I

The pomp when Li Banghua left Beijing was slightly weaker than that of Pang Chunlai, but he still arrived at the dock in the Emperor's imperial chariot.

Moreover, Li Banghua became a duke and was directly promoted from the original Marquis of Jishui to the Duke of Gan at the same level as Pang Chunlai. However, he was only granted the title of Grand Master, but not the Crown Prince or Grand Master.

The emperor's gift to Li Banghua was only ten cars, unlike Pang Chunlai's more than forty cars.

"Uncle Hui, after I leave, you must be careful as an official." Li Banghua warned him seriously.

Li Rixuan said: "My nephew, please remember this."

Li Banghua was worried: "It's good if you can remember it, but I'm afraid... alas!"

Li Rixuan was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, and he was only in his early twenties at that time. First he served as a member of the Zhongshushe, and then as a supervisory censor, becoming a pawn of the Donglin Party.

This guy often recommends officials, and they are all officials who have been squeezed out of the court by the eunuchs. Wei Zhongxian was very dissatisfied with this and threw him to the local salt administration. Out of sight, out of mind. After returning to Beijing, he and his uncle Li Banghua both worked as officials in the Ministry of War. In order to avoid suspicion, they directly resigned and returned to their hometown.

Chongzhen succeeded to the throne and restored his uncle and nephew to their posts. In order to avoid suspicion, Li Rixuan chose to stay in his hometown in Jiangxi.

Historically, this person became the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Ming Dynasty. Because he was involved in political struggles, he was sent to Chongqing by Chongzhen. He died of illness soon after the amnesty.

In this time and space, in the third year after Li Banghua joined Zhao Han, Li Rixuan also came to join him. He first served in the General Military Mansion, then was sent out to serve as county magistrate, then served as county magistrate and magistrate in Hunan, and then served as Hunan transit envoy. Before being transferred back to the capital, he served as Zhejiang Zuobu political envoy.

He was born as a censor, and he was quite impulsive when things happened. To put it mildly, he was daring to act. His political achievements in Zhejiang were indeed excellent.

Li Banghua said: "I know that you and Song Changgeng (Song Yingxing) are not on good terms, and your respective subordinates also have rifts due to their promotion. But remember, tolerance serves the country!"

Li Rixuan explained: "My uncle knows his nephew's character and will not fight with others because of personal grudges. However, when Song Changgeng's party member Yu Shiqin was a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he often suppressed my officials in Ji'an, Fuzhou, and Ganzhou. Priority was given to promoting officials from Nanchang, Linjiang, Nankang, Jiujiang, and Raozhou. I went to Song Changgeng to argue with him, but Song Changgeng was always perfunctory, and he was simply too bullying!"

"Song Changgeng is not a favoritist," Li Banghua said. "Even when Yu Shiqin did things, he did not break the rules. You two can fight in the future, but you must not break the rules."

The conflict between the two factions arises from the selection of officials.

At that time, Yu Shiqin, an official from Nanchang, served as a doctor in the selection department and had the power to finalize the promotion of officials below the fourth rank. There were too many officials in Jiangxi who were qualified for promotion due to their qualifications and achievements. Under similar circumstances, Yu Shiqin gave priority to promotions from Nanchang, followed by those from Jiujiang, Nankang, Raozhou and other places.

This approach made many Jiangxi officials furious. However, Yu Shiqin was an honest official and had no illegal operations. Li Rixuan could not find an excuse to fight back.

It was precisely because of Yu Shiqin's willful behavior that Jiangxi officials, except for the elder faction, gradually divided into factions again. The Chengyi faction in Linjiang Prefecture and the north, and the Chengyi faction in Ji'an Prefecture and the south, fought over the selection of officials.

It's okay to have Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua suppressing them, but once the two elders leave, the fight will definitely become more fierce in the future.

Li Banghua knew his nephew's character well, and out of worry, he pulled off his old face and visited Song Yingxing, intending to give in to each other.

"The grand master's visit makes the humble house shine!" Song Yingxing warmly welcomed him.

Li Banghua said straight to the point: "Brother Chang Geng, brother Yu will return to Jiangxi in two days. There are some things that I can't let go of, so I came here to discuss things with brother Xian."

Song Yingxing said: "Grand Master, please speak."

Li Banghua said: "The juniors are ignorant. They are all officials of the imperial court and fellow townsmen in Jiangxi. What is there to argue about? In my opinion, it is better to bear with each other for the sake of the country and work together to create a peaceful and prosperous age for Your Majesty. Shilang Yu (Yu Shiqin) )There……"

Song Yingxing smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Meng An, do you really think that Yu Shiqin is following my orders? It's true that he and I are both from Nanchang, but he is independent and knows what he is doing. At the beginning, there were a lot of people who were promoted to Jinshi. It was Yu Shiqin who took the initiative to go south to serve His Majesty. It was also Yu Shiqin who took the lead in catching the commander-in-chief Yang Jiamo on the way."

Li Banghua's mind was racing, and he suddenly realized: "It turns out that Yu Shiqin is your Majesty's man."

Song Yingxing said: "He is not only His Majesty's man, but also the one who makes his own decisions. Just because I am from Nanchang, they pushed me out to be a facade!"

There were too many high-ranking officials from Ji'an Prefecture, and it happened that a group of Jiangxi sergeants had captured Jiangxi general Yang Jiamo and took the initiative to go south to join Zhao Han. Therefore, Zhao Han reused this group of Jiangxi sergeants and appointed their leader Yu Shiqin as the official selection officer.

Yu Shiqin's mind was extremely flexible. When the emperor called him to chat, he realized the emperor's true meaning on his own.

As a result, Jiangxi officials were divided internally, and officials from Ji'an Prefecture were suppressed in disguise.

