Half a quarter before Chen time, Zhang Juzheng had already entered the cabinet courtyard.
Chen comes in and Shen goes out. These are the official office hours of the cabinet. They have not changed since Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing. When the cabinet was first established, the space was very small, with three or four ministers working in a simple room. Later, as time changed and the cabinet became more and more powerful, the office was expanded many times and finally reached its current size.
There are now three small buildings in the cabinet courtyard. The middle one has flying corners and double eaves. It is spacious and solemn. It is the office of the cabinet ministers, which is also called Wenyuan Pavilion in the narrow sense of folk language. The small building on the east side of the courtyard is the imperial palace, and on the west is the imperial palace. The south side was originally an open space with only a few trees planted. Later, due to insufficient office space, three more buildings were built here during Yan Song's tenure as chief minister. In the rolling shed, all the assistants and subordinates from various parts of the cabinet moved here.
The duty building of the pavilion elders is of course the best built in this area. There is a lobby right after entering the door. In the center of the hall is the tablet of Confucius, the saint of Wenzong. The lobby is surrounded by verandas, and the doors of the rooms for the elders are also opened on the verandas. Some of the rooms upstairs are rooms for worshiping the emperor, and some are resting places for cabinet ministers. The high-arched duty room is on the south side of the hall, with the window facing the rolling shed. Zhang Juzheng's duty room is opposite it.
Zhang Juzheng had just sat down in the duty room, not to mention that he had not yet started to read the text of the memorial, and even before the internal servants had time to make tea, an official came in and reported that there was an invitation from the high cabinet. Zhang Juzheng was a junior in front of Gao Gong and was ranked behind him in the cabinet. Gao Gong would naturally not come in person unless it was urgent. This is common sense both in ancient and modern times.
Zhang Juzheng was accustomed to this and didn't think there was anything wrong. He stood up and went over, secretly thinking about what Gao Gong might say to him. It was probably about the emperor's selection of the prince to accompany him today.
When they entered Gao Gong's check-in room, they saw Gao Gong sitting in front of the huge mahogany desk, looking down at the book. It could be seen that he had arrived some time ago. There were already more than a dozen opened booklets on the table, and he had obviously read them all. This is not surprising. Gao Gong has always been a workaholic. Zhang Juzheng has been with him for many years and knows enough about this.
Seeing Zhang Juzheng come in, Gao Gong made a slight gesture to stand up - of course, this was just for politeness, and he didn't really mean to stand up to greet him. At the same time, he pointed to a chair beside the copywriting, motioning for Zhang Juzheng to sit down, and he followed suit. Sit tight. Zhang Juzheng also had no unnecessary politeness and sat down on his own.
Gao Gong was not a hypocritical person. He didn't bother to do anything like letting Zhang Juzheng dry and saying that he had read the booklet in his hand first. Instead, he simply put down the booklet in his hand and said directly. Let’s get down to business.
But as soon as Gao Gong opened his mouth, Zhang Juzheng was slightly startled.
It turned out that Gao Gong did not mention what was happening in the Wenhua Hall, but frowned slightly, picked up a piece of paper and pointed at Zhang Juzheng, saying: "The troubles in Guangdong and Guangxi are getting bigger and bigger."
Zhang Juzheng was in charge of the Ministry of War in the cabinet. When he heard what Gao Gong said, he immediately asked, "Is it still Wei Yinbao?"
Gao Gong nodded, pointed to the memorial in his hand and said: "Jingjiang Prince's Mansion was once captured by this beast in the forty-third year of Jiajing. After that, although it was repelled by the army, the army was unable to conquer its home base. Now, The Jingjiang Prince's Mansion was attacked again and almost fell again. Wu Zishi (Wu Feng's note: Wu Guifang, also known as Zishi, who was the governor of Guangxi and the admiral of military affairs at the time) reported that the Han army in Guangxi was currently weak, and it was not reliable to frighten the barbarians. However, the soldiers and horses of the chieftains of the Tong, Miao and other ethnic groups had been recruited to exterminate the Japanese pirates in the past few years. They were already exhausted and it was not appropriate to recruit them at will... Therefore, he sent people to recruit Anwei, with the intention of first relieving the situation for a year or two. , when I regain my strength, it will not be too late to suppress them. However, Wei Xun remains unmoved and continues to act recklessly and bring disaster to the southern border."
