Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 768 Backer
"As the Right Censor-in-Chief, if anyone in the court criticizes this, I will not stand idly by and will severely reprimand him!" Xu Xiancheng replied in a serious tone, directly expressing his firm attitude. In his opinion, many things in the Ming Dynasty were ruined by these people who were ambitious but incompetent. They ignored the overall situation and always tried to gain fame for their own interests or false reputation. How could there be any good in the court with such people?

It would be fine if these people didn't jump out, but if they did, Xu Xiancheng would never let them off. What's more, he was the Right Censor-in-Chief, the second-in-command of the Censorate, and he had every right and obligation to do so.

While Xu Xiancheng was indignant, Zhang Xijun keenly realized the real purpose of Zhu Shenzhui's words. Compared with Xu Xiancheng, Zhang Xijun was more shrewd and could better understand Zhu Shenzhui's thoughts.

It's not that Xu Xiancheng is inferior to Zhang Xijun, but because the two have completely different personalities. Xu Xiancheng's style has always been upright and straightforward. But Zhang Xijun is different. This is due to their different backgrounds and experiences. Xu Xiancheng is an orthodox scholar who passed the imperial examination step by step. In addition, Xu Xiancheng was deeply influenced by his father and sister Xu Jingqiu when he was young. He has far-reaching ambitions and a tenacious character.

Later, because Zhu Shenzhui and Xu Jingqiu got married, Xu Xiancheng lived in Zhu Shenzhui's home for a long time. At that time, Zhu Shenzhui's many political views and opinions also influenced him when he was a teenager. In addition, Xu Xiancheng later traveled around the world alone, making many good friends in the process. He also experienced the suffering of the people of the world firsthand, saw the ugliness of local aristocratic families, and deeply felt the contradiction of the gap between the rich and the poor in the Ming Dynasty. During this period, Xu Xiancheng's political concepts and ideas were sublimated, which made him what he is today.

After passing the imperial examination and becoming an official, Xu Xiancheng never forgot his original aspirations. He witnessed many deceitful acts in officialdom, but he never wavered.

But Zhang Xijun was different. Although he was also born into a scholar family, he suffered a great change in his family because of his ancestors. He went from being a scholar to a fugitive, and finally had no choice but to hide his name in the mountain stronghold. If it weren't for his chance encounter with Zhu Shenzhui, perhaps Zhang Xijun would never have a chance to make a name for himself in his life. In the end, the result waiting for him was either obscurity and extinction, or he would die in obscurity when the soldiers surrounded the mountain stronghold.

After meeting Zhu Shenzhui, Zhang Xijun's life changed completely, especially after he was sent to the capital by Zhu Shenzhui, where he assisted Zhu Shenzhui in doing many confidential things in the capital. From the initial Wei Zhongxian and Wei Liangqing uncle and nephew to the later ascension of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhang Xijun had been walking on thin ice in the capital for more than ten years, using various means to deal with different forces, not only to protect himself, but also to secretly plot for Zhu Shenzhui.

Such background and experience have created completely different personalities and perspectives on problems for Zhang Xijun and Xu Xiancheng. So while Xu Xiancheng was expressing his position righteously, Zhang Xijun thought of another possibility, which is why Zhu Shenzui specifically mentioned this point today.

He concentrated and thought carefully, his eyes subconsciously looking at the booklet in Zhu Shenzhu's hand, and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head and he realized something.

"Regent, I have something to say!"

"Say!"

"Although the imperial inspection has just begun and the list is not yet complete, I think it has achieved some results. Moreover, it is far from enough to rely on evaluation and information alone. According to the system, it is necessary to conduct on-site inspections and face-to-face inquiries. I think these things do not need to be done at the end. Doing so will be inefficient and time-consuming. I suggest that they can be carried out simultaneously. It would be better to select some officials for on-site inspections and face-to-face inquiries in the next few days."

Xu Xiancheng frowned slightly. Zhu Shenzhu was talking about the Liaodong war just now, why did Zhang Xijun suddenly bring up the Beijing inspection? Didn't we just report the situation of the Beijing inspection? Now he brought it up again. Isn't this irrelevant to Zhang Xijun?
Just when he was worried that Zhang Xijun's words would make Zhu Shencui unhappy and was planning to speak out and say a few good words to Zhang Xijun, Zhu Shencui spoke first.

"Lord Zhang has a good idea. The inspection in Beijing is a serious matter, and there are many people in Beijing who need to inspect it. If we follow the rules, it will take too long, and it will also affect the work of various departments. The inspection in Beijing has been abandoned for decades, but now it has been restarted and the Supervisory Department has been established. I think we don't need to follow the old rules, and it's okay to make some changes."

"Lord Zhang is the Minister of Personnel and is now one of the chief officials of the Supervisory Department. He can adjust the procedures. You can discuss this matter with Lord Xu."

"I understand. I will try it first. If there is no problem, I will deal with it. If it does not go well, I will think of other ways."

"Well, don't be afraid to do things, as long as it is not for personal gain but for the public interest. If you make a mistake, there is nothing to be afraid of, you can correct it later. Of course, it is not wrong to do nothing, but if you do it, you will just be mediocre. You are all important officials of the court, so you can be bold in doing some things, I am here!"

"I understand..." Zhang Xijun was overjoyed and saluted solemnly. Seeing that Xu Xiancheng on the side had not reacted yet, Zhang Xijun secretly gave him a wink. Xu Xiancheng was confused and followed Zhang Xijun to salute, but he was still confused in his heart.

