The first early dynasty of the second year of Shenwu was being held, but the location was changed to Fengtianmen because of the burning of the Fengtian Temple. The porch of Fengtianmen is more than fifty meters away from Fengtiandian Square, separated by twenty-seven steps, and Zhu Hongsan, who is high up, really can't hear what Ma Mingyuan and Tong Yangjia are arguing about below. Originally, this kind of court would be passed on by the little eunuch to maintain the mystery of the emperor, but Zhu Hongsan was an impatient, so he could wait for the little eunuch to pass on every question and answer.

Zhu Hongsan scratched his head and said, "That's it, let's talk about this matter at noon, and the relevant people will go to the Wenhua Hall after retreating!" ”

After the little eunuch passed on Zhu Hongsan's meaning, Ma Mingyuan and Tong Yangjia bowed down and returned to their class.

In addition to this incident today, Zhu Hongsan originally wanted to settle the issue of the two vacant positions in the cabinet, which is a big deal.

Zhu Hongsan said: "Ladies and gentlemen, there are two positions missing in the cabinet now, let's discuss and come up with a personal candidate!" Chen Zizhuang was unlucky enough to be convicted of missing a position, and the other was that Liu Dalin resigned and returned to Guangdong after the year on the grounds of old age and infirmity. But this is all a pretext, everyone knows that Liu Dalin saw Chen Zizhuang's fate, and knew that Ma Mingyuan was going to clean up the Guangdong faction next, so he left this place of right and wrong one step ahead.

Of course, Ma Mingyuan, as the first assistant, has the right to speak, and after hearing what the emperor said, he stood up and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister recommends Wang Yunchang, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Zhu Dadian, a scholar of Hanlin, to enter the cabinet!" ”

Wang Yunchang is Ma Mingyuan's person, and it is reasonable for Ma Mingyuan to recommend him, but Zhu Dadian didn't expect Ma Mingyuan to recommend himself, this favor is great. You must know that Ma Mingyuan, as the first assistant, has a lot of say in the issue of candidates.

Zhu Dadian was born in the ninth year of Wanli and is sixty-seven years old this year. Ming Dynasty officials stipulated that they should retire at seventy, and people like Zhu Dadian should almost go home to retire. But there is really no one in the Zhejiang Party, there are many young cadres in the Zhejiang Party, and there are few who can compete with these bigwigs in the court, so Zhu Dadian has no choice but to come out to be an official under the persuasion of his friends.

Zhu Dadian heard Ma Mingyuan recommend himself to join the cabinet today, it was really unexpected, he didn't expect that he would be able to live the addiction of a pavilion elder at sixty-seven. Although Zhu Dadian understood everything, the temptation to enter the cabinet was too great, and after hearing Ma Mingyuan, he quickly pricked up his ears and listened to how the emperor arranged.

Tong Yangjia listened to Ma Mingyuan's recommendation of Zhu Dadian on the side, and scolded Ma Mingyuan in his heart for slipping his head, which was completely due to the fact that the party in Zhejiang was powerful and had the purpose of buying people's hearts. However, Tong Yangjia did not want to oppose Ma Mingyuan, buying the Zhejiang Party was the established policy set by the emperor, and Tong Yangjia did not want to go against the emperor, so Tong Yangjia did not oppose Zhu Dadian's entry into the cabinet, but it is difficult to say who is the other person.

Tong Yangjia came out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Wang Yunchang can't enter the cabinet yet, and the minister recommends Gong Dacheng, the secretary of the logistics department!" ”

Ma Mingyuan saw that Tong Yangjia shamelessly recommended his father-in-law, and sneered: "Lord Tong, just after recommending your nephew and father-in-law, does your son also want to get an official position?" "Tong Yangjia's son is the half-brother of the two concubines in the harem, and he just turned ten years old this year, but in this way, he also hung a false title of a hundred households in brocade clothes.

