Fang Yun's invitation not only messed up the situation in Xiangzhou, but also in the capital of Jingguo.
During the day, everything went on as usual, but at night, carriages that were tightly covered traveled through the capital.
Jing Country's Five Great Aristocratic Families, Minister Jiang Hechuan's Jiang Fu, the newly appointed Jing Country's Great General Li Wenying's Li Fu, the Grand Marshal Chen Zhixu's Chen Fu, the Right Prime Minister Cao De 'an's Cao Fu, and many other places had countless carriages parked in front of them.
Ever since Left Prime Minister Mount Liu resigned, the position of Left Prime Minister in Jingguo had been put on hold.
At first, everyone thought that the position of Left Prime Minister would be replaced by Right Prime Minister Cao Dean, or Fang Yun. However, after Fang Yun resigned, the position of Left Prime Minister had been left undecided.
Since last year, a rumor had been spreading in the capital. It turned out that the Empress Dowager wanted to abolish the position of Left Prime Minister and let the young Jing Jun take over the position of Left Prime Minister.
After this rumor appeared, even some officials who claimed to be loyal to the Emperor suddenly wrote a letter asking Jing Jun to quickly appoint a new Left Prime Minister to prevent any harm to the country.
However, the position of Left Prime Minister was still undecided.
Many officials suspected that the rumor was deliberately spread by the Imperial Palace so that the officials would be prepared. The Imperial Palace of Jingguo was determined to abolish the position of Left Prime Minister so that the new Left Prime Minister would not be as powerful as Mount Liu.
The Imperial Palace of Jingguo's actions caused the officials to be dissatisfied. As long as Jing Jun was under the age of 16, the officials could stop him from taking over the reins.
As long as Jing Jun was not able to take over the reins, no matter what the Empress Dowager did, she would not be able to control the officials.
In the eyes of scholars, any country could have a Left Prime Minister, but they would never allow a powerful Empress Lu to appear. They would also never allow a powerful Emperor Wu of Han to appear.
Sheng Yuan was the world of scholars, and the Imperial Court was also the court of scholars.
This was the consensus of scholars.
Scholars would not abolish imperial power, but they would not allow imperial power to enslave scholars.
At a time like this, Fang Yun had announced a banquet for the officials of Xiangzhou, sending out a strong and clear signal. This was practically adding fuel to the fire, igniting the Jingguo Imperial Court conflict that could erupt at any moment.
Jingguo's officials had many factions. After the fall of the Left Prime Minister's party, excluding the military, the most powerful political forces in the capital were the imperial family, the Chensheng family, the other four Half-saint families, the Wen Prime Minister Kang Ha-chuan's faction, the Right Prime Minister Cao Dean's faction, the Fang Yun's faction, and the last was Li Wenying's faction. As for the officials of the Left Minister's party, most of them had been uprooted. Only a few of them remained hidden.
In Xiang State and Mi State, the Fang Party had absolute control. There were even some Fang Party members in Jiang State.
However, in the capital, the Fang Party's power was extremely weak. This was because most of the Fang Party members had only risen in power in recent years and did not have enough time to rise from the local areas to the capital. Furthermore, Fang Yun did not have much experience in politics in the capital, so he could not cultivate his own power.
Even if there were Fang Party members in the capital, they had been promoted in recent years from the local areas. Most of them were officials below Rank 4.
In the provinces, Rank 5 and even Rank 6 officials had some say. However, in the capital, other than a few key departments, Rank 5 officials' real power was extremely limited.
The officials in the capital often mocked themselves. They said that Rank 3 officials were everywhere, and there were as many Hanlin officials as dogs. They said that a house collapsed and knocked five people unconscious. Four of them were Rank 5 officials, and the last one was Rank 5.
The most important departments in the capital were almost all controlled by the imperial family and the aristocratic families. Even Kang Ha-chuan's faction could only place their own people in the Jingguo Academy and the Ministry of Rites. As for the Right Prime Minister Cao Dean, he could only control half of the Ministry of Revenue. This was because he had inherited his teacher's political legacy.
