I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Tell him that I am busy with government affairs. If you want to see me, please come back at the court tomorrow."

Chen Qingyun ordered.

"Yes." The guard turned and walked forward.

"Lu Jun's visit this time must be due to Shen Ye's matter." Jiang Zuo had already guessed it roughly.

"If they dare to do anything secretly again, I will never forgive them." Chen Qingyun was still angry.

"Your Majesty, don't be angry. These issues can be resolved soon." Jiang Zuo calmed the empress.

"I'm not angry." Chen Qingyun adjusted his thoughts, turned his head and looked at Jiang Zuo, and said, "Then Prime Minister Jiang, do you want to stay in the palace tonight?"

"Ahem..." Jiang Zuo coughed twice and quickly changed the subject, "Your Majesty, do the other scholars want to come to the palace to meet you?"

Chen Qingyun raised the corner of his mouth, smiled faintly and said: "No need, you can take care of these things."

"Well, if Your Majesty has no other instructions, I will take my leave."

Jiang Zuo started to move forward.

"Wait, I have something else to talk to you about."

Chen Qingyun called out to Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo raised his eyebrows, stopped his movements, and said with a smile: "What's the matter, Your Majesty?"

Chen Qingyun said: "I heard that your subordinates are very good at investigating intelligence. Can you ask them to investigate the Shen family case fifteen years ago? I want to know the truth."

The files recorded by the court are not credible.

Chen Qingyun urgently needs to know whether Lu Jun and his gang really persecuted the Shen family fifteen years ago, or whether Shen Ye was hiding something.

Jiang Zuo leaned forward and said, "Understood. I will withdraw first."

"Don't leave." Chen Qingyun said again, "Stay in the palace tonight."

Jiang Zuo: “…”

into the night.

Prime Minister's House.

Lu Jun stood on the attic, looking at the bustling night scene of the capital.

With the dim candlelight, Lu Jun carefully looked at the sword in his hand. It was with this sword that he fought on the battlefield and gained his current status.

He has been the prime minister for ten years, but in the end he is still trembling with fear and treading on thin ice.

As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger, let alone someone like Lu Jun, who has concealed many things from the emperor. Lu Jun is really worried that one day the emperor will suddenly settle old scores with him, and that Lu Jun, an old minister of the Three Supremes, will not have a good end.

Just as he was thinking about that, footsteps were heard on the stairs, and a servant came up and said, "Prime Minister, Minister Xu is here to see you."

"Yeah." Lu Jun closed his eyes and nodded.

After a moment, Xu Renyou walked up to the attic and said, "Meet the Prime Minister."

"It's so late, what's the matter?"

Lu Jun put away the sword in his hand and looked into the distance.

"The emperor has sent people to secretly protect Shen Ye, so we have no way to do anything." Xu Renyou said with a frown.

"Not surprisingly, Shen Ye went to the palace to meet the emperor today, but the emperor refused to see him in person. Maybe Shen Ye has already complained to the emperor." Lu Jun looked worried.

"Now the emperor wants to guard Shen Ye tightly, and no one can get close to him." Xu Renyou said.

"This person will reveal his flaws one day, so don't be anxious. If you are anxious, the emperor will find evidence of him, and the gain will outweigh the loss." Lu Jun said cautiously.

Seriously speaking, now is a very critical time for the Right Prime Minister and his party.

Everyone in the court knew that the imperial examination held by the emperor was intended to replace the old ministers of the court.

Now almost every official in the court is as uneasy as Lu Jun is at this moment, fearing that one day they will be arrested or executed by the empress on charges of corruption.

After all, the empress killed hundreds of officials, if not thousands.

Everyone was filled with fear of this terrible woman. If they were not careful, they might lose their official positions and lives.

Xu Renyou said: "I'm afraid the night will be long and there will be many hidden dangers."

Lu Jun was silent for a moment, then said, "This Prime Minister has already made a plan. Only if you make some concessions can you continue with the plan."

This statement is so ambiguous that it is difficult to understand.

Xu Renyou was puzzled: "What does the Prime Minister mean?"

Lu Jun still looked solemn, and said, "You will know when the time comes."

……

early morning.

In the imperial palace, all officials came to court.

This was the first time that civil and military officials attended court after the imperial examination.

"Meet Prime Minister Jiang."

"Prime Minister Jiang looks radiant today. He is in great luck."

The most eye-catching person in the court today is Jiang Zuo.

The left and right prime ministers have long been marginalized.

All the ministers understood that as long as they pleased Jiang Zuo, they would be pleasing the emperor.

Everyone already knew what the relationship between the Emperor and Prime Minister Jiang was.

At this moment, Jiang Zuo was a little more tactful than before, and he greeted everyone's flattery with a smile.

Even the left prime minister Wei Hong began to fawn on Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo has no way of escaping this official environment and can only adapt himself slowly.

Everyone was talking in low voices at that time, but when they heard the empress coming, they immediately quieted down.

Chen Qingyun was also full of energy today, without any fatigue from the previous few days.

"See the Emperor."

All the ministers knelt down.

"Flat body."

Chen Qingyun's words were more powerful. After Jiang Zuo's care last night, he indeed didn't feel that tired.

As soon as the court meeting began, Jiang Zuo started to report the results of the imperial examination to the empress.

"This imperial examination was quite successful, with eighty successful candidates. These people will enter the imperial court and serve the government in the future."

These words were so harsh to some officials. They knew very well that success in the imperial examination would definitely change the entire structure of the court. At least from then on, the old system of selecting filial and honest officials had been completely abandoned, and it had become impossible to establish their own power in the court.

Chen Qingyun nodded and said, "The top scorer of this imperial examination, Shen Ye, is from Huaizhou. I plan to grant him the position of Chief of the Ministry of Conferment and Merit."

After thinking about it for a night, Chen Qingyun did not fully adopt Jiang Zuo's suggestion, but instead appointed Shen Ye as a seventh-rank official.

But the level of official position is not the point. The point is that as soon as Shen Ye entered the court, he became the head of the Ministry of Personnel's Department of Rewards and Awards, and was responsible for the process of rewarding officials of all ranks in the court.

"What do you think, gentlemen?"

After Chen Qingyun finished speaking, his gaze rested on Lu Jun.

At this moment, the right prime minister Lu Jun had a quite calm expression, but the right party officials around him had a hint of surprise in their expressions.

The person with the ugliest expression was naturally the Minister of Personnel Xu Renyou.

Before this, Xu Renyou had no idea that Shen Ye would enter the Ministry of Personnel. It seemed that the empress had gradually sidelined him as the Minister of Personnel, and even any personnel transfers rarely went through the Ministry of Personnel.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Jiang Zuo took the lead in shouting, and the rest of the ministers followed one by one.

This time, no official publicly opposed the empress's suggestion.

The implementation of the imperial examination is an inevitable trend. If you want to oppose it, you are openly opposing the empress.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report."

At this time, the right prime minister Lu Jun suddenly stood up.

Everyone present looked at Lu Jun.