Two hundred and sixteen chapters the meaning of the arch and the rule
Chapter 216: The Meaning of Governing from the Top
Li You glanced at the two princess palace envoys, paused for a moment and said: "Mr. Wang is very kind to me, and I must receive you out of love and etiquette. Please wait here while I talk to Mr. Wang." over."
Then Li You invited the prefect Wang into the house to drink tea and chat.
The two internal prisoners were left hanging in the courtyard, looking at each other helplessly. They could only think inwardly, why would they be like this in the Tianqi years...why would they be like this...
It is unconventional for a princess to summon foreign ministers at will. But Princess Guide herself is already an unconventional existence. In the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, no princess was seen as a housekeeper in the palace.
Chitose dared to openly send someone to invite him, but Li You didn't dare to go. This was not because he was afraid, but mainly because what could he do if he went? What would be the benefit?
If he was persuaded to join Guide Chitose, he would not be able to agree; if he was persuaded to give up his position as the winner of the vote, he would not be able to make the decision.
In other words, Princess Chitose should go to talk to Xu Shangshu, but it is superfluous for him, Li You, to go see the eldest princess. If he doesn't do it well, he will be suspected.
"Is the relationship between you and the eldest princess... related to Zhongshu Sheren?" Wang Zhifu asked after entering the room.
Li Youqi asked: "How do you know this?"
It turns out that the prefect Wang had another intention when he entered the court this time, and that was to change his age... He was already sixty, and had just become a fourth-rank official. He was very happy, but he didn't want to be rushed after a few years. I want to become an official, so I want to open up my joints and change my age.
Many officials in the imperial dynasty have two ages for various reasons. One is the official age, which is the age in the files, and the public age; the other is the actual age, which is the real age, which is only known by themselves and their relatives and friends.
Of course, people like Mr. Wang need to make smaller changes, which can take a few more years; people like Li You should actually make more changes to avoid being ridiculed, but Mr. Li doesn't have this intention, and it doesn't have to be changed.
This is also an unspoken rule in the officialdom of this dynasty, and no one will really get to the bottom of the age issue.
If an official wants to change his or her age, there are two steps from a technical point of view. The first is to change the yellow register of the place of birth, which is equivalent to the household registration in the police station in the 21st century. The second is to change the name list of the official department, which is Personal profile.
There was a classmate of the Prefecture Wang who was in prison and served as a ninth-grade miscellaneous official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so he came to ask for help. By chance, he talked about Li You, a former official in Suzhou Prefecture who was going to be the secretary of the sub-ticket committee, so the classmate suggested to the Prefecture Wang. I also went to Mr. Li and asked. After all, Li You is a person who can talk to Xu Shangshu, and he is someone who can be pushed to the position by Xu Shangshu regardless of his face. The relationship is not bad.
When the prefect Wang learned that Li You had such connections, he was naturally overjoyed and took the initiative to visit him. As long as the minister's joints can be opened and the clerks in charge can be fed, changing the age is not a simple and stable matter. Things to do.
"Okay, if I can see the Heavenly Official, I'll give it a try. If I don't succeed, I won't blame you." Li You agreed.
The prefect Wang was at ease in his heart. He turned his head and looked out the window and said, "It doesn't matter to you that the two eunuchs are still waiting. In any case, Princess Guide is a member of the royal family and has a deep brotherhood with His Majesty. Even I don't care. I’ve heard about it, but you still refuse to go see me? Maybe I can keep it in the Emperor’s heart, and he will have a prosperous career in the future. If I miss it, I won’t miss it.”
When the old man finished speaking, he turned around and saw Li You looking at him with pity in his eyes, but with a bit of pride in his mouth: "You foreign officials don't understand the affairs of the capital, so don't make random comments, so as not to make others listen."
joke."
It’s not to blame that the prefect Wang is ignorant. It’s because he was born as a prison student and doesn’t have a well-informed network. He has always been a local official and has not been an official with real power for nearly thirty years. Naturally, he is very familiar with various insider situations in the court.
