Chapter 1214 Liaoyang Gang!
And most importantly, Cui Shao is not alone!

There has always been a saying in the Yijing court that the Yijing court is dominated by Liaoyang people in terms of civil affairs and the Imperial Army in terms of military affairs. This means that in the current Yijing court, the civil affairs are dominated by the people of Liaoyang, while the military affairs are dominated by the Imperial Army.
It is actually normal for this situation to occur. After all, during the rise of the Fengwu Army, the Imperial Guards were at the forefront in conquering cities. People like Yuan Song, He Jingyun, Ma Zhongjun, Zhao Han, Xun Ke, and Lin Huaiwu who was dismissed by Ye Mingsheng, were all Imperial Guards who followed Ye Mingsheng from Luoan to Liaoyang!

In terms of civil administration, the people of Liaoyang also made indelible and outstanding contributions. Cui Shao, Gu Sansi, Li Jian and others were all from Liaoyang. Because of this, in the eyes of the outside world, the political affairs of the Yijing court were controlled by the Liaoyang gang.
As the number one contributor to the success of the Fengwu Army, Cui Shao was born into the Cui family, the largest family in Liaoyang. The Cui family had been operating in Liaoyang for a hundred years and had many students and old friends. These people also followed Cui Shao to join the Fengwu Army. Because these people had the ZZ label of the Cui family, they were also called the Cui faction in the Yijing court.
Although these Cui faction members were suppressed intentionally or unintentionally by Ye Mingsheng, not many of them held high positions in the Yijing court. Only Zhu Xiaowen served as the Minister of the Dali Temple.

However, a considerable number of these people served as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Zhushi in the six ministries, or held positions in local provincial governments, provincial procuratorates, prefectures, and counties. Gao Zhenji was one of them.
The reasons for this situation can be mainly divided into historical reasons and practical reasons!

The Fengwu Army regime led by Ye Mingsheng, and the later Yijing court, made many attempts to reform issues such as economy and land.

However, in the reforms in TZ, although Ye Mingsheng promoted many young talents from humble backgrounds, such as Gu Sansi and Zhang Juning, he was still conservative overall and continued the system of the Great Zhou without making too many changes!
The biggest drawback of the 300-year-old Zhou Dynasty in the past few decades was that the aristocratic families had become too powerful to be eliminated. Faced with such a situation, although Ye Mingsheng wanted to completely change it, in the process of fighting for the world, he sometimes also needed to win over the other side!

After all, these noble families control a large amount of wealth, population, and resources, and have a strong influence in the government and among the people!
Therefore, although compared with the previous Luoan court, the Yijing court led by Ye Mingsheng has made great improvements in the problem of noble families, overall there are still some drawbacks in this regard!
The practical reason is that Ye Mingsheng, the leader of the Fengwu Army regime, was a military general from a poor family. Although he had military power, he had no political foundation and did not have his own team of talents.

In addition, in order to eliminate some malpractices in the government, Ye Mingsheng punished many people and left many positions vacant. However, work not only requires people to do the work, but also requires these jobs to be done well, to implement Ye Mingsheng's reform measures, and to provide food and other kinetic energy for the Fengwu Army's war operations.

Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, at the beginning of the Fengwu Army, Ye Mingsheng was more politically dependent on his third uncle...

However, after the Fengwu Army was functioning normally, Ye Mingsheng consciously suppressed the Cui faction and supported other political forces to balance the Cui faction and thus control the situation.

However, because the people of the Cui faction are indeed as capable as Cui Shao, they may not do every task assigned to them well to satisfy Ye Mingsheng, but at least they don't make too many mistakes. Their presence is necessary in the previous fight for hegemony over the world and in the future promotion of economic development!

In addition, Cui Shao has always been low-key and never oversteps the line in anything, so this force is not noticeable in the court and has not caused any major trouble. So overall, Ye Mingsheng has not taken any harsh measures against Cui's people over the years, but he has dealt with Cui's people in the Liu Zhengyue case.

If Cui Shao is the core of the Cui faction, then Cui Zibo, the eldest son of the Cui faction, is the recognized "Crown Prince" by the Cui faction.

