Since Chengzu established the cabinet system, in the past 160 years, the Ming Dynasty has produced a total of 44 first assistants, deducting those who have been dismissed several times, reinstated several times, and one who has changed their names, a total of 32 people.

After deducting those who stepped down after a few months, there are only nineteen people left who can really sit in this position. Among these nineteen, except for Zhang Xuan, who is also Zhang Fujing, the rest are all from Hanlin Cichen, among which Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Ji, and Yang Shiqi all started from Cichen and got the position the easiest.

And then there is no one to see, or to follow the step-by-step, or to find another way, or to have extreme good luck. Step-by-step practitioners such as Cao Qi, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu, Fei Tang, Li Shi, Xia Yan, and Yan Song all came from Hanlin and the Six Ministries, and entered the cabinet from the Six Ministries; Li Xian has the ability to set things right, and he takes Dazai to carry the position; Chen Wen was the highest-ranking official among these people in the local government - the political envoy of Yunnan Youbu, and then he was appointed as the Zhan Shi of the Zhan Mansion, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the cabinet; Although Liu Ji's official reputation is extremely poor, and he is known as 'Liu Mian', who is getting bigger and bigger, he also walked up step by step from Hanlin to the Sixth Ministry to the cabinet.

Those who find another way, such as Xu Youzhen, started to win the door; Zhang Xuan and Fang Xianfu started from the big ceremony; Wan An thinks that Wan Guifei is a nephew; Offering ** to Xianzong and suddenly rising, so he got a good name and said, "Wash belongs to the Xianggong as for the champion of the time, business, because of the change of the civil fort and the change of seizing the door, twice because of the blessing of misfortune, the chance to ascend to the throne, is the great luck and great creation that others can not copy."

But in any case, there is no one who is on the side of Xinjiang and holds the position of political envoy of Zuobu. Thinking of this, Shen Mo shook his head and said: "No, they are all Beijing officials, at most, they have been trained in the local area when they were young, and they have all returned to Beijing after reaching the level of school inspector, deputy envoy of inspection, and right municipal envoy." He added softly: "Even if there are occasional exceptions, such as Yang Yiqing and others, they have only been in power for a few months, and they have come to an abrupt end...... This is obviously not a coincidence, but there is some internal cause. ”

"It's not puzzling." Shen Lian said: "Beijing officials have the way of Beijing officials, and foreign officials have the road of foreign officials, although there will be some intersection at the beginning, but as they get farther and farther on their respective roads, the longer the distance with each other, and in the end it can only be clear and difficult to cross." The reason for this is that the so-called strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, and the head assistant of the cabinet is also a Beijing official, who is elected by other Beijing officials, and then approved by the emperor, and relies on their support, so that he can go on and do some facts. He looked deeply at Shen Mo and said, "In order to achieve all this, you must always operate in Beijing!" Show your talents in the capital, so that the emperor will always have a good impression of you; Make good connections and connections in all aspects to gain as many supporters and allies as possible. The art of war is cloudy, the time is not as good as the location, the location is not as good as the people, you are in Beijing, you occupy the location; Let the emperor and the hundred officials in the capital be your supporters, why worry about not succeeding in big things? ”

Shen Mo was deeply instructed, bowed down and said, "The student understands what the teacher means." ”

"It's good that you can listen to useful words." Shen Lian smiled with relief: "But don't be too frustrated, when you have enough contacts and qualifications to enter the pavilion, and then think of doing something practical below, you can come in person as a pavilion elder, and you will naturally be invincible; When the time comes, move freely and randomly, isn't it happy? In the eyes of the teacher, students are always children who don't grow up, Shen Lian smiled and said to Shen Mo, "Work hard, I bet with you, you will always become the prime minister one day."

"Teacher Xie's words." Shen bowed and said, "I'll do it well." ”

"Hmm." Shen Lian said: "This separation, I don't know how many years I will see you again, I don't have anything to give you as a souvenir, I can only give you one last piece of advice, just take it as a parting gift." ”

"The students listened attentively." Said silently.

"It's not terrible to make mistakes, it's terrible to know your mistakes and not change them, and often the more powerful you are, the more you will make such mistakes." Shen Lian said meaningfully: "You can still listen to my words now, more or less because you are not strong enough, if you are also in a high position of power in the future, remember that the real disaster does not come from opponents or enemies, but from your own arrogance and arrogance.

