Several worshipers looked at a broken jade plaque on the confession table with solemn expressions.
"The fate talisman is broken, Ma Yi is dead?"
"Where are the others?"
"Ma Yi and Zheng Zong escorted Zhou Zhong to the place of distribution. Could it be that Zhou Zhong broke away from the torture device, committed murder and escaped?"
"Zheng Zong's life talisman is intact, why haven't he returned from sending the message?"
…
As soon as one person finished speaking, a worshiper strode in and said: "I just received a message from Zheng GongFong. Ma Yi wanted to kill him on the way to escort Zhou Zhong, but he was killed by Zhou Zhong..."
As soon as this statement came out, it caused an uproar.
"Why did Ma Gongfeng kill Zhou Zhong?"
"Zhou Zhong's magic power was limited, so how did he kill the horse to worship him?"
In the previous dynasty, the Enshrinement Department was under the control of the royal family. Today, the Xiao royal family still has absolute control over the Enshrinement Department. In the Enshrinement Department, many of the enshrinements are loyal to the old party. They will obey the orders of the old party and distribute the items to them.
On the way, it is reasonable to kill Zhou Zhong to vent his anger.
But Ma Yi wanted to kill Zhou Zhong, but he killed him instead, which is a bit unbelievable.
Not to mention Zhou Zhong's strength, he is slightly inferior to Ma Yi. Even if his mana is not restricted, he is not Ma Yi's opponent. With his mana limited, his strength is slim. I'm afraid a monk in the supernatural realm can do it.
If you want to kill him, how can you kill another fifth-level worshiper in the presence of a fifth-level worshipper?
One of the worshipers looked troubled and asked: "How should we deal with this matter?"
Some worshipers said: "Zhou Zhong is a criminal and committed such a serious crime. If he is not killed, it will not be enough to rectify the law!"
Everyone looked at him and didn't agree.
Ma Yi killed Zhou Zhong on the way to escort him. At the very least, this was an abuse of power. At the most serious level, it was bullying the emperor. No matter what the reason was, as long as he wanted to kill Zhou Zhong
And when he took action, Zhou Zhong killed him, which was reasonable and legal.
The old party wants to get rid of Zhou Zhong through the Enshrinement Department, which is causing trouble for the Enshrinement Department.
The worshiper thought for a while and said: "The worship department has no power to decide on this kind of matter, so we should report it to the court first."
…
When Li Mu was helping the Queen deal with the treasures today, he learned that one of the priests who was escorting Zhou Zhong was killed by Zhou Zhong because he wanted to kill Zhou Zhong on the way to the distribution.
Although he knew that Zhou Zhong was stronger than he showed, he was still able to kill a fifth-level master when his magic power was restrained. This was probably something that could only be achieved by the sixth-level master.
But no matter how high Zhou Zhong's strength is, he will not be in the sixth realm. Li Mu can still be sure of this.
In Li Mu's heart, Zhou Zhong's strength has always been a mystery.
As a civil servant, he has never shown his strength.
If it hadn't been for the time he secretly helped Madam Chu, Li Mu might have thought that he was just an ordinary creature.
According to the news sent back by the surviving priest, Zhou Zhong only said, "The crime of deceiving the emperor shall be executed according to the law." The head of the horse priest was separated, and then his soul disappeared.
This reminded Li Mu of an unpopular spiritual practice.
Before the rise of Buddhism and Taoism, there were various schools of practice, including doctors, military strategists, musicians, legalists, etc. Each of these schools had its own expertise. Later, with the rise of Taoism and Buddhism, it gradually became the mainstream of practice, and these small schools gradually disappeared.
Among these schools, Li Mu has the deepest memory of Legalism.
Legalist practitioners do not cultivate magical powers or Taoism. After they have achieved great success in cultivation, they follow the Dharma in their words, and their Taoism, Dharma and supernatural powers are useless in front of them.
Even though this ability was not unlimited, it made Li Mu envious for a while.
However, now that we are in a world of Buddhism and Taoism, the Legalist method of practice has long been discontinued. From time to time, legalist descendants will appear in this world, but they will disappear quickly like a flash in the pan.
Judging from what Zhou Zhong did and his identity, he most likely practiced Legalism.
Successors of Legalism have always actively entered the court to promote legal reforms. Perhaps their practice is related to this.
Legalists do not practice magic at all. Their attacks are more like Taoism. If Zhou Zhong is a practitioner of Taoism and law, then his true strength may be extremely close to the sixth realm. The worshipers of the fifth realm want to touch him.
It hit the iron plate.
This incident also exposed a problem: the Enshrinement Department is no longer the Enshrinement Department of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but the Enshrinement Department of the old party.
Each county in the Great Zhou Dynasty has a high degree of autonomy. The role of the Enshrinement Department is equivalent to the Great Zhou FBI. It specializes in handling matters that cannot be handled by the local government. If it is controlled by certain people, it will have very serious consequences.
Xiaoyu's incident is one of them, and Zhou Zhong's incident can also explain the problem.
Now that you have decided to do something big, you might as well start with the Worship Department.
But before that, there is one more important thing that the Ministry of Education needs to solve immediately.
After reversing the case for Li Qing's father, two ministers and two ministers among the six ministries were dismissed. Four positions for officials above the fourth rank were suddenly vacant. The Ministry of Personnel was even more leaderless, and there were no more officials.
At the top, the government office is about to stop functioning.
The Zhongshu Province has been arguing about this all morning.
