Xie Qian felt a little relieved when he learned that Zhu Houzhao had chosen the queen.

Getting married and having children is the most important step in life. In the eyes of old ministers like Xie Qian, getting married will gradually make his personality calmer and not be as nonsense as he is now.

Xie Qian, Jiao Fang and Wang Liang sat down to discuss.

Xie Qian told the plan he had prepared in advance: "The cabinet will arrange for one person to go to Nanjing Shangyuan with officials of the Ministry of Rites. Jizhi will be responsible for this matter, and all etiquettes must not be treated unfairly."

According to regulations, the cabinet must send someone to Nanjing City with officials from the Ministry of Rites to propose marriage to Zhu Houzhao. Xie Qian, as the chief minister, should not leave without permission. Jiao Fang was in her seventies and was in poor health, so she could only go by Wang Liang, who was relatively younger among the three.

Wang Yang asked: "As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xie Shaofu, this time, will marry the queen on behalf of the emperor. If he does not supervise it personally, it will be inappropriate. Why don't you and me go with you?"

Xie Qian shook his head: "I went to the court and no one dealt with the affairs. You can't abandon the affairs of the court because of Your Majesty's wedding..." At this point, he looked at Wang Yang with a complaint, hiding the slightest reproach.

You know that Jiao Fang is Liu Jin's person, but you insist on taking me to Jiangnan with you. Wouldn't you want to hand over all the affairs of the court to Jiao Fang and then let Liu Jin take over the power?

Seeing Xie Qian refusal, Wang Jiao refused and said more.

Jiao Fang asked, "According to the past, before the empress enters the palace, her father should be promoted and reported as an official position. I wonder what identity should this Xia father-in-law report?"

Xie Qian narrowed his eyes and said, "I reported this before. With the intention of the Queen Mother, the father-in-law took the position of the Governor of the Central Army as the general governor of the Central Army. He was the Duke of England, and Jizhi went there as the deputy envoy."

The court took British Duke Zhang Mao as the main envoy to Jiangnan to propose marriage. As for the deputy envoys, there were two, one was Wang Jiao, a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and the other was Li Jie, who had just replaced Zhang Sheng and promoted to the Minister of Rites.

Xie Qian said: "This time, the mountains and rivers are long, but it is best to return to Huizhou City within two months. Your Majesty gets married at the end of March and early April. After the wedding, you will choose a lady to enter the palace as a concubine. It should be fine. This is the empress dowager who entrusts..."

Empress Dowager Zhang trusted Xie Qian very much, even more than Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, because in the first year of Hongzhi, Guo Yong, the left young supervisor of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, asked Emperor Hongzhi Zhu Youzhang to accept more concubines after removing filial piety clothes, but he submitted a memorial to Xie Qian, who was the left concubine son of Zuochunfang and a Hanlin scholar at the time. After that, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty had no choice but to accept concubines and favored Empress Zhang alone.

After Xie Qian became the chief minister, Empress Dowager Zhang would ask Xie Qian to go to the palace to discuss any important matters.

Empress Dowager Zhang’s trust in Xie Qian gave Liu Jin a headache.

Liu Jin was mainly favored by Zhu Houzhao, but Liu Jin did not dare to attack Empress Dowager Zhang and his relatives. At this time, Empress Dowager Zhang trusted Xie Qian, and Zhang Yuan relied on his relatives, which made Liu Jin attack everywhere and left him helpless in dealing with dissidents.

...

...

On the second day of the second month, the governor's office of Yulin Guard, Shen Xi invited the main civil and military officials under his command.

This banquet was much more rigorous than the one before the year.

Shen Xi sent the invitation letter in advance, no longer in a negotiated tone, not that you would come if you like to come, but if you don’t come, Shen Xi’s attitude was extremely tough this time, and as long as you don’t have official duties, you must come to the banquet.

This time, the Governor's Office invited someone, but the actual banquet was Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren wanted to use Shen Xi's power to investigate the deficit of money and grain in the northwest, but there was not much progress. He could only follow Shen Xi's advice and let the civil and military officials on the three sides take the initiative to confess as much as possible and strive to be lenient. If there are stubborn people, the punishment will be increased.

The officials who came to the banquet this time were still led by Zhang An, the general officer of Yansui... Zhang An is one of the few officials on both sides who were upright and sat upright. As for the rest, they had their own ulterior motives, fearing that Chen Xi would be punished on the spot.

Chen Xi sat upright on the main seat, with the imperial envoy Wang Shouren sitting on his left, and Zhang An sitting on his right.

Chen Xi stood up, raised his wine glass with his right hand, and the civil and military officials stood up one after another. Chen Xi pressed his left hand and called out, "Sit down first, I have something to say."

The three-sided general manager gave a lecture. Everyone present understood that Chen Xi was about to showdown, and he didn't dare to look at him after sitting down.

