The matter of impeaching Pan Sheng was decided by Gao Pragmatically, so of course he had to make arrangements for who would impeach him.
Gao Pragmatic himself will definitely not come forward to impeach a cabinet minister, at least not from the beginning. This is a basic rule.
It's like playing chess. I haven't heard that it's cool to make a general move at the beginning.
Sitting in the middle of the army and planning the overall situation is the job of a "general". As for charging, killing and galloping, naturally there are soldiers and even chariots, horses and artillery under his command to do it.
When it comes to impeachment, who should be arranged first? Of course it is the supervisory officer, that is, the science and technology officer.
In the Ming Dynasty, supervisory officials had great power and could impeach a wide range of subjects, not limited to their rank and status. All relatives of the emperor, old officials, grassroots officials, young scholars, and even officials in the same department and supervisory officials can be impeached.
Throughout the two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there are many backgrounds and opportunities for impeachment events, and they have obvious characteristics of the times. There are impeachments in the context of major political events, impeachments in the context of certain specific systems, and impeachments of officials' personal styles and behaviors.
Judging from the records in "Records of the Ming Dynasty", the era when the most impeachment cases occurred in the Ming Dynasty was the Longqing Dynasty - you read that right, it was the Longqing period of the good old man and the little bee.
During the Longqing period, an average of 12.5 impeachment cases were recorded in the "Records" every year, which was the peak since the founding of the Ming Dynasty; followed by the Xuande period, an average of 11.3 impeachment cases occurred each year; and again during the Jingtai period, an average of 10.375 impeachment cases were recorded each year. impeachment case.
The record of Emperor Chongzhen, the "popular saint king", is neither high nor low, with an average of 7 cases per year.
During the Jiajing Dynasty, which had a "great ceremony", only 4.67 impeachment cases were recorded in the "Records of King Sejong" every year. This may seem strange at first glance, but it is not.
First of all, the "Jiajing" period was very long, up to 45 years long, and the Great Rites Conference happened in the early period of Jiajing. In the later period, due to Emperor Jiajing's machinations, although the struggle was fierce, the court situation itself was relatively stable. Especially when Yan Song was in power and held all the power, ordinary people certainly did not dare to impeach indiscriminately.
In turn, this can explain why there were so many impeachment cases in the Long Qing Dynasty: in the first year of Long Qing, Xu Jie and Gao Gong fought against each other, and both sides set a record by impeaching all the way from "little soldier" to "coach"; later Gao Gong returned to the court. , help Long Qing clean up the mess, and at least have to impeach a few people who don't cooperate with the work.
However, Emperor Longqing himself died young. As a result, the impeachment case was of course very intensive.
In fact, the record for the most impeachment cases recorded in the "Records" in original history was set by Wanli. During his 48 years of rule, a total of 240 impeachments were recorded in the "Records of Shenzong"; followed by Wanli's grandfather Emperor Jiajing recorded a total of 210 times; again during the Zhengtong period, there were as many as 182 times.
The amazing thing is that during Zhu Yuanzhang's Hongwu period, during his 31 years of rule, there were only 63 impeachments, an average of about two per year.
Statistics are not idle things to do, but from this we can see that the performance of impeachments by officials in the Ming Dynasty had distinct stage characteristics.
During the reign of the emperors in the early Ming Dynasty, the political situation was generally stable and political struggles were not very fierce. Impeachment generally operated within a relatively stable and orderly institutional framework.
After Xuande, the number of impeachments gradually increased and reached its peak among the orthodox. This was closely related to the eunuch Ying Xing's wanton interference in government affairs during the Yingzong period.
In the Hongzhi Dynasty, there were signs of decline again. This should be the result of the resurgence of Hongzhi and the improvement of the political climate.
From then until the end of the Ming Dynasty, generally speaking, it can be said that impeachment actions became more and more widespread and remained at a high level. This also shows the ferocity of the political struggle in the late Ming Dynasty.
The early and middle Ming Dynasties are already in the past tense. Although Gao Pragmatic compiled the "Da Ming Huidian", he is well aware of this, but he does not care much about it. What he really cares about is the present.
In other words, it is the direction of the government after Jiajing.
In terms of original history, the Ming Dynasty after Jiajing was entering a later stage. During this period, political events came and went one after another, and there was no sign of decline until the end of the Ming Dynasty. Along with these major political events, impeachment plays an important role in them, and is always associated with almost every political event.
In addition to various major political events, impeachment can also be found during the operation of certain specific systems, such as imperial examinations, the appointment, removal, assessment, and promotion of officials, and even when officials take office or seize love, etc. trace.
In the operation of these systems, as officials are promoted and demoted, the balance of political interests tilts, and fights are bound to occur. Impeachment is born under such circumstances.
Judging from the records in "Records", there are roughly four types of impeachment that are the most common and most powerful: the first is the impeachment of the capital police; the second is the impeachment of court promotion; the third is the impeachment of seizing affection; the fourth is the impeachment of the imperial examination.
