The cabinet's responsibilities, in addition to sharing the emperor's huge political pressure, are more important to reconcile internal and external affairs. Major events such as the impeachment of the prince, especially in today's relationship between the Tianjia family, are the most likely to cause internal and external conflicts.
Although the emperor ordered to add new cabinet ministers last time, among them, only Luo Qi was in Beijing. The other Xiao Han and Sun Yuanzhen, one in Huguang and the other in Zhejiang, received the order and handed over the affairs. It would take at least several months to go from errands to Beijing to take up their posts. Even after they entered Beijing, they would still need some time to get familiar with the cabinet.
Therefore, in a short period of time, the core of the cabinet is actually Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min. If anything happens, they will still have to take charge.
Just now in the palace, Wang Wen suddenly asked why Wen Yuan was talking. This may represent some kind of signal. If we can't figure it out, if something really happens in the future, the cabinet will be very passive in the court.
Therefore, after leaving Wuying Hall, Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min had a tacit understanding. The former went to appease the officials in the East Palace, while the latter went to Wang Wen to inquire about the news.
The two walked forward side by side, Zhang Min nodded slightly and said.
"We have talked about it. Lord Tianguan has no intention of favoring He Wenyuan."
Every cabinet minister has his own style. For Zhang Min, his style is low-key and pragmatic.
Therefore, when faced with Yu Shiyue's question, he opened his mouth and gave a conclusion.
However, there is a disadvantage to doing this, that is, it can easily make people confused. After hearing this, Yu Shiyue first breathed a sigh of relief, and then frowned again and asked.
"If that's the case, why were you in the palace just now?"
Zhang Min naturally knew what Yu Shiyue wanted to ask, so he pondered for a moment and then said.
"I also asked about this, but Master Tianguan only said one sentence... The imperial court has always had an example of not blaming people for their crimes. There are people in the imperial court who have participated in the performance of His Majesty and behaved inappropriately and violated etiquette and law, but they will not be punished. , Why can’t His Highness the Crown Prince be impeached?”
this……
Yu Shiyue was stunned for a moment, then fell silent.
This reason is a bit far-fetched to be honest!
Indeed, in order to ensure smooth communication, the imperial court has always had a custom of not culpating people with words and deeds. However, it should be noted that this is the privilege of officials of the Ministry of Education. He Wenyuan, a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, applied this rule inappropriately. What's more, what he was discussing was the major matter of the abolition of the Eastern Palace.
It is true that some court ministers participated in the emperor's mishandling of certain matters, but who dared to discuss the ownership of the throne outright?
If this is the case, let alone the custom of not offending officials, it would be considered a mercy not to just push it to the market and chop it up.
Therefore, after pondering for a moment, Yu Shiyue asked in a low voice.
"Master Chief Assistant, do you think this is the only reason?"
Wang Wen's reason was really not sufficient. After hearing this reason, Yu Shiyue naturally had to worry as a minister of the Prince's Mansion.
He Wenyuan is already so difficult to deal with. If Wang Wen really ends up, then things may be difficult to deal with.
Seeing this situation, Zhang Min also frowned, as if thinking about what to say. After pondering for a moment, he spoke.
"That's what Master Tianguan said. I know what you are worried about. However, the He Wenyuan incident has caused such an uproar after all. Therefore, although His Majesty did not deal with it on the spot, he will not fail to deal with it."
"I just made an insinuation and asked Lord Tianguan what he meant. He seemed to want to transfer He Wenyuan to the Metropolitan Procuratorate..."
"The Metropolitan Procuratorate?"
Yu Shiyue repeated it, seeming to have thought of something, and asked.
"In that case..."
“Next, we’ll see what official position He Wenyuan will use to go out to Beijing to provide disaster relief!”
Zhang Min accepted it calmly, with a hint of worry between his brows.
Seeing this situation, Yu Shiyue couldn't ask any more questions, but his intuition told him that Zhang Min had not told him all the information he had obtained.
Wang Wen...
Yu Shiyue looked at the dazzling light in the sky and sighed in his heart. What is the plan of the emperor's confidant in the court and the head of the official department, the Minister of Personnel?
…
Because of the chaos in the Wenhua Palace, even though the courtiers had dispersed, they paid far more attention to this matter than anything else.
Especially after the duel in Wuying Hall ended, all kinds of discussions sprung up like mushrooms after a rain in half a day.
