Chapter 348 Xia Yan’s secret friendship with Yan Song
Zhu Houzhao really wanted to change the empire's emphasis on culture and restraint on military affairs, but he knew that this would not happen overnight.
From that time on allowing the Guards to be independent and not subject to the control of the Ministry of War, Zhu Houzhao began to intend to let the generals who understood military affairs have the final say.
However, due to the special current situation of the Ming Dynasty, the important positions in the Guards were still held by some civilian officials who were governors of border towns.
As a result, the Ming Empire seemed to be dominated by civilian officials in the early days of Zhengde. Now, as the children of military attachés and nobles began to receive cultural and military education, and scholars began to be absorbed into the military ranks, civilian officials also became military attachés, and sometimes military attaches also became As a civil servant, the phenomenon of emphasizing literature and restraining military force became less and less.
And with the improvement of the status of soldiers, people no longer disdain martial arts.
Now, Zhu Houzhao has made Wu Chen the minister of political affairs. Naturally, he wants to further change the phenomenon of emphasizing civility and suppressing military affairs, and prevent the civilian officials from becoming too big, so that military attachés have no say in decision-making agencies such as the Political Affairs Office.
The British Duke Zhang Rong naturally did not expect that he would become the Minister of Political Affairs. Now that he was appointed as the Minister of Political Affairs, he was very happy in his heart, because he never thought that one day he would be able to be with the emperor and these cabinet ministers. Decide on world affairs!
"Ever since the Tumu Fortress incident, noble generals have been standing aside. Let alone participating in secrets, it would be nice if their achievements could not be taken away by civil servants. Even if you are a prince, a seventh-grade civil servant has He dares to slap the nose of a military commander who is a noble prince!
Now that he can become the Minister of State Affairs, it can be seen that His Majesty still has us, the noble military ministers, in his heart. Not only does he spend money to train us, but he also allows us to participate in important military and political affairs! It is truly a great gift from the Emperor! Lord of the Holy Light! ”
When Zhang Rong thought this, he couldn't help but straighten his chest. He thought that he was now in the same room with the emperor and the minister who made decisions about the world. He was the same as the prime ministers in the Tang and Song Dynasties. He had to have some magnanimity, even if he was holding an elephant wat. Shi also held the elephant wat more upright, stopped looking around, and just stood in the first place on the right side in an orderly manner.
Jiang Dong also didn't expect that he would become a minister of political affairs. As a governor of Bianzhen, he thought that he would become a minister at the highest level in his life, but he also did not expect that he would become a minister of political affairs who looked like a prime minister.
But in any case, in order to repay the king's favor on the golden stage, he was happy to die for the king, Jiang Dong also sat upright and began to listen to Zhu Houzhao's instructions.
Zhu Houzhao didn't say much and asked Xia Yan to preside over the nomination ceremony of the Political Affairs Office.
The entire process and rules and regulations of the Political Affairs Office were drafted by Xia Yan. Naturally, he was also in charge of the first ministerial nomination in the Political Affairs Office.
"The first is the candidate for the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Xia was ordered to list the following qualified candidates: Li Ben, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Wen Yuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, Xu Jie, the Minister of the Ministry of Railways, and Yan Song, the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture..."
Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting in the first place in the middle, began to say after listening to Xia Yan's introduction: "You all have your own opinions. I will not punish you for what you said in the court, but you can speak freely. The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the world. What do you think?" Who is the most suitable? ”
Xu Jin smiled slightly and did not speak first. He just cursed in his heart:
"Although His Majesty has accepted your Xia Yan's proposal, you, Xia Yan, are just waiting to be scolded by the civil servants all over the world! Even if you can die a good death, you are destined to not be spared by the pen in the hands of scholars and officials in your life! ”
Next, it was Xia Yan who spoke first: "Your Majesty, colleagues, the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the affairs of the world and has very important powers. To be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, fairness is the first priority. Xia thinks that those on the list can be called fair and strict. It is better than Wen Gong, so Xia recommended Wen Yuan as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel."
As soon as Xia Yan's words came out, Xu Jin immediately started thinking. Although he was very reluctant to see Xia Yan's proposal to establish an administrative office become a reality, he had to pay careful attention to who Xia Yan would recommend as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
"Wen Yuan was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Hongzhi. He has senior qualifications and great prestige. Once Wen Yuan becomes the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, it means that he, the second assistant in the cabinet, will not be able to interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel. At that time, Xia Yan will be in charge of the cabinet, and the official will What can I, a leader of Qingliu, do if I have the Buddha Wen Yuan in my department? Is this Xia Yan really good at recommending him? Could it be that Xia Yan and Wen Yuan have colluded in secret?"
Xu Jin cursed a few words in his heart, then stood up and cupped his hands to Zhu Houzhao and said:
"Your Majesty, I recommend Li Ben, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing. If we talk about justice, Mr. Li can compare with Mr. Wen. When Li Gong was the academic official, he dared to depose Yuan Fu's nephew who was uneducated and unskilled. This is enough to show his reputation. Mr. Li is right!”
