Chapter 932 Nothing can be done more than three times
As we all know, each department of the Ming Dynasty often had more than one minister. One of them was the sitting minister, who had a pragmatic job in the management department, and the other ministers were all false titles.
For example, the title of a bachelor is added to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, the official title of the Ministry of Processing in charge of engineering construction is added, and the title of Governor is added to the title of the Ministry of War.
Generally, the governor is the Minister of the Ministry of War, but those with more senior qualifications or in a key position will have the title of Minister of the Ministry of War.
The most typical one is the Governor of Xuanda, the head of the Nine Borders. He often holds the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War and goes out to control Xuanda.
When the Minister of War becomes vacant, other governors at the level of Minister of War will often be called in to fill the vacancy. This is also an official habit.
Because of the particularity and professionalism of the Ministry of War, it was very common in the Ming Dynasty for the governor to return to Beijing to serve as Minister of War.
For example, in the 14th year of Jiajing, when Wang Hong, the Minister of War, resigned, Zhang Zan, the Governor of Xuanda, came to take over. Then Zhang Zan was killed by Qin Dewei, and then he was replaced by Wang Tingxiang.
So after being shouted at by Xu Laosan, everyone realized that Qin Dewei, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian with the false title of Minister of War, was the natural candidate for the actual post of Minister of War.
It sounds like a tongue twister, but that's exactly what it is.
Not to mention that Qin Dewei also has the qualifications of Governor Xuanda. In terms of qualifications alone, who can compare with Qin Dewei?
Court affairs can be divided into two types, one is matters not directly related to Qin Dewei, and the other is matters directly related to Qin Dewei.
Zhang Bi didn't care what Xia Yan's reaction was, he just said it and it was over. We are all bachelors, how could we force him not to leave?
In fact, anyone who knows a lot about personnel affairs can guess who Xia Shoufu plans to introduce as the new Minister of War. There is no one else but Zhang Jing, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
There are unreliable rumors saying that Qin Zhongtang threatened to kill his whole family, and then Zhang Bangqi felt as if his eggs had been pinched.
Theoretically, what Xia Shoufu said was correct, but in the eyes of everyone, it was a bit unreasonable.
So Zhang Chao may be thinking about simply resigning as a bachelor and returning to the outer court. This way he can be separated from Qin Dewei and avoid the embarrassing situation of blocking Qin Dewei's path.
He is very self-aware, and he will never have a good life in the cabinet with these two ruthless people! Look at Zhai Luan back then, he was turned into a laughing stock!
Although Zhang Chaozhuyu was in front, Zhang Bangqi's statement still surprised everyone.
Anyway, no one spoke, not even whispering, everyone was looking at Xia Shoufu.
That's it for the time being. This time the court speculation is over. Qin Dewei, who is three thousand miles away, has become the quasi-sitting minister of the Ministry of War.
But the people present were not lacking in intelligence, and they immediately knew what Chen Yushi was questioning.
Xia Shoufu grabbed the life-saving straw and was not willing to let go easily. "As long as the memorial has not been approved, Liu Tianhe will not be in office!"
Xia Yan suddenly turned his head and stared at Yan Song fiercely, as if his eyes could kill people. Four words came out of his mouth: "It can only be three things."
Then everyone heard Xia Shoufu say: "Today we have been ordered to gather internal and external discussions. In addition to recommending the Secretary of the Ministry of War, we also need to reorganize the cabinet. We still need all the gentlemen to express their opinions freely!"
However, when Xia Yan was dismissed from office later, Governor Zhang temporarily lost his backer, so he had no choice but to keep plating gold. Now he is still the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Who would have thought at that time that there would be officials in the Ming Dynasty who took the initiative to be demoted, and there were two of them as soon as they appeared!
When Xia Yan put Zhang Jing in the position of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, it was just for gold plating.
Xia Shoufu, Yan Cifu, Qin Zhongtang, what a standard cabinet number, what a traditional cabinet combination.
Everyone suddenly understood what Wang Tingxiang was waiting for when he refused to resign.
"Ahem!" Yan Song cleared his throat, thinking of saying a few words to test the situation.
You must calm down! Qin Dewei is the real problem. If Xia Yan is beaten to death at once, won't Qin Dewei have to bear all the oppression?
