In the last few days of May in the fifteenth year of Wanli, there was one piece of news a day in the official circles of the capital, which was comparable to the Longmen Trilogy.
First, the stepmother of Zhao Jin, the censor of Zuodu, died of illness. Zhao Jin asked Ding You for three days in a row. The first two letters were rejected. When the third letter of resignation was finally accepted by the emperor, Zhao Jin and Ding You were allowed to return to their hometown to guard the throne.
Without saying a word, Zhao Jin took the emperor's specially approved post carriage and horse back to his hometown in the afternoon of the day he received the holy message. He did not stay in Beijing for a moment. What is upright is high integrity and integrity, and filial piety moves the heavens.
However, in this case, the vacancy of the left capital censor in the dignified Ducha Yuan will naturally not be left vacant for a long time. So on the next day, the Holy Will came down again: Shen Li, the Minister of Rites, was appointed as the Yushi of Zuodu of the Duchayuan and took office immediately.
Since it was a re-appointment, of course the Minister of Hubu would also be vacant, so all the officials in the capital were waiting for the appointment of the Minister of Hubu. Many people had already guessed that this position was likely to be given to Gao Pragmatic.
Of course, many people think it's not possible. The Secretary of the Ministry of Households has a great responsibility. Although Gao Jingshi is civilized and military, he is still too young after all. Although he was already a high official when he was in the Ministry of War, at least there is Liang Menglong, a senior minister with sufficient qualifications, to hold the battle, and the Ministry of War ranks Gao Jingshi Shi Xing, another former Zuo Shilang, was also a person with sufficient qualifications.
Liang Menglong was on the gold list in the 32nd year of Jiajing, and Shi Xing was on the gold list in the 38th year of Jiajing. These qualifications were enough to even join the cabinet. Only Gao Pragmatic is a strange flower: he was on the gold list for the eighth year of Wanli.
There is a twenty-seven-year difference between Gao Pragmatic's Chinese style and Liang Menglong's Chinese style, and there is a twenty-one-year difference between Gao Pragmatic's Chinese style and Shi Xing's Chinese style - this is a generational gap! But they are all military officials and serious colleagues.
They are very pragmatic and get what they want. In terms of family background, background, achievements, achievements, and even financial resources, they are the best in the world. Under such circumstances, with Liang Menglong and Shi Xing, especially Liang Menglong, everyone can understand why Gao Pragmatic is allowed to be the left minister of the Ministry of War. After all, even if there is anything unreliable about him, Liang Menglong will be there to correct him. .
However, if he were asked to directly become the Great Sinong, many people would not be able to understand it - the Great Sinong is an unusual position, he is in charge of the foundation of the world!
The Minister of Household Affairs holds great power and is in charge of the country's finance and economy (don't think that there was no such thing as finance in the feudal era). Taking the Ming dynasty into account, there were ninety-one ministers of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and eighty-nine of them officially took office. In the Ming Dynasty, among the six ministries of official, household, ritual, military, punishment, and work, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel was honored as the Tianguan, and the minister of the Ministry of Hubu was honored as the Earth official.
The other four ministers, including the powerful Minister of War, were not given honorific titles such as "Heaven and Earth Man". Among the six ministries, the Ministry of Household Affairs is closely followed by the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who is in charge of "organizing personnel, cadres and civil servants", which shows how important the Ministry of Household Affairs is.
why?
Since the creation of the Six Ministries, among the six central ministries, the situation has basically been this: the Personnel Department is the most respected, and the Household Department is the largest; the Personnel Department is first, and the Household Department is the most important.
What does it mean? This means that in the ranking of the six central ministries, namely the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Personnel ranks first because it is responsible for the performance evaluation, promotion, dismissal, and deployment of officials nationwide. This is because of all things in the world, human beings are the most precious. It is natural that the official department ranks first.
The household department is the largest, which means that the household department has the largest internal organization and the largest number of staff.
What? Did ancient officials also have establishments?
Of course there is, and the fixed number of personnel, fixed posts, and fixed positions are generally quite strict. The Household Department ranks first among the six departments due to its large organizational structure and large number of personnel, so it is called "the Household Department is the largest".
There is a regular order when writing memorials, rankings, or standing in the court of ministers. Generally, the method of "writing in the east and fighting in the west" is followed, with the civil servants on one side and the generals on the other. In the ranks of civil servants, the Minister of Personnel should be ranked in front of the Minister of Hubu. This is one of the elements of "the Minister of Personnel comes first".
Then why is it said that "the household department is the most important"? This explains why "the household department is the largest".
The household department is the largest because it has the heaviest responsibilities among the six departments. The Ministry of Personnel manages officials, while the Ministry of Huns actually manages the people. If the Ministry of Personnel mainly manages people (officials), the Ministry of Huns is responsible for managing affairs.
What do you care about? event! A matter of great importance to the national economy and people's livelihood.
There were thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty, and they were originally named "Xingzhongshu Province". In the ninth year of Hongwu's reign, the "Xingzhongshu Province" was abolished and replaced by the "Xingzhongshu Province", that is, the province was changed into a department.
