Feng Yuanbiao, the right attendant of the military department, was appointed as the ambassador for the negotiation of peace with the Qingliao coalition army, and left Beijing for Guanwai on the same day. On the same day, Liu Jun also made several personnel proposals to Wu Fu.

"Since Liu Ge Lao Ding returned to his hometown, there are now only five people left in the cabinet. I propose that the Cabinet be supplemented by two and return to the size of the previous seven-member Cabinet. ”

Emperor Zhu Cihong said to Wu Fu, "Yuan Fu, the prince of the county also mentioned this matter to me before, what I mean is that now there are only two auxiliary ministers left, and the cabinet is short of members, so it is inevitably too hard. It's better to add two more people to the cabinet, and you can share some of the burden of the two in the future. ”

"The king of the county has put forward two candidates, Yuan Jixian, the governor of Sichuan Lake, Yao Minggong, the old cabinet man, what do you think?"

Wu Fu was a little caught off guard, he didn't expect Liu Jun to suddenly propose such a thing at this time, let alone that he had discussed it with the emperor in advance.

Yuan Jixian is Liu Jun's teacher, Yao Minggong is Liu Jun's fellow countryman, if these two enter the cabinet, it is obvious that Liu Jun's power in the court will be stronger in the future.

He bowed his head and pondered for a moment, then replied, "Your Majesty, officials have always had a fixed system when they enter the cabinet, and they need to be pushed through meetings. According to the system, more than three grades of Jiuqing and the capital, sacrificial wine, the court pushes two people. Cabinet ministers, officials, and soldiers are still in the second department, and they will be the officials of the five grades and above in the Dajiuqing, and the court will push two people, or three or four people, all of whom are invited to judge from above. Where the Shangshu, the Shilang, the Imperial History, the General Political Envoy, and the Dali Secretary are missing, they all order the six departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Political Division, and the Dali Temple to push the three or more officials. ”

After the late Ming Dynasty, the selection method of official-level officials above the third rank in the Ming Dynasty has already undergone several changes, forming a very unique way of pushing.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the selection of high-ranking officials was very simple, and it was generally made by the emperor. After arriving in Xuande, if there was a shortage of officials in the six ministries of the two capitals and the Imperial Court, the court officials were ordered to inspect the integrity and fairness of the officials, and the ministers discussed and recommended a number of suitable candidates. Then give it to the emperor to order.

Since then, this method has gradually become mainstream.

However, in the Chenghua period, Ming Xianzong denied the long-standing method of meeting on the grounds of favoritism. However, Ming Xianzong himself was not qualified to be a pro-Jane, so in the end, he formed a method of selecting senior officials by the Ministry of Officials alone.

However, after all, high-ranking officials above the third rank are different from ordinary officials, most of them are re-sent, and the selection needs to be cautious, and there is a tradition of the previous public officials, so the voices opposing the independent control of the selection of officials have gradually increased.

During the Hongzhi period, Ming Xiaozong listened to the advice of the ministers and restored the Huitui system again. From now on. The Huitou system was formally formed.

According to this system, if the imperial court wants to elect cabinet scholars, it needs the Great Nine Secretaries, officials above the fifth rank and the official of the Taoist language, and recommend two or three or four candidates in one fell swoop, and the final decision is made by the emperor.

The two most important procedures of the promotion system are the selection of candidates, and the gathering of qualified officials for discussion and deliberation.

Where there is a shortage of officials, such as Shangshu, Shilang, and Governor, it is necessary for the Ministry of Officials to organize the six departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Department, and the Dali Temple. Jiuqing collegial selection of candidates; In the event of a more important official vacancy, such as the secretary of the ministry, the secretary of the military department, the governor, and the cabinet ministers, etc., in addition to the Jiuqing, there must be the participation of the science and technology officials.

Beginning in the late Wanli period, everything will be pushed. All officials are eligible to participate.

The second is in the selection, the list of candidates will be submitted, and the emperor will determine the candidates, and the final appointment result can be the person who will be selected. It is also possible for the emperor to choose someone else. Such a provision in itself defines two kinds of divergent opinions: the possible disagreement of officials in nominating candidates; There may have been differences of opinion between the emperor and the officials in making the final decision.

When Chongzhen was in power, he used a rather peculiar way to select high-ranking officials. The ministers would put forward a few candidates, and then he would write the names of those candidates on a piece of paper and throw them into the golden bottle. Then the lottery is used in the same way, and the final touch is the chosen.

In Liu Jun's view, Huitui is also a good system for brainstorming and promoting the wise. But no system can be perfect, the Ming Dynasty's Huitui system, so that in the appointment process of important bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty, large and small officials can participate in it, and the opinions of the people can be expressed.

