When the minister heard this, he already knew what was going on.
The emperor's desire to confer a title on Wang Yue was obviously beyond his control. It was a bit difficult to persuade the emperor to change his mind with serious reasons.
Although logically speaking, whether to be granted the title of Marquis or the title of Uncle should be considered by the Ministry of War's military selection and the Qing officials department, and then the Ministry of Rites will summarize the historical cases and formulate the process of promotion, but after all, this is the emperor's "family matter", who should give it to The title is to ensure the stability of the royal family. Once the emperor insists, the ministers will be in a passive state.
Many of the ministers present were anxious and wanted to speak out. However, due to their insufficient status and status, they knew that even if they spoke up, they would not be accepted by the emperor.
Liu Jian continued to argue: "Your Majesty, the rule of the imperial court is that if the merits are not concealed, the faults will not be highlighted. Although Wang Yue's merits were famous for a while, they were not without faults. There must be a degree of restraint between revealing and concealing. Now The battle at Pianguan has only been over for five days, and it is difficult to determine the merits and demerits. Why not wait until the censor and others arrive at Pianguan and make a detailed accounting of the merits and demerits before we can discuss it?"
At the critical moment, Liu Jian could only "find another way" through the prestige of the cabinet.
The ministers suddenly felt confident after hearing this.
Conventional methods cannot hold the emperor back in this matter, so let’s use a simple one-word trick - drag!
How much is the delay? It would be best to wait until Wang Weining is dead. Even if his descendants are rewarded with the title of Uncle Weining, the Wang family will be grateful and there will be no need to consider whether to be granted the title of marquis or uncle.
Those of us who are ministers did not say that we would not grant Wang Weining a title. We just explained that he had both merits and demerits in this matter, and his faults were very obvious. Since your majesty has said it, we are afraid that Wang Weining’s merits will be covered up, causing the northwest The general will be timid in future battles, but we are also worried that his fault will be exposed, causing the northwest general to do whatever he wants and blow up the city gates for fun.
A "measure" can delay the matter.
If this kind of credit is not investigated for a year and a half, will there be any conclusion?
Even if a conclusion is reached by then, we can say that the conclusion is not yet complete and needs to be investigated again and another group of people sent there... With all this back and forth, Wang Weining is probably going to his grave.
Zhu Youtang thought for a moment and nodded slightly.
When it comes to arguing with ministers, it seems that the emperor has the advantage, but Zhu Youtang is the gentlest emperor in the Ming Dynasty after all. In other words, he is very afraid of fighting with others, and his social phobia will make him unconsciously have a feeling of "muddling along." " mentality, I feel that as long as you meet my certain needs to a certain extent, then I can give you face and let go of it.
Just stay calm first.
Liu Jianzheng also took advantage of the emperor's mentality and played this trick.
Zhu Youtang said: "Rewards for military merit in the northwest cannot be delayed for too long. They must be decided before the end of February. Especially when it involves ordinary generals, we cannot let the generals feel cold."
Although he gave in, the emperor gave a deadline, saying it was the end of February.
But this kind of deadline... is the same as not being mentioned. When can the investigation be completed? Your emperor cannot set a deadline and it will be completed. Doesn't it mean that the people who go to investigate don't need time on the way? You don’t need to pull back and forth again after you come back? This kind of time limit has no binding force at all.
And when the time limit comes, we can also reward those middle- and lower-level officers who are not controversial first, and delay Wang Yue's credit first.
After Zhu Youtang found that there was no objection from the ministers present, he seemed complacent, but then he wanted to give these ministers something "real" to see.
He said: "Now that the situation in the northwest border is in chaos, I am going to appoint Wang Weining as the censor of Zudu, with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, to take charge of the military affairs of Yansui, Ningxia, Shaanxi and other departments, and at the same time coordinate the military affairs of Pianguan, Datong, Xuanfu and other departments. Wait until the situation in the northwest is calmed down. Then we will return to the DPRK and make a decision."
When the ministers heard this, they were dumbfounded again.
They immediately thought of a question...
We have delayed the agreement on Wang Weining's military merit. Wang Weining is still a civil servant. If a civil servant wants to take charge of the northwest military affairs, then the emperor will have to add him as the censor of the Zuodu and the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, which is a fictitious title. There is nothing wrong with him. It can even be said that if Wang Weining is transferred back to the court, Ma Wensheng may have to give up his throne.
This does not mean that Ma Wensheng should be retired directly. At that time, Ma Wensheng might be given the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Even if it is not worth it, he would still be the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, or the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing...
In short, Wang Weining was still a civil servant for one day, so the credit for their suppression of Wang Weining involved competing with them for their jobs.
The anger in the hearts of the ministers.
I wanted to oppose the emperor's move, but it was difficult to say it. The emperor promoted Wang Yue normally.
If you don't object.
Wang Weining is not a noble person, so he didn’t touch Wu Xun’s cheese, but he destroyed the basic base of our civil servants?
That's not as good as...
Some people turned their attention to Ma Wensheng, Liu Jian and others, meaning, why don't you just stop fighting and let him become the Marquis of Weining? There are many marquises in the Ming Dynasty, so why are you fighting with Wang Weining? After he becomes his marquis and becomes a military officer, he and our civil servants will no longer be in conflict with each other. Wouldn't everyone be happy?