During the Double Ninth Festival Conference, Zhang Yigui thought of troublesome Wang Xijue by going back to investigate the cheating case in the imperial examination. This was also because of the power of impeachment in the imperial examination. As for Wang Xijue's several career as an examiner, there was nothing to catch...that is another time. It does not mean that there is something wrong with Zhang Yigui's thinking. The problem is just that it is "not very operable for specific objects."
This time, the impeachment case that Gao Pragmatic wants to launch against Pan Sheng is exactly one of the four major impeachment cases, "impeachment by court".
The so-called court recommendation refers to the system in which when important official positions in the court are vacant, court officials recommend candidates for appointment by the emperor.
According to the Ming system, ministers were appointed to the cabinet either by the recommendation of the court or by special decree. When executing the ministers, "the cabinet... recommended two persons" - that is, the cabinet provided two candidates for the emperor to choose one of them.
Of course, the emperor does not have to choose only from these two candidates. If he is really dissatisfied with both candidates, he can also ask the cabinet to re-select the candidates, or even bypass the cabinet and directly "join the cabinet" .
Due to the small number of seats, disputes are inevitable; in addition, those with the power to recommend are all important ministers of the Nine Qing Dynasty, with a certain right to speak and supporters, which further deepens the complexity of the struggle. The impeachment situation caused by court recommendation in the Ming Dynasty also Focus on the paradoxical political climate of the last days.
However, according to Gao's pragmatic view, the most famous impeachment case of Tingtui in original history should have occurred in the late Wanli period.
In the thirty-fifth year of Wanli's reign, when the court recommended cabinet ministers, Li Tingji, who has now become a disciple of Gao Pragmatic, was among them. At that time, he was firmly opposed by Cao Yubo and others who belonged to the Donglin Party. Later, although Li Tingji joined the cabinet and even became the first assistant with Wanli's support, he was always resisted and even "attacked by dozens of people". In the end, after being unable to resign many times, he simply left alone. .
Coincidentally, not long after, Li Sancai, the governor of Fengyang, was nominated to take charge of the Procuratorate under the operation of the Donglin Party, which again aroused the dissatisfaction of the Zhejiang Party.
So in the thirty-seventh year of Wanli, under the leadership of Shen Yi Guan, Shao Fuzhong, a doctor in the field division of the Ministry of Industry, accused Li Sancai of being "a treacherous person who looks like loyalty, a big deceit looks like uprightness, and he is a greedy, dangerous and hypocritical person" and tried his best to prevent him from ascending to the throne. , which eventually led to Li Sancai also resigning and returning.
In fact, if we only talk about ability, then Li Tingji can be regarded as well-rounded, honest and prudent; while Li Sancai also has considerable political ability, and "the world regards three talents as virtuous". If these two people were in their positions, they might both be of benefit to the government.
However, when parties fight, the first thing to look at is never ability, but faction.
It's just that Gao Pragmatic is very optimistic about this point at the moment: Pan Sheng's ability... is not bad, but it is indeed not irreplaceable. If Pan Sheng is eliminated, he will be used by the Practical School. It's people who can top it.
After all, Pan Sheng is in charge of the Ministry of Etiquette.
To put it bluntly, who is not able to do the work of the Ministry of Rites, even if he is a Jinshi? If we really talk about the ability requirements, no matter which one of the other five departments, they are more demanding than the Ministry of Rites, especially "business ability".
Take the Longqing Dynasty as an example. It would definitely be better for bureaucracies such as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War to be run by people like Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, who are practical and pragmatic, rather than having Li Chunfang take over. There is no need to even explain.
The Double Ninth Festival dinner was over and the guests gradually dispersed, but a few people stayed after being quietly informed by the Gao family's servants.
The people who stayed were very interesting, they were two pairs of brothers.
Brothers Xiao Liangyou and Xiao Liangyu, and brothers Wang Tingzhuan and Wang Tingyu.
It's interesting to say that Xiao Liangyou and Wang Tingzhuan, two people who joined the "Sanding A" of Gengchenke with Gao Pangshi, have now become the "new backbones" that everyone in Gao's party is optimistic about, and together with them they are Human brothers are also highly praised by the Practical School.
Xiao Liangyou and Wang Tingzhuan are favored, which is easy to understand. After all, they are Sandingjia, "gods in the sky". Although the two of them had entered the Hanlin Academy in the past few years, they had made a fortune when they compiled the "Da Ming Huidian" with Gao Pangshi. They were both promoted from editor to editor, but there was no promotion thereafter.
However, their resumes are here, and they are in the same year as Gao Pragmatic, so they are naturally regarded as Gao Pragmatic's future help. Of course, the seniors of the Practical School and Gao Pragmatic's seniors will help as much as they can, although promotion is not good. Yes, but if you say nice things and give them an "excellent" rating for nothing, isn't that a piece of cake?