Chenxidao: "I don't want to say anything extra. I believe you all know the purpose of the imperial envoy to the northwest. In the past few years, due to the deficit of the three sides of the country, the construction of the inner and outer Great Walls and the various blockages required by the court have not been completed yet. The Tatars regard the defense line of our Great Wall as if nothing was in place and can move forward and retreat freely. In addition, the rewards and allocation of food and wages by the soldiers have occurred, and some garrisons have not received a grain of food for half a year..."

"I am not trying to make things difficult for you on purpose, but I have to do my best in my position. If the Japanese official cannot give an explanation to the imperial envoy now, then the superiors cannot face the emperor and the inferiors cannot face the people... You don't want me to become an unfaithful person, right?"

No one was there, Zhang An looked around, stood up again, and shouted: "Master Shen, just say, what should I do?"

Chen Xi glanced at Wang Shouren and received Wang Shouren's affirmative reply. Chen Xi said: "I have discussed with the imperial envoy. If the official general who embezzled money and grain before has explained it truthfully and returned the stolen money, he will not be held accountable this time. He may be punished for his crimes in the future!"

"However, if there is someone who hides the facts and deceives the imperial envoy, I will go back and help the imperial envoy thoroughly investigate the case. Then don't blame me for disregarding the feelings of my colleagues."

I will give you a way out first. If you don’t go astray, don’t blame me for being ruthless.

Anyway, the first person to betray you was Zhu Hui, the former governor of the Three-sided side. Now Zhu Hui has given the specific list of the imperial envoys, and the imperial envoys have begun to question people. If you have confidence and calmness, you will not plead guilty and see who will suffer in the end.

Chen Xi said this, and no one was present. Everyone knew that this was the Hongmen Banquet set up by Chen Xi. Chen Xi was already on the verge of attack and said those nonsense that he didn't even believe was causing trouble.

Chen Xi said: "I left my words here. Last time you didn't listen, but this time, I will not compromise easily. If you want to confess your guilt, don't come to me. I don't want to know who is corrupt and abuse the law. You will all go to Wang Langzhong, who is an imperial envoy appointed by the court and has the right to make decisions. Three days later, if Wang Langzhong finds me to borrow troops and asks to investigate whom I want to deal with, I will only cooperate with you."

"This glass of wine is regarded as a way for me to respect those officials who are lucky. You should only have the opportunity to drink with me at the same table. This time you meet you next time, maybe you will be in prison."

After saying that, Chen Xi drank the wine in the glass in one go, then drank three glasses in a row, and then sat down.

There was a silence in the presence, and no one dared to come out to admit his crimes. He was considering the pros and cons of gains and losses in his heart, considering whether to hold on to the end.

Three days say more or less, and less or less, after this time, it may be a bloody storm.

...

...

Chen Xi did not force civil and military officials to confess his crimes at the banquet. This banquet ended in vain just like the one before the New Year.

Except for the opening three glasses of wine, Chen Xi did not drink any wine since then. The banquet ended in less than half an hour. After that, Chen Xi returned to the Houya, and naturally someone in front of him cleaned up the tables, chairs and leftovers.

Yunliu had been waiting in the back yamen for a long time. When she saw Chen Xi, who was covered in alcohol, came in, she wanted to go forward to help her, but was stopped by Chen Xi's hand.

"Sir, do you believe those officials will submit?"

Yunliu was very worried when she saw Chenxi’s Hongmen Banquet failing again.

Chen Xidao: "Whether they are willing to submit is no longer under my control. I will do whatever they like. I have explained this to Wang Bo'an, Zhu Hui, and the officials and the court in the northwest... This is my purpose. It is not my responsibility to investigate whoever is not investigated, but Wang Bo'an."

Yun Liu thought about it and nodded silently.

Chen Xi smiled and continued, "Now I hope these officials will fight to the end with a lucky mentality. I have done my best to be kind and righteous. I believe that those officials who are not involved in the case can understand my difficulties. Even if I end up singing a bad face, no one will say that I, as a Shangguan, are unkind."

"There are such a large group of borers under my command, and I want me to help them to the end. Do you really think they can get away with the gold medal of avoiding death?"

Yun Liu said: "Will the Lord really cooperate with Lord Wang to take people in three days?"

"It takes less than three days, two days. I refused to plead guilty two days ago. I hope he will discover his conscience on the third day? Those officials who want to follow the crowd cannot leave them a chance. When they become officials, they are determined to make money. When the case is investigated, they are still lucky. These people are the most shameless."

Chen Xi paused for a moment and said, "What I want to protect now are those officials who are forced to make money from the crowd. As long as these people are willing to plead guilty and return the stolen goods, I have nothing to worry about. I will try to investigate the case to the end."
Chapter completed!