Capital

Wei Zhongxian held the urgent reports sent from all over the place, and rushed into the Qianqing Palace worriedly.

This time, several military disasters and natural disasters struck together, and Wei Zhongxian really felt a little unbearable.

"Your Majesty,"

Hurriedly rushed into the hall, looking at Zhu Youzhen, who was concentrating on assembling the model of the 'Flying Shear', Wei Zhongxian's voice couldn't help but be lowered a few degrees.

The methods of His Majesty Chongzhen in front of him are not ordinary.

Wei Zhongxian looked at Zhu Youzhen's still slightly green face, and couldn't help but feel a little chill in his heart.

This His Majesty Chongzhen seems to be the same as His Majesty the Apocalypse, and he is also busy making and assembling models of sea ships all day long, and he seems to be not as concerned about the government affairs of the Ming Dynasty as His Majesty the Apocalypse.

But more than a month has passed, and Wei Zhongxian suddenly found that before he knew it, the major eunuchs he was familiar with in the inner court seemed to have been replaced by more than half.

Among the old people left behind by His Majesty the Apocalypse, it is reasonable that Wang Chaofu, the former steward of the Qianqing Palace and the chief eunuch in charge of the two divisions of the Silver Bureau and the Siyuan Bureau, was replaced by Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen has served His Majesty Chongzhen for so many years, and he was only given such a position, and he did not enter the ceremonial supervisor, to be honest, Wei Zhongxian was a little aggrieved for Wang Chengen.

Tan Jing, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Imperial Horse Eunuch who was in charge of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Internal Exercise Army, was implicated by the Assassins and was replaced by Fang Zhenghua, which was even more expected by Wei Zhongxian.

Assassination at the palace gate, this situation is really bad, this is simply a precedent that has only been set in the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years. In such a bad situation, Tan Jing was only transferred to supervise Shangshan Supervisor, and Wei Zhongxian felt that he was lucky.

Tan Jing left, and Fang Zhenghua, who lost an arm because he sacrificed his life to save His Majesty Chongzhen, although he had not completely left the hospital bed, had already begun to perform the duties of the palm seal of the imperial horse supervisor. This Fang Zhenghua can be regarded as a blessing in disguise this time, and it has soared into the sky.

These personnel adjustments were expected by Wei Zhongxian. These people are all the personal people of His Majesty Chongzhen when he was the king of faith. Believe in the king and turn into a dragon, and they ride the wind to the top is also what it should mean.

It's just that Wang Chaofu has always been friendly with Wei Zhongxian, and although Tan Jing is not Wei Zhongxian's person, the palm seal of Shangshan supervisor replaced by Tan Jing is Wei Zhongxian's disciple.

This series of personnel adjustments made Wei Zhongxian's heart can't help but rise.

But what Wei Zhongxian has always been worried about is also the most important position in his hands - the commander of Dongchang, but His Majesty Chongzhen has not made any adjustments, which makes Wei Zhongxian deeply happy.

However, although His Majesty Chongzhen did not replace him, His Majesty Chongzhen quietly sent Liu Yingkun, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the eunuch of the Jingying Supervision Army, to Liaodong in the name of leaving Liaodong. This made Wei Zhongxian's heart very uncomfortable.

Liu Yingkun is the first person to know the soldiers under Wei Zhongxian. Without Liu Yingkun in the Imperial Horse Prison, Wei Zhongxian's influence in the inner court immediately declined.

Thinking about the time when he and His Majesty the Apocalypse were trembling and exhausted, they took the opportunity of Lao Wang An's resignation from the palm seal of the celebrant to turn the fake into reality and drove Lao Wang An out of the imperial city.

How much risk did they feel they were taking?

Comparing the past and the present, how could Wei Zhongxian not be surprised by His Majesty Chongzhen's methods.

His Majesty Chongzhen is the same age as His Majesty the Apocalypse, who took over the throne that year, and they are only 16 years old. But this method is much more clever than they were back then.

"After all, this Ouchi is His Majesty's Ouchi, and the Zajia and others are just His Majesty's domestic slaves after all. Isn't it natural for Your Majesty to change a house slave? ”

Thinking of the old Wang An who left gloomily, Wei Zhongxian smiled silently and bitterly.

