The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 235 Negotiation Between Internal and External Ministers
A simple inner court meeting ended, and no one even explained Ning Yuan's next military move to Liu Jian and others.

After the three members of the cabinet returned to the value room.

Xie Qiancai finally felt as if he had opened up the conversation: "I can't stop it."

Both Liu Jian and Li Dongyang could understand what he meant.

If it's just a battle at the head, Zhang Zhou's merits will not be obvious. After all, there is a famous general named Wang Yue, Zhang Zhou is at most just a helper, and the civil servants are more promoted to Weining Hou or Weining Bo for Wang Yue afterwards. In the fight, Zhang Zhou is not worried about giving him a title.

But this time is different.

It was Zhang Zhou's plan from the beginning, and he used a few "wine bags and rice bags" of honorable ministers. What's more, Zhang Zhou sacrificed two kinds of big killers one after another.

If the one time was a coincidence, then the two times... became inevitable.

Liu Jian looked at Li Dongyang and said, "Binzhi, can you restrain him now?"

Li Dongyang thought for a while, then shook his head helplessly: "With his achievements this time, if he really wants to be promoted to Bo, I'm afraid it will be hard to stop him. Your Majesty trusts him too much. But speaking of it, the officials in the Governor's Mansion are now fawning on him. , do you want him to have a title so early?"

very real problem.

Civil officials now feel that Zhang Zhou is a "hidden danger". Does Wu Xun regard Zhang Zhou as a "saint"?
If Zhang Zhou is just a close sycophant who makes suggestions in front of the emperor, it will not affect the interests of the people in the Dudu Mansion. They can try their best to curry favor with Zhang Zhou. Zhou's "colleagues" all say that they are colleagues or enemies, and Zhang Zhou may be disgusted by both civil servants and Wu Xun.

Just talk about Zhang Mao... Isn't Zhang Mao worried that after his death, Zhang Zhou will hold all the power in the capital?

A capable person is always in the opponent's camp, and he is a capable person.

If you get to your side, you will become an enemy.

Xie Qian said with a smile: "Binzhi, according to what you mean, you want to keep him in Hanyuan? What are you trying to do?"

Xie Qian was more realistic.

Since this new champion is out of our control, why don't we push him into the martial arts camp and let him harm the opponent?
Let the group of honorable ministers always like to compliment Zhang Bingkuan, now that you are benevolent, and Zhang Bingkuan sent it to you, just ask if you are happy?

Liu Jian's overall view is obviously stronger than Li Dongyang's. He nodded and said: "Zhang Zhou has entered the Dudu's Mansion, and of course he no longer has the rank of a civil servant. Don't worry about him breaking the rules of the officialdom. He won the title with meritorious service, and he has fulfilled his wish. .But it will not affect his interference in the government in the future, and may even intensify, and... it is not within our limits. In the long run, it is really not what we want."

Li Dongyang said: "I'm also worried that if he goes to the Governor's Mansion, he will disrupt the balance between the Chinese, Chinese and military ministers."

"Ha ha."

Although Xie Qian didn't participate in this discussion, he was laughing.

He understood what Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were worried about.

Push people to the opposite Wu Xun camp to harm Wu Xun, but they are afraid that Wu Xun will get Zhang Zhou's "strong support" and break the so-called balance.

To put it mildly, it is called "balance".

It's basically a matter of emphasizing civility over military affairs, and the situation that civil servants overwhelm martial arts may be broken.

So here Liu Jian feels that it is actually quite good to keep Zhang Zhou with the civil servants. Even if Zhang Zhou is only named as a civil servant, it will make the emperor feel that Zhang Zhou is always a civil servant, and it will also make people in the world feel that Zhang Zhou is a civil servant. I know that Daming still values ​​Wenzhi instead of martial arts. It can even be said that... in the future, there will be a chance to slowly clean up Zhang Zhou and bring Zhang Zhou into the "right path".

If someone else said this proposal.

Xie Qian would definitely say, are you cheap?Don't give it to you, now he is going to be a martial artist, but he wants to bring him back?
"Tomorrow will rise, but I don't know what to say." Li Dongyang was at his wit's end.

Zhang Zhou is still a civil servant, and now even the cabinet seems to have no way to interfere. As long as the emperor says that he wants to give Zhang Zhou an uncle, who in the court will object?There is no way to object!
If they were directly promoted to marquis, there might be some small disputes, but to them, is there a big difference between what uncle or marquis Zhang Zhou is?

When I was worrying here, footsteps came from outside, but it was Dai Yi, Xiao Jing, Chen Kuan and Wei Bin, the four eunuchs who were in charge of the ceremony, came to the cabinet together.

