On the sixth day of the sixth day of the ninth year of Jiajing, the capital was raining heavily, with dark clouds and lightning, which was very scary. On this day, a huge shock occurred in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, a personnel earthquake that shocked the whole country and had far-reaching impacts. The officials present could not forget the scene at that time. Even many years later, they still remember it freshly and were still scared.

In the Wenhua Hall at that time, Jiajing's face was darker and thicker than the dark clouds in the sky. His roar, angry and cursed were louder and brighter than thunder. A group of civil and military ministers knelt in front of the emperor, touching the ground with their foreheads, and their butts were sticking high, just like a group of ostrichs burying their heads into the sand after encountering danger.

Jiajing cursed for half an hour, and there was almost no pause during this period. The spits of confessions almost soaked in the stack of confessions on the imperial case, and all the ministers present were silent.

Afterwards, all the ministers on the list of confessions were severely punished. The first to be affected was naturally the chief minister of the cabinet. He accepted two famous paintings by Wang Tong, which were of great value. He was ordered by Jiajing to resign from the position of chief minister of the cabinet immediately. However, Jiajing was old and did not immediately arrest him, but ordered him to wait for trial at home and not to leave his residence without step.

The second is Xia Yan of Wenyuan Pavilion University. He accepted a Duan inkstone from Wang Tong. Although the value is average, Jiajing was angry that he did not report it, so he also removed him from his post and investigated him. Originally, Xia Yan had always been upright and honest, but this time he didn't know what he was confused about. He actually accepted the gifts of the King of Shu. It was probably because he couldn't hide his face. After all, the other party was a vassal king, and the things he committed were not serious, so Xia Yan symbolically accepted a Duan inkstone from others.

I guess Mr. Xia Ge was not convinced and felt that he was wronged, so he wrote letters to defend himself one after another, but did not know that the fact that Jiajing was annoyed was not because he accepted bribes, but because he did not report it. In Jiajing's view, this was a manifestation of infidelity. As a result, Xia Yan did not even mention the key points of the book, but instead made Jiajing feel that he did not repent. So in anger, he directly stripped Xia Yan of his fame and fortune and threw him into prison to wait for his crime.

At this point, it’s too late for Xia Ge Lao to regret it!

Similarly, Xi Shu, the four auxiliary assistants of the cabinet and the Minister of Rites, also accepted the honorary gifts from the King of Shu, and the value was not low. Jiajing treated him equally and still cut him off and investigated him.

As a result, the four auxiliary ministers in the cabinet were almost wiped out, leaving only the only auxiliary Zhai Luan. It was not because Zhai Luan was so honest and upholding principles, but because Zhai Ge Lao and the King of Shu were not right.

It turned out that Zhai Luan had a position in Xindu, Sichuan, and because of some things, he had formed a bond with Zhu Binhan, the previous generation of Shu King. Therefore, after Wang Tong entered Beijing, he did not ask Zhai Luan for help. As a result, Zhai Ge Lao escaped.

In addition, Zhang Cong, the Minister of Justice, did not escape the fate of being masturbated. Although he did not accept Wang Tong's bribes, he did not report it. As the presiding judge of the case, he made an unwilling promise. Therefore, Jiajing suspended him in anger and ordered him to reflect at home. However, Zhang Cong's best friend Gui E was much more miserable, because this guy not only collected Wang Tong's 10,000 taels of silver, but also three cardamom girls. He was truly rich and lustful, so Jiajing not only removed him from his post, but also directly stripped him of his fame and fortune and was put into prison for trial.

The Minister of Personnel Fang Xianfu naturally fell into trouble. Unfortunately, this old fried dough had a bad habit, that is, greed for money. This time he actually accepted 20,000 taels of silver from the King of Shu, so Jiajing was not ruthless and directly investigated his position and was imprisoned to be tried.

This time, Mr. Fang’s slippery head is really a cat’s whiskers, and he will not be protected in his later years!

As for the new Minister of Revenue Xu Zan, although he did not accept bribes, he did not report it. Jiajing also ordered him to suspend his post and reflect. Therefore, the top leaders of the six ministries were Wu Wending, the Minister of War and Zhao Huang, and the Minister of Works.

In this way, Jiajing waved his hand and only one of the four ministers in the cabinet remained, and only two of the six ministers left. This is a unique thing in the history of the Ming Dynasty, which is truly amazing.

However, Jiajing was relieved to vent his anger for a moment, but soon he found that he was a little too much to play with after leaving these important officials. The political affairs he had to deal with every day made him breathless, especially the only remaining old man Zhai Ge, who had a great success in the cabinet, was even more miserable. In just less than ten days, he almost gave his old bones, and asked Jiajing to add manpower, otherwise he would be tired and be able to report to the Yan Luo Palace and change to sell salted duck eggs.

Jiajing had no choice but to transfer Wu Wen to the cabinet to help the state affairs, and at the same time he asked him to continue to serve as the Minister of War. In addition, he urgently transferred several old ministers from Nanjing to take over some of the vacancy of the six ministries.

It is worth mentioning here that Xu Jie, who was less than 30 years old, also stood out in this personnel earthquake, and was promoted from a Hanlin Assistant Bachelor of Staff to a Hanlin Assistant Bachelor of Staff, and replaced Xia Yan in charge of the Hanlin Assistant Academy.

After a while, Jiajing's anger subsided a little and began to think about Zhang Cong's good things. In addition, Zhang Cong did not accept bribes from the King of Shu and had a good attitude of admitting guilt. He cried bitterly in front of Jiajing, so Jiajing forgave him and restored him to the position of Minister of Justice.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Zan, the Minister of Revenue, was also reinstated, because he did not accept bribes from the King of Shu and had a good attitude of admitting his mistakes, allowing him to reinstate his position and make up for his mistakes.

In this way, the current cabinet formation became Zhai Luan and Wu Wending. The six ministers were: Wang Yu, Minister of Personnel, Xu Zan, Minister of Revenue, Li Shi, Minister of Rites, Zhang Cong, Minister of Justice, Wu Wending, Minister of War, and Zhao Huang, Minister of Works.

Although there are only two auxiliary ministers in the cabinet at present, all the vacancy of the six ministries has been filled. Jiajing can finally breathe a sigh of relief and his work has been much easier. However, after this incident, Jiajing's personality has begun to become suspicious and no longer trusts the ministers in the court as easily as before, and naturally, Zhang Cong also includes.

On the contrary, Jiajing trusted and relied on the power of the factory guards more, because in his opinion, the people of the factory guards were more loyal and reliable.

And what about our Eunuch Bi?

After successfully rushing for a wave of performance in the first half of the year, he brought down all the important officials in the court with a sensation. Naturally, he became more majestic and more respected by Jiajing, and his authority was heavier.

However, Bi Chun was obviously not satisfied with this. He wanted to handle Yang Shen's case into an ironclad case. He wanted to overturn another vassal king to establish his authority, so he decided to go to Xindu, Sichuan in person. Ten days ago, Bi Chun set out with confidence and left Beijing. It is estimated that he has arrived in Shanxi.
Chapter completed!