Shen Yiguan persuaded and persuaded again and again, and Gao Pingshi immediately realized that Shen Yiguan did not necessarily really want Wang Jiaping to stay in office. He just did not want to see Wang Jiaping resign at this time.
If Wang Jiaping resigns, as a rule, Liang Menglong should take over as the first assistant. However, Liang Menglong and Wang Jiaping have reached a gentleman's agreement before. It is likely that if Wang Jiaping retires, Liang Menglong will also retire.
In other words, once Wang Jiaping becomes official, the person who succeeds him as chief minister will be highly pragmatic... This will be a bolt from the blue for the Xin School, as if the end of the world is at hand.
Gao Pingshi had a very bad impression of Shen Yiguan. Whether it was his impressions from history books in his previous life or his personal experience in this life, he felt that Shen Yiguan was a disaster. If Shen Yiguang can be made unhappy, Gao Pragmatic will be very happy.
Shen Yiguan's family was not originally prominent when he was young. If we were to classify the family by class, it should be considered a small landowner family. However, although his family was not wealthy, he had a good uncle who had already begun to rise to prominence when he was born - the poet Shen Mingchen.
In the original history, Shen Yiguan was also the chief assistant, but unlike other chief assistants, Shen Yiguan's childhood and youth were uneventful... In fact, there was not much worth writing about. .
It was not until the second year of Longqing that the thirty-seven-year-old Shen Yiguan managed to achieve more than 100 places in the top three in the joint examination.
Although this achievement can arrogantly surpass most scholars, after all, it is not easy to become a Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, but it seems a bit embarrassing when compared with other chief ministers. Because, among the sixty-seven chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty cabinet in the original history, he was the only one who only achieved the top three.
After becoming a Jinshi, Shen Guanyi entered the Hanlin Academy as usual and began to queue up and go through qualifications, waiting hard to be recruited. During these six years, he was basically in a state of seclusion and cultivation. He had no backers, no connections, and no memorials. Seeing Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, and Gao Gong, the chief ministers and assistants were replaced like a revolving door until Zhang Juzheng succeeded in taking over.
Of course, Gao Gong worked until the sixth year of Wanli in this life, but Zhang Juzheng was overthrown by Gao Pingshi in the early years of Wanli.
How did Shen Yiguan in original history finally stand out from the Hanlin Academy? How in this life could he and Zhao Zhigao take over the shortcomings of Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue after they stepped down?
Let’s talk about the former first. It has some historical humor. In the original history, Shen Yiguang stood out because he scolded Zhang Juzheng and then received rewards from Zhang Siwei.
The story begins in the second year of Wanli. In that year, Li Shen had already completed two subjects in high school. He was lucky enough to become a co-examiner for the general examination that year. This was his first concrete job.
Originally, he could still complete this job with ease and calmness, but because Zhang Juzheng's son participated in this exam, it became different.
Colleagues around him were worried that Shen Yiguan didn't know the inside story, so they went out of their way to tell him secretly. As a result, Shen Yiguan was still insistent at this time, so he pretended not to know, showed enough justice and severity, and did not give the green light to the chief minister's son at all.
Here we have to talk about the issue of school. Theoretically speaking, Zhang Juzheng is also a member of the Practical School, and Shen has always been one of the Zhejiang scholars who are one of the strongholds of Xinxue. Before he was deeply influenced by officialdom, it was not surprising that he disapproved of Zhang Juzheng. strange.
Of course, even if Shen Yiguan did not cooperate, with Zhang Juzheng's power and status at that time, it was completely easy to get the admission notice for his son to be a Jinshi. Whether Shen Yiguan or not had no impact!
Afterwards, knowing that he had offended Zhang Juzheng, Shen Yiguan did not defend himself, let alone try to cling to him. Instead, he became a little angry and decided to resign and return home. Unexpectedly, when he was planning to resign, he unexpectedly received a promotion notice. Although it was still a casual position, his rank had been improved after all.
Zhang Juzheng didn't touch Shen Yiguan at that time, maybe because he was too busy, or maybe he thought that such a small fish and shrimp was not worthy of his war, but no matter what, if he didn't touch him, he didn't touch him.
