Although he had already guessed his intention when Yang Zhen came to visit suddenly, when he asked him so directly, Zhong Yu's heart couldn't help but tighten for a while, and then there was a slight embarrassment on his face, but he didn't answer quickly. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Yang Zhen was not in a hurry, just quietly looked at the old friend in front of him, waiting for the other party to think of a good speech.

Finally, a wry smile appeared from between Zhong Yu's eyebrows, and he sighed and said, "I can't imagine that after all these years, your Yang Erlang still hasn't changed." ”

"What about you, Lord Zhong? Have you changed your mind because of the change of identity? Yang Zhen suddenly asked rhetorically.

This made Zhong Yu stunned again, and a complicated expression was quickly revealed, but it was quickly covered up by him: "My original intention of serving the country and the people has never changed!" ”

Yang Zhen didn't dwell on this, but asked the question just now: "Lord Zhong, can you explain why none of the ministers in today's court have pointed out the shortcomings that exist in the northern border army?" These are not too difficult things to check, we can find out in Jinyiwei, and those officials can also do the same, but why don't they say it? ”

Zhong Yu looked at Yang Zhen for a while before asking: "You came to me because those officials and imperial historians did not attack the generals of the border army at today's court meeting?" Do you even think that all of this is done by me, the Imperial History of the Left Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate? ”

"Isn't it?" Yang Zhen didn't mean to avoid it at all, so he looked back at the other party directly and asked rhetorically.

Zhong Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Erlang, you also think too highly of my power as the imperial history of the left capital, I don't have such a ability at all, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is not the same as other yamen in the imperial court, although I am the head of the officials, but there are not too many people who can really follow my life." ”

"Huh?" Yang Zhen was also stunned, he really hadn't studied this in detail, only that the imperial court yamen were all about the same, of course, the first leader was the most powerful, and the people below had to obey the command, but listening to the other party's meaning, things were obviously not so simple.

It is true that the six departments of the imperial court and other yamen, the internal structure is no different from what Yang Zhen has always been familiar with, not to mention the strict hierarchy inside, and the people below must look forward to the top officials. Whether you are a squire or a langzhong, or a lowest-level scribe or principal, it is a matter of course to obey the orders of your superiors, otherwise you will definitely have good fruits to eat in the future.

But this Metropolitan Procuratorate is a big outlier among the various yamen of the imperial court. Although the status of the officials in it is also different, from the lowest ordinary official to the imperial history of the capital and the imperial history, the relationship between them is not a simple subordinate relationship. On the contrary, each speaker is completely independent in personality, and it is only their own will to impeach or not to impeach someone or something!

To make a not so appropriate analogy, the general yamen of the imperial court is equivalent to the public institution of later generations, and the first and second leaders are clearly divided in terms of status and authority, and the people below can only do things according to the rules and obey orders; But this Metropolitan Procuratorate is a joint stock company, those imperial historians are shareholders, as the chairman of the board of directors Zhong Yu has the right to let them do something, but they also have the right not to do it, and Zhong Yu has not too many ways to take them.

This is a rule that has been set since the time of Taizu, in order to prevent someone from controlling the way of speech and blinding the Son of Heaven. It is precisely because of this that for two hundred years, the speech officials of the Ming Dynasty have always been so fierce, anyone dares to participate, and anyone dares to do it, just because they are not restrained.

After listening to Zhong Yu's simple explanation, Yang Zhen already understood the reason, and knew that he had indeed wronged the other party. But at the same time, the doubts in his heart were not solved: "Since those officials can even disobey your words, why did they collectively lose their voices this time?" ”

Seeing that Yang Zhen was still asking relentlessly, Zhong Yu knew that he had to say it thoroughly, so he smiled bitterly: "Although they are not afraid of me, the imperial history of the left capital, there are still people in this world that they are afraid of. ”

"But who is it?" Yang Zhen frowned. These guys who bite people more fiercely than mad dogs can be afraid of people? You must know that sometimes they even dare to participate in the Son of Heaven, is there an existence in this world that is bigger than the emperor and more difficult to provoke?

There really is!

At least in the eyes of those officials, the emperor is not the most terrible, even if you provoke Long Yan because of joining the emperor, pull you out of the court staff, or directly dismiss you, it is not too serious for them, because in this way, their reputation in Shilin will rise, maybe it is a good thing.

But if they offend that person, they will not only lose their official position and be dismissed, but they will also lose their reputation as the most important official and clear stream, and they may also lose their reputation and become spurned by others.

