As soon as I finished discussing things with Cao Huachun and others, the steward eunuch of the Wenhua Palace came to report that the cabinet ministers Shi Fenglai, Zhang Ruitu, and Li Guowei asked to see him. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Then Zhu Daming took Wang Chengen and other chamberlains to the Wenhua Hall to discuss with the cabinet.

When Shi Fenglai and the others saw the arrival of the emperor, they hurriedly saluted like a ceremony, and then played a report, saying: "Your Majesty, the head of the cabinet, Huang Ge Lao, has been impeached today, and now he is at home for his crimes, and there are only three ministers and others who will do things today. ”

Zhu Daming will, of course, agree to Huang Liji's self-impeachment, because the impeachment of him by the DPRK and China is almost piled up.

Huang Liji and Wei Zhongxian are in the same party, and they are the first assistants, of course, they will bear a relatively large amount of firepower, and he is not like a cabinet minister like Li Guoyi, although Wei Zhongxian was promoted by taking care of his fellow villagers, but in essence, he is not in the same stream as Wei Zhongxian.

Historically, Li Guofang also recommended several reliable ministers to Chongzhen, plus it is better to make merit, Zhu Daming still has a good impression of Li Guoyi, although there are many impeachments against him, but Zhu Daming never cares.

Zhu Daming asked them to get up, sit down again, and then asked, "Shoufu begged to go, what do Aiqing and the others think?" ”

Since Huang Liji was not there, Shi Fenglai ranked first, so he replied: "The old man of the Yellow Pavilion is serious, and he is a minister who seeks the country, and now he begs to go as soon as he is impeached.

"It's just that the ministers of the Yellow Pavilion have repeatedly folded the bones of beggars, and the heart of begging is quite urgent, if Your Majesty insists on staying, you will lose Your Majesty's leniency and mercy to your subordinates."

Zhu Daming looked at Zhang Ruitu, Zhang Ruitu hurriedly said: "Now that the court is talking about it, the bullets are continuous, the old people of the Yellow Pavilion are not at ease, and they invite themselves to the world, the emperor is not as good as allowing it, one can calm the court discussion, and the other can be the beauty of adults, please Your Majesty to be clear." ”

It seems that Huang Liji's character is really not very good, and as soon as Wei Zhongxian was taken from office, he was already intolerable to his fellow eunuchs.

Zhu Daming nodded, did not speak, and then looked at Li Guoyan. However, Li Guowei was silent.

Zhu Daming knew what he meant, so he said: "In this case, the cabinet can vote for it, allow it to be published, and send it to the celebrant for sealing." ”

Hearing that the emperor agreed with his opinion, Shi Fenglai and Zhang Ruitu were all happy, and then listened to the emperor say: "Now that Huang Aiqing begs to go, the cabinet is already less people and more things, and I can add one more, I don't know what the secretary thinks?" ”

Shi Fenglai, who was immersed in joy, heard this, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, since Wanli, the candidates for cabinet ministers have all been elected by the court, and now the cabinet ministers are added, and the court can follow the convention of court push. ”

Before Zhang Ruitu and Li Guowei could speak, Zhu Daming took over the conversation and said with obvious displeasure: "The old practice since Wanli is not the emperor's ancestral system. If the ministers are all based on the court's recommendation, can the first assistant also rely on the court's recommendation, if so, where will the ministers be placed in me, and will I rule the world in the future? ”

As soon as Shi Fenglai, Zhang Ruitu, and Li Guoyi heard this, they immediately got up and knelt on the ground, and said, "Your Majesty is angry, and the ministers don't mean that. It's just that it has become a practice for the court to push the cabinet ministers since Wanli, otherwise it is not enough to serve the masses and submit to the world. ”

Li Guowei further explained: "Since the emperor ascended the throne, he has worked hard to govern the country, and the ministers have been full of admiration. However, the government is complicated and difficult, and even if the sky indulges in its talents, it is not possible for one person to do it. The cabinet, the six ministries, the nine qing, the science and the province, and Taiwan Province gathered in the Imperial Palace, and the court pushed the cabinet ministers, which was intended to borrow the public opinion, one person's wisdom is short, and everyone's wisdom is long. If it is not as good as the emperor's wishes, it can be pushed again, and so on until His Majesty is satisfied. Your Majesty does not have to worry about the position of a cabinet minister falling into the hands of mediocrity. ”

Zhu Daming thought to himself that among the three ministers here, at least two of them were mediocre, and what else did he say that he would not fall into the hands of metrics?

The Chongzhen Emperor in history, at the beginning of his reign, did not know much about his ministers, so he recognized this so-called practice since Wanli.

But who was the Wanli Emperor? A person who has not been in the court for more than 20 years in a row has allowed the government to be abandoned and ignored, many important positions of ministers have vacancies and do not fill them, and the cabinet does not dare to appoint ministers without authorization, and finally the ministers have no choice, so they come up with a collective recommendation to fill the vacancy, and then report to the emperor, the emperor does not clearly issue an order to oppose it, then it is considered to be the acquiescence of the courtiers' recommendation, and in this way, over time the practice of the court to promote the cabinet ministers.

The people elected according to this convention are either good people who are not offended by anyone and harmless to anyone, or they are people who form a party for personal gain, representing not the interests of the emperor, but the interests of a certain group or group. And these two kinds of people are not what Zhu Daming wants.