For this reason, many people believe that with the blessing of Cui Shao, Cui Zibo, who previously served as the Minister of Justice, will become one of the six ministers in the future, and even enter the cabinet in the future Xin Dynasty. It is a natural thing. For this reason, some people have made arrangements in advance and are ready to curry favor with Cui Zibo, the future elder!
However, with the syphilis incident, Cui Zibo could be said to be completely finished. Although the Marshal did not directly dismiss Cui Zibo from his position as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he only told Cui Zibo to stay at home and recuperate. The responsibility of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice would be temporarily borne by Zhang Mang.

But Song Haibo knew very well that Ye Mingsheng was only giving Cui Zibo some face for Cui Shao's sake. But as long as the Marshal's order was sent out to Yijing, everyone would know that Cui Zibo's career would basically end here.

Even if he recovered from his illness, he would not be able to return to his post. In the best case, he would stay away from the center of power and become an official in name only...
Compared to his identity as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Cui Zibo has another more prominent identity, that is, Cui Shao’s eldest son and the future successor of Cui Shao!
Ye Mingsheng's order not only completely cut off Cui Zibo's official career, but also dealt a heavy blow to the cohesion and centripetal force of Cui's faction!

After all, for a family like the Cui family, inheritance is very important. The reason why those disciples and old friends can surround you is because your family can continue to form a bond and continue to create value for everyone. Although Cui Shao is still in his prime, he is also an old man in his fifties or sixties. How many more years can he work?

If the other members of the Cui family cannot stand up, then once Cui Shao retreats, everyone will just drift apart. This is why Ye Mingsheng's order undermined the cohesion and centripetal force of the Cui faction!
So at this time, Ye Mingsheng transferred Cui Shao's nephew Cui Hang to the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, which sent a very important political signal!

Cui Hang is the son of Cui Wei, the seventh brother of Cui Shao. He is also Cui Shao's nephew and Cui Zibo's cousin. It is said that he was extremely intelligent since childhood. He took part in the Tongshi at the age of twelve, obtained a very good ranking, and became a student of Bufu!
Later, due to the turbulent times, Cui Hang did not continue to take the imperial examinations, but under the influence of his family, he started as a minor official in the Governor's Office step by step, then became a county magistrate, and finally was transferred back to the Governor's Office to serve as an officer.

Because Cui Hang was modest and intelligent, he was loved by Cui Shao since he was a child. Just a few months ago, under Cui Shao's arrangement, Cui Hang was transferred from Liaoyang Provincial Administration to the Ministry of Personnel as a Langzhong of the Inspection Office, and he moved from the sixth rank to the fifth rank...

Although Cui Shao did this mainly to warn his eldest son Cui Zibo and make Cui Zibo feel a sense of crisis, Cui Shao's move also brought Cui Hang into the sight of many people!
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Ministry of Personnel was mainly divided into four departments, namely, the Department of Selection of Literature, the Department of Verification of Seals, the Department of Examination of Merits, and the Department of Inspection of Honors. Each department had its own duties. Although the chief officer of each department was of the same rank, all of them were fifth-rank doctors, the status and power of the Department of Selection of Literature was relatively higher among the four departments, while the ranking of the Department of Inspection of Honors was relatively lower!

Because of this, the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Division was previously held by Wang Xiu De, an old subordinate of the Minister of Personnel Gu Sansi. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng transferred Cui Hang, who was the Langzhong of the Jixun Division, to the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Division. Although the rank did not change, it actually added more burden to Cui Hang!

Song Haibo thought that the Marshal wanted to show the outside world through this move that although I dismissed Cui Zibo, I am optimistic about the future of this young man Cui Hang, and I still trust Cui Shao, the Cui family, and even the Cui faction! Song Haibo even believed that if Cui Hang had not been promoted from the sixth-rank governor to the fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel a few months ago, the Marshal might even mention Cui Hang in order to appease the Cui family!
Thinking of this, Song Haibo couldn't help but sigh. He was a native of Qilu. After the Fengwu Army conquered Qilu, he was selected from the Qilu Provincial Administration Office to serve as the deputy director of the Attendant Office!

The reason why Ye Mingsheng chose him was that he hoped to allow an official like him who did not have a Liaoyang gang ZZ background to enter the core center of power to check and balance so as to achieve the balance of power.
However, Song Haibo also has his own ideas about his career development and wants to seek some breakthroughs in his career!
However, due to his background as not being from Liaoyang, he suffered some exclusion in the Yijing court which is currently dominated by the Liaoyang Gang. He was even considered not to be a member of the orthodox Fengwu Army, and was naturally inferior to others in the competition for some positions!
This is also what Song Haibo believes is one of the important reasons why he has not made any further progress in his career after serving as deputy director of the Military Affairs Department for many years!

