The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"You see, in your Majesty's reign, there are ministers who can monopolize the affairs of the court. Although Yan Song is favored, there is still Xu Gelao who joins the cabinet to restrain him, and there are also Wu Shangshu, Yang Bo and others who form a force in the court.

If the court is to remain stable, it cannot be controlled by two factions, but a triangle relationship must be formed. "

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde unknowingly brought out the later theory of "triangular stability".

“If the important ministers in the court are divided into only two factions, what will happen is that there will be conflict between the left and the right. Either the east wind will overwhelm the west wind, or the west wind will overwhelm the east wind.

Although His Majesty lives in Xiyuan, he can still control the court like an arm and a leg. The fundamental reason is that Yan Shoufu is the strongest, followed by Xu Ge Lao. In order to maintain the fight against Yan Shoufu, Xu Ge Lao only Can win over third-party forces such as Wu Shan and Yang Bo.

It seems that there are still two factions fighting, but in fact it represents stability. No one faction can resist the pressure of the other two factions. This is the essence of it.

If the strategy proposed by either party is wrong, it will naturally be opposed by the other two forces. No matter what the fight is, it can at least represent the views of the majority of ministers, which can maintain the stability of the court. "

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he closed his mouth, while King Yu frowned and thought deeply, and even Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng seemed to have realized something.

Fortunately, at this time, the subordinate officials in the palace have not really entered the court and have not formed their own faction. If there is one, it is the Xujie faction where Zhang Juzheng belongs.

But here, the hats that the three of them wear on their heads are: Prince Yu's potential ministers.

At this time, the three of them still had the primary purpose of teaching King Yu and had not yet considered their own interests. Otherwise, Wei Guangde's words would be immediately counterattacked.

Of course, if Gao Gong was here, Wei Guangde would never say these words.

After a long while, King Yu hesitated and said: "What Shandai said makes sense. I have to go back and think about it carefully. It's too deep."

It would be great if King Yu could understand. This is also a foreshadowing that Wei Guangde has prepared in advance for facing Gao Gong Yitang in the future. At least by that time, King Yu will not unconditionally trust and support Gao Gong.

King Yu's words also awakened Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng who were still thinking, and they both nodded slightly.

"If you want to divide the tripod into three parts and combine them with the balance, it is also advisable to set the time."

Zhang Juzheng moved his lips slightly and read out a passage from "Book of the Later Han". This is actually the origin of the tripartite alliance.

After that, Yin Shizhen also said: "Shandai's words are very insightful, but I think Shandai should contact the palace and ask your majesty if he has candidates for the Ministry of Rites and the Minister of Personnel."

Yin Shizhen's words naturally wanted them to face reality.

Emperor Jiajing has already removed two ministers, and naturally these two positions cannot remain vacant for a long time. Someone must be appointed to take office, but who to take office is the key.

Now it is no longer about fighting for someone to get the chance to take the throne. Wei Guangde said before that it seems that Emperor Jiajing is well prepared this time. Perhaps His Majesty already has a candidate in mind.

At this time, it is natural not to stretch out your hands randomly to avoid His Majesty's jealousy.

"Yes, Zhengfu is absolutely right. If Father has a candidate, we must give our full support."

King Yu spoke at this time.

Wei Guangde nodded, "I know, I'll ask when I get down."

While discussions were still taking place in Prince Yu's palace, gray-haired Yan Song was slowly walking into the gate of Yongshou Palace, holding a memorial in his hand.

The little chamberlain in front of the Yongshou Palace was quite surprised by such a situation. The chief minister of the dynasty had to send the memorandum in person. Is it possible that another major military event would happen?

According to the usual practice, memorials from the outer court are sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies and will not be sent directly to the imperial court.

Only the eunuchs and chamberlains who had stayed in Yongshou Palace for a long time knew what was going on. It should be that Yan Shoufu had a secret message for the emperor. After all, there was no news of border emergency.

For officials in the Ming Dynasty, the normal procedure for submitting memorials was to send them to the General Affairs Office. Such memorials were public. The General Affairs Office would make a copy of the memorial and archive it. The original copy should have been handed over to the Director of Ceremonies and presented to the imperial court. However, the title book was just like this The system was later changed to a cabinet voting system, which has become a common practice.

But in addition, there is another way for officials to submit secret reports, which is to send them directly to the emperor.

It is not just the General Affairs Bureau that receives memorials. In fact, Beijing officials will put the secret memorials into Huijimen, and Huijimen will also register the secrets and forward them to the inner court clerk's office, which will quickly process them. Sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for processing.

However, this is the procedure for ordinary ministers to receive memorials. For cabinet ministers, "the secrets of the cabinet are revealed and sealed with the seal of Wenyuan Pavilion. No one can see it."

