Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 93 Everything is ready
The meeting between the emperor and his ministers in the inner court ended in an extremely strange atmosphere.

After coming out of the Qianqing Palace, all the ministers breathed a sigh of relief.

Ordinary ministers could not go to the inner court to meet the emperor. Important ministers had the opportunity, but they didn’t know what to say after meeting. After all, there was a deep gap between the monarch and his ministers, and everyone wanted to stay out of it.

"Master Li, how can you be said to be a pillar of the court? His Majesty only listens to you... It's a good thing you are here today, otherwise we don't know how to respond."

Prime Minister Wan'an, who had been so quiet in the Qianqing Palace before, should have been respected by all the officials after leaving the Qianqing Palace. But who would have thought that he would not care about his face at all and chased Li Zisheng a few steps to flatter him.

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "The selection of a concubine for the crown prince is of great importance. As the person involved in the earthquake prophecy, I cannot just participate casually. I have to rely on the Ministry of Rites."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

When the Minister of Rites Zhou Hongmo saw that Wan'an had bowed to Li Zisheng, how could he dare to go against Li Zisheng?
It's just what you say!
Deng Chang'en said coldly, "Lord Li, you have worked so hard to spy on the secrets of heaven and to advise the emperor. What are you trying to do? Now that the selection of concubines for the Eastern Palace is a serious matter, why don't you just make the decision? Why do you want to push it to the Ministry of Rites?"

Liu Ji hurriedly tried to reconcile: "Mr. Deng, we'd better be polite when speaking, so as not to hurt the harmony."

Deng Chang'en felt so depressed.

Originally, because of his strong support for Chang Chu, he had the opportunity to surpass Li Zisheng in front of the emperor, but who knew that two consecutive earthquakes would ruin his plans.

For someone who comes from the market and likes to fight and be aggressive, such a situation would naturally make him angry, and there would be no question of tolerance, so much so that Deng Chang'en even said unpleasant words in public.

Li Zisheng ignored Deng Changen and said contemptuously, "How important is it for the Eastern Palace to select a concubine? I am just an outsider, how dare I make the decision casually? But I want to remind you that this matter must be cut into pieces quickly. As for whether the etiquette and laws are followed, it is secondary."

Liu Ji boasted: "The words of the Heavenly Master are the most reasonable and famous sayings. We should follow them and try our best not to go against His will."

"What wise words... Elder Liu, could you please explain your words more clearly?"

Deng Changen retorted to Liu Ji.

Liu Ji was very embarrassed for a moment. Even though he was always known for his gentle attitude, he couldn't help feeling ashamed and annoyed at this moment, and glared at Deng Changen fiercely.

What the hell are you?

How dare you talk to me like that?
You don't have any special skills, but you have a bad temper. If it weren't for Master Li Tianshi, do you think I would be nice to a Taoist like you?

Don't put your nose on your face!

The message revealed in Master Li's words is very clear. The emperor's choice of a concubine for the prince is just a helpless one. Everything is just a formality. Whether the choice is good or bad, whether the concubine is virtuous, and what the concubine's family background is... is it necessary for the emperor to care?

Anyway, when the Ming Dynasty selected the Crown Princess, they never chose from wealthy families. Family background and connections were not important. No matter how powerful you are, can you be more powerful than the emperor's family?

There is a high probability that the prince will be forced to take on a role this time.

Even if it's not a click, it's almost the same.

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Although we need to do it faster, we can't be too careless and make people laugh at us. In the end, we should... do it as quickly as possible."

Wan An had a smug look on his face and said flatteringly, "That makes sense... Zhou Butang, do you understand? Everything should be done as soon as possible!"

Zhou Hongmo couldn't help but smile bitterly, but could only nod his head. He thought to himself, what's the point of letting the Ministry of Rites preside over this matter? It would be better to say that I'm just a puppet and I'll just follow the orders of you big guys.

……

……

Li Zisheng came out of the palace, full of pride, and walked briskly into the house. He immediately sent someone to call Pang Qing and Shen Lu to the study.

