That night, Mr. Zhao held an emergency meeting of the Court Operations Command in his study.

Zhao Liben, Dingguo Duke Xu Wenbi, Ji Eunuch, Zheng Ruozeng, Tang Youde, Zhang Qianfa and other command members gathered together and looked at Zhao Hao.

"...this is the situation." Zhao Hao first told everyone the latest situation, and then said with a gloomy expression: "This will be a severe test for us!"

"Yes." Everyone nodded. In their pre-calculation, Li Jung-kuo should at least be neutral. Zhang Xianggong was very wise and probably supported them. No one expected that Li Chunfang would eventually decide to stand opposite him, and Zhang Juzheng also escaped, which made them have a great chance of winning and was in danger all of a sudden.

"I heard that the Caoyun people have spent a lot of money in Beijing, lobbying one by one, and secretly instructed Caoguan to go to Beijing to cause trouble. Although they were stopped in Shandong, they have already sounded the alarm for the court." Xu Wenbi sighed softly, "The Chief Auxiliary kept 'Qingwuwei' all day long, and I'm afraid he was scared by those dogs."

"Haha, that's a good thing, such a coward!" Zhao Liben took a foot-long brass chimney with a mahogany mouth and took a beautiful breath. While enjoying the joy of swallowing clouds and spitting mist, he sneered: "Although Shandong has exaggerated the number of people causing trouble, the premiere can scare the coward, which shows that it's even more cowardly than the dog."

Europeans have been smoking for decades. The chimney used by Mr. Zhao was bought by Paul Tang from the Portuguese and gave it to Zhao Hao when he went to Macau to purchase it.

But Zhao Hao felt that smoking was harmful to health, so he didn't ask for his gift, nor did he intend to let the old man smoke it. So Tang Paul respected Tang Youde with the chimney and tobacco.

Lao Tang quickly became obsessed with smoking and led several members of the board of directors. This time Zhao Liben went to Beijing, and Lao Tang became a smoker, using the cigarette tube that Paul Tang gave Zhao Hao.

It can be seen that some things are destined to happen and cannot be stopped.

~~

"The situation has changed. We can no longer hide it. We must do our best to compete with them!" Zhao Hao has adjusted his emotions and regained his fighting spirit.

"Not bad! Let them see the strength of our Xishan Company!" Everyone shouted in a verbal way.

"Let me re-examine the votes first." Zhao Hao knocked on the wall behind him with the wooden stick in his hand.

The thick velvet curtain was opened, revealing the snow-white wall. Three different colors of iron plates were hung on the wall. Blue, yellow and white. Blue and yellow were placed on both sides, and the white plates in the middle were covered with famous brands with magnets.

There are 45 famous brands, most of which are well-known. They include Yang Bo, Minister of Personnel, Huo Ji, Minister of War, Gao Yi, Minister of Rites, Mao Kai, Minister of Justice, Ma Sen, Minister of Revenue, Zhu Heng, Minister of Works, Xue Songyi, General of Tongzheng, Wang Ting, Censor of the Left Capital, and Dong Chuance, Minister of Dali Temple.

And fifteen ministers of the six ministries... Among them, there are four ministers in the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Revenue has also added the Governor-General of Kurabashi.

In addition, there are the Minister of Taichang Temple, the Minister of Guanglu Temple, the Minister of Taipu Temple, the Prime Minister of Shuntian Prefecture, the Governor of Jiliao, and the Governor of Shandong. The two left deputy censors of the Censorate, four supervisors of the six departments, the chief ministers of the engineering department, the left minister of the household department, and the doctor of the Ministry of Works.

This is the person who has the right to vote in the court three days later. Although the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet presided over the meeting, he would not vote.

Then Zhao Hao and everyone analyzed the possible direction of each vote.

Although there was no obvious party struggle in the Ming Dynasty, factions have always existed. Officials formed different factions of different sizes based on various relationships such as rural friendship, age, interests, marriage, affiliation, political views, and temperament.

Although there are differences in attitudes within the faction when facing different people and events, basically the same faction still focuses on advancing and retreating together and maintaining consistency, so as to enhance the influence of one's own group and safeguard the interests of the group.

If these forty-five voting ministers are divided into factions, they will have different division methods according to different standards. Obviously, in this kind of matter involving millions of hometowns, hometown will be the biggest constraint, and the rest of the factors must be retreated.

According to his native place, Zhao Hao divided the forty-five people into ten people from Jiangnan, six people from Jiangbei, three people from Jiangxi, five people from Shanxi, four people from Shandong, four people from Beizhi, three people from Henan, three people from Huguang, five people from Fujian, Guangdong, and two people from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

Among them, Jiangnan people include the Jiangnan part of the Southern Zhili and Zhejiang. Jiangbei people guide the Jiangbei part of the Southern Zhili.

"All Jiangnan officials are on our side." Zhao Hao snapped his fingers, and Sun Dawu quickly transferred all the famous brands of ten Jiangnan officials to the blue board.

"All Jiangbei officials are firmly a canal transport party." Zhao Hao said again: "Now that the chief minister has such an attitude, it is even more impossible for them to stand with us."

