After Mao Ji returned to the capital, as soon as he arrived at the cabinet Ying Mao, he was ordered to go to Qianqing Palace to talk.
Four cabinet ministers went together, but when they came back only Mao Ji and Jiang Mian were left. The emperor left Fei Hong and Liu Chun to talk, obviously to divide and disintegrate the cabinet camp.
"...His Majesty intended to make Huang Gongxian a cabinet minister, but Huang Gongxian had never entered Hanyuan before. He was only temporarily recruited as a Hanlin bachelor, and was arranged to join the cabinet in the blink of an eye. Your Majesty clearly intended to provoke discord among his ministers."
Mao Ji had a bigger temper than Jiang Mian. When he returned to the cabinet to check in, he saw no one around and finally couldn't help but complain to Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian's tone seemed very calm: "Whether we are in harmony or not is the second most important thing. I'm afraid His Majesty still won't give up on discussing the ceremony."
Mao Ji was very angry.
Huang Zan became a Hanlin bachelor as Minister of Lili. If he is allowed to join the cabinet again, it means that the Lili faction will completely gain a foothold in the court. Jiang Mian and Mao Ji are ranked first and second in the cabinet, so naturally We don’t want the “black sheep” to enter the Ming Center.
While the two were talking, Fei Hong and Liu Chun also came back. Mao Ji quickly went over and asked, "What did your Majesty tell you?" Liu Chun stood back appropriately and let Fei Hong come out to reply. Fei Hong said: " Your Majesty inquired about the evaluation status of the apprentices over the years and seems to be interested in cultivating them."
"Need to repair?" Mao Ji frowned.
The topic that day was obviously about Huang Zan's entry into the cabinet, so why did Yang Shen suddenly come up? Although Yang Shen was very popular at the ceremony, it was difficult for him to get into the eyes of the cabinet's academicians, and he would not be able to rise to the top.
Fei Hong nodded: "His Majesty did mention Yong Xiu, and also said that he wanted to promote him to be a bachelor of lectures... At the same time, he asked about the candidates for the replacement of Hanlin bachelors... Related matters will be recommended in the court in the next few days. , If you have any objections, it’s not too late to express them at that time.”
Fei Hong tried his best to make himself look less important. At the same time, he also reminded Mao Ji and Fei Hong that I will tell you what I know about the situation. If you think there is something wrong with it, you can talk about it in court.
Since you know that this is the emperor's deliberate attempt to divide us, then don't regard me and Liu Renzhong as enemies. We have no intention of betraying the civilian camp.
Jiang Mian said: "I used to revise the memorial about the ceremony before, but your Majesty still suppressed it, right?"
Fei Hong reminded: "I've already called you back." "Yong Xiu didn't say anything?"
Jiang Mian was very surprised that as the first assistant bachelor, he didn't know anything about this matter.
Fei Hong shook his head, saying that he didn't know the details. Mao Ji was a little puzzled: "The imperial palace can understand this kind of memorial. What does it mean to send it back? And then you will be promoted to a bachelor's degree as a lecturer? This Are you going to stop Yong Xiu’s mouth?”
Liu Chun finally couldn't help but interjected: "I don't think you need to worry. Yong Xiu has come forward a lot to discuss the etiquette, but he has never been able to get to the core issue... If His Majesty wants to impose it on Yong Xiu just to silence him. Favor, I think His Majesty will not make such a bad move, and Yong Xiu will definitely not compromise."
"Um."
Liu Chun's words immediately caused the remaining cabinet members to nod in agreement. The emperor would not be so stupid as to bribe Yang Shen, and Yang Shen would not be bribed... This is what outsiders think.
Yang Shen has always set his sights above others, and would he make principled compromises for his own personal benefit? If the emperor hated Yang Tinghe so much, would he want to bribe Yang Tinghe's unsuccessful son?
It’s completely unreasonable!
Mao Jidao said: "Everyone must be unanimous when making nominations. There is no need to add more candidates to the cabinet now. I believe some of you think the same as me. Don't be biased."
Fei Hong and Liu Chun looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
The emperor wanted to win over them to pave the way for Huang Huang to join the cabinet. Here, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji put pressure on them to oppose the addition of cabinet members. Fei Hong and Liu Chun now felt sorry for each other and had to stick together to keep warm.
Hanlin Academy.
All the members of the Imperial Academy who had jointly discussed the ceremony heard the news that Yang Shen had been beaten back from the memorial. That day they gathered at Yang Shen's residence to discuss with Yang Shen the matter of submitting the memorial again.
More than a dozen people came, and Yang Shen didn't want to face them. After all, Yang Shen had reached a secret agreement with Zhang Zuo, and he would inevitably feel guilty.
"...Yong Xiu, I heard that His Majesty is going to let Huang Xueshi join the cabinet, and leave the position of Li Hanlin bachelor left by Huang Xueshi to Zhang Bingyong. Now it has been spread in the Hanyuan. Why don't you put it in the next memorial?
As soon as this matter was raised, Zhang Bing was impeached on the grounds that he was unworthy of his position."
Not only should we oppose the emperor's pursuit of the title of Emperor Xingxian, but we should also oppose the emperor's appointment of ministers from the rites faction.
On Huang Zan's side, as ordinary Hanlin officials, it seemed difficult for them to object. After all, Huang Zan returned to Beijing as a Hanlin scholar as the Minister of Nanhubu. From the perspective of official promotion, there was no major promotion, but Zhang Cong
As a Jinshi who went to the upper level, he was promoted to Hanlin bachelor in less than three years, which is unreasonable.
