My father is Jiajing

Chapter 351: My son will do it now (Part )

With Zhu Zaigui's behind-the-scenes guidance, the memorial impeaching Shuntian Prefecture for inaction was led by Hai Rui and directly submitted to the Tongzhengsi Yamen.

At the same time, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng also began to mobilize their own connections and started discussing the issue of who would be responsible for the outer city project of the capital.

On the surface, this seems to be just an insignificant wave, and no one would think about these things connected together.

However, as public opinion gradually expanded, the court also began to pay attention to this issue.

The focus of the court's attention on this issue was very simple, which was the issue of who should be responsible for the outer city engineering projects of the capital, which was discussed by Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

When the people in the Ministry of Industry saw that this issue was beginning to ferment, they also felt that there was something unusual.

If it were under normal circumstances, the Ministry of Works would have undoubtedly taken over the responsibility for the capital's outer city project.

But now everyone knows that the outer city project of the capital may become a mess.

As a result, the Ministry of Industry also expressed its opinions clearly.

Zhao Wenhua, the Vice Minister of Works, clearly pointed out at a ministerial meeting that the responsibility for the outer city project of the capital should be borne by the Urban Construction Bureau under Shuntian Prefecture, and had nothing to do with the Ministry of Works.

After Zhao Wenhua expressed his opinion, the Ministry of Works and its staff all came to a unified voice. The affairs of the capital's outer city project were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works, but the business of Shuntian Prefecture.

At this time, Prince Yi Youzhao of Shuntian Prefecture gradually reacted and realized the subtlety of the problem.

But when he was ready to react, the impeachment memorial of Hai Rui, which had been submitted to the Ministry of Public Security long ago, had already been sent to the cabinet.

Yan Shifan, who was nominally serving his father in the cabinet but was actually involved in cabinet affairs, naturally saw this belated impeachment memorial at the first opportunity.

Yan Shifan had long wanted to find an opportunity to get back on track. After seeing Hai Rui's memorial impeaching Shuntian Prefecture for inaction, he could no longer hide the smile on his face.

"This is a dog-eat-dog fight among you, so don't blame me."

Yan Shifan couldn't help feeling happy. He immediately took Hai Rui's memorial out separately, and then stood in the open space in the center of the cabinet with a righteous expression.

"Everyone stop for a moment."

Yan Shifan immediately stopped other people in the cabinet who were handling cabinet affairs.

Yan Song raised his head slightly and glanced at his son, but said nothing.

Xu Jie and Lu Ben couldn't help but look up at Yan Shifan who suddenly started shouting. They stopped what they were doing and waited quietly for Yan Shifan's performance.

Feeling the attention of everyone in the cabinet, Yan Shifan felt a great sense of satisfaction. He was a person who loved to show off and liked the feeling of being noticed.

Yan Shifan held in his hand Hai Rui's memorial impeaching Shuntian Prefecture for inaction, and his expression suddenly became angry.

"Everyone! More than a year ago, the emperor issued an imperial decree to start the expansion project of the outer city of the capital. Prince Jing and Prince Yu successively served as the chief officers of the outer city project of the capital. Prince Yu even presided over the opening ceremony of the project."

"It can be said that the court attaches as much importance to the outer city project as any other military and national affairs. But what is Shuntian Prefecture doing? Ever since Shuntian Prefecture, under the banner of contributing to the outer city project of the capital, petitioned the emperor and planned to build a city construction department specifically responsible for the construction of the outer city project."

"But more than a year has passed, and both Prince Yu's Mansion and Hai Ruihai Supervisor have been working diligently on the outer city project of the capital, only Shuntian Mansion is at a loss."

"Now the capital's outer city project is facing the risk of suspension, but there is no reaction from Shuntian Prefecture, as if the capital's outer city project has nothing to do with them? They run faster than anyone else when it's time to eat meat, but when it's time to work, they hide aside and watch others have fun. How can this be possible in this world?" Yan Shifan criticized Shuntian Prefecture passionately.

