Chapter 812: Vortex of Power!

“Madame Sun, you guys hurry up and keep a close eye on the young master…”

After arranging the maids and nannies, Qiqige reported to An Miaoyi:

"Madam, did Bai Yuanyuan go to see Pei Zhixiu this morning?"

Upon hearing the news, An Miaoyi narrowed her eyes and said calmly:
"What kind of demon does she want to be?"

Qiqige preached with a hint of disdain:

"Bai Yuanyuan wanted to help her second brother get promoted, but she was afraid that she would be punished by the adults if she showed up, so she wanted to win over Pei Zhixiu and let Pei Zhixiu speak for her. So she met with Pei Zhixiu today and planned to promise her some small favors so that Pei Zhixiu would do the job for her!"

"I never thought that Pei Zhixiu would not give her any face and would not respond at all. Bai Yuanyuan was so angry that her face turned pale. After returning home, she even smashed two vases!"

Hearing this, An Miaoyi shook her head and said:

"Bai Yuanyuan is very ambitious, but her ambitions are too high and her abilities are too low!"

Qiqige also echoed after hearing this:
"Madam, in my opinion, Bai Yuanyuan is the kind of woman that adults say is big and brainless. Her brain is all about her big and big!"

"She doesn't even think about how favored Pei Zhixiu is. What else does she need in the mansion? What little favors does she need from her?"

After a brief pause, An Miaoyi asked Qiqige:
"Besides Bai Changjiu, who else is the popular candidate for the position of deputy director of the Personnel Bureau?"

Hearing An Miaoyi ask this, Qiqige thought for a while and said:
“I heard from the people in the Attendant’s Office that there is also Gao Zhenglian, the Deputy Director of the Finance Department, Shen Changhong from the Qilu Provincial Government, and Ma Dejiang from the Jiyu Provincial Government…”

An Miaoyi frowned slightly when she heard this and asked in confusion:
"What's going on between Shen Changhong and Ma Dejiang?"

Qiqige explained:

"It seems that the Lord has introduced a policy a few days ago to transfer officials from Qi, Lu, Anqing, Hebei and Henan to serve as officials in the central government!"

"Shen Changhong and Ma Dejiang are both well-known officials in the local area. After joining our Fengwu Army, their attitudes were also very positive, so it is a foregone conclusion that they will be transferred to the central government to serve. The only question now is whether they will be appointed as deputy positions in specific departments!"

Hearing this, An Miaoyi nodded slightly. She immediately understood the intention of Ye Mingsheng's move.

The Fengwu Army originated in Liaoyang, so for a long time in the past, important positions in various departments of the Fengwu Army were held by people from Liaoyang. This drawback did not appear in the early days of the Fengwu Army, but as the Fengwu Army successively captured Youyan, Jiyu, Qilu, Anqing, Yunbing and Huainan, the drawback became completely apparent.

There has always been a voice in the official circles of Hebei, Henan, Qi, Lu, Anqing, You, Yan, Yun and others, believing that the Fengwu Army is the Fengwu Army of the Liaoyang people, and that the Marshal only trusts the people of Liaoyang. These people are raised by stepmothers and cannot enter the core layer of the Fengwu Army. They can only work like slaves for the Liaoyang people all their lives.

In response to such voices, the top brass of the Fengwu Army have clarified many times, saying that as long as one is loyal, capable, and has good moral character, one can join the core layer of the Fengwu Army. However, the effect has not been ideal...

As the reform battle in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places reached the final stage, these places also broke away from the blood transfusion from the central government and began to feed back to the central finances, which meant that their status in the Fengwu Army was improved. Ye Mingsheng must also pay attention to the voices of these local officials.

Therefore, in An Miaoyi's view, transferring Shen Changhong and Ma Dejiang to the central government to hold important positions was also Ye Mingsheng's way of showing the officials in these two places that the central government treats officials from all places equally, and as long as they meet the three employment standards of the Fengwu Army, they will definitely be valued by the Fengwu Army.

After thinking for a while, An Miaoyi said:
"The name Gao Zhenglian sounds familiar, but I can't quite remember him!"

Seeing An Miaoyi say this, Qiqige continued:

"Madam, this Gao Zhenglian is from Liaoyang. He used to be the head of the logistics department of the First Division. Later, he fell ill and felt that he could not continue to live in the open air. So he applied to Master Yuan Song to be transferred back to the local post!!"