For this kind of major event that attracted the attention of the whole court, the emperor always dealt with it quickly and decisively. After noon, two imperial edicts were sent to the cabinet.
The first one is for the East Palace. Its content is mainly about praise. It praises the prince for his recent hard work and encourages the prince to continue to work hard. At the same time, it also gives a lot of gold, silver and silk to all the officials of the East Palace. Basically everyone Have a share.
Obviously, this purpose is mainly to appease.
And the second one is about He Wenyuan's will.
"Holy edict, He Wenyuan, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, acted carelessly in the Wenhua Palace and was demoted to one rank. He was ordered to be appointed as the fourth rank of the Duchayuan Youqiandu Censor, to patrol Jiangxi, and to be responsible for disaster relief matters. Thank you!"
After seeing off Hua En, who came to deliver the edict, Yu Shiyue returned to the public house with a complicated look on his face.
This purpose can only be regarded as a mixed blessing for him.
On the surface, He Wenyuan was demoted from a third-rank minister to a fourth-rank censor of Youqiandu. Moreover, he was also transferred out of the capital. According to official practice, it was considered a three-level demotion in a row, which was already very serious. Punished.
But the problem is, anyone familiar with officialdom knows that this just looks like a heavy punishment.
You must know that He Wenyuan was originally selected as the candidate to go to Beijing to provide disaster relief. The only difference was in what capacity he went to provide disaster relief.
If not for this accident, He Wenyuan should have been the third-rank official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and responsible for disaster relief as an imperial envoy. Now that this incident has occurred, his rank has indeed been demoted, but his actual power has not. Weakened too much.
Yu Shiyue has been working in the cabinet all year round, so he is naturally very sensitive to the words in the imperial edict. In the imperial edict just now, the emperor said, "Governor of Jiangxi!"
In other words, although He Wenyuan was nominally demoted to the position of censor of Youqiandu, in fact, he was transferred to governor of Jiangxi.
Jiangxi has always been a treasure land of culture, and many ministers in the court are from Jiangxi. Therefore, the job of governor of Jiangxi is naturally a lucrative one.
According to past practice, the governor of Jiangxi is usually served by a third-rank right and deputy censor of the capital, and sometimes even a second-rank right censor of the capital. But now, the emperor has given this job to He Wenyuan, the purpose of this has to be thought-provoking.
Of course, even the governor of Jiangxi is still a foreign official after all. Compared with the Minister of Civil Affairs, his status is still lower, not to mention that He Wenyuan's rank has indeed been reduced.
From this point of view, it can be regarded as an explanation, but what worries Yu Shiyue.
He Wenyuan's incident caused such a big fuss, but he received such a punishment that was very serious on the surface, but in fact it was thunderous and insignificant. So, from now on in the court...
As if to confirm Yu Shiyue's expectation, in the next few days, as expected, the cabinet received suddenly more memorials.
Sitting in the public room, looking at the two completely opposite memorials, Yu Shiyue couldn't help but have a headache.
Since the last Ke Dao reform, the secret memorial system has become popular in the court. Although this system is mainly aimed at Ke Dao officials, when the ministers of the court discovered that secret memorials can "speak freely" , have all chosen this method.
However, secret music and secret music are still different.
Today's court can be roughly divided into four levels according to the degree of confidentiality of memorials. The highest level of confidentiality is that of He Wenyuan, who is directly presented to the emperor and opened by the emperor himself. Except for the person who submitted the memorial, no one in the court You can know the content, but at most you know that there is such a secret note.
In addition, there is another thing that is easily overlooked, which is the secret memorials of Dongchang and Jinyiwei. However, these two departments are relatively special and can directly face the saints. Therefore, if their secret memorials are kept confidential, they are even connected to each other. The Chief Secretary will not pass by, which means that the ministers in the court will not even know whether there is a secret report.
However, both of them are outside the court, so they are no longer within the scope of discussion for the time being.
Above the imperial court, He Wenyuan's level of confidentiality is the highest. However, because it is a memorial sent directly to the imperial court, not many people can obtain this privilege, and they must start with officials of the third rank or above. , mainly composed of ministers, ministers, capital censors, and deputy capital censors. Locally, only governors and ministers have this right.
