In the Hanlin Academy, Lu Jianying, Ye Mingchen, Yang Jinlong, Zhao Liewen and more than a dozen people sat down separately, since Chang Dachun was dismissed, they have always been listless.

"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! It's only been a few months since the capital was established, and the emperor is going to parade again, how is this good? Ye Mingchen sighed, squinted at Lu Jianying with slanted eyes, this Shoufu is too incompetent, although the emperor is wise, after all, he is a young man in his twenties, and as the first assistant, he should take on the responsibility of teaching the emperor.

Lu Jianying said with a smile: "The emperor inspected Liangguang this time, I am in favor, Lord Zuo has been in charge of Liangguang for several years, and gossip has never been broken, if the emperor is allowed to inspect in person, the rumors will be self-defeating, and the pressure on our bodies will be less, otherwise once Ji Gao is transferred, we will plan for several years, and it will be ruined, and those Guangxi people and Westernists will be even more rampant." ”

Ye Mingchen was secretly annoyed: Zuo Zongtang is a Westernist!

Lu Jianying waved his hand and didn't let Ye Mingchen continue: "Okay, let's stop talking about these useless things, Master Chang has been dismissed, the balance between the DPRK and China has been broken, we should focus our energy here, once the Westernists are allowed to enter the cabinet, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Ye Mingchen sighed: "It is difficult to distinguish between the true and false Westerners, and there are many people in our clear stream who are in favor of Westernization, especially some generals with troops. ”

Ye Mingchen's implication was that Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and Zeng Guofan were unreliable, and cabinet candidates must not recommend these people.

Yang Jinlong sneered at Ye Mingchen's words, and a thousand words didn't give him the opportunity to seek a place in the cabinet? This unreliability and that unreliability will come to me sooner or later.

"Lord Ye's words are wrong, and the emperor supports foreign affairs. How can those of us who are courtiers disagree with it, Lord Ye did not have contact with foreign affairs when he was in Guangdong? ”

Ye Mingchen, who was scarred, blushed. Of course, he has been in contact with foreigners, otherwise how to administer in Guangdong. The foreigners are unreasonable and want to stir up three points, and the people hate it deeply, and if it is not appeased, Guangdong will already be in chaos.

Zhao Liewen said loudly: "We are not here this time to discuss the emperor's parade, nor to discuss the factional dispute, the top priority is to discuss the candidates for the cabinet, if we fight separately, we will only cheapen outsiders, and it will be too late to regret it." ”

Lu Jianying nodded and said, "HP is right. There are two vacancies in the cabinet, and everyone can mention any candidates. ”

"The emperor has arrived!" The eunuch's unique shrill voice was particularly loud.

Lu Jianying and the others didn't have time to guess why the emperor left the palace, so they came to the door to greet him.

"Ministers and others see the emperor!"

Li Yunzhi smiled and said: "Everyone, Aiqing is exempt!" There was a happy event today, so I came here in person."

Entering the house, Lu Jianying still bowed down and flattered: "What is the emperor's happy event?" The ministers also want to hear about it. ”

Li Yunzhi was full of ambition and said loudly: "Yunnan has announced its defection to the Han Dynasty, and the Hunan Hunan army has also invaded Hubei. Ji Wenyuan and Huang Weijiang's departments were incorporated by Shi Dakai, and in less than three days, Shi Dakai announced that Guizhou would return to Beijing, and Hu Kuan finally became the governor of Guizhou. ”

Zhao Liewen was surprised and delighted. He is the secretary of the military department, and he knows the most about the affairs of the southwest, so he immediately complimented: "Congratulations to the emperor." With Shi Dakai's help, the southwest can be determined. Sichuan Hongxiuquan acted perversely, and the people's hearts were lost. And Shi Dakai's prestige is very high, and it is much easier for Shi Dakai to appease Sichuan than for our Han army to attack alone. ”

Li Yunzhong nodded again and again, and when Zhao Liewen finished speaking, he immediately smiled and said: "Yes, worshipping God will be the most demagoguery, and there are still many believers in the Han army, rashly attacking Sichuan, success or failure is unpredictable, Shi Dakai is my timely rain." ”

Yang Jinlong also came up and patted his ass: "I want Weichen to comment, the biggest gain in the southwest is Zeng Guofan and hundreds of thousands of Hunan troops, the emperor can pacify the two lakes without a single soldier, this is like heaven's help, it can be seen that the emperor is the real dragon son of heaven, it took Liu Bang, the king of the Han Dynasty, seven years to pacify the world, but the emperor only took six years, and he was better than Liu Bang." ”

Li Yunzhong smiled smugly, he had already compared with the founding monarchs of various dynasties, whether it was age or military exploits, he thought he was still among the best, except for Li Shimin's demon.

