Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 143 The traitorous ministers gather together
This time, Taichang Qing's recommendation was also different from the past.

In addition to the fact that Shaoqing and Zhengqing were both recommended by Zhu Youjian, the qualifications of the recommenders were also limited by Zhu Youjian to the third-rank official and above.

In other words, not only ministers of the Six Ministries, but also officials from relevant agencies who have the title of third-grade envoy or above can also participate in the ministry recommendation.

If there is no envoy to increase the title, even the Minister of the Six Ministries cannot participate in the selection of the Ministry.

Nowadays, most of the six ministers had the title of Minister before, and almost all of them had the title of Administer or above. Naturally, there is no need to worry about this problem.

However, if Zhu Youjian is dissatisfied with the candidate for the ministerial minister introduced by the later court, then there may not necessarily be an envoy to the throne to increase his title.

The ministers had not paid attention to this at this time. What they were more concerned about was that the chief ministers of each temple might obtain the title of third-rank official envoy and obtain the status of minister of the six departments——

The importance of the ministers of various temples has increased.

Especially Taichang Temple and Taipu Temple, the two top third-rank temple ministers, can almost be treated as ministers.

Qin Shiwen was acting as the minister of Taipusi Temple. He also acted as the right minister of the Ministry of War, which can be said to be the minister.

The standards of the Minister of Taichang Temple cannot be lower than him.

They are all yamen of the third rank, and Taichang Temple is ranked first. Naturally, the standard of the temple minister cannot be lower than that of Taipu Temple.

At the same time, because Zhan Shifu was designated as an inner court yamen by Zhu Youjian, the official positions such as the third-rank Zhanshi and the fourth-rank Shao Zhanshi, which were originally used for the transfer of the Hanlin Academy, had to be assumed by other yamen.

Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, and Honglu Temple, which were identified by Zhu Youjian as institutions related to the Ministry of Rites, must assume this responsibility.

Therefore, the third-rank minister of Taichang Temple was recommended by the ministers as the right minister of the Ministry of Rites to concurrently serve as the third-rank minister of Zhan.

This phenomenon is what Zhu Youjian wants to see. At the same time, it was something he discovered only after he took over Zhan Shifu.

In the past, Zhan Shifu was selected by the cabinet. By controlling the appointment of Zhan Shifu, the cabinet actually controlled the route of promotion of Hanlin Academy officials to Zhan Shifu officials, then to Minister of Rites, and then to cabinet bachelor.

Now Zhan Shifu was transferred to the inner court by Zhu Youjian and was disconnected from the outer court. The route that was supposed to be promoted from Zhan Shi to Minister of Rites naturally failed, and the route from Temple Minister to Minister of Rites had to be replaced.

These temple ministers were recommended by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, which meant that the power of the cabinet was usurped a little by the two ministries.

This is what Zhu Youjian wants to see, and even the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites and other ministries want to see.

Therefore, the six ministries unanimously agreed on the transfer of Zhan Shifu to the inner court. Huang Liji and other cabinet ministers in the cabinet were busy protecting themselves after the fall of the eunuch party and were unable to oppose it.

The transfer of Zhan Shifu to the inner court had not caused any disturbance before.

But now, the impact is showing.

In order to confirm the promotion of Taichang Qing's status, after careful discussion with the Minister of Official Affairs, Fang Kuangqiu, the Minister of Rites, Lai Zongdao and others, they recommended:

"I think that Li Biao, the former right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, and assistant minister of Zhan Shifu, and Zeng Chuqing, the former Zhan Shifu, should be reinstated and serve as ministers of Taichang Temple."

Extremely happy to see this, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and ordered:

"Li Biao and Zeng Chuqing are back."

"Li Biao serves as the minister of Taichang Temple, and is given the title of third-rank official envoy, and the title of right minister of the Ministry of Rites."

It is determined that Taichang Qing's specifications are equivalent to those of Liubu Shilang, and he also serves as a minister like Taipusi Qing. In the future, he can be directly transferred to Zuo Shilang, and he may even join the cabinet.

After the Zhengqing came the Shaoqing. Except for Cao Sicheng, who was demoted from the Minister of Civil Affairs to the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple by Zhu Youjian, another Shaoqing of Taichang Temple was currently vacant and was also designated as a ministry recommendation by Zhu Youjian.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites recommended Qian Qianyi and Zhou Yanru, who were former Shao Zhanshi and bachelor's degree students at the Hanlin Academy, to serve.

Zhu Youjian didn't know what to say to these two candidates.

How come he didn't know Qian Qianyi's name? He had even read the famous historical work "Liu Rushi's Biography".

Although it refuted some records about "too cold water and itchy scalp" and even pointed out that Qian Qianyi participated in the restoration movement, Zhu Youjian still had a bad impression of Qian Qianyi——

Because it is a fact that Qian Qianyi shaved off his hair and became clear.

