The "change" of the chief minister is naturally a major event for the court, but since Gao Pragmatic's ascendancy has long been established, and can even be said to be widely expected, the incident itself did not bring much shock to the court inside and outside.
Both inside and outside the palace, as well as among the people in the scholarly community, have maintained a great deal of calm over this. What everyone wants to know more is what direction Gao Pragmatic will burn after he takes over as chief minister.
Compared with the succession itself, his new official's three talents are the real focus of attention. After all, no one in the world knows that Gao Ge is always a reformist. Over the years, he has promoted many major reforms and achieved even more dazzling achievements. As a result, many people even talked privately, saying that even if Gao Pragmatism stopped here, he would still be comparable to Shang Yang in Qing history.
But everyone knows that the assumption of "stopping there" will definitely not happen. In terms of Gao's pragmatic style, when he becomes the first assistant, the following reforms will only be more shocking than before - both the difficulty of the reform itself and the possible impact after the reform will only be greater than before. .
After Gao Jingshi completed his routine refusal and the emperor's routine persistence, the eyes of the whole world were focused on Gao Jingshi, waiting for him to make a bigger move.
But surprisingly, Gao Pragmatic didn't seem to be in a hurry this time. He first sent Wang Jiaping and Liang Menglong out of the capital in person, and wrote poems as gifts before leaving. Then he persuaded Shen Yiguan, who wanted to leave the capital as soon as possible, and then began to go to the emperor and mentioned two things: First, Request for additional cabinet members; secondly, request to resign as Minister of Household Affairs.
Both of these things are theoretically routine.
Requesting for additional cabinet members is what the chief minister of the cabinet will usually choose to do when the cabinet is not full of members. The so-called "dissatisfied members" refer to the vacancies among the six bachelors of Zhongjidian, Jianjidian, Wenhuadian, Wuyingdian, Wenyuange and Dongge. .
Obviously, after this cabinet change, since the remaining four bachelors are fill-ins, that is, each of them fills two positions, the Wenyuange bachelor and the Dongge bachelor are vacant. At this time, as the successor as chief minister, it was necessary for Gao Pragmatic to submit a request for cabinet additions.
Why is this something that must be done, and why is it proposed by the chief minister? Because the Chief Assistant must have such an attitude: Cabinet work is extremely important to the imperial court. As the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, I attach great importance to it. In order to ensure that there are dedicated people responsible for all aspects of work, the cabinet must be kept fully staffed. , this is the embodiment of the minister's responsibility to the court and the emperor.
But in fact, this is just a reason on the table. In addition, there is another reason behind the table: the power of the imperial court lies in the palace, so the fewer auxiliary ministers, the more centralized the power of the imperial ministers. Therefore, as the chief minister, if he refuses to ask for additional cabinet members, he will be suspected of taking power and taking it for granted. Not only may he be criticized by the courtiers, but he may also arouse the suspicion of the emperor.
However, everything has two sides. Since the first assistant wants to use the proposal to add cabinet members to prevent the courtiers from criticizing and dispel the emperor's suspicion, on the contrary, once the first assistant does so, the courtiers do not have to say anything, but the emperor often has to say "no need to add more cabinet members" ".
This is done to show His Majesty the Emperor's full affirmation of the ability of the ministers in the cabinet - you have done a good job and you can do a good job now, so why do you need to add more? Secondly, it is to show His Majesty's trust in his cabinet ministers, especially his trust in the chief minister - don't be afraid of others gossiping, I completely trust you.
Therefore, there is no doubt that when Gao Pingshi Shangshu requested additional cabinet members, Zhu Yijun also immediately issued an order stating that there are currently sufficient manpower in the cabinet and the four ministers are fully qualified for all current tasks. I will not consider adding additional cabinet members for the time being.
Immediately afterwards, Gao Pragmatic continued to write. In the essay, he cited various manifestations of the current busy affairs in the cabinet, and believed that it was impossible not to add more cabinet ministers. On the one hand, it might delay the government's affairs, and on the other hand, it would also increase the work burden of the cabinet ministers.
However, the emperor still refused, insisting that the current cabinet was running well and there was no possibility of delaying the imperial government. As for the possible increase in the burden on cabinet ministers that you mentioned, I also agree and feel quite distressed.
But it doesn't matter, I think you, Gao Yuanfu, are young and promising, especially compared to the age of the ministers in the past, you, Gao Yuanfu, are in your prime, and can be used as two or even three people by yourself. In short, with you leading the work in the cabinet, I don't see any problems at all, so you will have to worry more about it, which can be regarded as sharing my worries and solving my problems.
It has to be said that this second reason is probably the most outrageous reason that emperors have refused to add ministers to their cabinet over the years.
What's the matter, Your Majesty, are you planning to "use it to death as long as it doesn't kill you"? Co-author: Are you so stingy that you insist on saving the salaries of two cabinet ministers? No, no?
Gao pragmatic himself didn't expect that the emperor would say this in the imperial edict. He was so overwhelmed that he didn't even know why he continued to insist on supplementing it. After all, you said that if you don’t increase the number of cabinet members, the work will not be done properly, but the emperor clearly stated that he does not think this is possible, so what should you do? You can't say, "Your Majesty, you know nothing. If I can't do what I say, I can't do it," right?
