After Min Gui became official, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice was succeeded by Zhao Shen, the minister of the Ministry of Justice.
Zhao Shen was the former governor of southern Jiangxi. Since the early years of Zhengde, under the leadership of Zhu Houzhao, the officialdom has launched an important change in the transformation of "capital officials and local officials".
This change did not cause much bloodshed, nor did it change important ancestral systems.
The emperor only used one method, which was to vigorously promote local officials who did well.
Zhao Shen was the first.
Since then, Yang Tinghe, Wang Qiong, and the new Minister of Industry, He Jian, have been in this kind of situation.
At the same time, the emperor successively sent his trusted people to places, such as Fei Hong, the current governor of Sichuan, Peng Ze, the governor of Henan, Fengxi, the governor of Fujian, and so on.
You vote with your feet. There is no need to say which one is more popular among Beijing officials or local officials.
The reason why Zhao Shen was promoted so quickly was that he was good at practical matters, did not have a prominent position in the literary world, and did not belong to the elite. This background made him have to rely on the emperor.
Of course, he also has an even more incredible student, Yan Song.
But Yan Song has encountered difficulties recently, which makes him a little worried.
When he went to court, Yan Song still avoided him, as if he knew that he was a 'god of plague'.
However, Zhao Shen was not that kind of snobbish person. He found Yan Song's figure in the crowd and quickly chased after him.
So under the high walls of the palace and on the stone road, many people could see the master and the apprentice walking together.
"Weizhong, why are you walking so fast today?"
Yan Song felt a little warm in his heart. The Forbidden City was a place where people could just relax and have fun. Unexpectedly, he still had some friendship with his teacher, "The students... don't want to cause trouble to the teacher. Besides, it's unnecessary trouble, and it will take a while to pass." "
"If that's the case, how will the world see me?"
After simply saying this, Zhao Shen said no more and urged, "Let's go together."
Yan Song had no choice but to follow.
One person is in a red robe and the other is in a blue robe, walking slowly.
"Today, His Majesty borrowed Zhang Gongshi's official appointment, so he suppressed the matter for the time being. However, those people are coming fiercely. You and I are not in the cabinet, and we don't know how many memorials will be issued. Wei Zhong, what happened to you this time?" Zhao Shen mentioned this, I'm really worried about him.
"Teacher, don't worry. The student's matter is actually simple. You don't have to worry about me. However, I'm afraid my reputation will be bad."
These days, reputation has nothing to do with the matter itself. It depends on who you are on the opposite side of. If he doesn't deal with Li Mengyang and Bian Gong, these people will naturally label him as a traitor.
"On the contrary, the cabinet will present a list of eight people to Your Majesty. Of these eight people, the cabinet must account for four. If the remaining four people come from the ministers of various ministries, the teacher and the minister of war must account for two."
The cabinet did not have to think about such a big thing as clearing out the eight towns and military camps. If the cabinet, as the head of a hundred officials, hid away, it would not be justified in any case. Qi Chengsui, the Minister of War, was an old subordinate of Yang Yiqing. It was not easy for Yang Yiqing to protect his shortcomings at this time.
As for Zhao Shen, the Minister of Punishment, all his foundations are in the emperor.
So he couldn't escape from this matter.
The key is which of the remaining eight towns is the easiest to farm. Being loyal and being a fool to pick the hardest one are two different things, and the other seven people are eager for you to pick the hardest one.
"According to what students have seen, Gansu has King Su and King Han, Datong has King Dai, Liaodong has King Liao, and Shanxi has King Jin and King Shen. These four towns all have vassal kings, and they must be inseparable from the current affairs in the court. Naturally, it is the most difficult to do well in a relationship."
Zhao Shen walked forward quietly, "Everyone can see this kind of thing clearly, especially His Majesty."
Yan Song also understood that if he wanted to be clever at this juncture, he would not be able to hide it from the emperor, but the choice always had a bias.
"Your Majesty gave Yang Ge Lao three days. Yang Ge Lao should have handed it over, right? No one is interested?"
That should be the case, but these matters are discussions between the cabinet ministers and the emperor, and have not been disclosed to the outside world so far.
"It's useless to think about it. There is His Majesty's imperial decree to clean up the military settlements, and there are elite officers and soldiers. No matter how unwilling the towns are, they cannot disobey the imperial decree. It is just more difficult to do. And if you don't handle this matter well, Even if you lose your black gauze hat, you are still a small person."
