In the capital, Huang Zan was officially promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
The emperor did not delay this matter for a long time, but even if Zhu Si did not say anything, Huang Zan knew that it was easy to buy a minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but it was not easy to sit in this position for a long time.
If he cannot provide the three hundred thousand taels of silver a year required by the emperor, he will lose his official title at any time.
You won't have to wait a year, the money will probably be paid within a month.
Shi Yuan resigned from the post of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which meant that there was one less senior minister who had served as a cabinet minister. Shi Yuan's appointment made many people in the court sigh with regret, because in the eyes of many people, Shi Yue was already the last member of Yang Tinghe's faction in the court.
Someone who has the strength to take charge of the overall situation.
After Shi Yue retreated, the Lihu faction, the orthodox civil servants, could only be led by Jia Yong.
But in the cabinet, Jia Yong has Fei Hong and Liu Chun at the top, and Yang Yiqing at the bottom. No matter who he is, he can be firmly suppressed. It is estimated that it will not be long before the emperor finds out that he has not done much in the cabinet, and will consider removing him.
Replace it.
"Huang Butang, congratulations."
After the court meeting where the official commission was issued, Huang Zan left the palace gate and a group of people came over to congratulate him.
Huang Zan smiled and agreed, but his heart was full of mixed emotions.
Being an official requires constant filial piety to the emperor in order to continue. It is embarrassing to tell anyone. Are you here to be an official or to buy an official? It is obvious that you are from the emperor's faction. It is obvious that when the emperor ascended the throne, he was already the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing.
Live a happy and comfortable life, be rich and powerful...
Why is it that now, it seems that things are not as good as before?
…
…
Huang Zan went to the Libu Yamen that day and met with the subordinates of the new Yamen.
Regardless of whether others are biased against Huang Zan, the people in the official department are still polite to him. The main reason is that Huang Zan's reputation in the court is not low. He is fundamentally different from Zhang Cong, Gui E and others. He is the second son of Chenghua.
He has been a Jinshi for ten years and can be regarded as a veteran of the Four Dynasties. He has also helped Emperor Zhengde manage the finances for a long time, so he has profound qualifications.
In the eyes of others, Huang Zan is capable and has been on the right team for a long time. How could others make things difficult for him?
But Huang Zan could still feel the unfamiliarity and neglect towards him by his officials.
The factions themselves are different. After all, he is from the Yili faction, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs has been controlled by the officials of the Lili faction for a long time. After Qiao Yu retired, Yang Yiqing served as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for a short time and played almost no role.
, and then returned to the hands of Shi Yun, the general of the Lihu Sect, and now it is his turn.
The officials from top to bottom have formed an insistence on traditional etiquette and seem to regard this place as a position to adhere to their ideals.
Now that the position was captured by Huang Zan, who was sent by the emperor, they just kept their face and were polite to Huang Zan.
When I got home that day, Zhang Cong came to visit me.
Zhang Cong came to discuss cooperation matters with Huang Zan, which mainly involved raising silver coins for the emperor, because Zhu Si was very dissatisfied with the progress of Jiang Lun's construction of the Xingwang Mansion, Xiandi Temple, and Xingxian Emperor Mausoleum in Anlu, and Jiang Lun was also dissatisfied with the progress.
After repeatedly asking the court to increase expenses, the Yili faction had no choice but to step forward and exert their efforts.
"... At present, it seems that Anlu and Huguang Chief Envoys and other yamen provide financial and food support, but this kind of support is always a drop in the bucket. You also know that the cost of project construction must be huge, and Huguang can only rely on local funds to raise funds.
How can there be big progress in one place?"
Zhang Cong made it clear that I am here to ask for money.
You don't care whether I am collecting debts for the emperor or not. You think I am here to supervise your payment of "membership money". Now that you have become the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, you must fulfill your promise.
Huang Zan said: "How many should be transferred in the first batch?"
"One hundred thousand taels of silver."
Zhang Cong was not polite at all.
