The two of them were talking when someone from Zhongshushe came in and reported.
"Second Assistant, Mr. Gao Ge, First Assistant is back. He is also accompanied by Eunuch Cheng from the palace. He is waiting in Xigong's room. He said he has a decree."
Chen Xun and Gao Gu's hearts sank. They looked at each other and understood each other's intentions. They were indeed afraid of whatever they wanted.
The two of them got up at the same time, and without further ado, they went directly to the westernmost public room.
The cabinet is different from other yamen. The office is located in the palace, which is actually a row of rooms set aside in the southernmost part of the palace city.
Because the west side is close to the main entrance of the palace, the public rooms on the west side are also used for entertaining guests.
Several rooms were not far apart. Within two steps, Chen Xun and Gao Gu saw Cheng Jing and Wang Ao, having tea in the room, with several people from Zhongshushe waiting behind them.
The two of them changed their angry and gloomy expressions just now, stepped into the door with smiles, and said with cupped hands.
"I've met the chief minister, I've met Eunuch Cheng."
"Just now, someone came to convey that my father-in-law had sent me a message. We and I had some official matters at hand, so we were delayed a little and kept my father-in-law waiting for a long time."
Chen Xun and Chen Xun were polite. Wang Ao and Cheng Jing did not put on any airs and stood up to return the greeting.
Cheng Jing said: "You two gentlemen are very polite. We have just arrived and our buttocks are not even hot yet, so why wait for a long time?"
With that said, Cheng Jing pointed to the group of servants behind him and said.
"It's almost noon. His Majesty has given a palace banquet to several elders. By the way, there are two edicts. I'd like to thank you for drafting them and sealing them."
Therefore, Chen Xun and Gao Gu did not dare to neglect. Wang Ao also returned to the two of them, and the three of them bowed together.
Cheng Jing said: "The imperial edict is that the cabinet system is newly established. It is too heavy and busy to hold two posts. Therefore, Chen Xun and Gao Gu are exempted from the post of Hanlin Academy bachelors and they can concentrate on cabinet affairs."
"In addition, Xiao Tan, a wine-sacrifice from the Imperial College, has outstanding political achievements and outstanding virtues. He has been in charge of the Imperial College for several years and has been highly praised by students. He was promoted to the Minister of Rites and a bachelor of the Imperial Academy, and was in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Academy."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Jing saw that Chen Xun and Gao Gu were stunned in place as if they didn't react.
Fortunately, they are not the only ones in the cabinet. Wang Ao cupped his hands and said.
"I will receive the order."
After getting up, Wang Ao said politely: "It's already noon, how about Eunuch Cheng staying and having dinner with us?"
Cheng Jing cupped his hands and said: "The palace banquet given by His Majesty is given to you gentlemen. Our family is not happy to enjoy it."
After a brief pause, he glanced at Gao Gu and Chen Xun, who were getting up with the help of Shiren. Cheng Jing took out two memorials from his sleeves, handed them to them, and said.
"Chen Cifu, Mr. Gaoge, this is the memorial jointly signed by you and me today. Coincidentally, the Heavenly Official and the First Assistant also submitted the memorial, requesting additional cabinet ministers. Your Majesty has approved both memorials, and our family just happened to come over. I just brought it here with me."
"Your Majesty has left the matter of adding cabinet ministers to the Ministry of Personnel. If nothing else happens, the Heavenly Official will host a court meeting in three days. You two can rest assured."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Jing felt two intimidating eyes looking directly at him.
He bowed again and put the memorial on the table in front of the two of them, Cheng Jing said.
"In this case, we won't stay at home any longer. Let's take our leave."
Having said that, take the people under you and quickly stay away from this place of right and wrong.
Several people in the middle school room and the servants carrying the palace banquet also noticed that something was wrong in the atmosphere. They put down their lunch boxes and hurriedly left.
After everyone in the room had almost left, Chen Xun and Gao Gu also calmed down.
I quickly browsed through the two memorials left by Cheng Jing.
Chen Xun stared at Wang Ao, who was sitting on a chair nearby as if nothing happened, and gritted his teeth.
"Master Chief Assistant, you are really good at what you do, but I don't know, you use the power of the Hanlin Academy and the power of nominating cabinet ministers to exchange for a stable position of your own, but can you still feel at ease?"