However, in this way, too many factions were involved, especially after the late Ming Dynasty, when the party struggle was fierce, and the party struggle became a tragedy of party struggle, and the space for differences of opinion contained in the party gradually degenerated into a struggle of will, and the dispute between the DPRK and China became more serious.

When Chongzhen, the more serious battle was the struggle between Qian Qianyi and Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren. At that time, the cabinet ministers would be promoted, and Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, became the candidate, and Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren were not elected, so the two attacked Qian Qianyi in the name of forming a party and cheating in the imperial examination.

Now in the DPRK and China, since the death of Zhou Yanru, the original Jiangbei Party has also been scattered, either joining Wu Fu's Jiangnan Party, or falling to Liu Jun's Chu Party.

Liu Zong left on Monday, and the neutral officials were also leaderless.

If it is done and pushed, it will definitely turn into a fierce party struggle again.

However, since Wu Fu has moved out the Huitui system, Liu Jun can't refuse. However, according to this system, the final selection of the candidates who will be pushed out is still in the hands of the two ministers who govern on behalf of the Son of Heaven.

Therefore, Wu Fu is actually doing this too much.

According to the system of pushing, there are three main types of official positions that need to be pushed, one is the important ministers in the Beijing official system, including cabinet ministers, ministers of various ministries, squires, left and right imperial history, deputy capital imperial history, Dali temple secretary, general political envoy, etc.

The second category is the central government's special local officials, including governors, governors, and governors.

The third category is the local senior military attachés, including commanders, commanders, and deputy commanders.

Prior to this, the selection of these high-ranking officials such as Shangshu Shilang and the Governor of the General Army was all selected by the ministers at the meeting of the Prime Minister's Office, and the ministers consulted.

Now Wu Fu has proposed to push the court council, which is clearly trying to provoke a fight.

"Yuanfu is thoughtful, then according to Yuanfu's intentions, hold a meeting and push." Liu Jun replied with a smile. To this day, he is not alone in the DPRK.

Early the next morning, the Prime Minister's Office held a meeting to push the court meeting.

The meeting was presided over by Zheng Sanjun, the secretary of the ministry, and the six ministers of the cabinet, as well as the six ministers of the Ministry of Shangshu and the political envoy, the imperial history of the left capital, and the nine great nine secretaries of the Dali Temple, and the officials above the five grades in Beijing, and the officials of the Taoist dialect gathered together to discuss and recommend candidates.

The court has not yet begun. The hall of the Prime Minister's Office was already tense.

Zheng Sanjun announced that Ge Lao and Da Jiuqing could each put forward two alternative lists for one official vacancy. The rest of the officials and more than 500 officials who participated in the court meeting could be promoted by one person for each official vacancies.

After all the official vacancies were nominated, they began to be reviewed one by one, and the last two official vacancies selected the two most affirmed as the positive push and the accompanying push, which were listed as official push slips and submitted to the minister and the emperor for ruling.

"This official recommended Chen Yan, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and Jiang Dejing, the waiter of the Ministry of Officials, to enter the cabinet." Zheng Sanjun was the first to be elected.

"I recommend Ni Yuanlu, the imperial history of the left capital, to enter the cabinet."

"I recommend Li Banghua, the secretary of the household department, to join the cabinet."

Of the first ministers, none of them elected Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong, who Liu Jun wanted to promote.

Wu Fu sat there, smiling. He glanced at Liu Jun with his spare eyes, and found that Liu Jun looked calm and did not show annoyance.

"I nominate Yuan Jixian, the governor of Sichuan Lake, Yang Wenyue, the governor of the Central Plains, Kong Fangzhi, the governor of Sanjiang, and Zhang Guowei, the governor of Liangguang, to enter the cabinet!"

A voice said loudly.

Wu Fu frowned, looked up, but saw that it was Li Chunjiang, the former governor of Lushun, who had recently entered Beijing and served as the left attendant of the military department.

As soon as Li Chunjiang started, another person stood up and proposed Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong to enter the cabinet. Wu Fu immediately recognized it, and it was Like Du who gave the matter to Fang Yizhi, the son of Kong Fangzhi, the governor of Sanjiang. He is also the backbone of the Restoration Society, and now a member of the Chu Party.

Then the officials proposed to Hou Fangyu in the matter that Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong enter the cabinet, which is a member of the Chu Party and the son of Hou Sui, the governor of Guanwai.

One proposal after another. All of them mentioned that the Chu Party would enter the cabinet, and although most of the people who proposed it were not of high rank, they all held the position of science and technology officials.

Wu Fu found that he seemed to be a little careless, and he originally thought that this meeting would definitely be able to suppress Liu Jun. After all, Liu Jun is strong in the army, but the DPRK and China are inferior to him.