"The students were taught."

After the master and apprentice finished speaking, they came out of the house, and Shen Lian Daogong said, "I'm still a guilty person, I can't go out to see you, let's leave it at that!"

Looking at the teacher silently, he suddenly realized that there would not be another wise man in this world, so heartfelt to himself, tears couldn't help but flow, he lifted the placket of his robe, knelt straight, and hissed, "Student farewell teacher!" He kowtowed to Shen Lian three times on the snow, Shen Gon hurriedly helped him up, and Shen Mo turned back three times in one step.

When he returned to the post house, the admiration on his silent face had quietly disappeared, and he returned to the calm bearing that Lord Qincha should have, and saw Chen Pide hurriedly catching up, and said, "My lord, you can count it back, someone is coming from Beijing, and you can't be found in the whole city." ”

"Who?" Shen Mo asked softly.

"It's Ma Gonggong......" Before Chen Pide's words fell, he heard a shrill voice say: "Oh, Lord Shen, you have always shown up." ”

Shen Mo looked up, and sure enough, he saw Ma Quan, who was tired, standing at the door of the hall and smiling at himself.

Shen Mo smiled politely: "What kind of wind blew Gong here?" ”

"Of course it's the emperor's mistake." Ma Quan smiled and arched his hand: "Congratulations to Lord Shen for his victory, a great victory that has not been seen in the nine sides for several years." ”

"Huh? Is there an oracle?" Silent gestures to worship.

"No, no, no." Ma Quan hurriedly stopped him and said: "Because there will be a ceremony before entering the city, the emperor sent our family to tell the adults that they would make a joke when they got it."

"Then it will be bothering my father-in-law." Shen Mo bowed his head and said, "Everything is up to your arrangement."

"When are we leaving?"

"Anytime." Shen smiled silently and said, "Father-in-law doesn't rest for a day or two?" ”

"Time waits for no one." Ma Quan smiled bitterly and shook his head and said, "The ceremony is set for the twenty-nineth, we can't delay it." ”

"Then let's go tomorrow." Silence and goodness are like a stream.

Because Jiajing had an edict from the emperor and entered Beijing with meritorious soldiers to receive rewards, more than 300 officers and soldiers under Deng Yu and the army of Lord Shen of Qincha set off for Beijing with the prisoner chariots of Yishun and Lu Kai, the heads of 1,000 Mongols, 100 carts of booty, and thousands of war horses...... Shen Mo wanted to leave the war horse behind, but Ma Quan insisted on bringing it, saying that it would be impressive. Shen Mo had already said that everything would be subject to the arrangement, so there was no way to object, but Chen Pide was very concerned about this matter, and specially sent a thousand soldiers to feed the horses.

Within a day, it was the twenty-ninth Chinese New Year's Eve. As the saying goes, twenty-nine steamed steamed buns means that on this day, the common people should steam the dry food for the New Year at home, and they are so busy that they generally don't go out anymore. But today, the old and young masters of Sijiu City got up early in the morning, calling friends, helping the old and the young out of the house.

Shuntianfu had already issued a notice, saying that Shen Zhuangyuan commanded the army in Xuanfu, struck at the main force of the attacking Alta, killed thousands of enemies, leveled the enemy camp, seriously injured the prince Huang Taiji of Alta, captured countless war horses and military expenses, killed the Mongols and fled, and froze to death and frostbite. Because whether it is the southeast or the southwest, it is far away from Beijing, whether it is victory or defeat, it is like listening, although it will fluctuate, but the remaining factory is not deep, because there is no pain in the skin.

The Mongols have not invaded Gyeonggi for many years, burning, killing and looting, and many people have relatives who died at the hands of the Tartars or were taken captive, so it can be said that they have seen and heard about it, and they have suffered deeply; The army of the partial Ming Dynasty was not angry, and since the change of Tumubao, the three major battalions of Grandpa Cheng were defeated, and they have been pressed and beaten by the Mongols. The more you fight, the lower your morale, the more you fight, the more you can't fight, and as a result, you are ravaged by others at will, allowing people to come and go freely. Hui Qu is going crazy.