In the fifth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng's father Zhang Wenming passed away. According to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yuanfu had to resign and return home to serve his father as a mourner for three years. Objectively speaking, if we look at Zhang Juzheng's powerful position at the time, it would be easy for him to come back and serve as the first assistant three years later, without much difficulty.
However, many reform initiatives are still in their infancy and have already met with resistance from diehards. If Zhang Juzheng had taken charge personally, there would not have been too many twists and turns. However, if Zhang Juzheng left the cabinet for three years, his reforms would most likely fail midway.
In view of this, Zhang Juzheng was unwilling to leave the cabinet and return home to maintain the system. In this matter, even if Gao Pragmatic re-examines history, he does not think that Zhang Juzheng is simply a lover of power. His refusal to worry should have both public and private factors.
In this context, Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to obtain the consent of Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun in advance, and staged a "love drama" directed and acted by himself against their will, which consisted of seven steps:
First, Zhang Juzheng took the initiative to ask for resignation and asked to be his father Ding You; second, Li Youzi and others went to Shu and asked Zhu Yijun to win love for Zhang Yuanfu; third, Zhu Yijun issued an order to win love for Zhang Yuanfu and refused Zhang Yuanfu's resignation; fourth, Zhang Yuanfu declined The request of seizing love insisted on keeping filial piety for his father; fifth, the Queen Mother issued an edict and asked Zhang Yuanfu to seize love again; sixth, Zhang Yuanfu reluctantly agreed to seize love, but had to take leave to arrange the funeral; seventh, after the funeral arrangements, Zhang Juzheng returned to the cabinet to continue working .
While Zhang Juzheng was performing the love-stealing drama, Shen Yiguan kept making remarks about loyalty and filial piety without understanding current affairs, taking the opportunity to insinuate Zhang Juzheng that "since he is unfilial, he must be unfaithful."
Regarding this, the "History of the Ming Dynasty·The Biography of Shen Yiguan" has this to say: "When Gaozong entered the lecture, he raised his hands and said: 'If you entrust me with my life, you must be a loyal and unyielding minister, so that all officials will listen.' It is a pity that Zhang Juzheng thought it was a stab at himself."
This time, Zhang Juzheng was angry. Not only did he record Shen Yiguan's sin this time, he also brought out the unpleasantness of the previous scientific examination, and simply settled the old and new accounts together. As a result, Shen Guanyin was idle for a long time.
In the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng passed away while serving as chief minister. Zhang Siwei, the second assistant who had been lurking beside Zhang Juzheng for a long time and was considered by Zhang Juzheng to be his right-hand man but actually had a high ambition, took over the position of chief assistant.
From then on, due to Zhang Siwei's "revenge" for Gao Gong and Zhu Yijun's hatred, all the civil and military officials in the dynasty began to counterattack Zhang Juzheng. Basically, they were seeking revenge if they had a grudge, and retaliating if they had a grudge.
For a time, Zhang Juzheng was scolded like shit, and all his reform measures were canceled. Even his own body was almost dug out and whipped to vent his anger.
This time, Shen Yiguan, who was still in the Imperial Academy, was naturally the one who scolded him the most. From then on, he immediately became the most unequivocal anti-Zhang faction, taking the lead in attacking, even slandering and framing Zhang Juzheng.
This move undoubtedly won him the favor of Emperor Zhu Yijun and Chief Assistant Zhang Siwei, and he soon rose to prominence. With the rise of Shen Yiguan, the Zhejiang Party Group with him as the core has gradually formed, and it continues to rise.
The so-called Zhejiang Party is actually the earliest party formed in the civil service system of the late Ming Dynasty in original history, or more accurately it should be an interest group and political faction - this is different from the nature of the Xin School and the Real School, so the latter two The latter has a more obvious scholastic nature.
The Zhejiang Party is different. They were formed purely for common political pursuits, or economic interests. Shen Guanyi was internally elected as the overall person in charge.
