The "change of office" of the chief minister is naturally a major event for the court, but since Gao Pragmatic's ascendancy has already been established, and can even be said to be widely expected, the incident itself did not bring much shock to the court inside and outside.
Both inside and outside the palace, as well as among the people in the scholarly community, everyone has remained extremely calm about this. What everyone wants to know more is what direction Gao Pragmatic will burn after he takes over as chief minister.
Compared with the succession itself, his new officials are the real focus of attention. After all, everyone in the world knows that Gao Ge has always been a reformist. He has promoted many major reforms over the years and has achieved even more dazzling achievements.
So much so that many people even talked privately, saying that even if Gao Pragmatism stopped here, he would still be comparable to Shang Yang in Qing history.
But everyone knows that the assumption of "stopping here" will definitely not happen. In terms of Gao's pragmatic style, when he becomes the first assistant, the next reform will only be more shocking than the previous one - whether it is the reform itself
The difficulty, and the possible impact after the reform, will only be greater than before.
When Gao pragmatic completed his routine refusal and the emperor's routine persistence, the eyes of the whole world were focused on Gao pragmatic, waiting for him to make a bigger move.
But surprisingly, Gao Pragmatic didn't seem to be in a hurry this time. He first sent Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong out of the capital in person, and wrote poems as gifts before leaving. Then he persuaded Shen Yiguan, who wanted to leave the capital as soon as possible.
, then began to go to the emperor and mentioned two things: first, requesting for additional cabinet members; second, requesting to resign as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
These two things are theoretically within the scope of routine practice.
Requesting for additional cabinet members is what the chief minister of the cabinet usually chooses to request when the cabinet is dissatisfied with its members. The so-called "dissatisfied members" refer to the Grand Bachelor of Zhongji Palace, the Grand Bachelor of Jianji Palace, and the Grand Bachelor of Wenhua Palace.
There are vacancies among the six bachelors of Wuyingdian, Wenyuange and Dongge.
Obviously, after this cabinet change, since the other four bachelors are fill-ins, that is, each of them fills two positions, the Wenyuange bachelor and the Dongge bachelor are vacant. At this time, as
It is necessary for Gao Pragmatic, who succeeds as chief minister, to make a request for cabinet additions.
Why is this something that must be done, and is it all proposed by the chief minister? Because the chief minister must have such an attitude: Cabinet work is extremely important to the court, and as the chief minister of the cabinet, I attach great importance to it. In order to
To ensure that all aspects of work have dedicated personnel, the cabinet must be kept fully staffed. This is a manifestation of the minister's responsibility to the court and the emperor.
But in fact, this is just a reason on the table. In addition, there is another reason behind the table: the power of the imperial court lies in the palace, so the fewer auxiliary ministers, the more centralized the power of the important ministers in the court. Therefore, as the chief auxiliary,
If you refuse to ask for additional cabinet members, you will be suspected of taking power and taking it for granted. Not only may you be criticized by the courtiers, but you may also arouse the suspicion of the emperor.
However, everything has two sides. Since the first assistant wants to use the proposal to add cabinet members to prevent the courtiers from criticizing and dispel the emperor's suspicion, on the contrary, once the first assistant does so, the courtiers do not need to say anything, but the emperor often has to say "no need to add more cabinet members"
”.
This is done, firstly, to show His Majesty the Emperor's full affirmation of the abilities of the ministers in the cabinet - you have done a good job, you can do a good job now, why do you need to add more? Secondly, to show His Majesty the Emperor's support for the abilities of the ministers in the Cabinet.
The trust of cabinet ministers, especially the trust of the chief minister - don't be afraid of others gossiping, I completely trust you.
Therefore, there is no doubt that when Gao Pingshi Shangshu requested additional cabinet members, Zhu Yijun also immediately issued an order, saying that the current number of people in the cabinet is sufficient, and the four ministers are fully qualified to handle all current tasks. I will not consider adding additional cabinet members for the time being.
