My father is Jiajing

Chapter 475 I’ll take my leave!

It is often said that the person who knows the opponent best is often the enemy, but this statement is not entirely accurate.

Just like Zhao Wenhua now, is he Yan Shifan’s enemy?

At least in Yan Shifan's opinion, Zhao Wenhua did not seem worthy of being his enemy.

But it was this person who was not regarded as an enemy by Yan Shifan, but he offended this person to death. At the same time, Yan Shifan also beat Zhao Wenhua to death with a stick.

So Zhao Wenhua, who had been holding a grudge in his heart, gradually revealed his cold and sharp fangs like a venomous snake after finding a new backer.

It was extremely easy for Zhao Wenhua to collect evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes. He could easily find a lot of them.

But even so, Zhao Wenhua was not stupid enough to rush forward after collecting evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes. Zhao Wenhua also wanted to find a henchman to test the waters and see if there was anyone who would really cooperate with him.

So after Zhao Wenhua collected the evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes, he quietly found an official in the Ministry of Works who had been severely oppressed by Yan Shifan. This official was also quite talented and was very good at palace construction.

However, when Yan Shifan was the Minister of Works and the person in charge of supervising the construction of the new Wanshou Palace of Emperor Jiajing, he did not like others giving him suggestions.

Therefore, whenever this person raised questions about the construction of the new Wanshou Palace, Yan Shifan would severely reprimand him, slap him several times in front of everyone, and threaten him: "Who do you think you are? Do you think you are the Minister of Works? Even if you are the Minister of Works, you are just a dog in front of me. How dare you tell me to do things? If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will throw you under the palace and beat you into a stake!"

Yan Shifan's arrogant attitude has been witnessed by all in the Ministry of Works over the years. Whether it is the former Minister of Works Ouyang Bijin or the current Minister of Works Zhao Wenhua, they actually have to look at Yan Shifan's face before they can do anything.

This newly promoted director of the Ministry of Works thought he had some talent and that he had discovered a problem. If he raised it to Yan Shifan, he would be taken seriously and respected by Yan Shifan.

It turned out that he was still too young.

Are there any problems with the construction of the Wanshou Palace? Yan Shifan has been the Minister of Works for so many years, how could he not have some idea of ​​it?

How could Yan Shifan not know the quality of this Wanshou Palace, which cost nearly three million taels of silver? And why did a small official from the Ministry of Works need to show off his skills in front of him? This is really absurd!
So when the director of the Ministry of Works pointed out that the beams of the Wanshou Palace were not made of the golden nanmu wood that was used to build the palace, Yan Shifan was furious. How could he not know whether it was golden nanmu wood? And did he need someone to tell him?
Moreover, the beam was transported from Yunnan, and Yan Shifan spent more than 50,000 taels of silver on the shipping fee alone. Now someone actually jumped out and said that the huge tree used to make the beam was not golden nanmu. Isn't this just blaming Yan Shifan?
How could Yan Shifan tolerate this?
So this unfortunate head of the Ministry of Works not only received several slaps in the face from Yan Shifan, but was also kicked out by Yan Shifan in the end and thrown to guard the gate of a warehouse of the Ministry of Works in the suburbs of Beijing. It seemed that his life was almost ruined.

Now Zhao Wenhua didn't need to do anything else. He just had to leak out the memorial of the head of the Ministry of Works accusing Yan Shifan of using inferior wood to impersonate golden nanmu for the beams of the new Wanshou Palace of Emperor Jiajing, and let it appear in the court. That would be enough.

Therefore, during this period, Zhao Wenhua also began to pretend to be silent, and without even looking at the memorials to be sent to the Ministry of Works, he piled them up and sent them to the Tongzhengsi. One of them was a memorial from the head of the Ministry of Works who had been wronged and guarded the warehouse gate for a long time, exposing Yan Shifan's illegal behavior.

Zhao Wenhua looked at the pile of memorials from the Ministry of Works that were sent away, and he couldn't help feeling nervous and excited.

However, Zhao Wenhua is, after all, a veteran who has experienced decades of ups and downs in the officialdom. His psychological quality is certainly not comparable to that of Yan Shifan, a second-generation rich man who gets angry and acts on impulse at any time.

So after a brief excitement, Zhao Wenhua calmed down, and continued to pour a cup of tea in his own office as the Minister of Works as if nothing had happened. Then he picked up the latest issue of "Da Ming Fenghua" magazine on the desk in front of him and began to read it leisurely.

