Prime Minister

Chapter 1092: Great Elimination

Chapter 1092: Great Elimination

Prime Minister's Mansion.

At present, the only real prime minister in Bianjing City is Wang Gui.

Wang Gui had no outstanding experience in governing a place. Even after he became a Hanlin, he never served as Chief Censor, the Governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, or the Envoy of the Three Departments. He was born as a poet and was appointed as a government official.

Now he is the prime minister.

Wang Gui was best at poetry and writing articles.

Although Wang Gui was from Huayang, his great-grandfather had followed King Meng Chang of Shu to Kaifeng to surrender to the Song Dynasty and moved his family to Shuzhou. Now Wang Gui settled in Kaifeng again.

Wang Gui held a banquet at his residence that day.

Wang Gui was fond of poetry, feasting, exchanging poems, and singing poems with others. Whenever he had just finished a poem at a banquet, he would ask a singing girl to play and sing it on the spot. This was an elegant activity for scholars and officials.

Most of the high-ranking officials in this era were first-rate poets, each of them was a little Liu Yong. In later generations, each of them would be a Fang Wenshan. This was how high-end communication in official circles worked.

Otherwise, you will be like those martial artists who only know how to eat, drink and play finger-guessing games, and your realm and level will not be displayed.

Zhang Yue rarely attended such banquets, of course because he was not good at writing poetry, but he would be willing to write something original if he really wanted to. However, he never went to Wang Gui's banquets.

However, Emperor Renzong liked this very much and often summoned Wang Gui to the palace for banquets and poetry. Wang Gui was able to praise the "high and wonderful learning" from various angles, and the two of them could chat until late at night. Not only that, Emperor Renzong also asked the concubines around him to ask Wang Gui for poems with scarves, round fans and other things.

Wang Gui was quick-witted and could satisfy the requests of the concubines on the spot. The concubines took out jewelry and other things as gifts to Wang Gui as rewards, so every time Wang Gui entered the palace, his sleeves were filled with jewels.

This incident became a legend, which shows how good the relationship between Wang Gui and Emperor Renzong was.

Unfortunately, neither Yingzong nor the current emperor liked this approach, so Wang Gui had no place to use his talents and could not be promoted for several years.

Now it is the turn of the officials below to curry favor with him.

Although the imperial court suffered a great defeat in Fuyan Road, today's banquet had been scheduled long ago, so it was not postponed.

However, Wang Gui still carefully ordered the singers not to use stringed instruments, bamboo, gongs or drums when they were arranging the lyrics and singing the music, so as to avoid making any noise, and they could only use objects to mark the beats.

Wang Gui had been in officialdom for decades and always wanted to be ahead of the curve in everything. Even when he was prime minister, he was still so cautious, worthy of being a man who had served three generations of kings.

Those attending the banquet today are either Wang Gui’s children and relatives-in-law, or ministers in the court.

Among them was Wang Gui's eldest son-in-law, Li Gefei, a Jinshi in the ninth year of Xining, who was a famous talent in Beijing. In addition, Cai Jing was also present. Wang Gui's second daughter was to marry Cai Jing's eldest son Cai You, but the two sides only arranged a baby marriage. In addition, there was Wang Gui's eldest son Wang Zhongxiu.

As for the high-ranking officials, there were Yuan Jiang and Cai Que, both of whom were frequent visitors, as well as Li Qingchen, the Chief Imperial Editor.

Zhang Yue had been very optimistic about Li Qingchen and intended to cultivate him, but he ended up getting closer to Wang Gui. In addition to Li Qingchen, there were several other officials who were also potential backbones of Wang's party.

Everyone raised their glasses to congratulate Wang Gui. As the person with the highest status in the banquet, he definitely felt like the moon surrounded by stars.

Wang Gui naturally enjoyed doing this, and as for confusing the topic, there were officials of lower status in charge of it. They drank wine and listened to music, but it was actually just a trap.

Every word and every thought of the people was on Wang Gui, not missing any expression on the other person's face or any information that was inadvertently revealed.

Wang Gui also used this to judge the abilities of each official and whether he could be trained.

One of the officials was not very good at writing poetry and did not like drinking, but at this moment he had no choice but to go ahead.

