The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 424
The ministers and ministers of the six factions in the central and central courts were waiting in the palace for the news of the Northwest Battle.

Zhu Youtang also stayed in the Qianqing Palace, not going anywhere, and concentrated on waiting for the battle report.

But in fact, even Zhu Youtang himself knows that this is just to teach those ministers some "lessons", let them know that as the emperor, he cares about state affairs every day, and focuses on the changes in the military situation in various parts of the nine borders. Worried about the results sent back, that kind of restless mood.

Outside the palace, an impeachment campaign against Zhang Zhou was brewing again.

This time, there were no longer eunuchs, eunuchs, elders, ministers, etc. who came out to play the leading role, but it was entirely the officials of Ke Dao who presided over it. The leader was Lu Heng, who had just been promoted to Hu Ke Du Gi Shi Zhong less than a year ago.

Lu Heng has been working in Ke Dao since he was a Jinshi in Zhongzhong. He has been working in the military department for more than ten years. Last year, Rouen was dismissed from the Jinyi Guard Prison because he was hated by the minister for impeachment. The magistrate of Puqi County, Huguang, and Rou Ang resigned in anger and returned to his hometown.

Now Lu Heng will inherit the ambition of his predecessor and continue to fight against the injustices in the court. This time he is targeting Zhang Zhou, who "disasterd the country and the people".

Lu Heng found Zuo Du Yu Shi Daishan, hoping that Dai Shan could take the lead in this matter.

Not long after Dai Shan took office in the capital from Nanjing, she obviously didn't want to get into troubled waters. He said: "Yongtai, you are a bit reckless in doing this. Your Majesty has made a clear order not to involve the Duke of Lai with unprovoked matters. Now the Duke of Lai In Yingtian Mansion, can you say that this matter is directly related to him?"

Although Dai Shan was recommended by the traditional faction, he knew that he was not qualified enough.

Thinking of Wang Shi, who jumped directly from Dali Siqing to Xingbu Shangshu, people don't care about this kind of thing, you Lu Heng came to me, you clearly saw that I was easy to be "handled"?
Lu Heng said: "Your Majesty does not allow Zhang Zhou to be involved in disasters, but the current battle in the north involves the safety of six thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. As far as I know, there have been rumors in the Ministry of War that Zhang Zhou personally planned this matter. If such rash advances are not stopped, if no one is held accountable, or if the chief culprit is not punished, these things will be even more difficult to stop."

"Cough cough."

Daishan coughed twice.

When he heard Lu Heng call Zhang Zhou's name directly, he knew that in the eyes of Lu Heng and other traditional evangelists, he didn't look down on Zhang Zhou's "nearly sycophant".

The old Shangshu of the Chaozhong Pavilion may, because of some interests, make a compromise with Zhang Zhouxu, and even like to take a step back.

But the censors can't rub the sand in their eyes at ordinary times, and they will be filled with righteous indignation when they are unfair, and use it as a standard for conducting themselves in the world, just like after Rouen was sentenced to prison, sent to the magistrate of Puqi County, and returned to his hometown, He won a huge reputation, and now the officials of Ke Dao use Rouen as an example everywhere, and there is a wave of direct admonition.

Dai Shan said: "Whoever said it, you can go to whomever. Ma Shangshu of the Ministry of War and Zhou Shangshu of the Ministry of Households are fine. As for others, it is really difficult to present this matter before there is no result. After all, this is not someone else responsibility."

You Ke Dao officials are in charge of impeaching ministers, why do you have to find a "senior official" to take the lead for you?
If you say it well, you should take the lead. If you say it badly, why don't you call us a shield?

Since you want to look for it, then you can go to someone who is about to retire, such as Ma Wensheng or Zhou Jing, or you can go to Xu Guan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry. Anyway, these three are recognized as leaving the court soon. I didn't have so many worries before I left, and I, who just took office as the censor of Zuodu, why should I fight Zhang Bingkuan to the death for a fruitless matter?
Lu Heng asked coldly: "Could it be that President Dai doesn't even have a basic responsibility? I really misjudged you! Farewell!"

If I don't show up, you belittle me?

You won't add me to the impeachment list later, will you?

Even though Dai Shan felt that it was inappropriate to directly reject a Huke, he still held back. In his heart, he still understood the principle of "the overall situation is the most important thing". It is meaningless to compete with Lu Heng at this time.

……

……

Luheng didn't find Dai Shan as the chief co-signer, and he didn't find anyone else.

