Chapter 684: No trivial matter involving Qin Dewei
No one thinks that Japan's tribute incident is a big deal, and even their own people can't understand what Qin Dewei's purpose is.
Only Qin Dewei himself understood that he was using this incident to fight for the right to speak in relations with Japan and to firmly control future diplomatic power in his own hands.
Qin Dewei, a time traveler, would not feel at ease leaving foreign affairs to anyone else of this era.
For non-procedural memorials, Qin Zhongtang would still write it himself, because it would be difficult for someone else to write it for him, so it would be difficult to perfectly reflect his intention as a time traveler.
After drafting and transcribing a chapter, Qin Dewei called Fang You, a member of the Zhongshu House, and ordered: "Send it to Xiyuan together with other memorials."
Fang Sheren had the spirit of wanting to be in front of the leader in everything, so he asked for instructions: "Do you want to send the memorandum in the middle hall separately? This will attract more attention."
Qin Dewei taught his subordinates earnestly and thoughtfully: "We ministers must keep in mind the word self-denial. It is not a particularly important thing. How can we arbitrarily use the convenience of our position to make ourselves special?"
Fang You could only pretend to be taught something: "What Zhongtang said is absolutely true, but the lower official is superficial!"
After retreating, Fang You secretly opened Qin Zhongtang's memorial and found that there was only one content in the memorial, which was to request the Siyi Pavilion to add a Japanese pavilion.
High, really high! People in Fang She can’t help but admire that Qin Zhongtang is really good at taking advantage of conditions to take advantage of loopholes!
In this way, Qin Zhongtang, who still has an errand as the admiral of the Seiyi Pavilion, can legitimately participate in discussions on Japan-related topics.
According to traditional rules, the Clerk's Office of the Supervisor of Rites should collect the internal and external chapters on behalf of the emperor once a day and then send them to the cabinet.
When the Supervisor of Ceremonies had relatively strong power, Supervisor of Ceremonies Zhu Bingbi could read the memorial on behalf of the emperor first, and then send it to the cabinet after reading it.
However, in the Jiajing Dynasty, the power of the Supervisor of Ceremonies was restricted by Emperor Jiajing. Even when the Supervisor of Ceremonies wrote to criticize the emperor, Emperor Jiajing often did it himself while he was cultivating immortality.
Therefore, at this time, the power of the cabinet was gradually increasing, and memorials were usually sent to the cabinet for review first. This is why the Jialongwan period is called the peak of Ming Dynasty's civilian politics.
But this does not mean that Emperor Jiajing delegated power to the cabinet. He usually read the memorials in person. He was not as diligent as a normal Ming emperor.
The only people who could compare with Emperor Jiajing in their diligent administration were Emperor Gao and Chongzhen, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.
In later generations, people often analyze why Emperor Jiajing was so obsessed with cultivating immortals and could still maintain his power. First of all, putting aside the so-called power tactics, the first reason is that Emperor Jiajing himself was diligent.
It is difficult for ministers and ministers to seize power when there is an emperor who is always watching you and suspicious of you.
The next day, Fang You personally ran errands and sent today's Zhang Shu to the Yinghe Gate of Xiyuan. Qin Zhongtang's memorial was also mixed in with it.
The person who received Zhang Shu there was a junior eunuch named Feng Bao. He was less than twenty years old. He had just graduated from the inner school and had been working as the eunuch for less than a year. He was responsible for collecting the outsiders at Yinghe Gate.
memorial.
Fang Sheren thought for a while and then said to Feng Bao: "Qin Zhongtang's memorial is among them."
When Feng Bao heard this, he dug out Qin Dewei's memorial and put it on the top. Then he smiled and said to Fang You, "The elders have already spoken about it. If there is a memorial from Qin Scholar, we must give priority to it."
Fang You suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Qin Zhongtang did not need to send him his own memorial alone. There was indeed no need at all!
Even if it is mixed in hundreds of daily memorials, Qin Zhongtang's memorials will be paid special attention to by the elders, so there is no need to send them separately for the sake of being eye-catching!
After that, eunuch Feng Baofeng sent the memorial to the Zhilu of Xia Yanxia, the chief assistant of Wuyi Palace, and also gave a "kind" reminder: "The top book is Qin Dewei's Zhang Shu, and we turned it to the top specially.
"
Although this small detail is useless, it is still a goodwill gesture.
The young eunuch Feng Bao, who had just started his career and was still very unfamiliar in all aspects, also knew how to do his best to expand his network of contacts.
But Xia Yan, who is the chief assistant, only waved his hand to the young eunuch Feng Bao and said coldly: "I understand, you can go down!"
Feng Bao withdrew from Shofu Zhilu in disappointment, and met another pavilion elder Yan Song in the courtyard.
"I've troubled you to deliver the memorial again." Yan Song greeted Eunuch Feng amiably, and handed over the two boxes of tea in his hand, "I just sent them from home. I'll take two boxes."
Feng Bao quickly declined, but still couldn't refuse, so he accepted Mr. Yan Ge's small gift.
As he walked out, he thought to himself, no wonder the emperor has become closer to Yan Song in recent years, it can be seen from his behavior.
Naturally, Xia Yan would not pay attention to the mood of a minor eunuch like Feng Bao. Now his attention was focused on Qin Dewei's memorial.
In fact, the content of this memorial is very simple. Qin Dewei only said one thing, requesting the Seyi Pavilion to add a Japanese pavilion.
Originally, the Siyi Pavilion had eight pavilions. When Qin Dewei took over, he added a Western Pavilion and turned it into a nine-pavilion structure. Unexpectedly, today, Qin Dewei came to petition to add a tenth pavilion.