In the twelfth year of Wanli, with Zhang Juzheng who continued to criticize and could no longer reply, Shen Yiguan's good times began. He was first promoted to the post of Shao Zhan Shi of Zhan Shi Mansion, and concurrently served as a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. He began to have the opportunity to teach Zhu Yijun, and also had the opportunity to win over more people to unite around him.
During this period, with the increasing rise of "national disputes", Shen Yiyuan keenly discovered that this would be a deadly battle with no retreat for both sides. Therefore, Shen Guanyi, who was well versed in the art of power and checks and balances, took leave on the pretext of going home to visit relatives. After that, he used illness as an excuse to stay at home for a long time to avoid getting into fights prematurely. At the same time, he actively raised his hopes and accumulated reputation.
Sure enough, while Shen Yiguan was watching secretly at home, the Ming Dynasty court staged the most lively plot. The chief ministers Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, and Wang Xijue came one after another, and all of them fell into this matter. But Shen Yiguan showed a sinister smile - the kind that couldn't be suppressed at all.
In order to warm up for himself in advance, Shen always controlled the members of the Zhejiang Party to build momentum in the DPRK, and asked Zhu Yijun to appoint him. In the 22nd year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun appointed Shen Yiguan as the Minister of Rites in Nanjing and continued to assist Zhan Shifu. However, Shen Guanyi politely declined to take up the post, citing physical illness.
In fact, Shen Guanyin is already very satisfied with his position as Minister of Rites, but adding the word "Nanjing" in front of it greatly reduces the value of this Minister. When I said I was sick, I was just pretending to be sick. You really let me stay in Nanjing. Retirement? Therefore, Shen Guanyin chose to continue to live in seclusion. He believed that under the current situation, the court would definitely use him again.
Facts have proved that Shen Yiguan is indeed a scheming fox. No wonder he can lead the Zhejiang Party, which is full of talents, as a top three Jinshi. No wonder he can "be on the outside but feel in the game." It turns out that he relies on his sophistication, his judgment of the current situation and his understanding of the overall situation. of control.
The following year, which was the 23rd year of Wanli, the shortage of cabinet members was already very serious. Only Zhao Zhigao was in office, as both the chief minister and the cabinet minister. Therefore, Wanli issued an order for the courtiers to nominate candidates for the cabinet.
Under the hard shouts of Zhejiang Party members, Shen Yiguan's voice was very high, and he was finally shortlisted at the same time as Zhu Geng, Shen Li and others, and was allowed to participate in machine maintenance and served as the bachelor of Dongge University.
The chief assistant at this time was Zhao Zhigao, who needs no introduction. He was not only old and sick, but also had a cowardly personality. Almost all the officials and censors did not take him seriously. "History of the Ming Dynasty·Biography of Zhao Zhigao" commented on him: Zhigao was the first assistant, more than seventy years old, old, soft and cowardly. He was underestimated by the court officials, and he was criticized everywhere.
When he entered the cabinet, Shen Yiguan began to establish his authority in order to pave the way for succeeding Zhao Zhigao in the future. He used the official Yuan Keli as a tool to scare the monkeys - this was because Yuan Keli had a close relationship with Shen Li, and Shen Li had a great conflict with him, so Shen Guanyi used an excuse to put Yuan Ke on the imperial staff and dismiss him from his post to the people.
This incident is recorded. The "Hongguang Dynasty's Puppetry of the Eastern Palace and the Puppet Empress and the Party's Misfortune" record says: The disaster began during the Wanli period. Shen Yiguan, a native of Zhejiang, was the prime minister. He was arbitrary in power and placed many private persons on important roads.
As the dispute between the country and the country continued to ferment, many cabinet ministers who were ranked before Shen Yiguan fled away one after another, and those who could not escape were recuperating at home.
The first assistant, Zhao Zhigao, submitted nearly a hundred resignations but all were rejected by Zhu Yijun, and he finally collapsed at home from exhaustion. During this period, Shen Yiguan gradually began to take control of the cabinet. After Zhao Zhigao died of illness, he finally became the 42nd chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, Zhu Yijun, who insisted on non-violent non-cooperation with the civil servant group, had completely disappeared and did not appear in court for a long time.
