Chapter 1565

Wang Yan scolded Gao Gong and the others in the cabinet every day, saying that the assassination attempts he was facing now were all instigated by Gao Gong and the others.

Even if they weren't instigated by them, it was because of their compromise and retreat that those people now dared to take action against Wang Yan, the Senior Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. If they had solved the problem once and for all earlier, there wouldn't be so much trouble today.

Gao Gong was very frustrated as Senior Grand Secretary; he was old, yet he was angered to death by Wang Yan every day. He wanted to show off the majesty of a Senior Grand Secretary, but Wang Yan kept a close eye on him, and he had no sense of experience at all.

But fortunately, although Wang Yan was in charge of the purse strings, he never used money to block other government offices from doing things. Even for some government offices that reported budgets that were a bit low and were nervous about getting things done, he would send the reports back, asking them to recalculate and apply for more.

Of course, money was not so easy to get. After all, Wang Yan was the Great Ministry of Revenue, and the Royal Bank was also in his hands; he was truly engaged in auditing. Otherwise, why would government offices ask for less money? It was all because they were audited and then cleaned up by Wang Yan until they were afraid, and they didn't dare to reach out and be corrupt.

This made it very difficult for Wang Yan too. The people below were becoming less and less useful. Was he not letting people be corrupt? The reason he audited was that he had spent so much money, but nothing was accomplished. Those doing engineering delayed the schedule, and those doing disaster relief starved the people to death; could he not audit?

As long as they did their jobs well and had some sense of proportion in their corruption, Wang Yan wouldn't clean them up to death...

Regardless of how you put it, Wang Yan's generosity and decisiveness in giving money were widely praised. He never said there was no money; even if the finances were insufficient, he would put forward some suggestions to find a way to get a sum of money, and do the things first.

But Gao Gong thought that this was the only thing about Wang Yan that made people like him. As for the rest, it was simply detestable to the extreme.

Sometimes Gao Gong envied the Great Ming tycoon who had already had his family fortune cleared out, the former Senior Grand Secretary of the Great Ming Empire, Xu Jie.

This old thing knew that Gao Gong and Wang Yan were determined to clean him up, so naturally, he accepted his fate. He couldn't not accept his fate; he couldn't clean up Wang Yan when he was in power, let alone now that he had stepped down. So Xu Jie honestly paid taxes according to the regulations, not a single penny short.

As for the matter of reputation, it was good enough that the whole family could survive. Xu Jie could be sure that if he dared to evade taxes, Wang Yan would really dare to deal with him, making his old bones go to the construction site to do labor. Setting a precedent for the Great Ming, becoming the most miserably cleaned-up Senior Grand Secretary.

Xu Jie's family was large and had a big business, he just didn't want to take out too much money. Taking out this sum of money was just earning a little less, it wouldn't make them unable to earn money. This group of people was detestable right here; earning less was losing, and they had to cry and howl that they couldn't survive. Their faces were too ugly.

Besides paying more taxes, Wang Yan also had people investigate the illegal things done by Xu Jie's family members, and rectified them according to laws and regulations. Apart from this, Wang Yan didn't deliberately make things difficult for Xu Jie; everything was done according to the regulations.

Many people took doing things according to regulations as a mistake; what were those regulations made for? I can choose not to do it, but if I do it, you can't say I did it wrong. The Great Ming Senior Grand Secretary didn't have anything more.

Regarding this, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Chen Yiqin, and even the people below had opinions. But Wang Yan was fair and just, cleaning up the families of these people along with them; no one could run, everyone was the same, so their hearts were balanced, and it was easy to accept.

The only bad thing was that Wang Yan was the biggest villain. Even his subordinates didn't like it and had quite a few complaints.

Wang Yan didn't care about these things; he was already very restrained. His own standing was upright; before investigating these problems, he himself had no problems first. If he had these problems, his skin would have been peeled off long ago, so how could it become a way for him to attack others?

The problems he had were well-known corruption and lust, so he never tangled with corruption and the personal lives of officials, because he himself was not upright either. Even if the money he was corrupt with was used to benefit the people, he still took the money, which was an indisputable fact.

When it was really time to deal with him, they wouldn't consider that he took money to do good deeds, but only consider whether he took money; it was just that simple and direct...

With all these things, Gao Gong felt that his experience as Senior Grand Secretary was very bad. He also felt sad for himself; Yan Song and Xu Jie were quite comfortable when they were Senior Grand Secretaries. Although Xu Jie was a bit worse, there was Jiajing mediating at that time, and Wang Yan's main energy was not on governing the whole country, so Xu Jie's experience was also quite good.

It was different when it came to Gao Gong; no one could suppress Wang Yan. Gao Gong couldn't, Zhang Juzheng couldn't, and even the Longqing Emperor couldn't.

