Chapter 23: The cabinet is established, all officials are shocked, and the situation in Qing Kingdom has changed!
The government and the opposition are shaken!

The treacherous prime minister Lin Ruofu was arrested on the spot on suspicion of forming a clique for personal gain, and has now been imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison!

With the tacit approval of His Majesty the Emperor and the instigation of the Supervisory Council, the people of the entire Kyoto all knew the news, and countless people took to the streets, shouting "Long live the emperor!"
His Majesty the wise Emperor has finally seen through the disguise of the treacherous prime minister. The people will have a good life from now on!

Different from the reaction of the general public, the court in Kyoto was in a situation where everyone was in danger.

No one knows how many people will be implicated in this case of the Prime Minister forming a clique for personal gain.

Of course, the officials of the prime minister's faction have completely different ideas.

According to the arrangements made before Lin Ruofu went to prison, they will now do their best to prove one thing to His Majesty the Emperor: without the Prime Minister, the civil service system will soon collapse!

The officials from the six ministries were the first to start playing slack, delaying things as much as possible, and ended up getting nothing done throughout the day.

After only three days, the unprocessed documents in various government offices had piled up like a mountain!
Whenever someone from the palace came to urge them, the answer they got was basically the same: they were too busy.

The prime minister's disciples are spread all over the world, how could it be possible that he is only causing trouble in Kyoto?
Problems also began to arise in local government offices.

After all, civil servants may not be able to solve the problem quickly, but it is easy for them to hinder progress!

Faced with this situation, it is impossible for His Majesty the Emperor to arrest all the officials who are negligent in their duties.

If that happens, Qing Kingdom will be completely paralyzed!

Although their number is not large, most of them occupy key positions.

As long as they stop working, many of the imperial court’s decrees will not be able to leave Kyoto!
Even if it is announced, it will be basically useless as long as local officials do not comply!

Not to mention, many officials who were not from the prime minister’s faction were implicated this time.

In order to help them escape safely, these people also joined the ranks to fight against His Majesty the Emperor.

However, this bad situation only lasted for three days.

Because the Fourth Prince has already investigated thoroughly and confirmed the Prime Minister's guilt!

Next, he began to divide and conquer!
First release those officials who are not from the prime minister's faction and gain the support of this part of the civil servants.

Then he found a few people with greater influence in the prime minister's faction and offered them extremely generous conditions.

Even some of the implicated members of the prime minister's gang would be immediately promoted and given a pay raise if they surrendered!

They are the prime minister's disciples and are also protected by the prime minister, but who can go against their own future?

Seeing that the prime minister was about to fall, many people made a decision that went against their ancestors and took the initiative to provide evidence of the prime minister's crimes to the Fourth Prince.

This seemingly massive shutdown was quelled by the Fourth Prince in just one night.

All the civil and military officials in the court were shocked. They had to admire the Fourth Prince's thundering methods!

After the suspension of activities was quelled, His Majesty the Emperor once again summoned all the ministers for a court meeting.

All officials who can come must be present!

This made the ministers panic, not knowing which minister the emperor was going to take action against next.

The prince seemed to see an opportunity.

The prime minister has just fallen, and many officials are in urgent need of finding new backers. Isn’t the East Palace the first choice?
Of course, he also heard that the second brother had been actively trying to win over the civil servants from the prime minister's faction in recent days.

But there was one thing that made the prince feel strange. The fourth son was clearly allowed to open the Tongwenguan to recruit talents from all over the world, but he did not take any action at all!

These days, I haven't done anything else except handling cases.

After seeing this scene, the prince became even more certain of his judgment: the fourth son could not possibly become the crown prince!
Just like the boss, the boss who has Dongyi blood will not be feared even if he is in charge of the border troops. The reason is very simple. The throne has nothing to do with him!
The situation on the fourth brother's side is somewhat similar.

It’s just that the fourth prince’s mother died early and he had no help in the harem, so he had no idea about the throne.

Considering these, the Emperor's intentions can naturally be easily seen.

Compared to outsiders, royal family members are more reliable after all.