Immediately afterwards, Gao Pingshi continued to write. In the essay, he cited various manifestations of the current busy affairs in the cabinet, and believed that it was impossible not to add more cabinet ministers. On the one hand, it might delay the government's affairs, and on the other hand, it would also increase the work burden of the cabinet ministers.
However, the emperor still refused, insisting that the current cabinet is running well and there is no possibility of delaying the government's affairs. As for the possible increase in the burden on ministers that you mentioned, I also agree and feel quite distressed.
But it doesn’t matter. I think you are young and promising, Gao Yuanfu. Especially compared with the age of the ministers in the past, you, Gao Yuanfu, are in your prime. You can be used as two or even three people. In short, you are in your prime.
, with you leading the work in the cabinet, I see no problem at all, so you will have to worry more about it, which can be regarded as sharing my worries and solving my problems.
It must be said that this second reason is probably the most outrageous reason that emperors have refused to add ministers to their cabinet over the years.
What's going on, Your Majesty, are you planning to "use it until you die"? Are you so stingy that you insist on saving the salaries of two cabinet ministers? No, no?
Gao Pragmatic himself didn't expect that the emperor would say this in the imperial edict. He was so overwhelmed that he didn't even know why he continued to insist on adding more cabinet members. After all, you said that if you don't add more cabinet members, the work will not be done properly, but the emperor
He made it clear that he thinks there is no such possibility, so what should you do? You can't say, "Your Majesty, you know nothing. If I can't do what I say, I can't do it," right?
The second point is even more problematic. His pragmatic age is clearly shown here, and everyone in the world knows it clearly. If a thirty-six or seven-year-old chief assistant is not in the prime of life, then what is the prime of life?
In the prime of life?
As I said before, the average age of new scholars in the Ming Dynasty was thirty-two to thirty-three years old. At Gao Pragmatic's age, if calculated based on the average, he would have just entered the Hanlin Academy two or three years ago.
Having assumed the identity of an editor at the Hanlin Academy, the era of hard work for qualifications has just begun;
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Either it was two or three years after the Shujishi disbanded. At this time, he was either working in the Sixth Department as a certain chief, or he was sent to work as a county magistrate or an official equivalent to a county magistrate.
, most of these two types of people are still short of time and qualifications for even their first promotion.
However, he is so pragmatic that at this age he has directly worked to the point where one person in the imperial court is less than ten thousand people. Just say it, this is not called young and promising, then what is young and promising? This is not called in the prime of life.
So what does it mean to be in the prime of life?
So Gao Pragmatic was a little confused for a moment, this... Your Majesty, are you acting too unreasonably? If you say that, how can I respond?
There was no other way, so Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to say what he said under the table. Shangshu said that his current responsibilities are very important and he is already the chief assistant. If you want me to continue to take care of more work, then I will master more accordingly.
Big, more authority, this is definitely not a good thing for the court, and it must not be like this.
Unexpectedly, it was a good thing that this essay was not published. As soon as it was submitted, Zhu Yijun immediately approved it, saying: "Incompetent people hurt the sword, but talented people work harder." You, Gao Yuanfu, have proven yourself over the years.
Your ability and loyalty, my trust in you is rock solid, so you don’t need to mind this.
The emperor even said something like this at the end of the article, to the effect that if anyone wants to question you, then please ask him to take the top six exams first, and then build a career like yours for me.
Oh haha! General, dead move.
Everyone knows that these two prerequisites set by the emperor as the prerequisites for questioning high pragmatism are almost impossible to be satisfied at the same time.
Although it is difficult to make achievements, in the eyes of the world, you still have a chance to catch up with Gao Xiangpang. On the contrary, winning six yuan in a row in the previous one is really difficult.
Since the founding of the Ming dynasty, there have actually been only two top picks out of the six titles. The latter one is Gao Pragmatic, and the former one is named Huang Guan - unfortunately the results have been revoked.
