Daming talker

Chapter 657 Personnel Change
After seeing off Eunuch Chen, Zhao Zhigao sat alone in the empty central hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, looking at the tablet of the Great Sage placed against the wall, and felt lonely.

He couldn't help but recite a poem to express his feelings at the moment.

"No birds fly in the thousands of mountains, no people are seen on the thousands of paths. An old man in a straw raincoat and straw hat is fishing alone in the cold river in a boat!"

Zhao Zhigao also recalled the turn of summer and autumn six years ago when he was still sitting on the bench at the Nanjing Imperial College and his rank was only fifth.

A sturdy and strong man walked into his public housing and said lazily to him, "Old man! I see that you have a unique figure and have the potential to be a prime minister. Do you want to follow me in the future?"

Three years after three years, how many six years can there be in a lifetime? But he was able to rise from the fifth-rank bench to the prime minister, completing a fantastic journey of upgrading his official career.

Who could have imagined that he would be able to enter the cabinet at the age of 67 and become the prime minister at the age of 68?
By the way, Zhao Zhigao should be considered the Prime Minister now, right? Zhao Si was promoted to Zhao Da, right?
After all, he was the only Grand Secretary left in the Cabinet, and no one else could be the Prime Minister.

Even if new people come, it is impossible for them to surpass me and get ahead in terms of status.

According to the cabinet system, the ranking of the Grand Secretaries is determined by order of seniority, with those who entered the cabinet first ranked first and those who entered the cabinet later ranked last.

Sometimes the Prime Minister is weak, while the Second or Third Minister is strong. That is because the Prime Minister only entered the cabinet early and actually lacks prestige.

But even if his prestige is insufficient, under the system arrangements, he can still become the prime minister simply by joining the cabinet earlier.

After confirming his position as Prime Minister, Zhao Zhigao began to worry about gains and losses again.

Was it too radical and risky to suddenly rise from the fourth assistant minister to the first assistant minister?

I have only been in the court for a few years and my foundation is not that solid. Why couldn't I resist the temptation of becoming the prime minister?
Will it be that too much is as bad as too little, and that one's virtue is unworthy of the position, and will suffer backlash?

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhao Zhigao suddenly stood up and shouted to the outside of the door: "Bring all the memorials today!"

He knew without looking that there must be a bunch of Zhongshu Sheren guarding him outside the door, because now he was the only one who could issue orders in the cabinet, and of course he was the only one who could review memorials.

Chief Minister Zhao decided to numb himself with busy work and free himself from the wild thoughts of worrying about gains and losses.

If the resignation of the first and second assistant ministers had been brewing for several days and everyone was mentally prepared, then the resignation of the third assistant minister Wang Jiaping was like a bolt from the blue.

Only two days had passed since the notice directly pointing the finger at the emperor was sent out, and everyone was still discussing it with great interest, when Sanfu Wang Jiaping suddenly confessed his guilt and resigned from his post.

Amid the confusion of the entire Beijing officialdom, a drama that opened the prelude to a new era suddenly came to its finale.

The Chinese and foreigners were shocked. A few days ago, he was still the old man Zhao Si, but in the blink of an eye, he became Zhao Da. This transformation was too fast, and no one could react.

It was hard for the officials from various ministries, courts, temples and abbots to imagine that old man Zhao, who had always been submissive and honest, could become the prime minister. The world suddenly seemed unreal.

Although it is common sense that "personnel turnover" has always occurred and the cabinet team always has to be replaced, the average age of Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping was only 56 years old, which is in the prime of life for the position of Grand Secretary.

As a result, now that three strong men have passed away, the only one left in the cabinet is the 68-year-old old man Zhao, whose body is half buried in the ground. In whose family is the generation getting older and older?

Why? Is it because Lin Jiuyuan has been supporting old man Zhao? But Lin Jiuyuan is not in the capital now, so how can he still operate?
A day later, the emperor issued an edict to promote old man Zhao from the Minister of Personnel (virtual) and the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion to the Prince's Tutor, the Minister of Personnel (virtual), and the Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Palace. He remained in the Wenyuan Pavilion and the position of the Chief of Staff remained unchanged.

Then the officials realized that old man Zhao's rank was only third grade, and he had not been promoted since he entered the cabinet last year without any achievements or faults.

Then all the officials finally had to confirm that Old Man Zhao, no, Lord Zhao was really going to be the Prime Minister.

The purpose of this promotion is obvious, which is to make Zhao Ge Lao's official official position match his position as the Prime Minister.

Otherwise, the Prime Minister would be a minister whose official title is not even that of a palace guard, and people all over the world would laugh at the fact that there is no one in the court.

At this point, the officials had to psychologically accept the reality that Zhao Zhigao had been replaced by the Ming Dynasty's number one civil official.

In front of the Zhao Mansion, there were cars and horses flowing like water, but Prime Minister Zhao did not open the door to receive guests.