There is an independent secret report system for cabinet ministers. The submission of secret reports does not need to go through the hands of the eunuch's ceremonial supervisor and clerk. However, secret reports are generally left unpublished, so there is a record in the history of the Ming Dynasty, "Story, cabinet I will keep all my secrets uncovered."

Therefore, there is a sentence written in the history textbooks of later generations that Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty created the "Mi Zhe System" as the origin of the Mi Zhe System. This is actually not correct.

Emperor Yongzheng's creation of the "secret memorial system" only strengthened the secret memorials of local officials. During the Ming Dynasty, the secret memorials sent to local officials had virtually no effect, because after the secret memorials were sent to the capital, they were still received and copied by the general affairs envoy. , but it was not sent to the cabinet but to the inner court clerk's room. It lacked confidentiality and was abandoned by foreign ministers very early.

And Beijing officials, especially cabinet ministers, still have secret ways to enter the palace.

As Yan Song walked into the main hall of Yongshou Palace, the maids and chamberlains standing in the palace were soon kicked out.

Chen Ju stood in front of the main hall door, feeling a little at a loss at this time.

The maids and chamberlains who came out of the palace all ran to the square in front of the palace, far away from the main hall. Chen Ju was standing in front of the palace door now, not knowing whether he should follow them and stay away from the main hall.

Just when he was in a dilemma, an old figure appeared in front of the hall, and Huang Jin also walked out of the hall step by step.

Arriving in front of the palace door, he stretched out his hand and started to close the palace door.

Chen Ju immediately stepped forward and closed the palace door with Huang Jin. Huang Jin turned to look at Chen Ju, nodded slightly, and then said meaningfully: "Just stay here and guard."

After speaking, Huang Jin walked a few steps and sat on the steps in front of the palace.

Huang Jin left the palace door and sat down with his back to him. Chen Ju had to stand in front of the palace door, standing straight like a general in front of the palace.

When the door was closed just now, Chen Ju could still see the scene inside, but after all, it was a bit far away from where the emperor and Yan Song were, and the conversation inside was intermittently unclear.

Chen Ju always felt that Huang Jin's eyes were a little deep when he ordered him before. This was the first time Chen Ju saw Huang Jin being called out of the hall by Emperor Jiajing. He didn't know what Yan Shoufu wanted to show the emperor. of density.

Standing in front of the main hall, Chen Ju calmed down. The conversation between Emperor Jiajing and Yan Shoufu in the main hall seemed to float into his ears.

Although he knew that this was a taboo, Chen Ju took a small half-step back slightly with curiosity in his heart, his back heel even lightly touched the door panel under the palace door, and then he gave up.

He stood in the middle of the palace door. Although the two palace doors were closed, there was still a small crack. At this position, the conversation between the two people in the palace was a little clearer, but it was still intermittent.

That is to say, only words with heavier pronunciation can be heard, while some words with lighter pronunciation cannot be heard clearly.

That is to say, Huang Jin asked him to guard in front of the palace door, otherwise Chen Ju would never dare to eavesdrop on the conversation inside even if he had one hundred and twenty courages.

In the afternoon, Chen Ju received the note sent by Wei Guangde, and he just nodded and went to the appointment after thinking about it for a moment.

During the rotation of eunuchs in the Yongshou Palace, Chen Ju took the time to take a leave of absence from Eunuch Huang. Then he left Xiyuan and went to visit Gao Zhong, the godfather of the ceremonial eunuch, before Shi Shiran came out. The palace gate.

Not far away, Gao Zhong saw the carriage driven by Li San. He immediately got up, held on to the shaft, jumped on, opened the curtain and got into the carriage.

After Chen Ju got on the carriage, Li San waved his riding whip and made a green sound, and the horse pulled the carriage slowly along Chang'an Avenue in pain.

"Brother Chen, I've taken the liberty to meet you today, but there are some things I have to ask."

In the carriage, Wei Guangde and Chen Ju sat opposite each other. As the carriage bumped, their bodies swayed slightly.

"what's up?"

Chen Ju asked curiously.

In the past few days, nothing happened in the palace regarding Prince Yu's Mansion, and now that Prince Jing has left the capital, Prince Yu's position is as stable as Mount Tai. According to what he and Wei Guangde said before, it is enough for Prince Yu to be stable now.

In front of Chen Ju, Wei Guangde was too lazy to beat around the bush and said bluntly: "In the past two days, Your Majesty has allowed Shangshu Guandai of Wu Shan to stay at leisure, and also asked Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel to become an official. I heard that Wu Shangshu's resignation letter has been submitted just now."

"Have Wu Peng's official appointment documents been handed in?"

Chen Ju smiled and asked casually.

"It has been delivered to the General Affairs Department."

Wei Guangde replied.

"Then why are you looking for me?"