Find two princes who are destined to have nothing to do with the throne, and let them take charge of the civil and military systems respectively. In this way, the court of Qing Kingdom will be as solid as a rock!

As long as someone gets the support of both of them, the throne can be said to be very stable!
The third son is still young and seems to have no ambition, so the emperor doesn't care much about him. If he participates in the fight for the throne in the future, the prince may focus his attention on him.

But now, the only opponent worthy of his attention is still the same as before, the whetstone of the second brother!
If he doesn't want to be replaced by a grindstone, he needs to gain more support.

Since the fourth brother is about to become the leader of the civil servants, as the crown prince he must care about his youngest brother.

It was just that the fourth brother was handling a case in the previous few days, and the prince had to wait until the court meeting to find an opportunity.

"Fourth brother, you have worked so hard these days!" The prince smiled and patted Li Chengde affectionately.

"It's not hard." Li Chengde smiled indifferently.

The prince was not surprised by his attitude. As the future civil servant leader, Li Chengde's path was completely different from his and he really needed to keep a distance from the Eastern Palace.

So, next he just showed some polite concern for Li Chengde.

Then, he couldn't help but ask about the inside story of the court meeting.

"Old Four, tell me the truth. We were all called here today because the result of the handling of Minister Lin has been announced?"

Li Chengde did not answer directly, "You will know in a moment."

The prince was stunned for a moment, then he felt that he had guessed the truth, and blinked at him, "No need to say it, I understand what you mean."

Li Chengde smiled and said nothing.

Soon, a clear voice sounded.

"The Holy One has arrived!"

The prince immediately stood up and saluted with the ministers.

"Alright, everyone stand up." Emperor Qing walked directly to the dragon throne and sat down. "Lin Ruofu formed a clique for personal gain, which is an unforgivable crime. From today on, Lin Ruofu will be dismissed from his position as prime minister."

This result came as no surprise to anyone.

Since the Prime Minister has been forced to the point of binding the entire civil service system to compete with His Majesty the Emperor, the final punishment will definitely not be light.

At the very least, retiring and returning home is certain.

But then, Emperor Qing's words made the ministers' brains crash, "This dynasty will no longer have the position of prime minister!"

This is explosive news!
The prime minister system was directly abolished!

Many people began to come to their senses. No wonder the Emperor and the Prime Minister were in such a mess this time.

It turns out that His Majesty the Emperor was aiming to abolish the prime minister system from the very beginning!

This is totally unacceptable to the civil servants!

Once the prime minister is abolished, it will be difficult for a powerful prime minister like Lin Ruofu to appear again!

The civil servants will go crazy if they lose their goals!

However, since no news had been leaked beforehand and the case of forming a clique for personal gain had just concluded, no civil servant dared to stand up and openly oppose it.

In fact, there is another point that worries them, that is, without a prime minister, how should the six ministries cope?
Could it be that the six ministers of ministries directly communicate with the emperor?
That’s equivalent to having six prime ministers!
The scene will probably be very chaotic!
But then, Emperor Qing named a few more people, "...as well as Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Prince of Wei Li Chengde, to serve in Wenyuan Pavilion and participate in the maintenance work!"

As soon as this decision was announced, the whole court was in an uproar!
The prime minister is gone, but Wenyuan Pavilion has replaced the core of the imperial court and become the "prime minister" in another sense!
What is even more shocking is that His Majesty the Emperor actually allowed the two princes to enter Wenyuan Pavilion!

In other words, the prince became the "prime minister"!

No one has ever encountered such a situation!

The prince was completely stunned.

No, why would he inexplicably start replacing the former forest minister's work?
Wouldn't this allow him to familiarize himself with the work process in advance?

But why is Li Chengde with him?
Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor has always treated Li Chengde as another whetstone?
Is he just wishful thinking that Li Chengde will not pose a threat to him?
If this is true, then the situation in Qing Kingdom has truly changed!
But how can he compete with Li Chengde, such an unscrupulous and ruthless man?
The prince was depressed, "Let's take it one step at a time!"

(End of this chapter)