The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde also didn't expect that just two days after he made the plan, Lu Tiaoyang raised this matter for the first time in the cabinet discussion.

Yes, Lu Tiaoyang also said before that the election was just a matter of time. He said that he had many physical problems and needed to take good care of himself.

But now that I say it on this occasion, the meaning is obviously wrong.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of the heavy gift Zhang Siwei sent two days ago. Obviously, Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei knew Lu Tiaoyang's plan before, so this happened.

"In that case, Shandai, do you have any suitable candidates?

Whether He Qing is on leave or taking up an official position, the palace will first ask us for the opinions of the cabinet when replacing someone in the cabinet. "

Zhang Juzheng did not express his thoughts directly, but asked Wei Guangde tactfully if he had anyone he could recommend.

"It seems that the only people in the court who are qualified to join the cabinet are a few from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel.

Being able to achieve this position is quite good in terms of ability. "

Although Wei Guangde didn't really recognize Zhang Siwei's ability, he could do a good job as a minister in both the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, but he said that there would definitely be no problem in handling official affairs.

After collecting someone else's things, it's naturally hard to say bad things about him at this time.

Simply, Wei Guangde proposed several people from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel who were qualified to join the cabinet.

Anyone who can become a court official in the Ministry of Rites must be from the Imperial Academy and is absolutely qualified to compete for the position of cabinet minister. The Ministry of Personnel is more of a transfer, and it also gives new cabinet ministers a chance to gather connections before joining the cabinet. , put some manpower in place to make things easier.

When Zhang Juzheng heard that Wei Guangde said that officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were eligible to join the cabinet, the first thing Zhang Juzheng thought of was naturally Wei Guangde's fellow countryman. But I heard that Wei Guangde was at odds with him, so how could he recommend him to the cabinet.

Zhang Juzheng was surprised, but he did not show his feelings. Instead, he nodded and smiled and said: "Now, several people in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel are all from Hanlin, and they all agree with the qualifications.

It’s a pity that the cabinet cannot have too many people, and if they all join the cabinet, who will lead the two ministries, haha.”

Wei Guangde gave him a difficult problem, so Zhang Juzheng turned his attention to Lu Tiaoyang and asked with a smile: "Is there a suitable candidate for He Qing?"

"Well, originally Ma Ziqiang, the Minister of Rites, should be a suitable person, but he has not been in charge of the job for a long time and has never been transferred to the Ministry of Personnel.

However, Zhang Siwei used to be the Right Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but now he is the Left Minister of the Ministry of Rites. His seniority is sufficient. If the palace agrees, he can be transferred to the position of Left Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and then join the cabinet. "

Lu Tiaoyang had indeed had transactions with Zhang Juzheng, so it was up to him to recommend Zhang Siwei at this time, so that some of the criticisms between him and Zhang Siwei in the court could be resolved.

Don't forget, in Liu Tai's memorial, he named Zhang Juzheng and said that Zhang Siwei had ulterior motives.

Naturally, it was difficult for Zhang Juzheng to recommend him to the cabinet, so it was perfect for Lu Tiaoyang to do this.

As for Ma Ziqiang mentioned by Lu Tiaoyang, he is currently the Minister of Rites. He is a native of Tongzhou County, Xi'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province. He was a Jinshi in the 32nd year of Jiajing, the same year as Zhang Siwei.

After becoming a Jinshi, he was selected as a Shujishi of the Hanlin Academy, taught review, and later promoted to editor and editor, and participated in the re-recording of "Yongle Dadian".

During the Longqing period, he served as Xi Ma, served as a lecturer at the Sutra Banquet, and compiled "Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty."

In the sixth year of Longqing's reign, he was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and he was one of the lecturers of Emperor Wanli. He taught classics and history, so he was no stranger to Wei Guangde and others.

Wei Guangde also knew that Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun liked to listen to his lectures very much. His teaching methods were similar to Wei Guangde's, which were mostly inspiring education. He did not require him to recite too many things like other lecturers, but asked him to write down his experiences.

Also at the beginning of the year, Ma Ziqiang succeeded Wan Shihe as the Minister of Rites. He was appointed by the palace. Naturally, the two palaces wanted him to join the cabinet.

When Lu Tiaoyang singled out these two people at this time, he was naturally reminding Zhang Juzheng that Ma Ziqiang had a high probability of being chosen.

Of course, when the Minister of Rites enters the cabinet, he does not necessarily have to go around the Ministry of Rites. After all, if he wants to go to the Ministry of Personnel, he must go to the Ministry of Affairs. And now Zhang Han, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, is Zhang Juzheng's best confidant. Is it necessary to let Zhang Han and Ma Swap Ziqiang and wait until Ma Ziqiang gets promoted before switching back?

Obviously not.

Wei Guangde more or less guessed what Zhang Juzheng was thinking, and asked Ma Ziqiang to serve as Minister of Rites for two years before recruiting him to the cabinet if it was really suitable.