He had never expected such an outcome.

Liu Jun kept laughing and not saying a word.

As he expected, the next meeting was completely out of control.

Hundreds of officials. Everyone recommends candidates, how to confirm the results?

This kind of push-off without voting, without counting votes, on the result, all depends on public expectations. And in fact, how can it be expected now?

Zhu Cihong was already impatient with the noise, and he asked Liu Jun and Wu Fu, "Do the ministers want to keep arguing like this, and when will there be a result?" ”

Wu Fu was embarrassed.

Liu Jun made a suggestion at this time, "Your Majesty, the ministers propose, it is better for every minister here to issue a vote, and the election of the two ministers is divided into two rounds, and one is elected in each round." Each person nominates one candidate at a time. Then all the votes were counted, and according to the number of offenses, four candidates were elected for each vacancy, and two candidates were selected for each vacancy by the ministers and Yuanfu, and finally handed over to His Majesty for ruling, and the person to be appointed. ”

"Well, I think it's okay, if I don't continue this promotion, it is estimated that I won't be able to choose a result for three days and three nights." Zhu Cihong didn't wait for Wu Fu to object, and immediately agreed. He was already sitting a little impatient, and wished it was over sooner.

Vote, this is an unprecedented method of pushing.

The four candidates were elected according to the number of votes, and now there is nothing to fight for, everything depends on the votes.

The ballots were open to the public, and the votes were quickly cast, and then the votes were counted, and the names of the candidates were reported one by one, and finally the first cabinet minister vacated, and more than 30 candidates appeared.

The final vote count came out, and the four people who received the top four vacant votes were elected, and the one with the most votes was Yuan Jixian, the current governor of Sichuan Lake, the second was Yao Minggong, the third was Kong Fangzhi, and the fourth was Li Shuchu, all of whom were Chu Party ministers. Chen Yan and others, who Wu Fu wanted to promote, were all ranked behind, and the top four failed to enter.

The list of four candidates was sent to the two ministers, and Liu Jun and Wu Fu could each elect one candidate.

Liu Jun directly chose Yuan Jixian.

Wu Fu looked at the four people on the list, and he didn't want to choose any of them, but he couldn't choose anyone else except these four people. In the end, Wu Fu chose Kong Fangzhi, in fact, three of the four people on the list were all Donglin Party in the past, and he also fought side by side with the Eunuch Party. But now, they are all important members of the Chu Party.

Yuan Jixian, Kong Fangzhi, the two candidate lists were sent to Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong picked up the pen and drew a circle on the name written by Liu Jun.

Wang Chengen stepped forward and sang loudly, "Your Majesty has elected Yuan Jixian, the governor of Sichuan Lake, to enter the cabinet!" ”

Voting for the second list of ministers began again.

The first four people were elected again, and Yuan Jixian was already elected, and this time he will not run. The first vote was Yao Minggong, the second was Fang Kongzhi, the third was Li Shuchu, and the fourth place was selected by Zhang Guowei.

Wu Fu's face was already swollen with anger, and he didn't expect this result. He suddenly thought of a key question, Liu Jun proposed just now that everyone present has a ballot, this is the big problem. The most here are the Taoist officials, nearly a hundred.

These people are not high in official positions, but they have the largest number of people, and as a result, Liu Jun let everyone have a vote. The result is that although he has received the support of many scholars in advance, how many scholars are there?

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this voting system is inconsistent with the Huitou system, and the officials of the science and Taoism should not have the same vote as the scholars and servants."

Wu Fu proposed that although the officials of the science and technology department participated in the meeting, they only had the right to discuss, not the right to vote, and the number of science and technology officials was too large, if everyone had a vote. Then it would be unfair to push it. He proposed that only the six members of the six departments should be given the right to vote, and the left and right imperial historians and the left and right deputy imperial historians of the Metropolitan Procuratorate had the right to vote, and the rest of the department officials had no right to vote.

Zhu Cihong looked at Liu Jun.

Liu Jun immediately said. "I think what Motosuke said is reasonable, but this meeting has already been pushed to the ground, and it is impossible to scrap it again. The voting rules can be changed from the next time, and this time they should still be in effect. ”

"Both of them have a point. Then this vote is still valid, and future elections will be based on the new rules. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that there should be one more article. In the Kedao Procuratorate, only six sections have the right to vote in the middle and left and right imperial history, and the left and right deputy imperial history, but the branch and Taoist officials have the right to review and check the candidates who are voted, and if the elected candidates are corrupt and ransomed, etc., the branch and Taoist officials can raise objections, and after investigation and verification, the candidate's qualification should be cancelled. ”

"The most important one is that Your Majesty has the final decision on the outcome of the meeting, and has the right not to use the candidates elected by the meeting, and to propose another candidate for discussion among the courtiers."

