Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 50
This is really dark under the lights.

After all, how could this be missed?
Because the Minister of the Ministry of Officials of the Six Ministries of Nanjing has just been vacant.

Moreover, the official department is not only short of ministers, but also lacks servants.

The left servant of the official department and the right servant of the official department are also absent.

Now, if the government wants to promote the cabinet minister, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials needs to come forward to preside over it, but the Minister of the Ministry of Officials is absent, and the ministers of the Ministry of Officials are also absent. What should I do?
Gao Hongtu said: "Why don't Da Zong Bo take over?"

Wang Duodun regained his energy for a while, let me host Tingtui?OK.

"It's not right." Chen Liangmo immediately objected, "Uncle Da Zong's presiding over the court push is suspected of usurping the power of the Ministry of Officials."

Gao Hongtu was speechless immediately. The six-ministration system of the Ming Dynasty had been in operation for nearly three hundred years, and the division of powers among the six ministries was very clear. One radish was one hole, and encroachment on power was a taboo in official circles.

Shi Kefa sighed, and went out of the class to play: "Please ask your lord to introduce Otsuka Zai."

The Ministry of Officials has the highest weight among the six ministries, and it is also the pillar of the cabinet's right to speak.

If a cabinet head and assistant cannot control the official minister, it can basically only be reduced to a decoration.

But now the big bosses of the Donglin Party, headed by Shi Kefa, have been held up by the Ming Dynasty's court recommendation system, and they can only obediently cede the power of the Secretary of the Ministry of Officials or Zuo Shilang to the emperor.

"I just said that I will not infringe on the power of the cabinet."

Chongzhen pretended to say: "It's better for Shi Aiqing to recommend a candidate for Otsuka's slaughter first, and then I will make a special briefing."

Shi Kefa and other Nanjing officials couldn't help but roll their eyes. Sure enough, the Holy Majesty is still hypocritical. You obviously want to do something yourself, but you insist on saying it for you.

Isn't it just to prevent mistakes in the future, so that you won't be held accountable?
Shi Kefa and the others did not follow Chongzhen to break the siege from Beijing, nor did they follow Chongzhen for more than five thousand miles, so they still had the original stereotype of Chongzhen.

But in fact, this Chongzhen is no longer that Chongzhen.

At that moment, Shi Kefa said helplessly: "In this way, I recommend Meng Zhaoxiang, the right commander, to move from the left to the left to be the governor of Zuozhong."

After being in officialdom for many years, how could Shi Kefa and other Donglin party members fail to see Chongzhen's intentions?It was nothing more than wanting the Beijing officials who followed him to the south to control the bureaucracy.

Therefore, recommending other candidates will definitely not pass.

However, Shi Kefa and others were still unwilling to directly give the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

Still thinking about letting the emperor Jianba be the left servant of the official department for the time being, and when the opportunity is ripe, he will call a big boss of the Donglin Party such as Qian Qianyi or Liu Zongzhou to be the official secretary.

The cabinet can still control the appointment and removal of officials.

Chongzhen then asked Gao Hongtu and others: "What do you think?"

Gao Hongtu and the others bowed in unison and said: "The ministers and others seconded the proposal."

Chongzhen smiled and said to Meng Zhaoxiang, "Congratulations to Zuo Zhongzai."

Meng Zhaoxiang hurriedly bowed to the ground and said, "Your Majesty, I am terrified."

"You don't have to panic." Chongzhen straightened his face and said solemnly, "Mr. Qing is loyal to the country. I saw it with my own eyes on the way of the southern tour of Yangzhou. You deserve the position of Zuo Zhongzhang. I only hope that after you take charge of the Ministry of Officials, Choose more useful talents for the country, and don't let those who are dead and vegetarian be mixed up in the officialdom."

The implication is that I am optimistic about the Ministry of Officials for me.

Don't let the Donglin Party usurp the power of your bureaucracy.

"I would like to obey the sacred edict." Meng Zhaoxiang said solemnly.

Meng Zhaoxiang's subtext is, Majesty, you can relax.

Meng Zhaoxiang was Chongzhen's first wedge into Jiangnan officialdom.

After Daming retreated to defend half of the south of the Yangtze River, it was inevitable for the Donglin Party to rise to power.

Because Jiangnan is the old nest of Donglin Party, Donglin Party has unparalleled influence in Jiangnan.

If the world is peaceful and there is a powerful military force in his hands, Chongzhen can naturally learn from the Qing Dynasty to eradicate the Donglin Party and rectify the Jiangnan officialdom with an iron fist. But unfortunately, not only is it in troubled times, but he also has Lacking a strong armed force, there is even a crisis of subjugation, so the officialdom in Jiangnan has to rely on the Donglin Party for the time being.

Otherwise, a large-scale strike broke out in the Jiangnan officialdom, how can we play?
Historically, there have been two official strikes in the Hongguang court.

The final result is to directly wipe out the Hongguang Little Court.

But even so, it cannot be dominated by the Donglin Party.

That's why Chongzhen acted decisively to seize the right to elect officials.

Meng Zhaoxiang is from Shanxi, and he is not deeply involved with the Donglin Party, so he is the best thug.

Shi Kefa coughed lightly, and said again: "Then now, I invite Zuo Zhongzai to preside over the court push."

"Follow orders." Meng Zhaoxiang immediately walked to the center of Xingyuan, and said in a clear voice, "A country cannot live without a king, and a cabinet cannot live without a minister. The most important thing that the government recommends today is the candidate for the chief minister of the cabinet."

Hearing this, the Nanjing officials present cheered up immediately.

After waiting for a long time, I finally got to the topic and chose the first assistant!

It's quite exciting to think about it. Before the fall of the capital, this was the power only the officials of the capital had. Now it's their Nanjing officials' turn to exercise their power.

