Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 437 Lobbying Lu Ting
Li Shishi had a rough idea in his mind. Since he was not going to attack Liu Jin's eunuch party, he should continue with the original plan to check the redundant officials in various government offices in the capital.

So Li Shishi said bitterly, "In that case, when I get the credit for the special examination, I will take the initiative to ask the Ministry of Personnel to cooperate in checking redundant officials in my capacity as the Left Censor-in-Chief. Then those bastards will know that I will not let them manipulate me."

"Inspection of redundant officials" was Yang Tinghe's trick to plot against Yang Yiqing.

The entire verification process is basically the Ministry of Personnel calling out names and the Censorate taking action.

On the surface, these two families seem to be full of power and awe-inspiring, but which one of them, who has a position in the government office in the capital and eats idle meals, is easy to mess with?
No matter how honest and upright Yang Yiqing is, he is still someone else's boss.

Do you want to protect the younger brother under you? Do you want to protect the seventh uncle of the younger brother under you?
Don't think that a great and upright official like Yang Yiqing from the Ministry of Personnel can escape these intrigues. His power may reach as far as a clerk who is not even of the ninth rank.

He is a top official in the Ministry of Personnel, but he was not born that way; he was supported by countless people from below.

When Yang Yiqing stood there looking great and upright, did he want to look back at where he came from?

Therefore, even for a person like Yang Yiqing, his subordinates must be protected, and his subordinates' seventh uncle must also be protected.

After he saved his younger brother and his younger brother's seventh uncle, what about the younger brothers and the seventh uncles of the other older brothers?

Still need to protect...

So even though they all verbally denounced redundant officials and the departments themselves complained that "there are thousands of redundant staff in each government office", the final result was still that Yang Yiqing "used thundering tactics to dismiss five people."

Fortunately, the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate were still competent when it came to cracking down on local officials.

In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate, which had been submissive in the imperial inspection and only found five redundant officials, took strong measures to inspect officials in all departments across the country.

In this assessment, which was mainly based on local officials, 1,561 officials from major government offices and 1,325 officials from miscellaneous government offices were investigated and punished for reasons such as old age, illness, laxity, carelessness, and lack of ability.

Yang Yiqing no longer walked alone in dark alleys, but instead carried a light and beat local officials until they cried out in anger.

Li Shishi's instigation of an investigation into redundant officials this time does indeed have a strong evil element to it.

Because of this incident, if the situation of "thunderous tactics, dismissal of five people" really happened, he, the head of the Censorate, would also be embarrassed.

This is indeed an attempt to drag Yang Yiqing into the mud.

Pei Yuan was even more open-minded about this matter.

Anyway, it's not him who is embarrassed.

Pei Yuan even encouraged him, "Just do your best, Dadu Xian. The more they oppose you, the more it means you are doing the right thing."

In this way, the "Bian Xian and Xiao Chong case", the "Ma Zhongxi case" and the "redundant officials investigation" promoted by the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel will form a combined force.

Once these two cases are investigated, the disputes in the court will be pushed to an unimaginable level of intensity.

Li Shishi thought for a moment and said, "The most important thing right now is to quickly clarify the matter of En Ke, so that others won't take advantage of it."

"However, although this matter has opened up many connections and has received a lot of support, whether or not the emperor is willing to show mercy in the end still depends on his attitude."

Pei Yuan dispelled Li Shishi's worries and said, "It's okay. I'll try to talk to the emperor about this matter."

Li Shishi: “…”

Li Shishi said for fun, "We don't know if there will be any setbacks in the Ministry of Rites. Let's not let them take advantage of us after all our hard work."

Pei Yuan subconsciously said, "Don't worry, I have also made arrangements for the Minister of Rites, and he won't be able to take up the post for a while."

Li Shishi: “…”

So, my dear brother, how have I caused you so much suffering?

Li Shishi suffered quite a big shock today.

Although he was fine when he came, and everyone in the world was his enemy when he left, he turned evil and became stronger.

He also had a clearer understanding of the relationship between himself and Brother Pei Xian.

This brother Pei is the one who can join hands with him and reach the top together.

After seeing off Li Shishi, Pei Yuan silently reviewed his moves over the past period of time.

First, Pei Yuan persuaded Li Shishi to promote the imperial examinations, pollute talents, gain prestige and penetrate into local areas as bait, so that the Censorate took the lead in launching a discussion on meritorious service, thus bringing up the topic of the dispute between civil and military officials.

Then, by using civil officials to push military officials, and then using military officials to push civil officials, the originally stable court situation began to loosen.

Afterwards, Gu Dayong submitted a letter in the name of inventory, which not only heated up the debate but also attracted more attention.