In the past, Zhao Wenhua always felt that the magazines in "Da Ming Feng Hua" were either overly pretentious essays on homesickness or exaggerated political views, and the only thing that might interest Zhao Wenhua was probably the last "Novel Serial" column.

In this column, Zhao Wenhua also saw many excellent new works, and the one that impressed him the most was "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". Zhao Wenhua felt that he was Yang Kang in the play, whose fate was full of ups and downs.

Although he was struggling and wanted to be a good person, when faced with reality, he had to acknowledge the enemy as his father and continue to enjoy the infinite glory of being the young prince of the Jin Kingdom.

So when seeing this character, others may despise Yang Kang's disloyalty and injustice, but Zhao Wenhua resonated with this character. He did not think that Yang Kang was a bad person from the beginning. He felt that Yang Kang's so-called badness was because he was carried away by the morals of others. He had been an extremely noble little prince of the Jin Kingdom since he was a child. He enjoyed the love of his father and mother, and the wealth and glory that belonged to the little prince of the Jin Kingdom.

But just when he thought that his life should be as rich and prosperous as the young prince of Jin State, someone suddenly jumped out and told him that his father was not his father, but a poor man who performed on the street. Who could bear such a sense of gap?

And in his later struggles, Yang Kang also thought about accepting his fate and being the son of an ordinary person, but everyone around him would not let him go. Everyone compared him with Guo Jing, and everyone looked at him with a guarded attitude as if he were a thief.

But in the end, only Wanyan Honglie still treated him as his own son, and regardless of everything, he was regarded as the young prince and heir of the palace. Under such kindness, how could Yang Kang not be confused? Could he simply change his father and position as he wished, like an emotionless puppet?

Therefore, in Zhao Wenhua's view, Yang Kang's tragedy is all the sins, and he can come to this point. Although he is not as legendary as Yang Kang, he can still understand Yang Kang in a certain emotional sense.

But understanding was just understanding. After all, Yan Song never regarded him as his own son. Moreover, that bastard Yan Shifan was always finding fault with him and bossing him around. He simply didn't treat him as his own person.

So under such a mentality and circumstances, how could Zhao Wenhua be willing to bow down and be a subordinate?

Besides, Zhao Wenhua has now found a new big brother. As long as he can really hold on to Prince Yu's big brother this time, he may be able to ride the wind and waves again in the future.

After all, Prince Yu's status is extraordinary. His future will be higher than that of supreme figures like Yan Song and Xu Jie who need to win over their cronies to exert their influence.

Then in the future, Prince Yu will definitely not employ people with obvious tendencies like Yan Song and Xu Jie. When Prince Yu employs people, he will definitely do so for the sake of balance and to employ people based on their talents.

Therefore, Zhao Wenhua was not afraid at all that he would be treated differently by Zhu Zaigui after he became his disciple.

And in fact it is true.

Zhu Zaigui would definitely not be black or white when employing people, and he would definitely not only employ people from one side.

For example, among Prince Yu’s followers, there are actually three forces with different political views.

One of them was the "Prince Yu Party" headed by Gao Gong, who would prioritize Prince Yu's interests in everything;
The second is the "Qingliu Party" headed by Zhang Juzheng, which mainly relied on Xu Jie's people for its influence;
The third of them is the "Divine Sword Party" headed by Hai Rui. Its significance is self-evident. They want to make a peerless divine sword to clear the turbidity of the Ming Dynasty. Anyone who dares to violate this purpose, even if it is Prince Yu himself, will be dealt with by Hai Rui.

Therefore, these factions are now secretly competing with each other, and Zhu Zaigui, as their leader, is naturally happy to see it happen. After all, if the ministers are all happy, then it will be Zhu Zaigui's turn to lose sleep.

So now Zhu Zaigui doesn’t care at all about the various interest groups under his command. What Zhu Zaigui cares about is whether these people are useful or not.

If these people are only good at internal fighting but cannot come up with timely and effective solutions and plans for external affairs, Zhu Zaigui will ruthlessly exile them.

Therefore, if Zhao Wenhua really has the ability, if he can really rely on Zhu Zaigui to enter the small group of Prince Yu's Mansion, then he must have some ability, otherwise, he will soon be abandoned by Zhu Zaigui.

The memorials that Zhao Wenhua had sent to the Tongzhengsi were quickly reviewed and classified by officials within the Tongzhengsi.

After looking at the pile of memorials from the head of the Ministry of Works, one of the councilors couldn't help but smile at the other councilor and said, "Brother Meng Chen, how much silver do you think the Ministry of Works will ask the court for for these memorials?"