Blocked. In fact, Li You was originally worse, but now he is slightly stronger than Wang Zhifu.
However, the prefect Wang was not stupid. He didn't care to ridicule Li You for his success, and immediately asked without shame: "I vaguely heard that Cisheng (the Queen Mother) is fighting for power with this emperor. Do you have such concerns?"
Li You couldn't help but show off: "This kind of knowledge is the level of foolish men and women in the market buying and selling vegetables, and bargaining. How can the imperial government be such a child's play?"
The Wang Prefect is an old man, and he can see some clues. I guess Mr. Li, the former top official in the Suzhou Prefecture, was frustrated when he arrived in the imperial capital with so many powerful people. He took the opportunity to learn and sell to him to find a psychological balance. I was too lazy to talk to Li
Li You cared about it, so he just acted like he was thirsty for knowledge to give Li You face.
Li You said: "I met the Heavenly Official the night before, and he once said that the Emperor should live in the ninth level and rule by hanging the arch."
The ninth level is the supreme one, and the ninth level is the inner palace of the palace. If you rule with vertical arches, you can easily rule and bring peace to the world. Both words are used to describe the emperor, and others dare not mess with it.
But after the old prefect carefully tasted it, he could taste some meaning. These words were indeed reserved for the emperor, and they were indeed respectful, but when put together, the whole sentence made the prefect Wang feel a subtle feeling that could only be understood but could not be expressed in words.
Mr. Wang raised his head and looked at Li You, but did not continue to discuss this sentence.
Can this meaning be expressed verbally? Should it be said clearly that the emperor should conscientiously imitate the statues of gods in the temple, saying nothing, motionless, only sitting dignifiedly in the nine great halls, receiving the incense of worship, and nothing else?
Don't worry about it. Only in this way can we avoid causing chaos and achieve "rule by verticality".
"Do all the courtiers think this way?" Wang Zhifu asked again.
Li You sighed: "I don't know yet, but there should be quite a few."
"How did it become like this?" Wang Zhifu muttered.
Li You sighed: "I was supposed to be the master of the country, but now I am the master of the country."
Speaking of Li You's luck... the night he first met Xu Shangshu, Xu Shangshu casually asked him about the ownership of the political affairs. This was a difficult test.
Li You was confused and didn't know what was going on. He didn't know how to answer, and he felt that he was too sensitive to answer directly. He had an idea, and instead of talking about right and wrong directly, he talked about the past events of the Zhengtong, Zhengde, Wanli, and Tianqi dynasties in a vague way.
Anyway, it is written firmly in the history books, and no one can criticize him for being wrong.
Unexpectedly, this is in line with Xu Shangshu's psychology. At his level and in this sensitive period, of course, the main thing to judge people is their political opinions. People who have the same line, are politically reliable, have an "innocent" background, and are smart and clever should be reused. In the end, Xu Shangshu should be reused.
He made up his mind to replace the previous candidates and wedge Li You into the cabinet.
Of course, it’s good to know these things well and no one will talk about them.
The prefect Wang sat and thought for a while. The water in the capital was too muddy. How could there be rumors in the court about the power struggle between the Queen Mother and the Emperor? What could mother and son have to fight for?
Bazheng is a group of ministers who are not at ease with the emperor and use the queen mother to suppress the emperor. As for the queen mother's governance, there are no ancestral laws and precedents, and it is easy to deal with those who are inherently weak.
Thinking of this, the prefect Wang stood up and said: "I'd better finish my work and return to Suzhou as soon as possible." The capital is not easy. After all, he, Mr. Wang, is also the prefect of the third prefecture in the world who supplies one-tenth of the tax to the imperial court. If someone has ulterior motives,
People are paying attention to it, who knows what will happen, a supporting role like him doesn't have the same opportunities as Li You.
At this time, the sky was getting dark, and Li You had achieved his goal and stopped visiting. He thought to himself that Princess Guide must be embarrassed to see him after it has been delayed until this time.
In the evening, he called the young and handsome foreign minister to his house for a secret meeting... Chitose probably couldn't bear the pressure of public opinion.
