Chapter 046 One stone stirs up a thousand waves (Part 2)
Ministry of Rites.
Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites who has just taken up his new post, has a headache today. The reason is of course Gao Pragmatic's "Please open the vassal ban".
It stands to reason that Gao Jingshi's matter is relatively unreasonable for Xu Xuemo, because apart from the clan's mansion, the issue of vassalage is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites in the imperial court. As the Minister of Rongzheng of the Ministry of War, Gao Jingshi is a bit unconventional in this way.
The dog is suspected of meddling in other people's business.
If you are a scientific officer, then that's fine. You, a minister of the Ministry of War, are interfering in the affairs of my Ministry of Etiquette. Do you care about me, the eldest uncle?
Oh, I'm sorry, this really doesn't exist.
What annoyed Xu Xuemo was first of all: Gao Pragmatic would not take him seriously. Although Xu Butang was old enough, he was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing, and he was at least seven or eight times better than Gao Pragmatic.
There are many ways, but qualifications also depend on how and when they are compared.
He, Xu Butang, is so senior. He has been working hard in the imperial court for decades, and he has just been promoted from minister to minister. However, he is a highly pragmatic person who has been on the gold list for eight years in Wanli. Now he is already a minister. How can this compare?
Comparing them really makes people short of breath, so it is better not to compare.
In addition to qualifications, the only things that courtiers could compare with were their meritorious service and holy family ties. At most, they could add scholarly prestige. But Xu Xuemo did not dare to compare with these three items.
In terms of merit, Gao Pragmatism is able to settle down the north and south; in terms of holy family members, Gao Pragmatism is unparalleled in the world; in terms of prestige, he is the number one scholar among the six leaders, and even the urgent news that just came out said that the cabinet unanimously evaluated Gao Pragmatism as "the most courageous person in the world." This is
What a fart?
But in fact, in addition to these three things, Xu Xuemo knew that there was another thing that he could not compare with Gao Pragmatic the most: power.
Who is a highly pragmatic person? He is the number one figure of the pragmatic school in the Xu Kingdom who cannot be suppressed by even the most dignified ministers. He is the legacy of three generations of chief ministers and can negotiate face to face with Shen Yuanfu.
What about Xu Xuemo? Even the current eldest uncle relied on his connections with the township party, was secretly planned by Shen Yuanfu, and came from the hands of his former minister Pan Sheng.
In this way, Gao Pragmatic certainly would not take Xu Xuemo seriously. Perhaps in others' eyes, the only person in the Xin School who can be called an opponent is Shen Yuanfu, and the rest are not worth mentioning.
So Xu Xuemo could only swallow this breath and force himself to think about more important things.
What's more important is what attitude the Ministry of Rites should take under Gao Pragmatic's actions, whether to agree or oppose, or to sit on the sidelines.
He first ruled out the option of sitting on the sidelines. After all, the issue of vassalage is the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites. Others can still consider not saying anything until the matter becomes clear. However, the Ministry of Rites obviously cannot do this. Otherwise, the emperor will ask when the time comes.
Can it still mean "we are outsiders and neutral"?
The rest is nothing more than agreement or objection. In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Xu Xuemo agreed to take action against the vassal. Although Gao Pingshi's move today seems to be too big, it is too radical no matter how you look at it, and it cannot be done.
It might cause trouble, but Xu Xuemo still agreed with his idea, and those five measures could be regarded as the right medicine.
But when it comes to the affairs of the imperial court, how can you express your approval if you agree with your heart? Gao Pragmatic took all the opportunities with his move today. It can be said that in the future, as long as the imperial court takes action on the issue of vassalage, no matter how much it is moved,
No matter to what extent and how many achievements have been made, in the final analysis, it cannot be attributed to Gao Pragmatism's initiative. It goes without saying that the first credit goes to Gao Pragmatism, that is, to the school of pragmatism.
In this case, where should I place my school of thought? Am I just willing to give others a hard time?
And there is another trouble at the moment, that is, the last news coming from the cabinet is that the five cabinet elders have gone to see the emperor together, but it does not say the final position discussed by the cabinet elders.
This is a big trouble. The Ministry of Rites, as the yamen in charge of the vassal affairs at the forefront, is now waiting for the Ministry of Rites to express its position, but Shen Yuanfu has not sent out any news to him. Xu Xuemo knows that he should release some news at this moment to appease the officials.
However, he really didn't dare to overstep his authority, lest he misunderstood Shen Yuanfu's original intention and it would be completely ruined.
By practicing Tai Chi, he sent away the fourth group of Xinxue school officials who secretly sent people to inquire about the Ministry of Etiquette's intentions. Xu Xuemo was so anxious that he walked around the room. While sending people to quietly ask for the latest news in the palace, he also sent people out to understand the movements of various yamen.
