prosperous age

Although Wei Guangde has acknowledged Zhu Heng's analysis, relatively speaking, the more likely candidate to serve as Minister of Civil Affairs is Ge Shouli, not him.

But Wei Guangde did not choose to give up because of this.

That night, they finally agreed with Zhu Heng that they should secretly start working hard to win the support of the ministers in the DPRK and China.

For this reason, starting from the next day, Wei Guangde and Zhu Heng continued to entertain Jiangxi officials in Beijing and their respective contemporaries, friends and subordinates, and quietly began to compete with Zhang Siwei.

After Tan Lun found out, he naturally started contacting his subordinates at the Ministry of War.

The yamen in the capital are mainly the Six Ministries and Five Temples, and there are also many serving officials in the Ministry of Works. Tan Lun has gained a lot by using the palm department.

Naturally, their actions cannot be hidden from the eyes of other people in the capital.

In the next few days, Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang also found out through some connections the reason for the continuous banquets between the two parties. It turned out that they were rushing to lobby for the official position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

So Zhang Juzheng immediately visited Yang Bo to find out his details and whether, as the outside world had speculated, Yang Bo was in poor health and needed to retire to recuperate from illness.

On Lu Tiaoyang's side, there was not much action.

After all, he had too little experience. He was born in the Hanlin Academy, and after a few idle jobs, he was transferred to the Ministry of Rites to survive.

When it comes to relationship, it is still on that line.

Moreover, the people on this line have a similar relationship with him as Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde. They both come from Hanlin Qingliu, so it is naturally difficult to get strong support.

Lu Tiaoyang's final choice was just like Wei Guangde's guess. He obviously gave up the fight for the official position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and adopted the strategy of watching the fire from the other side.

Just as everyone in the Ming court was waiting eagerly for Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel, to become an official, and everyone began to recommend their own people to compete for this position, the position of the Minister of Rites was vacated first.

On this day, Lu Shusheng, the Minister of Rites, once again received a notification from the palace, asking him to go to Huijimen to receive the order.

Although he knew that it might not be a big deal and it was probably Feng Bao who deliberately made things difficult, Lu Shusheng still appeared at Huiji Gate.

Sure enough, the imperial edict is true. It is indeed the previous request from the Ministry of Rites to list the saints and concubines for sacrifice. Please handle it according to Emperor Sejong's decree. The imperial edict recognizes the inscription from the Ministry of Rites.

After Lu Shusheng received the imperial edict from the palace servant, the anger in his heart was burning.

Such a decree usually needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Rites in this form. It is just a matter of approving the inscription and sending it to the cabinet, and the cabinet forwards it to the Ministry of Rites.

But now such a simple thing requires him to go to Huiji Gate to receive the order.

Lu Shusheng felt that Feng Bao was becoming more and more exaggerated. Not only did he humiliate him excessively, but he also insulted his gentleness and did not take scholars at all.

Lu Shusheng could not tolerate eunuchs bullying ministers. After accepting the order, he left Huiji Gate without saying a word.

He did not return the gift to the ministry, but went directly to the cabinet.

This time, Zhang Juzheng still put down his official duties to appease him. However, when Lu Shusheng asked the cabinet to join him in impeaching Feng Bao for insulting the minister, Zhang Juzheng was hesitant and looked at him left and right.

Such an attitude made Lu Shusheng even more dissatisfied.

After leaving the cabinet, Lu Shusheng did not return to the Libu Yamen but chose to go home directly to write a memorial.

He begged for leave from Emperor Wanli on the grounds that he was too old and too weak to be promoted to the position of Minister of Rites.

This time, Lu Shusheng's attitude was very resolute. After the memorial was handed over, he stopped leaving the palace and waited for the palace's reply.

His younger brother Lu Shude also released the news that this time the court would not allow his brother to take up an official position. Lu Shusheng would never return to the Ministry of Rites to continue taking office. Instead, he would continue to write begging memorials until the court approved his official appointment.

During the incident, Lu Shude publicized it outside, which caused a stir in the court, and immediately aroused the courtiers' dissatisfaction with Feng Bao.

For a time, notes from various government offices continued to be sent to the cabinet, asking the cabinet to bring officials from six ministries and five temples to seek justice for Lu Shu.

However, at this time, the first and second assistants of the cabinet were not in Wenyuan Pavilion, but were summoned to Ciqing Palace again.

At this time, in the palace, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were standing with their highnesses, while Feng Bao was kneeling on the ground with a mournful face.

This turmoil in the outer court was caused by Feng Bao, and the queen mothers of the two palaces also knew about it. At this time, Feng Bao was being punished by kneeling.

"Two beloved ministers, the current turmoil in the court was caused by this evildoer. He broke the rules of the palace, so he will be punished by the palace himself. On the other side of the court, please ask the two elders to calm him down. good."

Queen Mother Li said.

Although they were dissatisfied with Feng Bao's actions, the palace's intention was obviously to favor Feng Bao and had no real intention to punish him.

