Chapter 321: The Left Minister of the Ministry of War

Before the court meeting the next day, most of the ministers had just heard that Zhang Zhou had returned to the capital the day before.

"Why don't you see him coming to the court when you come back?"

"Maybe he is in the palace now"

People in the court mentioned Zhang Zhou , a little avoidant, but still very envious. After returning to Beijing, I had a small meeting with the emperor before the court meeting, and even went to the court meeting with the emperor.

No one else has this kind of treatment.

Many people also went over to ask Ma Wensheng and the three cabinet members about Zhang Zhou's return to Beijing.

The four of them have also never met Zhang Zhou. They don’t know where Zhang Zhou is now. Naturally, they don’t know Zhang Zhou’s arrangements after returning to Beijing, especially those involving Zhang Zhou’s official position.

Until Zhu Youtang appeared at Fengtianmen and the court meeting began, Zhang Zhou was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone began to wonder again whether the news about Zhou's return to Beijing was false.

"My dear friends, Bingkuan returned to Beijing yesterday, and I have announced that I have met him." Zhu Youtang took the initiative to bring up the topic of Zhang Zhou during the court meeting.

Everyone held their breath and concentrated, knowing that they might soon get to the point.

Zhu Youtang said, "I originally wanted to make him the Duke of Lai. This matter has been made clear in the court. However, in his opinion, he also wants to do more for the court. He has no intention of doing anything about the title. Don’t be in a hurry.”

It can still be like this

If you don’t have a title, why should you wait for him to get old or prepare for his next military exploit?

Zhu Youtang added, "What I told him was the title of Duke Lai. I wrote it down for him first, and then I will add the title to him at some point in the future."

"Ah"

The ministers present were in an uproar.

Previously, the emperor said that Zhang Zhou would be given a title because of his contribution to the battles at Piantou Pass and Ningyuan. It was agreed at that time that the title should be written down first, which was the result of independent internal discussions with the cabinet ministers and others. .

I didn’t say anything publicly like today.

When the ministers heard this, they realized that the emperor was clearly treating Zhang Zhou as a special person, and would not reward him for his meritorious service, just to allow him to harm us in the civil service system, and then reward him after he is done. How can his title be like this?

Xie Qian came out and said, "Your Majesty, you will be rewarded for your merits. If he makes any mistakes in running the army in the future and has to be punished for this, I am afraid that he will be punished now." It's hard to maintain the title."

"What Mr. Xie Ge said is absolutely true."

Some officials immediately came out to agree.

Zhu Youtang said, "What do you mean, if Bingkuan makes any serious mistakes in the future in the court, this title will not be rewarded? Otherwise, no matter whether I trust him or not in the future, even if I Suddenly one day, he went to the west and the prince ascended the throne. Today's discussion should be settled."

Xie Qian heard about it.

Good guy, the emperor used his own life as an analogy. Do you still want to say that even if the Ming Dynasty dies and changes to another dynasty, today’s discussions will still count

What to say here

Zhu Youtang saw that these ministers had opinions on this, and his attitude gradually turned tough. "Although most of the use of troops in the northwest relies on Qin Hong, who is in charge of trilateral military affairs, But when it comes to future plans and policies, we all have to rely on Bingkuan. I keep him in the court instead of running the army in the governor's mansion. Is there anything wrong with this?"

Xie Qian bowed his head after hearing this. Fall back into your position.

"I made him a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. This was a decision made after the Ming Dynasty Huidian was written. In this way, he can often come in and out of the East Palace to teach the prince, and there is no need for him to serve as an attendant. He will teach it at the Sutra Banquet, but he will teach it to the prince; I will take him as the Commander-in-Chief of the Rear Army and the Left Governor, and ask more about military affairs; as Minister of Taichang Temple, it will be a part-time job, and if there are changes in the heavens, etc. He is the one who advises the imperial court and me on many affairs; as the left minister of the Ministry of War, he is responsible for the daily affairs of military affairs. He does not need to supervise the affairs of the ministry, but he can go in and out of the court."

A series of emperors arranged many positions for Zhang Zhou.

Zhang Zhou himself had never heard of many of these positions, and it was also the first time for the ministers present to hear about it. Especially when they heard that Zhang Zhou was to hold official positions in the three major yamen of the Hanlin Academy, the Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of War, the ministers present heard about it. It exploded all of a sudden.

Min Gui, the imperial censor of Zuodu, came out and said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely impossible. Even though Zhang Zhou had military merits, his time as an official was still short, and he was not able to manage the ministry. He has no achievements or merits, and he has no experience in overseeing the administration of the six ministries. To promote him to the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War will inevitably cause turmoil in the people of the court."

