August 22, Yin hour three quarters.
The sky had just brightened slightly, and a small patch of morning sun had just emerged from the clouds. The people were still sleeping, but the civil and military ministers of the imperial court had already stood up and came to wait outside the Meridian Gate early.
Today is the first court meeting since the civil military report reached the capital, and it is a big court meeting.
Civil and military officials in Beijing, those with rank seven or above, whether they are officials in charge, officials to be elected, or relatives of distinguished nobles, can attend the ceremony.
On such an important occasion, no matter what the intentions of the courtiers were, they did not dare to neglect it at all.
There is still a quarter of an hour before the court meeting, but in the square outside the Meridian Gate, hundreds of officials, divided into civil and military ranks, have already filled the square.
Since the emperor was not in the capital, the three main halls where the court meeting was held were not allowed to be used. After discussion, the Ministry of Rites decided to hold the court meeting directly in the square outside the Meridian Gate.
The bell of Mao hour rang loudly, and as the sun slowly rose, the early morning sunlight shone on the gate of the palace city, and the gate of the palace city, which had been closed for a long time, slowly opened.
A mighty procession of ceremonial guards came out from the side door on the left side of the palace, led by the imperial guards in flying fish uniforms and the ministers in eunuch attires.
The drums started to sound, and all the ministers returned to their places.
Not long after, Shang Baosi had already set up a simple table in front of the square. King Zhu Qiyu was sitting in front of the table. Behind him, on the left was Jin Ying, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and on the right was Ma Shun, the commander of the Jin Yiwei.
At the same time, a sharp-eyed minister saw from a distance that a screen had been erected at some point in the door on the left behind King Xian, which was covered by the vast number of attendant maids and eunuchs...
"Shengchao!"
As the official's loud voice sounded, all the ministers bowed down together.
"See King Tao!"
After all the ministers had saluted, Zhu Qiyu stood up and said: "The country is in trouble, and God is responsible for it. The emperor's brother went to heaven to fight against the thieves, but was unexpectedly left behind by the thieves. I, under the decree of the Queen Mother, took charge of the affairs and controlled all officials. You should do your best to protect our capital, protect the country, and work tirelessly!"
The ministers bowed again, and the mountain shouted: "I will defend our Ming Dynasty to the death!"
Zhu Qiyu nodded slightly and said: "Today's court meeting will be held. The first court affairs is to recommend the six ministers and the five military governors, the governor of Jingying."
As he spoke, Zhu Qiyu paused and shouted, "Where is the Minister of Civil Affairs?"
Wang Zhi strode forward, cupped his hands and said, "I'm here."
Zhu Qiyu said: "This time the court recommends six ministerial books, and I, the king, will preside over them!"
Wang Zhi bowed his hands to accept the order, turned around and said to the ministers.
"Today, the court recommends two ministers from the six books."
"First, there are three candidates for the position of Minister of the Ministry of Hubu: Shen Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, Zhou Chen, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Wang Yao, the left deputy imperial envoy."
"Secondly, there are three candidates for the position of Minister of the Ministry of War: Yu Qian, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Jiang Yuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and Yu Shiyue, Minister of the Dali Temple."
"The following are the resumes of six people..."
In the Ming Dynasty, court meetings were the most common and formal way to decide the affairs of the court. Generally speaking, the matters involved in court meetings were major national affairs, and were usually presided over by the emperor himself.
However, after Jinshang ascended the throne, due to his youth and weakness, he was gradually replaced by the six ministers responsible for court affairs, and gradually formed a custom.
As a type of court consultation, court recommendation was the most formal and authoritative channel for selecting important officials in the Ming Dynasty. Since official selection was handled by the Ministry of Personnel, it was generally presided over by the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Because Tingtui is extremely authoritative, both procedures and personnel have extremely strict requirements.
The first is the official positions that participate in the court nomination. Generally speaking, if you are a Beijing official, only those with seven ministers or below and third-rank minister or above are eligible for appointment through the court recommendation. Foreign officials can only participate in the court recommendation with the two official positions of governor and governor. appointment.
The second step is the process of court recommendation. The Ministry of Civil Affairs will draw up a list of three to seven candidates in advance, and then the Minister of Civil Affairs will preside over it on behalf of the emperor. All officials of the third rank and above in Beijing will vote one by one, and the results will be announced on the spot.
Normally, the ministers at the level of the Six Ministers are either appointed by the emperor or recommended by the nine ministers. They are rarely selected through court recommendation.
