Chapter 424 No loss anyway

The ministers and ministers of each of the six central and central dynasties were waiting in the palace for the report of the northwest war.

Zhu Youtang also stayed in the Qianqing Palace, not going anywhere, concentrating on waiting for the battle report.

But in fact, even Zhu Youtang himself knew that this was just to give some "lessons" to those ministers, letting them know that as an emperor, he cares about state affairs every day and focuses on the military situation in all parts of the country. Changes, worrying about the results that have occurred but have not been returned, that kind of restless mood.

Outside the palace, an impeachment campaign against Zhang Zhou was brewing.

This time, there are no longer the eunuchs, eunuchs, cabinet ministers, ministers and others to take the lead. Instead, it is entirely the Yanguan of Kedao who is in charge. One year of Luhun.

Lu Heng has been working in Kedaozhong since he was a Jinshi in middle school. He worked in Military Affairs for more than ten years. Last year, Luang was hated by others for participating in the impeachment of ministers and was dismissed. He was dismissed from his post and sent to the Jinyi Guard Prison, and later transferred to the magistrate of Puqi County, Huguang. Luang resigned in anger and returned to his hometown.

Now Lu Heng will inherit the ambition of his predecessor and continue to target injustices in the DPRK. This time he is targeting Zhang Zhou, who has "brought disaster to the country and the people."

Lu Heng found Shi Daishan, the censor of Zuodu, hoping that Daishan could take the lead in this matter.

Dai Shan just came to the capital from Nanjing and took office soon. He obviously did not want to wade into troubled waters. He said, "Yongtai, you are a little reckless to do this. His Majesty has made it clear that Duke Lai is not allowed to be implicated in unprovoked matters." , now that Mr. Lai Guo is in Yingtian Mansion, can you say that this matter is directly related to him?"

Although Dai Shan was recommended by the traditional faction, he knew that he was not qualified enough.

I think of Wang Shi, who jumped directly from the minister of Dali Temple to the minister of punishment. No one else cares about this kind of thing. You Lu Heng came to me because you clearly saw that I was easy to be "manipulated"

Lu Heng said, "Your Majesty will not allow Zhang Zhou to be implicated in disasters, but the current battle in the north involves the safety of six thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. As I know, there have been rumors in the Ministry of War that this matter was planned by Zhang Zhou himself. , If these reckless advances are not stopped and no one is held accountable, or if the culprits are not punished, it will become even more difficult to prevent them."

"Ahem"

Dai Shan coughed twice.

Hearing Lu Heng call Zhang Zhou by his first name, he knew that in the eyes of traditional officials like Lu Heng, they did not look down on Zhang Zhou as a "near-sycophant".

The old minister of the Chaozhong Pavilion may have some conflicts of interest with Zhang Zhouxu, and even like to take a step back.

However, the imperial censors usually have nothing to rub in their eyes. They are even more indignant about injustice and use it as a standard for their conduct in life, just like when Rouen was sentenced to prison and sent to Puqi County. After becoming a county magistrate and returning to his hometown as an official, he gained great fame. Nowadays, Kedao officials follow Rouen as an example, and there is a trend of direct admonishment.

Dai Shan said, "Whoever said it is the one you go to. Ma Shangshu of the Ministry of War or Zhou Shangshu of the Ministry of Husbandry can do it. As for others, it is really difficult to do this until there is no result."When things come up, they will be presented to participate in the impeachment. After all, it's not someone else's responsibility. ”

Your Kedao Yanguo is responsible for impeachment of ministers. Why do you have to find a “senior official” to be your leader?

What sounds good is the leader, but what doesn’t sound good is the leader. Why don't you ask us to be a shield?

Since you want to find it, then you can go to someone who is about to retire, such as Ma Wensheng or Zhou Jing. If that doesn't work, you can also go to Xu Guan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry. Anyway, this is The three of them are recognized to be leaving the court soon. They don't have so many worries before leaving. As for me, who has just taken up the post of Zuodu Yushi, there is no need to fight with Zhang Bingkuan over a fruitless matter.

Lu Heng asked coldly, "Don't President Dai even have basic responsibilities? I really misunderstood you for leaving."

If I don't stand up, you will belittle me

Even though Dai Shan felt that it was inappropriate to reject a household subject so directly, he still held back, and he still understood in his heart "The overall situation is the most important thing", there is no point in competing with Lu Heng at this time

Lu Heng did not find Dai Shan as the chief co-signer, and he did not find anyone else.

