The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

In the middle hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Erxijue, Wang Sanjiaping and Zhao Sizhigao sat facing each other.

Now Shen Da is on leave due to illness, and only three ministers are on duty in the cabinet, which seems less symmetrical.

Wang Er, who was temporarily in charge of the cabinet work, looked at the imperial approval on the table, sighed and said, "Let's talk about it, what should we do?"

The content of this imperial approval is that the emperor dismissed Luo Wanhua, the Minister of Rites.

For imperial approval or edict, the cabinet has two ways to deal with it. The first is to accept it and draft a formal edict, print it and then send it out. This is generally the case;

The second type is that the cabinet refuses to carry out the decree and then goes to court to oppose the decree, which is called execution.

This situation is rare and usually only when extraordinary events occur will the cabinet consider doing this.

But this time, the emperor publicly dismissed Luo Wanhua, the Minister of Rites, for no reason, on the pretext of discussing the appointment of a prince, which can be called an extraordinary thing.

The emperor's attitude is so clear, and it is self-evident what it means if the cabinet opposes the emperor's will.

But if the cabinet obeys the decree, it will be scolded by foreign officials.

If petitioning for the appointment of a crown prince can be used as a reason for dismissal from office, how can others comment in the future?

Wang Er, who was presiding over the meeting, looked at the other two, "The imperial approval is just like this, the situation is like this, why don't you say anything?"

What greeted Wang Er was nothing but silence.

Everyone sitting here can see through the phenomenon to see the essence. On the surface, this imperial approval was just to remove Luo Wanhua, but at the same time, the emperor directly forced the cabinet to express its stance.

Otherwise, the emperor could directly send the decree to the six departments of the outer court without going through the cabinet and the six departments.

Although this kind of decree is called "Zhongzhi" and is regarded as illegal by civil officials, regarding the dismissal decree, whether it is legal or illegal does not seem to be that important.

Any official who wants to show his face will definitely leave immediately after receiving the emperor's order to dismiss him. He will not say that he will not leave because it is "the middle order".

So if the emperor just wanted to remove Luo Wanhua, it was actually very simple and there was no need to issue an imperial edict from the cabinet.

Then the purpose of the emperor sending the imperial approval to the cabinet must be to force the cabinet to express its position.

Wang Er couldn't help but patted the table, "You guys usually talk a lot, why don't you say a word today?"

Wang San then said: "Since the chief minister is not here, please ask the second assistant to make a decision. We are willing to join Jiwei!"

Wang Er looked at Zhao Si again, and then heard Zhao Si say: "Today's stability is overriding everything, and everything must be based on maintaining stability."

Wang Er: "."

This guy is talking nonsense and doesn't know what he wants to express. Is he pretending to be stupid and talking nonsense?

Others can pretend to be low-key, stupid and deaf, but Wang Er, who presides over cabinet work, cannot pretend.

Finally, Wang Er said helplessly: "The emperor's dismissal of Luo Wanhua is a bit unreasonable, and we cannot follow him blindly.

Therefore, the cabinet still needs to go to the Supreme Council to object and ask the emperor to withdraw the decree, so as not to cause trouble with us.

At the same time, privately persuading Luo Wanhua to resign can be regarded as resolving the situation. "

This means that he should first write a memorial opposing the removal of Luo Wanhua to fool the outer court; and then privately find a way to get Luo Wanhua to get out of his own initiative and fool the emperor.

Such has been the nature of the cabinet's work in recent years, bouncing back and forth between the increasingly antagonistic foreign court and the emperor.

After Wang Er finished speaking his opinion, Zhao Si quickly said: "Goodbye, Second Assistant!"

Wang San said: "Good! If Shen Shoukui is here, he will definitely deal with it in the same way."

Wang Er thought thoughtfully, and then added: "Shangshu's opposition to the removal of Luo Wanhua is a collective act of our cabinet.

Even if Shen Shoukui is in the Cabinet, he will advance and retreat with us, so this joint effort can include Shen Shoukui. "

In this way, the matter was agreed upon, and Wang Er was responsible for drafting and submitting the memorial.

In the Shen Mansion at night, Shen Yongmao served his "sick" father Shen Shixing for dinner, and then reported: "The second assistant king Taicang sent someone to greet his father, and wanted to see and interview him in person."

Shen Shixing replied without thinking: "No, I can't see."

Shen Yongmao said again: "Old Zhao Ge came secretly to report that Wang Taicang, in the name of all the ministers in the cabinet, opposed the dismissal of Luo Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, when Wang Taicang wanted to visit his father, it was probably to communicate about this matter. Why didn't his father see him? "

Shen Shixing sighed: "This matter is extremely sensitive and difficult. It's best for me to pretend I don't know. Of course I can't see Wang Taicang."

Shen Yongmao reminded: "Whether my father knows it or not, the cabinet joint memorial has been submitted to the emperor.

And the emperor will probably ask the eunuch to take the memorial and ask about you, father. "

Shen Shixing said casually: "I will write a confidential message at that time to inform the emperor that I did not know about it in advance and that the cabinet's joint memorial was not my original intention."

On the one hand, he acquiesced to follow the crowd and refused to stand out, on the other hand, he privately sought the emperor's understanding.

It has become Shen Shoufu's professional habit and instinct to move around in a small political operation space.

This is his special skill that has allowed him to serve as the first assistant for eight years. How many first assistants in the Ming Dynasty have been able to serve for eight years stably?

As the good boy matures, Shen Shoufu intends to impart some experience, so he wants to say a few more words.

But when he saw the elder standing blankly without any response, he asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Why don't you speak?"

After Shen Yongmao came to his senses, he said in shock: "It's all in the predictions left by Lin Jiuyuan."

"What tips? What predictions?" Shen Shoufu asked again.

Shen Yongmao replied: "More than two months ago, before Lin Jiuyuan left, he left me a brocade bag with predictions about the current situation.

He said that when the winter solstice is approaching, you, father, will definitely claim to be sick and stay at home.

When something needs to be reported to the emperor, the cabinet will definitely take you with them!

And afterward, you, father, will definitely explain to the emperor that you were unaware of it!

So far, all the guesses have been correct!"

Shen Shixing: "."

Suddenly, I remembered that before Lin Tai left, he inexplicably predicted that he would recommend Zhang Wei.

This cannot be explained by any reason at all!

After hesitating for a moment, Shen Yongmao continued, "Lin Jiuyuan also said that after my father explained to the emperor in a secret memorial, the emperor would definitely leak it!

All the words that my father said in the secret memorial to please the emperor and were not convenient to make public will be known to the court officials!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Shen Shoufu jumped up from the bed and shouted, "Which emperor would be stupid enough to make the ministers' secret memorials public?"

This is a great destruction of political rules and political credibility, and seriously damages the interaction channels and trust between the monarch and his ministers!

In terms of nature and harm, it is similar to Sima Yi's "Luoshui Oath".

If the secret memorials are not secret, which minister dares to tell the emperor the truth? How can effective communication be achieved?

Shen Yongmao said helplessly: "I don't believe that the emperor will leak the secret memorials. This is too incredible. But the first few things predicted by Lin Tailai have all happened."

Shen Shoufu couldn't understand it either, and said suspiciously: "Could it be that Lin Jiuyuan wants to use intimidation to prevent me from explaining to the emperor and obtaining the emperor's forgiveness?"