After becoming the chief assistant, Shen Yiguan summarized many successful experiences and failures of previous chief assistants, such as Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Siwei, Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Wang Xijue and others. He probably reviewed them over and over again.
Shen has always believed that no matter how powerful the chief minister's power is, in the final analysis it is still granted by the emperor. If you want to keep your power, you must obey the emperor's wishes and avoid becoming the second Zhang Juzheng. Moreover, since Jinshang is extremely difficult to deal with, we must be attentive to serve him well.
Of course, on the basis of serving Zhu Yijun well, he must also avoid becoming the target of all courtiers and becoming the loser. Therefore, we must always pay attention to establishing our own majesty among the courtiers, and we must not let anyone step on us to avoid becoming the second Zhao Zhigao.
After planning, Shen Yuanfu started working. Of course, like his predecessors, the biggest trouble he faces is still the "national dispute."
Zhu Yijun has defeated several chief ministers on this issue and has been in a stalemate for more than ten years, so it is impossible for him to compromise in front of Shen Yiguan. However, the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Changluo, was already over 18 years old, and there was still no conclusion at this time. Everyone, including Zhu Yijun himself, knew very well that if the matter remained unresolved for so long, it would definitely become a trigger for disaster for the country and the people.
As a result, Shen Yiguan got a big advantage. When the newly appointed chief minister Shen Guangyuan tentatively mentioned the matter, the emperor immediately agreed and agreed to appoint the eldest son of the emperor Zhu Changluo as the prince, the third son of the emperor Zhu Changxun as the prince of fortune, the fifth son of the emperor Zhu Changhao as the prince of Rui, and the sixth son of the emperor. Zhu Changrun was King Hui, and the seventh son of the emperor Zhu Changying was King Gui.
Although it was an unexpected surprise, Shen Guan was such a thief. He was worried that Zhu Yijun would regret it in the future, so he immediately drafted the decree and it was signed by Yubi to be announced tomorrow. Shen Yuanfu was very excited because he could easily settle things that so many chief assistants had failed to handle before.
But accidents still happened. When Princess Zheng heard the news, she immediately found Zhu Yijun and refused to give up. She insisted on canonizing her son Zhu Changxun as the crown prince - at least not Zhu Changluo.
Zhu Yijun had no choice but to summon Shen Yiguan to the palace overnight and asked him to return the imperial edict, while the matter of appointing the crown prince would be discussed another day. Shen Yiguan heard this, how can it be done? So he lied that he had revealed the contents of the imperial edict to all the ministers in the court. At this moment, everyone began to celebrate and shout that His Majesty is wise.
When things got to this point, Zhu Yijun finally had no choice. After all, "You have no joke" is a simple truth, and he still wanted to lose face, so he had to agree to officially appoint Zhu Changluo as the crown prince. At this point, the national dispute has come to an end.
At this time, due to the strong intervention of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese army and the Korean Peninsula had reached a stalemate. On the issue of war or peace, Shen Guanyin, as the first assistant, actively took the initiative and submitted "On the Unallowable Sparing of Wagong City" to Zhu Yijun, which advocated stopping border trade, blocking shipping, and adopting more tough methods to force Japan to withdraw from Korea. Withdraw troops from the peninsula.
As soon as Shen Yiguan's proposal came out, the entire Zhejiang Party took active action and began to build momentum everywhere. The main war factions in the DPRK instantly gained the upper hand. Affected by this, Zhu Yijun finally made up his mind to be tough on Japan to the end and started a national war mode. Shen Yiguan himself also won the reputation of being loyal and patriotic.
However, as the situation developed, many people believed that he was not motivated by public motives. His real purpose was to protect Zhejiang, the base camp of his "Zhejiang Party", from the long-term harassment of Japanese pirates.
Later historians generally believe that as the Ming Dynasty continued to use large-scale troops on the Korean Peninsula, it connived at the rise of the Later Jin Dynasty in the Northeast to a considerable extent. In this way, deep hidden dangers were laid for the future rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and its entry into the Pass to replace the Ming Dynasty.