The so-called Huitui is actually a small-scale court recommendation. In the Ming Dynasty, nine important ministers, namely the Six Ministers, the Yushi of Zuodu, the Minister of Dali Temple and the General Secretary, were collectively called Jiuqing.
Before the power of the cabinet overcame hundreds of officials, Jiuqing was the top boss among the civil servants. These nine people jointly recommended the ministers. It was considered a small court recommendation and was also the main way to produce the six ministers.
But this time is different from the past...
With the defeat in the civil war, three of the six ministers, including the ministers of the Ministry of Hubu and the Ministry of War, and the General Secretary of the General Affairs Department, died at once.
In addition, Jin Lian, the Minister of Punishment, and Shi Pu, the Minister of Industry, both accompanied the army in other places to suppress the rebellion.
Five of the nine ministers were unable to attend, so the meeting could not be held, so the next best thing was to choose the meeting.
In such a short time, Wang Zhi had already read through the resumes of several candidate ministers.
Immediately, under the command of the etiquette officer, all the civil servants of the third rank and above in the capital stepped forward one after another and put their opinions into the box that had been prepared.
The process is long and boring...
Zhu Qiyu just looked at it, but couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
You can tell the difference at a glance, and it can be seen from this court promotion that Xun Qi is no longer weak for a day or two.
You must know that as the most formal appointment process in the imperial court, the authority of court recommendation is unquestionable.
However, over the years, as the officers in charge of the Five Military Governor's Mansion are generally appointed directly by the emperor, court promotion has gradually become a special procedure for civil servants.
I don’t know since when, Tingtui has had an unspoken rule. When Tingtui is a military minister, all civil and military officials of the third rank and above in Beijing participate in the selection. However, if it is a Tingtui civil servant, only civil servants of the third rank and above are required to participate in the selection. Can.
The same is true for the nomination. If the governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Office is elected, the actual governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Office and the governor's fellow governor will be selected together with the nine ministers. However, if the seventh minister is elected, only the nine ministers need to participate.
In the late Ming Dynasty, it became even more outrageous. Even the high-ranking military ministers in the imperial court did not have the participation of their relatives.
From the very beginning, Rang Xun Qi and Wu Chen have been controlled by civil servants. If this continues, how can they not be suppressed step by step?
Time passed little by little, and as the last civil servant entered the queue, Wang Zhi began to count votes.
According to the rules of Tingtui, there should be three to seven candidates, and then two to three people will be recommended, and the emperor will choose the final candidate.
But this time, the situation was special. First, too many ministers died, and it was difficult to find so many candidates with sufficient qualifications and prestige. Second, everyone already knew the result, but it was just a matter of procedure, so Wang Zhi only reported the number of votes. The highest.
"In this court recommendation, the person with the highest number of votes as Minister of the Ministry of War is Yu Qian, the Minister of the Ministry of War. The person with the highest number of votes as Minister of the Ministry of Hubu is Shen Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. I respectfully ask the prince to make your decision."
Zhu Qiyu nodded, ordered someone to take the vote results from Wang Zhi's hand, wrote the word "accurate" on it with a red pen, and said.
"In order to promote the ministers, Yu Qian, the Minister of the Ministry of War, is promoted to be the Minister of the Ministry of War, and he will be in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War. He promotes Shen Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, to be the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, and he will be in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Hunan. The two of them take orders!"
Yu Qian and Shen Yi came out and kowtowed.
"I and the other two thank the imperial court for its kindness."
Although after the end of today, the Ministry of Personnel will re-draw the transfer order, cast the official seal, and start the formal appointment process, but those are all procedural matters.
After being approved by the ministers and King Xi, Yu Qian and Shen Yi can now be called the Six Ministers and officially join the ranks of the Nine Ministers.
Immediately, Wang Zhi and Shen Yi returned to their original places, but Yu Qian still stood there.
According to the previously agreed upon procedure, what should be held next was the appointment of Ting Tui, the Admiral of the Beijing Camp, which was in charge of the Ministry of War, so he did not return to the queue, but waited for Zhu Qiyu to speak.
However, before Zhu Qiyu could ask him to preside over the court, an uninvited guest arrived.
I saw one person walking out of the line of military ministers, holding a memorial in his hand, and stepped forward.
"I have written a memorial for Li Xian, the Marquis of Fengcheng, the Governor of the Nanjing Central Military Governor's Mansion."
