from Shaanxi Province - even if they are successful, their ranking is not very good, and they are often not qualified to be selected as Shujishi.

This is normal. It is difficult for a group to continue to be successful without a base to guarantee it.

In short, because of the backward economy, there was never a "Qin Party" in the court of the Ming Dynasty. Officials from Shaanxi were born to be "lonely ministers" to the emperor.

As for Zhao Yan, he was from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province. From the time he became a Jinshi in mid-1587, he spent more than thirty years in the border areas: wherever there was rebellion, he was sent to put out fires, and he was indeed good at putting out fires.

After more than thirty years, although this official position has gradually been promoted to the third rank. But compared to his hard work, this promotion speed is really too slow.

"Your Majesty, I was surprised when I received the notice from the imperial court. Since I became an official, I have basically been engaged in military affairs. I have had the title of censor, but I have never really done it. Moreover, now I heard that

The Xiangjiao was about to rebel. I had been watching there for so long, and then suddenly let go..."

"Hahaha, Zhao Qing is an honest man. Come on, take a seat first. Let's get ready and serve tea."

After Zhao Yan sat down, Zhu Youdong said: "Zhao Qing, don't worry about the Wenxiang Sect. These chickens and dogs, even if hundreds of thousands of people rebel, they won't be defeated in one fell swoop."

"I am not worried about victory or defeat. I am just worried that some officers will kill people unscrupulously for the sake of military glory. Your Majesty, these believers, except for a few of the culprits, are all ignorant people. There is really no need to..."

"Hey." He stretched out a hand to block Zhao Yan's speech: "Zhao Qing, my new army never counts its merits with its head, so you can rest assured about this."

"Oh, that's good. Then Your Majesty, is this an errand for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, okay? I don't mean any disrespect to the Emperor, but with my temper, I really can't be an official."

"Hahaha, what is Zhao Qing's temperament?"

"I...I am a person who does practical things. I have always looked down on those officials who only find faults and find faults in the people who work. This, this actually requires me to be the leader of officials.

minister……"
Chapter completed!