People who can achieve "six yuan in a row" are rare in history. There is a saying among the people that "three yuan exists in the world, but six yuan does not exist in the world". In the original entire Chinese history, there were only one record holder of "six yuan in a row" in history.
The two people were Huang Guan in the Ming Dynasty and Qian Qi in the Qing Dynasty.
Huang Guan, the number one scholar of the Ming Dynasty, was named Lanbo and Shangbin. He was from Guichi, Chizhou (now part of Chizhou, Anhui Province) and came from a scholarly family. Huang Guan was once named Xu in his early years because his father married into the Xu family, so Huang Guan
After he was born, he took his mother's surname.
Huang Guan was extremely intelligent and studious since he was a child. In his early years, he studied under a famous scholar in the late Yuan Dynasty and was a member of the Imperial Academy. Under the influence of his teacher, he was rigorous in his studies and focused on current affairs when writing articles.
Brushwork.
Huang Guan participated in the provincial examination, joint examination, county examination, etc. and passed all the tests, ranking first. In March of the 24th year of Hongwu, in the imperial examination personally presided over by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the 27-year-old Huang Guan once again won the first place.
At that time, Huang Guan proposed in the article the idea of "stationing troops and fortresses, plowing and guarding, rejecting them when they come, and defending them when they go, so that China will have no worries and the borders will be safe." Due to the views in the article and Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts
They coincided with each other - of course, it may be that he guessed Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts and deliberately catered to him. In short, he was highly appreciated by the old emperor, so he was hand-picked to be the number one scholar in the first class.
Then why were his results scrapped? This shows the importance of taking sides.
In the 29th year of Hongwu, Huang Guan was promoted from the position of Shangbao Secretary to the Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the imperial court approved the restoration of the Huang surname. In the first year of Jianwen, Huang Guan was promoted to the Right Minister, and participated in the reform of the old system with Fang Xiaoru and others.
During this period, when King Yan Zhu Di entered the court as an imperial uncle, he met Zhu Yunwen as an uncle and nephew, which was considered by the court officials to be arrogant and rude to Emperor Jianwen.
However, all the ministers were afraid of King Yan's power and did not dare to criticize his behavior. Only Huang Guan dared to rebuke King Yan in public, saying that the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers should be observed in the main hall, and only in the palace can one talk about the relationship between uncle and nephew.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang was always more willing to delegate power to his sons, the vassal kings at that time not only had great power, but also had extremely high status. This made some vassal princes who had sealed their kingdoms in key places and controlled a large amount of military power also had very bad tempers, and they were almost unable to do so.
Don't take civil servants seriously.
Huang Guan made such accusations, and Zhu Di naturally resented this. Soon, Zhu Di launched the Jingnan Campaign in the name of conquering the treacherous ministers Qitai and Huang Zicheng. The army approached the capital and announced the list of "treacherous ministers" in the civil service. Huang Guan
Astonishingly, he was ranked sixth.
"The Secret History of the Jiang Family" records: Huang Guan was ordered to write an imperial edict, which "expressed great righteousness" in the text. At the same time, he traveled to the counties in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River to recruit soldiers to help the capital. He "worked hard without caring about his family" and recruited warriors along the way.
When Huang Guan and his party arrived in Anqing, they heard the news that the capital had been occupied by the Yan army, that Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts were unknown, and that many officials and their families in the capital were being persecuted. Huang Guan burst into tears and said to his subordinates: "My wife has always had integrity.
, she won’t stand the humiliation!”
Huang Guan concluded that his wife had been killed, so he "called for her soul and buried her on the river" by the river. The next day, a family boy escaped from Nanjing and found Huang Guan, telling him what had happened at home. The Yan army occupied the capital and asked for the imperial seal.
, there are rumors that the jade seal is in Huang Guan's hands and he is gathering troops.