Naturally, the punishment in the palace does not need to be explained to the foreign court.

Therefore, only Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde can do the job of appeasing the outer court.

Feng Bao was the minister of Gu Ming appointed by the late emperor. He was a key figure in the inner court's control of the outer court. Naturally, he would not be dismissed casually.

Feng Bao seemed to realize this, so he became more and more domineering towards the outside world.

Empress Dowager Chen wanted to punish Feng Bao severely, but Empress Dowager Li still interceded for him.

After all, Empress Dowager Li had just received a lot of good things from Feng Bao, especially the string of Buddhist beads she was wearing on her wrist. She couldn't put it down as soon as she got it. She used this string of beads for chanting in the past two days.

Wei Guangde was just watching his eyes, nose and heart at the moment. Since Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant, was in front of him, he didn't need to answer the question.

"Ms. Qi, over at the outer court, Mr. Wei and I will try our best to appease you, but..."

Zhang Juzheng was also very helpless. With the protection of the palace, he could not suppress Feng Bao, so he could only choose to wipe his ass obediently.

However, at this time, it seems that it is not just a matter of appeasing the officials, but the most important thing is that the matter of Lu Shusheng, the Minister of Rites, taking up the official position needs to have an outcome.

Either Lu Shusheng withdraws his official memorial, or he lets him go. In short, he wants to end this matter as soon as possible.

"Just what?"

Queen Mother Chen asked.

"How should Lu Shangshu's matter be resolved?"

Zhang Juzheng asked.

"Master Lu, have you decided to leave?"

Empress Dowager Chen also saw clearly this time that Lu Shusheng had a high prestige in the court, and now all the officials were fighting for him, so she was a little embarrassed for a while.

"should be."

Zhang Juzheng said: "Lu Shangshu has come to the cabinet many times to talk about this matter before. This time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to comfort him like before."

At this time, Wei Guangde noticed that Feng Bao, who was kneeling on the ground, was actually peeking at the two queen mothers in the palace.

"Now that Mr. Lu has made up his mind to go, it's OK. Is there anyone in the cabinet who can be appointed Minister of Rites?"

Obviously, the two queen mothers in the palace may have discussed it before summoning them.

Being able to calm down Lu Shusheng is naturally the best result, but if Lu Shusheng decides to leave, he has no intention of keeping him.

To them, it was nothing more than the departure or stay of a minister, which had only that kind of impact on the court, so they didn't take it seriously.

Just leave one person and choose another person to come up. "this."

Zhang Juzheng hesitated for a while and then said: "There is no suitable candidate in the cabinet. If Mr. Lu is allowed to take up the official position, when we go back today, we will contact the six ministries and nine ministers to discuss the matter."

"Okay, you can discuss this matter when you go down and report the candidates as soon as possible."

Mrs. Chen said decisively.

When Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng left Ciqing Palace, they were discussing the matter of summoning officials while walking on the palace road.

"It's better to send someone to invite Mr. Lu to come over and discuss the candidate for the Minister of Rites. His predecessor has the right to recommend."

In fact, when they came here, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng talked and discussed Lu Shusheng's successor.

It's just that both of them have their own plans, so it's naturally difficult to reach an agreement.

Wei Guangde firmly supported the selection of the new Minister of Rites through court consultation, because he did not have a suitable candidate for the Minister.

As for Zhang Juzheng's proposal, well, Wei Guangde rejected it with two random reasons.

Although the Ministry of Rites has light power, it has strong words. Wei Guangde will not let Zhang Juzheng control the Ministry of Rites easily.

Unless Zhang Juzheng supports Zhu Heng in his choice of Minister of Civil Affairs, Wei Guangde may nod and let the person recommended by Zhang Juzheng take over.

Zhang Juzheng naturally would not agree, and he was actually in a difficult position.

For the time being, he did not have a suitable person to succeed Yang Bo, but according to Yang Bo's plan, he was unwilling to let Zhang Siwei take over the post of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Therefore, when selecting candidates for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he preferred the recommendation of the court.

If two people cannot reach an agreement in a short period of time, they will naturally have no choice but to waste their time.

Inviting Lu Shusheng to come to the cabinet to discuss the matter was naturally intended to appease the courtiers.

"Please, if we want to appease the foreign court, I'm afraid we have to focus on the people recommended by Mr. Lu."

Zhang Juzheng also made a decision at this time, that is, he will not compete for the position of Minister of Rites, but will make full preparations to compete for the more powerful yamen of Minister of Civil Affairs.

After returning to the cabinet, the two people quickly asked Zhongshu to send someone to notify the nine ministers to come to the cabinet to discuss matters.

Before coming, Zhang Juzheng called Lu Tiaoyang again, and the three of them discussed the tone of the next meeting.

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng's arrangement coldly, and knew in his heart that he had set his sights on the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Zhu Heng might be in trouble if he took the position.