On the night when he received the imperial edict of promotion, Prime Minister Zhao only had a secret meeting with his comrades from the Renewal Society. This was a problem of attitude.

Although Lin Jiuyuan is not in the capital, the Renewal Society is Lin Jiuyuan's spiritual projection and his eyes and ears.

The gathering place was in the west wing of Lingji Palace. When Prime Minister Zhao arrived, the other ten or so people had already arrived.

Wang Xiangmeng, the deputy director of the Ministry of Personnel, was the first to shout, "Congratulations to Senior Zhao on becoming the Prime Minister. May your future be prosperous!"

Chen Yunjian, the head of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Reward Department, followed closely behind and shouted, "Senior Zhao has been a member of the Renewal Society for six years. With the strong support of the society, he finally became the Prime Minister!"

Finally, the others shouted together: "Left hand society, right hand politics, society and politics are both possible!"

The 68-year-old old man Zhao wanted to cover his face and walk away in embarrassment. He didn't understand why Lin Jiuyuan insisted on implementing such embarrassing and childish internal etiquette.

After finally getting through the greeting ceremony, Hanlin Academy Scholar Dong Qichang called out, "Senior Zhao, please say a few words!"

Zhao Zhigao sat in the middle and spoke directly: "Lin Jiuyuan taught that contradictions have two characteristics, one is that they always exist, and the other is that they keep changing.

Therefore, we must always be prepared for danger, not let our guard down when we are in power, and be prepared to face new problems!

The cabinet is now empty and needs to be supplemented by two or three ministers. In addition, the position of Minister of Rites is also vacant.

Facing this situation, what should we do? This is the most important issue we are facing now! "

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

On other issues, Lin Tailai might seek their opinions; but on personnel issues, Lin Tailai, who claimed to be good at judging people, always acted arbitrarily.

So they were used to following Lin Tailai's arrangements, but Lin Tailai was not in the capital now.

Faced with such a major personnel deployment, it would seem like a backbone is missing without Lin Tailai.

Another Hanlin Academy scholar Zhou Yingqiu said, "Brother Jiuyuan has long foreseen that the court will be shaken violently before the winter solstice.

However, Lin Jiuyuan still left the capital and returned to Suzhou to visit his relatives, and did not seem to take the incident too seriously.

This is enough to show that Lin Jiuyuan may not care about this personnel deployment at all, or he does not think it is so important and it does not matter if we do whatever we want. "

So the question is, can we really treat the vacancies of two or three grand secretaries and one minister of rites casually?

After everyone thought about it carefully, they found that it could indeed be taken lightly.

Now the Lin Party, in a broad sense, has already controlled the positions of Prime Minister, Minister of Personnel, and Minister of War. With this triangle in place, it seems that the selection of cabinet ministers and Minister of Rites is indeed not very influential. Seeing that his point of view was recognized, Zhou Yingqiu proposed to Zhao Zhigao: "I heard that in order to weaken Wang Shanyin's fighting spirit, Senior Zhao proposed that Wang Shanyin recommend a cabinet minister.

Now we might as well expand it further and ask the emperor to ask the two seniors, Shen Wumen and Wang Taicang, who have resigned, to recommend a cabinet minister each."

Wang Xiangmeng said doubtfully, "Isn't this against the rules? How can a minister recommend another minister?"

The way to select Grand Secretaries is nothing more than recommendation by ministers in the court and appointment by the emperor. How can one rely on recommendations from other Grand Secretaries?

Zhou Yingqiu said with some disdain: "What are the rules? The cabinet itself is not in accordance with the rules. The cabinet in the Ming Dynasty Code does not have a system of taking charge of government affairs."

In Zhou Yingqiu's mind, "rich family's greenhouse flower" like Wang Xiangmeng is always a bit pedantic, and is far less shrewd and flexible than people like Jiuyuan Zhenxian and Zhou Yingqiu who came from humble beginnings.

"Great!" Prime Minister Zhao praised: "This proposal is feasible! It is enough for me to deal with the current situation."

As a person who has just become the prime minister, there are countless eyes watching him both inside and outside the country. His actions are of great symbolic significance and will be regarded as representing his "political views."

He submitted a memorial requesting that three former cabinet ministers recommend new candidates. The first purpose was to show the emperor that he had no intention of monopolizing power, and the second was to demonstrate to the world the magnanimity and tolerance of the victor.

Even if the memorial is not approved, it doesn’t matter, because one’s attitude has been expressed.

In addition, having his three former colleagues Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping recommend new people did not affect his power as the prime minister.

Anyone who knows a little about the political rules of the Ming Dynasty knows that the power of a prime minister never depends on the other cabinet ministers, but on the prime minister's influence on the external court.

After figuring out the reason, everyone looked at Zhou Yingqiu with a bit of surprise and complexity.

In everyone's perception, Comrade Zhou is a person who can only flatter and mindlessly praise Lin Jiuyuan.

In fact, it is understandable. After all, every emperor needs favorite ministers around him.

