After the double murder of Chai and Dai, Jiao Shun was obviously much more heartbroken.

This is directly reflected in his attitude towards King Zhongshun. Originally, he wanted to suppress the regent matter as much as possible, but now he is more inclined to make the matter bigger and settle it once and for all.

Of course, this was not only because Jiao Shun's mentality had changed, but also because of the subtle changes in the court, which made him understand that it was almost impossible for him to settle the matter.

Just after the Shangyuan Festival, the cabinet first proposed to add two cabinet bachelors to replace the vacancies left by the resignation of the former chief minister and Wang Zhe.

There are only two people left in the cabinet now, and according to the rules, they should be added.

But the problem is that anyone with a discerning eye can see that the emperor's change is imminent. According to the established practice, the vacancies in the cabinet should be reserved as a bargaining chip for the new emperor to show favor after he ascends the throne, and at the same time, it is also convenient for the new emperor to control the overall situation.

It is impossible that Mr. He Ge and Mr. Xu Ge did not know this, but they still chose to propose additional cabinet bachelors at this time. They obviously had other intentions.

At the very least, it was an attempt to take the opportunity to expand the power of the cabinet - as long as the newly appointed cabinet bachelor can speak on the same page as the two cabinet elders, it will naturally be more conducive for the power of the prime minister to overwhelm the imperial power.

After the emperor fell seriously ill two years ago, all major military and political affairs were decided by the Supreme Emperor. Some matters that were not confidential and had conventions to refer to were handled through consultation by the empress, Concubine Wu, and Concubine Xiande.

But now that the Supreme Emperor died suddenly, Jia Yuanchun was squeezed out of the inner circle again.

The decision-making ability of the palace can be said to have reached a historical low. This is the time when the cabinet is most relied on, and the cabinet elders proposed adding cabinet bachelors, which is exactly the weakness of the palace.

If this point had little to do with Jiao Shun, then a memorial from the Minister of Rites brought Gongxue and Jiao to the forefront again.

There is nothing new in this memorial. It is still the same old tune, hoping to incorporate engineering into the imperial examination system - specifically, only those who passed the provincial examination and became a civil servant could be appointed officials.

This memorial still received unanimous support from the scholars, but the difference was that there was no longer a strong voice in the palace that could suppress it...

In short, it can be seen with the naked eye that without the support of the Supreme Emperor, it will be difficult for the seven-year-old little emperor to control the situation - especially when a certain emperor's uncle takes the lead in the charge.

Whether it is for Jiao Shun's own future and life, or for the little emperor's prestige, he will continue to perform a show that scares the tigers and scares the monkeys!

But it's not the right time yet, or it's not hot enough.

Therefore, Jiao Shun chose to restrain his desires before promoting them.

On the 17th day of the first lunar month, when he entered the palace again to report the throne, he just made the suggestion out of hand, mobilizing public opinion to expose all the atrocities committed by King Zhongshun in the past, and then refused to let him serve as regent in the name of King Zhongshun's misconduct.

This method seems feasible, and both the Queen and Concubine Wu are in favor of it.

However, when it came to the implementation level, it encountered obstacles everywhere. Except for a few splashes in the first two days, the subsequent momentum was quickly suppressed.

Obviously, after King Zhongshun submitted his petition, someone had already responded.

Newspapers and periodicals were originally controlled by literati and Confucian scholars.

In the end, the only one that truly spared no effort in carrying out propaganda was Ta Kung Pao, which was in the hands of the Labor Party.

And what does this newspaper say?

It was indeed popular for a while during the palace trial at the beginning of the year, but because of its popularity, it suffered a lot of pressure in the second half of the year. Although overall sales increased, the upward momentum was obviously interrupted.

So far, the daily publication has nearly 7,000 copies, which is pretty good among the second-tier newspapers, but still far behind the first-tier newspapers.

Moreover, the subscribers are relatively concentrated, mainly in factories and engineering schools, as well as ordinary people close to these two groups. The influence cannot be said to be small, but the range of people covered is relatively narrow.

This issue has caused quite a headache for everyone in the Labor Party, but in Jiao Shun's view, it is not a bad thing. At least he can conduct targeted publicity to his base in newspapers.

However, the first shot he fired was not in the Ta Kung Pao. Instead, he once again mobilized the Detachment of Women to go against the grain. In the name of King Zhongshun, he published articles in several medium-sized newspapers in succession against the New Deal, Engineering, and Jiaotong University.

Shun's fierce criticism.

With him, the founder of the New Deal and Engineering, as the 'chief editor', these articles were far more to the point than those written by real Confucian scholars, so they were praised by many people as soon as they were published.

As for the proposal at the end of the article that completely negated the New Deal and firmly called for the dissolution of engineering schools, many Confucian scholars supported it with both hands and feet.

At the same time, Prince Zhongshun.

King Zhongshun roughly read through the newspaper in his hand, wiped a long snake pattern on the table, and then looked up at his confidant in puzzlement: "Didn't you say before that you should try your best to get Gong Xue and Na Jiao?

Are you willing to do it in exchange for the support of the scholars? Although these articles were not written by others alone, they are better than us. Is there any problem with this?"

“Students can’t see the problem with these articles for the time being.”