Huang Zan frowned: "How is this possible? I just transferred 60,000 taels before..."
"Huang Butang, that's not what you said. Your Majesty may not have used the 60,000 taels in Anlu. As for where it was used specifically, it is not our place to ask. Now your Majesty wants to open it outside the Ministry of Households.
Financial resources, this is the first of its kind created by Zhu Jingdao, are we really not as good as Zhu Jingdao?"
Zhang Cong put pressure on Huang Zan.
Don't make excuses. If you want money, just give it. If you can't give it, just wait and get out.
No one will tolerate your bad habits.
Among the people of the Yili Sect, you, Huang Zan, can't stand it the most. Your years are on the line. If you still want to make progress now, you can only follow His Majesty's request.
But Huang Zan seemed interested: "I sent someone to Nanjing before to try to talk to my brother-in-law about providing money and food, but unfortunately I couldn't find him."
"What? Can't find anyone?"
Zhang Cong was very surprised, with disbelief on his face.
Your brother-in-law's properties are spread all over the Ming Dynasty. It is no exaggeration to say that he is as rich as the country. Everyone thinks that you have gold and silver behind you, but you are here to shirk?
Huang Zan said: "He and Zhu Jingdao are together, maybe... he doesn't want to rely on the old man anymore."
"Um!?"
Zhang Cong's expression turned extremely ugly.
After promoting Huang Zan, Zhang Cong felt that his financial resources could be effectively guaranteed. After all, there was currently no one in the court who was better at managing money than Huang Zan, and the Huizhou merchants behind Huang Zan were really rich.
.
But now Huang Zan said that my biggest source of income, my brother-in-law Su Xigui, has completely surrendered to Zhu Hao, and there is currently no guarantee of bringing him back.
so what should I do now?
Huang Zan seems to be a bachelor now! Anyway, I have been the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and I will be the Minister for one day. If you want me to become an official, just let me know.
Huang Zan was silent for a moment, and then said: "I have been in power for many years and have experienced many ups and downs. I thought that it was enough to guard a corner of the country and provide peace to the people. Before I was buried, I still had the opportunity to join the court as a cabinet.
The minister and the leader of the department will die without regrets."
Zhang Cong's face was grim.
This is not what you, Huang Gongxian, said before. In order to become the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, you lost all face and came to me to beg me to be a junior. Now you say that you have died without regrets?
You, Lao Huang, are good at deceiving people!
Others are arrogant at first and respectful at the end, but you are just the opposite, how about cheating?
Zhang Cong said: "Mr. Huang, if you do this, His Majesty will be unhappy, and Eunuch Zhang will not let you go."
You Huang Zan think that as the Minister of Civil Affairs, you can deny it if you want to?
Is the emperor afraid?
Are you afraid of Zhang Zuo?
Huang Zan said: "I will try my best to help Your Majesty. As for how much we can raise, it depends on how many people are willing to contribute money. The position of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue has not yet been determined. I don't know if I can raise a batch of funds from the Ministry of Revenue...
"
Zhang Cong immediately understood what Huang Zan meant.
You want money, right?
Forget about one hundred thousand taels. The emperor only gave me a task of three hundred thousand taels a year. You come up to me to ask for one hundred thousand taels. What, you want to give me a blow?
I have already been a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and if I want to be an official, I will be an official. Even if I don't make arrangements for my disciples, at least my personal future is satisfied and I can retire satisfactorily.
You can't always ask for it from me and ask me to pay for it, right?
OK, after I leave, the position of Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue will be promoted according to the person I recommend. If you say no, then we won't talk about it.
I'm not saying that I have to give up my choice. You, Zhang Cong, can't make the decision. Find someone who can make the decision to talk to me, such as Zhang Zuo!
…
…
When Zhang Cong left Huang Zan's house, his face was full of shame and annoyance.
Huang Zan, who had always been very naughty, actually played tricks on him and coaxed him around. This was beyond Zhang Cong's expectation. Only then did he realize the disadvantages of his short time in the court and lack of political experience.