This is really a turn of events.

Tingtui is extremely sacred in the eyes of Ming officials.

This is the civil servant group exercising the supreme power of Ming Dynasty.

I only heard Meng Zhaoxiang continue to say: "Pu Jiu was in the capital, and he was familiar with some of his colleagues in Liudu, and some were not very familiar with them. Therefore, in order to ensure fairness, justice and openness, I decided to expand the scope of this selection of cabinet members to all officials above the third rank. , but according to the routine, I will not participate in the court push."

"However, because there are many candidates participating in Tingtui,"

"Don't engage in forward push and vice push, just choose one person."

"The person with the most votes will be directly promoted."

"The second is the sub-tweeter, and the second is the sub-tweeter."

"A total of four people were selected, and then handed over to the Holy Majesty to select on the spot."

After Meng Zhaoxiang finished speaking, the inside of the shaft exploded with a buzzing sound.

Zao Zuozai actually expanded the scope of recommendation to all three ranks?

Oh no, except for himself, because according to the rules, officials from the Ministry of Officials cannot join the cabinet.

I don’t want to say what the final result of this court push will be, but Meng Zhaoxiang’s move instantly won the favor of most people. Except for Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Jiang Riguang and other Donglin Party bosses who are definitely on the candidate list, there are no others. The third-rank official who had the opportunity to enter the list instantly became more fond of Meng Zhaoxiang, Zuo Zuozai was righteous!

Meng Zhaoxiang even gained a wave of goodwill from the officials who were not qualified to be included in the list, Zuo Zuozai was very fair.

Chongzhen also laughed when he saw this. Sure enough, there is no one good enough to be in the officialdom of the capital. They are all good old foxes. He thought that Meng Zhaoxiang would have a difficult period after he took charge of the Ministry of Officials, and he might even be excluded by the subordinates, but now It seemed that his worries were completely superfluous, Meng Zhaoxiang gained a firm foothold with only one move.

The process is simple, Wang Chengen has brought a few eunuchs to hand out pens and paper.

The officials present wrote down the name of the ordering official on the slips of paper one after another.

After all the officials finished writing, Wang Chengen collected all the papers.

Then it will be called by Meng Zhaoxiang, with a censor and a supervisor next to him.

Wang Chengen was in charge of counting, and there was also a censor and a supervisor next to him.

The results came out soon. Shi Kefa received the most recommendations, with [-] votes, and nearly half of the officials in the capital chose him. It can be said that he was well received.

Then came Gao Hongtu and Jiang Yueguang.

Then there is Xie Xuelong, Shangshu of Nanjing Ministry of punishment.

Without exception, they are all big bosses of the Donglin Party.

In fact, the top ten are all members of the Donglin Party.

Chongzhen's expression turned a little ugly. It seems that the Donglin Party's influence in the Jiangnan officialdom is really extraordinary, as can be seen from this court push.

"Please judge." Meng Zhaoxiang handed over the list.

Wang Chengen on the other side also handed over the ink brush.

Chongzhen thought about the list for a while and made a decision.

Since it is unavoidable for the Donglin Party to take over the cabinet, then simply push the boat to fulfill them.

In this way, it can somewhat win the favor of the Donglin Party, which in turn makes the Jiangnan officialdom run at full speed.

After all, the most urgent task now is to concentrate all our efforts to manage the Huanghuai defense line. This is the main contradiction at the moment. If we leave the main contradiction unresolved and rush to internal friction with the Donglin Party, then it is foolish not to distinguish between the primary and secondary.

This is how Hongguang's little court played himself to death, and Chongzhen would not be stupid as a time traveler.

Immediately, Chongzhen picked up the ink brush and drew four circles on the list, ticking all of them: "In my opinion, there is no need to waste time and push the other court assistants. Let Shi Aiqing, who received the most votes, be the leader, and the one who received the second most votes Gao Aiqing is the second assistant, and Jiang Aiqing and Xie Aiqing are the third and fourth assistants again, what do you think?"

The vast majority of officials had no objection, and said in unison: "The ministers and others seconded the proposal."

"Then it's settled." Chongzhen said to Wang Duo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites. Ge University Bachelor, pre-engineering."

"The minister leads the decree." Wang Duo looked a little disappointed. As the minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was supposed to be the first candidate for the cabinet's chief assistant, but he didn't even make it into the top ten recommended by the court.

In fairness, Wang Duo was not convinced by Shi Kefa and others.

Although scholars all respected Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Jiang Yueguang as national scholars,
But Wang Duo thought it was because they were members of the Donglin Party, not because the three of them were really talented national scholars, and why did Xie Xuelong, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, rank above him?
But the situation is stronger than people, who made this place Jiangnan.

Chongzhen smiled and said to Shi Kefa: "Shi Aiqing, congratulations."

"Reporting to the Holy Majesty, the old minister is terrified and dare not accept orders." Shi Kefa also wanted to imitate the ancients and give three words and three concessions.

Chongzhen felt a little bored, and said displeasedly: "Shi Kefa, when the country is in crisis, don't engage in the form of three words and three concessions. When you enter the cabinet at this time, no one will say that you are in love with power and position. It will be said that you have helped the country to solve difficulties, and you have the style of a national scholar, so you still think about how to organize the army to calm the people and assist the country's government."

What Chongzhen said made Shi Kefa's sweat drip down.

Yes, it takes time to engage in formalities. What time is it now?
At that moment, Shi Kefa quickly entered the role and asked: "The old minister is dull, I don't know what instructions are given by the Holy Spirit?"

Chongzhen nodded happily, he looked like a chief assistant, and said immediately: "Jiannu will go south soon, and the most urgent task is to manage the defense line of Huanghuai, so all government affairs should be based on this."

(End of this chapter)