Yan Song smiled confidently, "Teacher should believe in me more, and he should also believe in the emperor."
The emperor is advancing the affairs of the vassal and military garrison in an orderly manner.
The dispute between Li Mengyang and Yan Song has begun and is fermenting. Even Zhang Fuhua, who has resigned, wants to side with Li Mengyang, which means that there are important officials in the court who are dissatisfied with the feudal king and causing trouble.
After this gust of wind started, it happened to be able to promote Qingtun, a border town.
Zhu Houzhao felt that the royal family members in the eight towns would soon receive news of the change in the direction of the court, so their reactions should also be shown. Either you can explain yourself and get away with it, or you can simply cooperate honestly. You should always have an attitude.
So now he has to wait.
Of course, this is what should happen in inference, and reality may not be exactly what you imagine.
Therefore, the imperial court still had to take the initiative and select eight people to be responsible for each of the eight towns. This was a proactive act.
Before that, the garrison eunuchs from the eight towns also sent letters. After all, Liu Jin's accident would have happened earlier.
You Zhi may have just taken office, and he didn't dare to "make mistakes" yet. He honestly handed over the replies from the eight garrison eunuchs to the emperor's hands, showing no intention of hiding anything.
Zhu Houzhao read each letter one by one, and then said: "Liu Jin has worked hard to raise a group of people, but in the end they are all vying to please you. Even I feel that it is not worth it for him."
"Yes, I will never forget Liu Jin's lesson. In fact, people like me only serve His Majesty wholeheartedly, and that's enough."
"What do you think these people are going to do?"
You Zhi lowered his head, "You can't handle everything, and you can't handle everything at all."
Zhu Houzhao smiled a little and actually thought of the same thing as him.
"What's the point?"
"We can't not deal with it all because to get the land back is to take people's money. This can only be done by killing chickens to scare monkeys. Just one Liu Jin is not enough. We can't deal with it all because the overall situation of cleaning up the military settlement is more important. The local garrison eunuchs If you are willing to cooperate, it is best not to change. After all, they are the only ones who are most familiar with the local area. The outer court officials sent by His Majesty still need their cooperation."
"Just do it. No more than two."
"yes."
After You Zhi left, Zhu Houzhao took out the list of eight people named by Yang Yiqing. The so-called eight people actually refer to the four cabinet members plus four of the nine ministers. Among them, the status of the General Secretary is not obvious, so it is not appropriate for such a major event. So it’s four out of eight.
The list drawn up by Yang Yiqing was from the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment.
There is no need to say more about the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment.
The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is a heavenly official with considerable power, and he can influence the people below him.
Wang Hua, the Minister of Rites, and Wang Shouren have a father-son relationship, so he is also suitable for Yansui Town, which is close to Hetao.
However, Zhu Houzhao wanted to replace Zhao Shen with the new Zuodu censor, Zhang Mao.
Zhang Mao was an upright and upright official, so to do this he needed a bit of the integrity of an old Confucian man, and since he was named the new censor of Zuodu, he naturally wanted to take advantage of his new official's enthusiasm for taking office.
Yan Song is now advancing under artillery fire, so the imperial edict to clean up the eight towns and military camps cannot be delayed.
After making some slight changes, the emperor summoned Jin Gui, "Write a note and ask someone to hand it out of the palace. Tomorrow morning, the court will be temporarily suspended and the cabinet and the six ministries and nine ministers will be allowed to enter the palace. By the way, don't forget the young master's order, Gu Zuo."
"Wei Chen accepts the order."
Zhu Houzhao didn't want to read the subsequent memorials. He flipped through a few books and threw them aside, "Put them away first."
Either they support Yan Song, or they criticize Yan Song. It's all a waste of time. Now everyone wants him as the emperor to express his position, but he will not express his position.
After stretching, Zhu Houzhao put on some clothes and left Qianqing Palace. The cold wind outside blew away all the dizzy feeling in his head. Although it was cold, he felt a little more awake.
Today he had plenty of time, so he walked back from Qianqing Palace.
"Your Majesty, where are you going today?"
Zhu Houzhao rubbed his hands. He wanted to be quiet today, "It's better to go to Concubine Xian."
