Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue got their wish the next day with their highly pragmatic handling methods.
First, Gao Wuben, the governor of Jinyiweinan Town, came to the meeting early in the morning and said that he had heard that his father Gaocai was old and weak and had difficulty walking. Since there were only a few servants in the family, it was difficult to take care of him properly. As an only son, he was an official and was away from home, which was very unfilial. Therefore, I asked you to resign from your current job and return to your hometown to take care of your old father.
Not only that, Gao Wuben handed over the seal of Zhenfu Division to the deputy envoy Luo Sigong and left without waiting for the approval of the court.
At the same time, Wang Zhizhen, the governor of Beizhen, came to Shu because before the Northwest Rebellion, although the Jinyi Guards found signs of foul play in Bubai, they did not insist on a thorough investigation and asked for punishment. At the same time, he also said that he always blamed himself for thinking about the widespread and serious consequences of the disaster in the northwest. Now he is mentally and physically exhausted and ill, so he asked himself to resign.
These two events are certainly major events. After all, one of them directly took the title of the Northern and Southern Town Fusi, and the other resigned from the Shangshu. The main leaders of the two actual execution agencies of the entire Jinyiwei left their posts at the same time. The impact was of course on the level of shaking the capital.
However, these two pieces of news are nothing compared to Yang Wei's resignation.
Yang Wei, the Crown Prince and Tutor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, once again begged for his body due to his declining health - I say "again" because he would resign for this reason almost every six months after taking office. The reason was Yang Wei's age. He is indeed old. He is already seventy-five years old this year (virtual age), and has long passed the theoretical retirement age.
However, since he will resign once every six months, it stands to reason that there is no need to worry about resigning now. Anyway, according to custom, the emperor must be "gentle and comforting".
But this time the situation was different. He went to court early in the morning to ask for his resignation, and the Chief of Ceremonies of the Inner Court responded quickly. He issued an edict in the morning - yes, it was gentle words of condolence, but no resignation.
However, in less than an hour, Yang Wei's second resignation letter came up again, insisting that he was blurred and confused, and could no longer serve the court, so he insisted on resigning.
Around noon, the Superintendent of Ceremonies conveyed the edict for the second time. This time it became a sincere condolence, but he was still not allowed to say anything.
In the afternoon, Yang Wei's third resignation letter was sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, saying that he had reached the point where "rice and noodles are hard to get in, and porridge is covered with beards." If he continued to occupy his position, he would be in trouble. (He was a Jinshi in the Jiajing Dynasty), promoted to the Mu Temple, and now he is expected to be honored and favored for his important task.
At the same time, he also mentioned that Duke Guo Anyang had insisted on returning to his hometown at the age of seventy, which was his role model. If it had not been repeatedly recommended by the former chief minister Zhang Puzhou and Ding You, saying that there was no good candidate for the official in the court at that time, he would not have done it. Will be rehabilitated at an advanced age. Now that the country is safe and peaceful, His Majesty is a powerful presence all over the world, and the court is in full swing, how can there be no choice for the heavenly official? Therefore, I have lived up to Duke Fengpan's trust, and it's time to retreat bravely.
Resigning three times in a day can generally be regarded as a decision to leave. Normally, the emperor would have agreed at this point.
However, the emperor did not have such "rules". Instead, he sent the newly released "power to hold the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies" - that is, the eunuch Chen Ju, the acting eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and the equally freshly released Dongchang Supervisor Zhang Cheng, with Three imperial doctors went to visit Yang Wei's house.
After all, Yang Wei only said that he was suffering from a "sickness", and his so-called symptoms of "difficulty eating rice and noodles, and porridge covering the beard" were not pathological symptoms, but just old age - old age can be faked, not to mention a seven-year-old Although this old age of a teenager is not completely true, as long as it is slightly exaggerated, the imperial doctor cannot force you to say that you are so strong that you can kill a cow with one punch.