Before they knew it, three rounds of drinks had passed. Although there was no music, the newly composed lyrics of several people were sung by the singing girls and floated on the painted eaves. Everyone tapped their knuckles to cheer and seemed intoxicated by the music.

Yuan Jiang and Cai Que, on the other hand, had a different mindset. Given their current status, their intention was not to accompany Wang Gui at the banquet, but to express an attitude.

Everyone knows that Tsai Ing-wen's ambition to take office and participate in politics is known to everyone.

Yuan Jiang was also wary of Cai Que, but there was also a gap between Yuan Jiang and Wang Gui. Zhang Yue was not in the Secretariat, and there was bound to be open and covert fighting between the two officials in the Secretariat. This was a struggle for power distribution, and it was not determined by will. But if Zhang Yue returned to the Secretariat, given his talent and ability, Wang Gui would probably join forces with Yuan Jiang to fight Zhang Yue.

After all, Yuan Jiang was a political advisor and did not have deep roots in the court. Wang Gui also had the support of Cai Que and Cai Jing. Therefore, Yuan Jiang did not dare to break up with Wang Gui, so he had to attend the banquet to show his goodwill.

As for Cai Que, he had already made sure of having Wang Gui as his backer. At the same time, he was also related to Feng Jing and had great influence in the court.

However, facing Cai Que's increasingly aggressive attitude, Yuan Jiang was also worried about blocking Cai Que's path. Fortunately, in addition to him, there was also Zhang Yue, who participated in the politics. Yuan Jiang always thought about how to provoke conflicts between Zhang Yue and Cai Que.

Wang Gui, the leader, was happy to use Cai Que to restrict Yuan Jiang, but he was not in a hurry to let Cai Que take the position of government because with Cai Que's ambition, he would definitely kick him out after taking the position of government.

Wang Gui had spent his entire life in officialdom and did not want to get involved in conflicts, so letting the people below check and balance each other was the best option.

While the banquet was going on, a Yuan official came in and whispered something in Wang Gui's ear.

Wang Gui was shocked when he heard this and whispered, "Dachubai?"

When they heard the words "Dachubai", Cai Que and Yuan Jiang's ears perked up. Wang Gui was already the prime minister, so it was impossible for him to come to Dachubai again.

So Yuan Jiang and Cai Que first thought about whether it was themselves?

Yuan Jiang was promoted to prime minister? Or was Cai Que promoted to councillor?

Impossible, they all shook their heads silently. If they encounter such a thing, they will usually know it in their hearts in advance. If no one tells you in advance, then ninety-nine percent of the time it is someone else.

So who will be the one to come and visit?

Feng Jing? Xue Xiang? Zeng Xiaokuan? Or... Zhang Yue?

If Zhang Yue was appointed higher, he would be promoted to Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi, which is the rank of prime minister.

Yuan Jiang also thought of Zhang Yue. The last time the emperor came in person was a month ago, and the two of them had no contact since then.

Cai Que thought of more and turned to look at Yuan Jiang, immediately revealing his murderous intent.

In an instant, Yuan Jiang felt as if a thorn in his back was left. He turned around, but saw that Cai Que had already turned his head away.

Yuan Jiang did not see Cai Que's gaze, but at this moment he was already feeling mixed emotions. This moment would not be a good one for anyone who intended to compete for the position of prime minister.

In an instant, the singing voices of the singers in the venue became much quieter, and the officials stopped talking and did not dare to look at Wang Gui and the others.

But Wang Gui had already whispered to Yuan Sui, "It is indeed from Baima. Who is the person who locked the courtyard?"

"Okay, I understand. You need to find out whether your title is Zhaowen or Jixian before tomorrow. Go!"

After the Yuansui left, Wang Gui came back from his momentary trance.

Wang Gui said to Cai Que and Yuan Jiang: "There is a new prime minister in the court."

"Who is it?" Yuan Jiang asked.

Hearing the words "new prime minister", Cai Jing, who was sitting at the steps of Yuanjiang, turned his head and looked at Wang Gui with concern.

Wang Gui sighed and said, "If my guess is correct, it is most likely Zhang Duzhi!"

Cai Jing turned pale when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)