Of course, Wang Yan would not deny Longqing, and would not confront him head-on. He would just let it go in one ear and out the other, deal with it on the surface, and then not be soft when he took action later. Even if Longqing blamed him, it was nothing more than finding a plausible reason on the surface, pretending to apologize, and giving Longqing some money to spend, and Longqing would happily stop talking.

Gao Gong was uncomfortable, and Zhang Juzheng was not much better. He was also a person who seized power, but he found that he couldn't beat Wang Yan, which was truly too sad.

Before his eyes, Wang Yan had gradually begun to reveal his fangs, showing the appearance of a powerful minister.

This made Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng very uneasy...

Hu Zongxian was sixty-six years old and had been the Minister of War for three years, reforming the Great Ming army with Wang Yan, and at the same time managing the southwestern chieftains and stabilizing the trade route to the Western Regions.

For the people working below, for the soldiers fighting desperately at the front, these things were all very big, occupying all of them, with many unspeakable difficulties, struggles against various temptations, and dangers between life and death.

However, for Wang Yan and the top rulers of the Great Ming like Hu Zongxian, these things were just a few documents sent over from time to time.

And such documents were piled up on Wang Yan's desk...

"I never thought that this old man could reach such a point..." Hu Zongxian took a sip of wine, his face full of emotion.

Wang Yan was still eating with his mouth full of oil, making Hu Zongxian envy Wang Yan's good appetite.

"Is this enough to be satisfied? Old Hu, if it weren't for that incident with Yan Song back then, you would have entered the cabinet long ago. Maybe by now, you would have already retired with honors and returned to your hometown to enjoy your old age."

"Taking over Cabinet Minister Yan's position, this old man couldn't have created today's Great Ming either. This old man also wanted to seek benefits for the people, but only you really succeeded. In less than twenty years, you have made my Great Ming extremely strong, far surpassing the Han and Tang dynasties; it is simply earth-shattering."

Wang Yan shook his head amusingly: "Every time we talk, you have to praise me; my ears are about to develop calluses from listening."

"You deserve it. You know Hai Rui's foul temper; every time he mentions you, it's all words of praise. When others say you were corrupt with silver, he even clears your name. Over these many years, the people of the world have also seen your sincere heart for the Great Ming and the people; no matter how much they praise you, it's not too much."

Hu Zongxian was now a complete Wang-fan.

He changed the subject and said, "It's been another three years, and this old man's mission can be considered complete. His Majesty talked to me earlier, saying that you intend to promote me to the cabinet, and asked for my thoughts. I naturally agreed; I have been an official for a lifetime, and being able to be a cabinet minister can be considered dying without regrets. But can I enter the cabinet?"

"Yes, why can't you?" Wang Yan asked back.

Hu Zongxian shook his head: "Your situation is not very good now; Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Chen Yiqin have joined forces to suppress you, and His Majesty seems to be biased toward them now. His Majesty talked to me, and I heard His Majesty's meaning was that he didn't want me to enter the cabinet, but wanted me to beg to retire and return to my hometown to recuperate. The things we talked about back then are afraid they are going to be fulfilled."

Wang Yan said with a smile: "Nowadays, my Great Ming is peaceful, the people live and work in peace and contentment, the court's annual revenue is higher than the year before, the local grain production has repeatedly hit new highs, the population is growing, and in recent years, even the territory is slowly expanding. Every year, there are more and more scholars in the imperial examination; it is truly extremely prosperous."

"My governing strategy is widely circulated. Over these many years, quite a few officials have achieved some results, and I have also cultivated quite a few capable people over these years. Looking at it this way, I am indeed a bit redundant."

"Listen to me, take the initiative to submit a memorial to beg to retire."

"I am only thirty-seven years old, in my prime; what kind of bones am I begging to retire?"

Hu Zongxian sighed: "You saw with your own eyes how Cabinet Minister Yan fell back then. How did the Yan Party back then compare to the Wang Party today? I think your Wang Party is not even as powerful as the Yan Party. What was the result? With one order from the late Emperor, Cabinet Minister Yan honestly returned to his hometown, and the Yan Party disintegrated instantly. I couldn't even protect myself, and was pressed into the capital and locked in the imperial prison waiting for death."

"There is still a difference; at least for now, the people under me are all capable of doing things and don't harm the people."

"Are you talking about these things? At this time, what does it matter whether you harm the people or not? Don't you understand yet? Now it is His Majesty who wants to abandon you."

Wang Yan was still smiling: "Of course I understand, but Old Hu, you shouldn't think about it properly; can I retreat? I have offended too many people. If I lose power today, tomorrow someone will dare to dispatch a large army to surround my mansion, and then burn my whole family to the ground with a fire. A few traces in the history books, brushed over with one stroke."

