Daming talker

Chapter 650: Winter Solstice Storm (Part )

In the central hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Er Xijue, Wang San Jiaping, and Zhao Si Zhigao sat opposite each other.

Now that Shin Dae has taken sick leave, there are only three cabinet ministers on duty, which makes things seem a bit asymmetrical.

Wang Er, who was temporarily in charge of the cabinet, looked at the imperial edict on the table, sighed and said, "Tell me, what should we do?"

The content of this imperial edict was that the emperor dismissed the Minister of Rites Luo Wanhua.

The cabinet had two ways to deal with the imperial edict or decree. The first was to draft a formal edict and issue it after printing it. This was generally the case.
The second type is that the cabinet refuses to carry out the decree and submits a memorial to oppose it, which is called a memorial.

This situation is rare, and the cabinet will only consider doing so when something extraordinary happens.

This time, the emperor openly and unreasonably dismissed the Minister of Rites Luo Wanhua on the pretext of discussing the establishment of a crown prince, which was considered an extraordinary event.

The emperor's attitude is so clear that it is self-evident what it would mean if the cabinet opposed the emperor's will.

But if the cabinet obeyed the imperial edict, it would be scolded to death by officials outside the court.

If petitioning for the establishment of a crown prince can be used as a reason for dismissal from office, how will others be able to make suggestions in the future?

Wang Er, who was presiding over the meeting, looked at the other two and said, "The imperial edict is what it is, and the situation is what it is. Why don't you say anything?"

All that greeted Wang Er was silence.

Everyone sitting here can see the essence through the phenomenon. On the surface, this imperial edict only dismissed Luo Wanhua, but at the same time it was the emperor directly forcing the cabinet to express its position.

Otherwise, the emperor could send his edict directly to the six ministries outside the court without going through the cabinet and the six departments.

Although this kind of decree is called "Zhongzhi" and is considered illegal by civil officials, when it comes to the decree of dismissal, the legality or illegality does not seem to be that important.

Any official who still has some dignity would leave immediately after receiving the emperor's decree of dismissal, and would not refuse to leave just because it was "an imperial decree."

So if the emperor just wanted to dismiss Luo Wanhua, it would be very simple and there would be no need for the cabinet to draft an edict and issue it.

Then the emperor sent the imperial edict to the cabinet with the intention of forcing the cabinet to express its position.

Wang Er couldn't help but slammed the table, "You guys usually talk a lot, why are you silent today?"

Wang San then said, "The Prime Minister is not here, please ask the Deputy Prime Minister to make the decision, we are willing to follow in his footsteps!"

Wang Er looked at Zhao Si again, and then heard Zhao Si say: "Today, stability overrides everything, and everything must start from maintaining stability."

Wang Er: “.”

This is totally irrelevant and I don't know what the guy is trying to say. Are you pretending to be stupid and confused and talking nonsense?
Others can pretend to be low-key, stupid and deaf, but Wang Er, who is in charge of the cabinet, cannot.

Finally, Wang Er said helplessly: "It is unreasonable for the emperor to dismiss Luo Wanhua, and we cannot just follow him blindly.

Therefore, the Cabinet still has to submit a petition to oppose it and ask the Emperor to withdraw his order to avoid being challenged by the outside court.

At the same time, privately persuading Luo Wanhua to resign voluntarily can also be regarded as defusing the situation."

What this meant was that he would first submit a memorial opposing the removal of Luo Wanhua to fool the outer court; and then privately find a way to make Luo Wanhua leave on his own accord to fool the emperor.

Such has been the nature of the Cabinet's work in recent years, maneuvering between the increasingly antagonistic outer court and the Emperor.

After Wang Er finished speaking about his suggestions, Zhao Si quickly said, "Second Assistant, that's a good idea!"

Wang San said, "Good! If Prime Minister Shen were here, he would definitely deal with it in the same way." Wang Er thought for a moment, then added, "Submitting a petition to oppose the removal of Luo Wanhua is a collective action of our cabinet.

Even if Prime Minister Shin is in the cabinet, he will stand with us, so we can include Prime Minister Shin in this joint statement.”

With this, the matter was agreed upon, and Wang Er was responsible for drafting the memorial and submitting it.

At night in Shen's mansion, Shen Yongmao waited on his "sick" father Shen Shixing for dinner, and then reported: "The second assistant Wang Taicang sent someone to greet my father and wanted to meet him in person and have a face-to-face meeting."

Shen Shixing answered without thinking: "No, I can't see you."

Shen Yongmao said: "Lord Zhao secretly came to report that Wang Taicang, in the name of all the cabinet ministers, submitted a petition opposing the dismissal of Minister Luo of the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, Wang Taicang wanted to visit his father, most likely to discuss this matter, why didn't his father meet him?"

Shen Shixing sighed, "This matter is extremely sensitive and difficult. It is best for me to pretend that I don't know. Of course, I cannot see Wang Taicang."

Shen Yongmao reminded him, “Whether father knows it or not, the cabinet’s joint memorial has already been presented to the emperor.

And the emperor will probably ask the eunuch to come and question you, father, with the memorial."

Shen Shixing said, "I will write a secret letter to inform the emperor that I was not aware of it beforehand and that the cabinet's joint memorial was not my intention."

On the one hand, he tacitly followed the crowd and did not want to take the lead, and on the other hand, he privately sought the emperor's forgiveness.

Maneuvering in the narrow political operating space has become Prime Minister Shen's professional habit and instinct.

This was his secret weapon in being able to hold the position of Prime Minister for eight years. How many Prime Ministers in the history of the Ming Dynasty could hold the position for eight years?
As Haoda'er gradually matures, Prime Minister Shen wants to pass on some experience, so I would like to say a few more words.

But seeing that the eldest son was standing there blankly without any response, he asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Why don't you speak?"

After Shen Yongmao came back to his senses, he said in shock: "It's all in the prediction of the magic bag left by Lin Jiuyuan."

"What secret? What does it predict?" Prime Minister Shen asked again.

Shen Yongmao replied, "More than two months ago, before Lin Jiuyuan left, he left me a treasure bag containing a prediction of the current situation.

He said that when the winter solstice is approaching, you, father, will definitely claim to be sick and stay at home.

When there is something that needs to be reported to the emperor, the cabinet will definitely take you with them!
And afterwards, father, you will definitely explain to the emperor that you were not aware of it!
So far, all the guesses have been correct!"

Shen Shixing: "."

Suddenly I remembered that before Lin Tailin left, he inexplicably predicted that he would recommend Zhang Wei.

This can't be explained by any logic at all!
Shen Yongmao hesitated for a moment and continued, "Lin Jiuyuan also said that after my father explained to the emperor in a secret memorial, the emperor would definitely leak it out!
All the things that father said in the secret memorial to please the emperor and cannot be made public will be known by the court officials!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Prime Minister Shen jumped up from the bed and shouted, "Which emperor would be stupid enough to make the ministers' secret memorials public?"

This is a great destruction of political rules and political credibility, and seriously undermines the interaction and trust between the monarch and his subjects!
In terms of nature and harm, it is similar to Sima Yi's "Luoshui Oath".

If secret reports were no longer kept secret, which minister would dare to speak the truth to the emperor? How could effective communication be achieved?
Shen Yongmao said helplessly: "I don't believe that the emperor would leak secret documents. This is too unbelievable. But the first few things that Lin Tailai predicted have all happened."

Prime Minister Shen also couldn't understand, and asked suspiciously: "Could it be that Lin Jiuyuan wants to use intimidation to stop me from explaining to the emperor and obtaining his forgiveness?"

(End of this chapter)