.
Among all the yamen, the Ministry of Works must be the quietest. After all, the sects and vassals have nothing to do with them. The only ones who had any relationship with them before were the newly crowned princes. When the king was a county prince, he might need the Ministry of Works to arrange for the construction of the palace, but at this time
The Ministry of Industry is nothing more than a person who does things. If they have something, they will do it. If they don’t have it, they won’t do it. It doesn’t matter much.
The reaction from the Ministry of Punishment was not great. Although the problem of clan crime has become increasingly serious in recent years, since clan crimes generally do not have the involvement of the Ministry of Punishment or even the Department of Sanfa, the clan government handles it first, so the Ministry of Punishment’s attitude towards this matter is
It’s also inevitable.
Just because once the imperial court opens the vassal ban according to the proposal of "Please open the vassal ban", a large number of low-level clans will be transferred to the Ministry of Punishment to deal with their crimes, so now some people in the Ministry of Punishment have begun to wonder whether they can take this opportunity.
Apply to the court for more funds? - Clan cases must be more difficult to handle. Isn’t it natural for us to ask for more funds?
The response from the Ministry of War was average. Except for the Qing Li Department, which was the official department of the Ministry of War, there was basically no reaction from the other departments.
As for why the Qing officials were excited, it was actually simple - this department was responsible for maps, military systems, city gods, garrisoning, conciseness, and conquests. In other words, in layman's terms, they were responsible for formulating battle plans.
Uh... are you too busy to draw up a battle plan now?
In fact, it is not the case. The Jinfang Division is actually formulating a battle plan now, and the target is very broad. All the vassals of more than twenty princes have been labeled as possible rebels, and then they are conducting deductions within the Jinfang Division.
But that's not the most interesting thing. What's interesting is that in the deduction, the main force representing the imperial court is no longer the guards stationed in various places, border troops, etc., but the newly formed Imperial Guards.
In various deductions, the Imperial Guard used the Guards as the main force for the imperial court's expedition, but only used two to three towns each time, which is about twenty to thirty thousand people. This is understandable, after all.
The Imperial Guard is now the only field force in the Beijing camp. It is used by the imperial court to intimidate the world. It is difficult to send them all out just to suppress the rebellion.
You must know that they are not the previous Beijing camp. There is no such thing as "400,000". They only have a total of 60,000 troops. They cannot be joked about easily.
Xu Xuemo only thought this reaction of the Ministry of War was ridiculous. In his opinion, it was simply because he had eaten too much. Which vassal king could be stupid enough to rebel? Don't you even know how many pounds you have? At most, it will cause trouble.
, then it will be nothing more than a slow quarrel with the court, how can there be a war?
What's more, even if there is a war, Xu Xuemo doesn't think the imperial guards have any chance to fight. The important vassal kings in the north are basically surrounded by border troops, and they are afraid that they will be reported to the capital before they announce the army; the vassal kings in the south are surrounded
Although there are no border troops, they are too far away. Even if they want to be suppressed, the local governor must mobilize the troops from the town to deal with it. How can we wait for the imperial guards to be sent from the capital? When the imperial guards arrive, Huang Hua
The dishes are cold.
The reaction of the Ministry of Personnel was relatively normal. Everyone in the Ministry expressed support for the ban on vassals. Well, the Ministry of Personnel is the headquarters of the Practical School, so this reaction was not surprising. After hearing the report, Xu Xuemo pretended that this was not the case.
.
Among the six departments, only the Hubu was left. The attitude of the Hubu was much more intense. Not only were everyone talking about it, but they also had different opinions. Some said that Gao Gongbao was indeed a big spender this time, so the pressure on the Hubu was suddenly relieved.
I have learned a lot, and finally I don’t have to look bitter all day long. It is said that although Gao Gongbao’s efforts were big, he still saved face for the court or the Tian family, and did not catch all the princes and princes, especially Prince Lu.
…
The implication is that these officials were still wary of King Lu, who was about to become a vassal of the country. They didn't understand why Gao Gongbao still wanted to keep this tail and refused to cut it off since he was already so generous.
According to their thinking, it is of course best to do it all at once. The so-called "viewing of the vassals" like King Lu should be used as an example and strictly restricted - how much more does his Prince Lu's Mansion cost? What is King Jing's legacy?
what to do?
Of course, those who held these ideas were basically lower-ranking officials. They had not even gotten wind of it, and did not know that Gao Pragmatic persuaded King Lu to give up the legacy of King Jing.