After Xu Jin finished speaking, he glanced at Xia Yan provocatively. Seeing Xia Yan's displeasure because he mentioned that his nephew was uneducated and unskilled in front of the emperor, he felt even more satisfied and said to himself: "Let you, Xia Yan, propose a device." In the Political Affairs Department, I just want to recommend Li Ben, who you don’t want to see, as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs!”
Of course, although Xu Jin secretly thought so, it did not mean that he recommended Li Ben simply to embarrass Xia Yan. He also recommended Xia Yan's political opponents to check and balance Xia Yan.
Xu Jingu continued to talk about several of Li Ben's advantages and praised Li Ben very much. Then, he said: "And Mr. Li also has another advantage, that is, he is younger than Mr. Wen. Your Majesty always gives gifts to young people." The opportunity for those who want to make progress is that the old minister chose Li Ben, and I heard that the Duke is old and mature, so it is easier for him to join the cabinet to assist the government. "
Xu Jin knew that if he recommended Li Ben instead of Wen Yuan, Wen Yuan would inevitably be unhappy when he found out about it in the future, so he simply added that he didn't think Wen Yuan was good, but that Wen Yuan should be a cabinet scholar. .
The purpose of being an official is to be versatile and avoid offending those who can avoid offending them.
When Xia Yan heard that Xu Jin recommended Li Ben and mentioned his uneducated nephew, he was indeed a little unhappy. He knew that Xu Jin was deliberately trying to lose face, but he was not someone who couldn't control his emotions. Xu After Jin said that, he said to Zhang Rongxiao: "Gong Zhang is the leader of the military officials, so he should speak first. But now he is reluctant to speak. He must have thought carefully about it. When discussing politics before the king, I ask Duke Zhang to speak frankly."
Zhang Rong didn't expect that Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, would be so respectful to him. Moreover, the meaning behind his words was that he felt that he should speak first. He obviously felt that he should be ranked among the top two. His father, Zhang Lun, had a favorable impression of Xia Yan, a classmate of the Capital University.
So, Zhang Rong hurriedly said: "Thanks to your majesty's favor, I hold the position of minister of state affairs, but Zhang only knows the military, so how can I know who Otsuka Zai is? However, I believe that veteran generals should be used in war and veteran ministers should be used in government, so The minister recommended Wen Gong! ”
At this time, Jiang Dong also stood up and said: "I also recommended Wen Gong to be the Prime Minister of Otsuka. Li Bennai was born as a Hanlin Ci official. He has high literary attainments. Although he is fair and honest, he is not good at secular affairs. The Ministry of Personnel is not the Ministry of Rites. It involves many practical performance assessments such as money and taxation, engineering construction, and people's livelihood, and Wen Gong has served in local governments, so Wen Gong is more suitable. ”
Xu Jin's heart sank and he looked at Xia Yan: "Conspiracy, this is definitely a conspiracy! It was Xia Yan's suggestion to establish the administrative affairs office. Now the military minister Zhang Rong and Jiang Dong, the civil servant of the Privy Council of the Guards who are no different from the military ministers, have been appointed ministers of administrative affairs. It must be Xia Yan's suggestion. This Xia Yan must be relying on His Majesty's favor to deliberately control the power of the court! "
"Three of the four ministers recommended Wen Yuan. In this case, I will not vote. I will draft a decree and appoint Wen Yuan as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, plus a Shaofu, with a salary!"
"In addition, after Wen Yuan was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the selection of the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments will be discussed later, and Bao Xiang, the left minister of the Ministry of Punishments, will be in charge of the ministry temporarily!"
After Zhu Houzhao said that, he then ordered: "There are other business matters to be done. The meeting of the Political Affairs Office will be here first. Let's all disperse. We will discuss the new cabinet ministers at this time tomorrow."
"Follow the holy edict!" Xia Yan and others immediately replied.
Xia Yan was in a good mood for the first meeting of the Political Affairs Office of the Ming Dynasty. Although the emperor made two important ministers of the Guards system become ministers of political affairs, at least he wanted Wen Yuan to become the minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Political goals are achieved.
The British Duke Zhang Rong and the Privy Council are naturally in a good mood. They don't care who is the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but they are in a good mood if they can become ministers of affairs and participate in the military and political decisions of the empire, so that they have a sense of presence, especially when they see They were even more happy when even civil servants like Chief Assistant Xia Yan showed respect to them.
Sometimes power and status bring such wonderful feelings to people. Having a higher status and being respected by others can make people feel like dying.
Xu Jin now has to be respectful to nobles like Zhang Rong and generals like Jiang Dong;
After all, he is now the minister of political affairs. If Xu Jin wants to win more seats for his business class in the next few important ministers' recommendations, he can only win over these ministers of political affairs as much as possible and get more votes.
"I have heard for a long time that the Duke of Guo is good at wine. Xu has a vat of Magu wine that has been stored in the cellar for ten years. How about asking the servant to give it to the Duke of Guo to taste it. If the Duke of Guo doesn't like it, he can also give it to the drunkards and crabs."