Of course, the current Wei Zhongxian has understood that no matter how powerful these servants are, they are all equally vulnerable to the emperor.

Compared with Lao Wang An, he Wei Zhongxian is now very lucky.

However, thinking that the eunuch Wang Tiqian, the eunuch of the celebrant of the palm seal, and the eunuch Li Yongzhen of the bingbi have been obviously disrespectful recently, Wei Zhongxian's heart is even more stressed.

His authority has shrunk significantly.

Wei Zhongxian knows the truth of a son of heaven and a courtier.

He also knew that even if he had a friendship with His Majesty Chongzhen, if he couldn't share his worries for His Majesty Chongzhen and was useless to His Majesty Chongzhen, he would only end up leaving gloomily.

For this reason, during this period of time, Wei Zhongxian has been more attentive to the foreign court. Wei Zhongxian tried his best to solve all government affairs safely as he did back then, and tried not to alarm His Majesty in the palace.

It's just that the impact of these urgent reports in his hands is too great, and Wei Zhongxian has to come to ask His Majesty Chongzhen for advice.

"Wei Daban, what's the matter?"

Zhu Youzhen put down a piece of wood in his hand and asked lightly.

After ascending the throne, Zhu Youzhen realized how huge the restrictions on the emperor were in the current Ming civil official system.

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Officials has the right to directly appoint and dismiss civil officials below the fifth grade. After the officials draw up the appointment and dismissal order, they only need to report it to the emperor for the record.

However, the appointment and dismissal of senior civil officials above the fifth grade of the Ming Dynasty have great power to make recommendations.

In this way, the lower civil officials did not need to be appointed through the emperor; However, the appointment of senior civil servants and the opinions of cabinet scholars are very important.

Even now, without the subsidiary confirmation of the cabinet's opinion, the appointment of the emperor can only be called Zhongzhi. The Wenchen directly promoted by the emperor can only be called Xingjin. And those civil servants who received direct appointments from the emperor often refused to give orders for fear of a bad reputation, and even violently disobeyed orders in order to gain a good reputation.

The opinion of the Cabinet Scholars is so important in promotion, and of course the ministers will be in awe of the Cabinet Scholars.

However, the selection of cabinet scholars was not directly in the hands of the emperor. Cabinet scholars must first be elected by the senior civil servants of the court before they can be candidates and then approved by the emperor to enter the cabinet.

This selection mechanism also made the bachelors who did not enter the cabinet greatly restricted by the courtiers. If you want to enter the cabinet, you have to have a good reputation.

It was this system that greatly weakened the authority of the Ming Emperor in front of the civil officials who held the group.

The 'national capital dispute' between the Wanli Emperor and Wenchen over the establishment of the crown prince made Wenchen discover their great power. After the defeat of the 'battle for the national capital', the death of Emperor Wanli pushed the morale of Wenchen to a higher level.

This is also the reason why in the first few years of the Apocalypse Dynasty, because it did not get the support of the eunuch officials, even if it was the order of the Apocalypse Emperor, it was difficult for the court to work again.

The emperor's authority was damaged, and without the suppression of the emperor's authority, the party struggle formed by the Ming Dynasty's civil servants vying for power and profit quickly became open and intense.

Reflected in the Ming Dynasty, it was the fierce competition between the Donglin Party and the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and other parties in the court in the later years of Wanli.

When it came to the Apocalypse, the emperor who found that his authority had been damaged wanted to regain power, and then there was a fierce battle between the eunuchs and the Donglin party.

Fortunately, in this time and space, Zhu Youzhen entered the chaos, so that the Ming Party did not fight to the bloody extreme.

But in this way, as soon as Zhu You's prosecutor ascended the throne, he felt the difficulty of the Ming Wenchen, who had not yet completely bowed to the imperial power.

Although the current court is still headed by the so-called eunuchs, in the face of the new emperor who has just ascended the throne, the so-called eunuchs still have the instinct to maintain the civil and subordinate system.

Zhu Youzhen's first proposal for the promotion of civil servants was rejected by the cabinet in this way.