The most important thing is that after two years, Ma Ziqiang will be almost 70 years old. Even if he joins the cabinet, he will not have two years to work.

This is what happened only in the imperial examination era. There is a huge difference in potential between those who are forty years old and those who are twenty or thirty years old.

It's not like in later generations, the difference between everyone's joining time is only a few years, and there is not much difference in retirement time.

"Ti Gan has only been in charge of the Ministry of Rites for three months. The time is too short and he has no experience in the Ministry of Officials. It is really not suitable for such an arrangement.

On the other hand, Zhang Siwei first entered the Ministry of Personnel and then the Ministry of Rites. He had experience in both, so he could apply as a candidate. "

Zhang Juzheng stopped pretending at this time, Wei Guangde didn't care, and Lu Tiaoyang was also naughty and recommended, but it was not just one recommendation, but two candidates at once.

If this is discussed by the ministry, it will be a bit troublesome.

Fortunately, the three of them discussed the cabinet meeting together, which saved a lot of trouble.

"Since the candidates are limited to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, no matter who joins the cabinet, there must be a vacant position. I wonder if Brother Shu and Brother Qing can recommend someone?"

Wei Guangde didn't like such obscure communication. Although he had to do it sometimes, it was not what he liked. He simply put forward his demands.

In this case, Zhang Juzheng would not refuse his face.

"Does Shandai have a favorite?"

Zhang Juzheng heard this and naturally understood Wei Guangde's meaning. The request had been made.

At this time, he would not refuse. Instead, he was very curious about who Wei Guangde would recommend to enter the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Personnel.

Lv Diaoyang was also curious. He also wanted to know who Wei Guangde would recommend.

You know, his recommendation was not to promote his subordinates in the normal sense, but more for the qualification to enter the cabinet.

After all, this time the discussion was not about the official positions of the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War or other yamen, but the two very sensitive yamen of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel.

"I think Shen Shixing has been in the Zhanshi Mansion for many years. It's time for him to enter the Ministry of Rites for training."

Wei Guangde said lightly.

Shen Shixing was the top scholar in the 41st year of Jiajing. Naturally, there is no need to doubt his literary talent.

His poems are plain and graceful, without surprising words or being delicate. His ancient poems explore the depth and breadth of poetry, with high momentum and majestic artistic conception.

His prose is mainly prefaces, biographies, epitaphs, etc., and miscellaneous and applied styles account for an absolute proportion. His prose is also like his poems, gentle and detailed, without exaggeration and surprising words.

His poems are mostly for socializing and giving gifts, and leisurely scenery, so they are not famous.

However, the person recommended by Wei Guangde still surprised Zhang Juzheng and Lu Diaoyang.

Especially Lu Diaoyang, at this time he was not looking at Wei Guangde, but staring at Zhang Juzheng.

And Zhang Juzheng's heart was also in turmoil at this time. He actually also wanted to promote Shen Shixing, after all, he was the top scholar in the palace examination, although he did not participate in the joint examination that year and serve as their examiner.

But Zhang Juzheng had been a disciple of his master Xu Jie for a long time, and his awareness of absorbing fresh blood was much stronger than Wei Guangde.

Why Xu Jie could stand firm in the court, wasn't it because Xu Jie's followers were so numerous that they were deeply rooted.

Xu Jie always liked to promote new people, which not only gained him great prestige, but also recruited countless disciples.

Zhang Juzheng is now in this position. In fact, for most of the prime ministers, reform is nothing, is it just to have more disciples?

However, because the promotion of the performance evaluation system undoubtedly delayed Zhang Juzheng's energy, it seemed that he was one step slower than Wei Guangde when he was trying to win over other officials.

In fact, Wei Guangde had never paid attention to Shen Shixing before. That year, he and Zhang Juzheng were both responsible for copying books in the imperial examination. How could he have time to participate in the imperial examination as an examiner?

Later, when copying the "Yongle Encyclopedia", Shen Shixing was summoned to be a copyist, but so what, he had many copyists under him.

That is to say, Shen Shixing was the top scholar, so he was able to follow the normal process from Hanlin Academy to Zhanshi Mansion, starting from Zuo Shuzi, and slowly climbed up step by step.

It can be said that he has achieved what he has achieved so far, and he has never been promoted by nobles.

He can do so because, first, he is young, he was the top scholar at the age of 27, and the top scholar is the golden amulet that can escort him to promotion.

As long as there is no big mistake, his name Shen Shixing is always ranked first in the promotion list.

However, if you want to transfer from Hanlin Academy or Zhanshi Mansion to the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Personnel, this is a natural chasm. If no one promotes you, you can only muddle through until you are old, and finally transfer to the Five Temples to become a temple minister and retire.

Wei Guangde finally decided to promote Shen Shixing, and he also had a meeting with Shen Shixing at the Qingliu gathering yesterday.

How to say it, Wei Guangde feels that he is okay.

