Daming 1805

Chapter 486 What Do You Do First When Being an Emperor

In the memory of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, the first thing most new emperors do after succeeding to the throne is to quickly control the situation inside and outside the court.

There are generally two directions to control the situation.

One is to arrange the person you trust the most in the most important position.

The second is to reach a compromise with the main forces inside and outside the court, so that as many people as possible are willing to accept their orders.

Therefore, when a new emperor ascended the throne in ancient times, he often had to amnesty the world, and at the same time he added hundreds of officials, and there was a saying that there was one emperor and one courtier.

The emperor who succeeds normally has less difficulty in controlling the situation.

Because the vast majority of neutral factions without too much ambition will take it for granted that the orthodox heir will become the new emperor.

Anyway, there must be an emperor, and the orthodox heir will succeed to the throne, which will have the least impact on the situation.

With the non-objection of the vast majority of neutral factions, the new emperor will be able to complete his layout relatively smoothly.

Even if some people hold some important positions and have ambitions to improve their status, the emperor can usually stabilize them as long as they give appropriate appeasement and rewards.

Facing the orthodox heirs, it is too difficult to rebel and cause trouble, and they usually accept it as soon as they see it.

It is more difficult for an emperor who succeeds abnormally to control the situation.

He must first appease the neutrals and make them believe or accept that he is the most suitable candidate.

Then there's the deal with the restless.

The most important thing is to suppress one's competitors and quickly complete a substantive coup d'état.

However, no matter whether it is a normal succession or not, some power or interests must be transferred to some extent, and all groups must be appeased.

Let the conservative believe that they will not change the situation, and let the radical accept their direction.

What Zhu Jingyuan should do now is actually still these.

The difference is that I don't need to complete it as urgently as those emperors in my previous life.

I don't need to write an imperial decree immediately, recruit some special subordinates to Beijing to support, and I don't need to let some people take over certain positions immediately.

Under normal circumstances, I don't need to compromise with any forces inside or outside the court.

Because he did not ascend the throne after the death of his father.

His father is still there, even his grandfather is still there.

Now the forces inside and outside the court are still under the control of his father.

And the father will gradually transfer these forces to himself.

I can operate as safely as possible, call the people in need to Beijing step by step, and gradually take over the important positions left by my father's people.

My father's body is still quite healthy, and it may not be impossible to live to the age of 80 like my grandfather.

In this situation, you don't need to specifically transfer your power and interests.

However, rewards of money and reputation are still to be given, and Zhu Jingyuan has always been generous in this regard.

After becoming emperor, there are only a very limited number of orders that must be given immediately.

Zhu Jingyuan was a little surprised that he would succeed to the throne today, but he was well prepared for the succession itself.

Having already prepared a draft in his heart, Zhu Jingyuan spoke directly after watching all the civil and military officials below sit down.

First of all, he recruited Pan Shi'en, who is also serving as the Chief Envoy of Dongmozhou, to come to Beijing to take over the position of Minister of the Ministry of Officials left by him.

Then Lin Zexu and Niu Jian, the two chief aides of the royal palace, were conferred the ranks of the Cabinet Grand Scholars to take over the daily affairs of the Wenhua Palace and the Cabinet, the de facto office of the Ming emperor, as well as the channels for uploading and distributing information and orders.

At the same time, the two were asked to draw up a formal appointment plan for all their staff.

The Minister of the Ministry of Officials is the most important amount that must be filled immediately, and he must use his real direct line to take over.

Not only because this position is important, it must be mastered by someone who is absolutely trustworthy.

On the other hand, if you have been "promoted" as the leader, you should also lead your direct lineage to "progress together".

Otherwise, most of the ordinary courtiers who can be regarded as bystanders at present may think that they are mean and ungrateful in their hearts.

Although I have always had a reputation for generosity, for those who don't want to do it, hearing is deception, and seeing is believing.

The earliest absolute descendants of Zhu Jingyuan were Lin Zexu, Niu Jian, and Guan Tianpei.

Lin Zexu and Niu Jian were aides, so they directly entered the cabinet as bachelors.

Guan Tianpei is a military officer and is now the commander of the navy of the Dashi Kingdom. Zhu Jingyuan plans to transfer him to the Chinese military governor's office as the deputy commander in charge of the navy.

Behind the three of them were Liu Zhixin, the first chief minister of Dashi Kingdom, Xu Minghui, the first trial officer, and Pan Shien, who was transferred to the past in the first year of Ankang.

There was also Wang Yinzhi who went there with Pan Shien, but Wang Yinzhi was actually the prefect of Crete. He was an official of the imperial court at that time, but he also served as the right chief of the Great Food Kingdom.

Pan Shien is a full-time official of the Great Food Kingdom.

In terms of seniority strictly speaking, Liu Zhixin and Xu Minghui are slightly earlier than Pan Shien, but the difference is not too big.

Because Pan Shien was later transferred from Daming.

But Liu Zhixin and Xu Minghui didn't follow Zhu Jingyuan directly after entering politics. Both of them were officials from the original vassal states in the Persian Gulf.