The Ministry of Household Affairs has thirteen administrative divisions named after each province, called the Thirteen Divisions, which are responsible for relevant business in each province.
In addition to the corresponding thirteen departments, there are many institutions within the Ministry of Household Affairs. In modern language, there is also a national treasury granary, which is the reserve storehouse of grain and cotton and other national and civilian supplies; there is a mint, which is a banknote printing factory; there is a currency issuance center, which is equivalent to the current People's Bank of China and other institutions.
Every function and authority the Ministry of Revenue assumes and has is basically related to the national economy and people's livelihood, so it is said to be the most important among the six ministries.
Since the Three Kingdoms, the Ministry of Household Affairs has been in charge of finance, replacing the position and authority of the Chief Secretary of Agriculture in the Han Dynasty. In the Sui Dynasty, "Duzhi Shangshu" was changed to "Minbu Shangshu". In the Tang Dynasty, in order to avoid the name taboo of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was changed to the Ministry of Husbandry, and the name of the Ministry of Husbandry came from this. The Household Department in the Tang Dynasty was one of the six departments, responsible for land, household registration, taxation, financial revenue and expenditure and other affairs across the country. Its chief was called the Secretary of the Household Department.
The system remained unchanged through the ages, including the Ming Dynasty, and did not change until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The Shangshu of the Ministry of Hubu is the second Shangshu among the six ministers. He is in charge of the power of the Ministry of Hubu and is the highest official of the Ministry of Hubu. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Household Affairs in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the thirteen administrative departments responsible for the affairs of the thirteen provinces, also had four major departments, namely, the Household Department, the Duzhi Department, the Jin Department, and the Cangbu Department, with separate directors. They were actually responsible for the national finance. The highest tax authorities.
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, as the minister of household affairs, is in charge of the Ministry of household affairs, and is in charge of the country's land, population, finance, civil affairs, taxation, agriculture, industry and commerce, etc., and is also responsible for the printing and issuance of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes.
Because of this, the Ming dynasty's Hubu ministers were the most difficult to work among the six ministers, and there were many who had tragic endings. Their terms were often short. Those who could serve for more than five years were considered quite extraordinary; those who could serve for ten years or even The above are purely rare.
In a word, this position is the person specifically responsible for the national economy and the people's livelihood.
It holds both real power and great responsibility.
Of course, you are thinking about what kind of monster this household would be if it were placed in future generations?
It is the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Audit Office, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Taxation, the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Energy Administration, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the National The complex of the Food and Material Reserve Bureau even manages household registration all over the world.
This is almost a small Ministry of State!
To hand over such a department to a young man who is only 25 years old would be astonishing in any dynasty - not everyone can be Li Shimin, and not everyone has a father like Li Yuan.
The officials in the capital waited and waited, but they did not wait for Gao Pragmatic to be appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Instead, they first waited for Shen Shixing's memorial requesting for additional cabinet ministers, and the emperor's reply that he refused once but agreed the second time.
This is strange. It is probably the most common situation for the Ming Dynasty cabinet to maintain five cabinet ministers. Now there are five cabinet ministers. Why does it have to add one more minister?
Could it be that... the position of this cabinet minister was obtained by the Xin School in exchange for Zuo Du Yushi?
In fact, it's no wonder that those officials who didn't know the inside story thought so. In fact, the emperor played a trick here, just disrupting the order, which created a very different mental impression on people.
What's the difference? The focus is different.
If Gao Jingshi's appointment is placed first, others will think that the emperor wants to move Gao Jingshi's position, and several other appointments and dismissals are for this purpose, then the focus of public opinion will fall on Gao Jingshi.
It's different now. The focus of everyone has become "the Xin School wants a senior position" - the rest of the things are in service of this matter. Then the center of public opinion will become "Why does the Xin School have to add another Pavilion Master?"
Then, all associations will unfold accordingly. For example, some people think that Shen Yuanfu is "unable to support himself" in the cabinet and urgently needs to find a helper to share the pressure; some people think that the Xin School is dissatisfied with the Real School who has controlled the cabinet for too long, and now they would rather give up the post of Zuodu Yushi to win back the cabinet. After all, "prime ministerial power" has been suppressing "ministerial power" for some years now, so it makes sense for the Xin School to focus on the cabinet.
The advantage of the emperor's doing this is obvious, that is, to "reduce the pressure" on Gao Pragmatic. Since the focus is attracted by the "dispute between the cabinet elders" between the two factions of officials, the appointment of a "merely" minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs does not seem so important. If it is important, the pressure of public opinion will of course be lighter.
I have to say that Zhu Yijun's care for Gao Pragmatic was really good.
Although the position of Minister of the Ministry of Finance has been vacant for a few days, it does not mean that things will be ruined immediately. The reason is very simple. There is a cabinet boss in the cabinet who is mainly in charge of the household department, and this person is none other than Zhang Xueyan.