But Xiao Liangyu and Wang Tingyu are favored, which can only be said to be too pragmatic. Xiao Liangyu is ranked fifty-sixth in the top two, failed to pass the election of Shujishi Hall, and stayed in Beijing as an official; Wang Tingyu's ranking is even more Ranked 135th among the top three, there was no chance of selection, but he still managed to stay in Beijing as an official.
Staying in Beijing as an official was originally regarded as a good place to go. Even if it was to become a county magistrate and "take charge of politics", it would be better to stay in Beijing.
Moreover, their official career after staying in Beijing was particularly smooth, to some extent better than that of their elder brother who had mixed qualifications in the Hanlin Academy.
This can be seen by looking at their current positions: Xiao Liangyu was then the supervisory censor of Zhejiang Province (not the inspector), and Wang Tingyu was then the official official in charge of affairs.
At this moment, in the waterside pavilion in the back garden of Baiyu Tower, Gao Pragmatic had been talking to the two pairs of brothers for a while.
"The situation is roughly like this. What do the four Nian brothers think?" Gao pragmatically talked about what happened at the Double Ninth Festival Conference and got down to the topic.
Xiao and Wang glanced at each other, and they all knew Gao Pragmatic's intention, which must have been a hint that they were impeaching Pan Sheng.
Xiao Liangyu immediately spoke first and said: "I am the Supervisory Censor of Zhejiang Province, and Mr. Pan Ge happens to be from Zhejiang. It is my duty to do this."
In fact, this statement does not make sense. The supervisory censor in a certain place does not manage affairs according to the place of residence. Whether Pan Sheng is from Zhejiang or not has nothing to do with this.
However, Gao Jingjing would not dwell on this. He knew that Xiao Liangyu was just looking for a reason for him to take action, so he smiled and said: "Brother Nian's heroic essays have been read by Qingjing many times in the past few years. I believe that this attack will definitely hit him." That’s it.”
Seeing that Xiao Liangyu had taken the lead, Wang Tingyu was not willing to be outdone and said: "Although Tingyu is not talented, he also deeply hates such ungrateful people. I will play a memorial tomorrow to echo Brother Xiao."
Gao pragmatic nodded with satisfaction, raised his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you two brothers Nian for your generous action."
The two of them said they didn't dare.
Gao Jingshi paused for a moment and then said: "By the way, there is one thing about this impeachment matter that you two brothers Nian must be aware of, but Jingshi still has to say one more thing. I hope you guys will not be nagging us."
The two of them said they didn't dare.
Gao Pragmatic said one word at a time: "This impeachment must be based on the facts and the people - the person who did it only said that Pan Xinchang's nomination to the cabinet had caused controversy in the court, and that he had never gone to court. I sincerely apologize; by talking about people, I mean only talking about Pan Xinchang, remember not to mention others, and don’t expand the scope of the attack."
Well, Gao pragmatically spoke politely before, but when he was arranging things specifically, his tone of voice clearly sounded like "explaining the key points of the task."
Of course, there is nothing we can do about it. After all, he is the one talking about the matter. This is an objective reality.
However, when he said this, both of them seemed to be a little confused. Xiao Liangyu was doing better. He just frowned slightly and seemed to be lost in thought. Wang Tingyu asked in surprise: "Don't expand the scope of the attack? Gongbao said not to target other people from the Xinxue sect?"
Before Gao Pangshi could say anything, Wang Tingyu's elder brother Wang Tingzhuan spoke first, pointing out to his younger brother: "Especially Shen Yuanfu...don't mention it."
Wang Tingyu was a little confused, frowned deeply, and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "But why is this? Isn't this something caused by Shen Yuanfu? I always feel that this... doesn't need to knock the mountain to shake the tiger, right?"
Gao pragmatic understood what he meant. He felt that "knocking on mountains and shaking tigers" was meaningless, because by moving Pan Sheng, Shen Shixing must have understood that the Shi School was fighting back against him.
However, Wang Tingyu didn't understand that what he meant was not to knock the mountain to shock the tiger, nor to scare the snake. This is indeed meaningless. My meaning is actually very simple: it is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt ten of his fingers.
What's the use of bringing Shen Shixing along now? He just picked up a first assistant, and now Zhang Siwei has just left. For the emperor, this is a time for stability. Unless Shen Shixing wants to rebel, it is impossible to do anything to Shen Shixing at this time. .
In this case, why is it necessary to apply for Shixing? It is better to concentrate on defeating Pan Sheng. As long as Pan Sheng is impeached, other neutral factions who want to join the Heart School will have to take a closer look and consider whether they are that stubborn.
"If Pan Xinchang is impeached, whoever the Xinxue group wants to win over in the future will have to think about Pan Xinchang's fate today. In this way, a gap will appear between the Xinxue, neutral and wavering people."
Isolating the Heart School from the Neutral School, and making some wavering people afraid to defect to Shen Shixing, this is a highly pragmatic way of "cutting you into three parts"!
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