Daming talker

Chapter 658 No One Knows Elections Better Than Me
Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao was in a bad mood. It was his first time submitting a memorial as prime minister, but the Left Censor-in-Chief Lu Guangzu jumped out and strongly opposed it.

The key point is that the emperor also approved Lu Guangzu's court recommendation plan, which made him feel as if he was slapped in the face by Lu Guangzu.

Although I am not a tyrannical person, isn't this too disrespectful to the new Prime Minister?
What does it mean to get slapped in the face as soon as you come to power?
So Prime Minister Zhao asked his fellow villager Hu Yinglin to visit the Minister of Personnel Wang Shizhen to see if he could get back at square one.

After all, no matter what, the imperial recommendation must be presided over by the Minister of Personnel.

Hu Yinglin, the most famous literary critic today who has completed the magnum opus of literary criticism "Poetry Collection", suddenly discovered that he seemed to have new value outside the literary world?
As we all know, the political climate of the court depends largely on the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel.

If civil service politics is likened to a long drama, then the Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel are the two eternal protagonists who love and hate each other.

Due to their sensitive identities and in order to avoid suspicion, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel generally do not have open communications with each other, and passing messages often requires the help of an intermediary.

And now, Hu Yinglin is the best communication bridge between the Prime Minister and the Heavenly Official!

He and the Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao were very close fellow villagers from the same county. He and the Heavenly Official Wang Shizhen were literary friends regardless of age difference and successors in the field of literary criticism twenty years ago.

Therefore, no one is more suitable than himself to act as an intermediary to coordinate affairs between the Prime Minister and the Heavenly Official!

I didn't expect that I could find a new path in life at the age of 40. What the saint said is true. Today I understand what it means to be free from doubts at the age of 40!

So after receiving instructions from Prime Minister Zhao, Hu Yinglin, who was preparing for the exam, excitedly went to visit the Tianguan Mansion.

About an hour later, Hu Yinglin returned to Zhao's residence and reported to Prime Minister Zhao:

"Senior Wang said that no one knows more about elections than him. Please rest assured, Prime Minister. Whether Lin Jiuyuan is in the capital or not, he will do his best to cooperate."

What this means is that everyone was supported by Lin Jiuyuan, so they should take care of each other.

Zhao Zhigao said with some concern: "In your opinion, can Wang Tianguan dampen Lu Guangzu's arrogance in the court recommendation?"

The result of the court recommendation was of no importance to Prime Minister Zhao. He only cared about whether he could fight back against Lu Guangzu's "provocation".

After a brief thought, Hu Yinglin replied, “I am not familiar with Lu Guangzu, but I know Senior Wang very well.

Senior Wang has been the leader of the literary world for decades. In order to promote literary figures, he has organized countless elections, which is why there are various "Five Sons" combinations.

Therefore, in the field of elections, Mr. Wang is absolutely experienced and is adept at manipulating procedures, setting agendas, and balancing factions.

The imperial court's recommendation is probably similar. As long as he doesn't encounter someone with strong martial virtues like Lin Jiuyuan, the old leader Wang should be able to control the situation."

After listening to Hu Yinglin's analysis, Zhao Zhigao was relieved. This was indeed the truth. Wang Tianguan was definitely the leading expert in the field of elections.

But he also felt that little brother Hu Yinglin was a little excited tonight, so he asked tentatively: "After you finished writing the twenty volumes of "Poetry Collection", do you have any new creative plans?"

Hu Yinglin shook his head and answered truthfully: "I am only thinking about passing the imperial examinations and have no other ideas for the time being."

Zhao Zhigao said earnestly: "Lin Jiuyuan taught at the internal meeting of the Renewal Society that the relationship between literature and politics is interactive. Literature will be affected by politics and can also have a certain impact on politics.

Lin Jiuyuan also pointed out at the Literary Conference that we should strengthen the reality of literature, reflect the characteristics of the times, highlight the style of the times, and reflect the essence of the times.

Hu Yinglin's eyes were clear yet confused. "Old senior, what do you mean by suddenly saying this?"
Zhao Zhigao said angrily: "Your Poetry Collection seems to only cover the period up to the Jiajing period?

What I mean is that I want you to revise "Shisou" and add another volume.

As for the content of the new volume, it is a special commentary on Lin Jiuyuan's poems! "

Hu Yinglin: “.”

Is this what it means to “be influenced by politics”? Is this what it means to “strengthen the reality of literature”?
He was also concerned about his fellow countryman Zhao Zhigao, and said, "If you really want to go into politics in the future, revising the Shisou will be of great benefit to you!
It is much more useful than writing something like 'A Moonlit Night on the Spring River is the best poem in the Tang Dynasty' or 'The best seven-character poem in ancient and modern times' in a book!"

Hu Yinglin: “.”

Is this what “literature can also have a certain impact on politics” means? Is this what “literature should reflect the characteristics of the times” means?
"Do you understand what I mean?" Zhao Zhigao asked again.

