Zhu Houzhao really wanted to change the phenomenon of the empire's emphasis on literature and suppression of military force, but he knew that it would not happen overnight.

From that time when the Guards were independent and not subject to the control of the military department, Zhu Houzhao began to deliberately let the generals who understood military affairs have the final say.

It's just that the special situation of the Ming Dynasty has led to the fact that the important positions of the guards are still filled by some civil officials who were born as governors of border towns.

So that the Ming Empire in the early days of Zhengde still seems to be a civilian government, and now as the children of military attachés and nobles also began to receive cultural and military education, and scholars began to be absorbed into the military ranks, civilian officials also turned into military attachés, and military attaches sometimes turned into civilian officials, making the phenomenon of heavy literature and military suppression of military affairs lighter and lighter.

And with the improvement of the status of soldiers, the people are no longer disdainful of martial arts.

And now, Zhu Houzhao has made the military minister also the minister of parliament, which is naturally to further change the phenomenon of emphasizing literature and suppressing the military, and to prevent the civilian officials from still being excessively bigger, so that in decision-making bodies such as the parliamentary office, the military attaché has no right to speak.

British Gong Zhang Rong naturally did not expect that he would become the Minister of Parliament, and now that he has been appointed as the Minister of Parliament, he is also very happy in his heart, because he never thought that one day he would be able to make decisions on world affairs with the Son of Heaven and these cabinet ministers!

"Since the incident of Tumubao, the honorable generals have all stood aside, not to mention participating in the secrets, it is good that the credit can not be snatched away by the civil officials, even if you are a prince, but a seven-grade civil official sometimes dares to kick his nose in the face of the military generals who are a prince!

Now that he can become the Minister of Parliament, it can be seen that His Majesty still has us military ministers and nobles in his heart, not to mention spending money to train us, but also to let us participate in important military and political affairs! It's truly a royal grace! Lord of the Holy Mind! ”

When Zhang Rong thought like this, he couldn't help but straighten his chest, thinking that he was now also in the same hall as the Son of Heaven and the minister of the world, the same as the prime minister of the Tang and Song dynasties, how could he have some bearing, even if he took the elephant wat correctly, he no longer looked around, and stood in the first place on the right side in a regular manner.

Jiangdong didn't expect that he would become the Minister of Parliament, and he thought that he would become a scholar at the highest level in his life, but he didn't expect that he would become the Minister of Parliament who looked like the prime minister.

But in any case, in order to repay the king's intention on the golden platform and be happy to die for the king, Jiang Dong also sat down and began to listen to Zhu Houzhao's instructions.

Zhu Houzhao didn't say much, and only asked Xia Yan to start presiding over the court promotion ceremony of the Political Affairs Department.

The procedures and rules and regulations of the entire Council and Administration Department were drawn up by Xia Yan, and naturally he presided over the first time the Minister of the Council and Administration Department.

"First of all, the candidates for the Ministry of Officials, Xia was ordered to list the following qualified candidates, Li Ben, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, Wen Yuan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Xu Jie, the secretary of the Ministry of Railways, and Yan Song, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture."

Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting in the first place in the middle, began to say after listening to Xia Yan's introduction: "You all express your opinions, what you say on the court tui, I will not punish the crime, you can speak freely, the master of the Ministry of Ministers and the Lord of the world, who do you think is the most suitable?" ”

Xu Jin smiled slightly, did not speak first, only in his heart, and said in his belly:

"Although Your Majesty has accepted your Xia Yan's proposal, you Xia Yan is waiting for the consequences of being scolded by the heavenly officials! Even if you can die well, you are destined not to be spared by the pen in the hands of literati doctors in this life! ”

Next, it was still Xia Yan who spoke first: "Your Majesty, colleagues, the head of the Ministry of Officials is the head of the world, and the power is very heavy, and to be the secretary of the ministry, the first thing is justice, Xia thinks that in the list, it is better to be fair and strict, so Xia recommends Wen Yuan as the secretary of the ministry." ”

As soon as Xia Yan's words came out, Xu Jin immediately thought about it, although he was very reluctant to see Xia Yan's proposal to set up a council office become a reality, he also had to pay serious attention to who Xia Yan would push as the secretary of the ministry.

"Wen Yuan is a Jinshi of Hongzhi for eighteen years, with old qualifications and high prestige, once Wen Yuan becomes the secretary of the ministry, it means that he will not be able to interfere in the affairs of the ministry, and when the cabinet is pressed by Xia Yan, the ministry will have Wen Yuan, the Buddha of Wen Yuan, what can he do, the leader of the clear stream, this Xia Yan will really be promoted! Isn't it, Xia Yan and Wen Yuan have already colluded in private? ”

Xu Jin said a few words in his heart, then got up and bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said:

"Your Majesty, the minister recommended Li Ben, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials, if you talk about justice, Li Gong can talk to Wen Gong, when Li Gong was a scholar, he dared to depose Yuan Fu's nephew who did not learn and did not know how to do the fame, it is enough to show that Li Gong is fair!"