The second point is even more serious. His high and pragmatic age is clearly shown here, and everyone in the world knows it clearly. If a chief assistant who is thirty-six or seventeen years old is not in the prime of life, then what does it mean to be in the prime of life?
As mentioned before, the average age of new scholars in the Ming Dynasty was thirty-two to thirty-three years old. At Gao Pragmatic's age, if calculated according to the average, he has basically just entered the Hanlin Academy for two or three years, and has become an editor of the Hanlin Academy. The era of hard work for qualifications has just begun;
Either it was two or three years after the Shujishi disbanded. At this time, he was either working in the Sixth Department as a certain chief, or he was sent to other places to serve as a county magistrate or an official equivalent to a county magistrate. Most of these two types of people, even the third Even a promotion requires time and qualifications.
However, he was so pragmatic and pragmatic that at this age he was able to reach the point where one person in the imperial court was worth more than ten thousand people. Just say it, if this is not called being young and promising, then what is being young and promising? If this is not called being in the prime of life, then what is being called being in the prime of life?
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic was a little confused for a moment. This... Your Majesty, are you acting too unconventionally? If you say that, how can I respond?
There was no other way, so Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to say what he said on the table. Shangshu said that his current responsibilities are very important and he is already the chief assistant. If you want me to continue to take care of more work, then I will master more accordingly. Greater and more power is definitely not a good thing for the court, and it must not be like this.
Unexpectedly, it was a good thing that this essay was not published. As soon as it was submitted, Zhu Yijun immediately approved it, saying: "Incompetent people hurt the sword, but talented people work harder." You, Gao Yuanfu, have proven yourself over the years. Your ability and loyalty, my trust in you is rock solid, so you don’t need to mind this.
The emperor even said something like this at the end of the article, to the effect that if anyone wants to question you, then please ask him to take the top six exams first, and then build a career like yours for me.
Oh haha! General, dead move.
Everyone knows that these two prerequisites set by the emperor as a prerequisite for questioning high pragmatism are almost impossible to be satisfied at the same time.
Although it is difficult to make achievements, in the eyes of the world, you still have a chance to catch up with Gao Pragmatic. On the contrary, winning six yuan in a row in the previous one is really difficult.
Since the establishment of the Ming dynasty, there have actually been only two top picks among the six titles. The latter one is Gao Pragmatic, and the former one is named Huang Guan - unfortunately the results have been cancelled.
It is rare in history to be able to achieve "six elements in a row". There is a saying among the people that "three elements exist in the world, but six elements do not exist in the world". In the entire history of China, there were only two holders of the record of "six consecutive hits", namely Huang Guan in the Ming Dynasty and Qian Qi in the Qing Dynasty.
Huang Guan, the number one scholar of the Ming Dynasty, was born in Guichi, Chizhou (now part of Chizhou, Anhui Province), and was born into a scholarly family. Huang Guan was once named Xu in his early years because his father married into the Xu family. After Huang Guan was born, he took his mother's surname.
Huang Guan was extremely intelligent and studious since he was a child. In his early years, he studied under Huang Xie [hān], a famous scholar in the late Yuan Dynasty and a member of the Imperial Academy. Under the influence of his teacher, he was rigorous in his studies and focused on current affairs when writing articles. He did not like exaggerated writing style with gorgeous rhetoric. .
Huang Guan participated in the township examination, joint examination, and county examination and passed all the tests, ranking first in all. In March of the 24th year of Hongwu's reign, 27-year-old Huang Guan once again won the first prize in the palace examination presided over by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
At that time, Huang Guan proposed in his article the idea of "stationing troops and fortresses, plowing and guarding, rejecting them when they come, and defending them when they go, so that China will have no worries and the border will be safe." Since the views in the article coincided with Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts - of course, it may be that he guessed Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts and catered to him deliberately. In short, he was deeply appreciated by the old emperor, so he was appointed as the first champion in the first class.
Then why were his results cancelled? This reflects the importance of standing in line.
In the 29th year of Hongwu, Huang Guan was promoted from the position of Minister of Shangbao to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the imperial court approved the restoration of the surname Huang. In the first year of Jianwen, Huang Guan was promoted to the right servant, and participated in the reform of the old system with Fang Xiaoru and others.
During this period, when King Yan Zhu Di entered the court as an imperial uncle, he met Zhu Yunwen as an uncle and nephew, which was considered by the court officials to be arrogant and rude to Emperor Jianwen.
However, all the ministers were afraid of the power of King Yan and did not dare to criticize his behavior. Only Huang Guan dared to rebuke King Yan in public, saying that the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers should be performed in the main hall, and the relationship between uncle and nephew can only be expressed in the palace.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang had always been more willing to delegate power to his sons, the vassal kings at that time not only had great power, but also had extremely high status. This made some vassal princes who had sealed their kingdoms in key places and controlled a large amount of military power also had a very bad temper, and almost did not Don't take civil servants seriously.