Therefore, when the palace was about to close, the emperor finally issued an edict. After a series of praises in the form of review of meritorious service, he decided that the quasi-prince Taifu and the official minister Yang Wei would resign and be nursed back to health. , and gave him a red silk python robe, a batch of various precious medicinal materials, and gave him a chance to study in the Imperial Academy.
This precise word is obviously of a high standard, because it is generally allowed to resign, and it is very good to say "The imperial edict is passed on, and the official is like a story." It means that the state sends out official cars to take you home and ensures that your treatment remains unchanged. ——Retirement salary is no different from work salary.
However, the emperor here gave Yang Wei a python suit even though he had no obvious special skills. You must know that it is easy to wear a red silk flying fish suit after reaching the civil service level, but it is not easy to wear a python suit, because according to general customs Generally speaking, this python robe is mostly given to civil and military officials with great military merit.
The Ming Dynasty valued military merit, so in most cases, more military officials wore python robes than civil servants. Wearing python robes by civil servants was not only a great reward, but also almost equivalent to having military merit medals on their bodies.
For example, Gao Pragmatic was awarded the python robe for his several military exploits, and even now wears the sitting python robe - the highest grade among the python robes in the ministerial system.
Yang Wei did have some military exploits in his early years, because he had served as the military commander of Xuanfu (divided into the deputy military commander of Shoukou North Road) a long time ago. Later, he served as governor of Xuanfu, governor of Shaanxi, and governor of Shanxi—— It was at this time that he got on the line with Zhang Siwei, and he also made contributions in the tribute payment, ensuring the stability of the border.
However, these achievements are all for protecting the soil, and there are not many heads that are most recognized by the Ming Dynasty as support. Moreover, that was all many years ago. What should be rewarded has already been rewarded, so now the reward for this python garment is relatively small. unexpected.
As for the precious medicinal materials and Yin Yizi studying in the Imperial Academy, they were not worth mentioning in front of Mang Yi.
So the next day, Yang Wei went to Shu to resign Mangyi and Enyin - but he accepted the medicinal materials, because the gifts given by the emperor were actually more about face than lizi. It is said to be a batch, but for example, for ginseng, it may only be one stick, and the others are similar, and the total cost is not much.
But this time, the emperor was very determined and refused to give up. Yang Wei resigned again, but the emperor continued to refuse, so Yang Wei had no choice but to accept the offer. Then he didn't wait a whole day, just packed up his bags that afternoon and took a "official car" back to Shandong.
Why did Gao Wuben, Wang Zhizhen and Yang Wei's resignations happen so quickly? Let's not rush into this, because Gao Pragmatic has done more than that.
The next day, Wang Zhizhen, who had already submitted his resignation but had not yet received approval, submitted his resignation again. While continuing to resign, he wrote: The commander of the Jinyiwei has been absent for some time. During the previous Northwest War, the Jinyiwei clearly Some clues were discovered, but in the end they failed to insist on a thorough investigation. This was also due to the vacancy of the commander of Jin Yiwei.
Therefore, he asked the emperor to consider the candidates for the commander of the Jinyi Guards as soon as possible, and recommended the commander of the Chinese Army, Wu Qingbo Li Wenquan, to be the commander of the Jinyiwei. On the grounds that "I know that your majesty is filial to the Holy Mother", he suggested that the emperor promote Wu Qingbo and Li Wenquan to the title of Marquis of Wuqing. "Like a story".
This memorial was a bit powerful at first sight, and many officials were shocked when they heard about it. They submitted their memorials one after another, impeaching and scolding Wang Zhizhen for ignoring the ancestral system and asking for favors.
Why did Wang Zhizhen get scolded and impeached this time? In fact, the main problem was not that he recommended Wu Qingbo and Li Wenquan to be the commander of the Jinyi Guards.
This is because of Li Wenquan's identity. Who is Li Wenquan? He is the eldest son of Li Wei, the former Marquis of Wu Qing, and Li Wei is the father of the emperor's biological mother, the empress dowager Li. In other words, Li Wenquan was the emperor's uncle.