Tong Yangjia laughed and said: "The dog is still young now, and he will naturally serve His Majesty when he becomes an adult in the future!" ”

"Hmph, Tong Yangjia, you said that Lord Wang is not worthy of entering the cabinet, is Gong Dacheng worthy of being born in a person?" Ma Mingyuan didn't want to have anything to do with Tong Yangjia, so he said directly, you Gong Dacheng is just a lifter, and you still want to enter the cabinet?

"Lord Ma, heroes don't ask about their origins, Lord Gong has followed His Majesty since Puqi County, and he has worked hard for more than ten years, dare to ask when Lord Wang followed His Majesty?" Tong Yangjia said this sentence is completely a seniority, when Zhu Hongsan just escaped from Wuchang, in Puqi in order to save Qian Lide accidentally arrested the county commander Gong Dacheng's family, Gong Dacheng also became the fifth civilian official to follow Zhu Hongsan, this qualification is amazing, look at the four in front, two pavilion elders and two governors, only Gong Dacheng is still a scholar.

"Lord Tong, what's the use of being a waste no matter how senior you are? Lord Wang followed his official to implement the new banking policy in Guangdong, and also set up tax departments in various places, isn't this credit enough to enter the cabinet? ”

Zhu Hongsan sat on it and listened to the two people below, but he lost his momentum when he heard the words of the little eunuch.

"Okay, don't fight between the two gentlemen, anyway, today is the court meeting, let's push it!"

The Ming Dynasty stipulated that whenever the imperial court encountered major political affairs, or encountered vacancies in civil and military affairs, the emperor would order a meeting of the courtiers to discuss and weigh the appropriately, and then report to the emperor to take the decree and decide. The proposal for the promotion and appointment of personnel is called the court push. This is probably the oldest democratic* election policy! The personnel involved in the court push include six Shangshu, the Imperial History of the Metropolis, the Six Departments to the Ministry, the General Political Envoy, the Secretary of Dali and the Imperial History of the Dao.

The emperor ordered that a small eunuch prepare a porcelain vase, and then issue a yellow note to the qualified minister on which the name could be written, and then put it into the porcelain vase.

There are a total of thirty-six people who are qualified to push the court at the scene, but the Ma Party and the Zhejiang Party account for the majority, and there are only six places on Tong Yangjia's side, and Gong Dacheng looks at little hope this time.

This is exactly the case, and after the results came out, it was Zhu Dadian and Wang Yunchang who were selected. Zhu Dadian's old heart pounded after hearing the result, but he didn't expect that he would be able to live an addiction to entering the cabinet when he was old. Wang Yunchang is similar, he has long known that there is a chance that he will be able to enter the cabinet today, but he is still very excited to hear the news, and from now on he will finally put on a python robe and have a seat in front of the emperor.

Tingtui was very time-consuming, and Zhu Hongsan looked at the sky when it was already more than nine o'clock in the morning. It's still in the New Year, and although it's located in Nanjing, it's still very cold. Zhu Hongsan waved his hand at Li Chengen, and Li Chengen stood up and said, "Retreat from the dynasty!" "Under the emperor's order, the officials in the square receded like a tide, of course, they did not go home on vacation, they had to go to work to deal with government affairs.

Zhu Hongsan took the crown prince Zhu Hai back to the Wenhua Palace, and first roasted the fire to warm his body. After a while, Li Chengen entered the house and said, "Emperor, little master, several pavilion elders are here!" ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, and he also had to discuss the selection of candidates for the northbound peace talks. In fact, Zhu Hongsan and Ma Mingyuan have already communicated and have already decided on candidates, who knows that Tong Yangjia has other candidates, and Zhu Hongsan also wants to hear what Tong Yangjia thinks, after all, he was still the most opposed one in the first half of the month.