However, Gao Pragmatic does not think that Shen Guanyi should be responsible for this - if other people who had the opportunity to be the first assistant at that time were in that position, I am afraid there would be no difference. If we really want to change, we have to fix the root cause from within the Ming Dynasty, just like what Gao pragmatically did in this life.
One of the things that has always tarnished Shen's reputation has to do with mining taxes. In the original history, where there was no high pragmatism to assist the left, after Zhu Yijun took office, he soon began to send eunuchs to all parts of the country to collect taxes and collect money, and changed names to collect exorbitant taxes, especially the mining tax, which caused complaints from people everywhere. There were even civil riots from time to time.
Many courtiers, including Shen Yiguan, had advised Zhu Yijun, hoping that he could reduce taxes and reduce the burden on the people. Unfortunately, in the original history, which was not pragmatic and responsible for finance, Zhu Yijun was only interested in asking for money, and did not accept these opinions at all. He even believed that he did not collect the mining taxes from ordinary people at all, and it was not the interests of ordinary people that were harmed. This has resulted in the mining tax becoming more and more serious.
In the 30th year of Wanli, a very sudden event happened. At that time, Zhu Yijun suddenly fell ill, and his condition was very serious. At one point, he thought that he was a short-lived ghost like his father Mu Zong, so he quickly made arrangements for his funeral. In addition to urging the cabinet ministers to continue to assist the left prince Zhu Changluo, he also determined to abolish the mining tax and gave Shen Yiguan an edict to abolish the mining tax.
But unexpectedly, Zhu Yijun's condition suddenly improved on the second day, so he wanted to take back yesterday's decree. But Shen Yiguan didn't hesitate at all and immediately handed over the imperial edict. It was this incident that caused Shen Yiguan to be greatly dissatisfied by many people.
According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty·Biography of Shen Yiguan": "Hou Yijian Yiguan spat: 'My husband will hold on to this for a moment, the mining tax will be withdrawn, why are you so cowardly!' Since the ministers said that officials were sparse and invited one after another, they no longer listened. The harm caused by the mining tax will last forever for the Shenzong."
From then on, Zhu Yijun would not allow any courtiers to discuss matters related to mining taxes. And in the end of Wanli Dynasty, the disaster of mining tax could not be eliminated, but the harm became more and more serious.
Another major issue related to Shen Yiguang is related to political parties. In the thirty-second year of Wanli, Gu Xiancheng, a doctor in the official department, angered Emperor Wanli because of something and was dismissed from office. He had to return to his hometown to live leisurely. During this period, he, Gao Panlong, Qian Yiben and others founded a private college in Wuxi to give lectures and lectures, which attracted more and more attention. And this private institution was the later famous Donglin Academy.
As its scale and influence continued to expand, Donglin Academy gradually began to get involved in politics, and even dared to criticize current ills and praise and criticize court officials, thus forming a very powerful political force known as the Donglin Party.
As the chief minister, Shen Yiguan will naturally not allow the Donglin Party to grow and even threaten his own Zhejiang Party. Therefore, he began to actively suppress the Donglin Party and proactively triggered a series of party disputes.
During this period, the Chu Party was formed under the leadership of Wu Liangsi and others. Some officials from Shandong were not willing to be marginalized, so they secretly formed the Qi Party. Of course, due to Shen Yiguan's power and co-optation, the Chu Party and the Qi Party basically existed in dependence on the Zhejiang Party, and were collectively called the "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang Party."
In addition, there were many unknown small parties such as the "Xuan Party" and the "Kun Party" at that time, and they were also fighting for their own interests.
Under the mutual slander of various parties, the problem of cronyism in the Ming Dynasty became unprecedentedly intensified. There were only conflicts of interest between the parties, and there was no longer anything to speak of about people's livelihood and state affairs. This kind of party struggle lasted for decades. From then on, the government and the opposition were no longer peaceful, which directly accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
In the thirty-fourth year of Wanli's reign, Shen Yiguan personally presided over the Beijing Procuratorate that year. He actually used his power to suppress others, openly protected the Zhejiang Party's forces, and blatantly suppressed other parties and dissidents, which immediately aroused the public indignation of the entire court. Censor Sun Juxiang and others jointly signed a petition to impeach Shen Yiguan, while other political parties were also secretly adding fuel to the fire, making this impeachment extremely popular.