Because in the opinion of a stubborn Yanguan like Lu Heng, the Six Ministries of the Chao Zhong were actually rotten. If the other six Ministries and Seven Ministers were useful, Zhang Zhou would not become more and more powerful. Only Dai Shan was a newcomer. , maybe you can "save" it. Otherwise, you should go to Ni Yue, the newly appointed Minister of Civil Affairs. But to go directly to Ni Yue, the jump is too big, and Lu Heng doesn't have that much time, so he simply goes back and directly recruits a group of people. Kedao's spokesperson.

In order to prevent the signing from being insufficient,

he also found many people in the Hanlin Academy who were dissatisfied with Zhang Zhou. In total, there were nearly 30 people who signed the petition. People, they immediately increased their efforts.

This time it is not the senior officials who want to impeach Zhang Zhou, but our middle and lower-level officials. We all represent the Qingliu of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if Zhang Zhou cannot be brought down, at least if we step in, we can make Zhang Zhou a notorious figure in the Qing Dynasty and make him unable to survive among ordinary scholars. Of course, this is just the wishful thinking of Lu Heng and others. If If they go down the class, they will know that Zhang Zhou's reputation among ordinary scholars is no longer limited to a sycophant.

The debate between Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue has reached a fever pitch, and everyone is busy discussing the heart. In terms of orthodoxy, who has the time to elaborate on Zhang Zhou as a traitor to the left?

As the chief co-signer, Lu Heng wrote the memorial and submitted it to the General Affairs Office on the same day. After the newly appointed General Secretary Shen Lu saw it, he was shocked.

The previous General Secretary was appointed to the official position, which only happened in the past two days. Because Yuan Shouzhi was from the traditional faction, Due to his upright temper and his poor health, it took a long time for his request to become an official to be approved, and the former Zuo Tongzheng Shen Lu naturally took over as the Tongzheng envoy and became the Ming Dynasty Yintai.

As the general envoy, Shen Lu has no power to refute memorials other than those specified in the regulations and responsibilities.

In other words, as long as Lu Heng could do it by submitting a memorial to impeach Zhang Zhou, and there were no obvious grammatical and formatting errors in his memorial, Shen Lu could not dismiss it and let him re-impeach him. It must be written, but it can only be reported truthfully. In addition to submitting it to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, it must also be disclosed to the cabinet, so that the cabinet can know about it.

The impeachment memorial first arrived at the cabinet.

Because it involves Zhang Zhou, it is a sensitive issue, and the memorial was also placed on it. When Liu Jian received the memorial from Zhongshushe, he knew that the court official was once again attacking Zhang Zhou.

After reading it, Liu Jian did not comment, but handed it over to Xie Qian, meaning you should give your opinion first.

Xie Qian took it carefully, but he finished reading the content in just a few glances. The topics they talked about were all commonplace topics. Xie Qian didn't need to read them word for word to know the nature of those officials. .

"There is nothing wrong with rejecting this memorial," Xie Qian commented.

"Why?" Liu Jian asked.

Xie Qian pointed to the above content and said, "Zhang Bingkuan is in Nanjing now to serve as Nanjing's military counselor. It is not his responsibility to use troops in the north. If this troop dispatch is inappropriate, it should also be the responsibility of the Ministry of War. "

Liu Jiandao, "You know, that's not the case."

Xie Qian smiled and said, "As the Minister of the Ministry of War, Ma Futu was informed when the Ming Dynasty sent troops. A few days after Wang Boan entered the army and was summoned by His Majesty's inner court, he made a rebuttal. This was actually the failure of the Secretary of the Ministry of War. If those people in Ke Dao could be smarter, they would accuse Sang Huai and point the finger at Zhang Bingkuan, who planned this incident. , or a little more effective than now."

"Yes."

Liu Jian nodded and agreed with Xie Qian's words.

You should not be so direct when you say that your officials want to impeach Zhang Zhou, because once Wang Shouren is defeated, the emperor will definitely not admit that the whole thing was planned by Zhang Zhou. Instead, he will criticize you and accuse you of being ignorant. Yan Guanfeng hears the gossip and slanders my Bingkuan with gossipy things, which will make you, the Yan Guan, miserable.

You must participate in the impeachment.

Ma Wensheng should be trampled to death. Why did Ma Wensheng jump out to confront Zhang Zhou head-on? It was because Ma Wensheng felt that he, the Minister of War, had been ignored

Or maybe , Ma Wensheng knew that the Ministry of War would bear great responsibility after the defeat of this battle

Although Ma Wensheng’s motivation for doing this was complicated, it cannot be said that he was completely against Zhang Zhou, but if Ma Wensheng was not Even in the desperate situation, the emperor would not realize how much impact this incident would have on the order of the court, and would not pay more attention to the matter of participating in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou.