Zhu Hongsan took the crown prince to the front hall, and several prime ministers hurriedly stood up and saluted. Zhu Hongsan looked at Zhu Dadian and Wang Yunchang, who had just entered the cabinet, and said, "Zhu Aiqing and Wang Aiqing should cooperate more with the first assistant!" When the two heard the emperor say this, they quickly stood up and expressed their determination, saying that they would live up to the emperor's grace and die for the cause of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Hongsan knew that these stinky old nine were good, so he didn't feel at ease, and then said: "Zhu Aiqing used to be a governor, and he was also the governor of Caoyun, so he was in charge of the Ministry of Industry, Fu Aiqing was in charge of the Ministry of Officials, Wang Aiqing was born in the Ministry of Finance, and the errand of this household department will be handed over to you!" ”

Fu Wenlong listened to let himself be in charge of the Ministry of Officials, and his heart was overjoyed, this is not to say that the Ministry of Industry is not important, now the country is in ruins, and there must be a lot of construction everywhere, and the Ministry of Industry is also a department with oil and water, but it can be compared with the Ministry of Officials who are in charge of the appointment and removal of cadres. Zhu Dadian didn't care, he also knew that he had just arrived, and he would burn high incense if he could enter the cabinet, and he could do anything.

After watching the meeting of several cabinet elders, Zhu Hongsan continued: "Let everyone come today to discuss the question of candidates for peace talks, Tong Aiqing, why did you change your mind again?" ”

Hearing the emperor ask himself, Tong Yangjia quickly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has never advocated peace talks, but the matter of eating the king's loyalty to the monarch, the minister is His Majesty's courtier, and His Majesty has set a general direction, and the minister will implement it!" Zhu Hongsan was very happy with Tong Yangjia's sycophancy, Zhu Hongsan likes such cadres, he can put forward opinions and discuss them, but after the general direction is set, he must implement it unconditionally.

Tong Yangjia has followed Zhu Hong for more than 30 years, so he naturally knows the temperament of this emperor. Seeing that the emperor was happy, Tong Yangjia continued: "The minister recommended Tong Tuchang, and he had no selfish intentions, Tong Tuchang was shrewd and cunning, and the Fujian matter was only successful under his mediation." And this time the Beijing peace talks are not inferior to Fujian, so the minister recommended the experienced Tong Tuchang to be the chief envoy of the peace talks! ”

Tong Yangjia really said that Zhu Hongsan was in his heart, and now he is at the end of his crossbow, so the peace talks with the Manchu Qing must be successful. It is precisely because of the importance of this candidate that the issue has become the top priority, and it is not possible to do it without ability, courage or means. The Jiang Wenyun proposed by Ma Mingyuan was only a magistrate, and he had the ability and courage, but his means were much worse than Tong Tuchang's.

And Tong Tuchang and Tong Yangjia's uncle and nephew have been drifting in the rivers and lakes for more than ten years, and they have developed the ability to see people and talk about ghosts, and this is really suitable for Tong Tuchang.

But what made Zhu Hongsan uneasy was Tong Yangjia, Zhu Hongsan knew that this Tong Yangjia was very treacherous, he was not afraid that Tong Tuchang would take the opportunity to join the enemy, but that he was afraid that Tong Yangjia would have any means to disrupt the peace talks. If the peace talks were unsuccessful, Zhu Hongsan would have to independently face the attack of millions of Qing troops, which Zhu Hongsan was unwilling to face.

In fact, Zhu Hongsan's overall strength is about the same as that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Zhu Hongsan occupies the richest Jiangnan, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty relies on population and geographical area, so Zhu Hongsan is not afraid of the Manchu Qing Dynasty alone. But don't forget that Zhu Hongsan also has a Guiwang Zhu Youlang by his side, Zhu Hongsan is afraid that Zhu Youlang will take advantage of himself and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, if the Manchu Qing and Zhu Youlang join forces to deal with themselves, it will be a big deal.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Hongsan couldn't make up his mind, so it was better for the two of them to meet and see what they had to say.

"In this way, wait for the candidates for peace talks in advance, and announce that Tong Tuchang, the political envoy of Fujian, will go to Beijing to report on his work, and I will listen to what he has to say!"