My father is Jiajing

Zhu Zaigui, who was sitting at the top, was not surprised at all when he heard Xu Jie recommend Zhang Juzheng to go to Nanjing to serve as the Grand Secretary and Governor-General of Southern Zhili.

Zhang Juzheng's importance in Xu Jie's mind is not just as simple as being his successor, but more of a pillar of support for the Xu family in the future.

As long as Zhang Juzheng was around, the Xu family could still live peacefully for another twenty to thirty years, even if there was no head of the family who could support the family in the future.

Therefore, Xu Jie spared no effort to cultivate and promote Zhang Juzheng.

In some ways, Zhang Juzheng was even more important in Xu Jie's mind than his own son Xu Fan.

Zhu Zaigui hummed lightly, picked up the cup of tea that had just been changed in front of him, took a sip, and did not express any agreement or opposition.

When Li Chunfang and others heard that Xu Jie was going to recommend Zhang Juzheng to go to Nanjing, they could no longer sit still.

Li Chunfang immediately bowed to Zhu Zaigui before Xu Jie finished speaking.

Li Chunfang said: "I suggest that Gao Gong, the Minister of Rites, be appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Nanjing Cabinet and the Governor-General of Southern Zhili."

Then Li Chunfang began to explain his reasons.

Li Chunfang said: "Gao Gong has economic talent. He has served as the chairman of the Ming Federal Reserve and the Minister of Personnel. He knows the methods and means of evaluating officials. He also has experience in governing the Beijing Special District. Your Majesty wants to revive the atmosphere in Nanjing and sort out the accumulated problems in Nanjing over the past century. I think Gao Gong is the most suitable person!"

Zhu Zaigui was not surprised when Li Chunfang recommended Gao Gong.

Even Zhu Zaigui guessed why Li Chunfang was so active in recommending Gao Gong.

As everyone knows, with Gao Gong's current position, he only needs one step to enter the cabinet. There is no need for him to be sent to Nanjing to serve as the seemingly powerful Nanjing Cabinet Grand Secretary and Governor-General of Southern Zhili in order to seek advancement at this time.

You must know that if a politician wants to achieve something in politics and have ambitions, he must stay close to the core of power.

Otherwise, no matter how great the achievements and ambitions are at the local level, they will only be partial achievements and cannot be regarded as the eternal merit of "governing the country and pacifying the world."

Moreover, once they leave the center of power, they seem to have more autonomy, but in fact, when they really want to do something, they still have to ask the court for permission.

Otherwise, the imperial court did not understand his actions at the local level and regarded his local operating methods as dangerous behavior.

Then, not only will things be difficult to accomplish, but you may also end up in jail with no way to defend yourself.

Therefore, a person who truly has political ambitions and ideals will never think of leaving the political center and going to the local area to gain experience.

The probability of coming back after being exiled from Beijing is really too low.

What if someone took advantage of his absence to say bad things about him in front of the emperor and expose his shortcomings? What if the emperor was really persuaded and believed these bad words and the shortcomings that were exposed?

The consequences can be quite serious.

Therefore, if Gao Gong knew now that Li Chunfang had spared no effort in recommending him to go to Nanjing in Wenhua Hall, he would definitely hate Li Chunfang to death.

Zhu Zaigui also knew clearly why Li Chunfang did this.

Li Chunfang wanted to send Gao Gong to the capital for several years, and then take advantage of the management and strategy during this period to replace Xu Jie and become the new generation of cabinet leader.

But if Gao Gong was still in the capital and had entered the cabinet.

Even if Xu Jie retired and left the capital like Yan Song, he would become the prime minister of the cabinet. However, due to the existence of Gao Gong, a powerful cabinet member, it is not certain that his future situation would be much better than Xu Jie's current one.

You have to know that Xu Jie can't control him now.

Therefore, Li Chunfang was also very worried that after Xu Jie, in the era that was supposed to belong to him in the future, an uncontrollable cabinet member would appear by his side, who would always sing against him and try to win over other cabinet members to compete with him.

He really didn't want to experience this kind of pain.

Therefore, Li Chunfang had to plan ahead and arrange Gao Gong first to lay a solid foundation for his happy time in the next few years.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Li Chunfang's bowing posture. He could understand Li Chunfang's sense of crisis and his ambition.

