Shi Kefa Zhishi, the position of the first assistant of the cabinet was vacant.

The cabinet is not like the celebrant who can have an empty position as a palm seal eunuch, but the cabinet cannot be without a chief assistant for a day.

Throughout the court, Zhu Cihong was more favored by Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Zongzhou, and Lu Zhenfei, the secretary of the Ministry of War.

It's a pity that Zhang Shenyan suddenly fell seriously ill not long ago, and although Zhu Cihong sent a doctor to diagnose and treat him, it didn't have a very good effect.

Originally, in history, Zhang Shenyan died of illness in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and it seems that his life will be short-lived according to this rhythm.

The remaining two, if Zhu Cihong chooses one of the two, he tends to choose Liu Zongzhou.

First, Liu Zongzhou was a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, and he added the title of Dongge University Scholar, and took over as the first assistant.

Second, Liu Zongzhou is more qualified than Lu Zhenfei.

Liu Zongzhou is a Jinshi in the 29th year of Wanli, through the three dynasties of Wanli, Tianqi and Chongzhen, he has served as the director of the Ministry of Rites, the right general government, the Ministry of Works, and the left imperial history, and is a veritable veteran of the three dynasties.

When Chongzhen was seventeen years old, Liu Zongzhou was already sixty-six years old, and his qualifications were sufficient. With Liu Zongzhou taking over as the first assistant, the ministers of the court and China will not have any objections.

Lu Zhenfei is different, before he was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of War, the highest official position he achieved was the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Huai'an, although he was also a feudal official, but compared to Liu Zongzhou, it was a trivial.

Of course, there is another layer of consideration for Zhu Cihong's arrangement. That is, he needs Lu Zhenfei, a hawk, to be in charge of the military department, so that he can better implement his new military strategy without being hindered.

If Lu Zhenfei enters the cabinet to take over as the first assistant, the position of the secretary of the military department will inevitably be vacant. At present, Wang Duo committed suicide, Shi Kefa Zhishi, Zhang Shenyan was seriously ill, and there were almost no people who could take over the secretary of the military department. If Zhu Cihong forcibly carried out an internal transfer, he could only transfer Liu Zongzhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to the military department, but Liu Zongzhou was a person who resolutely opposed the development of firearms. He once said to Chongzhen, "The ministers have heard the way of using soldiers, the benevolence and righteousness of Taishang Tang Wu, and the temperance of Huan Wen, so it is not a matter of discussion." "Today, if you don't treat people and use weapons, the prestige of the country will become more and more relaxed." "Firearms are not the difference between success and failure."

This is far from Zhu Cihong's strategic vision.

Besides, if firearms are not developed, wouldn't the greatest advantage of the traverser be wasted?

Therefore, Zhu Cihong would never let Liu Zongzhou get involved in the military department. From this point of view, it is the best choice for Lu Zhenfei to stay in the military department, and Liu Zongzhou to take over as the first assistant.

Anyway, the first assistant of the cabinet is just a mascot in Zhu Cihong's personnel structure, and it will not have much impact on major policies.

But the person who sits in this position must be absolutely loyal to the Ming Dynasty and loyal to the royal family.

On this point, Liu Zongzhou and Shi Kefa are the same.

Compared with his political talent, Liu Zongzhou's Confucian talent is obviously stronger, he inherited the Yang Ming Xinxue, and opened the Qishan School, which is a generation of Confucianism. The famous Huang Zongxi and others are all his disciples.

Liu Zongzhou is indeed a man of style.

In the original history, the Qing soldiers went south all the way, and Liu Zongzhou, who had already begged his bones to live in Hangzhou, followed the example of Boyi Shuqi after the city was broken and died of hunger.

Such a person is definitely a loyal minister, and it is very suitable to lead the world as the head of the cabinet.

Of course, it is not enough to make good use of these courtiers at the moment.

The younger generation can be placed in the Huangming Military Academy for training, but the courtiers with old qualifications are in urgent need.

There is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure. Today's Southern Ming Dynasty still needs some old ministers to support the field.

Most of the famous officials were martyred after the destruction of Beijing, or surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

There are so many officials in Nanjing, Zhu Cihong really can't find a suitable candidate.

