Idle courtiers

Chapter 395 The Last Lesson

Zhou Nan took advantage of the situation and sat on the chair, opened the folding fan and fanned it slowly, thinking about the sentence in his heart.

Yan Song asked suddenly: "Xiaoyou Zhou, let me ask you, what is a prime minister?"

Zhou Nan didn't even think about it, and replied casually: "Reconcile Yin and Yang, communicate with left and right, and connect with upper and lower."

"That's right, that's true." Yan Song continued to ask: "In the final analysis, the outer court and the inner court are a house, no matter whether the house is new or old. Whether it is majestic or majestic, or if the house leaks and it rains all night, the prime minister is just a house. A plasterer with a brush dipped in lime must make this house look good. But, the old man asks you again. Since this is so simple, everyone can do it. The cabinet master can do it, and the bachelor of chaperone can do it. Even the members of the Secretary's Cabinet can do it, so why set up a separate cabinet?"

"As for the drafting of the votes, it doesn't really matter. The Secretary of the General Administration can also write down his own opinions when dividing the votes. So, why?"

Zhou Nan was stunned when he heard the words, yes, strictly speaking, the cabinet can only write down the handling opinions on the minister's memorial, and the final decision-making power, that is, the emperor's approval of red, is in the hands of the supervisor of ceremonies.If you meet a strong gentleman, this is a secretarial institution.

Then, why set up an administrative core with power above the Six Ministries?
Before Zhou Nan could answer, Yan Song announced the answer: "Representation, restriction."

Zhou Nan: "Also ask for advice."

Yan Song: "Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the scholar-officials and the monarch ruled the world together. It may be said that the world is governed by the world and the world is not owned by one family and one surname. Both the scholar and the monarch need a spokesperson, and they both need someone to mediate."

What he said was to the point.

Apart from the slave social system of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in ancient China, the feudal era is generally divided into two stages: the feudal system of enfeoffment and a high degree of centralization.

The enfeoffment system originated in the Warring States Period, and Chinese historians of all dynasties regard this era as the beginning of the feudal system.During this period, the monarchs of various countries in the Warring States felt the restriction of slavery on productivity and restored the freedom of the people.In order to manage the country, the land was entrusted to his sons for management.

The son of a king is a hou, the son of a hou is a doctor, and the descendants of a doctor are scholars.Thus, a class of scholar-bureaucrats who actively participated in politics came into being.

However, although the feudal system of enfeoffment greatly improved national power, it was convenient for the monarch to manage the country.But because of low efficiency, it is not conducive to concentrating national power to do big things.As a result, it was swept and crushed by Qin Shihuang, who implemented centralized power.So far, the feudal enfeoffment system has been replaced by the centralized political form of the prefecture and county system.

However, the tradition that scholar-bureaucrats and kings ruled the world together has been preserved.

Because of this, there will inevitably be fierce conflicts between the monarchy and the privileges of scholar-bureaucrats. At this time, a prime minister is needed to play the role of a middleman to mediate and ease the conflict.

In the final analysis, the prime minister is the representative of the scholar-bureaucrat class.

After listening to Yan Song's words, Zhou Nan said sincerely: "Ge Lao is right, and he summed it up well."

Yan Song caressed his beard and smiled: "Xiaoyou Zhou, the old man is in prison, and the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet should be held by the second assistant. You are Xu Jie's student, and the old man sees you with a worried look. The position of the first assistant in the cabinet has not yet been decided. Actually, it’s not that hard to do.”

Zhou Nan was greatly moved: "Mr. Jiexi means that if Mr. Xu Ge wants to be the chief assistant, the key is the attitude of the officials. Does it need to be recommended by the court? It's not easy?"

That's right, there are several forces competing with each other in the court, and they all want to fill the political vacuum after the Yan Party's resignation.In fact, the two largest stocks are Yuwangfu and Xu Jie.