Because in the eyes of a stubborn speaker like Lu Heng, the Six Departments of the Central Committee are already rotten. If it is useful to find the other six departments and the Seven Ministers, Zhang Zhou’s power will not grow. Only Dai Shan is a newcomer. Maybe it can be "rescued" for a while, other than that, it should be to find the new Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Ni Yue... But to go directly to Ni Yue, the jump is too big, and Lu Heng doesn't have so much time, so he just went back and directly wooed him A group of officials of science and technology.

In order to avoid insufficient strength of the joint name.

He also found many people in the Hanlin Academy who were unhappy with Zhang Zhou. There were nearly 30 people who signed the name together, and they immediately supported him.

This time, it's not the high-level officials who want to participate in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou, but our middle- and lower-level officials. We all represent the Qingliu of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if Zhang Zhou can't be taken down, at least we can make Zhang Zhou famous in Qingyi and make him unable to get along with ordinary scholars...Of course this is just wishful thinking of Lu Heng and others. If they If you go down the ranks, you will know that Zhang Zhou's reputation among ordinary scholars has not been limited to a courtier.

The debate between Neo-Confucianism and Psychology has reached a fever pitch, and everyone is busy discussing the orthodoxy of Psychology. Who has the time to talk about Zhang Zhou as a leftist minister?
As the chief co-signer, Lu Heng wrote the above memorial and submitted it to the Secretary of the General Administration on the same day. After being read by the new General Administration Envoy Shen Lu, he was shocked.

The former head of state envoy was made official, and it happened only two days ago. Because Yuan Shouzhi belonged to a traditional faction, his temper was upright, and his health was always bad. Zuo Tongzheng and Shen Lu logically replaced him as the Tongzheng envoy and became Daming Yintai.

Shen Lu, as the general envoy, has no right to refute memorials other than specifications and responsibilities.

In other words, as long as Lu Heng can do the impeachment of Zhang Zhou, and there are no obvious grammatical and format errors in his impeachment memorial, then Shen Lu cannot reject it and ask him to rewrite it. But it can only be reported according to the facts. In addition to submitting to the supervisor of ceremonies, it must also be shut down to the cabinet, and the cabinet will know about it.

……

……

The memorial to impeachment first went to the cabinet.

Because it involves Zhang Zhou, it is a sensitive issue, and the memorial is also placed on it. Liu Jian knew when he received the memorial from Zhongshu Sheren that the court officials fired at Zhang Zhou again.

After Liu Jian read it, he didn't comment, but handed it over to Xie Qian, which means you put forward your opinion first.

Xie Qian took it carefully, but he finished reading the content in just a few glances. What he talked about were all commonplace topics. Xie Qian didn't even need to read it word by word to know the pissing nature of the group of speakers.

"It's okay to dismiss this memorial!" Xie Qian commented.

"Why?" Liu Jian asked.

Xie Qian pointed to the above content and said: "Now that Zhang Bingkuan is in Nanjing, he is serving as a military counselor for Nanjing. It is not his duty to use troops in the north. If it is said that the dispatch of troops is inappropriate this time, it should also be the responsibility of the Ministry of War."

Liu Jian said: "You know, that's not the case."

Xie Qian smiled and said: "As the Minister of the Ministry of War, Ma Yingtu knew about it when the Ming Dynasty sent troops, but he did not refute it until Wang Bo'an was summoned by His Majesty's inner court a few days after he entered the army. This is actually the Minister of the Ministry of War. If those people in Kedao were smarter, they would be a bit more effective than they are now if they used the excuse of impeaching Ma to point the finger at Zhang Bingkuan who planned this matter."

"Ah."

Liu Jian nodded, approving Xie Qian's remarks.

If you want to participate in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou, you shouldn't be so direct, because once Wang Shouren is defeated, the emperor will definitely not admit that the whole thing was planned by Zhang Zhou. Slandering my Bingkuan with pretentious things will make it hard for you group of speech officials to go around.

To impeach.

Ma Wensheng should be trampled to death. Why did Ma Wensheng jump out to confront Zhang Zhou before? Didn't Ma Wensheng feel that he, the Minister of the Ministry of War, was being emptied?
In other words, Ma Wensheng knew that the Ministry of War would bear a great responsibility after the defeat of this battle?

Although Ma Wensheng's motives for doing this are complicated, and it cannot be said that he is completely opposed to Zhang Zhou, but if Ma Wensheng is not forced to a corner, the emperor will not realize how much this incident has affected the order of the court , will not pay more attention to the impeachment of Zhang Zhou.