The councillor who was called "Brother Meng Chen" couldn't help but look up and laugh after hearing the laughter, "I bet it's five hundred thousand taels!"

"Five hundred thousand taels? Brother Meng Chen is underestimating the young minister. Everyone knows that the Ministry of Works is the young minister's forbidden fruit. Starting from Minister Ouyang, the Minister of Works has become a decoration. How can he be so stingy when he is in charge of the Ministry of Works? I bet it is one million and a half thousand taels!"

"Haha, Brother Dequan is really bold in guessing. The Ministry of Works doesn't have any major projects right now. His Majesty's Wanshou Palace has been completed, and he is asking the Imperial Observatory and the Imperial Palace to observe auspicious days. How can there be so much money?"

The two of them chatted and laughed while they reviewed the memorials that were assigned to them.

The senator who was called "Brother Dequan" finished reading one memorial and then read another one, but soon he was stunned where he stood.

"Brother Meng Chen! Something big has happened!"

"What happened?"

The senator called "Brother Meng Chen" couldn't help but become suspicious. He rarely saw "Dequan" with such a panicked expression.

"Brother Dequan" quickly closed the memorial in his hand and said, "This matter must be reported to the Minister of Justice!"

After saying that, he hurriedly went to find Cao Dewen, the current Minister of the Ministry of Public Security.

At this moment, Cao Dewen was also leisurely drinking tea and reading magazines. His work was also assigned to his subordinates. They would only come to him when they encountered some memorials that they were undecided about.

"Brother Dequan" walked into Cao Dewen's office and bowed to him, "Zhongcheng, your humble servant Liu Shanshui has something important to report."

Liu Shanshui is the full name of this "Brother Dequan", and Dequan is his pen name.

Cao Dewen looked at Liu Shanshui who came in to pay his respects, and asked in a friendly manner, "What's wrong, Dequan?"

Liu Shanshui handed over a memorial from the head of the Ministry of Works respectfully, "Zhongcheng, please read it."

Cao Dewen put down the "Da Ming Feng Hua" magazine in his hand and took the memorial handed over by Liu Shanshui.

Cao Dewen opened the memorial and took a look at it. Then he took a deep breath and looked at Liu Shanshui in disbelief. "Is this true?"

Liu Shanshui said worriedly: "I don't know either, but this matter is of great importance, and I dare not make a decision lightly, so I came to ask the Minister for his decision."

Cao Dewen felt that the memorial in his hand was very hot. He really wanted to throw away the memorial from the head of the Ministry of Works without hesitation, but at this moment he felt as if his palms were stuck. No matter how he thought about this memorial, he dared not act rashly.

Cao Dewen looked at Liu Shanshui and asked, "Besides you, who else has seen it?"

Liu Shanshui immediately replied: "Except for me and the Minister, no one else saw it."

Cao Dewen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this. "That's good, that's good. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it."

When Liu Shanshui heard what Cao Dewen said, he felt relieved. He was afraid that Cao Dewen would not abide by the moral principles and make him leave his mark on the memorial before sending it to the cabinet or Xiyuan. If that was the case, no matter whether it was true or false, Yan Shifan would hate him.

He didn’t know whether Yan Shifan would be sent to prison by then, but he would definitely be killed before Yan Shifan got into trouble.

Liu Shanshui quickly bowed to Cao Dewen again and said, "I'll take my leave!"

After saying this, Liu Shanshui was afraid that Cao Dewen would go back on his word, so he quickly retreated.

Cao Dewen held in his hand the memorial from the head of the Ministry of Works, whose authenticity he was not sure, and his face was extremely serious. He knew very well that if what was said in the memorial was true, then how furious would the Emperor Jiajing, who was now waiting to move, be? No one dared to say it, and no one dared to bear this fury.

After all, there are only a few things in the court that can make Emperor Jiajing pay attention, and among them, the relocation of the new Wanshou Palace is one of the important things that Emperor Jiajing cares about. It can even be said that Emperor Jiajing cares about this matter to a far greater extent than the recommendation of the new Minister of Personnel.

So Cao Dewen was also very nervous at this time. He never expected to receive such a memorial at this juncture. He couldn't help but curse in his heart: "If this bastard wanted to accuse Yan Shifan of something bad, couldn't he just submit a secret memorial to Xiyuan?"

But how could a small sixth-rank official submit a secret memorial? So it was inevitable that this memorial went through the channel of the Ministry of Public Administration, but this inevitability was really life-threatening!
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Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)