Zhu Shenzhui did not stay for long. After finishing his speech, he stood up and left. He even declined Xu Xiancheng and Zhang Xijun's offer to send him off. However, Xu Xiancheng and Zhang Xijun still sent Zhu Shenzhui out of Wenzhao Pavilion. After seeing Zhu Shenzhui and several guards walking towards Wenhua Hall, they accepted the gift and stood up. "Master Zhang, why did you just...?" After Zhu Shenzhui left, Xu Xiancheng could not help but ask Zhang Xijun.

Zhang Xijun smiled and whispered, "Why did the Regent ask us to come to Beijing for inspection? Lord Xu, don't you understand now? The Regent made it clear today, telling us that there might be someone making trouble about Liaodong in the court meeting in a few days. If that's the case, how can we just sit there and watch?"

"If Lord Xu follows his plan and denounces the debate in front of the court, it sounds good, but in fact it won't be very effective. Moreover, once this kind of thing is brought to the court, it will inevitably cause controversy. Although Lord Xu is the Right Censor-in-Chief, don't forget that the various parties in the court are quite powerful, especially the Donglin Party. Once they unite to attack, it will be difficult for Lord Xu alone to deal with it."

"Besides, Lord Xu is of such high status, why bother arguing with these villains about right and wrong? There is no need for this. Since you and I are in charge of the inspection, why not just start with the inspection and take the initiative to deal with a few people? As long as we act quickly and ruthlessly, these people will naturally stop because they are afraid of the consequences. In my opinion, although these people are good at talking, they are all cowards at heart, especially those who are keen on official positions. If they lose this official skin, not only will they lose their official positions, but they will also be accused of incompetence and corruption. This will make these people more uncomfortable than killing them."

Xu Xiancheng suddenly understood why Zhang Xijun suddenly mentioned the Beijing inspection in front of Zhu Shenzhui. The two of them had been playing charades for a long time, and he was still stupid enough to know nothing and was even worried about Zhang Xijun.

"Brother Zhang is a man of great talent, I am not as good as him!" Xu Xiancheng admired him very much. Zhang Xijun was more far-sighted than he thought, and even understood Zhu Shenzhu's thoughts. Moreover, the method used by Zhang Xijun was indeed much better than what he had initially considered.

Holding the power of the imperial examination, is it necessary to argue with these people in the court? Isn't this a joke? These days, Xu Xiancheng has already figured out the situation of many officials through the imperial examination. To put it bluntly, there are too many officials in Beijing who are just sitting there doing nothing, and there are also many who have mediocre political achievements, and even many of them can't be said to have any political achievements at all.

Not only that, many officials were corrupt and the phenomenon of corruption was extremely serious, especially the so-called "embezzlement" in officialdom had become a common practice. This was because the court did not want to intervene but was unable to do so. In addition, the strength of the civil service group made the emperor too lazy to take care of these matters, which caused these officials to become more and more daring and do these things even more unscrupulously.

Except for a very small number of officials, most of them were full of shit, and any investigation would reveal problems. Moreover, these people were in groups, and if one was found out, a large number of people would be implicated. The administration of the Ming Dynasty had been corrupted to an extremely serious degree.

Xu Xiancheng was so angry when he saw the evidence that he cursed several times in private. But he didn't dare to act rashly. After all, there were too many officials involved. If he really did it with an iron face, the Ming Dynasty court would be emptied. Without anyone in the court, who would handle state affairs? As for the local areas, there were almost no good people in Hongdong County.

But now Zhang Xijun's point made Xu Xiancheng understand that perhaps Zhu Shenzhui had anticipated this situation long ago, and the real purpose of restarting the Beijing inspection and setting up the Supervisory Office was not to improve the administration of officials, but to suppress and control officials through this means. This was what Zhu Shenzhui wanted.

Zhu Shenzhui's seemingly casual words today revealed his attitude, and he also made a promise to the two of them, asking them to be bold and work hard without worrying about other things. Zhang Xijun understood Zhu Shenzhui's thoughts, so he directly mentioned the arrangements for the Beijing inspection. Xu Xiancheng's response was not inferior to Zhang Xijun, but because his starting point and perspective were different, he naturally did not understand these things as well as Zhang Xijun.

The window paper was broken, and Xu Xiancheng naturally realized the truth and admired Zhang Xijun very much.

But Zhang Xijun was not proud at all. He whispered that the reason why he felt these things was just due to his personality, which was nothing at all. Xu Xiancheng's inability to do this could highlight his uprightness, which was something Zhang Xijun could not do. Now that Zhu Shenzhu had approved it, they had to act as soon as possible, select the right person from the list, quickly disrupt the opponent's plan, and hit them with one blow, so that these people could wake up and thoroughly understand who was in charge of the Ming Dynasty.

This was agreed by Xu Xiancheng. The two of them returned to the cabinet and discussed the list. Three people were selected that day. None of them had high official positions. One of them was of the fifth rank, and two were of the sixth rank. However, all three of them were the backbone of the Donglin Party, and they were the most likely to act as pawns and cause trouble.

It would be most appropriate to start with them, and the number of three is not large, which can also avoid involving too many people and causing panic and criticism in the court. Without further delay, after the selection, Xu Xiancheng and Zhang Xijun immediately acted separately.

(End of this chapter)