This massive amount of attention has magnified the impact of this event tenfold or a hundredfold.

This made it easy for Pei Yuan to use very small resources to shake up the court situation which was already beginning to conflict.

At the same time, Pei Yuan, through Gu Dayong's hype, put the sinister guy He Huan in front of all the civil and military officials in the court.

By hyping up his achievements, he indirectly elevated Lu Ting's merits and fulfilled his promise to give him the title of Earl.

As for earning more than 100,000 taels of silver, it was just a piece of cake and not worth mentioning.

Then, Pei Yuan offered Zhu Houzhao the strategy of adopting a son in advance, which suppressed the arrogance of the civil service camp in one fell swoop. He also secretly plotted against Wang Qiong, making him stand in the enemy camp of Yang Tinghe early on.

That is to say, when the civil servants were most depressed, the protection of the civil servants by the eunuch Bi Zhen, who was in charge of Shandong, became extremely valuable.

As Bi Zhen submitted a petition to exonerate the "Bian Xian and Xiao Chong case", the civil servants launched a new counterattack with an extremely fierce attitude.

However, it was this excessive "Bian Xian and Xiao Chong case" that led to the split between Minister of War He Jian and Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing.

Then Pei Yuan took advantage of He Jian who was forced into a desperate situation, and once again relied on Bi Zhen's public petition to push public opinion in the court and the public to turn their attention to the "Ma Zhongxi case."

Taking advantage of the situation that was magnified and exploited time and time again, and utilizing the power of the Minister of War He Jian himself, he finally destroyed the superficial harmony between Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing in one fell swoop, and promoted a major split in the Qingliu camp.

At the same time, facing such a disintegrating anti-Liu Jin camp, Lu Wan certainly did not need to surrender in a humble manner as before.

The rise of Lu Wan as an independent force will further strip away a piece of the civil service power that has already begun to split, making it even more fragmented.

This will make it very convenient for Captain Pei to reorganize the Ming Dynasty court.

After Chen Xinjian saw Li Shishi off, Captain Pei remained silent for a long time.

So he took the initiative to step forward and ask, "Does Qianhu want to see anyone else?"

Pei Yuan said thoughtfully, "Yes, it's time to say hello to Eunuch Lu."

Lu Ting wants to compete for the position of the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. The importance of this matter is no less than Pei Yuan's arrangement of the Seven Ministers.

Chen Xinjian took the initiative to say, "Then I will go and invite Eunuch Lu over." Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan immediately scolded, "Eunuch Lu is my close comrade-in-arms, how can you treat him so lightly? Go and ask him if he is free. I will visit him in person."

Seeing Pei Yuan's performance, the studious Chen Xinjian also realized his mistake.

Although Eunuch Lu is now just a lame-duck seal holder who has not yet taken back the real power of the Imperial Stables, it seems that in Captain Pei's political system, his future status will be higher than the Seven Ministers and will be comparable to the "Three Cabinets".

sloppy.

Chen Xinjian said quickly, "Then I will go to Eunuch Lu's house and ask if he is here."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuan waved his hand and signaled him to get out.

Not long after, Chen Xinjian came back to report that Eunuch Lu was still living in seclusion in the mansion.

At this moment, Lu Ting was following Pei Yuan's advice and was indifferent to fame and fortune at home. When he heard that Pei Yuan was coming, he hurried out to greet him.

The two of them exchanged greetings.

Lu Ting said with a beaming face, "Thanks to your planning, my nephew was given the title of Earl. I will have that kid go to Zhihua Temple to thank you someday."

Although the rewards from the Ministry of War were greatly impacted because of the "Adopted Son Policy", the general content had already been known by well-informed people like Lu Ting.

Lu Ting's nephew was awarded the title of Earl, which made Lu Ting very satisfied.

Pei Yuan had nothing to say about this, as this was indeed the result of his efforts.

Pei Yuan made a few polite remarks and then asked Lu Ting, "How do you know I did this?"

Lu Ting replied, "We didn't pay attention to the process, the result was what I wanted anyway."

"I think this must be the work of Brother Pei."

Pei Yuan was very satisfied with Lu Ting as a partner, as he was not pushy and was appreciative, which was enough.

Pei Yuan said to Lu Ting, "There may be some twists and turns later, but the Earl's reward should be no problem."

"Next, we should consider the matter of the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department for Eunuch Lu. What plans does Eunuch Lu have for this?"

Lu Ting was a little surprised when he heard this, "Isn't this your business?"

Pei Yuan was almost silenced by Lu Ting's words.

There were many people lying down around him, but Eunuch Lu was the first one who did so with such a clear conscience.

