"Old minister, please beg for the bones." As soon as these words came out, everyone in the audience was stunned.
Begging for bones means resigning. This is not surprising. All high-ranking officials in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty would resign at least once a year, which was called "self-declaration of incompetence." This approach is roughly equivalent to self-criticism during the year-end summary, saying that I didn't do well this year and asked my boss to fire me - obviously it's all self-effacing and no one will take it seriously.
However, Xu Guo's begging for bones this time was not of this nature. In fact, he had already submitted a speech yesterday, and had been politely rejected by the emperor "as usual" and given "gentle words of comfort".
The problem now is that he resigned this time in a face-to-face manner. According to past practice, ministers' resignations are mostly based on "shangshu" and have to go through the process, that is, they have to go through the General Affairs Department.
According to the system, the General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty had strict confidentiality procedures, but in fact these regulations had no effect at all. This agency has always been a big colander. It almost doesn't care about any news - especially important news. Once the General Secretary is replaced, it will be "known to the whole court." Therefore, the General Secretary has completely gone against the system.
But this paradoxical situation has its own reasons. For example, when a minister resigns: what people want is for everyone to know, but it is impossible for every minister to hold a press conference after resigning to say that he has resigned. If you propose to resign, then everyone has to work together to find a solution - for example, let the Secretary of General Affairs release the news, which is great!
Therefore, normally, ministers who wish to resign must go through the Chief Secretary. However, Xu Guo refused this time. His resignation yesterday was for the General Affairs Department, but this time he resigned in person. There was obviously something wrong.
The first problem is that the emperor most likely has no experience in dealing with this situation, so no one can guarantee how His Majesty will react. Secondly, the wording of the emperor's response is also very "dangerous". You must know that there is a routine for responding to a minister's resignation through the Chief of Ceremonies. It will be roughly divided into several "levels" in terms of emotion and context. Through these language, Show the world how much the emperor cares for this minister.
This principle is easy to understand. For example, every time Gao Pragmatic resigned, most of them received very strong "emotions and context" from the emperor to persuade him to stay. Therefore, the courtiers all knew that Gao Pragmatic was unparalleled in the holy family - just like you were just "making trouble". , His Majesty the Emperor actually answered every word of yours with utmost seriousness, and even swore that without you in the court, I would not be able to think about food and food and could not sleep at night... Ah, this, of course, means that the Emperor attaches great importance to you. .
However, this kind of reply is often just the text processed by the ceremonial supervisor based on the emperor's simple statement. The emperor's oral edict may not be so precise - maybe someone just said "Then" in a very serious tone. No, absolutely not."
So in other words, when the emperor is asked to resign in person, he may be confused, and then the words he answers may not be acceptable to the audience, which is very embarrassing.
Of course, the emperor may not be embarrassed, but the minister himself is embarrassed. Ci is often more about expressing one's own nobility. Therefore, the more high-sounding the emperor's reply is, the better, and the more face the ministers will have. On the other hand, if the emperor just casually said "no" without further explanation, the minister would of course be very embarrassed. After all, it would appear that he has no value.
In short, Xu Guo's move means to a large extent that he has decided to leave: I no longer care about face, I just want to resign!
Obviously, this kind of behavior even has the meaning of deliberately embarrassing the emperor, which is usually not recommended by mature and prudent ministers. However, who would think that Xu Guo was not a mature and prudent minister? This was the reason why "everyone in the house was stunned". No one could understand why Xu Guo was so determined.
In fact, Xu Guo's resignation this time was not a big deal: weren't the Xin School and the Real School arguing about the merits of conquering Yuan not long ago? Later, the war inexplicably expanded, and officials from both sides began to break away from the Battle of Yuan Dynasty and launched personal attacks. Some people here brought up some of the things Xu Guo had done in the past eight years.
The earliest incident of this happened between the 11th and 12th years of Wanli. History records: "First, the emperor Kao Bu Shou Palace, added the crown prince Taibao, changed it to Wenyuan Pavilion, and used Yunnan merit to enter the crown prince Taifu. The country Because his parents were not buried, he begged to return to Xiang. The emperor refused and ordered his son to take over. The imperial censor Ma Xiangqian was convicted of impeaching the middle official Zhang Jing, and the country earnestly rescued him. The emperor accepted it because of Jiwei."
Then the matter came to an end temporarily, but "in the 17th year, Jinshi Xue Fu taught and impeached Wu Shilai, Nanjing censor Wang Linzhi and Huang Renrong discussed the Taiwan regulations, and they all invaded the country. The country was outraged, Lian Shuli slandered, and the chief officer Rao Shen . Stretching out to attack Wang Xijue, a great scholar, the public discussion is not in the interest of the country. The country is strong in character and prone to trouble. It is difficult for those who speak to them, and there are no ministers to protect them. The old scholars are not attached to the theory.
