The scorching sun shines in Beijing, and the weather looks extremely stuffy. Bing Jing, a local official, asked someone to send it to the capital, but the capital presents a solemn atmosphere.

In the next few days, senior officials in the capital moved frequently, and the two sides made the most preparations for the upcoming court debate, presenting a rare hostile stance.

Senior officials who are eligible to vote are generally invited or visited by both parties, and they express support or rejection, and some officials who try not to offend both sides.

Although Xu Jie has been in power for four years, and he has controlled the Ministry of Personnel through Hu Song, he can be said to be the dominant party, but he has no absolute chance of winning.

In the tradition of previous court discussions, the cabinet elders could only listen to the Ziguang Pavilion and could not directly participate in the voting, so Xu Jie, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang could not have the right to vote.

Because Xu Jie did not follow Yan Song's "individual prime minister" route, he instead wooed all forces through "common power".

Although he firmly controlled the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel, he did not dare to install his own people in other important positions, and he always left some place for all forces.

It is precisely because many officials have received the "benefit" of Xu Jie, but they are not from the Xu Party after all, so they may not obey Xu Jie's arrangements 100%.

Yang Bo, the Minister of War, naturally chose to support Xu Jie, but with Guo Pu's return and Gao Gong's rise, coupled with his military capabilities, his influence in the Northern Division has been greatly reduced.

Huang Guangsheng, the Minister of Justice, is the leader of the Fujian faction, but the Fujian faction has been in trouble over the years. Chen Jin, the top student who Xu Jie once wanted to train, was injured to death by the chaos, resulting in the Fujian faction's right to talk about the topic in the court.

Not strong.

The Zhejiang Censor Zhang Yongming, the left censor of the Censorate, once occupied the post of Xu Dang. With Yuan Wei and Dong Fen's resignation, his strength had been reduced, and his control was divided by Gao Yi, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Most importantly, rumors of Jiajing's dissatisfaction with Xu Jie were spread in the capital, which made officials who rose to power through political speculation be ready again, and even chose to bet on Wu Shan and Lin Qingran.

That's right. Although Xu Party still has a great advantage on the card, the situation in secret has undergone subtle changes, and Lin Weiran may not have no chance to turn the tables against the wind.

Wu Shan has been warning himself for only many years by "the sedan chair bearer is wet and he will never care about his shoes" that he has always been honest and upright as an official, and is the leader of the current Ming and Qing dynasties.

Wu Shan not only had a good reputation in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, but also had a strong influence in the Cichen system, and was especially supported by many Cichens.

Like Chen Yiqin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Gao Yi, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, did not gossip by Lin Qingran, and the two of them had already actively expressed their support for Wushan.

On the contrary, Lin Weiran's attack on Xu Jie's "inaction in governing" has been effectively amplified.

Many officials still hope to do more practical things for the people, rather than "staying up" with Xu Jie, so they tend to support Wu Shan in their hearts.

In addition, the news of Xu Jie's intention to conceal Yan Song's death has spread in the capital, which has made many officials who were favored by Yan Song in the past feel dissatisfied. At that time, he may also choose to stand opposite Xu Jie.

The officialdom in the capital seemed treacherous and was on the eve of a war. Even ordinary people in the capital smelled an unusual smell.

The afternoon sun shone on the backyard of the main hall of the Ministry of Revenue. A colorful butterfly flapped its wings silently flowed into the flowers, and then flew into an open door.

The room was filled with the fragrance of tea, but it was obviously cooler than outside. The ice in the corner was melting, and a cold air was silently driving away the stuffy heat brought by this summer.

Lin Weiran, wearing first-class official uniform, sat upright at the table, with a mature temperament that did not match his age on his face, and was processing the documents in an orderly manner.

Although he was in a whirlpool and was one of the protagonists of this war, he was still devoted to the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue.

If there is the busiest position in the world, except for Xu Jie, who is fully responsible for the memorials of the thirteen provinces in the two capitals, he may be reduced to him as the Minister of Revenue.

Since the new grain is about to mature in May, and the relevant grain tax collection and tax work in the two capitals and thirteen provinces is also to be promoted, the Ministry of Revenue has reached the busiest time of the year.

"Senior brother, my Yunnan Department has clearly counted it. The data this time is really amazing!" Yang Futian, wearing a fifth-rank official uniform, walked in and said seriously at Lin Weiran.