Hu Yinglin sighed and replied, "Old senior, you may not know that 'Spring River Moonlit Night is the Most Beautiful Poem in the Tang Dynasty' and 'Climbing a High Mountain is the Best Seven-Character Poem in Ancient and Modern Times' are not my original creations.

These ideas were pointed out to me by Lin Jiuyuan at the Suzhou Literary Conference six or seven years ago, so I cannot say that they are completely useless.

Zhao Zhigao: "."

Suddenly it’s a bit hard to say, is this an improvement or a decline?
However, it is understandable that when a close senior from the same county becomes the Prime Minister, and at the same time a literary teacher of twenty years becomes the Minister of Personnel, how many people can remember their original aspirations and insist on continuing to be a literary prodigal?
Two days later, the last year-end drama of the court in the 19th year of Wanli was staged, and the ministers of the outer court ministries and agencies were ordered to recommend cabinet ministers.

Still at the old place, Wang Tianguan arrived early at the East Court Room outside the Meridian Gate and carefully asked the Jinyiwei officers to place more braziers.

Compared to reading boring personnel files in the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Tianguan found that he preferred the court recommendation occasions.

Looking at the Meridian Gate next to the East Court Room, Wang Tianguan secretly sighed that since entering the court, he has never attended the morning court.

Although it is very painful to attend the morning court every day, it seems that my life is incomplete if I don’t attend it even once.

The ministers and vice ministers of various ministries, the Chief Censor and Deputy Chief Censors, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Minister of Public Security arrived one after another.

Lu Guangzu also arrived very early. He scanned the crowd and counted the votes over and over again in his mind.

The Qingliu forces plus the Shanxi and Shaanxi Gang's iron votes included himself, the Left Censor-in-Chief, the Minister of Punishments Sun Piyang, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel Liu Yukui, the Left Vice Minister of Revenue Sun Yu and the Right Vice Minister Yang Junmin, the Left Vice Minister of Rites Zhao Yongxian, and the Right Vice Minister of Punishments Shao Bi, which together accounted for six or seven votes.

The iron votes of the remnants of Lin's party and Shen's party should include Wang Tianguan, the Minister of Personnel, Ye Mengxiong, the Minister of War, Zhou Cai, the Minister of Supreme Court, Xu Shen, the Minister of Public Administration, and possibly Deputy Censor-in-Chief Zhan Yangbi and Wang Yongji, the Right Vice Minister of Personnel, which together account for five or six votes.

The others were essentially floating votes, but there were too many people who were dissatisfied with Lin Tailai, such as Li Chun, the Right Vice Minister of Rites, Shi Xing, the Left Vice Minister of War, and Zhong Zhengji, the Right Vice Minister of Works, all of whom had offended Lin Tailai.

As for the two factions of Minister of Revenue Yu Shenxing and Minister of Works Chen Yubei, they would not be so naive as to support Lin's party just because they had dealt with Lin Tailai, right?

So overall, the advantage is still on me!
Seeing that more than twenty ministers had arrived, Wang Tianguan did not hesitate any longer and stood in front of the crowd.

However, Wang Tianguan did not start the nomination process directly, but said: "Please ask the ministers of each department to come out and set the rules first!"

Then the nine ministers stepped out, and Wang Tianguan said to them individually: "You all should understand that the current situation of ministers of poetry is actually very lacking, and there are very few people who are suitable to enter the cabinet." Wang Tianguan's words seemed abrupt and even derogatory, but no one could refute it because it was a fact visible to the naked eye.

As mentioned earlier, the cabinet ministers in these years were very young. The average age of Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Wang Jiaping was only 56 years old. When they first entered the cabinet, they were even only in their 50s.

As for the 68-year-old Zhao Zhigao, it was because he was already very old when he passed the imperial examination. In terms of academic success, he passed later than Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue.

Ci Lin is also a place that places great emphasis on the relationship between seniors and juniors, with an unspoken rule that seniors are given priority and juniors are courteous.

So where have the seniors who are older and more experienced than Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Wang Jiaping gone?

All we can say is that the past two or three decades have been an era of high-intensity political struggles within the cabinet, and they have been continuous, wave after wave.

After the high-intensity cabinet struggles in the late Jiajing period, the Longqing period, the early Wanli period, the Zhang Juzheng era, and the post-Zhang Juzheng era, the poets who had close ties with the cabinet had long been consumed by the test of time.

Those who sided with Lord Yan were liquidated by Xu Jie, those who sided with Xu Jie were liquidated by Gao Gong, those who sided with Gao Gong were liquidated by Zhang Juzheng, and those who sided with Zhang Juzheng were liquidated by Emperor Wanli.

How many poets can survive the tests of Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng?

Some people say that to get by in the officialdom all you have to do is know how to take sides. However, the twenty years of history from the end of the Jiajing period to the eleventh year of the Wanli period are enough to slap the face of those who said this.

This is why a group of cabinet ministers in their fifties have appeared in recent years, because there are really no old people left.