Huang Guan made such accusations, and Zhu Di naturally held a grudge against him. Soon, Zhu Di brazenly launched the Jingnan Campaign in the name of conquering the treacherous ministers Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng. The army approached the capital. He announced a list of civilian "treacherous ministers", and Huang Guan was listed sixth.
"The Secret History of the Jiang Family" records: Huang Guan was ordered to write an imperial edict, which was "extremely righteous". At the same time, he traveled to the counties in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River to recruit soldiers to help the capital. He "works hard without caring about his family" and recruits warriors along the way.
When Huang Guan and his party arrived in Anqing, they heard the news that the capital had been occupied by the Yan army, Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts were unknown, and many officials and their families in the capital were persecuted. Huang Guan cried bitterly and said to his subordinates: "My wife has always had integrity, she will not endure humiliation!"
Huang Guan concluded that his wife had been killed, so he "called for her soul and buried her on the river" by the river. The next day, a family boy escaped from Nanjing and found Huang Guan, telling him what had happened at home. The Yan army occupied the capital and asked for the imperial seal. There were rumors that the imperial seal was in Huang Guan's hands and he was gathering troops.
Zhu Di then sent people to raid Huang Guan's home, and forcibly assigned his wife Weng Shi and two daughters to elephant slaves who trained elephants. Weng gave his gold hairpin and other jewelry to the elephant slave in exchange for wine, and took the opportunity to lead his two daughters and ten family members to commit suicide in the water.
Huang Guan was sad but also felt very relieved, so he sailed the boat near his hometown. He arranged his clothes on the bow of the boat, bowed to the east, and then jumped into the river. The people on the boat rushed to rescue him, but to no avail. The boatman only fished out a beaded brown hat.
The soldiers who were chasing Huang Guan rushed to the scene and salvaged Huang Guan's body from the river, but they never found it, so they had to go back to report with the hat.
Zhu Di was very dissatisfied when he heard the news of Huang Guan's death, so he sent someone to make a straw man and paraded through the streets wearing Huang Guan's hat. Then he killed all the men in the Huang Guan clan (Huang Guan's younger brother Huang Gou [gòu] had a son who escaped this disaster).
Zhu Diyu was still angry. Not only did he order to cancel Huang Guan's status as the number one scholar, he also ordered all Huang Guan's relatives to be arrested and imprisoned. During Renzong's reign, he ordered Huang Guan's relatives to be sent to the border areas.
In short, the only "six-headed champion" who is the same as Gao Jingshi in this plane has been completely denied by the court. The only six-headed champion currently recognized is Gao Jingshi, and it is unreasonable to want another six-headed champion. How difficult! Not to mention establishing achievements comparable to those of Gao Pragmatism, that is almost impossible.
When the emperor said this, he almost made it clear to everyone in the world: In my eyes, there is no one who is as good as Gao Yuanfu!
As a result, the matter of adding cabinet ministers was delayed. Even if Gao Pragmatic really wanted to recruit cabinet ministers to win over people's hearts, he couldn't do it for a while.
Well, there is only one thing left to do now, which is to resign as Minister of the Ministry of Finance. Being pragmatic about this matter is not sincere, but I have to adopt such an attitude for the same reason.
But obviously, the emperor would refuse for the same reason. Zhu Yijun directly used Gao Gong as an example when replying to the edict, saying that there is no need to say that it is inconvenient for Yuan Fu to concurrently hold the important position of Shangshu. Your third uncle, Gao Wenzhenggong, not only was Yuan Fu concurrently serving as Shangshu, but he even held the concurrent position of Shangshu than you. Now it is even more important to hold the concurrent post of Shangshu - you concurrently serve as the Earth Official, but he concurrently serves as the Heavenly Official!
If he can do it, why can't you? Since the late emperor did it, why can't I imitate the late emperor?
Well, now that the late emperor has been carried out, naturally no one dares to continue to accuse the emperor - "ruling the world with filial piety" can we not be allowed to follow the late emperor's example now? That doesn't make sense.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic's actions to stabilize his position after taking office are basically completed.
——
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "I am Liao Zhenxin" for their support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Book Friends 20200323154533247", "soviet2003", "Clouds Cover the Moon and Rain", "Don't Envy the Immortal Against the Wind", "Neglect and 20190414205124747" for their monthly support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "Bai Ju Fei Ju" for your support with 7 monthly tickets, thank you!
PS: 1. Grandpa’s condition has improved and he is even optimistic that he wants to travel after being discharged from the hospital, haha.
2. I am very grateful to the book friend "Bai Ju Fei Ju" for his long book review. To me, this article is full of good intentions and to the point. However, in some places, it is really over-praised and I really cannot deserve it. I will think carefully about some corrections in the article. Although the story of this book is coming to an end, I am afraid that it will be too late to correct it, but I will definitely try my best to write better in the next book.
By the way, although I haven't been able to keep up with the continuous updates recently, I have had more time to carefully read some of the historical materials and documents collected to write this book, so it should not be considered a waste of time.
(End of chapter)