Ma Wensheng, Liu Jian and others did not expect that the emperor would make this move.
Promoting Wang Yue to the position of governor of the three sides is not just a matter of consideration. Listening to the emperor's intention, is he using Wang Yue to control the military affairs of the nine sides?
Why does the emperor trust Wang Yue so much? Aren't you afraid of this old boy's rebellion?
Zhu Youtang sighed quietly: "Wang Weining fought for the imperial court for half his life and made many contributions. He was already the Minister of the Ministry of War during the late emperor's time. If he had made such contributions, I would just let him be the left minister of the Ministry of War and the right minister of the Ministry of War. History, it seems mean, and it is not conducive to the demonstration of meritorious service. What do you think?"
No one answered.
There is no logical error in the emperor's words.
During the Chenghua period when Wang Weining did not make any great achievements, Wang Weining went to the northwest to lead military affairs as the official minister of the Ministry of War. During the Battle of Helan Mountain, Wang Weining was also the censor of Zuodu.
Now I only give him the empty posts of Minister of the Ministry of War and Yushi of Zuodu. Is there any problem?
It's just that the emperor's words "I'll make a decision when I return to the court" are a bit scary.
This means that if the emperor transfers Wang Weining back, then Wang Weining will at least be a full-time minister of the Ministry of War, and Ma Wensheng will have to step aside.
Xie Qian came out and said in a slightly gentle tone: "Your Majesty, would it be too heavy a responsibility to let Wang Weining control the military affairs of many passes in the northwest?"
I don’t say that he has great power, I just say that he is under great pressure, which means that we need to find someone to share it with him.
Zhu Youtang said: "A capable person works hard, and now only his reputation can intimidate the Northwest Xiaoxiao. Don't you have any opinions on this?"
Xie Qian also smiled bitterly, and then returned to the court.
"Let the meeting continue..."
Zhu Youtang seemed to have the absolute upper hand, and then he jumped away from the topic and started talking about something else.
…
…
The meeting ended.
Zhu Youtang returned to the Qianqing Palace first and waited for a small meeting in the inner court. Liu Jian, Xie Qian and Ma Wensheng would then go to the inner court. Before leaving, they were surrounded by ministers.
"His Majesty is clearly indulging Wang Weining with this move. Military affairs in the northwest are all in his hands. If he has disobedient intentions, how will those around the capital respond?"
The ministers were obviously worried about Wang Yue.
This old boy likes to bribe his superiors and make friends with internal officials when he has nothing to do. He has a whole set of ways to curry favor with people, and he never looks like a positive character.
Now that all the military affairs in the northwest are entrusted to him alone, what if this old boy wants to rebel and become the emperor?
Xie Qian smiled and said: "That's not true, is it? Wang Weining is also a minister of the Ming Dynasty after all, and considering his age..."
Xie Qian reluctantly said that if Wang Weining wanted to be the emperor, he should first ask if his body could bear it. How could a man who had died once still want to mess around? Is there no garrison commander in the northwest and no Wu Xun to hold him hostage? If he talks about rebellion, will his generals follow him?
Besides, didn’t this old boy always just want to take Uncle Wining back?
Even if Wang Weining thinks he has the strength to overthrow the Ming Dynasty, is he confident that his descendants can hold it? First of all, his family members were all in the capital. Then the emperor directly killed his entire family and asked him to cut off his descendants.
Tu Yu also frowned and said, "Why does your Majesty trust Wang Weining so much?"
Now Tu Yu also has a sense of crisis.
Because Tu Yu felt that the emperor's appointment of Wang Yue as a civil servant in the court was basically aimed at him.
Haven't you, Tu Yu, been accused recently of being close to Li Guang and that you are fatuous and incompetent? And you yourself have been rejected many times when you resigned?
If Wang Weining really comes back from the northwest to become the Minister of the Ministry of War, then there is a high probability that Ma Wen will be promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and you, Tu Fu, can just become an official and go back to your hometown!
I just want to ask you if Tu Jian is in a hurry?
In the past, Tu Yun was absolutely on the stand of not granting a title to Wang Yue, but with this incident... Tu Yun must be the first to betray him.
It's always the fist that doesn't hit me, so I don't know the pain.
Xie Qian made a strange sound from the corner of his mouth, grinned and said: "Wang Weining, haha, just like that..."
He didn't say it clearly.
But the implications are also obvious.
Wang Weining, his greatest skill is to be fawning. If he were the kind of upright minister with no shortcomings at all, the emperor would not hand over the entire northwest military power to him.
Precisely because Wang Yue has obvious advantages and disadvantages, and because Wang Yue showed such respect to the emperor before, he seemed to be greedy for fame, and even fawned over eunuchs and ministers without caring about face, this would make the emperor I feel that only if I can handle Wang Yue can I appreciate Wang Yue so much.
Xie Qian could hardly tell.
You guys are always criticizing Wang Weining for not being a good person!
Now it seems that people are very transparent and know what they need. They don't need to be rigid like us. Many times they have to suppress themselves for the sake of reputation.
Look at people...
After making the emperor happy, the emperor treats him like a treasure, and look at us... In addition to competing with the emperor in the court, what else can we do?
At this moment, Xiao Jing hurried over and said: "Mr. Liu Ge, Mr. Xie Ge, and Ma Butang, please come with us. Your Majesty is still waiting there."
(End of chapter)