However, in the courtiers' perception, Japan, which was isolated overseas, was of no use to the Ming Dynasty. Japan was not a particularly obedient vassal, and there were not many contacts, so there was no need to set up a Japan Pavilion.
However, the matter itself is not a big deal, but there is a rule in the minds of the elders in the court: there is no trivial matter involving Qin Dewei, and the more inexplicable it seems, the less trivial it is.
Therefore, the content of the memorial is not worth mentioning. The key question is, what is the ulterior purpose of Qin Dewei behind the memorial?
Xia Shoufu had a guess about this, and the more he thought about it, the more dissatisfied he became. So he ordered his entourage: "Invite Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites to come!"
After a while, Zhang Chaojiu, the Minister of Rites, who was also at Wuyi Hall, arrived.
Xia Yan handed Qin Dewei's Memorial to Zhang Chao and said calmly: "Just take a look."
After Zhang Chao read it, he was also confused and also unclear about Qin Dewei's purpose.
It was three years ago that Admiral Qin Dewei took charge of Siyi Guan. In the following three years, Qin Dewei continued to be promoted, but Qin Dewei always clung to Siyi Guan.
Now, he has become a trinity Qingliu. He is halfway into the official position of the cabinet, but he still has the title of admiral of the Seiyi Pavilion.
Some people joked about this and said that this may be the noblest admiral and official of the Seiyi Palace since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
The main reason was that the yamen of Siyiguan was too marginalized and no one was interested at all, so the court just ignored Qin Dewei.
"What exactly does Qin Dewei want?" Xia Yan asked Zhang Chao.
Zhang Chao couldn't understand Xia Yan's attitude, so he replied: "Qin Dewei didn't inform me before he came to the throne. How can I know Qin Dewei's thoughts?"
Xia Yan snorted coldly and said, "You really don't know?"
Zhang Chao replied again: "I really don't know."
Xia Shoufu added: "The Siyi Pavilion is a matter of your Ministry of Rites. What do you think Qin Dewei should do with this memorial?"
Zhang Chao responded cautiously: "It is the authority of cabinet ministers to prepare memorials and votes. How can foreign officials express their opinions without authorization? Unless the sage has other orders to inquire."
Xia Shoufu shouted: "I'm afraid you teachers and students are not colluding with each other to usurp the power of the cabinet!"
Zhang Chao: ""
It turns out that he has never been able to understand Qin Dewei's brain circuit, but he is fine with others and has been in the court for nearly thirty years.
But now he discovered that he couldn't understand Xia Shoufu's brain circuit. He heard that the emperor planned to start refining elixirs. Could it be that Xia Shoufu was favored by God and tried the medicine on his own body first?
As a minister of the Ministry of Rites who was promoted by his students, Zhang Chao was not very confident when facing the chief minister, but he still tried his best to defend himself and said: "This is just a small matter."
Xia Shoufu sneered: "A trivial matter? There are no trivial matters when it comes to Qin Dewei! Why do you request the establishment of a Japanese pavilion at this time?
His intentions are nothing more than deliberately taking advantage of trivial matters to take the opportunity to participate in government affairs in an attempt to gradually form a routine!
So although the matter is trivial, Qin Dewei's thoughts are very big!"
Zhang Chao couldn't bear it anymore, so he went back and said: "There is no need to accuse me of any crime. My mother-in-law is going too far with my heart-breaking remarks! This is a suspicion of a neighbor stealing an axe. I only advise you to be magnanimous!"
Xia Yan, the first assistant, did not want to argue with Zhang Shangshu, so he ordered his entourage: "Invite Yan Song again!"
Several people were on duty in the wing of Wuyi Hall, so it was very convenient to call people over. Yan Song was startled when he heard Xia Yan calling him, wondering what was going on.
Because since they parted ways, Xia Yan has never invited herself, and usually treats herself as nothing.
The status of Xia Shoufu was there, and Mr. Yan Ge could not neglect his superficial skills, so he could only rush to Shoufu Zhilu.
Xia Yan handed Qin Dewei's memorial to Yan Song: "Watch it too!"
Yan Song was surprised again by his open attitude of actively reading the memorial. After reading it, he instantly understood why Zhang Chao was also present.
At this time, Xia Shoufu asked Mr. Yan Ge, "What do you think?"
Yan Song snorted coldly, looked at Zhang Chao and said, "In my opinion, this Bachelor Qin wants to reach into the cabinet to seize power. Mr. Zhang, don't you think so?"
Zhang Chao was speechless. These chief ministers and elders were all top figures in Ming Dynasty politics. How come they all seemed possessed by a demon?
Why is something as big as sesame so important?
Xia Yan took the words and said, "Mr. Zhang, you thought I was prejudiced against Qin Dewei just now, so what now? Is it possible that everyone is prejudiced?"
Zhang Chao was helpless, but he didn't know where to start. He could only emphasize repeatedly: "It's just a small thing!"
Yan Song scolded: "It is precisely because it is a trivial matter that it is easy for us to be careless! It is precisely because it is a trivial matter that Qin Dewei thinks it is easy to succeed! It is precisely because it is a trivial matter that it is easy to let it go!"
Qin Dewei must have hidden ulterior motives, so he deliberately chose such a trivial matter to open the way and test!
A thousand-mile embankment breaks down in an ant nest! Beware of the slightest change, don't ignore it! Beware of fire, theft, and Qin Dewei!"
Two cabinet bachelors who were already enemies of each other actually joined forces to show the same attitude for Qin Dewei!
This made Zhang Shangshu confused, and he couldn't help but wonder, did Qin Dewei really have an ulterior conspiracy? He was just a teacher, and he didn't want to think about the worst?