In history, these two kinds of people killed Emperor Chongzhen and ruined the Ming Dynasty.

How could Zhu Daming, who knew this, let the power that belonged to him be handed over to others and his fate to others?

But Zhu Daming, who has read the history of the Ming Dynasty, also knows that many ministers of the Ming Dynasty have a strange temper, that is, the emperor's holy decree, if there is no countersignature of the cabinet, that is, without the approval and consent of the cabinet, they will not accept it, and this atmosphere reached its peak in the era of the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

This kind of strange temper seems to be high-minded, temperamental, and backbone, but in fact it is a typical example of ignoring the overall situation for the sake of fame.

However, although this behavior would attract the emperor's dissatisfaction, it would be praised by Shilin.

Zhu Daming, who came from later generations, hated this, but there was no good way for a while.

Although the authority of the emperor is much higher now than it was more than ten years later, it has declined a lot compared with several emperors in the early Ming Dynasty.

Shi Fenglai was worried about his position as the first assistant in his heart, and originally thought that he would be nine out of ten according to the convention, but listening to the emperor's words, if the cabinet ministers were all to see the court push this time, the first assistant might also be tied together with the court push, of course he himself knew his own family affairs, as a person who had taken refuge in Wei Zhongxian earlier, the suspicion of the Wei party on his body could never be washed away, and in the current situation, the possibility of the court pushing him as the first assistant was almost zero.

Therefore, Shi Fenglai thought about it again and again, and finally took the risk of offending the ministers, and said to the emperor, who had been silent for a long time: "This time to add cabinet ministers, if Your Majesty has a candidate in mind, can you put it forward for the cabinet to discuss, if the cabinet reaches an agreement and agrees with the emperor's candidate, presumably the ministers of the court and the central government have nothing to say." ”

Zhu Daming, who was thinking about countermeasures, suddenly strengthened his confidence when he heard this.

Shi Fenglai, Zhang Ruitu and others, for the sake of power, can take refuge in Wei Zhongxian, and can ignore the criticism of the government and the opposition, which shows that they are not the kind of people who can rather die for the sake of principles, since Shi Fenglai has a strong will for the first assistant, why not take this opportunity to stuff the people he wants into the cabinet?

Zhu Daming looked at the three ministers present, and then said: "More than ten days ago, I drafted the cabinet to seal Sun Chengzong as the secretary of the military department, I don't know what the situation is now, Sun Aiqing can go to Beijing?" ”

Although the emperor's words were not for Shi Feng, Shi Fenglai already knew it.

Because the emperor's eyes finally fell on Li Guowei, and Sun Chengzong was recommended by Li Guowei, Shi Feng came to see Li Guowei and signaled for him to reply.

From the drafting of the holy decree to the determination of the candidate for the decree, Li Guowei was indeed in charge, so Li Guowei replied: "Back to the emperor, on the first day of November, the holy decree has arrived in Gaoyang, Sun Chengzong has received the decree, count the days, if you don't go to Beijing today, you will arrive tomorrow." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Daming was a little happier in his heart, as soon as Sun Chengzong came, many of the things in his plan could be arranged.

Thinking of this, Zhu Daming said to the three of them again: "Now the situation is different from the past, in the peaceful years, I and Qing and others can rule the world by hanging the arch, but now the Liao affairs have not been peaceful for more than ten years, there are displaced people in the northwest, and there are Tusi in the southwest who have rebelled. I want to add Sun Chengzong as a scholar of Wuyingdian University, enter the cabinet, and prepare for the machine. I don't know if you have any opinions? ”

What the emperor said was right, which Shi Fenglai and others had to admit.

Although it is not a great chaos in the world now, there are really many places where soldiers are used, in the northeast, northwest, and southwest, there is almost no day when soldiers are not used, and there is indeed a lack of people in the cabinet who know the soldiers, and it is inevitable to add a cabinet minister who has served as the governor of the border town.

And Sun Chengzong's candidate is also something they can't refute, even if it is Tingtui, there will be no accidents.

Shi Fenglai still wanted to propose Wang Zaijin or Yan Mingtai, but when the cabinet ministers recommended the secretary of the military department, the emperor made it clear that he expressed his opposition.

So at this time, he didn't bring it up again, thinking about it, there was no better candidate, so he bowed down and said: "Although Sun Chengzong has returned to his hometown for many years, after all, he has been in the military for a long time, His Majesty is Shengming, and the ministers have no objections." ”

Zhang Ruitu saw that Shi Fenglai agreed, of course he didn't disagree, not to mention Li Guowei.

In this way, Sun Chengzong, who had not yet arrived in Beijing to take up the post of secretary of the Ministry of War, had not even seen the face of the emperor, so he was crowned a scholar of Wuyingdian University, and became a cabinet minister that everyone looked up to, realizing the life dream of a literati scholar who became a general.

As soon as this holy decree came out of the cabinet, the courtiers thought more about whether they were in line with the rules of the court, but about the emperor's appreciation and attention to Sun Chengzong.

Although some people proposed to the court to push, between Sun Chengzong's entry into the cabinet and Shi Fenglai's promotion to the first assistant, the firepower of the Yanguan was more concentrated on Shi Fenglai, exposing his eunuch face, and asking the emperor to seize his official position and punish him.