Sun Dawu then glued the famous brands of six Jiangbei officials to the yellow board.

"I have talked to officials in Jiangxi, but there is basically no big problem." Zhao Liben took a deep breath of the chimney and spit out white mist from his nose and said: "If the shipping is changed, the burden on Ganzhou Province will be reduced. This is a good thing and we must not fail to support it."

Sun Dawu added three more to the blue board.

"Not mentioning Shandong origin." Zhang Qianfa smiled bitterly: "Whether it is the canal or Jiaolai River, they have passed through them. They are the most iron-core supporters of the Caoyun Group."

Sun Dawu added four more yellow boards.

"Those Henan guys are closer to the canal than the sea, and they always don't like us." Eunuch Chicken smiled bitterly. Even if they didn't say anything about the interests, Henan finally found two elders Gao Gong and Guo Pu, but both of them were squeezed out by Mr. Xu.

By the way, there is also the grudge between Gao Gong and Zhao Liben, which is strange if the Henan fellow villagers can like Jiangnan people.

"We will bring two of you from Beizhi." Xu Wenbi took a sip of tea ceremony: "But the two of you from Cangzhou and Daming Mansion are determined to protect the canal transportation. You can't pull it, but you can't pull it."

Sun Dawu added two to each side.

At this time, there were fifteen famous brands on the blue board and fifteen on the yellow board.

There are fifteen famous brands left on the white board, namely five from Shanxi, three from Huguang, five from Fujian, Guangdong, and two from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

These fifteen people are the key to victory or defeat.

"How are you talking to those old Xier?" Zhao Liben asked Zhao Hao with a cigarette ring.

Zhao Hao was so quick that he could see him. After only a few days of smoking, he learned to vomit smoke rings? Is there anything else in this world that the old man can’t play with?

"I originally thought it was still done." After a pause, Zhao Haofang replied: "After the negotiation with Lao Yang, as long as they join us after the matter is completed, they can vote for us." He touched the back of his head and said: "But what happened during the day has left me unsure."

"Those old Xi'er can't be reliable." Zheng Ruozeng coughed twice. He made the smell of smoke choke and said slowly: "They also promised Hu Butang to be good, saying that as long as he could help Wang Chonggu become the governor of Ningxia, he would protect him in the evening. As a result, after Hu Butang fulfilled the contract, they still turned against him and let Hu Butang die in prison. Cough cough... I later found out that Yang Bo exchanged him for a Tianguan Dangdang."

"Yes, Yang Tianguan is too smart, and Shanxi people are also too smart." Seeing that Lao Zheng could not smell this, Zhao Liben apologized to pick up the copper cap from the table and put it on the chimney. The tobacco inside naturally went out. "They will only stand on the winner's side. I see, the current situation may be quite a bit of a rebellion."

Zhao Hao nodded, and he was also worried that the cabinet's attitude would affect the choice of the Shanxi Gang.

He signaled Sun Dawu to set five famous Shanxi brands to be determined.

"The five people from Fujian and Guangdong are also a little troublesome." Zhang Qianfa sighed: "They have already seen that our drunkard's intention is no longer drinking. Of course, they don't want us to compete for business with them."

"Yes, they wish that our sea ban will be overwhelmed by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the sea ban will be so happy that the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong monopolize maritime trade?" Tang Youde said with a wry smile.

"But fortunately, Ma Butang is from Fujian, and Lin Zhongcheng has a high reputation among the village party." Zhao Hao said lightly: "We can at least protect the three votes in Fujian."

So Sun Dawu divided the five people from Fujian and Guangdong into three blue, two to yellow.

Zhao Hao's eyes passed over Huguang and landed on the remaining two Sichuan bosses, Zhao Zhenji and Wang Ting, and said in a deep voice:

"It's not necessary to say that Wang Zongxian, the young master Zhao Dazhou, also agreed and would support us."

Sun Dawu added two more to the blue board.

In this way, the number of sea transportation votes reached twenty and the number of canal transportation reached seventeen.

There are still five votes in Shanxi and three votes in Huguang, and it is still undecided to win easily.

In Zhao Hao's original calculation, these eight votes were basically fine. In this way, more than half of them could win by 28 votes!

But Zhang Juzheng suddenly disappeared at this time, which made the whole situation regenerate suspense.

"The three of them in Huguang are all following Zhang Taiyue's head. Before he goes to Changping, they will definitely explain how they vote." Zhao Liben shot the ashes that fell on the hem of his robe and said quietly: "Then the question is, why should he hide?"

"Zhang Taiyue is not a person who is afraid of trouble, and it doesn't matter to him," Xu Wenbi said with a wry smile.

"No, his actions show that at least in his position, this matter has something to do with him." Zhao Liben shook his head flatly.

"So what does it matter? What benefits can he get if he hides out?" The chicken brother wanted to lay an egg in sorrow.

"It's very simple." Zheng Ruozeng had already figured it out and sighed helplessly: "The maritime transportation proposal has been brewing for many years. With Zhang Xianggong's shrewdness, he can probably figure out who will stand on our side and who will not. He must know in his heart that even if Yuan Fu does not support it, as long as he and Shanxi vote for us at eight votes, we can still win."
Chapter completed!