Since there was no one in Nanjing, Zhu Cihong decided to expand the scope a little.

After careful consideration, Zhu Cihong decided to recruit Wen Anzhi.

The name Wen Anzhi may be unfamiliar to many people, even among the many heroes of Nanming, it is not as famous as Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, Zhang Huangyan and others. But in Zhu Cihong's mind, Wen Anzhi is definitely a well-deserved national hero.

Wen Anzhi was a jinshi in the second year of the Apocalypse, and served as the director of the Nanjing Guozi Supervisor and the sacrificial wine, and was later dismissed by Xue Guoguan and returned to his hometown. He stayed in Yiling's hometown for more than ten years, until the Jiashen Kingdom changed and Shenjing fell, and he was still at home.

Emperor Hongguang and Emperor Longwu both edicted him successively, but because Yiling was in the enemy-occupied area at that time and the transportation was inconvenient, Wen Anzhi did not answer the call.

However, Zhu Cihong feels that in addition to the inconvenience of transportation, there is another important reason. That is Wen Anzhi's dissatisfaction with King Fu, King Tang and others vying for the emperor.

Wen Anzhi is a jinshi in the second year of the Apocalypse, and he is a protégé of the dignified Son of Heaven, so naturally he will not be called an official because of a sentence from the vassal king. Perhaps, in Wen Anzhi's mind, he is very disdainful of these vassal kings who are still fighting for fire in the face of national disasters, right?

As for Wen Anzhi's later call to the Dongge University of the Yongli Imperial Court, it is definitely not that he thinks that the son of Yongli is better than Hongguang and Longwu, but that Wen Anzhi clearly realized that the Ming Dynasty had reached the moment when the building was about to fall, so he decided to give up his prejudice against Yongli and go to Guangxi.

"With a hard work, Jia Yong is looking for a hidden ravine. Looking at the peach and plum smoke, the spring light is not thin. The long pine phase is green, and the comrades have more than happy. Get off the horse and sort out your words, and don't ask any more questions. ”

When passing by Longquan, Wen Anzhi left this song "Longquan Xiaofa", which is enough to express his determination to recover the world.

This old minister was already sixty-eight years old when he saw Yongli in Wuzhou, Guangxi, but he was still full of ambition.

It can be said that the old man is in the bush, and he has ambitions for thousands of miles.

In order to resist the great cause of the Qing Dynasty, Wen Anzhi asked himself to supervise the rest of the army in Sichuan. Emperor Yongli named Wen Anzhi as the crown prince and the second secretary of the army, the governor of Sichuan and Hu, and gave Shang Fang the sword.

Under the mediation of Wen Anzhi's efforts, the thirteen Kuidong families, who were originally fighting with the Ming court, finally joined forces with the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty.

This was the later thirteenth year of Yongli, Yuan Zongdi and Li Laiheng attacked Chongqing.

However, this plan eventually failed because Tan Hong and Tan Yi surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and Yongli also fled to Burma soon after, and finally the Southern Ming Dynasty fell, and Wen'an ended in depression.

Judging from the effective foundation of Wen'an's gathering of the thirteen families in Kuidong to resist the Qing Dynasty, he is not only a loyal minister of Shi Kefa and Liu Zongzhou, but also a very capable minister.

Now that the state affairs are difficult, Zhu Cihong needs more ministers like Wen Anzhi!

It was Zhu Cihong who decided to use the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites to recruit Wen Anzhi, who was far away in Yiling.

Different from Emperor Hongguang in the original history, Zhu Cihong inherited the Emperor Ming as the crown prince of Chongzhen, which can be described as justifiable.

Therefore, Wen Anzhi will never have the concerns of the former historical flattering vassal kings.

The only problem was that at this time Yiling was still in enemy-occupied territory.

Li Zicheng left the general Bai Wang to garrison the four prefectures of Jingzhou, Xiangyang, Chengtian and De'an in Huguang, while Yiling was under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou Prefecture. If Zhu Cihong wanted to contact Wen Anzhi, he had to send people through the enemy-occupied area.

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