So, why did Qin Yan, the instigator of this incident, sign the memorial to persuade Xu Song to stay?
There are two reasons here.
First, although there is no relevant system in the court, if a cabinet minister resigns, someone will write a letter to persuade him to stay, and ask other cabinet ministers to co-sign. At this time, other cabinet ministers will sign the petition as usual, even if you and him usually fight seven times. It's a shameless thing, but at this time, the pattern that should be presented must be presented.
Otherwise, things will change, and next time someone picks a fight with you, when you finally look around, you won’t even see a single colleague to try to save you. Doesn’t it look very ugly on your face?
This is the unspoken rule. In the adult world, don't break the rules easily, otherwise there will be many backlashes.
Secondly, didn’t Qin Yan know that someone would try to retain Xu Song?
Of course he had already guessed it.
Therefore, he not only wanted to sign, but also encouraged more people to sign. The more people signed, the more the emperor could clearly see the prestige of Mr. Xu Ge among the courtiers.
Our Majesty, he needs prestigious cabinet ministers, so that he can help him suppress all kinds of dissatisfaction and smoothly promote various government affairs.
But our Majesty doesn’t want his cabinet ministers to have too high a reputation. The reason... doesn’t need to be explained too much.
…
One day later, a memorial signed by 219 people and initiated by the Hanlin Academy requesting Xu Song to serve as an official was submitted to the Department of Transportation.
Over the years, the second and third assistants have changed constantly, and memorials to retain them are also common.
But it is rare to see such a memorial signed by hundreds of people.
The Secretary of General Affairs felt that something was fishy, so he quickly went to the cabinet to report it, and asked the first and second assistants to come up with a charter.
Qin Yan's side was naturally very high-sounding, and Wu Xingbang was also happy to see it.
As a result, the General Affairs Secretary handed over the book in confusion and felt uneasy.
When this commotion is over, everyone in the cabinet will know about it.
He still sighed without knowing why: "Although Mr. Xu Ge has been in the cabinet for the shortest time, I didn't expect that his prestige is so high!"
After hearing this, the thoughtful person just smiled and immersed himself in his work.
As soon as Yao Chunchen got the news, he took a leave of absence, left the cabinet and came to Xu Song's house.
"Sister Qiu is being taken advantage of!" Yao Chunchen commented bluntly.
Xu Song twisted his beard and frowned.
He originally wanted to retreat in order to advance, but his opponent was more cunning and moved along with the situation.
More than 200 Beijing officials signed the petition. What does this mean?
In the eyes of Qiu Teng and the others, he had done a great thing and retained talents for the country.
The emperor would also pay attention to Xu Song and even summon Xu Song to express his condolences.
But what about looking at it from another perspective?
From the perspective of Emperor Zhizheng, Xu Song has only been in the cabinet for just two years, but he has such prestige?
Xu Song knew that he was not the first assistant candidate in Emperor Zhizheng's heart, and he never had been.
A person who is destined not to become the chief assistant, but has a higher prestige than the chief assistant, how can the chief assistant carry out his work?
Also, who would be most disadvantageous if the courtiers were monolithic?
That would be most detrimental to the emperor himself.
How could the emperor's authority, especially the Zhizheng Emperor, who had not been in court for more than ten years, still control the government?
One is to use Qin Yan to help him deal with things that are difficult to deal with.
The second is to take advantage of the conflicts between cabinet ministers and various ministries and temples to set things up. As the final president, he can consolidate his prestige.
With these two points in mind, it is easy to understand why Xu Song had a headache.
Xu He suddenly said: "Brother Xizai, can you get the list of officials who signed the petition?"
Yao Chunchen frowned and said, "I'll find a way."
It was not until evening that Yao Chunchen obtained the list from the cabinet and returned to Xu Song's house.
Xu He took the list immediately, spread it on the table and asked Yao Chunchen.
"Which yamen does this person belong to?"
"Hanlin Academy!"
Xu He drew a small "√" behind this person's name!
"Official staff"!
"x"!
"Hubu"!
"△"!
After some statistics, almost all officials from the Imperial Academy to the rank of lecturer and above signed the petition.
Most of the rest are from the six departments and several yamen in charge of Qin Yan and Wu Xingbang.
Among them, all officials from the Ministry of War and above also signed the petition.
After Xu He finished the statistics, he sighed: "Uncle, Brother Xizai, the man behind this is really good at it."
"Obviously it wasn't you who instigated it, uncle, but the Ministry of War has the most complete list of officials who signed the contract. Very attentive!"
Xu Song said: "Since they have done it, they will not let go of the loophole of the Ministry of War! There are probably many people in the Ministry of War who are secretly working with them, and they usually stay quiet, haha..."
Yao Chunchen asked anxiously: "Then what should we do now?"
Before Xu Song could speak, Xu He smiled: "What's so difficult about this? Brother Xizai, just wait for the news!"
Yao Chunchen came to the premises in a hurry and left confused.
After thinking about it for a long time after returning home, he didn't expect how Xu He would resolve the matter.
On the second day, Emperor Zhengzheng didn't want to go to Qianqing Palace to deal with official documents after meditating, so he asked the young eunuch to carry the memorial to the side hall of Wanshou Palace, where he stayed today.
The Supervisor of Ceremonies had already sorted out the memorials and piled them on his desk according to whether the matters posted in Huangzhong were important or not.
Emperor Zhizheng held the jade pestle and looked at the mountain of memorials in front of him, his mood at work was like going to the grave.
However, although he didn't like the long, boring and time-consuming process of going to court.
But he also knew that reading the memorial was one of the reasons why he could sit safely in the Forbidden City. Everything else didn't matter, but this matter must not be neglected.
But today he pulled out the first book and frowned.
This is a book written by Qiu Teng, a bachelor of the Imperial Academy and Minister of Rites.
"The cabinet minister Xu is working tirelessly at home, forgetting his own life for the sake of his ancestors, and repaying the kindness of two generations of emperors, especially to His Majesty."
"The ministers of the royal family are not sympathizing with the difficulty of the imperial court's expenses, and they especially use human relations to threaten His Majesty..."
"The cabinet ministers are well-behaved and well-versed in military affairs, and everyone in the court is aware of their abilities..."
"I beg your majesty to invite you to reward me, consult me on your good deeds, and listen to your elegant words. I am deeply grateful for your kindness."
…
When Emperor Zhizheng saw this, he didn't think it was anything. He just smiled and said to Wang Ji beside him: "This old Master Qiu, before I sent out my third condolences, he couldn't help it..."
Halfway through his words, he suddenly felt that the thickness of the memorial was wrong.
How to describe this feeling?
Just like a person in another time and space was watching a short video and found it interesting. Suddenly someone on the screen said, "Always warn!"
Good guy, look down, this is not a short video, this is a short movie, a short video of one and a half hours...
This is how it feels. The short video still has content. This memorial...
When Emperor Zheng opened it, Qin Yan, Wu Xingbang, Qiu Teng...
From the cabinet ministers down, there are hundreds of names listed densely.
After seeing it, Emperor Zhizheng simply stopped reading it and threw the "Joint Signature of Beijing Officials" that Qiu Teng had worked so hard to compile directly on the case.
Wang Ji had already guessed this result when he saw this memorial. He didn't dare to breathe and carefully observed Emperor Zhizheng's face.
Gloomy, unhappy, doubtful, frightened, confused...