The influence of King Yu's Mansion has penetrated into every corner of the Ming Dynasty's political territory over the past year. Li Chunfang is in the cabinet, the public opinion is clear, there is the Guozijian Jijiu Gaogong, the intellectuals have Zhang Juzheng, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, and outside there are generals who are in charge of military affairs in the southeast. Tan Lun is already a giant.

When it comes time to publicly nominate the chief minister of the cabinet, maybe everyone will nominate Gao Gong instead of Xu Jie.

There is no possibility of action on this matter, Zhou Nan hesitated for a moment: "Could it be that the key to this matter is the attitude of the emperor?"

The emperor wanted to completely turn the cabinet into a secretarial organization so that he could centralize power in one body.It is impossible for Emperor Jiajing to nod his head on this matter. His current attitude is to procrastinate for a day, and just procrastinate.

Hearing what Zhou Nan said, Yan Song laughed loudly: "If this is the case, Xu Jie is probably hopeless as the chief assistant for life."

Zhou Nan was surprised: "I still ask for advice."

Yan Song asked without answering: "Okay, Zhou Xiaoyou, the old man asked you again, what role should the chief assistant play in front of Junfu?"

Zhou Nan: "Admonish your father." Since the first assistant is the spokesperson of the scholar-bureaucrats, his main purpose is to restrict the imperial power and maintain a delicate balance between the imperial power and the scholar-bureaucrats.

Yan Song shook his head with a smile, and said bluntly: "When will Zaifu restrict the imperial power, what he needs to restrict is the emperor."

"Ah!" Zhou Nan's eyes widened, Yan Song's words were already outrageous.However, he is already like this now, so naturally he is not afraid to say such words.

After Yan Song laughed, he said slowly: "The imperial power does not need to be restricted, and the imperial power never goes to the countryside. What is the basis for governing a place? It depends on the scholars, and it depends on the local gentry. If Xu Jie really has the ambition to govern the country, he only needs to do it well. , The position of chief assistant of the cabinet is a no-brainer. Zhou Xiaoyou, if you want to be the chief of the cabinet in another year, you have to be careful about the proportions. It will satisfy all the officials and the world's scholar-bureaucrats, but not offend the emperor."

After that, he shook his head and sighed wryly: "It's not easy to grasp the scale. If you are biased towards the officials, your father has a prejudice against you, and you will not stay in the cabinet for long. If you favor the emperor, you will die." The reason why the old man became what he is now is because he is too biased towards His Majesty and provoked public outrage."

"As an old man, this is a gift I gave you when I was parting. Once you realize it, you will benefit endlessly."

Zhou Nan also sighed: "It seems that it is not easy to reconcile Yin and Yang. If things go on like this, won't the cabinet be blindly licorice, full of country wishes?"

Yan Song: "Other ministers can refer to the chief minister silently when they encounter problems, but who can the chief minister refer to?"

That is, with great power comes great responsibility!Coming out of Yan Song, Zhou Nan sighed in his heart.

It has to be said that what Yan Song said today broke the essence of the chief assistant of the cabinet, taught Zhou Nan a profound lesson, and completely enlightened Zhou Nan.

It gave him a sense of enlightenment, and his whole body became transparent.

In fact, it is not difficult to analyze Xu Jie as the chief assistant carefully.

But there are two keys to this. First, Jiajing must recognize that Xu Jie is the key to maintaining the stability of the entire court; second, let all officials know that Xu Jie can act as their representative to restrain the abuse of power by the emperor.

This requires one thing as an opportunity.

As for what this matter was, Zhou Nan didn't think about it for the time being, and put it aside.

Anyway, Jiajing has no idea of ​​setting up a chief assistant for the time being, and Xu Jie has not given a death order for our Master Zhou to come up with a charter on a certain date.Then, let's deal with this year's Shuntianfu Township Examination first, that is the key to your future.

Zhou Nan had no way out.

Master Wang Shu will leave the capital early in the morning to go back to his hometown in Taicang. According to the imperial court system, two Jinyi guards will come to escort him, and Wang Shizhen and his wife will follow their father back to their hometown.