Lin Weiran immediately put down the work in his hand and seemed to be resolute and directly reached out to ask for the notebook.

"Senior brother, after repeated inspections and statistics by the Yunnan Department, the border salary in the first year of Jiajing was 590,000!" Yang Futian said with a serious look on his face after handing over the notebook.

Unlike the perfect coordination work in later generations, many data in this era seem very messy.

Even if it is just to verify the amount of border wages in the first year of Jiajing, it is a considerable amount of work to search for information from forty-five years ago and re-count it.

Lin Qingran took the book and saw the change in the amount quickly. He couldn't help but frown and said, "The border salary for the first year of Jiajing was 590,000, but by the 28th year of Jiajing, it actually increased to 2.21 million taels.

And why?"

"Whenever border affairs are tight, the border army always likes to increase its personnel, and there was a major increase in Jiajing in the 28th year! The generals of the border army were all hereditary. After they saw the wealth of empty wages, they have been doing so for years.

He tried to inflate the troops to the court. The annual expenditure is 2.63 million taels and 2.62 million shi of official troops' monthly grain!" Yang Futian was already prepared and explained seriously immediately.

Lin Weiran frowned, and a solemn look appeared on his face.

Looking at the increasing investment in military salaries over the years, he immediately realized that the problem here was not simple, and he had even formed a complete gray industrial chain.

The army is not an industry after all. The total amount of an industry is undoubtedly healthy to increase year by year, but the increase in military expenditure year by year undoubtedly contains a big problem.

Lin Junran knew that Zong Fan’s salary and military pay were the biggest expenses of the court. The former was already a maggot attached to the Ming Dynasty, and the latter was a bottomless pit.

The border salary alone is already 2.36 million taels, which does not include rewards. The official army's monthly grain is 2.62 million stones. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Ming Dynasty is now working to support the troops.

However, behind this kind of military support and the current emperor's enthusiasm for building large-scale projects will only cause ordinary people to bear heavy taxes, resulting in more and more people becoming refugees or starving.

If we look at the lifespan of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty could survive for decades, but the cost here was too much, at least hundreds of thousands of people would starve to death.

When he saw that Ji Town had as many as 80,000 soldiers, but was killed by 5,000 cavalry as if they were entering a deserted land, Lin Qingran couldn't help but ask, "Brother Yang, do you have a solution?"

"Senior brother, isn't the transfer of the South and the North the South the transfer is the best solution? Ning Jiang said so: Mongolian cavalry is not scary, what's scary is that some border soldiers obviously intend to raise bandits and respect themselves.

In fact, it is to make a living by eating empty wages! If we can really implement the strategy of transferring the South and the North, then the North will definitely not dare to take empty wages so arrogantly. Not only will our Ming Dynasty's border wages save a lot of money immediately,

The problem of the Northern Barbarians is probably solved." Yang Futian said seriously.

Lin Qingran put down the book, but sighed softly: "The current Minister of War is Yang Bo, not me! He has always disagreed with the strategy of transferring the south and the north, and the interests involved in it are millions of taels of gray every year.

The generals in the north have great resistance to income!"

"When it comes to the generals in the north, it's even more annoying! I heard that some border troops colluded with those profit-oriented Shanxi merchants, supporting them in trading with the Mongolians and seizing huge profits. I heard that the reason for the Mongolian cavalry is the reason for the Mongolian cavalry.

In recent years, it is more popular in silver, silk and jewelry. It is not like robbing iron pots like before. It is because the Shanxi merchants are constantly supplying supplies to the Mongolians!" Yang Futian said angrily.

Lin Weiran picked up the cold ginseng tea next to him, but responded with a smile: "You don't need to hear it, this is true! Li Wenhu just sent the evidence, and the latest batch of Foshan iron pots purchased by Shanxi merchants are exactly the flow.

Outside the pass, I went out from Yulin Pass!"

"Senior Brother, you..." Yang Futian's eyes lit up slightly, but he was caught.

Lin Qingran took a sip of ginseng tea, then nodded gently and said, "If you want to win Xu Jie in the court discussion this time, you can't just talk about your ideals, you have to do some things!"

In the current court, there are two people he most hoped to get rid of: one is Xu Jie, the chief assistant of the dynasty who was in corpse and the other is Yang Bo, the Minister of War.