Zhu Youtang said, "What you said. The turmoil is to say that people are dissatisfied, right?"

Min Gui gritted his teeth, raised the wat board and said, "Exactly."

The dissatisfaction is really dissatisfaction, not just dissatisfaction. Zhang Zhou's credit was due to his dissatisfaction with a new scholar. Within only half a year of entering the court, he had already become the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, and had so many additional official titles.

Bai Ang, the Minister of Punishment, also came out and said, "Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with being given a title based on military merit, but there is no precedent for being promoted to a ministry based on military merit."< /p>

This means that we have no objection to how much merit he should have and how much honor he should receive.

Whether it was the founding of the country, or the subsequent peace and border affairs, there were precedents for meritorious generals or officials to be awarded titles. Among the civil servants who were awarded titles, there were two people, Wang Ji and Wang Yue.

Zhu Youtang said, "There is no precedent for the Marquis of Jingyuan to be awarded the title before, and because of his success in seizing the door, he was also in charge of the Ministry of War. You will not be unimpressed by this, right?"

This brings us to Wang Ji. At first, he won the title as the Minister of the Ministry of War by conquering the south and the north, and he retired as Uncle Jingyuan. He indulged in sex, but in fact he was wise and wise in protecting himself. Later, because of his meritorious service in seizing the door, he also took the title of Uncle Jingyuan. The Minister of the Ministry of War means that after Yu Qian was killed, Shi Pu was transferred out and Wang Ji came out to take charge of the Ministry of War.

But soon Wang Ji took the initiative to hand over power, completing the transition and retired.

The matter of expediency was used as a precedent by Zhu Youtang, but Zhu Youtang was still relatively convincing. This was probably to remind the ministers present that I did not let Bingkuan directly use Lai. The Duke has come to serve as Minister of War, which is considered as giving you face. If you beep again, believe it or not, I will break up with you.

The court was at a deadlock for a while.

The emperor seemed to be angry, and the ministers were dissatisfied, but they could not refute the examples given by the emperor, and because Zhang Zhou’s military exploits were indeed not easy to refute, merit is merit, and the emperor did not To confer a title, directly to the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, it is unreasonable to say that it is unreasonable, and there is nothing wrong with it to say that it is reasonable.

It just depends on the emperor’s mood.

Now the emperor just wants to support Zhang Zhou, what can they do?

The most embarrassing person present is Wang Zongyi, the left minister of the Ministry of War.

Since he became the minister of the Ministry of War, he has been living in the shadow of Zhang Zhou and Wang Yue. Even the Minister of War, Ma Wensheng, has no good way to deal with Zhang Zhou and Wang Yue, let alone him. .

Liu Jian came out and said, "Your Majesty, it is acceptable for Zhang Zhou to be the left minister of the Ministry of War. But he does not care about the affairs of the Ministry of War. I don't know who can take care of the affairs of the Ministry of War. He started to work in the Imperial Academy." Court affairs are appropriate."

It means.

Let the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War be the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War. We have no objection, but the problem is that his Zuo Shilang is best a part-timer. Your Majesty is not asking him to continue to serve as a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy and work for the prince. Then take that as his official job in class.

Zhu Youtang got a little angry when he heard this.

If it is a part-time job, he can also serve as the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War. When he was in the northwest, he would also serve as the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Censor of Zuodu.

When he returns to the imperial court, he will be given the position of Zuo Shilang. Of course, let him He's the real deal.

The Bachelor of Attendant is a full-time official, the Minister of Taichang Temple is also a full-time official, the Zuo Governor of the Hou Army Governor's Mansion is also a full-time official, and the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War must also be a full-time official. I'm telling you, it means that both Otherwise, what else would I tell you?

Zhu Youtang said, "Mr. Liu Ge thinks that he is not qualified, right?"

Liu Jiandao, "Your Majesty, I don't understand what I mean. As the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, why not let him take care of the affairs of the Ministry of War?"

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Shilang is responsible for the main affairs of each ministry, and Shangshu is more of a It plays the role of coordinating the overall situation. For big matters, ask the minister, but for small matters, it is basically left to the left minister.

After all, Zhu Youtang had made it clear before that Zhang Zhou was not needed to take care of the affairs of the Ministry of War, so Liu Jian proposed to use him as a part-time job.