According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty": "I have always returned, and those who spoke have been pursued and impeached, and many of my fellow villagers have been slandered by the world."
In order to avoid the limelight, Shen Yiguan had no choice but to take the initiative to beg for retirement. After returning home, Shen Yiguan simply stayed at home and never asked about current affairs. He lived a leisurely life for ten years and continued to write books and lectures to promote his theories.
In the forty-third year of Wanli, Shen Yiguan passed away at home at the age of eighty-four. After the emperor heard the news, he issued a posthumous decree to confer upon him the title of Taifu and the posthumous title "Wen Gong" - so he always said that Zhu Yijun was a sensible person. Just look at the word "Gong" and you will know.
The above are some of the more controversial things after Shen Yiguan became prime minister. Of course, there are many others, such as King Chu of Chu, etc., and their impact is not small. Oh, by the way, the King of Chu was still the key figure that directly led to the downfall of Shen Yiguan and Shen Li. However, it is more complicated to explain this matter clearly, so I won't go into details here. [Note: King Chu's Eucalyptus is also called Chu Zong's Eucalyptus. Interested readers can check it out by themselves. ]
Although Shen Yiguang's role in these incidents was often criticized in later generations, Gao Pragmatic actually believed that his biggest problems were "charming" and "forming cliques".
Some people may say that the imperial power of the feudal dynasty is supreme, how can anything be accomplished without flattering the superior? He is always charming, but you are too pragmatic to be charming? But actually, there is really a big difference here.
What's the difference? The question lies in whether "charming" is a means or an end.
As the most trusted minister by the emperor among the Ming Dynasty courtiers today, Gao Pragmatic certainly stood on the same stand as Zhu Yijun most of the time, but what he did was essentially a means - to gain first The emperor trusted and gained authority through the sacred scrolls before he could pursue his political ambitions.
Shen Yiguan is different. His flattery is just to preserve his status and power, and he enjoys such status and power not because he wants to do anything for the world, but just for his own selfish interests. At most, it is to slightly expand the scope while ensuring one's own private interests to protect the interests of Zhejiang Party allies. In the final analysis, it is to form a party for selfish interests.
Some people may also want to say, why is Gao Pragmatic's "fascination with the Shang" said to be a display of political ambitions, while Shen's consistent "fascination with the Shang" is to form a party for personal gain? Doesn’t being highly pragmatic also protect the interests of the Heart School?
This requires the use of a classic principle to judge: one’s deeds are judged without regard to one’s heart. To put it simply, in history, Shen Guangxi was indeed just a clique for personal gain, and did not sincerely make any contribution to the people of the world. But over the years, who dares to say that Gao Pragmatic is not in office to benefit the people of the world?
It can't be said that he has to be busy with the people of the world, and he has to be in poverty, then it can be said that he is dedicated to serving the public, right? People can have such noble ideals, but it would be crazy to require everyone to achieve this.
Gao pragmatically reviews Shen Yiguan's experience and performance in the original history, mainly to determine what kind of person Shen Yiguan is. But he also knew that we couldn't look solely at history, but also at how Shen Yiguan climbed up in this life. After all, only the experiences of "this life" can affect Shen Yiguan in this life, right?
As mentioned before, Shen Yiguan was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, which was a full four subjects earlier than Gao Pragmatic. However, Shen Yiguan's official career was not good at the beginning. He stayed in the Hanlin Academy much longer than Gao Jingshi. Gao Jingshi entered the Hanlin Academy in the eighth year of Wanli. Shen Yiguan was actually still in the Hanlin Academy at that time, and he was still just an editor.
Twelve years! Even if the Hanlin Academy is originally a Qingshui yamen with qualifications, Shen Guanyi has almost stayed in the same place in the Hanlin Academy for twelve years. Do you think it is miserable or not?