Zhu Di then sent people to raid Huang Guan's home, and forcibly assigned his wife Weng Shi and two daughters to the elephant slaves who trained elephants. Weng Shi gave the gold hairpins and other jewelry on his body to the elephant slaves in exchange for wine, and took the opportunity to collect
A total of ten people, including his two daughters and their families, drowned themselves one after another.
Huang Guan was sad but also felt very relieved, so he sailed the boat near his hometown. He arranged his clothes on the bow of the boat, bowed to the east, and then jumped into the river. The people on the boat rushed to rescue him, but it was to no avail. The boatman just fished him out.
A beaded brown hat.
The soldiers who were chasing Huang Guan rushed to the scene and searched for Huang Guan's body in the river, but they never found it, so they had to go back to report with the hat.
Zhu Di was very dissatisfied when he heard the news about Huang Guan's martyrdom, so he sent people to make straw figures and parade them through the streets wearing the hat left by Huang Guan. Then he killed all the men in the Huang Guan clan (Huang Guan's younger brother Huang Gou
[gou] had a son who escaped this disaster).
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Zhu Di was still angry and not only ordered to cancel Huang Guan's status as the number one scholar, he also ordered all Huang Guan's relatives to be arrested and imprisoned. During Renzong's reign, he ordered Huang Guan to be imprisoned.
The relatives were distributed to the frontier.
In short, the only "six-headed champion" who is the same as Gao Jingshi in this plane has been completely denied by the court. The only six-headed champion currently recognized is Gao Jingshi, and it is unreasonable to want another six-headed champion.
How difficult! Let alone establishing achievements comparable to those of Gao Pragmatism, that is almost impossible.
When the emperor said this, he almost made it clear to everyone in the world: In my eyes, there is no one who is as good as Gao Yuanfu!
As a result, the matter of adding cabinet ministers was delayed. Even if Gao Pragmatic really wanted to recruit cabinet ministers to win over people's hearts, he couldn't do it for a while.
Well, there is one thing left now, which is to resign as the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. This is a pragmatic thing and is not sincere. It is just that I have to take such an attitude for the same reason.
However, it is obvious that the emperor would refuse to agree for the same reason. When Zhu Yijun responded to the edict, he directly used Gao Gong as an example, saying that there is no need to say that it is inconvenient for Yuan Fu to concurrently hold the important position of Shangshu. Your third uncle is Gao Gong.
During the reign of Duke Wen Zhenggong, not only was Yuan Fu concurrently serving as minister, but his concurrent appointment as minister was even more important than your current concurrent appointment as minister - you were concurrently serving as an earth official, but he was also serving as a heavenly official!
Since he can do it, why can't you do it? Since the late emperor can do it, why can't I imitate the late emperor?
Well, now that the late emperor has been carried out, naturally no one dares to continue to accuse the emperor - "ruling the world with filial piety" can still not allow people to follow the late emperor's example today? This makes no sense.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic's actions to stabilize his position after taking office are basically completed.
——
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "I am Liao Zhenxin" for their reward and support, thank you!
Thank you to book friends "Book Friends 20200323154533247", "soviet2003", "Clouds Cover the Moon and Rain", "Don't Envy the Immortals Against the Wind", "Neglect and 20190414205124747" for their monthly support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "Bai Ju Fei Ju" for your support with 7 monthly tickets, thank you!
PS: 1. Grandpa’s condition has improved and he is even optimistic that he wants to travel after being discharged from the hospital, haha.
2. I am very grateful to the book friend "Bai Ju Fei Ju" for his long book review. To me, this article is full of good intentions and to the point. However, it is really over-praised in some places and I really feel ashamed. I will correct some of the points in the article.
Thinking carefully, although the story of this book is coming to an end, I am afraid that it cannot be changed, but I will try my best to write better in the next book.
By the way, although I have not been able to keep up with the continuous updates recently, I have spent more time to carefully read some of the historical materials and documents collected to write this book, so it should not be considered a waste of time.