No matter whether it was Yan Song who was sitting in the first seat, or Xu Jie and Lu Ben who were sitting on both sides, or the secretaries who were doing clerical work in the cabinet, they all couldn't help but look at Yan Shifan who had a righteous look on his face.

The sun is rising from the west? The young minister has a sense of justice too?
However, those who can be in the cabinet, even if they are just Zhongshu Sheren who can only do odd jobs, are not stupid.

Everyone involved knows why things in the outer city of the capital have come to this point.

If Yan Shifan had not embezzled the money that should have been allocated to the outer city project under the banner of building palaces and temples for the emperor, how could the outer city project have come to this point?
But now the emperor's palace has burned down, and he can only live in a small palace. No matter how righteous someone is at this time, he cannot jump out and say that building a house for the emperor is not right.

Therefore, when Yan Shifan jumped out to do this at this time, everyone could see that he was doing this to seek revenge and to regain the face he had lost at the hands of Hai Rui and Wang Youzhao a year ago.

Now that Hai Rui has taken the initiative and sounded the charge against his former "ally", Yan Shifan, who never mind watching the fun, will naturally not let go of this opportunity easily.

This time he must let Wang Youzhao know why the flowers are so red!
Last time he was lucky enough to get the help of Hai Rui and Prince Yu behind him and escaped danger, but this time Hai Rui took the initiative to turn against him, let's see who can save him.

Yan Shifan looked at everyone in the cabinet with righteousness.

As the chief minister of the cabinet and Yan Shifan's biological father, Yan Song would definitely stand on Yan Shifan's side.

However, Yan Song would not express his opinion easily, so he turned his eyes to Xu Jie and Lu Ben.

Yan Song said slowly, "Shaohu, Nanqu, what do you two think about this matter?"

Shaohu is Xu Jie's pseudonym, and Nanqu is Lu Ben's pseudonym.

Yan Song called the two men by their numbers and asked them questions, so naturally they would not fail to respond.

Xu Jie and Lu Bu both looked at Yan Song. Xu Jie said, "The outer city project of the capital is a serious matter. Now that someone has impeached Shuntian Prefecture for inaction, our cabinet must also pay attention to it. We need to see what is going on, and then make a draft and submit it to Your Majesty for your review."

After Xu Jie finished speaking, Yan Song looked at Lu Ben on the other side.

Lu Ben was the lucky man who was specially promoted to the cabinet by Emperor Jiajing as a Hanlin scholar. Earlier this year, he officially took over the position of Minister of Rites previously held by Xu Jie. It was only a matter of time before he was officially given the title of Grand Secretary.

Therefore, even though Lü Ben entered the cabinet earlier than Xu Jie, his ranking in the cabinet was lower than Xu Jie, and he could only be regarded as one of the three assistants, that is, an ordinary cabinet member.

But the current structure within the cabinet is different from the previous rules.

Yan Shifan, a second-generation official who had neither the status of a Jinshi nor any experience as a Hanlin scholar, relied on his father to become the recognized "Little Cabinet Minister" by the court and the public. Therefore, Lu Ben, the third assistant, was actually the fourth assistant, and Xu Jie, the second assistant, was actually just a decoration.

Almost all power in the cabinet was controlled by Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan.

Therefore, at this time, Lu Ben naturally would not say anything else.

Lu Ben said: "Lord Xu is right. This is a serious matter. Since someone has already impeached us and there seems to be discussion outside, we must pay attention to this matter. After understanding the cause and effect of this matter, we will draft a bill and submit it to Your Majesty."

After Yan Song heard what Xu Jie and Lu Ben said, he nodded slightly, then looked at Yan Shifan and said, "Did Yan Shifan hear that? According to what Xu Ge Lao and Lu Ge Lao said, first find out what's going on, and then deal with it."

Yan Shifan bowed to his father and said, "Son, I will do it right away."

(End of this chapter)