In the seventh year of Wanli, it is the third day of September.
The official department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported to Zhao Yumin that he had impeached Ling Yunyi, the minister of the Ministry of War, for "conniving the servants and doing evil in the capital of good deeds." Please stop.
On the same day, Lin Yicai, the censor of Guangdong Province, impeached Ling Yunyi, the Minister of War, for being "arrogant and lawless, and ridiculed by the times" during his tenure as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Zhao Yumin and Lin Yicai were in the same department, and it was normal to impeach officials. However, both of them were only Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing, with very little qualifications, but they impeached the minister of the Ministry of War at the same time. Anyone with a discerning eye would know there was something wrong at a glance.
The struggle in the imperial court is different from leading troops to fight. Generally speaking, the idea of "using all your strength even when a lion fights a rabbit" is not popular.
One of the most common ways is to first send a junior officer under his command to impeach a minister to see the emperor's reaction to the matter. If the emperor immediately issues an order to reprimand the minister for his nonsense, it means that the minister is a saint. The family is still there, whether to continue the impeachment depends on the situation.
And if the emperor does not react at all after receiving the memorial, it generally means that the minister may have lost the emperor's trust. At this time, the impeachment can be stepped up and more powerful people can be sent to continue the impeachment until the emperor feels the "raging public sentiment". until the minister is ordered to be dealt with.
Of course, generally speaking, after being impeached, the minister will take the initiative to stay behind closed doors and either go to court to defend himself or go to court to beg for his return. If the emperor loses trust in the minister, but still remembers some old feelings, he may just accept the resignation and usually not dig into it. After all, it is customary to give preferential treatment to civil servants. Saving some face to others will also show his kindness.
Zhao Yumin and Lin Yicai are the harbingers of this "rebellion", the two pebbles who "throw stones to ask for directions".
Let me explain a little here. Originally, in the historical Longqing five-year examination, the chief examiner and deputy examiner were Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang respectively. However, due to the influence of Gao Pragmatism, it finally became Guo Pu as the chief examiner and Zhang Juzheng as the deputy examiner. , so a large number of the seat masters and room masters of Jinshi this year have changed.
Zhao Yumin and Lin Yicai were the Jinshi selected by Guo Pu this year. Among them, Zhao Yumin is from Changye, Shanxi, and Lin Yicai is from Tong'an, Fujian.
Ling Yunyi rushed to the capital the day before yesterday. Yesterday he went to see the emperor with an uneasy mood. He was told that the emperor had already given lectures in the Wenhua Palace and asked him to postpone his return. He had to go to the Ministry of War as usual without being received by the emperor. Xin, Ling Yunyi felt that it was going to be bad at that time.
Many people feel that good premonitions will fail nine times out of ten, while bad premonitions are just the opposite. They are basically guaranteed. The same is true for Ling Yunyi. On the second day after taking up the new job, he was both involved in the investigation.
He had no choice, because even Shen Shixing, an elder in the Xinxue lineage, gave him ambiguous answers, and there was no accurate answer at all, let alone others. So he had to go to court and ask for resignation - it is impossible to defend himself, and it will be impossible to defend himself in this life, because although Shen Shixing did not give him any guarantee, he told him that that day he might It hit the two princesses.
This is tantamount to being caught in action and still defending yourself! Whether you like it or not, you can only resign as usual.
However, the emperor seemed not to be satisfied yet, and he was impeached twice. The cabinet voted calmly to say that Ling Yunyi still had merit in putting down the rebellion in Guangdong and Guangxi. However, the vote did not mention anything about the impeachment this time.
The emperor's reaction was very emperor, without a word of criticism. This is what is called staying in the middle without making progress.
So sure enough, the next day, there was another impeachment. The impeachment was no different from yesterday, except that the people who were impeached by Shangshu changed. They included Song Zhihan, the Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, and Hu Wei, the censor of Shuntian Prefecture. people.
The emperor still didn't respond, and Ling Yunyi was frightened and went to Shu again to resign.