"Exactly." Zhu Cihong felt that Liu Junjia's two articles were very good, which particularly highlighted his authority as an emperor.

Wu Fu still wanted to object, but the emperor had already urged him to elect a candidate immediately.

In the end, Wu Fu chose Zhang Guowei.

Liu Jun chose Yao Minggong.

Among the two candidates, the emperor unsurprisingly chose Yao Minggong, who was nominated by Liu Jun.

"Your Majesty has chosen Yao Minggong to join the cabinet!"

Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong were selected to enter the cabinet at the same time, and they were both given the rank of scholar of Dongge University.

Immediately afterwards, to Wu Fu's surprise, Liu Jun took advantage of the fire to rob and proposed to elect the governor of Sichuan Lake.

As a result, after the adoption of a new system of election by election, it was finally the governor of Sanjiang, Kong Fangzhi, who was proposed by Liu Jun, to be elected as the governor of Sichuan Lake.

Then the governor of Sanjiang became vacant and was elected again, and as a result, Li Chunjiang, the left attendant of the military department, was elected. Then the vacant left squire of the military department was elected, and Yang Wenyue, the governor of the Central Plains, was elected.

Then the governor of the Central Plains became vacant and then elected.

Li Shuchu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was elected governor of the Central Plains, and then the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang was vacant and elected, and Qu Shiyun was elected.

In the end, Wang Qian, the chief military officer, was transferred to the governor of Sanjiang and the chief military officer of Jiangnan, and Feng Sheng was elected as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang and the chief military officer of Fujian.

Wu Fu sat there with a gloomy face. He looked at the list in his hand, and he was furious.

"Yuan Jixian and Yao Mingge entered the cabinet, and they all added the rank of scholar of Dongge University, Kong Fangzhi served as the governor of Sichuan Lake, Li Chunjiang served as the governor of Sanjiang, Li Shuchu served as the governor of the Central Plains, and Qu Shiyun served as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang."

If you add Hou Sui, the governor of Guanwai, and Liu Jun, the governor of Zhili, the nine governors in the world, the Chu party has already mastered six.

Janissary Governor Liu Yunsheng, Central Plains Governor Cai Yuan, Chuanhu Governor Zhang Shan, Sanjiang Governor Wang Qian, Fujian and Zhejiang Governor Feng Sheng, and Guanwai Governor Liu Liangyu.

Privy envoy Fu Shan.

The governors, admirals, and civil and military officials of the six military regions were all controlled by the Chu party.

At this time, he really felt the threat of Liu Jun.

When Feng Yuanbiao told him about Liu Jun's threat, he didn't take Liu Jun too seriously. It's just a martial artist, how can it threaten him. But now, today's comprehensive defeat in the meeting pushed made him really feel Liu Jun's threat.

When Liu Zongzhou is there, he can also unite with Liu Zong to suppress Liu Jun on Tuesday. But now there are only two ministers left, and when the two disagree, Liu Jun will always be very cunning to pull the emperor out, and the result is the same as today, when he and Liu Jun disagree.

The emperor actually fully supported the second assistant Liu Jun, instead of supporting the first assistant.

Back in the house, Wu Fu was still angry.

He went into the study, thought for a long time, then picked up the pen and began to write. The letter was written to Feng Yuanbiao, and Wu Fu asked him to do everything he could not to recruit Wu Sangui, but it was best to recruit Wu Sangui as a useful person and introduce him as foreign aid.

The letter was written and handed over to the confidant's family to be sent to Feng Yuanbiao outside the gate.

"Go and ask Chen Shilang to come over."

The family soon invited Chen Yan, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, in. Wu Fu is now concurrently serving as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, personally in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites.

Wu Fu found Chen Yan and invited him into the study.

"I don't know what is important for Yuan Fu to summon his subordinates to come?"

"There is indeed a very important matter to discuss with you, you know that the imperial court is now negotiating with Wu Sangui and preparing to recruit him. I want to ask you, if the imperial court is ready to knight Wu Sangui, can this matter be done? ”

"Is it Wu Sangui asking for a knighthood?" Chen Yan asked.

"It's not that he wants to ask for it, but the court intends to use this as a sincerity to recruit peace and grant him a knighthood to quell this turmoil as soon as possible."

Chen Yan thought for a moment in his heart, "Wu Sangui has been knighted in such a situation, which is unprecedented. However, if Shoufu insists, the lower officials are willing to make every effort to promote, I don't know if Yuanfu is ready to seal Wu Sangui He Jue? ”

"Let's call it Pingxibo!" Wu Fu thought for a while. (To be continued.) )