But I didn't expect Zhou Yingqiu to have such insight? Could it be that Comrade Zhou is also a person who pretends to be a pig but eats the tiger?

At this time, Zhou Yingqiu faced a lot of strange looks and said to everyone sincerely:
“As long as we study Lin Jiuyuan’s remarks seriously from the bottom of our hearts, truly understand their profound meaning, and then elaborate on our thoughts, we will definitely find the right direction.

If we combine it with actual work and apply it thoroughly, all problems will naturally be solved.”

Everyone: "."

This taste is just right, Lao Zhou is still the same Lao Zhou.

As the year draws to a close, court affairs gradually decrease, and major events are basically ceremonial affairs, such as the Winter Solstice Court, the New Year's Day Court, as well as sacrifices to heaven, earth, and ancestors.

But if the emperor does not hold court, go to the suburbs, or offer sacrifices, it is not a big deal and the ministers can just do whatever they want.

Therefore, the real important thing at the end of the year is to complete the cabinet team before closing the office for the New Year.

As for the candidate for the Minister of Rites, since the New Year is approaching, it is better to do more happy things and not cause trouble for others.

Given the current situation, anyone who becomes the Minister of Rites would probably feel like he is "carrying a coffin to court."

The Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao submitted a memorial, requesting the former Prime Minister, the former Second Prime Minister, and the former Third Prime Minister to each recommend one person to join the cabinet.

Regardless of whether he was sincere or not, he established the image of a tolerant, generous and honest elder.

However, this proposal was strongly opposed by Lu Guangzu, the Left Censor-in-Chief.

It would be fine if Wang Jiaping was the only one who recommended someone, but asking three former university scholars to recommend someone, is that a joke?
Given the current situation of the people recommended by Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue, won’t they still listen to Zhao Zhigao when they arrive in the cabinet?
Moreover, opposing Zhao Zhigao's memorial would, to some extent, also undermine the prestige of the new prime minister, which was a win-win situation.

Lu Guangzu's reasons were also very firm. He wrote in his memorial: "Assistant ministers should be recommended by the court, not demoted, and certainly not be transferred privately by the first and second assistant ministers!"

Just as Zhou Yingqiu said, the cabinet itself is an unconventional entity, so there are no fixed rules on how to select cabinet ministers.

The Ming Dynasty never had clear regulations on how to select grand secretaries, but all roads lead to Rome anyway.

How to select cabinet ministers may be different each time, depending mainly on the strength of each party.

Emperor Jiajing promoted Li Chunfang all the way to the cabinet without going through any "procedures". Who could say anything?
As for other situations, sometimes they were recommended by the Ministry of Personnel, sometimes by ministers of the ministries and agencies, and sometimes by the officials themselves.

However, it is the first time, at least publicly, that Prime Minister Zhao has proposed to ask resigned cabinet ministers to recommend successor candidates.

However, after reading Lu Guangzu's objection, Emperor Wanli replied: "Let the ministers of the ministries and courts recommend two people."

Asking the outer court to nominate cabinet ministers is like throwing two bones to a pack of dogs.

The ministers were busy fighting over who would join the cabinet, and they had no energy to worry about the country's foundation.

This way, at least you can have a peaceful year. After the new year, a new round of imperial examinations and palace examinations will be held, so you can probably live in peace until April or May.

As for the other vacancy, Emperor Wanli still planned to let Wang Jiaping recommend it. After all, Wang Jiaping resigned in order to take the blame for himself.

Therefore, "recommending newcomers" was the reward Wang Jiaping deserved. It would not let the meritorious official shed blood and tears, and it could also ensure that there would be at least one person in the cabinet to restrain Zhao Zhigao.

After considering all this, Emperor Wanli felt that his imperial skills had improved.

As the saying goes, literary practice improves day by day, and we make a little progress every day!

I just don't know what the result of the court recommendation will be. Emperor Wanli has a premonition that it will be very interesting.

When talking about court recommendation, we must first look at the list of ministers who participated in the court recommendation.

Originally in history, in this year, the Left Censor-in-Chief was Li Shida, the Minister of Personnel was Lu Guangzu, the Minister of Revenue was Yang Junmin, the Minister of Rites changed three times, the Minister of War was Shi Xing, the Minister of Punishments was Sun Piyang, and the Minister of Works was Zeng Tongheng.

The vast majority of people are either from the Qingliu forces or their allies. It can be said that they are star-studded, and can also be described as "the court is full of righteous people." The purity of the Qingliu forces is probably second only to the early Chongzhen period.

At first glance at this original historical list, one might have thought it was a list of enemies of Immortal Jiu Yuan.

What Lin Tailai has been doing over the years is actually to snatch positions from this group of people - perhaps this is the most fundamental reason why this group of people became Lin Tailai's enemies.

So far, Lin Tailai has achieved great results and is very satisfied with his butterfly effect.

Who else but me can single-handedly suppress the Qingliu forces, the predecessor of the Donglin Party, to only one third of their original historical size?
(End of this chapter)