“The Lord took pity on him for his hard work and great contributions to the Fengwu Army, so he was specially approved to transfer to Liaoyang to serve. Later, when the old villain Murong Yuliang served as the governor of Liaoyang, he promoted him to county magistrate and governor of the provincial government. He is also generally regarded as a member of the old villain Murong’s faction…”

"At the beginning of this year, Mr. Mi, the deputy secretary of the Financial Department, retired due to illness, so Gao Zhenglian was transferred to the center to serve as the deputy secretary of the Financial Department!"

"It is said that Gao Zhenglian has always had a very good reputation among his colleagues, both at the local and central levels. He is very capable at work and has a smooth style of doing things while maintaining principles. Even the Financial Secretary, Zhang Junning, has praised him highly!"

Listening to Qiqige's introduction of Gao Zhenglian, An Miaoyi also felt a little bit thorny. During this period of time, the people on her side had been attacked one after another by Ye Mingsheng. In order to prevent Ye Mingsheng from becoming suspicious, other Fengwu Army officials also took the initiative to keep a certain distance from her.

If Ye Mingsheng had not arranged for Gu Sansi to be Jingren's teacher and send a signal to stabilize people's hearts, the situation on his side would have been worse. In this case, if Gao Zhenglian, who has a clear Murong political imprint, was allowed to take the important position of deputy director of the Personnel Bureau.

Then the situation is bound to get worse. Everyone knows that the position of deputy director of the Personnel Bureau not only allows one to make many connections, but also paves the way for the next step. As long as one does not make big mistakes in this position, within a few years one will either be transferred to become a provincial governor or join the top leadership of the central government.

Nowadays, Murong Yuliang is the governor of Jiyu, and Murong Hui is the censor of Youyan. If Gao Zhenglian continues to hold such important posts, the Murong family will continue to be in turmoil. Thinking of this, An Miaoyi couldn't help but clenched her fists...

If this had happened before, she would have intervened for sure, but after experiencing this series of events and being warned by Ye Mingsheng, she was also full of fear. However, if she just watched Gao Zhenglian serve as the deputy director of the Personnel Bureau, An Miaoyi would really be unwilling to accept it!
At this moment, Qiqige, who was standing by, seemed to see An Miaoyi's inner thoughts from her tangled eyes and immediately offered a suggestion:
"Madam, we naturally cannot interfere directly in this matter, but I think we may be able to exert some influence indirectly!"

Hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi asked back with some doubt:

"What do you mean by that?"

Qiqige heard this and said:

"Madam, Master Gu will come to give Master Jingren a lesson in three days!"

After hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi also understood Qiqige's thoughts, but she was still a little afraid of Ye Mingsheng's thoughts.

At this time, Qiqige continued to advise:

“Madam, we might as well say it more obscurely and tactfully. Lord Gu is a rare smart man. He will definitely understand what we mean. Besides, Lord Gu is Young Master Jingren’s teacher, so he is in the same boat with us. I believe he will give us some face…”

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Yijing, the canteen of the headquarters of the Coordination Office
Looking at the fragrant braised pork in the bowl, Zhang Chengzhe would have been able to eat two big bowls of rice with it in the past, but now, having just met Sun Taihai, he had no interest at all.

Ever since he last met Ji Xian, Zhang Chengzhe felt that he was caught up in the vortex of power struggle in the Coordination Office.

Ji Xian knew that Captain Sun Taihai used to be on the side of Director Wang, but after Director Wang was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, Sun Taihai changed his mind and joined Director Huo. However, Director Huo's attitude towards Sun Taihai's joining was always vague.

He didn't want to accept or refuse, and kept Sun Taihai hanging like this, as if to test his sincerity.

Ji Xian behaved very quietly during the first period of time after being transferred to the Coordination Office, which made people begin to wonder about the purpose of his transfer.

However, since he summoned himself and Sun Taihai, Ji Xian also launched a series of actions. Soon after, news began to spread in the Coordination Office that he was a secret agent planted by the Internal Security Bureau in the Coordination Office.

Zhang Chengzhe found such nonsense very funny. He didn't even know where the gate of the Neiwei government office was, so how could it be Neiwei?
Just when Zhang Chengzhe found it funny, more and more news about him being a secret agent of the Internal Security Bureau spread in the Coordination Office, and the news became more and more real...