When they first met, Pang Qing and Shen Lu knew from their host's relaxed look that Li Zisheng's visit to the emperor went smoothly. "Your Majesty has temporarily given up the idea of ​​changing the crown prince and wants to choose a concubine for the crown prince... The Ministry of Rites is nominally in charge of this matter, but Your Majesty has made it clear in advance that everything must be done according to my orders and as soon as possible. It should be completed by the beginning of next year. Everything is for the sake of good fortune."

Li Zisheng said with a smile.

Pang Qing was greatly encouraged, and then asked curiously: "Could it be that Concubine Wan in the palace...is seriously ill?"

Li Zisheng nodded: "Although I haven't asked the Imperial Hospital for details in the past few days, given the severity of the liver and spleen disease, it is inevitable that it will become increasingly serious. Isn't this just as Lai Zhan inferred?"

Shen Lu smiled and said, "Congratulations, Minister Li. Congratulations, Minister Li. This time, everything went according to your plan."

"Haha."

Li Zisheng looked very satisfied. "Isn't this all thanks to your brother-in-law? Speaking of which, Lai Zhan helped me, so I have to give back to him... Isn't the Crown Princess selection coming up soon? As long as I give the Ministry of Rites a heads up, there will be basically no problem with the preliminary selection and the re-selection."

Pang Qing said: "If the prince is fully prepared for the selection of his concubine, there will be at least a thousand people participating in the preliminary selection. It is not easy to pass two rounds in a row."

Li Zisheng was originally very happy, but when he heard this, he suddenly felt a little worried: "This time the preparations were too hasty, and perhaps only three to five hundred people can be selected in the preliminary election to show the ministers in the court...

"Choose more women in Shuntian Prefecture, and the range should not exceed Northern Zhili at most, because the preliminary selection must be completed before the New Year, and there are only four days left."

Pang Qing blinked, almost unable to believe his ears: "The primary election was completed in four days?"

"if not?"

Li Zisheng said, "Your Majesty wants to use the wedding of the Crown Prince to cure Concubine Wan's illness. Does he want to delay the matter for three to five months? Since Your Majesty has proposed that everything should be done as soon as possible, as a minister, we just need to act according to this meaning."

Shen Lu said in embarrassment: "If we want to complete the preliminary selection before the New Year, let alone the girls from the remote counties and prefectures of Northern Zhili, even the girls from Shuntian Prefecture may not be able to get the news and rush to the capital."

Li Zisheng said: "So we must act quickly. I guess the Ministry of Rites has already conveyed His Majesty's order to Shuntian Prefecture. Let's ignore other places for now. Let's conduct the preliminary selection with the women of marriageable age in Shuntian Prefecture first."

Shen Lu said: "Based on past experience, I'm afraid there won't be many candidates."

"Ah."

Li Zisheng said, "What the people fear most is not being elected, but being afraid that if they fail to be elected, they will not be sent back home but will be sent directly to the imperial court.

"So this time the Ministry of Rites will spread the word that even if the candidate is not selected, the court will give a certain amount of silver as compensation and return him to his hometown."

Shen Lu nodded: "In this way, there should be more women who can be selected."

Li Zisheng said: "Not only that, we should also ask the East Factory and the Imperial Guard to send people to investigate. If there are any families with girls of the right age who do not come forward to apply for the selection, especially those who are both talented and beautiful and have a good reputation, they will all be investigated and punished by law."

"This……"

Shen Luxin said, do you really want to help Zhang Laizhan?
By doing this, aren't you inviting more powerful competitors to participate?
The probability of Zhang Laizhan's daughter being selected is greatly reduced.

Pang Qing helped to ask the question: "Will this affect your grand plan, Taoist?"

"hehe."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Are you saying that you are afraid that they will compete with the niece of Laizhan Mansion and make her lose the election? Wrong, absolutely wrong. The purpose of doing this is to show that we are doing things with our heart, not deliberately fooling around. This is both a respect for His Majesty and a responsibility to the Crown Prince.

"At least the censors in the court won't be able to find fault with it."

(End of this chapter)