In fact, the most embarrassing thing is Zhang Fujing, the chief assistant. It doesn't matter if he is just scolded. He has been scolded for more than ten years and he doesn't care one more time.
However, there is a rule or routine in the Ming Dynasty. After the prime minister is impeached, he needs to apologize and resign as a courtesy.
If he was impeached in person, he would have to apologize to the emperor without his hat; if he was impeached by a memorial, he would also have to go to the emperor and ask for his resignation.
So the question is, does this "surrender statement" count as impeachment? Moreover, Qin Dewei's identity is not an official, he is just a half-baked quasi-jinshi.
Therefore, Zhang Shoufu also doesn’t understand what should be done procedurally as a target of attack?
Maybe someone needs to speak out and pave the way?
But at this time, the Wenhua Hall was completely silent, and no one stood up to speak.
This is rare in the Ming Dynasty Hall, which is said to have smooth communication but is actually noisy.
Even those who are not good to Zhang Shoufu have nothing to say if they want to add insult to injury.
In Mr. Qin's "surrender statement", all the curses that deserved were cursed. They could not curse him better. Forcibly adding words would only go too far.
Many people can vaguely feel that this "speech" seems to have touched a chord.
It's better not to express your position easily before you figure it out.
Perhaps we should first see what His Majesty the Emperor's attitude is?
But Emperor Jiajing was also frowning and thinking about something. In Wang Tingxiang's report, there were so many long articles and nonsense, and there were only two words that really made Emperor Jiajing care.
"Excellent", and "disregarding one's own merits".
In fact, Emperor Jiajing knew very well that Zhang Fujing's actions in cracking down on the Hanlin Ci officials in the past ten years were for self-protection, and he even acquiesced to it.
Because Zhang Fujing, who started his career by relying on etiquette, did not enter the Hanlin and join the cabinet through normal channels, he could not convince the public and was ridiculed by the Hanlin Qingliu every day.
Therefore, if Zhang Fujing did not vigorously attack the Hanlin group at that time, he would not be able to establish the prestige of the chief minister.
But what kind of place is Hanyuan? It is a reserve place for future ministers and ministers.
The situation has developed to this day, even if Zhang Fuking does not have the intention to seize power, in fact, it has created a situation of dominance in which the first and second assistants suppress those who are behind.
The statement just now made it very clear that there are not many candidates for the chief examiner, and they are all not very prestigious and cannot compete with Zhang Shoufu.
So in the future, what should we do when we need to select ministers from Ci ministers?
In the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, someone finally couldn't bear it anymore and broke the atmosphere.
Huo Tao, one of the giants of the Yili Sect and the left deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, stepped forward without hesitation and reprimanded: "This is an unreasonable and extreme and mean comment!"
It doesn't matter whether there is reason or not. The first thing is to take a clear stand, express support for the chief minister, and guide public opinion.
It was too late, but then it was too late. Before Huo Tao could finish his words, he saw another figure emerging from the Hanlin formation!
Everyone in the hall took a closer look and saw that it was Bachelor Zhang Chao who had just resigned as the examiner of the joint examination!
So everyone couldn't help but fell into deep thought. Is this person a bachelor or a lecturer?
As for what Academician Zhang has to say, no one cares too much. You don't need to listen to know that he must defend his students as a teacher.
Sure enough, I heard Master Zhang tell the emperor: "What Huo Tao said is absolutely true, but this is Qin Dewei's exaggerated and unreasonable statement!"
Everyone: ""
Wait, did you, Master Zhang, get the wrong tune?
Then Academician Zhang continued: "There were rumors in the capital that several powerful officials in the court would suppress Qin Dewei in the imperial examination!
Qin Dewei felt resentful about this, and even wrote two lyrics to relieve his depression! This matter was widely circulated, and everyone who took the exam knew it.
Therefore, Qin Dewei's speech is inevitably suspected of taking personal revenge! I know this inside story and dare not hide it from Your Majesty. I can only report it clearly and treat Your Majesty justice!"
Everyone immediately felt that a reading comprehension question had arisen. Who was Xuashi Zhang accusing and who was he helping?
The most important thing is, how will the emperor express his position?
Master Xia Yanxia felt very uncomfortable. The dignified Tianguan of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the head of the civil servants of the foreign dynasty, and the most rival of the Chief Assistant Zhang Fujing, turned out to be a little transparent passerby who no one paid attention to.