Although Li Wenying was not good at fighting between factions, he was extremely powerful. He had his own hometown, classmates, and colleagues. After so many years, he had formed his own faction and had good relations with all parties.
Fang Yun had good relations with all the factions. However, the Fang Party was different.
In the capital, the Fang Party had always been excluded.
This was not decided by anyone's will, but by the interests of the factions.
This was because, if one looked at the whole country, the power of the Fang Party was no longer below that of the imperial family.
Jingguo had the capital, Xiangzhou, Jiangzhou, Dongyun, Mishou, and Yanzhou. The Fang Party monopolized Xiangzhou and Mishou. In addition, Fang Yun had recovered the Northern Land. In a few years, a new province in the Northern Land would be formed. That would be the second Mishou.
This meant that in a few years, the Fang Party would control the land of three provinces.
The Fang Party was half Jingguo!
It was because the Fang Party was too powerful that the traditional forces in the capital used all means to exclude the Fang Party, so that the officials of the Fang Party could not occupy important positions in the central government.
Some officials who were from other factions but had close ties with Fang Yun were also excluded.
For example, the Assistant Minister of Rites, Sai Zhixue, Kang Ha-chuan's student, Cai He, Zhang Poyue, Jiangzhou's former Governor Yu Xingshu and Chen Xibi, and Beimang's General Ding Haosheng.
Cai He, for example, had two identities. He was a student of the Minister of Civil Affairs, Jiang Hechuan, and a friend of Fang Yun. It could be said that he had a meteoric rise. As a Rank Four Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was appointed as the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Normally, he would be promoted to Rank Three Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites within a year.
However, after Fang Yun entered the Sacred Burial Valley, he was transferred to the Right Minister of the Indenture Transportation Department.
The Indenture Transportation Department was not as important as the Ministry of Rites, but it was a department with a lot of power. The Right Minister of the Indenture Transportation Department was a Rank Four official. On the surface, it was a transfer, but in reality, it was a demotion.
Just three months ago, Cai He was once again transferred to the Hanlin Academy.
The Hanlin Academy of the Notre-Dame was very different from the Hanlin Academies of other countries. As time passed, the power of the Hanlin Academy in Jingguo was gradually taken away by the Cabinet. Now, the Hanlin Academy was mainly in charge of writing and writing. It had no real power.
Therefore, there were only two kinds of officials in the Hanlin Academy. One was those who used the Hanlin Academy to get ready for promotion. The other was those who lived in retirement and did not know how long it would take for them to be promoted. Some of the officials from the Left Minister's faction who had good reputation and connections with aristocratic families were now working in the Hanlin Academy.
Cai He was not the only one. Other than Zhang Poyue, everyone else was in the same predicament. They had a high position but no power. They were famous but had no real benefits.
Everyone else was forced to retreat, but Zhang Poyue was different.
This was because the officials who wanted to push Zhang Poyue aside would always meet with accidents. Either the toilet would collapse and they would fall into a cesspool, or they would be rushed in by several dozen brothel girls as soon as they returned home, or they would vomit and have diarrhea after accidentally ingesting poison. Or they would be beaten outside the power of the Holy Temple without being able to find the culprit.
The number one troublemaker in Jingguo and the number one street tiger in the Imperial Court — this was Zhang Poyue's new nickname this year.
Thus, after returning to the capital from the Northern Lands, Zhang Poyue's life became more and more comfortable. He even married two concubines and seemed to enjoy living a carefree life in the capital.
Originally, the capital was in a state of relative balance, but Fang Yun's invitation to a banquet broke this peace.
Everyone heading to the Jiang Estate was waiting because Kang Ha-chuan was not there.
Kang Ha-chuan was summoned to the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night by an urgent edict.
Only after midnight did many of Kang Ha-chuan's old friends and students grow tired of waiting. Only then did Kang Ha-chuan enter through the main entrance with an exhausted expression.
The officials stood up and one of them asked in a low voice, "Prime Minister, why are you entering the palace so late at night?"
"The Empress Dowager … wishes to promote the Old Man to Left Minister."
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