Chapter 491 The results of the court recommendation are delivered to Xiyuan
Gao Gong, who came out of the queue, bowed solemnly to Zhu Zaijing under the throne. He knew very well that he had the opportunity to speak this time only because of Zhu Zaijing's help.
Without Zhu Zaijing's words, he might have been able to stand in the palace and watch how the cabinet used their power and influence to influence the choices of the officials who came to participate in the ceremony.
After Gao Gong bowed to Zhu Zaijing, he took a deep breath and turned to the other officials in the hall, bowing slightly as well.
Then Gao Gong also started his speech.
Gao Gong is a more pragmatic person, so his speech style and topics are not as empty as Ouyang Bijin.
Ouyang Bijin talked about the origin and history of the official department, as well as some well-known responsibilities of the official department.
These words were also spoken in all directions, with the tone of an official statement.
But the current situation is that Zhu Zaijing wants them to work in a "competitive" manner to canvass votes for him. Therefore, Ouyang Bijin's speech must not be able to move Zhu Zaijing's heart.
But as for whether he could impress the officials in the palace, Zhu Zaijing didn't know.
After all, Zhu Zaijing had no actual contact with what these bureaucrats were like. Except for Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Zhao Zhenji, Chen Yiqin, Li Chunfang and others who were stuffed into the palace by Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Zaijing In fact, the only officials he had contact with were Hai Rui and some officials in the current special zone of the capital.
The rest of the officials in the imperial court had never met Prince Yu, and Prince Yu didn't know them.
And because of the political system of the Ming Dynasty, even if they had some loyal emperors who wanted to criticize those in high positions, they would only criticize Emperor Jiajing or a few cabinet ministers, as well as some ministers and others.
As for princes like Zhu Zaijing who are not directly involved in court politics, they have no words to complain.
At most, they can only complain about the business affairs of Prince Yu's palace, but business is a painless matter, and they think the emperor acquiesces in this matter, and most of their own families may also More or less engaged in certain businesses and transactions.
Otherwise, if you just rely on the salary from the capital official, you are not a minister with real power, and you are not in a key position, and if you don't make some "extra money", then you will starve to death in the capital.
Moreover, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, all officials below the fifth rank of the imperial court can do business. After all, the salary given by Zhu Baba was too low back then. It was reasonable to expect this salary to support a simple family of three.
However, the ancient family relationship is by no means a simple family of three. Many relatives will depend on each other and support each other. Moreover, almost all the female relatives in the family are not engaged in production, and the more diligent ones are weavers. Weave cloth and make some women's clothing to supplement the household income.
As for the rest, don't even think about it.
Therefore, with the official salaries of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was extremely difficult to support a family and maintain dignity.
Therefore, under such a deformed salary and salary system, it is extremely difficult for officials to avoid being corrupt officials.
After all, when he is alone, he can be hard on himself and say something like "if you are poor, you can live alone" and some sarcastic remarks about "frugality to cultivate virtue and integrity to build a body", but really if an official with a low salary can only use his own To support a large family with low and untimely salary is simply a test for cadres.
Therefore, in order to tolerate these lower-ranking officials, the imperial court naturally relaxed the restrictions on officials doing business, although it was only open to fifth-rank officials.
But as soon as the official became official and the businessman started to get involved, how could it stop at the fifth rank?
Therefore, among the bureaucratic families in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was inevitable for officials or other members of the official family to engage in business enclosures and mergers.
Even if the emperor wanted to stop it, he could not afford the money to compensate these officials for their official expenses, let alone the hard power to eradicate these stubborn diseases.
After all, the people the emperor wants to use are also their group.
When it really reaches the unbearable stage, it is better to catch a few typical people and solve the problem. It is impossible to involve a large area like in the early Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, the country will be unstable in an instant!
You must know that the Ming Dynasty was the only dynasty that collapsed due to "layoffs" in five thousand years.
Of course, this sentence is also a joke, but it is undeniable that the reason why the Ming Dynasty was forced to lay off the postmen was because it really had no money.
