Idle courtiers

Chapter 440
After coming down, Zhou Nan went to Xu Jie's mansion again, and told him about the situation when he was negotiating with Yuan Wei. punish.

Xu Jie smiled and said, Mr. Yuan is a gentleman and he does things justly.Now there are few people in the cabinet, and now the old man has been framed by a traitor and can't take things seriously.The cabinet is inherently small and needs someone to preside over it, so Yuan Ge's old Pian Pian old man can rest assured.Since I have said that Zimu has full authority to represent the old man, your decision is my decision, so there is no need to worry about it.This method is wonderful, good, good.

Zhou Nan, who was still a little apprehensive, was completely relieved by the generosity of old Xu Jie. Looking back, there were actually two reasons why Xu Jie readily distributed the right to draft votes to the other two ministers in the cabinet.

First, he is now involved in the Kongming case and is a criminal suspect.In ancient China, the inference of guilt was practiced. Whether it is in accordance with the law or the personnel system, he is not suitable to preside over the state affairs.Even if this power is not handed over now, when the interrogation starts in the future, he will have to be suspended to avoid suspicion.That being the case, why not be a favor and form an alliance with Yuan Wei?
Second, yes, the greatest power of the cabinet comes from drafting, which is to write down the handling opinions on the papers written by the ministers.Now sharing this power with other elders, on the surface it seems that everyone is on an equal footing.But don't forget that the principal and deputy in a department are subordinate and subordinate.

Not to mention the first assistant and the elders below, even compared with the second assistant, they are absolute superiors.

Just imagine, even if everyone in the cabinet can draft votes in the future, the chief minister will still have the final decision-making power when encountering major events.If you disagree with the processing opinion, you can reject it at any time.

Therefore, the voting power shared by everyone can easily become a mere formality. The key lies in whether the speaker of the cabinet is strong enough.For example, when powerful figures like Yang Tinghe, Zhang Cong, and Xia Yan were the chief assistants, even if they did not have the right to draft votes, would others dare not carry out what they said?Before this year, when the cabinet ministers met Yan Song, they were all as obedient as gray grandchildren.

It can be seen that the system is one thing, power is another, and the key lies in people.

Xu Jie is not worried that this move will weaken his future power.

There is a more important reason why Zhou Nan dared to make a promise to Yuan Wei on his own initiative: in the real history, this is what old man Xu did.

After Yan Song's downfall, Xu Jie wanted to become the chief assistant of the cabinet.But in the past, he was despised by the scholars for being a servile servant at Mr. Yan Ge's place. In order to win the hearts of the scholars, he played to the emperor and distributed the right to draft votes to other ministers in the cabinet.When something happens, the cabinet votes.In this way, Lao Xu finally won the support of all officials, fulfilled his wish to rule the world, and gained the reputation of a virtuous prime minister.

This is the advantage of the traveler's foresight!
Zhou Nan is now secretly the white glove of Princess Li, but on the surface he is Xu Jie's capable general, plus he is Lao Xu's grandson-in-law, his personal fate has been tied to the Xu family.It can be said that everyone prospers and everyone loses, even if it is not for himself, for Ah Jiu, he has to help Mr. Xu Ge overcome this difficulty.

Now what has to be done has been done, and I will sit on the tower and watch the mountain scenery, waiting for the change.

These days, the busiest one is Shi Wenjiang.

Little Master Shi spends all day eating, drinking and having fun with people, inquiring about news. He usually goes out early in the morning and doesn't come back until late at night.

After only two days of waiting, a major incident happened in the court.

First of all, a priest from Dali Temple said that the Kongming case was a criminal case, and according to the system of our dynasty, it should be handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for interrogation.Why did the trial end like this? How can people accept it?
No need to ask, this Si Cheng belongs to Yuan Wei.After the papers were sent to the cabinet, Xu Jie had to draw up the bills as usual.Old Xu said, let's discuss it publicly.

Yuan Wei didn't talk nonsense, he said, a system is a system, and what Dali Temple said is reasonable, but it can be forwarded to the Supervisor of Rituals.

Li Chunfang naturally understood that the factory guard was punishing Xu Jie in this case. This job was rough, but it was good for the palace, so she refuted it.Helpless, there are only three people in the cabinet now, Xu and Yuan have obviously formed an alliance, two fists cannot match four hands, this memorial was passed by a simple majority.

He also has no choice.

Besides, he was originally a well-known Confucian and moral man in the country, and he also knew that the case was purely speculative. As a member of the royal family, he still knew his shame, so he kept silent.

With the beginning of Dali Temple, the officials of the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Rites also submitted petitions to transfer the case and related criminals to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for interrogation.

At the beginning, Li Chunfang was ashamed, and she had to pretend to be a prime minister, pretending not to see, and let Xu and Yuan Wei draw up the bills with great joy.

Gradually, Mr. Li Ge found that the situation was getting out of control.

Xu and Yuan teamed up, and their disciples and old officials were very happy on the paper. The censors on the other side looked at it: how can such a lively event be without me waiting for a gentleman? Isn't this treating me as a display? ?

They used to know that the Kongming case was of great importance, and if they forced themselves to stand out, they might lose themselves.Looking at it now, there are so many people who jumped out to submit the papers, and our Yushitai's limelight has been taken away by others.When there are many people, the law does not blame the crowd, so what are you worrying about?

In addition, someone on Kedao had already been done by Yuan Wei, so some officials raised their arms and responded in groups.

Realizing that something was wrong, Li Chunfang couldn't control the situation when she wanted to take action.What else could he do, he had to agree to send the excerpt to the Supervisor of Rituals.