However, considering that Qian Qianyi participated in the Restoration Movement and was a rising star of the Donglin Party. Now that the Donglin Party has been resurrected in large numbers, it is inappropriate to exclude this person.

Zhu Youjian finally appointed Qian Qianyi as the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, intending to use this position to observe this person.

As for Zhou Yanru, a traitor as famous as Wen Tiren, he was also revived by Zhu Youjian. He is more than ten years younger than Wen Tiren, and was considered by Zhu Youjian as Wen Tiren's alternative——

If there is anything inconvenient in the future, you can let these two people handle it.

There is no need to push for lower positions such as the fifth-rank temple prime minister and the sixth-rank chief minister in the upper part of the court.

Zhu Youjian asked the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites to select officials from the Hanlin Academy, especially those who went out to preside over the provincial examinations and serve as examiners.

It is customary for these people to be promoted after returning from a business trip. They used to be promoted to official positions such as Zuo Shuzi of Zhan Shifu. Now that Zhan Shifu has been assigned to the inner court, they naturally cannot be promoted.

However, Zhu Youjian had previously said that he would wait for the Hanlin Academy officials who presided over the provincial examination to come back and select Shaoqing. Now that Shaoqing needed to improve his qualifications, they were not able to take the turn, so they could only use official positions such as Si Cheng to compensate. Let these Hanlin Academy officials gain experience in these official positions.

After Taichang Temple came Guanglu Temple. The minister of Guanglu Temple was not vacant like Taichang Qing, and the chief minister Fei Zhaoyuan did not behave rebelliously, so there was no need to replace him.

Even before, when the court was promoting the minister, someone recommended him as a candidate. However, Zhu Youjian did not move his position on the grounds that Guanglu Temple was undergoing adjustments.

One of the two young ministers of Guanglu Temple was Zhang Tianlin, who was promoted by Zhu Youjian from the Fine Food Department of the Ministry of Rites.

The other Shaoqing was Yue Junsheng, who had been promoted by the original Shaoqing. This man had falsely accused Wang Zhicai of receiving stolen goods, leading to Wang Zhicai's death in prison.

The consequences of this were so serious that Zhu You was classified as the sixth class. He was dismissed from his position and reduced his status to the people. He needed someone to replace him.

Zhou Yanru, as a newly resurrected official, was ranked first among the ministers.

Another person to accompany him was Ruan Dacheng, the former Shaoqing of Taichang Temple.

This made Zhu Youjian frown, feeling that today's election of Shaoqing was really not smooth - how come he was just a treacherous minister and could not elect someone who was upright and capable?
After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Youjian decided to retaliate and said:

"Zhou Yanru serves as the young minister of Guanglu Temple."

"Ruan Dacheng has returned and has been included as a candidate for Shaoqing."

It is planned to use Ruan Dacheng as a candidate for Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru.

Then there is Honglu Temple, where the minister Wei Chiheng has been impeached. Zhu Youjian did not find any bad deeds in him, nor did he see any rebellious behavior. It is speculated that because his surname was Wei, he was mistaken for a clansman of Wei Zhongxian, so he was impeached continuously.

Of course, Zhu Youjian could not remove him because of these impeachments without evidence. Instead, he reprimanded the officials who impeached Wei Chiheng. Let them concentrate on their duties and collect evidence, and not impeach indiscriminately.

As for the young minister of Honglu Temple, there has been no appointment since the adjustment. Both candidates for Shaoqing need to be recommended.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites made recommendations and recommended Ruan Dacheng and Liu Hongxun, the former Shao Zhanshi.

Zhu Youjian appointed two people, but he had a bad impression of them in his heart and felt that they were not good people.

At the same time, I am also glad that I have recommended eight ministers at the same time. Otherwise, they would have been recommended by court officials. It is estimated that some of these people will become ministers——

It would be disgusting to allow these treacherous ministers to serve as ministers or even enter the cabinet!

The current method of court recommendation is really unreliable in Zhu Youjian's opinion. Next, he will further reform and improve the methods of court recommendation and ministry recommendation.

We will talk about this later. Next is the Zongzheng Temple officials. This needs to be recommended by the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although he is only You Shaoqing, he is actually in charge of temple affairs.

In particular, Zongzheng Siqing and Zuo Shaoqing were both relatives of the emperor and did not have much ability to manage affairs. The position of Right Shaoqing of Zongzheng Temple naturally has a lot of real power.

Although the clan had many troubles, many ministers were unwilling to get involved in the clan's troubles. But Zongzhengji’s position is very prestigious——

After all, the Minister of Rites is called the eldest uncle. If a civil servant serves as the minister of Zongzheng Temple, he can even call him the younger uncle.

In order to avoid competition in the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Rites promoted Zeng Chuqing, the former Zhan Shi, to take charge. The candidates proposed by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Household Affairs are naturally incomparable to this Zhan Shi, a third-grade official.