When Zhang Juzheng saw that he was indeed talking about business, he no longer distracted him, but replied thoughtfully: "Judging from the situation grasped by the Ministry of War, although Guangxi's military strength is not completely abundant, it is not weak either; the chieftain soldiers Although Ma has been mobilized a lot before, Mr. Zhongxuan, you also know that the imperial court has not treated those chieftains badly. As long as the chieftains get benefits for themselves, they will not govern the local people and the old soldiers will be exhausted. "
Gao Gong said in a deep voice: "You mean to say that Wu Zishi is timid and cowardly and delayed the military flight?"
Zhang Juzheng shook his head: "It's not that serious. However, although Wu Zishi has defeated several rebellions, he is still a bit more bookish and somewhat demanding for perfection... In my opinion, if he is not completely sure, he will not Those who are willing to take the initiative to send troops to suppress it."
Gao Gong said dissatisfied: "In the past few years, Guangdong and Guangxi have been experiencing various troubles one after another, and they have never stopped for a while! I think if Yu Wei Xun is not given a thunderous blow, other people with ulterior motives may be ready to take action."
Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment, nodded, and said: "What Duke Zhongxuan said is true, but Wu Zizhen believes that although Guangxi has no meritorious service, it has not done anything serious..."
Gao Gong said resolutely: "No problem, transfer him to be the Minister of War in Nanjing. Anyway, now the Beijing Ministry of War has changed to the system of four ministers, Nanjing can also handle it as usual." There were originally two ministers in the Beijing Ministry of War, but it was Gao Gong who reformed it into four ministers. The purpose of people is to reserve knowledgeable soldiers and important ministers in case of emergencies. At this time, it seems that they intend to extend this system to Nanjing.
Zhang Juzheng had no objection to this, and just asked: "Can I ask Yuan Fu?"
"Li Shilu?" Gao Gong curled his lips: "If you don't mind the trouble, just ask yourself and just say it was me who suggested it. I expect he will first talk nonsense about Wu Zishi's hard work and merit, and then tell you." Taiyue, you can discuss this matter with Duke Zhongxuan, and submit the vote to the ceremonial monitor for the holy judgment."
Gao Gong's face was full of disdain.
Zhang Juzheng smiled and said: "That's okay. After all, he is Yuan Fu and the number one scholar in my same department. I'll ask him so I won't lose my etiquette."
Li Chunfang was the number one scholar in the 26th year of Jiajing reign. Zhang Juzheng was ranked ninth on the gold medal list in the same year. In theory, it is more polite to ask.
But Gao Gong didn't care about this. He was a senior in Jiajing's 20th year on the gold list. He was superior to Li Chunfang in terms of qualifications and holy family members. He couldn't stand Li Chunfang's "shoulder slipping", so he didn't bother to say more.
He changed the subject and said: "After Wu Zishi is transferred to Nanjing, who will be replaced as governor of Guangxi? Do you have any recommendations?"
Zhang Juzheng knew what Gao Gong meant, so he naturally wanted to send someone "who could fight", but he pondered for a moment, with some hesitation on his face.
Gao Gong frowned and said, "What? What worries does Taiyue have?"
Zhang Juzheng sighed: "Actually, when it comes to quelling the war in Guangxi, Yin Shiting is more than qualified. It's just that this person has always been greedy. I'm worried..."
Gao Gong just thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said: "The current situation in Guangxi is like this. Quickly quelling the chaos is the first priority. As for greed... So what if I give him an extra 200,000 taels of military pay to make him greedy? Note The war in Guangxi has been going on for so many years, and millions of military dollars have been spent. Only by quickly eliminating the scourge of war can we truly save money for the country."
Zhang Juzheng said: "Since Mr. Zhongxuan insists, I will do it." He said this, but he said in his heart: Mr. Xuan, you took this on yourself. You can't blame me if you are criticized by the official. As for Yin Zhengmao, how can he remember me less? He is the same year that I won the gold medal in the 26th year of Jiajing... I will write him a letter to mention this when I go back later.
Seeing that Gao Gong didn't say anything more for a while, Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and asked proactively: "Mr. Zhongxuan, I heard that there weren't too many children going to Wenhua Hall today..."
