unclear

Chapter 85
In addition to the above five candidates, Hong Tao also proposed a candidate, Fang Congzhe.

Similar to Zhao Nanxing, Hong Tao can also find out the general situation of Fang Congzhe in history from his mind.He was a native of Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture, Beizhili, and later became a native of Beijing.In the 11th year of Wanli's reign, he was a Jinshi and was selected as a Shujishi. Three years later, he was awarded the title of Editor of the Hanlin Academy. Three years later, he moved to the Imperial Academy to offer wine.

The job of sacrificial wine is an education management position and does not belong to the official position. However, Fang Congzhe was not willing to take his salary for nothing, and voluntarily took on the work of the official position. When he had nothing to do, he went to Shu to ask for the abolition of the mining tax, which made Emperor Wanli very unhappy.

In the 20th year of Wanli's reign, just in time for the imperial examination, Tian Yi, the chief minister of rites, asked someone to come to him to make excuses and wanted to give his nephew a back door. However, he was rejected in person, which angered a big boss in the inner court.

Although the young Fang Congzhe was brave, he was not stupid. Looking at the civil and military affairs of the dynasty, most of the people who wanted to make progress had to form a group or win the favor of the emperor.If you look down at yourself, you will find that you have offended others, and your future is obviously not very bright.So I chose to resign when I was just 30 years old and go home to retire.

If history goes by the way it is, he stayed home for more than ten years, but with Hong Tao's existence, Emperor Wanli died early, and the new emperor ascended the throne was extremely short of officials. He was only idle for a few years before he was called back to the court and served as a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. .

There are three reasons why Hong Tao insisted on recommending Fang Congzhe to join the cabinet.First, according to historical records, Fang Congzhe once supported the cabinet alone. Regardless of whether he did well or not, he should still have the ability.

Secondly, in the famous red pill case, it was he who recommended Li Kezhuo to give the miraculous medicine to Emperor Guangzong, but no one could use the medicine.However, the history books did not say whether Fang Congzhe was the murderer or accomplice who poisoned Emperor Guangzong. Hong Tao was very curious and wanted to find out about this matter. It was easier to observe carefully if he had people around him.

Third, although Fang Congzhe did not have a clear factional affiliation, he had served in the Imperial College for many years and had many students under his tutelage.Among them was an official named Qi Shijiao, who was well-connected in the Qi Party. The two had very close contacts and were most likely to favor the Qi Party.

Among the first five candidates, Zhao Nanxing and Jiao Hong can be screened out first.The Taizhou faction and the Donglin Party are in the same situation. Neither party will agree to add one more bachelor from the other party to the cabinet. The easiest result for both parties to accept is Duizi.

Li Tingji's chances were even slimmer. In the struggle to reduce the vassal state, the Zhejiang Party was on the wrong side. Not only did it offend the emperor, but it also lost its position as chief minister of the cabinet. He would be lucky if he didn't get beaten up. How could he possibly add another bachelor? The lack of.

Wu Daonan and Zhao Shiqing are left, one is a marginal figure who can barely be considered a small party, and the other has no party or faction at all. Even if they join the cabinet, they will not have much impact on the current court structure.

Hong Tao would not think so. The imperial court structure must be shaken up. You all have distributed your interests step by step. The remaining free time must be spent thinking about the emperor.

Therefore, the more court officials like the candidate, the less likely they will choose it.The final ones to join the cabinet were Wu Daonan and Fang Congzhe, one from the Chu Party and the other from the Qi Party.With the two of them joining the cabinet, the political situation in the DPRK and China became even more chaotic. The Donglin Party members, who had won a great victory and were gaining momentum, suddenly found that their lead was not that big.

With the cabinet bachelor whispering beside the emperor, the Chu Party and the Qi Party will become the next Zhejiang Party, and a lot of energy must be devoted to deal with it.Human energy is always limited, and if there is one more constraint, there will be less edge.

This is the result that Hong Tao wants to see most. It is never possible to be united in the struggle in the court.The founding emperors of the past dynasties may have been able to do it when conquering the country, but no one could do it when defending the country.

As long as you become an official and have higher interests, you will naturally stick together for warmth, in other words, unite as one, and the target of hostility will change from the person in power to the person in power, that is, the emperor.In ancient China's ruling class, the emperor and officials were both collaborators and competitors.Cooperation is about occupying a dominant position, while competition is about distributing benefits.Whoever has more and who has less will have to fight for it. Relatively speaking, all officials are the emperor's opponents.

After understanding this truth, you should know how to handle the relationship between emperor and ministers. The emperor does not need to find loyal ministers, and he will never find loyal ministers.Within a certain period of time, some officials may be loyal to the emperor because their interests are consistent.

As time and environment change, interest demands also change. Former treacherous ministers may become loyal ministers, and former loyal ministers may also become treacherous ministers. Loyalty and treachery are both dynamic and relative.

Of course, this is true from the emperor's perspective, but it may not be true from another perspective.For example, for the common people, regardless of the internal struggles within the ruling class, whoever can keep them fed and clothed and who does not bully them to death is a good official.If you can still show a little respect and compassion, you will be a very upright official.

As for what officials have done and whether it has a long-term impact on the country and the nation, the vast majority of ordinary people cannot see, hear, let alone understand. They only care about immediate interests.

The matter should have come to an end at this point, but Hong Tao was still not satisfied. He felt that the court was still not chaotic enough, so he simply added another place and added Li Tingji's name.

This was like poking a hornet's nest. Officials led by the Donglin Party went to court one after another to impeach him, eager to reveal all the things that happened to him when he was a child.

Not to be outdone, the Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang Party mobilized Yan Guan Yu Shi to launch an all-round counterattack.All of a sudden, all kinds of impeachment question books and memorials poured into the General Affairs Department and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and every day would not be complete unless there were ten or eight books.

"No! Let him stay in the Ministry of Rites honestly. He is not afraid of shadows. He can leave even if he has to. First, Dongchang and Jinyiwei will investigate the contents of the impeachment. I must give an explanation as to whether my Minister of Rites is an honest official or a corrupt official! "

Hong Tao could hand over the impeachment to the Supervisor of Ceremonies or simply leave it unpunished, which is exactly what he did.But some people failed, such as Li Tingji, the Minister of Rites.

In the face of so many impeachments, it is customary for the parties involved to make a high profile and resign, regardless of whether the content is true or not!As a result, Hong Tao still refused to approve. He slammed the table in front of the cabinet bachelors and put down his words. If he dared to resign at any time, he would just wait to be investigated by Dongchang.

This move is both reasonable and shameless.Looking at the hundreds of officials in the imperial court, not counting local officials, who dares to pat his chest and say that there is nothing wrong with him?Based on Hong Tao's understanding, I'm afraid it's less than 100%.

It is still a relatively conservative estimate. If he is allowed to personally handle the investigation work of Dongchang, the proportion will be lowered and infinitely close to zero!No matter how famous an honest official in history is, if you really plan to investigate carefully, you can still find something wrong, and maybe it will be a serious fault.

(End of this chapter)