Liu Jian said: "This memorial has been submitted to the Supervisor of Rituals. It is estimated that His Majesty has also seen it."

Meaning, rejection is out of the question.

Shen Lu, as the co-administrator, did not reject it from his point of view, so it is only a transcript when it falls to our side, that is, the copy of Guan Bai, and the original copy is still at the supervisor of ceremonies, unless Xiao Jing is asked to copy it. This memorandum was typed back...but it is not in harmony with the reason, it is tantamount to the secret operation of the cabinet and the inspector of ceremonies, which is not advisable.

Xie Qian said with a smile: "If there is no result, you can remind the supervisor of ceremonies and delay it a little bit. If there is a great victory in the grassland, His Majesty will be happy in his heart, so he won't care about such things. If he loses, bring it up again. Or it might have some effect."

can mention.

But it must not be mentioned now.

The emperor was still anxiously waiting for the battle report, but the censor here got involved first? !Isn't this adding fuel to the emperor's restless mood?
When the results of Wang Shouren's battle came back, the emperor's heart fell to the ground. Whether he won or lost, there was room for discussion in this memorial.

Xie Qian said again: "I'm also a little puzzled. Don't those people in the science and Taoism understand the rationale? At such an uncertain time, what is the purpose of rushing to present such an impeachment memorial? ?”

Liu Jian said: "Perhaps we talked too much about the results before, so that we messed up the original rules of the court."

He didn't say it clearly, but Xie Qian knew it well.

The rule of the Great Ming Dynasty Hall is that the rules cannot be broken.

Don't judge success or failure by the results of breaking the rules.

Before, the emperor also "judged heroes by success or failure" too much, emphasizing the correctness of the results, while ignoring the correctness of the procedures.

The result is correct, and it is often our high-level civil officials who are vain and can take a step back from each other.

But those middle and lower censors don't care so much.

They only know that the rules have been disrupted, no matter whether the result is victory or defeat, it has broken the rules of the Ming Dynasty Hall, deciding major affairs in the court with one person's will, ignoring the importance of court discussions... Wouldn't there be one person? The concept of a prime minister who is above ten thousand people?
The reason why the Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister was to ensure the supremacy of the imperial power and the right of the ministers to participate in and discuss state affairs. However, Zhang Zhou, the uncrowned prime minister, was obviously unacceptable to middle- and lower-level officials.

It doesn't matter whether it wins or loses, we just want to nail Zhang Zhou to the pillar of shame because of Zhang Zhou's bad manners.

"Hehe." Xie Qian said with a bitter smile, "Yeah, the rules, from Li Guang to Zhang Bingkuan, seem to be ineffective all the time. It's a pity that it is not easy to change everything and restore the old system How will the vote be decided?"

The question was thrown back to Liu Jian.

Liu Jian looked at Zuo Shu and said, "Let's think about it."

Apparently, Liu Jian also understands that the emperor is overly pursuing results, and has long since ignored the procedures and processes. He understands some things in his heart, but he can't explain them clearly to the emperor.

The right to speak of the cabinet seems to be irrelevant.

……

……

On the side of the inspector of ceremonies.

After Xiao Jing handed over the memorial from Chen Kuan, after seeing Lu Heng and others' impeachment memorial, without Liu Jian and others reminding him, he knew that this memorial came at an inopportune time.

Knowing that the memorial should be submitted at the most timely time, Xiao Jing still chose to postpone the processing.

There is no need to delay for a few days, maybe one or two hours, or the time of a cup of tea, the news of success and failure will come?

But Xiao Jing could never have imagined that even though this memorandum was never in Li Rong's hands, with Li Rong's prudence, he got the news from the General Secretary, and the biggest difference between him and Xiao Jing and others If there is any important matter, he must report to the emperor as soon as possible... and this is also the reason why the emperor transferred him back to the supervisor of ceremonies.

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Li Rong mentioned this matter to the emperor when he presented the rest of the memorials waiting for the imperial pen and Zhu Zhu to the emperor.

Zhu Youtang patted the table and said, "Why don't you see Shangzuo?"

Li Rongdao: "Maybe Eunuch Xiao thinks that this memorial should come to fruition before asking for instructions. I don't want to create trouble for Your Majesty."

As Li Rong said, Zhu Youtang knew that the imperial censor was joining forces to impeach Zhang Zhou again. This time, he was not using disasters, but ready-made things to impeach, and he was indeed panicked.

