"In this case, who do you think can take over the position of Minister of Rites?"
Jiajing's voice was not loud, but it was like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of everyone present.
The Ministry of Rites is in charge of ceremonial affairs, schools and imperial examinations. There are four divisions under the Ministry of Rites: the Ceremony and Qing Officials Division, which is responsible for rituals, military rituals, and management of academic affairs and imperial examinations. The Temple Sacrifice and Qing Officials Division is responsible for auspicious and unlucky rituals. The host and guest Qing officials are in charge of guest etiquette and reception of foreign guests, while the fine dining Qing officials are in charge of banquets, raising livestock and other matters.
It can be said that the Ministry of Rites is second only to the Ministry of Personnel.
Now the emperor is asking several ministers to recommend suitable people. When Yan Song and Xu Jie heard this, their breathing became rapid.
If he can elect his own person to the position of Minister of Rites, he will be able to greatly expand the number of party members under his command, and the balance between Yan Dang and Qingliu will be completely broken.
"Your Majesty, I would like to recommend someone to your Majesty for the position of Minister of Rites."
Yan Song took the lead and spoke respectfully.
"Oh, who does Mr. Yan Ge want to recommend to me?" Jiajing asked with an interested expression on his face.
"Your Majesty, I would like to recommend Liu Zhenxin, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to your Majesty."
"Liu Zhenxin?" Jiajing thought for a long time after hearing the candidates recommended by Yan Song.
"This Liu Zhenxin is not very good at doing things and cannot be worthy of such a big responsibility." Jiajing shook his head and rejected the candidate recommended by Yan Song.
"Your Majesty, there is one person who I would like to recommend to Your Majesty!" Seeing Yan Song's defeat, Xu Jie on the side couldn't help but feel in a good mood, and followed him out of the queue.
"Oh, Mr. Xu Ge also wants to recommend someone to me?" Jiajing asked without changing the expression on his face.
"Your Majesty, I would like to recommend Wang Ting, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, to your Majesty. This person is very efficient and prudent in his work. He should be able to take on this important responsibility!"
"No, this Wang Ting has bad morals. Let him serve as the Minister of Etiquette. It may be difficult to convince the public." Jiajing shook his head as before and rejected Xu Jie's suggestion.
Immediately afterwards, Yan Song and Xu Jie still did not give up and proposed several candidates to Jiajing, but they were all rejected by Jiajing for various reasons.
"I wonder if Zhang Aiqing has any suitable candidates to recommend to me?" Perhaps feeling a little bored, Jiajing turned his eyes to Zhang Juzheng aside and said lightly.
Seeing the emperor's gaze on him, Zhang Juzheng pondered for a moment and then said: "Your Majesty, I would like to recommend Taichang Shaoqing Li Chunfang to be the Minister of Rites!"
"Oh, how come you see it?" Jiajing asked with interest.
"Your Majesty, this Li Chunfang was the number one scholar in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing. Since then, she has been responsible for compiling books. She has a calm personality and capable behavior! The most important thing is that in this case of leaking the imperial examination questions, He has proven his innocence, how can such a capable minister and official not be reused?"
"Well, what Zhang Aiqing said makes some sense, what do you think?" After Jiajing finished speaking, he turned his gaze to the others and asked.
Seeing that the emperor had said this, everyone didn't understand that asking for their opinions was just a formality. The emperor already had a suitable candidate in mind!
Thinking of this, everyone knelt on the ground and said in unison: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, I sincerely request you to appoint Taichang Shaoqing Li Chunfang as the new Minister of Rites!"
"Well, since everyone has agreed, the matter is settled." Jiajing said loudly, feeling in a good mood when he saw that his goal was achieved.
"Your Majesty, the day has come for the court to collect the salt tax. I request that Yan Maoqing, the left deputy capital censor, be sent." After the candidate of the Minister of Rites was confirmed, Yan Song stood up and requested Jiajing.
"Well, I'm sure. I hope this Yan Maoqing won't disappoint me!" Jiajing glanced at Yan Song and said lightly.
"Your Majesty, I will definitely ask Yan Maoqing to do his best to collect enough salt tax for the court. If the salt tax collected this time is insufficient, your Majesty will do whatever you want!"
Sensing the emperor's gaze, Yan Song stood up and issued a military order to the emperor.
…
Zhejiang, Zhejiang Governor's Mansion.
After Hu Zongxian distributed the next affairs to everyone, he sent them all away.
"My Lord Governor, this is the news sent by General Qi."
At this moment, a subordinate hurried over and handed the letter in his hand to Hu Zongxian.
"Well, I understand, you can go down." After Hu Zongxian said that, he opened the envelope and began to read the news on it.
"Okay, okay!" Hu Zongxian couldn't help but clapped his hands after reading the news handed over by Qi Jiguang.
It said that the Japanese pirate responsible for this transaction had opened his mouth under the punishment of Jin Yiwei and revealed the location of the Japanese pirate leader Wang Zhi.
Immediately afterwards, Hu Zongxian returned to his study without stopping for a moment, spread out his pen and paper and started writing a letter.
"Your Majesty, I have discovered the hiding place of the Japanese leader Wang Zhi. This is a serious matter. In order to completely wipe out this group of Japanese pirates, I request the imperial court to dispatch navy to assist..."
After the ink dried, Hu Zongxian called his subordinates and told him: "Submit this letter to His Majesty as soon as possible without delay!"
"Yes!" After the subordinate accepted the order, he walked away.
Hu Zongxian clutched the message delivered by Qi Jiguang tightly in his hand, and said quietly: "Wang Zhi, I have finally found your hiding place. When I catch you, I will definitely execute you Ling Chi!"
…
Ever since Tan Lun received the appointment from the court, he has been taking up the post of governor of Fujian without stopping. It has been almost a week now.
At first, the officials under his command wanted to join forces and fool him, the governor of Fujian, as before.
However, without saying a word, Tan Lun immediately dispatched the army to confiscate the homes of those who danced the most happily and exterminate their families!
After that, no one dared to challenge the authority of Tan Lun, the governor of Fujian, and Tan Lun also used the carrot and stick strategy to quickly take the governor's power firmly into his own hands.
"Sir Governor, in recent years, the taxes, population, etc. of the entire Fujian Province have been recorded in this book." The subordinate handed over the book with a respectful face.
"Well, I understand. You go down and do your work." Tan Lun nodded, took the booklet from his subordinate, and read it carefully.
I don't know how long time passed. After confirming that it was correct, Tan Lun put down the booklet in his hand, rubbed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.
During these days, the words that Hu Zongxian had previously told Tan Lun when he took office have been repeated endlessly in Tan Lun's mind: "The governor of Fujian is a feudal official, which means that every move you make represents the imperial court. Face! You are His Majesty’s spokesperson at the local level, and you can only be loyal to His Majesty unconditionally..."
For a long time, Tan Lun's eyes gradually became firmer. He stood up from his chair, took out a stack of letters that had been sent to him by everyone from the Qingliu sect, approached the burning candle in the study, and held the stack of letters above the flames. .
As soon as the orange flames came into contact with the paper, they burned even more fiercely. Tan Lun watched the stack of letters turn into ashes with his own eyes.
The moment the letter turned into ashes, it meant that Tan Lun betrayed his original camp and truly became a frontier official. He would be unconditionally loyal to the emperor!
(End of chapter)