Of course, there is a detail that needs to be explained here to understand why "twelve years of standing still" is very, very miserable. This is related to the assessment of officials of the Ming Dynasty.
Officials in the Ming Dynasty took a small exam every three years and a major exam every nine years. The results were divided into three grades: competent, ordinary, and incompetent. Rewards and penalties were determined based on the test results and the complexity of the original position.
Rewards are generally promotions to official ranks, and sometimes incentives such as promotions, favors, gifts (titles given to family members), and salary increases are used; punishments are usually reductions in rank and salary, and some that are too poor will be reduced by three or four. etc., and even did not arrange official positions but "used miscellaneous duties internally" until they were dismissed and returned home.
Here we should also mention a standard set by Gao Gong when he was also the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, that is, the examination of eight categories of problems such as "greed, cruelty, weakness, carelessness, old age, illness, lack of talent, and impetuousness", which is called For the "eight methods".
For officials who pass the comprehensive assessment for promotion, according to the regulations: Those who are classified as "first-class" (capital officials) or "outstanding" (local officials) will be included in the list of candidates for promotion; those who are "corrupt and cruel" will be dismissed; those who are "weak, weak, and cruel" will be dismissed Those who are "not careful" will be dismissed from their posts, those who are "old and sick" will retire, and those who are "incompetent and impetuous" will consider downgrading their grades.
By the way, Gao Gong's "Eight Methods" were much more rigorous and relatively fair and just than those of the early Ming Dynasty, so they were almost directly copied by the Tatars. [Note: This is historical fact. ]
Speaking of Shen Yiguan, he has been stuck in the same place for twelve years, which is equivalent to being evaluated as being at a middle level, so he is not worthy of promotion, but he does not need to be demoted.
In this case, if you say that you are in another department, for example, if you have specific duties to do, then it is okay. After all, you may fail the job. But this is the Hanlin Academy. It is a rare and strange thing that this "prefecture prime minister" has not been promoted in the yamen after nine years of examination.
In contrast, Gao Pragmatic, who was the number one scholar at that time, started doing compilation work as soon as he entered the Hanlin Academy (it was a convention that the number one scholar directly did compilation work), and then he started his journey to promotion not long after. Even though he was suppressed once by Empress Dowager Li and was demoted three levels in a row, it actually did not delay his "takeoff from Wuhu".
Why is this so? In fact, it was because Shen Yiguan's original ideological position was too obvious, and the several views he put forward were not liked by Guo Pu, then the chief assistant. He thought that this guy only knew how to sing high-profile and seemed to be good at raising questions, but he didn't like it. There is no feasible solution to the problem at all.
This was very inconsistent with Guo Pu's employment principles, so Shen Yiguan spent a long time in the Hanlin Academy before he was finally sent by Guo Pu to concurrently serve as the director of the Nanjing Imperial College. I don't know if Guo Pu wanted to see if Shen Yiguan could do anything practical, or if he simply stayed away out of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality.
Shen Yiguan's unlucky life has not improved much. During Zhang Siwei's period, he finally made some "progress" and became the Nanjing Imperial College Jijiu (referred to as "Nanjing Jijiu" in Ming Dynasty official circles), but that was the end of it.
However, when Zhang Siwei and Ding You returned to Puzhou and Shen Shixing succeeded him as the first assistant, it was finally his turn to take off in Wuhu.
When Shen Shixing succeeded him as the first assistant, he recommended Shen Guan to Shangshu, saying that he was "magnificent, stable in nature, talented and capable" and should be transferred back to the Hanlin Academy to serve as a minister and a Japanese lecturer. At this time, Shen Shixing had just come to power, and the emperor would naturally agree even if it was to save face for the new chief minister, so Shen Yiguan once again returned to the capital as the center of power in the Ming Dynasty.
The Japanese Lecturer sometimes does not necessarily hold a high position in the Hanlin Academy. However, once a person who holds a high position in the Hanlin Academy becomes the Japanese Lecturer, it usually means that this person has a backer at the top and will most likely be reused in the future.