Xu Jin and Zhang Rong were close to each other. After all, Xia Yan was clearly suspected of instigating an instigation between himself and the British Duke Zhang Rong at the political meeting. Now that the meeting was over, he must deliberately show humility to show that he did not disrespect the British. Public meaning.
Xia Yan also showed disgust when he saw this. After all, Xu Jin was more than twenty years older than Zhang Rong, yet a so-called senior and virtuous Qingliu leader was begging for favors from a nobleman who was less than fifty, so Xia Yan No matter how you look at it, you feel shameless.
Zhu Houzhao also noticed Xia Yan and Xu Jin holding guns and clubs at the political meeting, but this was exactly what he wanted to achieve. After all, the first assistant and the second assistant could not stick together, so that he, the emperor, could rule the Ming Dynasty. Only then can the country be stabilized and transitioned.
And he made Zhang Rong and Jiang Dong, officials outside the civil service system, become ministers of government affairs. Naturally, this was also the reason why these ministers of government affairs were neutralized and unable to unite.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not really want to engage in internal struggle. In order to continue the empire's reform and external expansion policies, he still favored Xia Yan. He believed that Xu Jin could also see this, but Zhu Houzhao did not think that Xu Jin could do anything. The most we can do is try our best to improve relations with Wu Chenwenjiang.
But Zhu Houzhao did not want to give Xu Jin such an opportunity, or he did not want to give Xu Jin such an opportunity on the surface, which also laid the foundation for punishing Xu Jin in the future.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao ordered: "The Chief of Ceremonies sent an edict to the ministers who discussed the affairs, saying what I said: Do not be loyal to the public and support the country, and do not form private parties or engage in conspiracy. If you let me know, you will be punished for the crime of forming a party for private purposes!" By then, I won’t be able to hang on to my old face for several lifetimes!”
As a result, the eunuchs who passed down the throne conveyed their orders to the four ministers one after another.
Zhang Rong hurriedly refused Xu Jin's flattery, and from now on he no longer dared to have any contact with the other three ministers. He was deeply afraid that as an honorable class, the position of minister that he had finally won would be removed because of cliques and selfish interests. What's more, He also knew about the Lan Jade case in the Hongwu Dynasty.
Jiang Dong also stayed behind closed doors, or only paid attention to the imperial expedition to Europe in the Privy Council and Jia Yingchun.
It doesn't matter to Xia Yan. He has never had any contact with these four ministers in private, but he knows that the interests and political ideas of Zhang Rong and Jiang Dong are consistent with his own, so even if he Without contact, he believed that Zhang Rong and Jiang Dong would support him.
Xia Yan knew that this was the emperor taking care of him.
The Western aristocratic lady Madeline, who has given birth to a daughter for Xia Yan, has now entered old age, but she still looks at Xia Yan with a look of admiration: "Although you are from a noble family, sir, you should take care of your health. ”
"The emperor's kindness is so great, how dare you take a break," Xia Yan said, and then ordered: "Go and ask Xia Wu to come over."
After a while, Xia Yan's servant Xia Wu came to Xia Yan like this: "Master, you called me."
"Tomorrow, sir, I want to inspect the Capital University. When I get to the Ming Agricultural Science Institute, I will ask them to stop. I want to see Yan Butang in casual clothes. Then you must be careful and don't let outsiders know my whereabouts. Xi We don’t have to worry about the factory anymore, His Majesty is happy to see us like this.”
When Xia Yan said this, Xia Wu didn't dare to ask any more questions and hurriedly responded and left.
The next day, Xia Yan met Yan Song in casual clothes. Yan Song didn't know what kind of medicine Xia Yan was selling in his gourd, because in his eyes, the Xia Chief Fu didn't seem to think highly of him, but Yan Song also wanted to make progress, plus Due to his personality, he would always please anyone in his position first, so when he saw Xia Yan, he still bowed first:
"Yuan Fu condescended to come, and the subordinates were frightened! I don't know what Yuan Fu's important order was. I should just ask a small official to convey it."
"How can we entrust a minor official to convey the matter involving the elimination of traitors? Mr. Yan invites you to ask. You are a minister of the country. How dare Xia accept your gift? The people of the world, no matter how high or low, all depend on you for their support." Xia Yanxiao said with a smile.
Yan Song couldn't help but be shocked, secretly thinking about getting rid of the traitor, why are you looking for me? But he still held up his hands and said: "Yuan Fu is ridiculous, this is all your Majesty's fault. I wonder who the traitor Yuan Fu said is?"
"Second Assistant Xu Jin!"
Xia Yan had already sat on the left hand seat in front of Yan Song. After speaking solemnly, he waved his sleeves and said, "If this thief doesn't die, the Ming Dynasty will suffer endless troubles!"
Although Yan Song had already guessed three points in his mind, on the surface he still felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He took a few steps back and his hands were trembling so much that he didn't know where to put them; "Yuanfu, Yuanfu means Mr. Xu Ge? I'm a little embarrassed." I don’t understand, Yuansuke, what do you mean?”
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(End of chapter)