The commander of the Imperial Guard is no different from other official positions in the imperial court. His appointment has only one characteristic and requirement: the emperor's trust.
Although the Ming Dynasty had always had the habit of suppressing foreign relatives, special institutions such as Jinyiwei should not be run by foreign relatives. However, as mentioned before, the Imperial Guard now has a large number of civil servants' sons Enyin entering the guard, and has a strong tendency to be civilized. It is becoming less and less like a violent organization that can deter civil servants. From the emperor's heart, this situation does not It’s not normal and it shouldn’t be.
However, the reality is that more and more civil servants are awarded military honors, but as long as they are not enough to be knighted, according to convention, they have to continue to put their children into the Imperial Guard, so this trend cannot be changed. .
As a result, the emperor had no choice but to continue to appoint cronies to control the top ranks of the Imperial Guard, while leaving the children of the civil servants in the Guard on idle jobs, or simply "bringing salaries" - only taking money and not working.
Under such a general trend, it is not surprising that relatives enter Jinyiwei as a means of balancing. In most cases, the civil servants will have a tacit understanding of this and will not strongly object - after all, they are Jin Yiwei, and the specialness is there.
Since Li Wenquan has a special status, it is not an excessive arrangement to be the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Why was Wang Zhizhen still criticized? The reason was that he suggested that the emperor promote Li Wenquan to the rank of Marquis of Wuqing.
Li Wei was the Marquis of Wu Qing back then, and Li Wenquan, as the eldest son, was demoted to a lower level when he ascended the throne. This was in accordance with the rules of a relative ascending the throne, but there was an episode at that time. Li Wei died of illness five years ago. Originally, Li Wei's widow Wang asked the emperor to let Li Wenquan directly seize the title of marquis. Of course, the Queen Mother was very happy to do so, but the foreign court did not agree.
At that time, the emperor insisted on doing special things. In order to express his filial piety to the Empress Dowager Cisheng, he insisted on letting Li Wenquan attack the marquis. As a result, many people in the outer court gathered. At the critical moment, Gao Pragmatic also became more cautious, thinking that although the emperor's filial piety was commendable, , but the court has its own regulations and cannot "make it a law and open a lucky door" just because Li Wenquan is a close relative.
However, Gao Jingshi and the Hou family of Wu Qing had a secret dividend agreement for a long time, and they had always been linked by interests. Therefore, Gao Jingshi did not say anything about Li Wenquan's title, but added a paragraph at the end to the effect that Li Wenquan It's not impossible to be promoted, but you have to make contributions.
No one knows what the emperor thought after reading it. Anyway, soon after Gao Pragmatic Shuwen came up, he accepted the proposal and went to the Empress Dowager Cisheng to "please forgive" himself.
Nearly five years have passed since this incident, but Li Wenquan has not made any meritorious deeds - of course, apart from being a marquis, his official position is "Commander of the Chinese Army with Salary".
Note that if the full title of this position is expressed in the later generations, it should be "Zhongjun Dudufu Zuodudu" and then put in brackets, write two words in the brackets: with salary.
What does that mean? You are just claiming to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army, Commander Zuo, but not only do you not do anything, you don’t even go to work at Dianmao in the Commander-in-Chief’s Mansion of the Chinese Army - you are holding on to the extremely noble status of Commander-in-Chief Zuo of the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army, and the high status you deserve with this status Salary is just that, the specific affairs you are responsible for have nothing to do with you.
In this case, even if Li Wenquan is really capable, he has nowhere to show it, right?
But Gao Jingshi's suggestion at the time was in itself a trick: He left a loophole and said that Li Wenquan could be promoted if he had made meritorious service. Therefore, although the Empress Dowager Cisheng would not be completely satisfied, she would at least feel that "the future is promising." The quarrel in the outer court is too fierce, let's come up with a temporary solution first.
Of course, the outer court also knew that this "salary" was irrelevant, so Gao Pragmatic's claim that Li Wenquan could be promoted to a higher rank for his meritorious service in the future was purely a trick to deceive the Queen Mother, and the Dukes of the outer court did not take it seriously at all.