After Xu Jin finished speaking, he glanced at Xia Yan provocatively, and saw that Xia Yan was unhappy because he mentioned in front of the palace that his nephew was unlearned and unskilled, and his heart became more satisfied, and he said in his heart: "Let you Xia Yan propose to set up a political office, the old man is to recommend Li Ben, who you don't want to see, to be the secretary of the ministry!" ”

Of course, although Xu Jin secretly thought so, it did not mean that he recommended Li Ben simply to embarrass Xia Yan, and it was also to check and balance Xia Yan that he recommended Xia Yan's political enemies.

Xu Jinso continued to talk about several advantages of Li Ben, and praised Li Ben very much, and then said: "And Li Gong also has an advantage, that is, he is younger than Wen Gong, His Majesty has always given young people the opportunity to make progress, it is the old minister who chooses Li Ben, and Wen Gong is old, and he is old and strategic, and it is easier to enter the cabinet and assist the government." ”

Xu Jin knew that he was now promoting Li Ben instead of Wen Yuan, which would inevitably make Wen Yuan unhappy when he found out in the future, so he simply added, he didn't think Wen Yuan was good, but he felt that Wen Yuan should be a cabinet scholar.

Being an official is meant to be exquisite in all directions, and those who can not be offended must not be offended.

Xia Yan was indeed a little displeased when he heard Xu Jin recommend Li Ben, and mentioned his nephew who didn't learn and didn't know how to do it, knowing that Xu Jin was deliberately sweeping his face, but he was not a person who couldn't control his emotions, and after Xu Jin said, he said to Zhang Rong with a smile: "Zhang Gong is the head of the military ministers, and he should speak first, but now he is reluctant to speak, he must have thought it through. ”

Zhang Rong didn't expect Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, to be so respectful to him, and when he heard the meaning of this, he felt that he should speak first, obviously because he felt that he should be in the top two in the ranking, and suddenly he had a good impression of Xia Yan, who had been engaged in the military and his father Zhang Lun was a classmate of Beijing Normal University.

So, Zhang Rong hurriedly said: "Thanks to Your Majesty's attention, I am in the position of the Minister of Parliament, but Zhang only knows the military, where does he know who Otsuka Zai should be, but the minister thinks that the war should be used as a veteran, and the government should be used as an old minister, so the minister recommended Wen Gong!" ”

At this time, Jiangdong also got up and played: "The minister also recommended Wen Gong to be the big mound Zai, Li Ben was born in Hanlin Cichen, with high literary attainments, although he is fair and honest, but he is not good at secular affairs, the Ministry of Officials is not polite, and the selection of hundreds of officials in the world involves many practical performance assessments such as money and taxes, engineering construction, and people's livelihood, and Wen Gong has served in the local government, so Wen Gong is more suitable. ”

Xu Jin's heart couldn't help but sink, and he looked at Xia Yan: "Conspiracy, this is definitely a conspiracy!" The establishment of the parliamentary office was suggested by Xia Yan, and now the military minister Zhang Rong and Jiang Dong, the civil official of the Privy Council of the Guards Army, who is no different from the military minister, have been appointed as the Minister of Parliament, which must also be Xia Yan's suggestion, this Xia Yan must have relied on the favor of His Majesty the Emperor and deliberately used this to control the power of the court! Let the court be full of his people! ”

"Among the four ministers of parliament, three recommended Wen Yuan, since this is the case, I will not vote, and I will appoint Wen Yuan as the secretary of the ministry and the young master, and bring him with him!"

"In addition, after Wen Yuan is appointed as the secretary of the ministry, the candidate for the secretary of the criminal department will be discussed later, and Bao Xiang, the left attendant of the criminal department, will temporarily take care of the affairs of the ministry!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, he instructed: "There are other serious things to do, the meeting of the Council and the Political Affairs Department will be here first, let's disperse, and then discuss the new cabinet ministers at this time tomorrow." ”

"Obey the Divine Commandment!"

Xia Yan and the others immediately replied.

The first meeting of the parliamentary office of the Ming Dynasty still made him feel very good for Xia Yan, although the Son of Heaven made two important ministers of the guard system become ministers of parliament, but at least he wanted Wen Yuan to become the secretary of the ministry.

The British Gong Zhang Rong and the Privy Counsellor are naturally in a very good mood, they don't care who is the secretary of the ministry, but they can become the Minister of Parliament and participate in the decision-making of the emperor's government, so that they have a sense of existence, and they are in a very good mood, especially when they see that even civil officials like the first assistant Xia Yan respect them for three points, they are even more happy.

Sometimes power and status give people such a wonderful feeling, having a higher status, being respected by others, this feeling can make people want to die.

Xu Jin now has to be respectful to a noble like Zhang Rong and a general like Jiangdong;

After all, now that he is the Minister of Parliament, Xu Jin can only win over these ministers as much as possible to get more votes for his merchant class in the next few important ministers' nominations.

"I have heard of Grandpa Guo's good wine for a long time, Xu has a urn of Magu wine that has been stored for ten years, and asked the little girl to give it to Grandpa Guo to taste, if Grandpa Guo doesn't like it, you can take it to the crab and drunk fish."