In fact, in addition to the six departments, there is another yamen that really shows the most intense attitude, and that is the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The reaction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was even more exaggerated than that of the Ministry of Revenue. A large number of officials gathered together and shouted. Some excitedly said that Gao Gongbao was indeed the "world's bravest scholar" and dared to propose vassal status as an important minister of the imperial court.
The problem was so generous even from the beginning; some went even further, saying that everyone should quickly prepare to support Gao Gongbao, in order to make this matter bigger so that the emperor would not dare to delay the decision just because of the "kiss".
Some people even suggested that we all should be more decisive and go to the Meridian Gate to "knock on the palace" together, forcing the emperor to come forward in person, "give the world an explanation" and agree to lift the vassal ban on the spot.
There are so many kinds.
All in all, the imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were extremely excited, and each one of them clamored to participate, "I would like to attach my tail and join in the grand event!"
The Department of Science and Technology officials have always had a close relationship, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate was so excited that the Sixth Department was certainly not immune to the situation. Some even ran away from the palace during the incident (the office of the Sixth Department was in the palace, not far from the cabinet), and
The censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate discussed together how to expand their momentum and support Gao Gongbao's "righteous act".
Well, the reason why it was a righteous act is of course because Gao Pragmatic theoretically did not care about this matter, and his actions should be "based on righteous indignation." Gao Gongbao, who did not care about this matter, has stepped forward. How can we, the officials who oversee everything in the world, do this?
Can you lag behind others?
These excited science and technology officials were really unambiguous. They asked people to find pen and ink on the spot, splash ink and write a memorial in support of Gao Gongbao, and then asked everyone who would like to sign a joint name.
At this moment, the crowd was so excited that we definitely couldn't pretend to be dumbfounded, so no matter whether they were really excited or not, everyone put on a righteous and awe-inspiring look, and rushed forward to write on the memorial.
Write your name.
It didn't take long for more than a hundred censors to sign the memorial together, and the memorial with names in the matter was completed. It probably set two records in the Ming Dynasty: the most names signed by the imperial censors, and the fastest completion of the memorial.
.
The only problem now is that it has already passed the time for the Shangshu. Theoretically speaking, at this time, the General Affairs Department has already begun to prepare to receive the Holy Shangzhu approval issued by the Secretary of Ceremonies.
But it doesn't matter, none of you here are ordinary people, especially those in the Sixth Section, who are patting their chests and guaranteeing that they will be able to send this memorial directly to you.
This is not bragging. The Six Sections have their own special characteristics. Not only do they work in the palace, but they have been in the palace for a long time and are also familiar with the Supervisor of Ceremonies. They directly deliver things to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Not surprising either.
As for procedural issues...it's time for this. Almost all the scientific and technical officials have signed and attached the memorandum. They are qualified to send it directly to the emperor because of their emotions and reasons! The privileges of the scientific and technical officials in the Ming Dynasty, that's what I'm telling you.
Just for fun?
So the six subjects immediately hurried to the palace with a joint memorial.
When the news reached the Ministry of Rites, Xu Xuemo was so anxious that he wanted to go directly to the palace to ask Shen Yuanfu for instructions. At this moment, he suddenly thought of something: Why did Gao Pragmatic suddenly interfere with the affairs of the Ministry of Rites?
Suspicious, Xu Xuemo had a suspicion: Could it be that Gao Pragmatic was dissatisfied with the position of eldest uncle he had obtained from Pan Sheng, so he took action on the vassal issue, a matter directly under the control of the Ministry of Rites, in order to give himself a beating?
Caught off guard, the emperor felt that he, the eldest uncle, was extremely incompetent, and then tried to find a way to impeach him?
As soon as this idea came up, he couldn't stop it. Xu Xuemo even thought that once things really develop like this, it would be a huge crisis for Shen Yuanfu.
Originally, Shen Yuanfu not only wanted to win the Ministry of Rites, but also wanted to win Pan Sheng's place in the cabinet at that time. Although he has not got the seat in the cabinet now, at least he still has the chancellor of the Ministry of Rites, but if Gao Pragmatic's "treacherous plan" succeeds
, wouldn’t the Ministry of Rites have been gained and lost again? If so, wouldn’t Shen Yuanfu’s half-year efforts have been completely in vain? After going around in circles for a long time, everything was back to the original point.
Thinking of this, Xu Xuemo actually broke into a cold sweat in the middle of winter, and his whole back was soaked with sweat.
He couldn't bear it anymore and immediately left the Rites Yamen. Regardless of the officials around him who came to inquire about his attitude, they all refused with a cold face. Then he hurriedly got into the green sedan chair and headed directly towards the palace.
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PS: I can't log in to the starting point on the computer, saying that I have network problems. It is very inconvenient to publish books on mobile phones now, so yesterday's rewards and monthly pass thanks will be posted together tomorrow, sorry.