Zhu Youtang said coldly, "I just care about him. He cannot be permanently stationed in the Ministry of War, so I will hand over the affairs of the Ministry to others. It does not mean that he is not qualified for this job. And With his prestige in the border towns, he is the best candidate to coordinate and coordinate. As for Wang Zongyi, the left minister of the Ministry of War"

"I'm here." Wang Zongyi finally walked out, feeling like he was transparent.

You replace me when there is someone in the position, don’t you care too much about my face?

Zhu Youtang said, "Assuming that you are the left minister of the Ministry of Industry and the admiral of Yi Zhoushan. Factory. That’s it.”

Everyone present looked at each other.

The admiral Yizhou Shanchang was responsible for raising firewood for the imperial court. Before Jiajing, one person was usually the Minister of the Ministry of Works or the Minister of the Ministry of Works to take care of this matter, which was equivalent to a part-time job. No one wanted to go to the leftovers in the house. After arriving in Jiajing, they were all taken care of by the doctor of the Ministry of Works, and later the director of the Ministry of Works. This shows how unpopular this job is.

But now Wang Zongyi is clearly the official Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, but he is directly transferred to the admiral Yizhou Shanchang, which is no different from being left out in the cold.

The emperor was probably saying "canonize the queen and throw her into the cold palace". Wang Zongyi's state of mind instantly felt like falling into an ice cellar.

"I just want to find a capable person to take care of the Ministry of War affairs. Therefore, I hope that all the ministers can understand me."

The ministers heard this.

Perhaps the emperor felt that kicking Wang Zongyi into the ice cellar was not enough to relieve his anger, so he threw a few large ice cubes into it to freeze him quickly.

If you have the ability to take care of it, that means Wang Zongyi is incompetent

Wang Zongyi’s face was green and red. Although they are all Zuo Shilang, he, the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry, is the real one. As a part-time job, it is impossible for Admiral Yizhou Shanchang to take care of the affairs of the Ministry of Industry. In other words, he will have to live on those firewood from now on. Even if he lets me go back and continue to be the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, what is this? He also led people to death

Zhu Youtang's attitude was so firm that the ministers present did not know how to object.

Not to mention that there is someone in the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, even if it is vacant, the next candidate should be decided through court recommendation, and the emperor's move almost single-handedly promoted Zhang Zhou Take this position.

It just so happened that even Liu Jian and other cabinet members were not able to come out to oppose it.

On this matter, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of War, opened the door directly without saying a word.

The impression given was that the emperor had taken care of Ma Wensheng in advance, but the actual situation was that the emperor had not even said hello to Ma Wensheng in advance.

"Everyone, this matter has been settled."

Zhu Youtang's attitude was firm, "In fact, before Bingkuan returned to Beijing, I mentioned that I would arrange an official position for him. You didn't raise any objections at that time. If you have any prejudice against him just because I gave him the position of Minister of War, I feel that those people did not take the overall situation into consideration."

The ministers were silent.

Wu Xun was gloating over his misfortune.

Let you civil servants keep reminding the emperor that Zhang Bingkuan should be the Duke of Lai. That is because you are blind and did not realize that the emperor used Zhang Bingkuan just to target you.Civil servants are masters of power, and we, Wu Xun, have not provoked anyone. We have been bullied by you before. How could the emperor regard us as imaginary enemies?

"There is one more thing I want to mention now, which is the candidate for the governor of Liaodong. . "I asked you to discuss the details before, and see who you can choose."

Zhu Youtang no longer discussed with these ministers how to arrange an official position for Zhang Zhou, but instead directly discussed the more direct candidate for the governor of the border town.

Ma Wensheng finally came out and said, "The Ministry of War recommended the minister of Taichang Temple in Nanjing, Yang Yiqing."

Don't the emperor like to hire new people?

Then our traditional civil servants , no longer follow the same step-by-step process as before, and always have to bring out some capable people to compete, just like the previous selection of Yang Tinghe and Liang Chu for Hanlin bachelor candidates, this is also to adapt to the trend.

"What else?" Zhu Youtang asked.

Tu Fu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, said, "There is also Hong Han, the former governor of Datong."

One is new and the other is old, one is capable and the other is experienced, which can be said to complement each other.

Just when the ministers thought that the new governor of Liaodong would be elected from among the two, General Affairs Envoy Si Zuo Tongzheng Shen Lu came out and said, "I recommend Lu Wan, the censor of Shaanxi Province."< /p>

"Yeah"

Everyone looked at him with puzzled eyes.

At this time, if you, Shen Lu, come out to join in the fun, who is this person?