Now my character is to kneel down and lick Xia Yan, hold on tight and not collapse!
The originally bustling cabinet was about to become empty in an instant, leaving only Xia Shoufu and Yan Cifu staring at each other.
What Xia Shoufu really cares about is not whether he has a part-time job or not, but his position as Minister of Rites, and Xia Shoufu is not afraid of others seeing it. This is a conspiracy.
As the first assistant, Xia Yan still has the ability to control issues. He decisively and quickly puts aside issues that are already detrimental to him and moves on to the next one.
Second, if Zhang Chao is in the cabinet, Qin Dewei will be a little embarrassed when he comes back.
There are not many better positions than the Ministry of War. Should Qin Dewei be the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and also be a bachelor?
After talking about the topic straight to the point, Xia Shoufu turned to Zhang Chao and asked, "What do you think? Do you want to set an example?"
At this point, the situation was completely out of control. Xia Yan had no preparations and relied solely on on-the-spot reaction for support.
There is no problem with this statement on the surface. Cabinet ministers are in the central position and assist the emperor. Except for a few rare cases, they generally do not hold other official positions in government agencies to avoid the disadvantages of one person colluding with the upper and lower levels, both internally and externally.
Teacher Zhang's unconventional play once again disrupted Xia Shoufu's plan. Just when Xia Yan was racking his brains and thinking about how to deal with it, Zhang Bangqi, who was at the bottom of the cabinet, also stood up.
Regardless of Xia Yan, Yan Song, Zhang Chao or Zhang Bangqi, their presence is much stronger than him.
However, after careful consideration, everyone guessed that Zhang Bangqi was probably frustrated and had no interest in staying in the cabinet, a place of right and wrong.
Zhang Bi, the bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion who was supposed to make up the numbers, now looked confused.
Seeing that Xia Shoufu finally brought the topic to himself, Zhang Chao sighed and responded: "What Shoukui said is absolutely true. It is indeed easy for internal court officials to hold concurrent external posts to breed bad feelings, so we should quit the part-time job."
What he wanted was the two real positions of Minister of Rites and Zhan Shi, but these two guys unexpectedly abandoned the bachelor and ran away, leaving him no real positions!
He first said to Xia Yan: "What Shou Kui said is absolutely true!" Then he said to Zhang Chao: "What Yuxi said is also absolutely true!"
This is also a very senior governor of the border town. With his achievements in the three border areas, he has also been added to the Minister of War.
Xia Shoufu continued: "The cabinet and other government offices are supposed to perform their own duties, and there should not be too many cross-partnerships. Nowadays, there are too many part-time jobs among cabinet ministers, and this is a drawback!"
Not everyone can be as determined as Wang Tingxiang, who refuses to resign no matter what others say.
Later, Zhang Bi, as the leader of the Huguang Gang and a senior fellow of Zhang Juzheng, chose Qin Dewei between Yan Song and Qin Dewei, who seemed to be more sincere and obviously wanted to support Zhang Juzheng, and therefore developed a grudge against Yan Song.
According to common sense, if the Bachelor of Arts and the Minister of Rites were to be separated, the lower-status Minister of Rites would definitely be dismissed, and only the higher-status Bachelor would be retained. The rule of officialdom is that people go to higher places, and whoever wants to be an official will do more.
The smaller?
However, Zhang Chao did the opposite and did not want to be a bachelor. He only wanted to be the Minister of Rites, which no one expected.
Zhang Chao, a bachelor of Wuyingdian and the Minister of Rites, recently mentioned why he keeps a low profile today. This is the reason. He himself has become a target. The higher the profile, the more flaws he has.
So has Xia Shoufu's ambition to reorganize the cabinet been realized? Should we congratulate Xia Shoufu?
Seeing that only Xia Yan, Yan Song and Zhang Bi were left in the cabinet, everyone felt a little strange.
In addition to the large number of cabinet ministers currently, there are indeed more part-time jobs than usual. Teacher Zhang Chao Zhang is also the Minister of Rites, not to mention the restless Qin Zhongtang, and even Zhang Bangqi at the end is also the Minister of Zhan.
Suddenly, he might become a person second only to Xia Yan and Yan Song, which made Zhang Bi, who was completely unprepared, a little panicked.