Now it's time to look at the Supervisor of Rituals. Fortunately, Huang Jin's health has been getting better and worse recently, and he has been waiting in front of the emperor all day, so he hasn't been to the imperial city for a long time.

All affairs in the prison are decided by Chen Hong.

When Chen Hong saw it, it wasn't good, so he said, let's talk about it in a few days, and was going to delay and perfunctory.

All the witnesses and material evidence in the Kongming case have been collected and submitted to the emperor, but Emperor Jiajing has not made any statement.After all, this matter involves the cabinet minister and the quasi-crown prince, and the Lord Long Live has to weigh it.

In Chen Gonggong's view, now we can only wait for change.The ironclad evidence is like a mountain, and Xu Jie cannot escape.As long as the emperor's imperial decree is issued, tens of thousands of beaks will naturally die. What he needs most now is time.

He procrastinated, but protracted the problem.

The people in Ke Dao also completely understood the emperor's hesitation and saw through the weakness of the factory guard.

Regardless of the majesty of the factory guards on weekdays, their power actually comes from the emperor.If the emperor does not express his position for a day, they have no right to execute, and they are the servants of the Tian family.That's comparable to us scholar-bureaucrats and gentlemen, who are born to rule the world with the king.

As a result, Ke Dao became more energetic.

At this time, Gong Qing, an old friend of Mr. Zhou, jumped out and impeached Chen Hong to suppress his speech.Chen Hong, although you accepted everyone's impeachment papers, but you didn't accept them and didn't criticize them, so you are trying to suppress the speech. What are you trying to do?Is the court run by your family? You block the way of speech and cut off internal and external news. Is this a rebellion?
This memorandum was about to die, and the book avoided talking about the Kong Ming case, and only focused on Chen Hong's refusal to be popular, and pursued him fiercely, hitting him directly at the vital point.

The power system of the Outer Dynasty is divided into three parts, which are the cabinet, the branch and the official department.The cabinet is in charge of administrative power, Ke Dao is in charge of discipline inspection, and the Ministry of Officials is in charge of personnel affairs.

Among them, Ke Dao's power is a bit empty to say, the nature of your job is mainly to present impeachment papers to find fault with others.According to the rules, this kind of book should be dealt with as soon as possible, with the highest priority.Now that the supervisor of ceremonies ignores us, no one will take us seriously in the future.

Wanting to understand this, the censors turned their attention to Chen Hong, and even compared him to the eunuch who was in chaos in the mid-Tang Dynasty.

Even the chief constitution of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was furious, and Emperor Shangshu impeached Chen Hong.

"Now, Eunuch Chen is under a lot of pressure." Shi Wenjiang said beamingly: "Unexpectedly, the transfer of Kong Ming to the Criminal Ministry for interrogation would turn into the impeachment of Chen Hong by civil officials. Miao, it must be the master's handwriting, right?"

Shi Wenjiang inquired about these things, he laughed and said: "I heard people say that Chen Hong has been in a very depressed mood these past few days, and he often scolds his mother in the palace. He hasn't slept for two days. My hair has also turned gray a lot. Early this morning I personally went to the Guandi Temple to offer incense and beg Guan Erye to bless me. I used to hear people say that public opinion can kill people, and now I have finally seen it."

Zhou Nan was also taken aback when he heard the question, and said: "Although Gong Qing and I have dealt with each other, we are not at odds with each other. This matter has nothing to do with me."

Shi Wenjiang looked puzzled: "Then it's strange why Gong Yushi put in so much effort?"

Zhou Nan thought for a while, and said: "The way of science is to impeach people. No matter how ruthless they are, how can they show their authority. The so-called maverick is grandstanding. Besides, what's the point of transferring Kong Ming to the Ministry of Punishment? How can there be more prestige than directly bringing down a chief inspector of ceremonies? I really know Gong Qing very well. If there is a chance to become famous, he will never let it go. Even if he is only as big as a mustard seed, he will Make trouble into Mount Sumeru."

Shi Wenjiang laughed loudly: "Your Excellency, it can be said that you have figured out the thoughts of those so-called Qingliu gentlemen to the extreme. Since Chen Hong can't stand it anymore, it seems that there should be no doubt about Kong Ming being transferred to the Criminal Ministry for interrogation. Chen Hong is fine. The reason why Zhu Xizhong wanted to kill Xu Ge, and why Kong Ming wanted to assassinate the prince of Prince Yu’s mansion is too strange, and I am also very curious. When Kong Mingjie is sent over, the answer to this mystery will finally be revealed, and it suffocates me !"

Zhou Nan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, you just want to know the answer to the final mystery.This guy likes to inquire about news, loves to chat with people, he is simply a bitch.

"It's not that simple. The case now involves the two princes, the second assistant to the cabinet, the governor of the East Factory, and the commander of Jinyiwei. The emperor can't make a decision. It may have to be delayed."

When Shi Wenjiang heard that the riddle could not be solved in a short time, he looked uncomfortable: "When will it be delayed?"

"Who knows?" Zhou Nan thought in his heart, Jiajing didn't know what to do with this matter, so he probably just waited and watched.Unless the situation got out of hand and he had to come forward.

Shi Wenjiang asked again: "How is your lord's health? When will the imperial decree come down?"

"My body is much better, as for the will, who knows?"

While talking, a person from the Daolu Department came to report: "My lord, Mr. Shi, there is a master named Zhu Congchi visiting outside."

Zhou Nan: "Ah, Zhu Congjin, he's back in the capital again. Please, please."

Shi Wenjiang: "My lord, who is this Mr. Zhu Congchi?"

(End of this chapter)