After the secretary of the cabinet arrived at the Lu Mansion, the closed door was finally opened. Lu Shusheng came out of his home and participated in the cabinet meeting to recommend candidates for the minister of rites.

Because the incident happened suddenly, other officials naturally could not think of a suitable candidate to take over the position left by Lu Shusheng in a short period of time, so the room was very quiet at the beginning and no one spoke.

Neither Zhang Juzheng nor Wei Guangde spoke, and the people on both sides also maintained a tacit understanding with them and kept silent.

Only Ge Shouli, the censor of Zuodu, was still trying to persuade Lu Shusheng, but Lu Shusheng's attitude was also very clear. He did not intend to stay in the court anymore, and it was more suitable for him to be in the wild. A life like a leisurely cloud and a wild crane was what he yearned for.

"Since no one has a suitable candidate, it's up to me to offer advice."

The meeting went on for a while, but still no one was chosen, so Lu Shusheng simply spoke up.

After all the officials' attention was attracted, Lu Shusheng said loudly: "This matter has exhausted everyone. Hiraizumi is here to bow to all of you."

After saying that, Lu Shusheng bowed his head first, then stood tall and said: "I recommend Wan Shihe, the left minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, to succeed the minister. What do you think?"

"Wan Shihe?"

When Wei Guangde heard this, he repeated in a low voice that this person was actually reinstated last year or after Gao Gong resigned. He was similar to Lu Shusheng.

At this time, the advantage of superior memory came to light, and Wei Guangde suddenly remembered this person's past.

Wan Shihe, named Sijie, named Lu'an, was born in Yixing, South Zhili, and his ancestral home was Fengyang, Anhui. He was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of seniority in the imperial examination, the three cabinet ministers are all his descendants.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but frown a little, because Wan Shihe was also considered to be a member of the Imperial Academy, but because he offended Yan Song, he had been suppressed since he left the academy.

In the early years of Longqing, he became the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the governor of Cangchang. Later, he was appointed the right minister of the Ministry of Rites.

However, there were no suitable official positions in the Ministry of Rites at this time, so he had to go to Nanjing to serve as the left minister of the Ministry of Rites.

This experience has actually destined him to miss the cabinet.

However, this time Lu Shusheng recommended him to return to the court as Minister of Rites, and it seemed that his career would change again.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng and saw that he had no other expression, knowing that he should not object.

Wei Guangde was too lazy to cause more trouble. He was not young anyway. Even if he served as the Minister of Rites, how long could he hold the post? Even if he was lucky enough to be added to the cabinet, he would only be ranked below himself and would never get ahead.

Sure enough, after hearing Lu Shusheng's recommendation, several people in the room started to discuss with Xiao Sheng after a brief silence.

Zhang Juzheng also made some mental calculations. He and Wan Shihe had no connection with each other, but this man originally resigned because he offended Gao Gong, which met his current standards for selecting officials.

Yes, when Zhang Juzheng chooses people now, he first considers the people around him, and secondly the people who oppose Gao Gong's conviction.

The subsequent discussions almost all centered around Wan Shihe recommended by Lu Shusheng, and everyone accepted this candidate.

When it was almost done, Zhang Juzheng glanced at Wei Guangde and signaled that it was time for him to speak out.

"My lords, please be patient and don't be impatient."

Wei Guangde understood clearly that the last words could not be spoken by Lord Chief Assistant, so he said: "Do you have any objections to the person recommended by Lord Lu, or are there other candidates?

Today's deliberations have been long. If there are no other candidates, the cabinet plans to recommend Wan Shi and Wan Master as candidates for the Minister of Rites. "

Ge Shouli glanced at Lu Shusheng, sighed and continued: "Yes, I have no objection to Li."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Heng, Wang Guoguang and others also spoke out one after another, saying they had no objections and supported Mr. Lu's recommendation.

On the other hand, Yang Bo, the Minister of Civil Affairs, had been very quiet today, but at this moment he suddenly coughed loudly. Tan Lun beside him brought tea, but the coughing sound continued.

After a while, Yang Bo calmed down and said, "I'm sorry, my old habit is back again. Ahem. I have no objection to the person recommended by Mr. Lu."

Wei Guangde immediately smiled and said: "Mr. Yang, please take care of yourself."

"Thank you, Wei Ge, for thinking about me. Yang still has a few years to live."

Yang Bo glanced in the direction of Wei Guangde and then smiled.

As for whether this was really the case in his heart, Wei Guangde knew from the emotion revealed in his cloudy eyes that Yang Bo was resenting him.

He had been trying hard to conceal his physical condition in preparation for his nephew Zhang Siwei to take over, but was discovered by Wei Guangde and Zhu Heng, making it impossible to hide the matter.

It is actually understandable to say that there is resentment in one's heart.

On the same day, the memorial was sent to the palace, and the next day the decree was issued. Lu Shusheng became an official, and Wan Shihe was summoned to serve as Minister of Rites. (End of chapter)