In addition, both Liu and Xu are "honest people" with relatively stubborn and rigid personalities, so it is difficult to do the job of the official secretary.

So Zhu Jingyuan gave the Minister of the Ministry of Officials to Pan Shi'en, and after a few days to make room in the court, he arranged for Liu and Xu to go to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple.

Theoretically speaking, during my tenure as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the two ministers of the Ministry of Officials who served as my deputy are also considered to be my own people.

It's just that the status of the two of them in their own system is too marginal, and they are considered to be the last to join.

If I let one of them be the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and don't let real veterans like Pan Shien and Liu Zhixin come, the two of them will feel uneasy, and may even resign in fright.

Even among your own people, you must be on a first-come, first-served basis. If the gap is too big, you can't grab the position, otherwise you may provoke the anger of the same kind in the entire system.

To some extent, this can be regarded as Daming's official rules.

At the same time, there was Wang Tingzhen, the governor of Otsuka, on the Ministry of Officials.

Wang Tingzhen is 63 years old and can arrange to retire at any time now.

But I will not let him retire immediately, he has to continue to guide Pan Shien for two to three years.

Pan Shi'en served as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and got acquainted with the affairs of the Ministry of Officials with his boss Wang Tingzhen and his subordinates.

At that time, Wang Tingzhen will be arranged to retire, and Pan Shien will take advantage of the opportunity to be promoted to Zuozai.

At this time, the original Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials can be promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials normally.

In this way, letting Pan Shien jump in the queue to buffer it is very in line with the tradition of official circles.

Pan Shien is already 50 years old this year, and his promotion to Shangshu can be regarded as relatively fast, but it is still within a reasonable range.

Moreover, Pan Shien is still in Dongmozhou, so there is no way to come out directly to thank him now.

But both Lin Zexu and Niu Jian were present.

Both of them have just turned 35 years old this year, and now they are directly in the position of extreme ministers.

A bachelor is the pinnacle of the staff system, and there will be no substantive promotion in the future, but the grade will continue to be improved.

By default, a bachelor is the second grade. If the emperor thinks that a bachelor is too young, he may specially suppress the grade.

Let the other party enter that rank with the third rank or even the fourth rank.

But Zhu Jingyuan wouldn't do that. Since both Lin Zexu and Niu Jian were capable, they would directly give them the second rank.

Even if the two of them don't have any obvious achievements in the future, even if it takes nine years for three terms to advance to the first level, they should be promoted to the first rank at the age of 53.

When you retire, you will definitely have to add a title. At least one viscount title is indispensable, and you may even get an earl.

Unless the two are directly ready to jump from the staff to the foreign court to start again, their official careers have already reached their peak.

The two have been looking forward to this for a long time.

When I was in Dashi Country, I seriously considered whether to take this path.

The two were worried that if they chose this way, Zhu Jingyuan would feel that they had no ambitions...

The decision to stay was made by Zhu Jingyuan's direct invitation.

Now that Zhu Jingyuan's order was spoken, both of them came out full of emotion and excitement and bowed to thank them.

The other staff members were also jubilant at the same time.

Zhu Jingyuan didn't directly appoint them, but he also mentioned it specifically.

Let Lin Zexu and Niu Jian discuss and come up with a plan.

It is to give a group of official positions in the Imperial Academy, such as Hanlin Bachelor, Attendant Reader, Attendant Speaker, etc.

Although the official positions of the current Imperial Academy are similar to honorary titles, they are actually the emperor's staff and secretaries.

It has long been no longer the title of the most noble civil official before the Chongzhen Dynasty.

But for these honors that have been passed down for hundreds of years, no staff member does not like the title of Hanlin.

This is the pinnacle of the staff except for the Grand Bachelor.

If there is no accident, the emperor should directly approve it.

Zhu Jingyuan looked at his staff with a smile, nodded slightly, and announced the holiday:

"The relocation of the capital is a multi-faceted matter, and all the ministers must adapt to the new environment as soon as possible and restore their original work efficiency.

"From tomorrow onwards, you won't be in the morning court for three days, and all the ministers will concentrate on the work at hand.

"If you have something particularly important, you can go to Wenhua Hall alone to see him.

"Okay, let's stop here for today's court meeting."

The officials at the scene also got up immediately and bowed to Zhu Jingyuan to see him off:

"Congratulations, Your Majesty."

After Zhu Jingyuan got up and left the hall, the officials at the scene started to get up and leave one after another.

Lu Yinpu looked at Wang Tingzhen beside him, and said something strangely:
"Otsuka Zai, go back and write your resignation memorial, you should have retired long ago..."

Wang Tingzhen is 63 years old this year, and has indeed passed the theoretical retirement age.

However, the former emperor Zhu Jianyan stayed because Zhu Jingyuan was getting familiar with the job of Minister of the Ministry of Officials at that time.

Now that the new emperor has succeeded to the throne, he has specifically announced that the early court will be suspended for three days. These three days are not entirely for the officials to adapt to the environment.

