Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 436 Grabbing Jobs

Huai En officially took up his post in the Imperial Household Department.

However, he did not return directly to his original position as the eunuch in charge of the seal. Instead, he stayed in the Silijian as a eunuch in charge of writing, assisting Zhu Youtang in approving memorials. The affairs of the East Factory were still under the charge of Tan Chang.

In terms of seniority in the Imperial Household Department, Huai'en seemed to be ranked after Wei Tai and Qin Chang, but any discerning person could see that it was only a matter of time before Wei Tai would be dismissed.

Thinking back to a year ago, the top three people in the Imperial Household Department were also these three, but their positions were reversed, with Huai En being the leader at that time.

On the other hand, Qin Chang, who had experienced the ups and downs of officialdom, was not in a hurry at all, because he was only the second in command after all. Whether he was the second in command to Wei Tai or to Huai En, the result would be the same for him.

The first thing Huai'en did after taking office was to go to the inner palace to pay a visit to the "masters" of each palace.

Originally, Huai'en should have gone to pay a visit to Queen Mother Zhou first, but he followed etiquette and went to pay a visit to Queen Wang first, and then to Queen Mother Zhou.

When Queen Mother Zhou learned about this, she was still a little annoyed and complained to Chen Gui in front of her: "Humph, this guy is still as stubborn as before, always insisting on rules and not being able to adapt. Sooner or later, something will happen."

When Huai'en came to Qingning Palace, Empress Dowager Zhou started to act like a spoiled brat.

He deliberately let Huai En wait outside, and waited for more than an hour before he was granted an audience.

Huai'en did not feel embarrassed at all, and presented his "greeting gift", which was the Huangshan Yunwu Tea and Hui ink and She inkstone brought from the south.

"Oh, it's thoughtful of you to give me such an expensive gift." Queen Mother Zhou raised her hand and said, "It's just that I can't use it in daily life... Let's put it aside for now..."

Huai En cupped his hands: "It is my fault for not thinking it through."

Queen Mother Zhou said, "We are all old people in the palace. I remember that when I first entered the palace, you served beside the late emperor. Why do you call yourself a slave? There is no need for us to be polite... Please give us a seat..."

Queen Mother Zhou seemed unable to make any special arrangements for this "big shot" who even gave the crown prince a seat, so she asked Huai En to sit down and talk in detail.

Afterwards, Empress Dowager Zhou asked about Huai En's journey south. Huai En answered very cautiously, and his words did not reveal any dissatisfaction with Zhu Jianshen and Concubine Wan.

"Wai En, your trip out can be considered as an experience."

Queen Mother Zhou said, "I will not ask you what troubles you encountered after leaving and how you dealt with them. Let me first tell you how you plan to assist the Crown Prince after you return."

"I will do my best to tell the Crown Prince everything I know, and let him make the decision." Huai En said.

Queen Mother Zhou nodded in approval: "That sounds good. But no matter what, you were exiled because you made a mistake before. After you came back, you were not allowed to directly take charge of the Imperial Household Department. You won't feel resentful, right?"

"will not."

Huai En said, "When serving the court, there is no distinction between high and low positions."

"Tsk tsk, Chen Gui, you have to learn how to be grateful and not be surprised by praise or criticism. You can remain calm and composed even in adversity."

Queen Mother Zhou praised him, and then said, "But I have to talk about you here! Huai'en, you said that you were involved in the selection of the imperial tomb as soon as you came back. What is your purpose?"

As soon as Huai En heard this, he knew that Queen Mother Zhou had a thorough grasp of state affairs and had a tendency to rule the country from behind the scenes. Now she was actually beginning to put pressure on him, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department.

Huai En said: "Choosing a mausoleum for the Holy Lord is the top priority at the moment. I don't think there is anything wrong with participating in it. Since everyone has their own reasons, I will send someone to investigate... I wonder if the Queen Mother has any advice?"

"Guidance is out of the question."

Queen Mother Zhou said, "Who doesn't want their son to be buried in a good feng shui place? Unfortunately, I know nothing about feng shui. I hope the people you send to investigate know more about feng shui, so as not to make a fool of themselves."