Zhu Hao didn't need to take action, just this group of officialdom veterans could make him drink a cup of wine.
Zhang Cong could only try to contact Zhang Zuo, but currently Zhang Zuo had no plans to meet with foreign ministers and seemed to be avoiding suspicion. The only person Zhang Cong could see was Huang Jin.
"...Huang Gongxian refused to contribute money to raise construction funds for Anlu area, and proposed to promote the Minister of Hubu according to his wishes, and even the Minister of Hubu wanted to use his people..."
When Zhang Cong told Huang Jin this, he didn't think much of it.
In fact, this can be regarded as a test to see if the emperor is really willing to compromise on his official position for the sake of profit. Frankly speaking, he means to let Huang Zan come out as cannon fodder... These words came from Huang Zan's mouth, not mine.
I'm just responsible for delivering messages, it has nothing to do with me.
Huang Jin stared and said: "Is this going to make the Ming Dynasty officialdom sell officials and titles from top to bottom?"
Zhang Cong smiled bitterly.
Isn't this a problem that His Majesty presented to Mr. Huang?
If you want to talk about selling your official position and getting a title, that seems to be His Majesty’s business!
"This is a bit ignorant, but the Ministry of Revenue is mostly controlled by Huang Gongxian's people, so they should be able to hold up the situation, right? You can't leave the Ministry of Revenue to outsiders..."
Huang Jin said something intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhang Cong was surprised by this.
It stands to reason that Huang Jin is just an eunuch who supervises the East Factory. Although he has returned to his title of eunuch Bingbi, Supervisor of Rites, given Huang Jin's status, if the emperor had not had the idea of handing over the Household Department to Huang Zan's cronies,
Would a eunuch like Huang Jin say this in front of him?
"Then your Majesty is the one who wants to hand over the Ministry of Household Affairs to Huang Gongxian? Is... is there any suspicion that Your Majesty is being coerced by his ministers?"
Zhang Cong sows discord at the right time to let Huang Jin know that Huang Zan is not a good guy.
It would be putting it mildly to say that he was arrogant because of his favor, but he was simply asking His Majesty to ask for money in exchange for money.
The price he wants is to bring up people from his faction in the court and make the court listen to people named Huang.
Huang Jindao: "This is what I'm worried about, Master Zhang. Everything is under His Majesty's control. In addition, His Majesty recently proposed adding one more person to the cabinet. What do you think, Master Zhang?"
"this……"
Zhang Cong is thinking again.
When you Huang Jin came to ask my opinion on whether I should join the Cabinet, was it you who asked me, or His Majesty asked you to ask?
"Xueshi Zhang, think about it. If you join the cabinet at this time, you may encounter Yang Ge's old enemy. We have asked several people about this, but no one seems to be willing to give a positive answer." Huang Jin said.
Zhang Cong was surprised again.
The emperor wanted people to join the cabinet and asked Huang Jin to ask many people for their opinions?
Who is there?
Could it be that besides Zhang Cong, there is someone else in the court who is more suitable to join the cabinet?
Is Cinnamomum calyx among them?
Zhang Cong originally thought that if Zhu Hao was driven away, no one would be able to compete with him after joining the cabinet, but now it seems that the pressure he faces is still considerable.
"Xi Butang recently submitted a request to serve as an official. Your Majesty wants him to serve in the cabinet for two years. Bachelor Zhang should not think too much about it," Huang Jinming said.
Don't make blind guesses. Your Majesty's next choice to join the cabinet is Xi Shu.
Xi Shu is better than you, right?
I am the Minister of Rites, so I may not have less merit than you in discussing rituals.
Of course, when it comes to discussing etiquette, none of your contributions can compare with Zhu Jingdao.
"Then please make it clear to Your Majesty, Eunuch Huang, that Eunuch Huang has the conditions to contribute money and effort. For the rest... I can only do my best."