According to real historical records, because Wang Shu was beheaded, Wang Shizhen returned home to Ding You.Coupled with depression, I have been ill for several years.It wasn't until the first year of Longqing that the prince's father was rehabilitated that he was reinstated by the court to participate in politics in Zhejiang.

Later, in the first year of Wanli, he became the chief envoy of Guangxi.Entered the censor of the capital of Zuoqian, and later became the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, the minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, and the minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment.Throughout his life, he can be regarded as an extremely human minister, extremely complete.

However, this time the teacher is fine, history has changed, maybe the old man, the teacher, will become an official a few years earlier, and his political achievements will be greater, Zhou Nan thinks so.

Time was running out, and the whole Wang family was busy packing things and it was a mess.

Wang Shu deeply loved Zhou Nan, a shrewd and capable junior, so he asked Lai Bao to be a member of the staff and gave him the house as a wedding gift.

Zhou Nan declined as usual, saying that it was too precious and the younger generation couldn't bear it.

Wang Shizhen sternly yelled: "The gift from the elders, if you don't dare to resign, just accept it! Your own family, why are you being polite? If you insist on not accepting it, it will make the old man sad. That is a great disrespect."

As a student himself, he knows best, everything else is good, but he loves money, so he is naturally willing in his heart.It's just that I can't keep up my face, so I have to refuse again and again.There are so many things at home, how can I have time to play the game of three requests and three concessions with him.

Zhou Nan had no choice but to take over the deed, but not to show it.

That night, Zhou Nan was so busy that he flew up, so he stayed at Wang Shizhen's house.

Before dawn on the second day, the group left the capital under the escort of Jin Yiwei, and it was already afternoon in Tongzhou.

Today's weather is very good, no sun, very cool.

Standing on the boat and looking to the west, the capital could no longer be seen. Wang Shu, who has always been cheerful, recalled his life of ups and downs in the officialdom, and couldn't help sighing. Fuxu was thinking about writing a poem to describe his feelings, but Wang Shizhen's stern voice came from the other side. , actually interrupted his poetry.

Turning around, he saw his son teaching Zhou Nan: "Zimu, it's only a few days before the exam. During this journey, my teacher asked you a few questions from the scriptures, and you answered only reluctantly. This provincial test is nothing more than that, even if you pass it, what will you do if you pass the test, and don't you want to be beaten back to your original form? You must have thought that you have a chance to win these days, so you have slacked off. With your temperament, what can you do in the future?"

"Yes, yes, the teacher taught you the right thing." Zhou Nan nodded repeatedly to apologize, but felt great pain in his heart.Teacher, your old man's ability to write questions is very good, and I am sure that I will pass this subject.But I don’t want to, you are asking questions and others are also asking questions.Everyone in the capital knew that Gu Yan would write questions from "The Analects of Confucius", and it was so difficult to compete with them!
Wang Shu said with a smile: "Shizhen, come on, it is right to be strict with teachers and produce high-quality apprentices, but you can't deliberately hit them, and wear down the spirit of young people. Let's sail!"

Wang Shizhen was still angry, and waved at Zhou Nan: "Go down, I don't want to see you again as a teacher. You are the worst student I have ever taught." cabin.

Zhou Nan was scolded bloody, and returned to the shore in a state of embarrassment.

At this time, the sailor raised the sail.

When the wind blows, the sail turns into a semicircle with a whir, and the big ship slowly leaves the pier
Zhou Nan looked intently, but at some point Wang Shizhen came out of the cabin, stood behind the side of the boat and looked at herself with reluctance in her eyes.

The eyes of the two met, Wang Shizhen subconsciously raised his hand and waved goodbye to him.

But remembering his reprimand to Zhou Nan just now, he stomped his feet and turned his back angrily.

Zhou Nan couldn't help laughing, and gave a long bow, but tears instantly blurred his eyes.

(End of this chapter)