It has to be said that although the two of them had expected it, they still did not expect that Wang Ao would be so cruel.
Not only did they cede the power to recommend cabinet ministers to the officials, but they also directly petitioned the emperor to remove the power of their Hanlin Academy.
Although it was said that they were the cause of this turmoil, Wang Ao's counterattack was too cruel!
Gao Gu also sighed and said with a wry smile.
"Master Chief Assistant, why is this happening?"
"No matter what, we are all auxiliary ministers, and the cabinet is all one body. We are all prosperous, and we are all harmed. If the chief auxiliary sir gets into such a big fight because of such a trivial matter, isn't it a joke for the ministers to see us?"
Wang Ao took a sip of tea. Hearing this, he put the tea cup on the table. There was a trace of surprise on his calm face and he asked.
"Mr. Chen Ge, Mr. Gao Ge, where do you two start talking about this?"
"That day, Mr. Chen Ge invited me to a banquet. He said that the cabinet affairs were heavy and he wanted to add more cabinet ministers."
"I thought that the cabinet now has a lot of power, and the cabinet ministers are also important ministers in the court. It is time to discuss it with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so I jointly submitted a memorial with the Heavenly Official."
"Now that Your Majesty has approved the announcement, the court has recommended the addition of three cabinet ministers. Why do you two start to blame me?"
His calm look was particularly dazzling when it fell into Chen Xun's eyes.
Mr. Chen's heart burst into flames and he said coldly.
"Why does the chief assistant ask questions knowingly?"
"Cabinet ministers are always recommended by the ministers. How could the Emperor Jian ever be recommended by the court?"
"How generous the chief assistant is to hand over this power to the Ministry of Civil Affairs after he has only been in office for ten months!"
Gao Gu also said with a look of regret.
"Sir, Chief Assistant, I did offend someone during today's banquet."
"But that was indeed not our intention. It was actually done by a few disciples who attended the banquet that day without telling us."
"After I found out, I severely reprimanded them. To be honest with the first assistant, just now, I was discussing with the second assistant to make amends with the first assistant."
"But now, alas..."
Wang Ao looked at the two people with cold eyes. One was a red face and the other was a bad face. They joined forces to ridicule him. He was not in a hurry and said calmly.
"So, I made a mistake in blaming you two. How about I turn around and apologize to you two?"
Chen Xun didn't speak, but his beard twitched slightly, obviously he was too angry to speak.
As for Gao Gu, there was an abnormal flush on his face, and his attitude became colder, he said.
"First Assistant, there are only three of us here. I and Chen Cifu sincerely want to have a good talk with the First Assistant so that we can work together in the cabinet in the future."
"But the chief minister is so considerate, does he really want to be in the cabinet and be on equal footing with me?"
Yes, this is the purpose of Chen Xun and Gao Gu.
As politicians, emotions are only temporary, and emotions will not go to their heads under any circumstances.
Wang Ao's counterattack was nothing short of fierce.
Not to mention directly handing over the power of recommending cabinet ministers to the officials, they lost their job of taking charge of the Hanlin Academy, and their power was seriously damaged.
But even so, they were only angry for a moment and quickly calmed down.
In the final analysis, their skills are inferior to others, and their chess moves are just one step behind.
The matter has come to this, and getting angry again will not change the established facts. It can only make yourself sick from anger.
So after calming down, they began to figure out how to recover some losses as much as possible.
For example, take the initiative and occupy the moral high ground, at least take the right to speak first.
Now, among the two of them, Wang Ao has the upper hand, which is something that cannot be changed.
But after this incident is over, they will still work together in the cabinet.
How to cooperate in the future and where our respective boundaries are, we need to sit down and have a good discussion.
Whether they are angry or complaining, they actually have only one purpose.
That is to put the fault on Wang Ao as much as possible so that he can gain an advantage in the subsequent negotiations.
But obviously, Wang Ao didn't agree with them.
Seeing that Gao Gu had made his words clear, he stopped being secretive and spoke straightforwardly.
"I don't want to pursue the details of the banquet. However, do you really think that I would be so ignorant that I would let the entire cabinet make such a big sacrifice just for the sake of face?"