"Today, I am looking for you to discuss important matters, the southwestern provinces have just been annexed, and the people are determined, so I plan to send a few civil officials to pacify them."

Lu Jianying was taken aback, there were only a few people who were qualified to serve as governors and governors, and if they were all sent out, wouldn't they have to give up the cabinet.

Li Yunzhi did not give them time to reflect, so he announced: "Jiao Liang will be appointed governor of Hunan, Ye Mingchen will be appointed governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Zuo Zongtang will be appointed governor of Huguang, Yang Jinlong will be appointed governor of Yunnan Province, and ...... governor of Hubei Province."

Lu Jianying bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Hunan Liu Rong has worked hard, how can the emperor not be rewarded?" Wechen suggested that Liu Rong take the post of governor of Hubei. ”

"That's good, it's Liu Rong, I also value him very much."

Zhao Liewen bowed down and asked, "Does the emperor appoint a military position in the southwest?" ”

Li Yunzhi lowered his head and paced slowly, worried: "The Hunan army is already deeply rooted in the two lakes, if we continue to appoint these Hunan people as military attachés, I am afraid that there will be people with bad intentions, so I plan to let people from other provinces take over these positions." ”

"The emperor is wise!" Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "The Hunan army should leave Hunan, and Weichen suggested that they be transferred to Shaanxi and Gansu to suppress bandits." ”

Ye Mingchen said solemnly: "I'm afraid it won't take so many people to suppress the bandits, General Li has already defeated the Hui people's forces, Ma Hualong's father and son have also been killed, Shaanxi and Gansu have basically been recovered, how can the barren land of Shaanxi and Gansu support hundreds of thousands of Hunan troops." ”

Zhao Liewen replied: "Grain can be transported from Jiangnan. ”

Ye Mingchen just pretended to smile profoundly.

Li Yunzhi asked: "Then Lord Ye can make a good plan, I have promised not to take the initiative to dismantle the Hunan army, it is difficult to chase after a word, I can't break my word!" ”

Ye Mingchen smiled proudly: "It has been more than half a year since the Russian envoy visited, and now that the Russians have withdrawn their troops from the Northeast, why not make up tens of thousands of elite Hunan troops to form a new army and let them destroy the Northeast." ”

Yang Jinlong applauded and laughed: "At the beginning, the emperor only promised the Hunan army not to attack the northeast, and let the Hunan army train a new army, which can not only suppress the warlords of the Hunan army, but also attack the northeast, the best of both worlds, wonderful!" Wonderful! ”

These literati are really insidious, he just let the Hunan army go to Siberia as cannon fodder, but he didn't expect him to come up with a clever plan to change the name and attack the northeast, after pacifying the northeast, let them directly enter Siberia, and the Han army then accepted the northeast, so as not to delay the war in Siberia, it should be the best of all three.

Li Yunzhi and Lu Jianying said: "You immediately draw up a holy decree to Zeng Guofan, first promote him to a first-class viscount, Yin his eldest son to a second-class baron, transfer the Hunan Army's Jizi Battalion, Tingjun, and Li Xuyi's headquarters to form a new Second Army, Zeng Guoquan is the commander, Bao Chao and Li Xuyi are also deputy commanders, and Zhang Jizhi of the Second Group Army is transferred to the chief of staff, form a staff department, and let them go to Tongzhou to reorganize first." ”

Since the last mutiny, Tongzhou has been surrounded by several group armies, and it is not afraid of the Hunan army.

Ye Mingchen was secretly happy that the few people who threatened him had been transferred, and the remaining Zhao Liewen, Wang Qinglu and others were too young to threaten him, and these people were also the targets of his wooing.

Li Yunzhong said to Lu Jianying: "Tomorrow, I plan to set off for the south, and the affairs of the capital will trouble Lord Lu. ”

Lu Jianying nodded unyieldingly, looked at Ye Mingchen, who was looking at him with an urgent face and blank eyes, and smiled secretly, You didn't ask me to recommend you.

"Your Majesty, how many candidates are still vacant in the cabinet, does the emperor have a favorite?"

Li Yunzhong said: "I plan to expand the cabinet, and the four cabinet elders are concurrently served by Shangshu, and the grade is from the first grade. Plus three bachelor secretaries, with a grade of five or above, how are you? ”

There are big officials to do, how can everyone disagree, everyone agrees with it.

Li Yunzhi immediately ordered: "The cabinet has added Ye Mingchen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Weikun, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, as the elders, and Shen Baozhen, a bachelor of Hanlin, Zhao Yali, the inspector of the imperial history, and Hu Mengjun, the political envoy of Jiangxi, as the secretary of the bachelor. ”

Lu Jianying was slightly stunned, these three people have different grades, Hu Mengjun is the third grade, Shen Baozhen is the third grade, and Zhao Yali is only the fifth grade, it seems that the emperor values this little Zhao very much. (To be continued......)