Yang Bo is actually not a crime, at most he is a politician like Xu Jie. But he acted as a protective umbrella for Shanxi merchants and blinked one eye and closed the other about smuggling, which was undoubtedly a treason.

Even if he really doesn't know about smuggling, it's still a big deal.

"Senior brother, every time you do things, my scalp makes me numb! Everyone says that you are smarter than filial piety, but I think you are even worse than him. Born in any country in the Three Kingdoms can help one side achieve the great cause of unification!" Yang Futian

His hair was numb and he looked serious and complimented.

Lin Weiran did not take this seriously, but it was not that he could really compare with Guo Jia, a counselor of the Three Kingdoms, but that he mainly benefited from the systematic thinking education of later generations, and his brain was indeed enough.

Faced with Yang Futian's compliment, he shook his head gently and said, "It's not enough to attack Yang Bo alone. We have to pull another person into our camp!"

"Senior brother, but Gao Gong, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel?" Yang Futian frowned slightly and asked with a serious look.

Lin Qingran nodded gently with the teacup, nodded seriously and said, "Not bad!"

"Senior brother, I remember Mr. Sun said before that Gao Gong would not support the bad guys!" Yang Futian frowned deeper, and said with a look of worry on his face.

Lin Weiran smacked his lips, but nodded softly and said, "Yes, based on my understanding of Gao Gong and Mr. Sun's analysis, Yang Bo will definitely not support us!"

"Then you..." Yang Futian knew that Lin Weiran was not the kind of person who was stubborn, and he said in a confused way.

Lin Weiran picked up the booklet he had just put down, but smiled and said, "After all, I have to try it, and it's not that there is really no possibility of fighting Gao Gong over!"

"Hey... Gao Gong is jealous of you. So what unpleasant words he said, senior brother, don't take his words seriously!" Yang Futian said with kindness.

Lin Weiran also nodded gently, knowing that what Yang Futian was talking about was the truth.

In essence, it is difficult for him to keep Gao Gong neutral, let alone pull him into his own camp.

However, at this point, some people have to fight for it, and the whole thing is probably going to fail.

According to his latest secret information, Xu Jie and Guo Pu have already met.

Compared with the friendship cards they played and Guo Pu’s promise during the Spring Festival, Xu Jie gave too many conditions, which was already a condition to recommend Guo Pu to join the cabinet.

With Guo Pu's qualifications and status, he was favored by the emperor, and it was a natural thing to enter the cabinet. However, on the one hand, he was trapped by the number of cabinet ministers who had reached four, and on the other hand, he was hiding.

To be sad has become a big obstacle.

If Xu Jie came forward to recommend him, the censor of the court there would probably selectively forget the latter, and Guo Pu had a great chance to become the fifth cabinet master.

That's right, even though Guo Pu had already made a point, there was a great chance of choosing to turn against him. Gao Gong's vote may not only be his own vote, but also related to the number of votes from the Henan School, and even the Northern School.

ticket store.

Not all bad news, but there was an unexpected surprise here.

Chen Qixue, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was recommended by Yang Bo. He must have supported the Xu Party. It was just that God was willing to do something. Xu Party made a small adjustment earlier and transferred Chen Qixue to the governor of Shaanxi.

Although the successor was from the Xu Party, he was not selected from the capital, but promoted Wang Ting, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing.

It will take at least one month to take office from Nanjing to Beijing, and the court discussion will be held in a few days. Even if Wang Ting grows wings, it will not be possible for him to catch up with the court discussion.

The same is true. The vote that originally belonged to the Xu Party was wasted in vain in this "internal personnel" change.

Shortly after Yang Futian left, Lin Fu came in from outside and said that it was time to go to the yamen.

It was dark very late in May, and a set sun fell on the roof outside, and the sky was filled with blue sky and white clouds.

Lin Weiran returned to the mansion in a sedan chair. After changing his clothes, he went out in a sedan chair and went straight to a relatively remote house in Dashiyongfang.

With his current identity, he would definitely not refuse Gao Gong. However, Lin Qingran knew that Gao Gong was a person who loved face and wanted to pull people into his own camp, so he still had to give some sincerity.

Although he was not Liu Bei, Gao Gong, and even more so, Zhuge Kongming, he still came directly to the Gao Mansion gate and planned to win this decisive vote.
Chapter completed!