The counselor cupped his hands and said sternly: "But they published the article in the name of the prince, but they couldn't find out the root cause. Just in case, the student thought it was best to come forward to clarify it in time, so as not to be taken advantage of.

Know."

"Being used?"

King Zhongshun lowered his head and looked at the newspaper on the table again. Although he did not read these articles very carefully, he could still recognize them. The content of the articles was basically consistent with his own purpose. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were going in both directions. How could he say that?

Being taken advantage of?

But his counselor insisted, and he had to be more vigilant.

Finally, King Zhongshun waved his hand: "Come on, then..."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

At this moment, a burst of urgent shouting suddenly came from outside the study door.

King Zhongshun raised his eyebrows, picked up the kettle on the stove, opened the curtain and threw it out with a roar. At the same time, he cursed: "Slave dog, this is where you yell and scream?!"

The man outside the door was caught off guard and screamed, but when he heard King Zhongshun scolding him, he quickly covered his mouth with all his strength.

Seeing that half of his face was red, King Zhongshun calmed down slightly and asked with a cold face: "What's the matter? Tell me!"

"Your Majesty, several young officials came to your door and asked to see the Prince."

The man said, carefully handing over a few greeting cards.

King Zhongshun didn't care much at first, but when he saw the name clearly, he was overjoyed.

Because most of them are young talents who are famous for a while, and many of them are noble officials, they usually cherish their feathers the most. In the past, King Zhongshun sent people to invite them, but they might not be able to invite them. Who knows today?

But all the children came to the door.

"Your Majesty!"

The counselor also saw the invitation from the side, and immediately his eyes lit up and said: "If we can have help from these people, why worry about the big thing not happening?!"

King Zhongshun nodded in agreement and immediately went out to greet him personally.

After the two parties met and exchanged some pleasantries, someone inside took out several newspapers and asked, "May I ask, Your Majesty, who in the household wrote the articles above?"

King Zhongshun took a closer look, but wasn't it the articles he had just prepared to clarify?

He opened his mouth in astonishment, then nodded and said: "It was indeed written by a Qing guest from my residence. Of course, I also gave some pointers to it."

Everyone who came to visit looked at each other in confusion, and they all felt that King Zhongshun was indeed King Zhongshun. However, because of those well-known articles, they could only pinch their noses and say: "Your Majesty is far-sighted, it is better for me to wait."

Immediately, he hoped that King Zhongshun would invite the author to come out and discuss the plan with everyone.

Where did King Zhongshun turn them into human beings?

At that moment, he hesitated in reply. Seeing that the visiting talents were getting impatient and seemed to want to leave, he gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Quick, go and invite Mr. Jiang!"

This Mr. Jiang is his confidant.

Not long after, Mr. Jiang arrived. He was a scholar who had failed many times. Although he was conceited about his intelligence, he naturally respected and feared those who had passed the imperial examination. Now that he saw all the famous people present, he couldn't help but compare himself to others.

When facing King Zhongshun, he had to be cautious. He bowed and asked carefully: "I wonder what your instructions are for calling the students here?"

"Mr. Jiang, you don't have to be like this."

The leader, Yan Guan, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Just these few articles, sir, are enough to make the scholar famous."

"ah?!"

Mr. Jiang was stunned at first, and then he saw the prince squinting, and the celebrities and dignitaries also cast admiring glances. He unconsciously took a breath of cold air, then straightened his back and said: "Don't dare, Jiang

It's just an occasional insight - of course, it cannot be separated from the prince's advice."

From that day on, Mr. Jiang from the Zhongshun Prince's Palace became famous, and his articles were reprinted on the front pages of major newspapers, making him an instant hit.

…………

At the same time that public opinion about abolishing engineering studies became more and more intense.

The day of Jia Mu's funeral finally arrived.

Because of Qin Keqing's glorious funeral two years ago, Jia Zheng gritted his teeth and spent 50,000 taels of silver to go in. After all, he couldn't let his grandnephew's daughter-in-law compare to his mother.

In addition to the 30,000 taels that Xue Baochai and Jiao Shun gave out, there were another 20,000 taels that they managed to get together by agreeing to share the inheritance with their eldest son thirty-seven.

By the time this funeral is completed, the Rongguo Mansion will be completely destitute.

Perhaps it was for this reason that the cries in the funeral procession were so loud that they were particularly emotional.

As usual, Jiao Shun also set up a tent for road sacrifices.

Perhaps because the news about Jia Yuanchun's exclusion had spread outside, although there were many people setting up roadside memorials, not many big shots actually came to pay their respects in person.

As a result, Jiao Shun ranked among the top five and was able to participate in the family ceremony.

After Jia Zheng, Baoyu, Jia Lian and other filial sons and grandsons knelt down to pay their respects, Jiao stepped forward to help Baoyu up and specifically warned: "Auntie should have told you, right? After the funeral, you must remember to return to the Yamen.

You must be on duty, otherwise you may not be able to continue to serve as an official!"

Jia Baoyu's eyes clearly flashed with joy when he heard the words 'can't do it', but he also knew that Jiao Shun meant well, so he just nodded to express his understanding.

However, until the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, Jiao Shun did not see him show up in the engineering school. Instead, he formally participated in the impeachment process and had already submitted it to the cabinet on the twenty-fourth day.

The twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month.
Chapter completed!