Under the attention of everyone, Zhang Chao continued to say to Xia Shoufu: "In order to show support for the shoufu's reorganization of the cabinet, I intend to resign as a bachelor of Wuyingdian and only become a minister of the Ministry of Rites!"
As a student, it is really difficult to directly surpass the teacher and rank in front of the teacher, so Zhang Chao will block Qin Dewei's progress.
But after everyone tasted it carefully, they found that Zhang Chao had gone a long way in doing this.
Xia Shoufu was not afraid that Zhang Chao would cling to the Minister of Rites. If Zhang Chao was unwilling to adapt to the situation and quit his part-time job, he would immediately be criticized as greedy.
However, Xia Yan's words seemed fair, but everyone knew that they were actually aimed at Zhang Chao.
Someone asked: "How to rectify it?"
Xia Yan: "."
Now there are five ministers in the cabinet. If Qin Dewei comes back, there will be six. Isn't this a bit redundant?
First, with Xia Yan and Yan Song in the cabinet, there may be more Qin Dewei in the future. It is impossible for Zhang Chao to seize the real power of governance in the cabinet, and he will only become a bachelor in name only.
Recently, Zhang Bangqi's performance has been very depressed and sluggish, and he no longer has the energy to jump up and down like last year.
Will it become a large-scale social death scene for Xia Yan? Will Xia Yan collapse on the spot? Will the emperor become suspicious and kill Xia Yan directly?
If you want to find a word to describe today's court discussion, many people can only think of one word, and that is "chicken feathers everywhere."
After he returned, he went through the list of high-level personnel so that he was well aware of it.
And if Qin Dewei really intends to take charge of the Ministry of War, there is a question mark as to whether Zhang Jing has the courage to challenge Qin Dewei directly.
Before the court meeting, foreign officials never expected to see such a cabinet drama.
Therefore, today I voluntarily resigned as a bachelor and reduced the number of cabinet ministers, which can be regarded as responding to the call of the chief minister and sharing the worries of the chief minister!"
Most centrists would like to say: "A wise man is a man who knows the current situation. The general trend is like this. Just follow Xia Shoufu. Don't bother anymore and make it difficult for everyone."
Looking at Xia Yan and Yan Song, Zhang Bi clearly realized that such a cabinet would never be able to survive!
Except for Qin Dewei, no one can afford to play this game. As a human being, you should retreat bravely!
After making up his mind, Zhang Bi said to Xia Shoufu: "Well, I have little talent and little virtue, and I am not worthy of being in the center. It just so happened that the chief minister wanted to reorganize the cabinet, so he should eliminate me.
The matter of recommending the new Minister of the Ministry of War (the person in charge of the actual duties of the Ministry) was suddenly directly related to Qin Dewei, so the matter immediately became a big deal.
The angle of Chen Yushi's question was very tricky, making it difficult for Xia Shoufu to answer.
Speaking of Governor Zhang Jing, he was one of the two "military talents" that Xia Yan began to train very early. In the original time and space, the other one was Zeng Mizeng's stepfather.
After a while, Xia Shoufu finally found another candidate and said to everyone: "The imperial court also has a Minister of War, the Governor of the Three Borders Liu Tianhe!"
And the key point is that Zhang Bi, Xia Yan, and Yan Song all have old grudges.
Everyone knows that if the emperor is asked to choose, he will definitely choose Qin Dewei! Everyone also knows that this is actually Xia Shoufu's delaying plan.
One of the most famous spokespersons of Qin Zhongtang, the censor in charge, Chen Chun, couldn't bear it and said: "May I ask the chief minister, how will Qin Banqiao arrange it after he returns to the court?"
Therefore, today I follow the advice of the chief minister and resign as a non-commissioned officer of Dongge University, leave the cabinet, and return to Zhan Shifu to work as a full-time tutor in Donggong!"
Zhang Jing was just a governor-general who served as minister of the Ministry of War. In terms of qualifications, he could not compete with Qin Dewei. As a governor, he was much better than Qin Dewei, and his military exploits were far inferior.
Thinking of this, everyone silently complained in their hearts. Under the current situation, it is still a shame to recommend.
The more you hold an official position, the less determined you are. Not everyone has it!