On the third day, the drama finally came to a head. Wang Guoguang, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, personally took action to impeach Ling Yunyi, the minister of the Ministry of War, for being "irrespective and irresponsible." Please stop!
The Censor of Zuodu was the first person in the Imperial Procuratorate, known to the world as the General Constitution. He was in charge of the inspection and review of official affairs, participated in the maintenance of rules and disciplines, specialized in correcting and impeaching hundreds of officials, defending wrongdoings, and supervising various departments. He was the emperor's eyes, ears, and officials. All ministers who are treacherous, villainous, treacherous, and disruptive of the government will be impeached. All officials who are corrupt, corrupt, and violate official discipline will be impeached. Anyone who is academically dishonest, writes a petition to make a statement, or hopes to make further use of it will be impeached. During the pilgrimage and inspection, whether the virtuous minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs was dismissed or not. The heavy prisoners in the prison will be executed in the outer dynasty, and together with the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, they will be pacified.
Although it is not unique, it is indeed rare for the dignified censor of Zuodu to personally come forward to impeach a minister. As usual, Zuodu Yushi came forward to impeach the emperor. The emperor could not continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb, and there must be a reply.
So the emperor's reply came quickly this time: Ling Yunyi relied on his small achievements, acted harshly, was arrogant and lawless, and deeply failed me. With immediate dismissal pending investigation, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Justice should send officers to Guangdong, Jiangxi and other places to conduct in-depth investigations and report in detail.
Dismissed pending review! Investigate thoroughly!
It is said that most court officials did not know that the incident that day involved "colliding with Feng Jia". They only knew that Ling Yunyi had a conflict with Qian Guan Zheng Gao Pang Shi, who was known as the "Xiao Ge Lao" in previous years. Even if they knew the inside story Shen Shixing and others also stood blankly on the spot, speechless for a long time after seeing the emperor's imperial writings.
Not to mention Ling Yunyi himself. He had been staying in the house because of the impeachment. Suddenly he received such a severe order. His legs went weak on the spot and he collapsed on the ground. Finally, the angel who was ordered to deliver the order sent someone to "Tuck yourself up and kneel down to receive the imperial edict."
Gao Dang, who had almost fallen into a dual leadership system due to Gao Gong's death and Gao pragmatism's return to his hometown more than a year ago, had been cautious for a long time, and even felt that it was about to fall apart, suddenly burst out with astonishing lethality, not only easily He overthrew a new minister, and he was so powerful and unstoppable!
It’s not about accepting an imperial edict, not about staying idle, or even being ordered to become an official, but about being dismissed from the post and awaiting re-examination!
In the eyes of most people, what are the crimes committed by Ling Yunyi? Wasn't it just that there was a little conflict with Gao Pragmatic over a shelter from the rain? Although your actions are indeed excessive, you are the official minister of the Ministry of War, and you are not as pragmatic as a new imperial examination candidate. Even if you are Jieyuan, so what, you are still a civil servant, not even a Jinshi!
But the emperor's treatment was so decisive and merciless!
What does this mean?
In the eyes of these officials who did not know the truth, this could only mean one thing: Gao Jingshi's status in the eyes of the emperor far exceeded that of Ling Yunyi, the Minister of War!
However, there was something even more surprising next. With the emperor's edict, the three ministers of the cabinet submitted their resignations as usual. They reported that they had been inappropriately recommended and resigned from their respective positions.
The emperor's reply was still very quick: "The ministers are upright and upright in their duties, and the recommendation is based on merit. There is nothing inappropriate. Ling Yunyi has brought the blame on himself. What does it have to do with the ministers?" It is advisable to appoint an assistant as soon as possible, and no one will be allowed to resign.
He also sent another lieutenant to the Guo University Scholar's Office and gave Gao Jingshi two sets of each of the four new imperial books, two volumes of Zhouyi (Gao Jingshi's Ben Jing), two Hu pens, two boxes of Hui ink, two Duan inkstones, and two new paper knives. .
The government and the public raised eyebrows upon hearing this, and people at the time privately said: Gao Dang is still here.