"Sigh..." Hu Zongxian had nothing to say, and could only sigh helplessly.

Wang Yan's situation was truly difficult to handle; he had played with his life all the way to today, offended so many people, and achieved today's Great Ming prosperous age, only to be targeted. For the sake of self-preservation, Wang Yan couldn't just sit and wait for death. After all, who wants to die if they can live? Not to mention that Wang Yan had been successful since he was young, and now, not yet forty, he held great power.

"Why aren't you anxious at all?" Hu Zongxian frowned and asked. "Could it be that you have a good strategy?"

"Where would there be any good strategy? It's just soldiers come to block, water comes to cover."

"What do you plan to do?"

"It's very simple, eliminate dissidents."

Wang Yan raised his wine glass and drank it himself, without persuading Hu Zongxian to drink. After all, he was a person approaching seventy, so it was enough to drink a little to be comfortable; there was no need to accompany him to drink.

Hu Zongxian's eyes widened: "Eliminate dissidents? Now it is His Majesty who wants you to step down; how can you eliminate them? Could it be that you want to rebel?"

"I am a loyal official of the Great Ming, how could I rebel? Besides, it hasn't reached the point where I have to rebel..."

"Then you still want to rebel? If you don't rebel now, will you rebel later?"

"Don't be so obsessed with rebellion. If it weren't for the last resort, why would I want to be a rebellious subject? Rebellion is not about being emperor, it's about not wanting to die. No need to think so extremely; could it be that there are no other methods?"

Wang Yan didn't dwell on this topic, and changed the subject: "Old Hu, you have to understand, His Majesty is dissatisfied with me; it must be that someone is dissatisfied with me and has bewitched His Majesty, which is why His Majesty has become estranged from me. Then the problem is simple: whoever bewitches His Majesty, we will deal with them."

"Who bewitched His Majesty?"

"Who do you say it is?"

Hu Zongxian thought for a while: "Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Chen Hong, Feng Bao, Chen Yiqin..."

This string of names was approved by Wang Yan: "Currently, Zhang Juzheng is at home mourning, no need to pay attention to him; first mobilize the censors and put some pressure on Gao Gong."

Hu Zongxian was the smartest person who could be smart; he already understood Wang Yan's meaning, and once again marveled at Wang Yan's daring to think and act.

Obviously, Wang Yan wanted to deal with everyone His Majesty could rely on, making Longqing a commander of a bare pole, a mascot who couldn't leave the palace. Doing this was indeed not rebellion, but the impact was not much less than rebellion.

Thus, not many days later, the court suddenly began to focus its fire on attacking Gao Gong.

In the court, there was scolding every day, you scold me, I scold you, attacking each other. But this time, the intensity was such that anyone could see that this was a big boss fighting, and as for which big boss, people knew with their feet.

Of course, the attack was not framing; they were all talking about things that had been done, words that had been said, and the bad influence caused. At the same time, they were not directly attacking Gao Gong himself, but targeting Gao Gong's subordinates.

For example, whatever Gao Gong strongly pushed, it wasted money and harmed the people, and the officials handling things below were corrupt and didn't do things. It was attacking the middle and upper-level officials, using them to speak. Little by little, it led to Gao Gong's problems, creating a great momentum.

Gao Gong certainly wouldn't not respond; he also mobilized his subordinates to attack Wang Yan's subordinates, and both sides scolded each other.

Until there was an impeachment memorial saying that Gao Gong was old, physically weak, and not suitable to serve as Senior Grand Secretary, requesting a change of person. At this time, Wang Yan jumped out and began to directly attack Gao Gong, spreading Gao Gong's various problems.

And then the passionate scholars gathered in the capital, and the numerous officials, were all filled with righteous indignation.

Gao Gong naturally followed suit and spread dark history about Wang Yan. But it was useless, because Wang Yan only had two flaws: greed and lust.

And this item of greed was also known to the world as liking to raise animals, and he also truly paid high salaries to the people working under him, with good guarantees. Even though he was already a cabinet minister, he personally treated the terminal illness of his subordinates' family members. This story spread very widely...

Wang Yan was constantly marketing himself. Even if the people knew that they could live a good life because of him, it didn't stop him from letting the people remember him more deeply; this was all useful.

And with the fermentation of the dark history released by Wang Yan, and at the same time he sent people to guide public opinion, finally, in the late spring and early summer of the fourth year of Longqing, a large-scale collective incident broke out.

Thousands of scholars and grassroots officials gathered outside the imperial city, shouting slogans to dismiss Gao Gong and clean up the Gao Party...

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