Otherwise, how could the imperial court allow so many people who were literate and had certain social connections and status to leave the system to make a living on their own?
You must know that these people who are literate and have social connections and status, once they lose the dignity and iron rice bowl they have worked so hard to maintain, their first reaction is injustice.
Why should I be punished but not him?
Why do I have to sacrifice?
With such a mentality at work, these people who have been laid off from the system are doing great things. The energy and slogans they can generate are absolutely direct to the soul and can directly resonate with the vast majority of people.
Once this kind of resonance becomes overwhelming, let alone a dynasty, they can overthrow even the highest heavens.
Therefore, if you want to be stable, you must continue to develop and open source. If you only think about cutting costs without open source, then it will really happen, and the world will definitely fall apart.
Therefore, Gao Gong's speech focused on institutional innovation for talent selection and salary adjustment for responsible officials.
When the officials in the palace heard Gao Gong talk about the innovation of the talent selection system, they were not very interested. After all, in the eyes of veteran officials like them, this kind of talk was not a kind of "Beijing inspection" or "merit test". ” variant.
But when Gao Gong talked about the salary adjustment of certain responsible officials and the establishment and improvement of the housing provident fund system for officials, everyone's eyes couldn't help but start to shine.
If the salaries of officials can really be adjusted and increased to varying degrees, and if the imperial court is really willing to follow some of the trial rules of the Capital Special Administrative Region and provide system guarantees for the officials of the Capital to pay and provide housing provident funds, then these people who are already in the capital will be able to The cash-strapped officials in the capital also have a provident fund subsidy to rent or purchase properties in the capital, and they must be very happy.
After all, when you just watch others eating meat, you feel more uncomfortable than when you suffer yourself.
But as a scholar-official who reads books from sages, how can he talk about money and profit lightly?
So after listening to Gao Gong's talk about establishing and improving the housing provident fund system for officials, although they were very moved, they still wanted to oppose it.
After all, no one wants to be labeled as "money-grubbing", so just after Gao Gong finished speaking about his "campaign" philosophy, the people present couldn't help but start a buzzing discussion.
There are even a few shameless people who are ready to stand up and accuse Gao Gong of doing this to destroy the "Taoist heart" of scholars who are content with poverty.
But in the end, after some hesitation, these shameless officials did not come forward.
Because they are also afraid that if they feel happy for a while, they will become the public enemy of most officials in the capital.
After all, they account for about one-twentieth of the total number of officials in the capital, and there are more than 2,000 officials in the capital who are not qualified to participate in the imperial examination.
But for these ordinary officials who are not qualified to participate in the Beijing Promotion, their lives are even more difficult to describe. If someone says something here that arouses public outrage, even if these officials will not cause trouble frontally, they will definitely be tempted to kill them secretly.
Therefore, the officials in the palace who were ready to stand up and stand up only said a few righteous words to the officials around them, such as being in the eyes of money and trying to win people's hearts with a few taels of silver.
But for such bad words, most people expressed their admiration with deep approval, but in their hearts they also sneered and cursed: "Eat your rice?"
Zhu Zaijing looked at Gao Gong, who had also finished his speech at this moment, and said to the cabinet: "Now that Minister Ouyang and Chairman Gao have finished speaking, do you cabinet elders have anything to add?"
Yan Song didn't move, as if he had fallen asleep sitting on the chair.
Xu Jie, Lu Ben and Li Chunfang looked at each other, and the three of them had no objection.
So at this time, Zhu Zaijing said again: "Since the cabinet has nothing to add, let's start the recommendation now. Later, I will ask someone to give you two beans, one is red, and the other is red. The red one represents support for Ouyang Shangshu, and the black one represents support for Chairman Gao.”
"At that time, you just need to line up and quietly throw the beans you selected into the closed box. If someone is smart and throws all the beans in the box, so that the final number of beans is more than the number of people present, then re-throw. I have the patience to wait until you throw out a number of beans equal to the number of your people.”
"So, if you are not afraid of being tired or cold, just throw it, because I will put the box outside the main hall door, and the palace door will be opened when you throw it."