For the imperial court, for the emperor, why not r?

Now, at last, there is a decent victory, which gives this emotion a chance to vent, even if it is a little fuss, to celebrate it in a big way; It also coincided with the eve of the Spring Festival, as the so-called early is not as good as the coincidence, which completely ignited the enthusiasm of the people, and thousands of empty alleys, all of them went to Fuchengmen.

In front of Fucheng Gate in the past, the endless stream of coal trucks also stopped, replaced by dense, shoulder to shoulder crowds, even close to the edge of the city, is also three layers inside and three layers outside, can not see the head, can not see the side of the crowd, has been stretching for more than ten miles.

The soldiers of the Beijing camp wore new clothes and armor, holding a spear with a red tassel, three steps and a post, five steps and a sentry, separating the official road from the common people, and the soldiers of Shuntianfu also wore brand new uniforms, carrying leather whips and chains.

When it came to the main card, in the direction of Luheyi in the distance of the official road in the west of the city, three cannons suddenly sounded, and then the horns were painted in unison, and the triumphant song was played; Immediately afterwards, the bell and drum sounded on the bell and drum tower, and the temples and Taoist temples also responded together, singing and harmonizing from afar, and then the sound of firecrackers and firecrackers resounded in a ball, and the heaven and earth were filled with a celebratory atmosphere in an instant.

People tiptoed and looked northwest to see a high pile of dust rising from the avenue, and then dozens of brightly colored flags appeared on the horizon.

"It's coming, it's coming!" The people cheered, the crowd surged forward and inward, remembering that the soldiers were crooked, and the rattling of the whips of the officials was useless.

The team finally appeared, and at the forefront was the Imperial Forest Army with five hundred gold-armored white horses, and these carefully selected big men were the honor guards in the army. The first fifty horsemen, holding various flags, according to the people who understand, what kind of golden drum flag, Cuihua flag, sales gold flag, police entry flag, etc.; The four hundred and fifty knights behind, holding gold and silver, lying melons, standing melons, lock axes, broadswords, red stirrups, and yellow stirrups, dazzled people, and guided the triumphant team behind.

Behind the guard of honor, is the team that entered Beijing to be rewarded, Xing Yu, the general of Zhishuo, who was dressed in ancestral mountain armor and hung a scarlet and gold cloak on his back, rode on a red sweaty and bloody horse, holding high a three-zhang high banner, and he was in front with a tall chest, and he had never been so majestic in his life.

I saw that on the flag, there was a line of big characters, 'Da Ming Qin ordered to recruit Shen'! This title was actually posthumously awarded after the fact, Shen Mo was very unimpressed, he felt that this was a meritorious service, but everyone took it for granted. According to the logic of this era, a good fight is due to the good leadership of civilian officials, and a bad fight is due to the cowardice and incompetence of military generals, but there is not so much reason to talk about.

Although Shen Mo couldn't change this decision, he felt very twisted, and he didn't wear armor, so he wore an ordinary official robe, and under the guidance of the banner and the crowd of officers, he came to the Fucheng Gate.

At this moment, thousands of people are vying to look up to him, fragrant flowers and wine, and worship and dance. Every step he took would attract a lot of applause, greetings, and even people bowing down to him; This kind of scenery and pomp, this extraordinary glory, is something he has never experienced, even if he was even in the middle of the six yuan and the royal street boasting officials back then, it is far from being comparable to today.

But with a silent feeling, it is far less than half of the glory of the royal street boasting officials back then, because it was earned by his own ability to evaluate the truth, and this time he ...... He looked out at his eyes, and the flag covered the sun; Looking around, Jin Ge was brilliant, and he couldn't help but feel ridiculous in his heart, and secretly said: "It's just that the emperor and the court need a victory, and I just happened to be at the right time." ’

So he wasn't excited at all, and just walked through the cheering crowd with a calm face...... But the world likes to glorify the victor, and when they see that Shen Mo is not wearing armor, but wearing the clothes of a civil official, they all say that he is a Confucian general! Seeing Shen Mo's expression and lack of excitement, he felt that he was calm and calm, not arrogant or impatient, and had the demeanor of a general.