On the third day of the sixth month, Zhong Nan ushered in his second strategist, the person introduced by Jing Tianchu, finally came.

Shi Qian is thin and small, and his skin is dark, so he doesn't look like a scholar, but like an old farmer who has been farming for many years. Although he is only in his thirties, he feels like he is almost fifty years old.

Zhong Nan will never judge people by their appearance, isn't Yuan Lao in later generations an academician from a peasant background?

Shi Qian's personality is a bit cold, probably because of his unsatisfactory early years, which made him taciturn.

Zhong Nan is considered to be a human being in two lives, and he can consider problems from the other party's standpoint, so he does not have the corrupt style of those bureaucrats at this time, which makes Shi Qian feel surprised at the same time, and at the same time, he also has some hope - who doesn't want the people he follows to not only be capable, but also tolerant!

Shi Qian's room was arranged next door to Sun Chengzong, and the two talented middle-aged men hit it off at first sight. They are all aware of their own positioning, they also know their responsibilities, and they understand that only by supporting each other can they show their strengths to assist Zhong Nan in creating a great cause. From the beginning, they didn't have the slightest intention of fighting, which made Zhong Nan very pleased.

Zhong Nan has a high opinion of Shi Qian, and it can be seen that he is a person with real talent and learning. Although the personality is a little wooden, it is not too suitable for development in officialdom, but it is just suitable for the work of the staff.

After settling down Shi Qian, Zhong Nan ended his undecided vacation. Anyway, the whole court already knew that it was he Zhong Shilang who encouraged the emperor to go to the early dynasty; There are only three early dynasties in a month, which is also proposed by his Zhong Shilang...... Since he has gained so many "bad reputations", it is easy for colleagues to say that he is weak-hearted by his colleagues if he continues to take leave, so it is better to simply return to the military headquarters to sit on duty.

Back at the military headquarters, Xing Jue was not the slightest dissatisfied, but he comforted Zhong Nan that he didn't have to pay too much attention to those rumors.

Song Yingchang patted Zhong Nan on the shoulder, showing his understanding and kindness. Only the military department put on a stinky face for Zhang Jun in the matter, which made several people helpless.

Zhong Nan ignored Zhang Jun, and after greeting a group of colleagues, he sat down directly behind his desk, and then got busy with the mountain of desk work.

In the following months, Zhong Nan worked and lived step by step.

During the non-war period, the work of the Ministry of War was not heavy, and Zhong Nan, as the right attendant, was in charge of the Che Driver Clearance Department and the Arsenal Clearance Division, which was somewhat similar to the deputy minister in charge of the General Armament Department of the Ministry of Defense in later generations. His daily work consisted mainly of reviewing various documents, and he occasionally traveled for a few days.

The work is very smooth, and life is also beautiful. Of the three beauties in Zhong's mansion, only Qiu Xiang is Zhong Nan's legal wife, and Jiang Mo and Liao Qing'er are nominally tenants. However, as they gradually spent more time together, Jiang and Liao's good impression of Zhong Nan increased day by day, coupled with Qiu Xiang's "assistance" on the side, it was only a matter of time before they became a real family.

In ancient times, women did not have many opportunities to contact the opposite sex, and Zhong Nan had the unique charm of men in later generations, so Jiang Mo and Liao Qinger fell into the "love network" unconsciously.

For Zhong Nan, everything is fine; But for Lord Shoufu Wang Jiaping, everything is getting worse and worse.

As the first assistant at the time, Wang Jiaping could not ignore the ministers' requests to canonize the crown prince as soon as possible, and every time he met with Zhu Yijun, he would mention this matter. It's just that the emperor decided to temporarily shelve the matter of "establishing a prince" on the grounds that Zhang Youde and others had broken the agreement.

Zhu Yijun's similar practice of "cheating" is very despicable, but it really blocked the mouths of the Manchu Dynasty civil and military - it's not that I don't fulfill the agreement, but that you broke the contract first, in this case, I can only talk and not talk.

Despite losing the lead, Wang Jiaping still kept slackening. Not only the Cabinet, but also other ministers almost every once in a while, saying the same thing. Among them, the officials in the official system are the most persistent, and their recitals are like snowflakes and sent to Zhu Yijun's desk.

Another day, Li Xianke, together with several other officials, suggested that the emperor should let the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo start to study and read, and made requirements for the learning content, almost all of which are things that the emperor should learn.

Li Xianke and others, although they did not explicitly say that they wanted to make the emperor's eldest son the crown prince, but their essence was the same - if Zhu Changluo began to learn the relevant knowledge, wouldn't it be a disguised establishment as a prince?

Although the officials changed their words, the core did not change, and it happened that Zhu Yijun was in a bad mood that day, so he issued an order to treat Li Xianke's felony.

The next day, the royal approval for punishing Li Xianke reached the cabinet, and Shen was waiting to draft it according to his will, but Wang Jiaping insisted on returning it. Since he is the first assistant of the cabinet, Shen has always followed.

"Sealing" refers to the cabinet's "unreasonable" edict to the emperor, which can be refused to be drafted and returned to the execution. The emperor is dissatisfied with the cabinet vote and sends it back for redraft, if the cabinet thinks that his opinion is correct, he may also refuse to redraft it and seal it in with the original vote. This is also the political system of the Ming Dynasty, which is more advanced and reasonable than the previous dynasty, although it is still "the supremacy of imperial power", but the cabinet has a great restraining effect on it.