Now even these "young" cabinet ministers in their fifties have resigned. When Wang Tianguan said that there is a "generation gap" in the number of poets, others could not find any reason to refute it.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his point of view, Wang Tianguan smiled and continued, "So I think that the candidates for this time's cabinet appointments can be more than just poets. We should not limit ourselves to qualifications and should only select the most talented."

Everyone knows the saying "Only Hanlin scholars can enter the cabinet", which clearly states the qualification requirements for cabinet ministers.

Of course, there are some exceptions, but they are just exceptions.

Everyone was secretly surprised. Was Wang Tianguan trying to make an exception this time by using the "gap between the old and the new" as an excuse?
Then many people suddenly realized, could it be that Wang Tianguan wanted to make an exception for himself?

Although the Minister of Personnel has enormous power, perhaps even greater than that of an ordinary cabinet minister, what if Wang Tianguan really has a "prime minister complex"?

No matter how ordinary a cabinet minister is, he can be respectfully called "Prime Minister". No matter how powerful the Ministry of Personnel is, it is just one of the six ministries.

Before most people could figure out Wang Tianguan's proposal of "not restricting qualifications", two ministers suddenly jumped out at the same time.

What was even more surprising was that the two ministers shouted almost in unison: "I agree!"

Then the two ministers looked at each other, the scene suddenly became a little awkward, and then the two ministers retreated silently.

Only then did everyone see clearly that one was the Minister of Revenue Yu Shenxing, who was the Minister of Rites three months ago; the other was the Minister of Works Chen Yubei, who was the President of the Hanlin Academy three months ago.

Both of them were Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, and their resumes were extremely similar. They were selected as Shujishi in the Houguan when they were young, and then rose through the ranks in the system of poets.

Even their ages were the same, both were 47 years old, which could be considered young and vigorous, and their official positions had reached Shangshu.

If the election is carried out according to the normal routine, the next wave of cabinet ministers will most likely be these two people.
After all, there are not many old poets nowadays, and there are very few poets who meet the requirements.

Even if we rank them by seniority, the priority of these two Shangshu who were originally poets was extremely high.

Although they are young, they are the same age as Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao, who is 68 years old.

Thinking of this, everyone suddenly realized it again. No wonder the two ministers jumped out excitedly and loudly supported Wang Tianguan's proposal to "not limit qualifications" and expand the range of candidates.

Because these two young ministers don’t want to join the cabinet at all, they would never want to do so even if they are beaten to death!
Wouldn't it be nice to fish in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, two politically less sensitive offices? Why go to the Cabinet to wade into muddy waters?

Three months ago, one ran from the Ministry of Rites to the Ministry of Revenue, and the other ran from the Hanlin Academy and the Zhanshi Palace to the Ministry of Works.

They gave up their prestigious positions and were willing to lower their face to curry favor with Lin Tailai in order to go to the General Affairs Office. Doesn't this show that they want to stay away from disputes?

Several old bureaucrats over 60 lamented that the next generation of young people are so useless!

They either escape or lie down, and they have absolutely no sense of responsibility or accountability. They are truly a lost generation!
But Lu Guangzu, who had the most seniority, was a little panicked. The situation did not look good!
Originally in his calculations, he did not count the two independent factions, Yu Shenxing of the Ministry of Revenue and Chen Yubei of the Ministry of Works, as being on the Lin Party's side!

But unexpectedly, this old villain Wang Shizhen actually took advantage of the two useless ministers' reluctance to join the cabinet and changed their positions.

Isn't Wang Shizhen the most famous official scoundrel in recent decades? Where does he get such ability to maneuver?

No one else expected that it was just a small-scale preparatory meeting, but the confrontation had already begun inadvertently.

Ye Mengxiong, the Minister of War, also slowly stood up and said, "I agree with the proposal of not limiting qualifications."

Zhou Cai, the former governor of Jiangnan and the Minister of Dali Temple, and Xu Shen, the Minister of Public Administration from Suzhou, also came out to support the motion.

Because the position of Minister of Rites was vacant, there were actually only eight of the Nine Ministers who held the preparatory meeting.

Now there are six people, namely the Minister of Personnel, the Minister of Revenue, the Minister of War, the Minister of Works, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Minister of Public Security, who support the proposal of "not limiting qualifications or rank".

What is meant by "not restricted by qualifications" is that the qualifications are not limited to being a Hanlin poet, and the rank of the selected poets is not limited to the conventional third rank and above, which greatly expands the scope of choice.

Left Censor-in-Chief Lu Guangzu and Minister of Justice Sun Pi Yang looked at each other, helpless.

We have a lot of people on our side, but there are so many ministers! There are too few high-end combat forces at the level of Jiuqing.

It’s all Lin Jiuyuan’s fault. I don’t know how much luck he has taken away!
They had a perfect plan that would not only allow them to enter the cabinet, but would also allow them to remove Zhao Zhigao, the prime minister, from office in one fell swoop.

But judging from the current situation, there are many more variables.

We don’t know how many competitors will increase, and it will be more random and less predictable.

(End of this chapter)