Liu Jiandao said, "This memorial has been submitted to the Supervisor of Ceremonies. I guess His Majesty has also seen it."

This means that it is impossible to reject it.

As the general envoy, Shen Lu did not reject it from his point of view, so what came to us was just a copy, that is, Guan Bai’s share, and the original copy is still with the Supervisor of Ceremonies. , unless Xiao Jing is allowed to put thisThe memorandum was sent back but it was no longer reasonable. It was tantamount to a secret operation between the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, which was not advisable.

Xie Qian smiled and said, "If there is no result, you can remind the Supervisor of Ceremonies and postpone it for a while. If there is a great victory in the grassland, His Majesty will be happy and will not care about such things. If If you fail and raise it again, it may have some effect."

You can raise it.

But it must not be mentioned now.

The emperor was still waiting anxiously for the battle report. As a result, the imperial censor here became involved first. Didn’t this add fuel to the emperor’s anxious mood?

Wait When the results of Wang Shouren's war came back, the emperor's heart was shattered. Regardless of whether he won or lost, this memorial also had room for negotiation.

Xie Qian said again, "I can't figure it out. Could it be that those in Kedao don't understand the logic behind it, and they have to rush to write such a memorial at such an uncertain time?" , what is the picture?"

Liu Jiandao, "Perhaps we talked too much about the results before, which messed up the original rules of the court."

The words were not very clear. But Xie Qian knew it well.

The rule of the Ming Dynasty is that the rules cannot be broken.

Don’t judge success or failure based on the results after breaking the rules.

In the past, the emperor also excessively "judged heroes based on success or failure", emphasizing correct results but ignoring correct procedures.

The result is correct, and it is often the result that we, the high-level civil servants, use it as an excuse to allow each other to take a step back.

But those middle and lower-level censors and officials don’t care about that much.

They only know that the rules have been disrupted. No matter whether the result is victory or defeat, they have broken the rules of the Ming Dynasty. They use one person's will to decide major affairs in the court and ignore the importance of court discussions. Wouldn't it be possible to have the concept of a prime minister who is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people?

The Ming Dynasty deposed the prime minister in order to ensure the supremacy of imperial power and the power of ministers to participate in and discuss government affairs. Zhang Zhou was the uncrowned prime minister. , which is obviously unacceptable to middle- and lower-level officials.

Winning or losing, we are going to nail Zhang Zhou to the pillar of shame for breaking the rules.

"Haha." Xie Qian said with a bitter smile, "Yeah, rules seem to have never worked well from Li Guang to Zhang Bingkuan. It's a pity that everything has to be changed. Restoring the old system is not easy. How to decide on the voting plan?"

The question was put to Liu Jian again.

Liu Jian looked at the memorial and said, "Let's think about it again."

Obviously, Liu Jian also understood that the emperor was now overly pursuing results and no longer cared about procedures and processes. , I understand some things in my heart, but I can't explain them clearly to the emperor.

The cabinet’s right to speak seems to be irrelevant.

On the side of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

After Xiao Jing saw the memorial handed over by Chen Kuan and the impeachment memorial by Lu Heng and others, he knew that this memorial came at an inappropriate time without Liu Jian and others reminding him.

Knowing that the memorial should be submitted as soon as possible, Xiao Jing still chose to postpone it first.

There is no need to delay for a few days, maybe one or two hours, or just a cup of tea, the news of success or failure will come

But Xiao Jing never expected that even if This memorial never got through Li Rong's hands from beginning to end, but with Li Rong's caution, he got the news from the General Affairs Office. The biggest difference between him and Xiao Jing and others is that there must be important matters. He reported to the emperor immediately and this was the reason why the emperor transferred him back to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

In the Qianqing Palace.

Li Rong mentioned this matter to the emperor when he presented the emperor with other memorials written by the emperor.

Zhu Youtang slapped the table and said, "Why don't you see the memorial?"

Li Rong said, "Maybe Eunuch Xiao feels that this memorial should have results before asking for instructions. I don't want to cause any trouble to His Majesty." ”

As Li Rong said, Zhu Youtang knew that the Yushi Yanguan was again jointly participating in the impeachment of Zhang Zhou. This time, he was not impeaching Zhang Zhou based on disasters but ready-made things. It was indeed crowded.

Thinking about it this way, it seems that what Xiao Jing did can be explained. He was still doing it under the guise of doing good for me

"What do you think?" Zhu Youtang asked .

