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

Chapter 699

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu hurriedly retorted.

Zhou Chu couldn't accept that, or he would be resented by countless people.

Yang Shen smiled when he heard this. He knew best about Zhou Chu's contributions. He knew very well that the Ming Dynasty could do without him, without any officials, and that anyone else could do the same.

But without Zhou Hengqi, the Ming Dynasty would not be the Ming Dynasty it is today.

It might just be the same Ming Dynasty that was heading towards decay.

Yang Shen was always straightforward; he said whatever he thought.

Han Jie and the others came to Zhou Chu to congratulate him.

After announcing Zhou Chu's name, Huang Jin paused deliberately to give everyone time to discuss. Seeing that everyone had finished talking, he spoke again.

"Second Meritorious Official of Zhenwu Hall: Lord Yang Shen (Yang Yongxiu)".

Yang Shen is second, which is almost a certainty. Anyone else who ranks second would be envied and resented by countless people.

It's not that Yang Shen's contribution was that great; in fact, the person ranked third might have contributed more. But Yang Shen was ranked second because he was able to withstand a lot of firepower for those behind him.

If Zhou Chu were first, and no one else would have any objections, then the second place would be watched by countless people. Whoever ranks second would be resented, but Yang Shen is an exception.

Yang Shen was upright and honest, both in court and in private, leaving no room for criticism. Moreover, as the leading figure in the literary world of the Ming Dynasty, no one wanted to offend him, lest they be condemned by scholars from all over the country.

Using Yang Shen to draw fire was a result that Jiajing and Zhou Chu had already agreed upon long ago.

"Congratulations, Grand Secretary Yang."

Han Jie and the others hurriedly stepped forward and said.

Congratulations, Mr. Sheng'an.

Zhou Chu smiled.

"You need to repair it? Congratulations!"

Yang Yiqing said.

Yang Yiqing wasn't surprised that Yang Shen was ranked ahead of him. Since Yang Shen joined the cabinet, he had been the most hardworking member. Yang Shen was not only dedicated to his work, but his talent was also beyond the reach of ordinary people. He often handled many things perfectly.

In recent years, Yang Shen has even proposed many policies that benefit the country and its people in the imperial court, and implemented them.

This is something that neither the cabinet nor other officials can match.

Yang Yiqing knows his own situation. When he first took office as the Grand Secretary, he was no match for Zhou Chu and then spent several years in decline. Only in the last two years has he begun to recover. Compared to Yang Shen, he is still far behind.

"Your Majesty is too kind to give me this honor. If you ask me, the second place should go to Wen Zhengming."

Yang Shen said with a serious expression.

Yang Shen said this because he truly believed it. In his view, Wen Zhengming's contributions were far greater than his own, after all, what a tremendous achievement it was to completely recover the entire South Seas for the Ming Dynasty.

In the years prior, the Ming Dynasty had been eyeing the South Seas with covetous intent, but lacked a reason to send troops. After all, the small countries in the South Seas had all submitted to the Ming Dynasty and paid tribute. Since the Ming Dynasty recovered Annam, these small countries had been extremely respectful to the Ming Dynasty.

This made Jiajing somewhat embarrassed to take action against them.

Wen Zhengming not only solved the problem of having a legitimate reason for launching the campaign, but also used the name of the King of Champa to unify Southeast Asia before completely returning it to the Ming Dynasty, which greatly expanded the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Yang Shen knew that Zhou Hengqi's schemes were probably involved, and that the two young men, Hu Ruzhen and Zhao Mengjing, were responsible for carrying them out, the root of everything was that the Dongyu Dynasty had captured Wen Zhengming. This was an indisputable fact, and no one could take away the credit that belonged to Wen Zhengming.

"Your Excellency Yang is too kind. How could I possibly deserve second place?"