This battle still left the three members of the cabinet somewhat confused.

……

……

The four of Dai Yi arrived, and both sides greeted each other.

As the top "advisory group" of the Ming Dynasty, these seven people can be said to account for more than [-]% of the daily decision-making of the Ming Dynasty. In name, the emperor governs the country. It is better to say that these seven people supported the government of the Ming Dynasty. .

After all, there are only a few matters discussed in the court, and most of the matters are subject to official document review. These seven people are responsible for this.

And even if it was a court meeting, the emperor adopted their opinions at a very high rate, and everything had to pass their approval.

"Three elders, our family will not hide anything. Our family is representing His Majesty, and brought them here to discuss something with you. Your Majesty hopes to seek your opinions first."

After the two parties sat down, it was like a negotiation, and Dai Yi made the opening remarks.

Liu Jian nodded.

He knows that the cabinet is actually very passive in this matter, just like the decision on the internal affairs of the government, because the cabinet only has the power to consult, but not the power to make final decisions. In fact, the power of the four "inner ministers" is greater Some.

Dai Yi said: "Your Majesty discussed with Mr. Zhang, that is, Zhang Zhuangyuan, his future direction in the court, and he made a request to His Majesty."

Liu Jian and the three immediately understood.

Probably only for the sake of Zhang Zhou can the emperor organize such a big battle and let the internal and external ministers negotiate?

You, Zhang Bingkuan, have a lot of face.

Xie Qian asked with a smile, "What's his plan?"

Dai Yi looked at Xiao Jing who was at the side and said, "Eunuch Xiao will tell you."

Like the emperor, Dai Yi seemed to have learned to put on airs, and this change actually made Liu Jian and the others a little unbearable.

Don't think that these inner ministers have the power to make decisions, but usually they don't have many ideas. Most of the time, they still have to adopt the cabinet's proposals, because many things cannot be handled by these four eunuchs alone. To put it bluntly... They are not good enough.

So don't look at the great power of the eunuch, the eunuch, but you still have to be polite when you meet the cabinet ministers.

But now it seems to be different again.

Dai Yi can be so arrogant, is it also caused by the rise of Zhang Zhou, and the emperor no longer simply relying on the cabinet?

The three ministers of the cabinet can be said to be the best of the best in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, and their political acumen is very high.

Xiao Jingdao: "Your Majesty mentioned this in advance. If you want to make Mr. Zhang a Marquis, at least he will be equal to Marquis An Bian."

The three cabinet members looked at each other.

It also sounds reasonable.

Even the idiot Zhu Feng was able to be promoted to Marquis of Anbian immediately after the two wars, and Zhang Zhou was promoted to Marquis, there was nothing wrong with that.

Even if this matter was mentioned in the court, and some civil servants came out to protest, the final result did not seem to change, and Zhang Zhou would still get the Marquis.

Xie Qian interjected with a smile, "What did Bing Kuan say?"

Instead of calling him "Zhang Jinshi" and the like, he directly changed his name to "Bingkuan", as if the civil servants had accepted Zhang Zhou and were very familiar with Zhang Zhou.

Xiao Jingdao: "Mr. Zhang said that he doesn't want to go to the northwest to lead troops, and he doesn't want to be a governor. He just wants to stay in the capital, live a few days in peace, enjoy flowers, go shopping, go in and out of the palace gate to teach the prince... probably These are the original words of Mr. Zhang."

Xie Qian suppressed his smile when he heard this.

Want to hit someone.

This kid, you are really pretending. What you mean by saying this is actually telling the emperor that you don't want to win the Marquis, and you want to continue to compete with us civil servants in the capital for the one-third of an acre of land in the court?

Blossom viewing and shopping?

When you are a playboy, how can you not worry about feeding the whole family by yourself?What about social responsibility?
Liu Jian took the conversation and said, "So what arrangements does His Majesty plan to make?"

Xiao Jing shook his head and said: "Your Majesty has not made a decision, but has discussed with Mr. Zhang. Even if Mr. Zhang is given the title, Mr. Zhang will not be allowed to leave the capital, but he can be allowed to take the post in the capital temporarily to assist the British Duke and others. People will take care of the Beijing camp."

"Very good." Liu Jian nodded.

He obviously wanted to tie Zhang Zhou to the Hanlin Academy, but when faced with Xiao Jing's words, he did not reveal his intention easily.

Because he knew that Xiao Jing hadn't finished speaking.

If this is the final result, what kind of closed-door meeting should the four eunuchs, the chief inspector of ceremonies, hold with their cabinet?
Xiao Jingdao: "But Mr. Zhang also mentioned that he does not want to hold a real position in the Governor's Mansion at present."