People with insufficient IQ will not understand what Chen Chun means when they hear this sentence.
Moreover, I am old, have been ill recently, and cannot bear the climate in the north, so I would like to pray for him to be released to the south to recuperate."
Probably in the eyes of the emperor, it would be advisable to allow Qin Dewei to go out independently and then check and balance with other cabinet ministers.
If both Zhang Chao and Zhang Bangqi resign as bachelors, the problem of redundant cabinet numbers will suddenly be solved.
There is a big difference between whether there is a minister of the Ministry of War. Before Qin Dewei left the capital, he was in charge of the Military Aircraft Department as a bachelor. If after making great achievements, he was still in charge of the Military Aircraft Department as a bachelor, wouldn't it be in vain?
This is the core of Chen Chun's question. If Qin Dewei is not allowed to join the Ministry of Officers and Soldiers, how can we arrange it appropriately?
Then he showed the power of the chief assistant and said with unquestionable decision: "There is not only one candidate for the memorial. Liu Tianhe and Qin Dewei can both be included in the memorial. They will be presented together and let the emperor decide who to choose!"
But from a procedural point of view, there was nothing wrong with what Xia Shoufu did. Ting Tui must be reported to the emperor, so there was no way to find reason.
As long as the Ministry of Rites is lost, the Qin Party's unbreakable and solid barrier will be opened.
Xia Shoufu was at a loss for a moment, and the situation got out of control again!
Yan Song was really frightened. He returned to his original position with lowered eyebrows and stood still.
Xia Yan looked gloomy and said nothing.
Xu Zan, the official secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, reminded: "Liu Tianhe is over sixty and in poor health. He has already submitted a memorial and is about to retire and become an official. He is in the capital, waiting for your Majesty's words and rewards before he will return to his hometown."
Therefore, according to the normal plan, Xia Shoufu will definitely recommend Zhang Jing to be the Minister of War today.
Xia Shoufu frowned and was silent for a while, quickly recalling the list of officials in his mind.
Zhang Chao faced Xia Yan and said plainly and kindly: "When I hear Shou Kui, I often say that there are too many cabinet ministers.
Zhang Bi had been working as a Zhan Shi for several years. In order to let his teacher Lu Shen work as a Zhan Shi, Xia Yan took Zhang Bi away when they were in the Lidong Palace, and they had a grudge.
Taking advantage of the silence, Yan Song was making rapid calculations and deductions in his mind. If he also submitted his resignation at this time, how would the situation evolve?
Chen Chun and Chen Yushi suddenly said a cold joke, breaking the silence: "After Qin Banqiao returns to the court, there is no shortage of positions."
As a peripheral ally of the Qin Party, he himself admitted that he was a gangster in the cabinet, the most inconspicuous and often forgotten gangster.
Then he faced everyone and said in a deep voice: "In order to facilitate the supervision of the country in the East Palace, I, Zhang Bangqi, served as a cabinet minister and served as a bachelor of the cabinet. Now that the emperor has awakened, there is no need for me to continue to be a bachelor.
The most appropriate arrangement is to let Qin Dewei preside over the Military Aircraft Department as Minister of the Ministry of War, and then use the false name of a bachelor to start a completely independent business.
Some people don’t follow martial ethics! His mind suddenly became a little confused and he needed to sort out his thoughts.
Moreover, Yan Song, whom Zhang Bangqi relied on, has also given up, so Zhang Bangqi is now in a state of completely losing his fighting spirit and enterprising spirit, and it is understandable for him to think about shrinking back to one-third of an acre of Zhan Shifu's land.
Xia Shoufu's face was as dark as water, and he was about to explode with anger. What's the use of having you, Zhang Chao, as a bachelor? What Xia Yan wants is the official Minister of Etiquette!
In the history books, this is definitely the most harmonious, tacit understanding, and loving cabinet combination. I am afraid it can compete with famous cabinet combinations such as Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, Li Dongyang, Liu Jian, and Xie Qian.
I'm afraid of young people in boxing, but I don't know if Qin Zhongtang can beat one against two.
Suddenly someone shouted: "Xia Shoufu is mighty!"
Everyone looked around and saw Xu Qianhu leaning on the window frame outside, looking this way.