Huai En bowed respectfully: "This time, people from all over the country have come to Beijing to attend the funeral and congratulate the new emperor on his ascension to the throne. Among them is the lineage of Zhang Tianshi from Longhu Mountain... Zhang Xuanqing Tianshi, the current head of the Zhengyi Sect, is among those invited to go to Tianshou Mountain to check the feng shui."

"is it?"

Queen Mother Zhou was surprised and said, "That's the Taoist Xingzun, a leader respected by Taoists all over the world, right? No, that's not right, only the Zhengyi people respect him. Do they know much about Feng Shui?"

"It should be... yes." Huai En said.

"Ah."

Queen Mother Zhou nodded and said, "I hope he can fulfill his mission, and I also hope that the people sent will not be aimless. Let's wait and see."

……

……

Capital.

Before Ni Yue and Li Hua returned to the capital, they were completely unaware of what was happening in the court. After all, none of them had someone as well-connected as Li Zisheng to pass on the news.

As soon as they returned home, they heard the news that Ni Yue and Zhang Luan had a dispute over the site selection of the imperial mausoleum and that the prince had sent people to deal with it.

Li Hua was horrified and hurried back to the Imperial Observatory to inquire about the situation, but he was stopped outside the door by the Jinyiwei guarding there and was told that he needed to go home and rest for a while.

Li Hua felt that the problem was very serious and had no choice but to ask for a meeting with Ni Yue. He originally thought that Ni Yue was in the Ministry of Rites, but when he arrived there, he was told that Ni Yue, like him, was now unemployed at home.

He then went straight to Ni Yue's residence.

Ni Mansion.

Li Hua looked at the low door lintel in front of him and knew that Ni Yue's life was not very good. After all, there were many civil servants in the capital, and there were not so many who were blatantly corrupt and committed crimes. It was unlikely that they would openly accept bribes. As a result, for a civil official like Ni Yue who claimed to be poor and polite, it was considered very good to live in a private house and courtyard. Often the whole family could only squeeze into a small courtyard.

Many officials in Beijing rent places like this, and there are very few who can own their own residences like Ni Yue.

Li Hua himself had a wealthy family, so when he saw the situation at Ni Yue's house, he immediately thought of going back to give Ni Yue a gift to express his feelings. After all, the two of them were already tied together.

"Minister Ni, you didn't know this while you were far outside the city. Only when you came back did you find out that our affair had caused a sensation in the capital. Everyone was saying that this was a dispute between the old and new parties, and that you represented the clean stream in the court... There were also rumors that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had sent people to Tianshou Mountain to investigate two sites to see if we had any private factors involved. What do you think we should do?" Li Hua deliberately came to ask Ni Yue for his opinion, also to show that this matter was led by you, and you had to take responsibility.

Even those people in the capital who spread gossip know that I, Li Hua, am just an insignificant little person between you, Ni Yue, and Zhang Luan.

This matter is originally a dispute over your interests. After all, both of you are right vice ministers of the Ministry of Rites, and I am just the director of the Imperial Observatory.

Ni Yue asked in surprise: "You explored the terrain and selected the location, but now you are suddenly not confident?"

Li Hua said helplessly: "Minister Ni, you may not know that I have also checked out the place reported by Minister Zhang... I have to say that the place is really good, with mountains and rivers, and Feng Shui. Before I had time to check it out in detail, Minister Zhang told me that he had chosen that place, and you asked me to choose another location, so..."

"You mean... he didn't just randomly point to a place to evade the emperor's will, but came prepared?"

Ni Yue never thought of this.

From the very beginning, he never looked at Li Zisheng and Zhang Luan in the eye.

He believed that the knowledge of these two treacherous ministers combined might not be as good as that of a juren.

He was a Jinshi (imperial scholar) and his family had been famous scholars for generations. Yet, he was not even as good as a Taoist priest or a treacherous minister who was a student of the Imperial Academy. What was the point of his survival?

When Li Hua explained that the location of the imperial mausoleum chosen by the two actually looked like a good Feng Shui site, he began to take the matter seriously for the first time.