Speaking of it.

Liu Jian and the three immediately realized Zhang Zhou's "brilliance".

The three of them were vaguely thinking that although this kid is favored by the emperor now, if he enters the Dudu's mansion, what he will face will no longer be a group of courtiers who fawn on him, but a group of wolves who are his enemies Therefore, he will not give up his position in the Dudufu, but he will not give up his "real job" for the time being, which is equivalent to asking the emperor to reward him with a "send salary official", and he will take a real job when the time is right.

It can be regarded as taking the credit for oneself, but at the moment it is not offending others.

Kill two birds with one stone.

"Your Majesty said that regardless of the outcome of the court's agreement on his meritorious deeds tomorrow, the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Rear Army Commander's Mansion will already be in his name."

The governor of the military governor's mansion is the same as the governor. This is basically the position that the Marquis of Daming has held after he entered the governor's mansion.

The military position, the official rank, is second only to the left and right governors of the Dudufu of the Five Armies, and most of the people who hold the title of Dudu are the Dukes of the Ming Dynasty, and the Dudu Tongzhi can already act on behalf of the government.

That is to say, for Zhang Zhou Wuxun, he has been able to ensure that there is a first-rank governor and acquaintance, but the title is still uncertain, and the civil position should be resigned...because Zhang Zhou's position as a editor of the History Museum of the Imperial Academy is only a sixth-rank The difference between the two is too great, and based on the principle that Daming must give up the low position if he holds a high position, Zhang Zhou should not also hold the title of civil officer.

Just like Wang Yue, now he is just the Marquis of Weining, and the positions of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War and Zuodu Yushi have already been relieved of him.

Li Dongyang heard some key factors of the problem, he asked: "Does that mean that he is only holding a post in the Governor's Mansion, and he is still working in Hanyuan?"

"Yes." Xiao Jing said, "This is not only what His Majesty thinks, but also Mr. Zhang's own wish."

Li Dongyang said: "Why?"

Xiao Jing said with a smile: "Your Majesty hopes that Mr. Zhang can teach the prince knowledge. If you give him a military post that is really lacking, Mr. Zhang will have to be distracted. If you wait for the prince to become an adult in the future, then confer it... It will not violate your majesty's meritocracy. It is the original intention of using it."

only use...

This word somewhat hurt the hearts of the three members of the cabinet.

"But everything has to be clearly explained to the ministers of the court." Xiao Jing said, "Since you want to stay in the Imperial Academy, if you continue to use the history museum to compile and write, it is not in line with your status. Your Majesty means that you want to be promoted to the Imperial Academy immediately. In other words, in order to make it easier for Mr. Zhang to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War to cast cannons, etc., he is also planning to entrust him with the post of Langzhong, the arsenal of the Ministry of War. Change."

After the Ming Dynasty, the military governor's mansion mainly governed the military affairs of the guards from the capital to Shanxi and Xuanfu.

Letting Zhang Zhou take this position seems to be a lack of real vacancies, but in fact the emperor wanted to use this to tell people in the town guards near the capital that Zhang Bingkuan is my confidant minister, and he is in charge of the capitals and capitals around the capital. For the military affairs of the guard, he can be dispatched to lead troops into battle at any time.

Li Dongyang said: "If you take the position of being a doctor in the Ministry of War and leading the governor's mansion, it's...unreasonable."

Taking civil and military positions on one shoulder is equivalent to Zhang Zhou being both the dispatcher and commander of the troops, and he also serves as the referee. In this way, the Ming Dynasty separated the authority of commanding troops and dispatching troops, and its meaning was destroyed by Zhang Zhou.

Xiao Jing didn't say anything.

Dai Yi, who was on the side, said, "That's why your majesty sent our family and others to discuss with you elders to see if this could be the first of its kind. Your majesty also made it clear that the positions offered are for real vacancies, except for the position of minister of the Imperial Academy. Apart from that, the rest of the positions are all in charge and not in the court, and they don’t care about the official business, everything is just for the convenience of scheduling. If the three elders think it’s inappropriate, maybe His Majesty can only let Mr. Zhang be promoted to Marquis.”

A or B.

Now the emperor's intention is to let the three members of the cabinet choose for the Chinese and military ministers of the court.

A is to promote Zhang Zhou as a marquis, and give him the position of the governor of the post-military governor's mansion, and it is likely that he will be given the real power to lead the troops, so that Zhang Zhou "huohuo" the governor's mansion.

B is to let Zhang Zhou continue to be a civil servant, and his main job is to be a lecturer in the Hanlin. He may be assigned an official position such as Chunfang Yude or Zhongyun in the Zhan Shifu, to teach the prince, and at the same time give the Ministry of War a part-time job as a doctor in the military arsenal. It is convenient to supervise the manufacture of artillery, and at the same time, the military post has the false title of the governor of the rear army governor's mansion.