They asked themselves that their qualifications and experience were much richer than Zhang Cong's, and they were all considered "old men" in the Hanlin Academy, so why couldn't they object to the emperor's appointment of Zhang Cong?
Yang Shen said: "My idea is to discuss the etiquette. Please take it slow before proceeding."
Ye Guizhang followed the others and asked in confusion: "Why delay?"
At this time, Yang Shen tried his best to make his remarks meet everyone's expectations, saying: "Lao Jiang Ge and Xueshi Feng once talked to me and thought that I was too hasty in submitting the memorial. At this time, His Majesty did not make any move. We will propose the ceremony first.
This matter will only arouse your majesty's rebellious mentality. Now that the ceremony has calmed down for the time being, it is best to wait until your majesty brings up the old matter again, and then we can proceed again."
Yang Weicong squeezed forward from the crowd, looking very excited: "We are united and our morale is high, but we have to wait? Isn't it inappropriate?"
Yang Shen glared at Yang Weicong.
At this time, Yang Weicong, under the operation of the civil servant faction, re-entered the Hanlin Academy and became a Hanlin editor, already on the same level as Zhu Hao.
Yang Weicong has been in the limelight recently, and Yang Shen has not given up his doubts about Yang Weicong, so now Yang Shen is very disgusted with Yang Weicong. "In everything, we must put the overall situation first. This time His Majesty has called us back, which shows the problem. We
No matter how stubborn we are, how can we accomplish anything without the help of cabinet ministers and academicians? Before we do something, shouldn’t we take into consideration all aspects of our feelings?”
Yang Shen used the tone of a superior to lecture the group of people present who had nothing to do but had enough to eat.
In the past, Yang Shen regarded them as close comrades-in-arms, but now he somewhat regards them as rivals.
Yu Chengxun hurriedly came out and said, "Don't be anxious, Yongxiu. All my colleagues have good intentions. The previous joint signature was all for your sake. Why are you still in a hurry?"
Yang Shen said: "Now we have to find the right target and focus on dealing with those in the court who support the discussion of rites. I heard that recently in the capital, some people have published books on rites and discussed court affairs without authorization. These people have ulterior motives. Shouldn't we use them first?"
As a goal?"
"this……"
Ye Guizhang hesitated for a moment and said, "Yong Xiu, to put it bluntly, the people who have been publishing books on etiquette in the capital recently are not just people from the etiquette sect."
Yang Shen's attitude was indifferent: "No one can openly discuss court affairs in this way. Jingdao discussed it with me before. He said that he would submit a memorial to impeach these people and asked me to co-sign. I agreed. I will not force you to do anything.
But if anyone is willing to co-sign, you can keep it."
Yang Weicong sighed: "Isn't one pole overturning a boat of people?" Someone pulled Yang Weicong's clothes, but Yang Weicong was very stubborn. In fact, Yang Weicong also wanted to join the big tree of Yang Shen, but the problem was that he himself saw it.
Yang Shen has not been favored by Yang Shen in the past two years. Why can't he stand on his own now?
Yu Chengxun said: "I think what Yong Xiu said makes sense. Publishing books in the capital and openly discussing court affairs is a taboo in itself. We cannot condone and condone people just because they stand in our position. We should treat them equally. This will make us appear
There is no bias in stance.
"It is difficult for us to come forward to discuss matters of etiquette. It is difficult to achieve results. We should discuss with the important ministers in the court before making a decision and move forward and retreat together... Isn't it clear to you about Yongxiu's position? He is
He used his own flesh and blood and career prospects to become a pioneer, and now he lets us know that only by working steadily can we have a chance of winning, so we should support him."
"Um."
Most people present were following the trend.
They didn't want to discuss the issue of great etiquette in the first place.
I was too aggressive because I was coerced into doing so. Now that I see the leader backing off first, I feel better.
Only a few people with certain political goals felt that what Yang Shen did was a kind of surrender and compromise, and they were somewhat dissatisfied with Yang Shen. However, because the main public opinion was on Yang Shen's side, those who had opinions could not
I can only choose to be patient for the time being.
The matter of jointly participating in the impeachment of those who published the book on rituals in the capital went smoothly.
Zhu Hao took the lead, and Yang Shen mobilized people from the Hanlin Academy and collected seventy or eighty people to sign on. Even Yang Weicong and others who had previously been very opposed to it also signed on.
When Yang Shen handed the joint memorial to Zhu Hao, he communicated with Zhu Hao privately.
Zhu Hao asked: "There is no bad news against you in the Hanlin Academy now, right?"
"No."
Yang Shen shook his head and said, "Actually, I am also worried that if His Majesty secretly spreads some news, saying that I made some improper exchange with them..."
Zhu Hao sighed: "No matter what, when you are promoted to a bachelor, there will still be criticism, but what are you afraid of? As long as our general direction in discussing etiquette remains unchanged, others will only make assumptions.
It won’t be a climate change at all.”
When Yang Shen heard this, he felt better.
Yang Shen said: "That's right, why doesn't Your Majesty want me to directly join the discussion party?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Brother Yongxiu, are you kidding? You can't really be so unprincipled, right?"
"of course not."
Yang Shen said, "His Majesty asked me to postpone the ceremony, but gave him such a generous condition. I can't figure it out...am I really that important in the whole plan?"