Zhu Yijun saw that Wang Jiaping refused to carry out his will, and he was angry that he could only punish Li Xianke lightly and remove Li Xianke. After this incident, the "rift" between Zhu Yijun and Wang Jiaping gradually deepened, and in September, Wang Jiaping even threatened Zhu Yijun with the resignation of the first assistant to the cabinet.

It turned out that Wang Jiaping saw that he and other ministers were sparse every day, in exchange for the emperor's "stay in the middle and not send it", he also lost his temper and wrote a letter to the effect that he, as the first assistant, had achieved nothing after taking office, and felt deeply guilty, and asked the emperor to choose another meritorious.

After Zhu Yijun received the recital, he summoned Wang Jiaping, calmly admitted his mistake, and comforted Wang Jiaping. Now that this cabinet team has only been set up for a few months, of course the emperor doesn't want to push it back to re-elect, so he has to make a gesture and stabilize Wang Jiaping first.

Wang Jiaping knows the characteristics of Zhu Yijun's temper, and once made a summary of the route of admonition-"Compromise to enlighten it, try your best to support it, and sincerely move it." If they do not comply, then they can be forced to fight." Seeing that the emperor had such a low profile this time, Wang Jiaping did not continue to mention the matter of resignation.

In fact, Wang Jiaping is a "typical" type of official in ancient times, as a feudal scholar with serious ignorance and loyalty, he is bent on reviving the dynasty and maintaining the feudal rule of the Zhu dynasty. Wang Jiaping once said in a memorabilia to the emperor: "His Majesty is the lord of Yao and Shun, and the minister is the minister of Yao and Shun", which can be seen from this.

However, Wang Jiaping's lofty political ideals were destined to become a castle in the air, and after gradually realizing this, he was disheartened and resigned many times. Zhu Yijun couldn't stand the other party's repeated estrangement, and agreed to Wang Jiaping's resignation in early December, asking him to return to his hometown.

From late May to early December, just over half a year, Wang Jiaping's career as the first assistant ended. Zhu Yijun had no choice but to let Zhao Zhigao take over the post of first assistant, and at the same time let Zhu Geng enter the cabinet.

Although Zhu Geng's surname is Zhu, he can't fight with Zhu Yuanzhang's "Zhu". This old man in his sixties didn't expect happiness to come so quickly, Zhu Geng, who was a bachelor of Hanlin Academy at the time, thought that his career had come to an end, but he didn't know that the cabinet scholars resigned one after another, which reminded Zhu Yijun, who couldn't catch the "strong man".

Objectively speaking, today's cabinet is no longer as attractive to scholars as it once was. Take a look at the list of bachelors who have left their jobs in the twenty-three years of Wanli: Wang Xijue, Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, Wang Jiaping, these four people have not been in the cabinet for a short time, but who knows that they have returned to their hometown one after another, and it cannot be said that the risk after entering the cabinet is much greater.

Despite this, the cabinet still has a great attraction to old scholars such as Zhu Geng. The day after receiving the appointment, Zhu Geng couldn't wait to go to Wenyuan Pavilion and meet with his colleagues.

While the four scholars in the cabinet were familiar with each other, Zhong Nan was recruited into the palace by Zhu Yijun.

As soon as they met, Zhong Nan saw Zhu Yijun sitting on the dragon chair with a lonely expression. It seems that the emperor is not in a good mood, and Zhong Nan knows that he is going to carry out a psychological counseling class again today.

"Zhong Nan, do you think I'm a Ming Jun or a Duan Jun?"

The first question made Zhong Nan unable to answer, so he had to talk to him left and right, "Why would the emperor ask like that?" ”

"Look at the old men in the cabinet, embarrassing me one by one, I'd rather go back to my hometown than help me do things, am I so mediocre?" Zhu Yijun was indignant.

"Your Majesty, don't pay too much attention to it, literati, it is inevitable that there will be some pedantic, as long as it does not affect the overall situation, just let them go."

"You're right. But they are noisy in your ears every day, and it's so annoying! "It seems that the emperor is really tired of those old ministers.

Thinking about it, Zhu Yijun has been a nominal emperor for 20 years in the shadow of Zhang Juzheng, and finally the former Shoufu returned to the West, thinking that he could be the master of the house, but a group of old men jumped out. Although they are not as strong as Zhang Juzheng, they just make emotions at every turn, scold the emperor, and even threaten to resign, which emperor will feel aggrieved.

"Your Majesty, in that case, have you thought of any solution?"

"What can be done, the cabinet can't be abolished!" Zhu Yijun said helplessly.

"It's not that the cabinet can't be canceled...... Zhong Nan suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and thought of some things he had seen on the Internet in the original time and space, that is, some ideas about the reform of the late Ming Dynasty.

"What do you think?" Zhu Yijun was also interested.

"Your Majesty, I have a bold idea, but I don't know if you have that determination?" Zhong Nan asked rhetorically.

"If I can make the old men stop, I will definitely support it!" Zhu Yijun thought about it and made up his mind.

"My thoughts are ......" Zhong Nan saw that the emperor had really made up his mind, so he put out what he thought in his heart.