Xu Jin and Zhang Rong were close, after all, Xia Yan was obviously suspected of provoking himself and the British Duke Zhang Rong at the political meeting just now, and now that the meeting was dismissed, he had to deliberately show humility, so as to show that he did not mean to disrespect the British Princess.

Xia Yan also showed a look of disgust when he saw this, after all, Xu Jin was more than twenty years older than Zhang Rong, and a so-called old and virtuous Qingliu leader begged for tricks from nobles who were less than fifty, which made Xia Yan feel ashamed no matter how he looked at it.

Zhu Houzhao also noticed the appearance of Xia Yan and Xu Jin with guns and sticks at the political meeting, but this is exactly what he wants to achieve, after all, the first assistant and the second assistant cannot be together, so as to be conducive to himself, the emperor, to rule the Ming Dynasty and make the country smooth and excessive.

And he made Zhang Rong and Jiangdong, officials outside the civil bureaucratic system, become ministers of parliament, which is naturally the reason why these ministers of parliament are neutral and unable to hold together.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao doesn't really want to engage in internal struggle, in order to continue the reform and foreign expansion policy of the empire, he still prefers Xia Yan a little, he believes that Xu Jin can also see this, but Zhu Houzhao doesn't think that Xu Jin can do anything, at most he can only try his best to improve the relationship with Wuchen Wenjiang.

But Zhu Houzhao didn't want to give Xu Jin such an opportunity, or he didn't want to give Xu Jin such an opportunity on the surface, and also laid a foundation for punishing Xu Jin in the future.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao instructed: "The celebrant sent an edict to the ministers, saying that I said, don't be loyal to the country, don't form a private party, engage in conspiracy, if you let me know, you will be punished for the crime of forming a party for personal gain!" When the time comes, the old face of several lifetimes will not be able to hang up! ”

As a result, the eunuchs who passed on the shrine successively conveyed their orders to the four ministers.

Zhang Rong hurriedly refused Xu Jin's flattery, and from then on he no longer dared to have any dealings with the other three ministers of parliament, for fear that as a noble class, the position of minister of parliament that he had won with great difficulty would be removed because of forming a party for personal gain, not to mention the Lan Yu case of the Hongwu Dynasty, he also knew.

Jiangdong also closed his doors, or only followed the imperial expedition to Europe with Jia Yingchun in the Privy Council.

Xia Yan didn't care, he had never contacted these four ministers in private from beginning to end, but he knew that Zhang Rong and Jiangdong's Guards system were consistent with his own interests and political ideas, so even if he didn't make contact, he believed that Zhang Rong and Jiangdong would support him.

Xia Yan knew that this was the Son of Heaven taking care of himself.

The Western aristocratic lady Madeleine, who has given birth to a daughter for Xia Yan, is now in old age, but she still looks at Xia Yan with a look of admiration: "Although Mr. is a member of the community, he should also pay attention to his body." ”

"The emperor's grace is vast, how dare you be idle", Xia Yan said, and then ordered: "You go and call Xia Wu over." ”

After a while, Xia Yan's servant Xia Wu came to Xia Yan like this: "Master, you call me." ”

"Tomorrow, my lord, I will inspect Jingshi University, and when I go to the Daming Agricultural Science Institute, let them stop, I want to meet Yan Butang in civilian clothes, and when the time comes, you should pay attention to the good wind, and you can't let outsiders know my whereabouts, and the West Factory will not care, Your Majesty is happy to see us like this."

As soon as Xia Yan said this, Xia Wu didn't dare to ask more, so he hurriedly answered and went.

The next day, Xia Yan saw Yan Song in civilian clothes, Yan Song didn't know what medicine was sold in Xia Yan's gourd, because, in his eyes, this Xia Shoufu didn't seem to look up to himself, but Yan Song also wanted to improve, plus because of his personality, in his position, he would please three points first, so when he saw Xia Yan, he still saluted first:

"Yuanfu deigned to come, and the lower officials were terrified! I don't know what Yuan Fu's order is, but he should only order a small official to convey it. ”

"When it comes to getting rid of traitors, how can you ask the little officials to convey it, Yan Gong invites you, you are a minister of the country, how dare Xia accept your great gift, the people of the world, no matter how respectful or low, rely on you to feed", Xia Yan smiled and said.

Yan Song couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and secretly wanted to get rid of any traitor, why did he want to find me? But he still arched his hand and said: "Yuanfu praises falsely, this is all the work of Your Majesty, I don't know what Yuanfu said about the traitor?" ”

"Second assistant Xu Jin!"

Xia Yan had already sat in the left-hand position in front of Yan Song, and after saying solemnly, he waved his sleeve: "If this thief does not die, Da Ming will be in endless trouble!" ”

Although Yan Song had already guessed three points in his heart, on the surface, it was still as if he had been struck by lightning, and he took a few steps back, and even his hands trembled and he didn't know where to put it; "Yuanfu, Yuanfu is talking about Xu Ge Lao? Xia Guan was a little confused, what do you mean by Yuanfu? ”