It sounds like B's position is too broad to control.

But in the final analysis, if B is chosen, then Zhang Zhou is still a civil servant and is still under the "control" of the three cabinet members. More importantly, Zhang Zhou's authority will be greatly reduced.

The three members of the cabinet couldn't help but look at each other.

They are very clear.

It seems that it is not easy to choose, and I don’t want to choose either side, but in fact, there is a second option, which is “lucky”.

Generally speaking, or if an ordinary person gets Zhang Zhou's credit, he can just choose A, and he doesn't have to worry about choosing B.

It is precisely because Zhang Zhou is the No. [-] scholar in the Ming Dynasty, and it took only half a month to pass the No. [-] exam. In addition, Zhang Zhou still has the heart to become a civil servant... This is very important, and it is also related to Zhang Zhou's outstanding ability to be a teacher. The emperor felt that Zhang Zhou's teaching was indispensable for the prince's studies, so he had the option B.

"It's a good thing to stay in Hanyuan." Liu Jian didn't have to discuss it with Li Dongyang and Xie Qian.

He can directly represent the three of them, and even make decisions on behalf of the court officials.

Wu Xun probably also cheers for Liu Jian's wise decision...

It’s still Mr. Liu Ge, you understand the righteousness, you know that although we admire Zhang Bingkuan, we don’t want him to harm the Dudu’s Mansion. If he enters the Dudu’s Mansion and takes the real shortage, His Majesty will only know that there is Zhang Zhou in the Dudu’s Mansion. We, and we have formed a direct competitive relationship with Zhang Bingkuan.

Just like Wang Weining...Wang Weining, who is still the Minister of the Ministry of War, is the Wang Weining we admire. If he becomes the Marquis of Weining...

Better to die far away.

Dai Yi said with a smile: "Then Liu Ge always agreed to let Mr. Zhang stay in Hanyuan and give him the position mentioned earlier? Or there will be a little change in it, which is mostly an act of promotion. If he comes to Richaotang again If you object..."

"will not!"

Liu Jian also made it clear.

Now that we have agreed, tomorrow we will say the same thing, even if someone who does not know the truth comes out to object, we can use our status as a cabinet minister to beat him back.

Negotiate.

The most important thing is to do what you say, but please don't mess around, just agree with these positions, and don't add too much.

Dai Yi said: "Although this is the case, I still have to remind the three elders that if His Majesty proposes to record Mr. Zhang's achievements in this battle in the court tomorrow... Don't worry, it's not for civil promotion, but for In the future, he will be granted the title of title, and please ask the three elders not to object."

Regardless of whether you choose B or not A, the rules for bookkeeping still exist after the Piatouguan battle is over.

The emperor's current rhetoric is that the prince is still young, and Zhang Zhou will be entrusted with important tasks after the prince has completed his studies.

But the three members of the cabinet knew that it was actually the emperor himself who was reluctant to send Zhang Zhou elsewhere and wanted to discuss matters with Zhang Zhou all the time. It was more convenient to keep Zhang Zhou as a consultant in the Imperial Academy than directly stuffing him into the governor's mansion.

This time Liu Jian hesitated a little.

Compromise now, let Zhang Zhou still be a civil servant, but it still can't prevent Zhang Zhou from being promoted to the title in the future. Liu Jian can feel that he is very passive on his side.

Because when the prince succeeds in his studies in the future, it is very likely that Liu Jian and others have already retired. Who can guarantee that the cabinet and the ministers of the court and China will still be able to limit Zhang Zhou's rise?
What's even worse is a result...

That is, Zhang Zhou himself was promoted from the Hanlin Academy to a high position, he climbed up to the Hanlin Bachelor and even entered the cabinet...

Judging from the current emperor's trust in Zhang Zhou, this seems to be a matter of time, when Zhang Zhou himself will become a leader in the civil service, and Zhang Zhou is expected to restrict himself?
Let him cut his own way?
"Can!"

Liu Jian finally nodded.

This is a question of trade-offs.

What Liu Jian had to think about was promoting Zhang Zhou to Marquis now would cause too much damage to the court, or it would be better to give him a bunch of empty jobs and let him stay in the Imperial Academy as a servant.

Dai Yi smiled and said: "Then this matter should be agreed upon. Our family will report back to His Majesty and also inform Mr. Zhang. Tomorrow, the court will be the general of the Liaodong Army, and when Mr. Zhang discusses meritorious service, don't forget what we talked about today." The result is good."

(End of this chapter)