The next day, it was morning.
Cheng Jing came to Qianqing Palace holding another stack of memorials, placed them in front of Zhu Qiyu, and said.
"Your Majesty, the cabinet has a long history, and the ministers have been placed at the top."
Zhu Qiyu was slightly surprised.
Logically speaking, the edict should have been sent to the cabinet, and he was dismissed from his position as a Hanlin scholar. This punishment was already considered very severe.
He originally thought that Chen Xun and Gao Gu would live in peace for a while, but he didn't expect them to be in trouble again on the second day?
He took the memorial and read it carefully.
After a while, Zhu Qiyu closed the memorial, touched his chin, and asked with a playful smile on his face.
"There is no vote in this memorial. Did Gao Gu submit it directly?"
Cheng Jing replied: "Hui Huangye, no."
"Lao Gao Ge sent this memorial to the Secretary of General Affairs first according to the rules. However, because this memorial is from Gao Ge Lao and the content involves Mr. Chen Ge, they are not suitable for drafting."
"The Chief Assistant said that the matter was of great importance and involved the cabinet. He did not dare to take charge of it, so he did not vote for it and submitted it directly to the emperor."
The court has its own set of procedures for handling government affairs.
Generally speaking, all courtiers' comments and matters should be sent to the General Affairs Department first, except for secret memorials.
Then the General Administration Department will judge the urgency of the matter and submit it to the emperor in turn, and then the emperor will approve it.
Regardless of whether it is approved or rejected, the memorial will be sent back to the General Administration Department and then distributed to the person who submitted the memorial.
Of course, this was the case before.
Since the emperor's quasi-cabinet exercised the right to vote, memorials still had to be sent to the General Affairs Department first.
However, the Secretary of General Affairs will not directly submit it to the emperor, but will send it to the cabinet. After the cabinet votes, it will be submitted to the emperor.
This includes, of course, the memorials of the cabinet ministers themselves.
The cabinet is a group-assisted system.
In other words, every assistant minister has the right to vote.
In theory, a memorial can be submitted to the emperor only with the approval of a cabinet minister.
The biggest difference between the chief minister and other cabinet ministers is that he has the right to vote.
Simply put, it is the power to arrange who will handle which aspects of affairs.
For example, in today's cabinet.
Memorials involving the Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of Punishment were drafted by Wang Ao; memorials involving the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works were drafted by Chen Xunlai; memorials involving the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites were drafted by Gao Gulai.
The same is true for the memorials of other monasteries and localities, with different distributions.
This division of responsibilities is carried out by the chief assistant, which is where the so-called authority of the chief assistant lies.
He can freely divide who will be responsible for which aspect of memorial drafting. This division can only be adjusted by the chief assistant.
This is also the most obvious feature of the chief minister's position being higher than that of other ministers.
But there will also be special circumstances, that is, the cabinet minister's own memorial.
No matter what the content is, in order to avoid suspicion, the cabinet will often arrange separate votes for unrelated ministers after receiving the memorial from the General Secretary.
There are currently only three cabinet ministers in the cabinet.
This memorial was written by Gao Gu, and the content involved Chen Xun, so Wang Ao had to come and draft it.
However, the two sides had a very unpleasant quarrel yesterday, and everyone in the government and the public knew about it.
At this time, in order to avoid suspicion, Wang Ao simply submitted the ticket without any changes.
After listening to Cheng Jing's words, Zhu Qiyu's smile grew stronger.
Wang Ao is not a person who is afraid of rumors. This situation can only show that he is unwilling to let Gao Gu's memorial pass.
Not voting is sometimes an attitude.
but……
Zhu Qiyu picked up his ink pen, wrote a line of words on the memorial, handed it back to Cheng Jing, and said.
"Go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and ask them to slightly modify the list of candidates, then say hello to the officials in the court who are close to you, and say..."
Cheng Jing took the memorial and took a quick look, and was suddenly shocked.
After hearing the emperor's instructions again, he nodded and said.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the ministers will take care of it immediately. However, since you have approved this memorial, do you want the cabinet to draft an edict immediately?"
Zhu Qiyu shook his head and said.
"No need, you should keep this memorial for now and wait until tomorrow when the court will recommend it before issuing it."
…………
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was heavy snow.
It has been less than half a month since the imperial court sealed it.
The so-called seal literally means sealing the official seal and suspending office work!
This is different from ordinary Xiumu. In ordinary times, even if officials are on holiday, they still carry their official seal with them, and normal official duties will not be delayed.
However, during the seal period, no official business will be handled unless there are extremely urgent military and national affairs.
Thanks to the workaholic spirit of Taizu, the sealing time of Ming Dynasty was very late and very short, from New Year's Eve to the third day of the first lunar month, a total of four days.
However, although it is still some time before the seal is sealed, except for the Ministry of Rites, the efficiency of most government offices in the imperial court has dropped a lot.
Everyone is busy preparing New Year's goods and preparing to welcome the arrival of the New Year.
However, today is an extremely different day for the courtiers.
Because today's court meeting will be presided over by Heavenly Official, which may be his last court meeting!
Outside the Wenhua Hall, heavy snow was falling.
All the officials in the palace stood in awe.
The old official stood in the palace, with his back to the emperor and facing the ministers, saying.
"According to His Majesty's decree, there are three cabinet ministers, ten candidates, five recommended, and submitted to the Holy Judgment."
"There are ten candidates for the cabinet. The list is Yu Shiyue, Minister of Dali Temple, Jiang Yuan, Minister of Punishment, Zhang Min, Minister of Industry, Wang Yining, Minister of Rites, Xu Bin, Minister of Taichang Temple, Yu Shan, Minister of Taipu Temple..."
Lao Tianguan has presided over this kind of thing many times, and he is familiar with the process.
However, the number of people recommended this time is actually quite large. After reading the long list of names and resumes, the Heavenly Official felt a little thirsty.
The process of referral may seem simple, but is actually extremely complicated.
When it comes to high-ranking officials of level three or above, one must naturally be extremely cautious.
Take these candidates as an example. It is not the case that the officials can choose whoever they want.
Generally speaking, before a formal court recommendation, the Seven Ministers and the Cabinet, under the auspices of the Ministry of Personnel, will hold a small-scale meeting.
Although cabinet ministers have requirements for rank, in the imperial court, officials of third rank and above are not too many, but not too little.
There are at least a hundred or ten people from various ministries, academies, temples, and feudal officials from various places who are qualified to be selected.
But there are only ten candidates recommended.
How to choose?
Of course, the big bosses would make the first move, and each would nominate officials they felt were qualified to be candidates, and they would have to explain their reasons.
If the quota is exceeded, then of course there will be a quarrel (cross out) and the final result will be discussed.
Then after the nomination, a second round of large-scale selection will be conducted, and the shortlist of candidates will be finalized and submitted to the Holy Inquisition.
Yes, it’s a shortlist, not the final result!
