The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 475

Yang Lianyi spoke with righteous indignation.

Those who don't know the truth might think Yang Lian was a loyal minister who was willing to defy his superiors and impeach Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing for the sake of the Ming Dynasty.

Yang Lian acted as a leader, and his call was met with widespread support. Soon after, countless officials followed suit and began to impeach Yang Yiqing.

"Shi Cong, you have truly disappointed me."

Emperor Jiajing did not directly announce how to deal with Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing. He was filled with disappointment, and then seemed somewhat disheartened. He waved his hand to announce the end of the court session and declared that the court session would be suspended for one month.

At this moment, the officials on Mao's side were extremely excited. In their view, Mao had already won. The emperor's month-long suspension of court was most likely to be to investigate Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing and give him a final reckoning.

It seems likely that in half a month, this nearly seventy-year-old Grand Secretary will retire in an undignified manner.

After the court session, Yang Yiqing shut himself away from visitors and stopped even going to the cabinet, seemingly resigned to his fate.

Seeing this situation, Mao Ji, who had some doubts, also lost his temper. Taking advantage of Yang Yiqing's seclusion, he began to frantically plant his own people in the Six Ministries. Yang Shen returned to the cabinet after being sick for two days and was furious at Mao Ji's actions. He angrily denounced Mao Ji for his reckless behavior. However, the cabinet was already completely controlled by Mao Ji and Xie Qian. Even when it came to drafting votes, Yang Shen was no match for the two of them.

After the drafting of the votes was completed, the list of appointed officials was sent to Jiajing. Jiajing seemed extremely disappointed with Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing, but he approved most of the list submitted by Mao Ji, although he did not approve all of it.

In a short time, the arrogance of Mao Ji's officials grew stronger, and their words and actions became somewhat unrestrained.

With the imperial examinations in August approaching, scholars from all over the Ming Dynasty began to travel to the capital. Xu Jie and his group of scholars gathered in the capital to prepare for the exams.

"Teacher, how are the preparations going?"

Zhou Chu arrived at the courtyard where Wen Zhengming lived, carrying a jar of famous wine. Each jar of famous wine was worth a lot of money, starting at two or three thousand taels a jar, which was much more expensive than the Chenwang wine that Zhou Chu brewed.

However, every famous wine has a history, at least twenty or thirty years old. The process used, who buried it, the people and the process are all indispensable. A famous person, a famous wine recipe, plus the sedimentation of time, are needed to make it a truly famous wine.

Some particularly valuable wines are even over a hundred years old. Of course, this requires extremely high sealing techniques, and the person who buried the wine must be a very famous person throughout the Ming Dynasty. Such wines are even more expensive than ever before.

Not only is it expensive, but these wines are also limited in quantity, even recorded. Once a jar is drunk, there is one less left. They are the epitome of luxury.

Some people spend a fortune to buy a jar of wine with an extraordinary origin, perhaps just to curry favor with their superiors. Those who can survive in the officialdom for decades are basically wine lovers. Even if they don't like wine, they will still try to appear cultured upon hearing about such a famous wine.

Therefore, although famous wines are expensive, they will always have a market.

People who actually drink these kinds of liquors don't really need to spend money to buy them, and those who buy them rarely drink them.

Zhou Chu possessed a considerable amount of fine wine, most of which had been confiscated during his previous raids. He kept some of it, while others were gifts from Chu Li, Zhang Cong, and Yan Song.

Zhang Cong and Yan Song were well aware that Zhou Chu was very knowledgeable about wine, as evidenced by Chen Wang Niang. Moreover, Zhou Chu's teacher, Tang Bohu, was a heavy drinker. Naturally, the two would cater to his tastes and spend a lot of money to buy fine wine for Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu accepted the jars of wine the two men had given him.

The jar in Zhou Chu's hand is a famous wine among famous wines. It was brewed by Zeng Qi, the top scholar in the second year of Yongle's reign, in his later years. It is nearly a hundred years old. Of course, Zeng Qi brewed a total of more than a dozen jars of famous wine. Most of them have been drunk by others. Now there are only five jars left. Two of them are with Zhou Chu, and the other three are in Jiajing's private treasury.