The news said that he was not a secret agent of the Internal Guard from the beginning, but because he had not been promoted in the Coordination Office for several years in a row, he became dissatisfied and defected to the Internal Guard, providing the Internal Guard with internal information of the Coordination Office. The most outrageous thing is that the news also said that when Ji Xian was transferred to the Coordination Office, he held a banquet at home to celebrate, and shouted that the Coordination Office would be his world from now on.

Seeing that more and more people in the Coordination Office believed the slander, Zhang Chengzhe was so amused that he wanted to cry but had no tears. He also actively explained to his colleagues around him, trying to make everyone believe that he was not a secret agent of the Internal Security Bureau. But unfortunately, at such a critical moment in the Coordination Office, everyone would rather believe it than not, and they all kept a certain distance from Zhang Chengzhe.

If he was just ostracized by his colleagues, Zhang Chengzhe could still accept it. However, what he never expected was that Sun Chengzhe told him an hour ago that he was promoted to deputy centurion, but was sent to Posuo Mansion in Liaoyang. He had five days to prepare and could set off after five days!
Zhang Chengzhe was confused after getting the news. Becoming a deputy centurion was his dream, but being sent to Posuo Mansion was something he could never accept...

Posu Prefecture can be said to be the most desolate and coldest place under the control of Fengwu Army. Although Fengwu Army has given Posu Prefecture many preferential policies in recent years, such as allocating houses and land and tax exemption, there are still too few people willing to go to Posu Prefecture to open up wasteland. In recent years, only Fengwu Army would organize some prisoners to go there to open mines.

I was born and raised in Yijing, and being sent to that hellhole of Posuo Mansion, isn't that more painful than killing myself?
If I really went to Posuo Mansion, I might never be able to come back to Yijing in this life!
Therefore, Zhang Chengzhe directly told Sun Taihai that he did not want to go to Posuo Mansion, but Sun Taihai said that this was an appointment from above. He said that everyone knew that Zhang Chengzhe wanted to be promoted to deputy centurion, and there happened to be a vacancy of deputy centurion in Posuo Mansion, so he let him go to fill it.

For Zhang Chengzhe, being a deputy centurion is what I want, and staying in Yijing is also what I want. If he cannot have both, he will naturally give up being a deputy centurion and choose to stay in Yijing. So after a painful decision, Zhang Chengzhe told Sun Taihai that he did not want to be a deputy centurion, but only wanted to stay in Yijing and do his job well!

Sun Taihai was furious at Zhang Chengzhe's statement. He told Zhang Chengzhe that the appointment and removal of officials in the Coordination Office was not like buying vegetables in the market where you could bargain. If he did not leave for Posuo Mansion within five days, he would be directly dismissed and investigated!
Zhang Chengzhe had never expected Sun Taihai’s attitude. He had been working under Sun Taihai since he came to the Coordination Office. Although the time was not long, it had been more than three years. The two had always had a good relationship. He didn’t know why Sun Taihai suddenly became so heartless...
Although he felt very uncomfortable, Zhang Chengzhe understood that man is made of iron and rice is made of steel, so he turned his grief and anger into appetite and started eating a mouthful of braised pork and a mouthful of steamed bun.

After a cup of tea, Zhang Chengzhe finished three steamed buns and a bowl of braised pork, and then drank a bowl of soy milk to finish his lunch.

After having a full meal, Zhang Chengzhe returned to his job, although he still found it difficult to understand why he was transferred to Posuo Mansion.

However, Zhang Chengzhe guessed that it was probably because of the rumor that he was a secret agent of the Internal Security Bureau. To his superiors, he was just an insignificant little salted fish, so it didn’t matter whether he was a secret agent of the Internal Security Bureau or not. What mattered was that someone wanted to make an example of him!
However, because it was the unspoken rule of the Fengwu Army that the Internal Guards arranged secret agents inside the Coordination Office to supervise its operation, even if they wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, they could not do it too roughly. So they used a trick of promoting him in public and demoting him in private to transfer himself out of Yijing and exiled him to the remote place of Posuo Mansion.

Maybe this is not the end. The law and order in Posa Prefecture is not very good and far away. By that time, just find a few swordsmen to kill me...

(Today I took some compound isatis leaf, and the situation has improved a lot, but I still have some chills and ear pain, so I wrote it a little slowly, please bear with me!)
(End of this chapter)