Just like his articles, he doesn't like gorgeous words and piled up rhetoric, but is relatively plain.

The same is true of his behavior, which makes people seem very low-key and reserved.

Wei Guangde has naturally heard people's evaluation of him, of course, they are all behind-the-scenes comments, that is, he is "two-faced", "smooth-tongued", and "smooth-tongued".

Well, this is the impression he gave people when he was in the Zhanshi Mansion and the Hanlin Academy, that is, he has no position, his attitude is more fickle, and it can even be said that he says whatever he wants to whom he meets, just not to offend anyone.

This kind of person will make people feel that he is a good person in the short term, and communicating with him is like a spring breeze, but over time, knowing the details, naturally makes some people dislike this "fence-sitter".

However, Wei Guangde understands Shen Shixing's difficulties. In his imperial examination, the seat teacher can be said to be the good old man Li Chunfang, and the deputy examiner is Dong Fen.

His official career may have relied on Li Chunfang's power before, but Li Chunfang is a person of that kind after all, who does not fight or compete, so even though he has been the prime minister for so many years, the power is mostly not in his hands.

As for Dong Fen, he was expelled from the court early, so naturally he could not borrow power.

It can be said that the future of Jinshi is closely related to the career of their teachers.

If you have someone above you, you can save a lot of time to complete the early accumulation, so you have more time to accumulate experience and compete for the opportunity to enter the cabinet.

In Wei Guangde's class, the chief examiner was cabinet minister Lü Ben, who was worse than Li Chunfang. Although he was a cabinet elder, he was controlled by Yan Song in every way. In addition, he was in poor health and had been on sick leave for a long time. He was completely unhelpful to these new Jinshi.

Wei Guangde was just lucky, and he got the emperor's favor unexpectedly. In addition, he joined the team very early, so he could get to where he is today.

If he hadn't decisively joined Prince Yu's door, he would not have been qualified to enter the cabinet.

Because he lacks the most important person, the one who recommended him to the cabinet.

"It's him."

After Zhang Juzheng was briefly shocked, he quickly calmed down and said something.

Although he was curious as to why Wei Guangde fell in love with him, since he had raised it publicly, if nothing else, he had at least had private contact with Shen Shixing.

However, letting Shen Shixing join the Ministry of Rites as a minister was actually nothing. What Zhang Juzheng was more interested in was that Wei Guangde finally knew how to configure the cabinet team.

Yes, although Wei Guangde was competing with him for some official positions before, as far as those positions were concerned, the nature of the work was actually greater.

It can be seen that Wei Guangde did not consider forming his own power structure at all because he was young at the time.

Whether he controls the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of War, it is actually the result of the current situation.

The Ministry of Industry was originally in the hands of his fellow countryman Zhu Heng, and was the only one left by Yan Song's generation.

Although I am very reluctant to admit it, the rural party naturally existed in the court of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the subsequent fight for the Ministry of War, in fact, in Zhang Juzheng's eyes, the position of a minister was not as important as the minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel.

It is always the cabinet that determines the direction of the court. Although the six ministries are nominally the real power, it is also true that the cabinet is superior to the six ministries.

Xu Jie single-handedly promoted Zhang Juzheng and trained him as his first assistant and as his successor.

In fact, Xu Jie also made preparations for the team assisting Zhang Juzheng. However, after King Yu ascended the throne, he overused his subordinates, and some of Xu Jie's preparations were in vain.

It can be said that since the Longqing Year, almost all cabinet ministers came from the support of the Gao and Chen cliques, and he and Li Chunfang actually had no right to recommend them.

Perhaps because he suffered too many injustices in those years, Emperor Longqing did not trust anyone else at all, and only trusted a few people who had always been loyal to him.

After just a short thought, Zhang Juzheng nodded and said with a smile: "Rumo can indeed do it. He did well in running the Zhanshi Mansion and the Hanlin Academy before. It is also suitable to join the Ministry of Etiquette."

Although Zhang Juzheng said this, he was actually a little suspicious of Wei Guangde's vision of people.

Perhaps, he was just right when it came to selecting generals. If he was selecting civil servants, he seemed to be far behind.

This is not to say that Zhang Juzheng looked down upon the top pick, but the top pick in the Ming Dynasty had always had a trend of rising high and falling low.

The No. 1 pick in the early Ming Dynasty was truly a proud man, but in the middle and late stages, the performance of the No. 1 pick declined significantly.

In the Ming Dynasty, which lasted for 276 years, there were only 90 champions in total. Among them, 11 served as the first minister of the cabinet, 2 served as the second minister, 6 were grand bachelors, and 44 were of the third rank or above. The remaining ones were only the fifth rank. up and down.

Being the number one scholar is an honor and has a bright future, but that was in the early and mid-Ming Dynasty, and those who showed great success after that were so rare that they were not worth mentioning.

Wei Guangde chose to support Shen Shixing. In Zhang Juzheng's view, there was a high probability that the effort would be in vain.