Ni Yue looked solemn and asked, "Did you go to investigate later?"

"Never."

Li Hua shook his head and said, "I have always been with you... and you only let me choose a place nearby, not the same place as mine, so..."

Ni Yue was a little annoyed and shouted, "Then how did he know about that place in advance? Did you tell others about the address in advance?"

Li Hua shook his head and said, "It is true that the Imperial Observatory did send people to Tianshou Mountain to select a site, but the places reported were hastily selected by the people below, and there is no actual basis.

"The place that Minister Zhang reported was something we happened to see when we went to explore elsewhere. I subconsciously felt that it was a place where wind and energy could be stored, so I wrote it down at the time and planned to go there to take a look at it at the end... Before communicating with Minister Zhang, I had never mentioned it to anyone, not even to you."

"This……"

Ni Yue paid more attention to this matter.

Li Hua said cautiously: "I heard that this time the palace sent people to inspect the sites we each reported. If the final result is that the place they chose is better, then..."

Ni Yue shook his head and said, "This is impossible!"

"Right."

Li Hua looked at Ni Yue with joy and said, "There are different levels of expertise, and experts can make mistakes sometimes. Even if their site selection is better, at most we will decide on theirs. What does it have to do with us? Minister Ni, is this what you mean?"

Ni Yue sneered and said, "There is no such thing as you advance and I retreat in this matter. It is what it is and you cannot retreat even a single step. Could it be that the people sent to survey the two sites are more proficient in geomancy and Xuankong than you? Why aren't they the supervisors of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, but you are?"

At this time, Ni Yue was very good at playing political tricks.

You are the director of the Imperial Observatory. Logically, you are the person who knows Feng Shui best in the Ming Dynasty. If you say one place is better, then others will have no reason to object.

You must now show the indomitable spirit of a "scholar clique" and firmly suppress the arrogance of Li Zisheng and Zhang Luan!

This way, the prince will have to listen to you in the end.

Even if the address you provided is not chosen in the end, it does not mean that your choice of location is worse than Zhang Luan’s. Instead, it means that there is a difference in closeness and distance, and it may be more likely to arouse the sympathy of the Qingliu.

"This……"

Li Hua was somewhat surprised by this result.

An upright minister was actually asked to use his so-called "authority" to suppress his political opponents?

The key is, I am not an authority in this area! Li Zisheng could predict the Taishan earthquake and the life and death of Concubine Wan, can I? If the crown prince and the ministers in the court really think that I am authoritative enough, then after we report different results, they will definitely choose the site I reported during the discussion. Why would they send someone to investigate?

This in itself shows that people don’t trust me.

Ni Yue said: "I have asked someone to sort out the information about your majesty's condition and the medical records before his death, and have asked someone to impeach Zhang Luan... Humph, he participated in the palace medical diagnosis without reason as a student, delaying your majesty's condition. Such a crime must be severely punished.

"Under this premise, I think there will be an endless stream of impeachment petitions against him in the coming period, and you must hold on tight and not make any mistakes!"

"That's...ok."

Although Li Hua agreed, he was still worried.

He was thinking too.

He is the father-in-law of the emperor. Even if he competes with you civil officials for jobs, it doesn't mean that we have to go to the extent of "two tigers cannot live in the same mountain", right?
Now that things have turned out like this, I’m afraid that the two of you will end up fighting to the death, and in the end one of you will withdraw from the court.

Ni Yue took out another memorial and said sinisterly, "Here is a memorial impeaching Zhang Luan for illegal activities during his time as Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Take it back and read it. Write it down in your own tone and find a few people to sign it together."

"what!?"

Li Hua thought to himself that this was not good. I came to you to discuss something, but you assigned tasks to me?

Ni Yue said: "During the time when Zhang Luan was the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was always negligent in his duties, committed many illegal acts, and did a lot of things to enrich himself. Moreover, he colluded with treacherous people, had close relations with Li Zisheng, Deng Changen and others, and even openly accepted Deng Changen's invitation to a banquet... These are all his bad deeds, and the evidence is solid and cannot be refuted!"

(End of this chapter)