However, just because Zeng Chuqing was originally a third-rank official, Zhan Shi, if he became a fourth-rank Shaoqing, he would be demoted.

After Zhu Youjian thought about it, considering that there would be a lot of troubles in Zongzheng Temple and that a high-ranking minister would be responsible, he still approved this person and appointed:
"Zeng Chuqing served as the Right Shaoqing of Zongzheng Temple, and was awarded the title of Zhengsanpinzheng envoy."

Through the method of increasing the title, Zeng Chuqing's rank was not lowered, and it was even improved a bit.

This made the Ministry of Rites very satisfied and felt that Zongzheng Temple could also be included in the Qinggui system as the transfer institution of the Ministry of Rites.

Because the Hubu can only participate in Zongzheng Temple's promotion now, he is a little unwilling to be awarded this position by the Ministry of Rites. If it weren't for the fact that many ministers of the Ministry of Revenue had not yet taken up their posts and Guo Yunhou, the minister of household affairs, was about to leave his post, there would probably have been riots.

After deciding on the candidates for Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honglu Temple, and Zongzheng Temple, Weiwei Temple had already been appointed before, and the remaining ones were Taipu Temple.

After the adjustment, Qin Shiwen was acting as the Minister of Taipusi. The previous one of the two Shaoqings was transferred from the chariot and driving department, but he was impeached and removed. Today, the two young ministers of Taipu Temple are vacant.

Because the people selected before were all Beijing officials from the noble lineage, in order to balance the court and local governments, Zhu Youjian no longer selected officials from the capital, and asked the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War to select people from local officials.

The two ministries discussed and recommended Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi to participate in the political affairs, Chen Qiyu, the deputy envoy of Shaanxi, Wu Zhaoyuan, the prefect of Shaozhou Prefecture, Lu Wenheng, the prefect of Fuzhou Prefecture, and others.

Zhu Youjian saw Hong Chengchou's name and knew that he was a famous second minister——

He felt that today was really not going well. The elected young minister was surrounded by treacherous ministers.

He didn't want to put Hong Chengchou in the court to disgust himself, but he felt that he should have some talents and let them go to waste. After Zhu Youjian considered it, he said:
"Hong Chengchou participated in politics from the third rank and should not be demoted to the fourth rank Shaoqing. Call him to the capital to talk about the situation in Shaanxi and appoint other positions as appropriate."

"Chen Qiyu and Wu Zhaoyuan will serve as Shaoqing of Taipu Temple, let them take office as soon as possible."

At this point, all the ministers and ministers of the seven temples have decided on their candidates.

Other officials who want to reinstate can only hope that other positions in the court will become vacant before they can reinstate.

Because there are many people who can come back after the fall of the Eunuch Party, the turmoil in the court is expected to continue for some time.

Especially the six ministers, eight of whom were introduced by the court today. Yang Jingchen, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Qin Shiwen, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and Li Congxin, the minister of Hedao, the special superintendent of the Ministry of Works, have already been punished for their rebellious behavior and will not be punished again.

Even if Su Maoxiang, the minister in charge of Cangchang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Wang Zuoyuan, the right minister in the Ministry of Rites, were investigated for their treacherous behavior, they would be classified as eighth-class Cisong at most, and their positions would not be reduced.

The positions of these people will not change in the short term.

However, Meng Shaoyu, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Lu Chunru, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhang Wenyu and Zhang Lingyun, the ministers of the Ministry of Industry, are all likely to be investigated for their treacherous behavior and impeached by the ministers——

The four of them will be under great pressure in the future.

Opposition officials who want to retaliate will target these positions.

As long as one person can be impeached, one more official will be reinstated.

The pressure faced by the four of them can naturally be imagined.

Even except for the minister, of the six ministers, only the official minister Fang Guangwei and the military minister Yuan Keli were relatively stable, and the rest had to be replaced.

Coupled with the possibility of changes in the cabinet, the court where Zhu Youjian ascends to the throne is far from stable.

Zhu Youjian's adjustments to the court, Nanjing and local areas will continue for some time.

　Many people have heard of the deeds of Zhou Yanru, Qian Qianyi, Ruan Dacheng, and Hong Chengchou.

　　Liu Hongxun has a low reputation, but what he did was extremely bad. While serving as a bachelor, he accepted bribes to privately reform the imperial edict and was sent to the army by Chongzhen.

　　The official administration in the late Ming Dynasty was extremely corrupt, with ministers even daring to change the imperial edict privately. Therefore, Chongzhen later became increasingly distrustful of his ministers, and even said that they were all "ministers of the country's subjugation."

　　"Little Knowledge of the Lie Huang": Zhang Tingding told Zhang Qingzhen that it was true that Zhang Qingzhen used bribes to change the imperial edict. Li Juesi and Wang Daozhi, the imperial censor, both played Ru Ting Dingyan, but they didn't know who was in charge. The chief envoy of Wu Yuzou is Liu Hongxun.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)