So deep down in Song Haibo's heart, he hopes that the Liaoyang Gang, which currently occupies a dominant position in the court, will collapse. In this way, people like him who are not from Liaoyang will have more opportunities to make further progress!

Therefore, Song Haibo was happy to see Ye Mingsheng attack Cui's men. After all, Cui Shao, the core of Cui's men, was considered the leader of Liaoyang Gang, and Cui's men were basically the backbone of Liaoyang Gang. Therefore, as long as Cui's men collapsed, the dominant position of Liaoyang Gang would be shaken!

Because of this, when he heard that Ye Mingsheng was going to transfer Cui Hang to the Wenxuan Division, Song Haibo instinctively wanted to remind Ye Mingsheng that Wang Xiude, the doctor in the Wenxuan Division, was Gu Sansi's man!
However, after seeing Ye Mingsheng's expression, Song Haibo knew that Ye Mingsheng was also very clear about this matter. Ye Mingsheng wanted to express his trust in Cui Shao by promoting Cui Hang, so as to reduce the impact of Cui Zibo's dismissal on the Cui family and Cui's people!
As for why Ye Mingsheng did this, Song Haibo himself also had some guesses. The Yijing court was controlled and dominated by the Liaoyang Gang. Fundamentally speaking, it was Ye Mingsheng's intention. Although Ye Mingsheng checked Liaoyang, in the final analysis, Ye Mingsheng himself was from Liaoyang. The Liaoyang Gang was the basis of Ye Mingsheng's rule. The Liaoyang Gang's dominant position in the court meant that Ye Mingsheng could completely control the court.

Secondly, many of Cui’s men were the main force behind Ye Mingsheng’s reforms. Ye Mingsheng hoped that they could concentrate on continuing the reforms and did not want the changes in the court situation to have any impact on their beliefs in reform!
After figuring this out, Song Haibo sighed softly, then picked up Ye Mingsheng's seal and stamped it on the order he had drafted. Looking at the bright red seal on the order, Song Haibo understood that the situation of the court being controlled by the Liaoyang Gang would not change much in the short term, and he might need to continue to lie dormant for a while...

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Yijing, Ye Mansion

In the room, Ye Cui had her eyes closed, sitting on a chair with a somewhat tired look, and her expression seemed very upset. At the same time, under the guidance of Jinyu, An Miaoyi also came to Ye Cui.

Seeing Ye Cui like this, Jinyu reminded softly:
"Mom! The eldest lady is here!"

Upon hearing Jinyu's voice, Ye Cui opened her eyes and glanced at An Miaoyi. Seeing this, An Miaoyi immediately bowed to Ye Cui and said:
"Miaoyi greets mother!"

Ye Cui nodded slightly, and then instructed Jinyu:

"Go down and help first!"

"Yes!"

Watching Jinyu leave under Ye Cui's order, An Miaoyi realized that Ye Cui had something to say to her alone. Although she didn't know what Ye Cui wanted to say to her, for some reason, An Miaoyi couldn't help but have a bad premonition in her heart, and immediately she became alert.

At this time, Ye Cui asked An Miaoyi in a deep voice:

"How is Zibo's illness?"

Faced with this question, An Miaoyi answered without hesitation:

"My dear mother, at your request, Doctor Xu, Doctor Liu, Doctor Lu and others from the medical school have conducted a joint consultation on Minister Cui and have come up with a treatment plan to start treating him. Currently, Minister Cui's condition is stable, and Doctor Xu and others are doing their best to treat him!"

Faced with An Miaoyi's somewhat official answer, Ye Cui seemed a little dissatisfied and she emphasized again:
"I don't want them to try their best, I want them to cure Zibo!"

Feeling Ye Cui's attitude, An Miaoyi was a little helpless. Although she wanted to emphasize Cui Zibo's illness to Ye Cui, but looking at Ye Cui's expression, An Miaoyi finally gave up this plan!

An Miaoyi knew that Ye Cuishi didn't care that much about her nephew Cui Zibo. She loved Cui Zibo more out of love for him. Ye Cuishi and Cui Shao, the cousins, had a good relationship. So seeing that her third brother Cui Shao was sad because of Cui Zibo's affairs, Ye Cuishi hoped to cheer Cui Shao up by curing him!
(End of this chapter)