After that, Zhu Zaijing waved his hand and asked someone to open the door of Huangji Palace. The cold air outside suddenly filled the entire hall, exposing all the officials who had just warmed up to the cold air. In the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month of winter.
At the same time, the red beans and black cups ordered by Zhu Zaijing were also brought by several guards. These guards began to distribute the beans to everyone in turn, and waited until the beans were distributed.
Zhu Zaijing said to the cabinet again: "Fellow cabinet ministers, please go first."
At this time, Yan Song seemed to have woken up. He stood up from the chair tremblingly and bowed slightly to Zhu Zaijing. Then Xu Jie, who was beside him, supported his arm like a dutiful son and slowly walked to the door of the hall and looked at There is a box at the front door.
Yan Song touched the beans in his hand, and finally dropped a bean into the box from an angle invisible to others.
Then Xu Jie also put in a piece, and after the people in the cabinet finished making their bets, the ministers of the six departments and the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate also started to put in bets.
After they had finished throwing beans, it was the turn of other officials in the palace to start throwing beans.
After about a quarter of an hour, all the officials finally finished throwing out the beans according to the rules set by Zhu Zaijing.
At this time, Zhu Zaijing said to the cabinet again: "Please also ask the cabinet and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to supervise on your behalf and sort the beans in the boxes for you."
Xu Jie and Zhou Yan, the censor of the capital, stood up, bowed to Zhu Zaijing, and then began to monitor the number of beans in the box.
After the two of them counted it twice, another guard on the side counted it twice.
Xu Jie said: "Your Majesty, the number of people participating in the court promotion this time is one hundred and thirty-one, and the number of beans in the box is also one hundred and thirty-one, which is in line with the rules set by the prince."
Zhu Zaijing said: "Start dividing the beans."
Xu Jie and Zhou Yan bowed together, "I obey!"
Then, under the witness of both of them, the two guards began to sort the one hundred and thirty-one beans.
While they were sorting, everyone in the hall couldn't help but step up and look around. They also wanted to know whether the final result was more red beans or more black beans.
After all, this is the first time they have recommended it in this way, so they are inevitably a little excited and expectant.
You must know that in the past, when the imperial court held court meetings, most of them followed them. As for who to choose for court, it was almost the same as the one decided by default.
But this time, Prince Yu actually thought of using two-colored beans to engage in courtship.
This not only eliminates the risk of cheating, but also eliminates the risk of being settled later.
After all, these beans are all exactly the same. After being thrown into the box, no one can use the beans to trace who supported whom and who did not support whom.
So this method is really wonderful!
After a while, the beans were finally sorted.
Xu Jie and Zhou Yan checked it again and made sure it was correct.
The two also wrote the results on a piece of paper, and then handed it to the guard on the side, who forwarded it to Zhu Zaijing.
Zhu Zaijing took the paper handed over by the guard. He glanced at the words on it without any unnecessary expression on his face.
But all the officials in the palace have focused all their attention on Zhu Zaijing.
In particular, Ouyang Bijin and Gao Gong looked at Zhu Zaijing nervously, wanting to hear Zhu Zaijing announce the result.
There are also people who are equally nervous, including Zhang Juzheng and others. This is the first time that they are so nervous about the results of the recommendation.
You must know that in the past, this kind of recommendation was just a formality. From the beginning, the result was almost known.
Unless some unforeseen dark horse emerges, the result of each nomination will be the candidate who has been drafted within the cabinet or each ministry.
But now this time, not only does the candidate have an extra high arch, but it has also been changed by Prince Yu in this way, which really makes people a little nervous and excited.
Zhu Zaijing glanced at everyone, glanced at Ouyang Bijin, and also glanced at Gao Gong.
But at the last moment, Zhu Zaijing folded the piece of paper and said, "Come here, please deliver the results of the court recommendation to Xiyuan quickly and present them to His Majesty for your inspection. All ministers can leave now."
——————
Please give me a monthly ticket~~
(End of chapter)