It is also to give the veterans time to take the initiative to write a memorial to resign.

According to the current practice of the Ming court, all officials above the age of 60 and above are over [-] years old. When they should retire according to the regulations, they must specifically ask the emperor to resign and obtain the emperor's permission to retire.

Officials below the third grade do not need it, and they can go through the normal procedures when they reach the age.

Especially in the first two years before the new emperor is about to take the throne, the old emperor usually will not allow these veterans to resign.

Every time a new emperor succeeds to the throne, it is the time when there are the most veterans in the court who should retire.

After the new emperor succeeded to the throne, these veteran ministers resigned to the new emperor.

The new emperor wants to arrange for his own handy people to take over certain important positions in the past.

It will approve the resignation memorials of the veterans in the corresponding positions, but basically they will give the veterans another promotion and retirement.

Wang Tingzhen's Otsuka Prime Minister is the most important position in the imperial court, so Lu Yinpu came out to mock him.

Now Wang Tingzhen is not angry at all, but strokes her beard and smiles back, saying:
"Of course the old man will write the resignation, but the old man will probably have to work hard for a few more years."

"I have to bring another Minister of the Ministry of Officials to His Majesty."

Lu Yinpu is also a human being, and when he heard Wang Tingzhen say this, he immediately understood the current situation.

Pan Shi'en has been working in Dongmozhou all the time, and he came directly to be Minister of the Ministry of Officials. It's really troublesome if no one is with him.

Zhu Jingyuan, who has become the emperor, probably doesn't have much time to hand over Pan Shien himself.

The natural choice is to let this old man Wang Tingzhen work for a few more years.

Lu Yinpu couldn't help frowning immediately, and soon had a new idea:

"If you can keep it, then the official will probably have to work hard for a few more years..."

Wang Tingzhen blew on her beard, not in a very happy mood.

Indeed, the 60-year-old Da Situ Lu Yinpu was to some extent considered Zhu Jingyuan's man.

When Zhu Jingyuan was governor of Beimozhou and Daqinhai, Lu Yinpu happened to be sent there to be the political envoy of Beimo.

At the same time, Lu Yinpu was still Wang Tingzhen's recognized enemy of the court, and the two had quarreled in the court for several years.

In order not to appear harsh to his own people, the new emperor had to keep Lu Yinpu while keeping Wang Tingzhen.

Anyway, Lu Yinpu is the emperor's own person, and he has done a good job in charge of financial work these years.

The point is that he has just turned 60 this year, and there is really no need for him to retire immediately.

The two were blowing their beards and staring at each other, while Uncle Shen, who was next to him, passed by repeatedly, smiling and cupping his hands at the two of them.

The two also subconsciously bowed their hands in return, and the quarrel could not continue, so they followed Shen Fu and walked out.

When it comes to the Jiuqing and the important ministers in the court, whose position is the most secure, it is probably Shen Fu.

He is the most peculiar lineage of two generations of emperors among the ministers of Jiuqing.

Shen Fu was born in Honglu Temple. Before the end of the World War, the position of Honglu Temple was not very important.

When Shen Fu was 40 years old, he became the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, whose rank was equivalent to that of a servant.

The Minister of Honglu Temple at that time was the former emperor Zhu Jianyan.

During the negotiation of the armistice of the world war, Zhu Jianyan was transferred to the Clan Academy.

Zhu Jingyuan became Shen Fu's boss when he came out to represent Honglusi Qing.

At that time, Shen Fu accompanied Zhu Jingyuan to preside over the negotiation of the armistice agreement.

The main negotiating strategy was done by Zhu Jingyuan, while the management of the entire mission and the actual completion of the agreement were all done by Shen Fu.

After the negotiations were over, Zhu Jianyan succeeded to the throne as emperor, and Shen Fu was naturally promoted to be the minister of Honglu Temple.

At that time, Shen Fu was only 42 years old and had already become a minister-level official.

Later, the various ministries of the imperial court reformed and established Jiuqing. Huang Yue, the former Minister of Rites, retired after serving as Zongbo.

From an insignificant diplomat to an important minister in charge of all cultural education.

Finally, according to seniority, he was promoted to Da Zongbo of Zhengyipin.

The key is that he is only 57 years old this year, not yet at retirement age, and his official career has gone smoothly to the extreme.

Of course, people like Lu Yinpu and Wang Tingzhen are definitely not rough.

In fact, the resumes of all the important ministers of the Jiuqing can be described as glamorous.

After all, the 60-year-old retirement limit is stuck on it.

If the previous official career is not smooth, if there are too many obstacles and mistakes, you will miss the opportunity when you should be promoted.

Then there may be no chance to reach this level in retirement.

The senior bureaucrats in the imperial court returned to their respective departments, handling official duties or writing resignations with various moods.

Lin Zexu and the new emperor's aides headed by Niu Jian went to the Wenhua Palace to familiarize themselves with the new office.

(End of this chapter)