Further down, there is the largest scale, the ordinary secret memorial. There are more people with this right. Basically all science and technology officials can submit memorials in this form. In recent days, there are even non-science secret memorials. Ordinary Taoist officials also began to follow this trend. For this matter, Yu Shiyue and the former chief minister Wang Ao went to the palace to report. However, the emperor did not say much and just asked them to deal with it as usual. In the end, for the sake of insurance, For the sake of safety, Yu Shiyue and others also handled it according to the ordinary secret memorial.
The quantity of this kind of secret report is larger than the first type, so the level of confidentiality is not high. The cabinet still has the right to foresee it. However, only the corresponding cabinet minister can open the seal. After the voting is completed, it must be waxed again. After sealing the document, it was then presented to the emperor. The cabinet ministers were not allowed to reveal the contents of the secret memorial drafted by themselves to each other. They were not allowed to bring it to the court for discussion without the emperor's decree.
However, compared to the first method, it is still less confidential. After all, with an extra hand, no matter how secretive it is, some information will still spread.
These two types are the basic composition of the secret memorial system, followed by ordinary memorials and routine official documents, which are also the largest part of the daily processing of the cabinet. There is nothing to say about this.
During this period, the cabinet's sudden surge in workload basically came from the second secret and third explicit instructions.
Among these memorials, there are two trends. One is that Yu Shiyue is worried that it will have a negative impact on His Royal Highness.
Of course, they are not as radical as He Wenyuan. Most of them are fault-finding memorials. For example, I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince dozed off after the banquet today, and that he will be half a cup of tea late when he greets you tomorrow... trivial things like this.
It is said to be a trivial matter, but when it concerns the Crown Prince of the East Palace, there is no such thing as a trivial matter!
Dozing off during the banquet, at worst, means slacking off in schoolwork and being late for greetings. At worst, it means disrespecting the king and father... This kind of thing is just to see if anyone can use the topic to express it.
Nowadays, no one has exaggerated it like this, but it is obvious that the impact of He Wenyuan's incident has begun to gradually appear.
Thinking of this, Yu Shiyue couldn't help but smile bitterly. Do these people have no brains?
Don't they know that with their status, even if it is a secret report, the cabinet ministers will have the opportunity to see it, and it is very likely that the person in charge of drafting the vote will be themselves, the second assistant who is also responsible for the affairs of the Prince's Palace!
After writing the proposal on the small ticket, Yu Shiyue sealed it again, thinking in his mind, maybe it's not that they are not worried, but... he only saw a small part, I'm afraid other ministers, like this There will be no shortage of memorials.
However, due to the emperor's ban, Yu Shiyue could not inquire with them...
After writing this eloquent note of nearly two thousand words, accusing His Royal Highness of the Crown Prince's lack of etiquette during the meal the day before yesterday, and putting down the entire plate of dishes, Yu Shiyue's eyes moved to the other person next to him. This memorial is sparse.
This is not a secret performance, but an open performance!
However, the level of trouble is no less than those secret notes just now.
No one else, because most of the submitters of these memorials were subordinate officials from the East Palace.
Unsurprisingly, the emperor's edict of grace and comfort did not have the desired effect. At least, after learning about He Wenyuan's final disposition, many officials in the East Palace felt very dissatisfied.
Many of these people were from the Hanlin Academy and had extensive connections in the court. Therefore, it didn't take long for a lot of memorials to impeach He Wenyuan to be handed over.
Of course, Yu Shiyue's previous advice was not completely ineffective. This time, these people were wiser. They did not directly refute the emperor's statement in the edict, nor did they continue to criticize He Wenyuan. They were just careless in their words and deeds. The main point of making a fuss about the crime of immorality in front of the palace is that the emperor treated such a 'big crime' too lightly.
For example, the most radical Ni Qian's memorial clearly states clearly that the transfer of the Minister of Civil Affairs to the governor of Jiangxi can only be regarded as a smooth transfer. Although the rank has been demoted, it cannot be punished. Effect.
In addition, there is the one in front of me, from the bachelor of Youchunfang, Xu Youzhen!
After reading this memorial, Yu Shiyue had to say that Xu Youzhen was really cruel.
The content of his memorial is very simple, and, uncharacteristically, it is not an impeachment of He Wenyuan, but a confession of self-incrimination.
In the memorial, Xu Youzhen admitted that Wenhua Palace and He Wenyuan had been quarreling endlessly, that they were imprudent in words and deeds, and that they had lost etiquette in front of the palace. She asked to be demoted to the rank of Qipin County Magistrate as a warning to others!
I don’t know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but this memorial ended up in the hands of Yu Shiyue...