"The person they fear the most is not the Son of Heaven, let alone my nominal boss, but the Heavenly Official!" Zhong Yu finally gave the answer.

The heavenly official is not a heavenly priest, but a good name for the official book. Because when Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty was in power, he changed the name of the six ministries to the name of heaven and earth, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and the first official book was respected as a heavenly official.

Seeing that Yang Zhen still looked puzzled, Zhong Yu explained again: "In fact, the person they are afraid of is not a secretary of the ministry, but Jingcha!" The person in charge of Jingcha is the official department Shangshu. ”

This time, Yang Zhen finally understood the truth. Although his identity has always been outside the imperial court officialdom system, and what Jingcha has to do with him has nothing to do with him, his brother has been tossed by this matter before.

The so-called Jingcha is once every three years, led by the Ministry of Shangshu, to assess the officials below the fourth grade in the capital. If anyone is found to be greedy, cool, inactive, imprudent, old, sick, impetuous, weak, etc., they can be removed from the sequence of Beijing officials. In this way, you will not only lose your official position, but also have to bear some charges, which is a nightmare for all Ming officials.

And this is not the most cheating, after all, the officials usually have their own errands to do, and it is impossible to really understand the specific situation of the hundreds of Beijing officials, maybe it is more convincing for Jinyiwei to do it. But they have their own way, and we really don't know what your merits are, so let the officials write it themselves!

Just like writing a summary at the end of the year in the future unit, in addition to writing about some performance advantages and the like, you always have to write some of your own shortcomings and shortcomings in the end, right? Every time the Beijing is inspected, the Beijing officials also have to write such a thing, so if the officials want to take care of you in the future, the evidence will be more sufficient, because it is all written by yourself.

Of course, some people may say that they just don't write about their mistakes or anything. But it won't work, because then people can grab your handle, and an arrogant or impetuous hat can take the veil off your head.

In fact, to put it bluntly, this is the reason why the Ministry of Officials can stand firmly at the head of the six ministries and almost compete with the cabinet. The emperors who knew the way of checks and balances relied on this to make the cabinet unable to be too strong. Of course, the existence of Zhang Juzheng is another matter.

After a long period of silence, Yang Zhen nodded and said, "I understand, all of this is because Yan Qing, the secretary of the ministry, spoke in it?" ”

Zhong Yu didn't make a sound, but he acquiesced.

But Yang Zhen didn't understand why these people would make such a decision and shield the border generals who had made countless mistakes and caused the current crisis. He didn't want to figure out all this, since Zhong Yu didn't play a too important role in this matter, he naturally didn't have to have any scruples: "So, I understand." Since none of Lord Zhong and those officials are willing to tell the truth to His Majesty, then I can't say it, this offending matter will be told by me, the Governor of the Brocade Guard. With that, Yang Zhen stood up and wanted to leave.

"No!" Zhong Yu, who heard what he meant, immediately panicked and hurriedly shouted.

This made Yang Zhen stunned, and he didn't understand why Zhong Yu had such a violent reaction.

After a moment of silence, Zhong Yu said: "What I said just now is just the reason why those ordinary officials have not gone up to the north to play all kinds of ills, but this is not the reason why everyone does not talk about this matter. ”

Yes, what the officials can deter is only the sixth- and seventh-grade officials, but there are still many officials in the court who are not under its control, at least Zhong Yu is not something that the officials can control.

After Yang Zhen understood, he looked at the other party fixedly, although he did not speak, his thoughts were undoubtedly revealed.

Zhong Yu said with a solemn expression: "Do you think I don't want to get rid of this silverfish for the country?" No, not unwillingly, but not really. The current border army looks no different from the past, but its interior is no longer the same. Judging from the information obtained by the Ministry of War, those generals who are corrupt and pervert the law have long controlled the military power, and those troops who are really capable of fighting are their cronies. Especially in this situation, if you go out of your way to cut them out, the results will be unimaginable! Today's Northland is chaotic! ”

"Confused?" Yang Zhen repeated this sentence, and a cold smile bloomed from his lips: "It is precisely because of such concerns that you have allowed them to continue to erode the Ming border army, and finally make trouble to this point?" Master Zhong, do you remember what we did in Datong back then? ”

"I ......" Zhong Yu opened his mouth, and finally his eyes did not dare to intersect with Yang Zhen.

Looking at this old friend who still looked like this, but was no longer a stranger, Yang Zhen sighed for a long time, didn't say anything, just bowed his hand, and walked away......