Moreover, Yu Shiqin's approach was more extreme than Zhao Han expected. This guy is just walking a tightrope, and if he's not careful, he'll be in jeopardy. The rate of return was also very high. He quickly attracted a large number of people and became the leader of the factions in central and northern Jiangxi.

The strength of this faction is not strong, Song Yingxing is just a facade, and the rest can only serve as ministers. However, there are a lot of middle-level officials and a large number of young and hard-working people.

After leaving Song Yingxing's mansion, Li Banghua kept thinking about it halfway.

He completely figured it out, Liu Ziren was also the emperor's man!

Liu Ziren was the previous Minister of Civil Affairs and was elected to the cabinet this time. When he was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he apparently did not interfere with Yu Shiqin. It seemed that the two sides were not helping each other, but in fact he was favoring Yu Shiqin. This person also came from Ji'an Prefecture, but he belonged to the elder faction. It seemed that he had already understood the emperor's intention.

The day before leaving Beijing, Li Banghua found his nephew again: "I will just say one thing, you will make your own decisions from now on. Liu Ziren and Yu Shiqin are both His Majesty's people!"

Li Rixuan was stunned and immediately said: "Uncle, nephew, I understand. We should continue to retreat and tolerate it. Yu Shiqin has become more and more domineering in the past two years. Then let him, let him be more domineering, and become so domineering that no one can understand him." To the point where he will make enemies everywhere, even His Majesty will hate him, and this guy will be close to death..."

"Don't tell me this. I won't care about court affairs from now on." Li Banghua stood up and left.

Li Banghua also left, and the cabinet truly entered the Song Yingxing era.

A few days later, when all the officials went out to attend court.

Li Rixuan's bicycle frame happened to meet Yu Shiqin's. As the minister of the Ministry of Industry, he actually asked the coachman to give way and said loudly: "Shilang Yu is the heavenly official of the Ministry of Personnel, let him go first."

Yu Shiqin was alert in his heart. He was just a minister on the right, and he was not crazy enough to ask the minister to step aside. If this matter spread out, he would definitely be looked down upon. He quickly asked the driver to stop and said loudly: "Li Shangshu, please go first."

Li Rixuan started to evacuate, raised his hands in greeting and said: "Thank you very much, Mr. Yu, for your courtesy."

Yu Shiqin watched Li Rixuan's carriage leave. While he felt vigilant, he also felt a little proud. This is due to human nature and has nothing to do with IQ.

Yu Shiqin also belongs to the young and hard-working group, and is less than forty years old this year. Among the group of Jiangxi sergeants who went south with him, there were already several third- and fourth-grade officers, and the worst-performing ones were from the fifth grade. In addition, they also attracted a large number of local hard-working people. They represent the court twenty years from now, and they will rule the world by then.

The method of drying salt was previously only popular along the southern coast, but it was Yu Shiqin who ordered it to be promoted to Jianghuai.

Yu Shiqin has many such political achievements, and his practical ability dwarfs most officials. Because of this, he could stand out and be appreciated by the emperor.

But this guy is getting more and more arrogant, or has always been arrogant, and he is very utilitarian.

If it hadn't been for the founding of the People's Republic of China, this kind of person would most likely have become a generation of powerful ministers after rising to prominence.

He does not love money, only loves power, and can be said to be as incorruptible as water.

Li Rixuan rode a carriage to the Forbidden City with a sneer on his face. Make you crazy, the crazier the better. How crazy you are today will determine how miserable your death will be tomorrow!

This is a long-term strategy, and it may take several years to show weakness.

After all, Yu Shiqin is very smart, and it is impossible for him to become domineering by giving in for a while. Only several years of patience can relax Yu Shiqin's vigilance and make him become completely rampant.

In this way, the court was as calm as water, and there was no fierce fighting as Pang Chunlai expected.

"Your Majesty, Fang Ge died of illness." Li Xiangjun received the report from a female official and walked quickly to Zhao Han and said.

Zhao Han sighed: "Alas, I tried countless doctors but still couldn't save him."

This is not a fake sigh, but a real emotion.

Fang Shengchang's administrative ability is average, but he is rarely honest and obedient, and he never forms cliques. Moreover, this person rebelled on his own initiative and brought his territory to join him. His qualifications and prestige were deep enough, so he was brought into the cabinet to act as a lubricant.

The lubricant turned out to be dead.

Zhao Han immediately issued an order: "I ordered the Ministry of Rites to give Fang Shengchang a grand burial and prepare a posthumous title for him. In addition, he was granted the title of Grand Tutor and Marquis of Longquan, so that his eldest son could inherit the title of Marquis. His wife was given the title of First Grade Imperial Order."

The reason why Fang Shengchang was granted the title of Marquis of Longquan was because he raised troops in Longquan County and made important military exploits in the early stages of the actual campaign - he was previously the Marquis of Longquan.

Zhao Han continued: "Chen Maosheng, the Minister of Rites, paid homage to Dongge University, and ordered him to join the cabinet as prime minister. Wang Tiaoding, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, was promoted to the Minister of Rites."

This was different from Pang Chunlai's expectation. Zhu Shunshui did not join the cabinet, but continued to serve as Shangshu of the Ministry of Commerce.

On the contrary, the extremely young Chen Maosheng actually joined the cabinet early.

Pang Chunlai always believed that Chen Maosheng would become a few more ministers before joining the cabinet as the emperor's lone minister.

What a lonely person.

Chen Maosheng has been in charge of the Ministry of Etiquette for so many years. He has never formed cliques and acted according to the rules. If he has the ability, he will use it; if he has no ability, he will throw it away. It doesn't matter which faction you belong to. When it comes to the promotion and transfer of officials from the Ministry of Rites, his words are more effective than those of the Minister of Personnel, and the Ministry of Personnel has to seek his opinions in turn.