Zhu Youtang said, "Okay, if you don't have any objections, then From these three people, we will choose the new governor of Liaodong, and we will make a decision in the next two days to retire from the court."

The emperor was too lazy to discuss other matters with his ministers.

He did not directly decide to let Lu Wanlai be the governor of Liaodong. Regarding the issue of Zhang Zhou, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was very tense, and the emperor had to give each other some leeway. Although Zhu Youtang was using Lu Wanlai to He was also very firm on the matter, but he still wanted to give the minister the illusion that everything was in accordance with the rules.

The meeting was dissolved.

Unlike the past when all the ministers left the court and discussed court affairs with righteous indignation, this time the ministers were relatively calm.

The main reason is that the emperor's intention to reuse Zhang Zhou is too obvious. He had already had psychological expectations before, but now he is just fulfilling his expectations. Anyway, Wang Zongyi is the only one who suffered the loss. The rest are really that big. Is it affected?

Go and object

How to object

What Bai Ang and Min Gui said in the court were not loud enough. From what angle can we evaluate Zhang Zhoude? What about coordination?

The point is that it seems that the upper echelons of civil servants in the DPRK, especially the cabinet ministers and the Minister of War, seem to have acquiesced in Zhang Zhou's promotion to the left minister of the Ministry of War. Even if the remaining people have opinions, They will also use more tactful methods, such as the above-mentioned memorial, to persuade.

At the end of the court meeting

Zhang Zhouren was at home and had not yet stayed.

It is the separation that is better than the wedding.

A trip to the northwest can be regarded as an experience of life and death. When I come back, I see the beautiful girl in my family.Wife and concubine, why don’t you hurry up and be gentle?

Wang Mingshan’s pregnancy with Liujia shouldn’t be too much trouble, but at least the first three months of pregnancy have passed. Women who have had childbirth experience all know this. Doorways, even in these days, will probably follow this principle.

Zhang Zhou was still sleeping at home, but it was Xiao Jing who came to deliver the "good news" about his promotion, forcing him to get dressed and stay on the bed. He didn't even bother to wash up, and came out to see him while yawning. guest.

"Mr. Zhang, what are you"

Xiao Jing was also surprised.

Why does Zhang Zhou look even more haggard than yesterday?

Zhang Zhou said, "It's been a hard journey, and Eunuch Xiao doesn't even believe it, especially when I'm approaching the capital, I've been traveling day and night."

p>

"Mr. Zhang's hard work for the country is really admirable." Xiao Jing sighed with emotion.

Are you working hard for the country?

Zhang Zhou thought for a while, if he had another son named with a Chinese character, there might be nothing wrong with him.

"Mr. Zhang, at today's court meeting, His Majesty has discussed with all the ministers that you will be the Left Minister of the Ministry of War. The official positions mentioned before are such as Minister of Taichang Temple, Bachelor of Attendance, and Governor of the Rear Army. Governor Zuo, I will let you take on these duties at the same time. Congratulations on being promoted to the second rank." Xiao Jing handed over his official certificate to Zhang Zhou.

Zhang Zhou curiously asked, "Isn't it a genuine first-grade one?"

Xiao Jing smiled and said, "This is not based on your position as a civil servant. In fact, with your current status, how many grades are there?" What does it matter?"

"That's right." Zhang Zhou smiled and nodded, "The most important thing for us working people is to have His Majesty's support."

" That’s right.”

Xiao Jing felt the same way.

No matter what rank or rank, the one who has the emperor's trust is the super rank. He Xiao Jing is not capable of suppressing the civil and military ministers of the DPRK and China by himself, but among his successors is Liu Jinbian. If you do it, who said you have to make peace with the civil servants when you are a sycophant?

If all those who are close to sycophants are as "kind" to the civil servants as Zhang Zhou, then there probably won't be so many treacherous ministers in history. matter.

"In addition, Your Majesty mentioned that you have been asked to arrange your marriage to the Lin family early recently. Because of your trip to the northwest, this matter has been delayed for a long time." Xiao Jing said with a smile, "Your Majesty also said that he will come in person on the wedding day."

Zhang Zhou said, "How dare you do this?"

Xiao Jing said with a smile, "It doesn't matter, it's because of your Majesty's trust in you." He Yi Zhong is also to show that he values ​​this marriage. What do you think?"

The emperor wanted to give Lin Han some face by marrying his daughter as a concubine. Two ministers.

Zhang Zhou also felt that the emperor should also adopt a posture of winning people's hearts. Please remember to bookmark, the latest and fastest website is free to read without anti-theft