Thinking about it this way, it seems that Xiao Jing's actions can be explained logically, but he is still doing it under the guise of being good for me?

"What do you think?" Zhu Youtang asked.

Li Rong replied cautiously: "This old slave knows that His Majesty has already made a verbal agreement with the Ma Department Hall of the Ministry of War."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang nodded.

We have already discussed with Ma Wensheng. If Wang Shouren wins the grassland and can retreat unscathed, Zhang Zhou can be transferred back to Beijing as Minister of the Ministry of War without exaggerating the results.

If Wang Shouren is defeated, then Zhang Zhou may have to stay in Nanjing for the next two years and cannot return to the capital for a while.

Zhu Youtang also didn't think that Wang Shouren would be stuck in the grassland and not return. In addition, Ma Wensheng was quite old, and before he retired, the successor of the Minister of War had paved a way for Zhang Zhou. It's a smooth road, but if the emperor brushes Ma Wensheng's face, it will not conform to Zhu Youtang's generous and benevolent character.

If Wang Shouren really lost, it would not be unacceptable for Zhu Youtang to let Zhang Zhou continue to practice outside during the two years of Ming Dynasty's preparations.

Seeing that Zhu Youtang gave an affirmative answer, Li Rong continued: "Then this presentation can be used as a proof to question the speaker."

"Tell me in detail!" Zhu Youtang was naturally very interested in hearing the pertinent opinions of such a "fair" person as Li Rong, or someone who was biased towards him.

Li Rongdao: "Your Majesty can completely keep this memorandum unpublished. It's a good news. It's a good news to hit the speaker, and it's a manifestation of Lai Guogong's meritorious deeds. It's a sign of merit. If you lose, This is used to determine the matter of Duke Lai staying in Nanjing..."

"That's right." Zhu Youtang said, "If Wang Shouren wins, I will use this to give Bingkuan credit. If he loses, then let Bingkuan guard Nanjing as a garrison officer, and is also the military affairs counselor of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. Nanjing is fine."

Li Rong also just came back a few days ago.

It was also the first time that he really saw the emperor's almost absolute "trust" in Zhang Zhou.

If he wins, Zhang Zhou will be transferred back to serve as Minister of the Ministry of War, and if he loses, Zhang Zhou will be appointed Minister of the Ministry of War of Nanjing as well as a garrison officer.

Anyway, Zhang Zhou is not at a loss, anyway, Daming belongs to Zhu Youtang, so he can decide how he wants.

"You don't think so?" Zhu Youtang couldn't help asking seeing Li Rong's hesitation.

Li Rongdao: "There are precedents for Xingji Hou and Jingyuan Hou who are both ministers and ministers of the Ministry of war. It must be possible."

The emperor didn't break the rules either.

At that time, Wang Ji also served as Uncle Jingyuan and Uncle Yang Shanyi Xingji. After the change of seizing the door, he concurrently served as Minister of Military Affairs and Minister of Rites. It doesn't seem to have any direct meaning.

"Okay, then the matter is settled like this." Zhu Youtang directly made the decision without seeing the memorial.

Li Rong asked for instructions: "Do you want to inform Eunuch Xiao and let him send the memorial?"

Even though Li Rong has higher qualifications than Xiao Jing, he is still the chief writer, and Xiao Jing is his boss in name, so he has to speak for Xiao Jing.

Zhu Youtang said: "There's no need to tell him, he doesn't know what he's been thinking in the past two years, he often entrusts the courtiers to do things, I know he probably has the goodwill of not wanting Daming to be ruined by traitors, but he is lenient. I trust him not only because of his ability, but also because I believe that what he can bring to me is something that others cannot give."

Even if the emperor knew that Xiao Jing was a bit of a "bad guy", but with his kindness, he didn't criticize him harshly.

This is where Zhu Youtang reasoned.

Even if Zhu Youtang trusted Zhang Zhou again, he didn't say that he completely abandoned the civil servants and those who opposed Zhang Zhou, but let them form a delicate balance.

"And." Zhu Youtang added, "To me, Bingkuan is not only a subject, but also a friend of mine. Sincerely, since I am so lonely, Bingkuan can help me deal with government affairs and private affairs. I am so relieved."

"Yes."

While Li Rong saluted respectfully, he seemed to understand many things in his heart.

Including Xiao Jing's unruly behavior, his being re-activated, and the civil servant's resistance to Zhang Zhou...they all have root causes.

(End of this chapter)