Is Wu Peng a hidden stake buried by Prince Yu's Palace in the Yan family?

After hearing what Wei Guangde said about Wu Shan and Wu Peng, it was definitely impossible for a person like Wu Shan to lean towards King Yu, even if his status as King Yu was basically settled, but it was hard to say for Wu Peng.

Outsiders all say that Wu Peng is from Yan Song. Could it be that Prince Yu's Mansion.

Wei Guangde noticed something strange on Chen Ju's face. Although he didn't know what he was thinking, he still hurriedly explained: "No, His Highness actually wants to know if His Majesty has a candidate for the Second Minister."

After hearing Wei Guangde's words, Chen Ju's expression became even weirder, but he realized that he had been wrong just now.

Come to think of it, how could Wu Peng be from Prince Yu's Mansion?

"Brother Wei, I'm going to say something inappropriate here. Your Highness, Prince Yu, wants to get involved in these things. You should stop him. How can you let him get involved in the court?"

After just a moment of silence, Chen Ju spoke.

Wei Guangde understood that Chen Ju's words made sense, but King Yu also had to pay attention to the changes in the court, so he had to reply: "People can't help themselves when they are in the world."

"Well"

Chen Ju was a little surprised by Wei Guangde's answer, but after thinking about it carefully, he roughly understood the meaning.

In Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower", the most famous sentence is naturally the sentence "Be worried about the world's worries first, and be happy after the world's happiness." However, for people in the officialdom, they actually like another sentence more.

"If you live high in a temple, you worry about its people; if you live far away from the rivers and lakes, you worry about your ruler. If you advance, you will worry, and if you retreat, you will worry."

"hehe."

Chen Ju smiled casually and pointed at Wei Guangde, but he did not answer, but fell into deep thought.

Wei Guangde was still thinking at the beginning that he actually wanted to ask Chen Ju for a message today. He would have to wait until tomorrow to know the answer.

Because of Chen Ju's abilities, Wei Guangde felt that he probably didn't know, and perhaps only Huang Jin or Gao Zhong could guess something.

Emperor Jiajing would definitely not discuss the personnel arrangements for the important ministers in the court with the eunuchs in the inner court. He would definitely have a secret in his heart, but he would never tell anyone else.

However, seeing Chen Ju's appearance, Wei Guangde suddenly felt that something was going on.

After a long while, Chen Ju said with a slight hesitation on his face: "If you had asked me about this a day in advance, I really wouldn't be able to answer it."

Then, Chen Ju told Wei Guangde everything about the first assistant Yan Song entering the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan at noon today.

"Brother Chen, where did you hear who you are planning to appoint as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel?"

Wei Guangde listened to Chen Ju's story and knew everything that happened in Yongshou Palace today, and he naturally became anxious.

Chen Ju thought for a while and then said: "If these words come out of my mouth and into your ears, even King Yu is not allowed to say even a word before the edict comes down."

After saying this, Chen Ju shut up again and looked at Wei Guangde blankly.

Wei Guangde nodded, knowing the situation at that time. Everyone in the palace was kicked out, which shows that Emperor Jiajing attached great importance to this.

If the decree really spreads before it is issued, the emperor may be angry, and those closest to the main hall may be unlucky.

Immediately, Wei Guangde nodded without hesitation.

He has already thought about it. As long as he is sure that there is a candidate, he can just report it directly to King Yu and ask him not to have any wrong ideas.

Actually, it doesn't matter who it is.

"It seems that Yan Shoufu recommended Ouyang Bijin, the minister of the Ministry of Industry. I couldn't hear it clearly at the time, but there are many ministers named Ouyang in the court, so I can be sure that it is him."

Chen Ju lowered his voice and said.

"How could it be him? Is he already sick?"

Wei Guangde was a little surprised by the name Chen Ju said.

"Although Ouyang Shangshu is ill, it's just a minor ailment that can't be cured, so he can only rely on nursing. But he doesn't want to be as serious as Zhou Yushi, who can hardly work."

Chen Ju replied.

Wei Guangde thought about it. Although he and Ouyang Bijin belonged to different camps, there were people in Prince Yu's palace who were keeping an eye on them.

Relatively speaking, the vacancy of Zuodu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the most likely vacancy, because Zhou Yan has not gone to the Yamen for three months.

Wei Guangde was thinking in his mind. Judging from what was discussed at Xu Jie's house last time, Prince Yu's house obviously had Xu Jie's tricks.

At that time, Mr. Xu Ge confessed to Prince Yu's Mansion that he had arranged for someone to compete for the title of Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and he was also willing to help Prince Yu's Mansion compete for the power of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Heavenly Officials.

Yan Song presented the report in the form of a cabinet secret, and Xu Ge was probably aware of it beforehand.