Shen Yiguan was no exception. Although he was only a sixth-rank scholar, the rank of the Hanlin Academy was never high, and the top Hanlin bachelor was only a fifth-rank scholar. The imperial scholar can be ranked sixth or seventh in the Hanlin Academy, so naturally he can be regarded as "holding a high position."
In this way, when Gao Pingshi won the great victory in Liaonan, Shen Yiguan was promoted again, this time becoming the right edict of Zhan Shifu - from the fifth rank. The following year, he continued his efforts and returned to the Hanlin Academy as a lecturer. Although his rank remained unchanged, he became one of the five giants of the Hanlin Academy and could be regarded as a serious "preserver prime minister". If a person with this position is sent to the Ministry of Government, he will usually be the assistant minister.
Shen Shixing continued to reuse him, and three years later he was appointed as the Right Minister of the Ministry of Punishment. A few years later, Wang Xijue also participated in the promotion, and Shen Yiguan moved to the left to serve as the left minister of the Ministry of Rites. This time, it was not until Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue fell, and Zhao Zhigao succeeded him.
From this, Gao Pragmatic can confirm that Shen has always been a typical "Jiangnan Party" no matter in his past life or in this life.
The only difference is that in the previous life, Gao Gong did not integrate a practical school with clear action guidelines, so the school of thought was also very scattered at that time. The school atmosphere was far better than the political atmosphere. Therefore, after Shen Guangyuan came to power, he used his place of origin as a link to create his own A "Zhejiang Party" was formed.
This life was different. Because the Real School evolved into a political faction, forcing the Xin School to become politicized, Shen Yiguan no longer had the foundation to integrate the "Zhejiang Party" on his own, but became the leader of the Xin School without a doubt. A member of the Communist Party of China, and was cultivated by the two elders at the time, Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue.
After such an experience, since Shen Yiguan has become a practical talker of the Xin School, his own political base is larger, and his corresponding ambitions are naturally greater - let alone Zhao Zhigao here. Although he ranks in the cabinet of Shen Always the first, but that relies on qualifications rather than means.
It can be said that the real helmsman of the Heart School now, excluding Shen and Wang who are hiding behind the scenes, is actually Shen Yiguan.
Since Shen Yiguan is the apparent party leader of the Xinxue School, in terms of his ambitions, he naturally does not want to see Wang Jiaping step down and Gao Pragmatic succeed him now. According to Gao Jingshi's previous guesses about him, Shen Yiguan must have hoped that Wang Jiaping would resign after Gao Zai and his wife had an accident and Gao Jingshi was forced to return to his hometown and Ding You.
After all, the chief assistant at that time...that would be Zhao Zhigao. Zhao Zhigao will definitely not be able to control things, and he will not be able to control them, so Zhao Zhigao will take the blame when the time comes. And he, Shen Guangxi, Shen Cifu, is the real person in power, and is he not afraid of causing trouble and taking responsibility himself?
Gao Pingshi finally figured out all the joints, and he couldn't help but admire Qi Shen's methods.
However, if Shen Guanyi advised Wang Jiaping not to resign under pressure, Gao Pragmatic could not object. Not only could he not object, he even insisted on dissuading Wang Jiaping more clearly than Shen Yiguan - his high pragmatism was the biggest beneficiary of Wang Jiaping's resignation. If he did not urge Wang Jiaping, he would probably be slandered and framed.
So Gao Pragmatic immediately began to persuade Wang Jiaping to withdraw his order, saying that as long as the outer court unites together tomorrow morning and insists on a thorough investigation of the connection between Yikun Palace and the emperor's coughing of blood, it will be enough to force the emperor to investigate the matter without having to Bet on the chief minister Wu Sha, lest the emperor really agree, but it will dampen one's own spirit.
Wang Jiaping was relieved to be supported by the two heads of rival factions. He felt that it would be a good thing if this happened, so he finally agreed.
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "cxxmp" for their support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "book friends 20200131113929592", "edwardliujun", "book friends 20200324225429736", "malyvu", and "cxxmp" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: I fell asleep coding last night, so I might as well do two in one today and add 1k more.