Next autumn, Huo Luochi invaded Lintao and Gongchang, and the western frontier was shaken. The emperor summoned his auxiliary minister Nuan Ge. At that time, the words and tributes were sufficient, and the country said that the Chongqing League was against obedience and was extremely unruly. It was appropriate to make a big move and not to rein in it... Nothing, just let things go and let the country be mediocre. The country was divided, and the emperor seized the salary.
There is no doubt about the beginning of the country and the current times. However, when Shi Xing is suitable for the disciples of the country, Wan Guoqin discusses it, and when he gives way, Shi Xing is also a disciple, so he takes revenge on his teacher. When the Fujian defender reported that Japan had invaded Ryukyu, the state said: "Now the four descendants are in conflict with each other, and the Chinese and foreign ministers are fighting over affairs and attacking each other, so many ministers are begging to leave. Who can return to serve the country?" Please advise all ministers to cultivate their professions and not to be unrestrained. The emperor then issued an edict to strictly prohibit it. The country is always angry and speaks like this. "
The above matters are rather trivial, and a detailed explanation would take up too much space. Simply put, Xu Guocheng would strongly react when he was impeached, and in the process of his rebuttal, he would often drag down some unrelated people, causing the foreign court to criticize him. His views were so bad that "the scholars did not agree" - no one supported or followed him.
To a certain extent, this is indeed a problem of Xu Guo's behavior, especially when he is a member of the Practical School and there is a practical party leader like Gao Pragmatic who is particularly good at life in the Practical School. Xu Guo's kind of The disadvantages will be further magnified. This is why even though Xu Guo is the second assistant, most of the officials from the pragmatic school still rely on Gao Pragmatism instead of him.
It was the same this time. He was originally just a fish in the pond, but in fact he just had to pretend to be dead. He didn't really react much at first, but yesterday he suddenly asked to resign. The reason was simply that I had been trolled and it was slandering my reputation, so I wanted to resign.
After the emperor's gentle words of comfort, he even asked for resignation in person today, which made everyone wonder what kind of stimulation he received to be so fierce.
The emperor was obviously not in a good mood today. Normal people would not be stupid enough to get into trouble in such a situation. At this time, it was inevitable to look gloomy when facing Xu Guo's resignation in person.
You must know that with the Battle of Yuan basically concluded, the emperor's power has greatly increased during this period. The reason why Shen Shixing asked Wang Xijue to adjust his strategy was largely due to this consideration.
Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment and glanced at Chen Ju. Chen Ju immediately stepped forward to take the Ci Shu from Xu Guo's hand, and quickly sent it to the emperor, holding it in both hands.
Zhu Yijun took the Cishu and opened it, and saw that the Cishu read like this:
"According to the order: 'Qing Shu will talk about officials again and show justice. The ministers regard the king's orders and state affairs as the most important thing. You should not insist on abandoning your ambitions. You will immediately give auxiliary advice to support your care.'
The minister was extremely frightened. The emperor's honor is heaven, and its power is thunder. Today, I have repeatedly ignored the troubles and blasphemy, but instead of condemning them, I have praised them for being fair and admonishing them for their persistence. I also say that the ministers regard the king's orders and state affairs as the most important thing. Although the parents' instructions are not warm to this, they do not care about them. Although I am extremely stupid and crude, I still have ears, eyes and a heart. How dare I betray my favor and do something like thunder?
However, I am so foolish that I have no choice but to do so. The emperor's ministers are not just favored by salary, position and honor. If you want him to do things, ministers must not be able to do things personally; if you want them to lead people, many ministers have been slandered now. Since they can no longer lead people, how can they do things even if they continue to work in line? Therefore, one can only rely on personal favors and favors, and the warmer the orders are, the more sincere the feelings will be, without realizing that they are stupid and numerous. "
After Zhu Yijun read it, he felt naturally unhappy. This rhetoric seems to be extremely respectful to the emperor. At one time, he said that the emperor's power is like thunder, and at another time, he said that the emperor's gentle words and comfort are better than parents' education of their children. But in the end, he still said the same thing: "I have been slandered many times today. Since I can no longer lead people, how can I do anything even if I continue to march in line?"
I, the dignified second-in-command, have been slandered and slandered. I cannot set an example for my ministers. Of course, I will not be able to get things done. Then Your Majesty, you might as well replace me.
What's this? This is to force the emperor to resign and punish those who slandered him!
Zhu Yijun's mind was spinning at this moment. He knew that Xu Guo was actually doing this because of the prestige of Gao Pragmatism - although they were not from the same school, they were both members of the pragmatic school after all. In the eyes of outsiders, they were still different factions within the same party.