The Ministry of Personnel was the lifeblood of the old party. It was originally completely controlled by the old party. One minister and two ministers were all members of the old party. The minister of the Ministry of Personnel was simply the king of Nanyang County. The old party, through the Ministry of Personnel,
He controls the evaluation, appointment and dismissal of most officials in the Zhou Dynasty, and also indirectly affects the Enshrinement Department. It can be said that he has grasped the lifeblood of the court.
In the process of overturning Li Yi's case, Li Mu and Zhou Zhong cut off the lifeblood of the old party.
It seems that the old party only lost three officials, but in fact it suffered heavy losses. The old party was an upstream government agency and could radiate countless downstream government agencies. Without the official department, the old party would lose half of its say in the court. Therefore, they hated Zhou Zhong
It's so deep in my bones that I wish I could kill Zhou Zhong on the way to distribution.
This time, Xiao Ziyu, who represented the Xiao royal family, and Zhou Xiong, who represented the Zhou family, had been fighting for the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel for a whole morning. They were fighting till their faces turned red and their necks were thick, but they still refused to give in to the other.
They can't let it go either.
In terms of power, the Minister of Personnel is the most powerful of the six ministers. The old party wants to take back the position that originally belonged to them, and the new party will not let go of this only opportunity. If they get the Ministry of Personnel, they can in turn suppress the old party.
party.
Compared to them, the other people didn't say much. This important position belongs to the new party if it doesn't belong to the old party, and it cannot fall on anyone else.
Regarding the candidates for the Ministry of Personnel, the Zhongshu Province can submit seven quotas.
In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the Xiao family wanted to monopolize seven positions, and the Zhou family naturally wanted to monopolize them, but neither side would let the other succeed, so during the back-and-forth quarrel between the two, Li Mutou got a big headache.
"Don't you even look at whether the person you recommended has any qualifications?"
"My people have no qualifications, but your people have qualifications?"
"I'll give you one at most."
"There are seven quotas, and no one can be missing. This belongs to us!"
…
Li Mu finally couldn't help it, slammed the table and said, "You two, that's enough!"
He looked at Zhou Xiong and Xiao Ziyu and said: "You have been arguing about the quota issue for two hours. Are there any colleagues in your eyes? Next, there are two ministers and a minister who need to be recommended. Do you want to discuss it until next year?
?”
The other members of Zhongshushe strongly agreed with Li Mu and spoke one after another.
"Yes, Mr. Li is right."
"If the two of you keep going like this, when will you be the best?"
"Let's all work together to come up with a charter..."
…
Li Mu thought for a moment and said, "Let's do it this way. There are seven places, three for each of you. The last one will be left vacant or someone can be filled in at random."
"no!"
"I disagree!"
The two refused without any hesitation.
Whether it is the new party or the old party, they are determined to win the position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and they do not want to give up even one place to the other party, let alone three.
"What qualifications do you have to disagree?" Li Mu's face darkened and he said: "We are both from Zhongshushe, and you are more handsome than the other adults, or you are higher in cultivation than the other adults, so why are there seven places?
It's up to the two of you to decide. I'll let you two discuss it to give you face. If you don't want it, then we won't give it to you. For these seven places, the six Zhongshushe people will each recommend one, and the last one will be chosen.
Are you two satisfied with letting Shilang Liu decide?"
Zhou Xiong and Xiao Ziyu were speechless, and the other three Zhongshushe people felt extremely happy in their hearts. Li Mu's words expressed what they had been thinking for many years.
The six members of Zhongshu Province have the same official rank and the same status. Due to the power of the old and new parties, they are usually given more say. If they continue to push their limits, they will be shameless.
Already...
Among the people who serve as members of Zhongshushe, none of them has a prominent family. Even compared to the Xiao family, the Zhou family is no less generous. For thousands of years, the dynasties in this land have also been with them at a certain period.
With the same surname, who doesn’t have some pride in his heart?
Shortly after Li Mu finished speaking, Wang Shi, a member of Zhongshushe, said: "I agree with what Mr. Li said."
Zhang Huaili then spoke: "There is no way to continue fighting like this. If you two don't agree with Mr. Li's initial proposal, then we will each nominate one person. In this way, wouldn't it be more fair?"
Song Liangyu looked at the two of them and asked, "Master Xiao, Master Zhou, what do you think?"
Xiao Ziyu and Zhou Xiong's thoughts changed sharply. The second situation was naturally the last one they wanted to see. If each of them could only nominate one person, then there would not even be a 20% chance. If they each nominated three people, the chance would be reduced.
Nearly 50%...
They can settle this account.
The two looked at each other and said at the same time: "Then let's follow Mr. Li's original proposal."
The two of them each wrote three names on the paper. Xiao Ziyu asked: "The nomination of the last person..."
"It's none of your business." Li Mu waved his hand and said, "You two take six of the seven places. There are five of us, and we don't even have a chance to be nominated?"
Zhou Xiong and Xiao Ziyu stopped talking. The last candidate was originally the last person to make up the number. As long as they were not from the other faction, they had no objections.
Zhou Xiong was worried and added: "The position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is very important. Zhang Chun is not qualified enough. If Mr. Li wants to nominate him, it may be against the rules."
"Do you think that I, like you, only attack dissidents and favor nepotism?" Li Mu looked at him disdainfully and said: "Besides, even if it is a nomination, the final decision is made by His Majesty. Do you think that I can make the decision on the choice of Minister of Civil Affairs?