Li Rong replied cautiously, "I know that your Majesty has a verbal agreement with Ma Bu Tang of the Ministry of War."

"Yes."

Zhu Youtang nodded.

We have negotiated with Ma Wensheng. If Wang Shouren wins the grassland and escapes unscathed, the result does not need to be too exaggerated. Zhang Zhou can be transferred back to the capital as Minister of War.

If Wang Shouren loses, Zhang Zhou may have to stay in Nanjing for the next two years and will not be able to return to the capital for a while.

Zhu Youtang didn’t think that Wang Shouren would be stuck in the grassland and never return. In addition, Ma Wen was already a lot older. Before retiring, he paved the way for Zhang Zhou’s successor as Minister of War. Even if This road is not to be said to be smooth, but if the emperor insults Ma Wensheng, it will not be in line with Zhu Youtang's generous and benevolent character.

If Wang Shouren was really defeated, it would not be unacceptable to Zhu Youtang to let Zhang Zhou continue to practice outside while the Ming Dynasty was preparing for the war for two years.

Li Rong saw that Zhu Youtang gave a positive answer, and he continued, "Then this memorial can be used as a certificate to question the official."

"Elaborate "It was rare for Zhu Youtang to hear the pertinent opinions of a "fair" person like Li Rong, or someone who was biased towards him, so he was naturally very interested.

Li Rongdao: "Your Majesty can completely leave this memorial unpublished. It is a good report, and it can be used to beat the officials and be used as a manifestation of the meritorious service of Lai Guogong. It is a request for merit." "If Wang Shouren wins, I will use this to decide whether Duke Lai will stay in Nanjing." "That's right," Zhu Youtang said. If you lose, let Bingkuan stay in Nanjing as a garrison minister and military counselor of the Ministry of War in Nanjing."

Li Rong also just came back a few days ago.

This was also the first time that he truly witnessed the emperor's almost absolute "trust" in Zhang Zhou.

If he wins, he will transfer Zhang Zhou back to be the Minister of War. If he loses, he will make Zhang Zhou the Minister of War and Honored Minister of Defense in Nanjing. He will let Zhang Zhou take over the military affairs of Nanjing. What is the role of Duke Cheng and Duke Wei? Always stand aside.

Anyway, Zhang Zhou is not at a loss at all. The Ming Dynasty belongs to Zhu Youtang anyway, so he can decide whatever he wants.

"You think it's not possible?" Zhu Youtang couldn't help asking when he saw Li Rong's hesitation.

Li Rongdao said, "There are precedents of Xingji Marquis and Jingyuan Marquis for serving as honorable ministers and ministers of the Ministry of War, so it must be acceptable."

The emperor did not break the rules.

At that time, Wang Ji also served as Jing Yuan Bo and Yang Shan as Xing Ji Bo. After the Seizing of the Gate incident, he concurrently served as the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of Rites. It was not the first time that a person with a title held the title of Minister. It was not the first time for Emperor Hongzhi to do so. The choice of period seems to have no direct meaning even if the minister refutes it.

"Okay, then the matter is settled." Zhu Youtang made the decision directly without seeing the memorial.

Li Rong asked, "Should I inform Eunuch Xiao and ask him to send the memorial?"

Even if Li Rong is more senior than Xiao Jing, he is still only the chief pen-writer, and Xiao Jing is his boss in name, and he needs to speak for Xiao Jing.

Zhu Youtang said, "There is no need to talk to him. I don't know what he has been thinking in the past two years. He often leaves things to the court officials. I know that he may not want the Ming Dynasty to be destroyed by traitors." I have good intentions, but Bingkuan is not an ordinary close minister. I trust him not only because of his ability, but also because I believe that what he can bring to me is something that others cannot give.”

Even though the emperor knew that Xiao Jing was a bit "evil", he was kind-hearted and did not criticize him harshly.

This is where Zhu Youtang is reasonable.

Even if Zhu Youtang trusted Zhang Zhou again, he did not completely abandon the civil servants and those who were against Zhang Zhou, but allowed them to form a delicate balance.

"Moreover." Zhu Youtang added, "To me, Bingkuan is not only a minister, but also my friend. He is sincere and sincere. As a lonely person like me, Bingkuan can help me." I feel very relieved to deal with court affairs and private matters."

"Yes."

While Li Rong bowed respectfully, he seemed to understand a lot of things.

Including Xiao Jing's irregularities in his work, his re-appointment, and the resistance of civil servants to Zhang Zhou all have roots. Please remember to bookmark, the latest and fastest website is free to read without anti-theft