Gao Jingshi happens to have great achievements that have not yet been rewarded. As an emperor, it is inconvenient to use people from the Shi school at this time, otherwise he may be unreasonably speculated by the outside court, and even think that his rewards and punishments are unknown.
Moreover, in fact, Gao Pragmatism cannot only claim such a huge credit for the battle against Yuan Dynasty. The emperor's wise leadership and the cabinet's careful support must be a great contribution. In short, anyone who has a high and pragmatic position will definitely be able to benefit from the success of this war.
Needless to say, the emperor, how can your majesty be deprived of any credit? Shen Shixing wanted to suppress it at first, but when he found out that he couldn't suppress it, he immediately changed his mind, also because as the chief minister of the cabinet, he would definitely have a big share of the credit. His subordinates, such as Wu Dui in charge of the Household Department and Liang Menglong in charge of the War Department, were leaders directly related to the war and must have made meritorious deeds.
As the second assistant, Xu Guo was between Shen Shixing, Wu Dui, and Liang Menglong. As a rule, he would definitely have merit. Therefore, even if the emperor really had an opinion against him, he should wait until the limelight of this matter had passed. There was no way he would agree with him now. Please resign.
However, there are some things that Zhu Yijun doesn't understand. For example, it is impossible for Xu Guo not to know about the settlement of accounts after the fall. If he is so willful now and actually asks for resignation in person and forces himself to express his position, he is really not afraid that in a few months I will think of some way to send him away. ?
You know, it's autumn now, and it's not long since the "year-end report" is the customary "self-declaration of failure" by the cabinet ministers.
Zhu Yijun pretended to read the essay very slowly, but in fact he just weighed it quickly in his heart, and soon showed a gentle smile, saying: "I am aware of Mr. Xu's thoughts, but at the moment the imperial court wants to reward the merits of conquering the Yuan Dynasty, and There is a danger in North Korea, and there are important matters both inside and outside. How can we not help the North? If you don’t agree to your request, sir, you’d better do your job well."
After that, Zhu Yijun seemed to be afraid of Xu Guo's entanglement, so he turned around and left without stopping for a step longer, leaving a group of ministers looking at each other in confusion, each thinking.
After the meeting, Wang Xijue quickly came to Shen Shixing's duty room. As soon as he entered the door, he asked straight to the point: "Yuanfu, what Xu Yingyang did today is really surprising. I wonder what Yuanfu thinks?"
Shen Shixing had already guessed that he would come. He was not surprised when he heard this and replied: "Without him, just admit defeat."
"Admit defeat? To whom?" Wang Xijue raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Who else could it be? Of course it's Gao Rixin." Shen Shixing sat on the Taishi chair, leaned back easily, shook his head and said: "The Battle of Yuan Dynasty is over, Gao Rixin has returned in triumph, and he can still bring it with him Bringing Han Naji to Beijing to meet the saint shows that he is really sure that he can completely control Tumut, or completely control Mongolia. Under such a situation, even you and I can only retreat, let alone Not to mention Xu Yingyang?"
Wang Xijue frowned and murmured, "Yuan Fu also thinks so?" It seems that although he just asked Shen Shixing, he actually already had such a conjecture in his mind.
Shen Shixing sighed and said, "I told you earlier that in the next period of time, Gao Rixin's ability to destroy Yuan will be unstoppable."
"However, Xu Yingyang used the method of desecrating himself before the saint to show Gao Rixin that he no longer dared to compete with him. Is the price too high? What if the saint fails to figure it out, or even if he wants to Although he passed, but he still cannot tolerate Xu Yingyang losing face to the Supreme Being, Xu Cifu may have to face a big obstacle this time."
"It's hard to say." Shen Shixing curled his lips and said, "In the final analysis, it depends on what Gao Rixin thinks."
Wang Xijue is such a smart man. He immediately understood what Shen Shixing said and suddenly said: "Yes, if Gao Rixin is willing to accept Xu Yingyang, it won't be a big deal if the emperor doesn't understand - Gao Rixin is still afraid that he can't convince the emperor?
And if he refuses to accept Xu Yingyang, that's just right. When the time comes, the emperor will naturally choose to go with the flow and find an opportunity for Xu Yingyang to return to She County for retirement. "
After saying that, Wang Xijue couldn't help but sigh: "Yuan Fu is right, Gao Rixin is really unstoppable today."
Shen Shixing nodded gloomily, but soon showed his face and said: "But it doesn't matter, there is another big trouble waiting for him now..."
Having said this, he suddenly remembered his previous attitude and added: "Although I don't think the Japanese invasion of Korea will cause much trouble, it is inevitable that Gao Rixin will be busy for a while. By then we will It can be considered as a moment to take a breather and adjust the follow-up plan.”
Wang Xijue agreed: "Yuanfu has good views."
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