The words that Academician Zhang just said can be left to him. He can perform better than Academician Zhang who has been away from the battlefield for a long time!
His character in the court, Xia Yan, is "Zhang Shoufu's most political opponent"!
It would be really funny if Zhang Shoufu collapsed like this and Xia Yan didn't have anything to do with it!
The emperor on the throne suddenly asked: "What are those two poems?"
The ministers were caught off guard for a moment, and they did not expect that His Majesty would suddenly become artistic.
It was late and then fast. When the ministers were still nervously recalling the content of the two poems, they saw a figure emerging from the six square formations!
Everyone in the hall took a closer look and saw that it was Shang Xiayan, the official!
"I have heard about it, and because of its excellent quality, I have kept it in my heart."
Master Xia, a native of Jiangxi, got ahead of everyone and recited two Huanxi Sha poems in his best Mandarin, clearly and with great emotion.
I don’t know how the performance was, but His Majesty could hear every word clearly.
The seventh among the Seven Retro Talents of the former literary king group, Wang Tingxiang, the Minister of Punishment, who was nominally a literary figure, took a step slowly and looked at Master Xia speechless for a long time.
I really didn't realize before that you, Xia Guizhou, with thick eyebrows, paid so much attention to Qin Dewei in private?
The biggest difference between Emperor Jiajing and the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty is that the core of his character is gloomy. He is very sensitive to the tone of "I am a melancholy guest in the world", but he does not want his ministers to see it.
He just ordered calmly: "The country selects scholars based on policy, gentlemen, read the papers to ensure fairness!"
What is the connotation of this sentence? The emperor gave another riddle for everyone to guess?
Some shrewd people realized that the chief minister, who was regarded as a figure close to the prime minister, was actually the number one civil servant. After being attacked in a long article, the emperor did not even offer any superficial comfort!
In other words, even if the emperor, who was mean by nature, reprimanded Zhang Shoufu in public, it could be regarded as a slap in the face, but in fact it still meant to retain him.
As a result, the emperor was actually indifferent, indifferent and showed no sign! And he was still in the mood to listen to the two poems by the instigator.
This gives people the impression that they want to wait for Zhang Shoufu to make a mistake, and then justifiably let Zhang Shoufu become an official.
After the ceremony, the officials walked out of the Wenhua Hall.
Going south is Wenyuan Pavilion, where the cabinet works; going east is Zuoshunmen, which is the way to go out of the palace.
Chief Assistant Zhang Fujing suddenly stopped and scolded Xia Yan, who continued walking eastward: "Xia Guizhou! Take care of your people!"
Xia Yan actually didn't push back, but just smiled bitterly. This was Qin Dewei's own fault, it was none of his business!
But the trust between people is too fragile, and there is no chance of joining forces with the chief assistant.
If I had known earlier, I would have chased Qin Dewei back that day after he left in anger.
What you think is the struggle in the court: the chief assistant bachelor and the official of the Ministry of civil affairs are like two children arguing about the sun, and they are fighting at a low level.
Real court struggle: The chief assistant bachelor and the civil servant Tianguan, who are political enemies of each other, try to put on a show together before the palace examination to dispel other people's suspicions and then divide the rankings in the palace examination.
But who would have thought that a prospective Jinshi candidate would jump out and tear his first assistant with his hands?
If Qin Dewei hadn't caused trouble, the final results of the palace examination in the 14th year of Jiajing's history would have been as follows:
In Sandingjiali, there are two people from Zhejiang and one from Jiangxi. Zhang Fujing is from Zhejiang and Xia Yan is from Jiangxi. What a coincidence.
Among them, the top pick in the first place was ranked 294th, the second place in the first place was 253rd, and the top pick in the first place was 153rd. Even Qin Dewei was not as good as him!
Among the top ten in the top two, there are two from Zhejiang and three from Jiangxi. These two provinces account for half, which is probably a coincidence.
Huiyuan Xu Gu, who came first in the imperial examination, came from Yingtian Mansion in Kengbi. In the final palace examination, he only ranked 11th among the top two.
Qin Dewei, the 91st person in the joint examination, also comes from Yingtian Mansion in Kengbi. God knows where he will be in the final palace examination.