No one could give Zhu Youzhu an answer, so Zhu Youzhu asked with a dark face: "Shen Lu, does the General Administration Department have a question book for Qi Huan, the prefect of Yangzhou?" ”

Hearing Zhu Youzhu directly call out the name of Shen Lu, the general envoy, the ministers were taken aback, and they all lowered their heads, obviously His Majesty was really angry, and even Shen Aiqing couldn't care about shouting. Zhu Houzhao knew very well that his father was not acting, because he had never seen the inscription of the Yangzhou prefect, and it was obviously just delivered, which really made his father angry.

Speaking of which, my father has always had expectations for civil officials, but one thing after another is in front of him, so he has to believe that civil officials really have no bottom line. Whether it is the matter of the Ye family or the matter of Nan Zhili now, it all makes Zhu Youzhu feel very, very uncomfortable in his heart.

Shen Lu, the envoy of the general administration, did not dare to slack off at all, and hurriedly stood up: "Back to Your Majesty, the general administration department did not receive the recital of Qi Huan, the prefect of Yangzhou. ”

In fact, when Zhu Youzhu asked this, the ministers knew that there would be no result, because with the appearance of the Yamen of the General Administration Department leaking from all sides, if the question of Qi Huan, the prefect of Yangzhou, really reached the General Administration Department, then it would have been known to the Manchu Dynasty long ago, and it would definitely be impossible to keep it secret. You must know that the General Administration Department at this time is not the General Administration Department before Yingzong, the General Administration Department exists in name only, and the General Administration Envoy has also become the most embarrassing Jiuqing.

Before the Ming Dynasty, there was no general political envoy, and the Ming Dynasty began to set up the "General Political Envoy Division", referred to as the "General Political Division", and its chief official was the "General Political Envoy".

After the four dynasties of Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi and Xuande, the Tongzheng Division has been valued by the imperial court, but the good times did not last long, in the early years of orthodoxy, Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of nine, unable to govern the dynasty, the cabinet "Sanyang" acting emperor Bingzheng, the Chang Dynasty that played an important role in the early Ming Dynasty was a mere formality, and the Ming generation did not change, and the power of the Tongzheng Department lost a large piece.

Later, although Sanyang died, no one dared to say that the ancestral system was restored, and the General Administration Department completely declined, and the General Political Envoy became the most embarrassing existence among the Jiuqing.

The premise of the good operation of the General Administration Department is that after the abolition of the prime minister, the highly centralized system of the emperor under which the six ministries are directly responsible to the emperor is well functioning. The successive emperors after Hongwu and Yongle gradually faded in their ability and enthusiasm for work, and along with it, the power of the cabinet in the civil official group of the outer court gradually increased, and the subordinate relationship with other yamen gradually formed. In the group of eunuchs in the inner court, the celebrant became the head of the 24 yamen of the inner officials, and to a certain extent, exercised the power of approving red on behalf of the emperor and checked and balanced each other with the cabinet.

As a member of the outer court, the general administration department was increasingly at the mercy of the cabinet, and the mouthpiece of the Son of Heaven became the eagle dog of the powerful ministers, such as Zhao Wenhua, the general political envoy of the Jiajing Dynasty, who recognized Yan Song as his father-in-law and played an important role in the Yan dictatorship. In the inner court, there is a clerical office, which is responsible for "enclosing this chapter every day in charge of the general affairs department", and it is necessary to reclassify the chapters submitted by the general secretary to make the work of the general secretary dispensable.

Under such circumstances, who would dare to say that the power of the Minister of General Affairs would be restored to the Cabinet Minister, who would have become a nameless but real prime minister? This is also the reason why Yingzong wants to appoint Wang Zhen, he wants to regain his power. It's just that Wang Zhen is not smart, or Yingzong doesn't know how to use people, Tumubao was smashed, Daming fell down in an instant, and Yingzong became a failed emperor.

The current envoy is Shen Lu, and no one in the court cares too much about him, but that was before, and now he has to care.

Because this general envoy has now taken refuge in one person, that is, Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Shouning, who is standing on the other side of the court.

You must know that a large part of the reason why Zhang Heling is well-informed is because of Shen Lu, although many people in the court like to use dense sparse to go directly to the imperial front, but these are the core ministers of the central government, or the feudal officials in various places, and other courtiers are not allowed to do this, so the general administration department can't do anything else, and it's okay to leak the news to you.

The reason why Shen Lu scolded Zhang Heling was very simple, the political envoy was Jiuqing, but now he couldn't even catch up with a squire when he went out, and Shen Lu had long wanted to leave such a place.

It's just that there is no one in the cabinet to call the shots, and it is basically impossible for Shen Lu to make a difference, and there is nothing for Shen Lu to play in the General Administration, Shen Lu can only go sideways, which is the same as Zhao Wenhua's routine of worshipping Yan Song's godfather in later generations. Because there is no precedent, even if everyone knows that Shen Lu has taken refuge in Zhang Heling, no one cares too much, after all, the status of the General Administration Department is too low.

Zhu Hou looked at Shen Lu who was standing at the bottom of the stairs and was thoughtful, as the "Accessible Feelings" General Administration Department was declining day by day, and the information that the emperor got carried more and more private goods. Even the Dongchang Jinyi Guard, the news they reported was not necessarily true, which led to a significant decline in the imperial court's control over officials and localities.

glanced at Shen Lu, and then at Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, Zhu Houzhao's eyes narrowed slightly, this seems to be a good opportunity to meddle?

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to say!"

At this time, a person stood up, Zhu Houzhao's thoughts were interrupted, and he couldn't help but look over, who is this at this time? So bold? Do you dare to continue to talk like this? The ministers' eyes also turned away, and it was obvious that everyone was curious about who dared to see who the person who was holding the tiger's beard at this time.

Zhu Youzhu also looked over, so that everyone didn't expect that it was Xie Qian, a cabinet scholar, who stood up at this time, which made everyone stunned.

The three scholars in the cabinet, Shi Renyun "Li Gongmou (Li Dongyang's strategy), Liu Gongju (Liu Jian's instant decision), Xie Gongyou Kankan (Xie Qian's eloquence), at this time Xie Qian stood up, obviously not ready to say something casually.

"Xie Aiqing has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it!"

Seeing that it was Xie Qian, Zhu Youjiao's expression softened a lot, and he looked at Xie Qian and said softly, obviously Zhu Houzhao still has respect for this cabinet scholar.

"Your Majesty, whether the Yangzhou case of smuggling salt is true or not cannot be asserted because of the two books, and even if there is an matter, it cannot be asserted that the officials of Nanzhili are involved." Xie Qian said loudly: "Yandao is independent, even if local officials have the right to inspect and promote, they also have no right to meddle in specific affairs. Official salt becomes private salt, and private salt becomes official salt, this kind of thing is very confidential and rigorous, it is difficult to find out, and it is not a strange thing that local officials are not aware of it. ”

"The top priority of the imperial court is to find out the truth, whether the officials are involved, we must find out after the investigation, and we cannot first convict the officials on the basis of their guilt."

Xie Qian's words were loud, but all the people in the hall sweated for Xie Qian.