Zhang Xueyan himself was appointed to the cabinet as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He had served in the Ministry of Revenue for many years. How big a problem would it be to temporarily come to the Ministry of Revenue to manage the affairs of the Ministry for a few days? Not to mention that the Ministry of Revenue is the basis of the Real School, and all important departments within the Ministry are controlled by officials of the Real School. Even if there is no minister in office, Zhang Xueyan can ensure that at least there will be no major problems in the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
As a result, except for the vacancy of the Minister of Household Affairs, the rest of the Dajiuqing were quickly summoned and began to carry out court promotion.
It’s not very clear what Ting Tui’s conduct was. He honestly stayed in Jianxinzhai Villa to “study”. Studying is naturally a lie. In fact, apart from approving the reports from various places in Beijing that were delayed during the previous expedition, and discussing some future plans and arrangements with Liu Xin, Gao pragmatically spent most of his energy on how to arrange for the queen to leave the palace for medical treatment. .
The empress leaving the palace is no different than Princess Yongning leaving the palace. If it is exaggerated, it can even be said to be a hundred times more serious in nature, so there are many targets to deal with this time.
It's not just a matter of planning, but also the rotation arrangements of the palace guards, the layout of the imperial guards, the cover along the way, the preparations for the Shinshinsai Courtyard, etc., all of which need to be carefully planned.
Although this matter must be approved by the emperor, the problem is that the emperor cannot arbitrarily approve the queen to visit Xinzhai - Jianxinzhai Courtyard is the residence of the courtier Gao Pragmatic. As an emperor, sending the queen there is not a good idea. What's the meaning? People in this world are not allowed to stare out their eyes?
It is not even reliable for the emperor to take the queen himself. The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty will definitely find a hundred faults in this matter. Not to mention that being pragmatic will lead to nothing, and even the emperor himself will be scolded. It's a shame - Zhu Yijun has been scolded bloody many times in history. Is it different now because he has won a few battles with high pragmatism?
If you think too much, the civil servants have their own insistence. Unless Zhu Yijun plans to imitate his great grandfather, who only cares about being comfortable in front of him and not caring about his reputation behind him, then there's no way he can even think about it.
This time the court recommendation went extremely smoothly. Shen Shixing proposed that Wang Xijue, who had long expired as a cabinet minister, miraculously received unanimous approval in the public recommendation of Dajiuqing. The emperor subsequently expressed his agreement in the palace. In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Xijue's imperial edict and official documents were sent directly to the south via the post road.
When the outside world heard about it, everyone felt that they had a clever plan. This incident made it clear that the Heart School and the Practical School had made a top-level deal, and that the Zuodu Censor would be replaced by a pavilion elder.
What? Secretary of the Ministry of Finance?
Hey, isn’t this a trivial matter? It’s just an additional cue in this incident—the Ministry of Accounts was originally controlled by the Real School, but is it still controlled by the Real School now? As for whether you are highly pragmatic or not, it doesn't seem to matter that much.
People are very capable of self-persuasion. After everyone changed their focus, self-persuasion became "Anyway, Mr. Zhang Ge is taking care of me at the Ministry of Household Affairs, so nothing big will happen." Even more people think: In fact, being pragmatic is not bad. They can build a behemoth like Jinghua in just over ten years. How can their financial management skills be worse? I just hope that when he controls the Ministry of Household Affairs, he will not always "compete with the people for profit" like he controls Beijing...
In this way, the preparations were completed. After listening to the reports from Jin Yiwei and Dongchang that night, Zhu Yijun fell asleep peacefully.
The next day, another court recommendation was held. This time the target of the court recommendation was not the elder of the cabinet, but the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
As mentioned earlier, the emperor would sometimes directly terminate the appointment of important positions in the imperial court, while most promotions would be promoted by the court to show that the appointment was in line with public consensus, fair and impeccable.
Of course, it is not impossible for the emperor to insist on appointing him directly, but in that case, the official's reputation will not be so clean.
With yesterday's "unanimous vote" as the basis, today's Ting Tuixin School of course had to reciprocate the favor, so the result was also unanimously approved - Gao Pragmatic was promoted to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
The news spread from Wenyuan Pavilion to Qianqing Palace. In less than a cup of tea, the approval of the Director of Ceremonies came down. Zhu approved and ordered the cabinet to draft the edict and send it to the Sixth Section.
Just after noon, Gao Pragmatic received the imperial edict and various documents from the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Sixth Section.
The left minister of the Prince's Shaobao Military Department assisted in the military administration of the capital. He was highly pragmatic and was promoted to Minister of Household Affairs, Governor of Cangchang, and became the Prince's Grand Master. The level of prose prose ranges from the second-grade official to the first-grade honor-lun doctor. His wife, Huang Zhiting, was promoted from a second-class lady to a first-class lady.
The Minister of Hubu is only the second rank, but the Crown Prince and Grand Master is the first rank. Although this is just an additional title, Gao Wuchen can now be called "the first rank of official residence"!
Twenty-five years old, with a first-class official position!
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Thanks to book friends "Ding Qi Zhao Bi Xin" and "Cao Mian Zi" for their reward support, thank you!