Sure enough, later Li Wenquan could not get any credit at all, so the Queen Mother hinted to the emperor, didn't Li Wenquan often replace the emperor to worship the previous emperors? This is also a credit.
The emperor seemed very honest and immediately complied with the request - and then was pushed back by the outer court: There were so many people offering sacrifices on behalf of others, and there was no one among the large group of nobles who had offered sacrifices on their behalf, so why did Li Wenquan just offer a flower as a sacrifice on his behalf? Worthy of being promoted?
The emperor was still very honest, and went back to report the matter to the Queen Mother, so the Queen Mother was dumbfounded, and the matter has been dragged on until now.
But now Wang Zhizhen has brought up this issue. He even didn't mention meritorious service at all, and just used "filial piety" as the reason. Could this not be a hornet's nest?
However, only the blind and deaf do not know about the relationship between Wang Zhizhen and Gao Pragmatic. His sudden behavior must have Gao Pragmatic's instructions, so many impeachments also pointed the finger at Gao Pragmatic.
The reasons are of course varied, but obviously none of them are good. Gao pragmatism immediately took action and decisively locked himself up again. He immediately closed the door and thanked the guests without leaving. At the same time, he defended himself and talked a lot of nutritious nonsense.
When things got to this point, Gao's pragmatic behavior aroused some suspicions. Recommending a foreign relative - even if he instructs the gunman to come forward to recommend a foreign relative, it would never sound good. Considering his usual way of protecting feathers, this move was obviously too abnormal. .
However, those who were impeaching Gao Pragmatic did not know that when Wang Xijue visited the Shen University Scholarship again that night, he was so angry that he cursed Gao Pragmatic for being shameless. This not only made Zhang Cheng, the cannon fodder who was supposed to be the leader of the battle, "draw his sword and look around at a loss", Moreover, it also put the Xin School in an extremely embarrassing position.
Zhang Cheng originally wanted to take down the entire factory guard, but Gao Pragmatic handed over and packaged the Jin Yiwei directly to Li Wenquan, the emperor's uncle. With Li Wenquan's special status, he obviously would not take Zhang Cheng seriously, so Zhang Cheng could only be dumbfounded - -At least before Queen Mother Li passed away, there was no way he could do anything to Li Wenquan.
However, as Li Wei's heir, Li Wenquan had a very strong private interest bond with Gao Pragmatic. Although his loyalty to the emperor should be reliable, Gao Pragmatic would not let him rebel against the emperor. What reason did he have to give up a lot of money? Is Yinzi going to have a hard time with Gao pragmatism?
In this way, Jin Yiwei was actually still under the influence of Gao pragmatism, but the emperor could completely relax.
Why should the Heart School be embarrassed? Because when Gao Pragmatism was in decline, it was a good opportunity for the Xinxue Sect to invite favors and seize power. This is what they planned. But Gao Pragmatic suddenly pushed Li Wenquan. Will the Xin School, like those neutral officials, impeach Gao Pragmatic from the standpoint of "righteousness"?
Impeachment at this time was highly pragmatic, which meant opposing Li Wenquan's elevation to the title; opposing Li Wenquan's elevation would mean not giving the emperor face.
If you don't even give the emperor face, then why invite him to be favored? Therefore, seizing power by taking advantage of the situation becomes a dream.
But if you don’t criticize, the Xinxue school is a school of “moral practical learning”. Their foundation is morality, which is not the “merit” of the practical school. At this time, if you don’t stand up and “uphold morality”, you still have the nerve to say Do you represent morality?
This is where Wang Xijue got angry. He knew that Gao Pragmatic was rebelling against General Yijun: Although I want face, in the final analysis I value reality more; although you want to seize power, I know you still want face in the final analysis. So...please choose!
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Ling Qi Zhao Bi Xin", "Old West of Altay", and "Chi Yu Jing Feng Chen" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