Pei Yuan could only sigh, "Eunuch Zhang Yong's influence is gradually weakening, Eunuch Lu should encourage himself."

Perhaps this topic really interested Lu Ting, so he couldn't help but ask Pei Yuan, "Brother Pei, what do you think?"

Pei Yuan said, "I think Eunuch Lu should have figured it out. Your most important enemy this time is not Zhang Yong, but Xiao Jing, who is also an old friend of Hongzhi."

When mentioning Xiao Jing, Lu Ting's expression became much more serious.

Xiao Jing has served many emperors, and because of the Battle of Yanggu, the Xiao family gained two uncles.

Compared to Lu Ting, who was an earl, the Xiao family was not inferior in military exploits.

Moreover, Xiao Jing has been serving in the palace for many years, and his relationship with the royal family is much stronger than that of Lu Ting, who has been exiled for many years.

Hearing Xiao Jing's name, Lu Ting instinctively became alert.

So, Lu Ting asked again, "Brother Pei, what do you think?"

This time it was obviously much more serious.

Pei Yuan looked at Lu Ting with satisfaction. This was the right attitude.

Then he said, "This time, the dispute over the eunuch who holds the seal of the Silijian has nothing to do with merit or relationship with the emperor. There is only one key person who needs to be won over, and that is Yang Yiqing, the official of the Ministry of Personnel."

When Lu Ting heard this name that had nothing to do with him, he was confused. "Yang Yiqing?"

Pei Yuan said firmly, "Yes, it is Yang Yiqing."

"For the emperor, his requirements for the inner court are very clear, that is, to be able to check and balance Yang Tinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet."

"Although Zhang Yong is incompetent, he has a very close relationship with Yang Yiqing. This gives him enough leverage in the outer court to echo him, allowing him to check and balance Yang Tinghe at critical moments."

"So in the emperor's mind, the new eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department may not have such a close relationship with him, nor may he have such outstanding achievements, but one thing is most important, that is, whether he can work closely with Yang Yiqing to check and balance Yang Tinghe."

"What the emperor needs is at least a replacement for Zhang Yong, and then whether he can use him more."

"So I can assert that the person who first reaches a tacit understanding with the Minister of Personnel Yang Yiqing will have the best chance of becoming the new eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department."

Lu Ting was a little confused by what Pei Yuan said, "Yang Yiqing, this, this is not familiar to me either."

Pei Yuan said, "For a person like Yang Yiqing, the personal relationship between the two parties is not worth mentioning at all. The political alliance between the two parties is more meaningful. If Eunuch Lu trusts me, you might as well follow my ideas and show your goodwill to Yang Yiqing. Only when the emperor sees that Eunuch Lu has the potential to replace Zhang Yong, will Eunuch Lu have the hope of taking the position of the seal of the Imperial Household Department."

Lu Ting did not hide it and quickly asked Pei Yuan about the connection, "Then how should I show my goodwill to Yang Yiqing?"

After hearing what Lu Ting said, Pei Yuan said, "The court is currently lacking a Minister of Rites. The court originally recommended the current Left Censor-in-Chief Li Shishi, but Li Shishi is not from the Imperial Academy and doesn't dare to take this big risk. He has already decided to retire and plans to give up the position of Grand Master of the Imperial Clan."

"Others don't know about this yet. If Eunuch Lu takes the initiative and proposes a suitable candidate, he will definitely gain the upper hand."

Lu Ting asked directly, "Li Shishi's decision to give up the position of Minister of Rites must have something to do with you."

Pei Yuan frowned and asked Lu Ting, "Is this important?"

Lu Ting thought for a moment, and smiled meaningfully at Pei Yuan, "It doesn't matter. Brother Pei, just tell me how I can become the Chief of the Imperial Household Department."

Pei Yuan felt that all the nice words he heard today were not as satisfying as this "not important".

This means that at critical moments, Lu Ting has a lower bottom line when facing himself and can make more compromises.

Pei Yuan said, "Li Shishi will probably propose a special examination to the court soon. Once it is passed, he will turn against the court's upright officials. Only then will it be meaningful to discuss the candidate for the Minister of Rites."

Lu Ting thought for a moment and said, "You mean, you want me to win Yang Yiqing's favor by nominating the Minister of Rites?"

Then he hesitated and said, "But I am an internal official, and it is not appropriate for me to comment on such an impressive position as the Minister of Rites."

Pei Yuan said, "If it weren't so, it wouldn't be shocking enough, nor would it be enough to impress Yang Yiqing."

"Besides, with the precedents of Gu Dayong and Bi Zhen, I'm afraid the people of the world will have higher expectations of you."

(End of this chapter)