After all, as a politician who may be in charge of the cabinet, who would be willing to put a disobedient member in his cabinet to make things difficult for himself?
But it must be said that the reasons for recommendation given by Li Chunfang really made Zhu Zaigui very excited.

Although Zhu Zaigui's initial preference was for Zhao Zhenji, based on the reasons given by Li Chunfang and the political abilities that Gao Gong had honed over the years, he was indeed much more suitable than Zhao Zhenji.

Zhu Zaigui put down the teacup in his hand and his eyes remained on Yuan Wei and Yan Ne.

Zhu Zaigui asked again: "Do Mr. Yuan and Mr. Yan have any suitable candidates to recommend?"

Yuan Wei and Yan Ne looked at each other. Originally, they also wanted to actively nominate someone to be their assistant.

However, after Xu Jie and Li Chunfang made successive recommendations, they suddenly realized that they did not seem to have any political allies worthy of trust and recommendation.

Moreover, since their promotion was due to their writing poems for Emperor Jiajing, they gained the favor of Emperor Jiajing and were promoted to the cabinet to fill the numbers.

Therefore, compared to Xu Jie, who had a strong foundation and students and former officials all over the world, and Li Chunfang, who also rose to prominence by writing Qingci, but was also a top scholar and came from the Prince Yu's Mansion.

The two of them combined are not as thick as the other person's calf, and during this period of time, Emperor Jiajing's demand for Qingci was not as strong as before.

So sometimes the two of them seemed extremely awkward in the cabinet, but fortunately, neither the secluded Emperor Jiajing nor the current Regent Prince Yu had high expectations of them.

Therefore, Yuan Wei and Yan Ne also have their own self-knowledge. They understand that they are the kind of cabinet ministers without foundation. Once there is a sudden change in the core of power, they will definitely be cleared out to make room for others.

So at this time, Yuan Wei and Yan Ne would naturally not be so smart as to blindly recommend people to influence Zhu Zaigui's impression.

Yuan Wei and Yan Ne bowed together, "We think that the candidates recommended by Lord Xu and Lord Li, whether it is Zhang Juzheng or Gao Gong, are excellent. So we have no other candidates to recommend."

Zhu Zaigui nodded calmly, "What you two gentlemen said is absolutely right. Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were both tutors in my palace. I also highly recognize their character and ability."

"But there is only one Nanjing, and I can't let them both go at the same time, so I have to make a decision. Let's do this, the cabinet will prepare, and in a few days before the winter solstice, convene the six ministries and all officials to announce the court's decision to set up Nanjing Cabinet Grand Secretary and Governor-General of Southern Zhili. At that time, I will ask your majesty for the holy judgment."

After hearing Zhu Zaigui's words, Xu Jie and others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief with regret.

But at the same time, Zhu Zaigui did not end the conversation.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Since it is decided to set up a cabinet minister in Nanjing to concurrently serve as the governor-general of Southern Zhili, then the governor-general of Zhejiang after Hu Zongxian will naturally no longer be necessary."

"So after Hu Zongxian was appointed as the Minister of War in the capital, Zhao Zhenji naturally did not need to be promoted to the Governor-General of Zhejiang to influence the administration of Nanjing. So what do you think of Zhao Zhenji's new appointment?"

Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others also thought about it.

How could I forget about Zhao Zhenji?

You should know that Zhao Zhenji was originally arranged to work in Prince Yu's Palace together with Li Chunfang. Now Li Chunfang is the second assistant of the cabinet, while Zhao Zhenji is only a local governor.

Although everyone's life experiences are different and cannot be simply compared, Zhao Zhenji's achievements in Zhejiang over the years are also remarkable. As Hu Zongxian's deputy, he also made outstanding contributions to the suppression of Japanese invaders in the southeast. Now that the administrative system of Nanjing and even the entire southern region is to be changed, Zhao Zhenji certainly cannot stay in the southeast any longer.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be awkward for him to be in that position?
Moreover, he is an old employee of Prince Yu's Mansion. It is neither reasonable nor moral to treat him coldly.

It is necessary to arrange a good position for people.

At this time, Li Chunfang was determined to send Gao Gong to Nanjing. He bowed to Zhu Zaigui again and said, "I think we can temporarily promote Zhao Zhenji to the position of Right Censor-in-Chief, let him get familiar with the affairs of the court for a period of time, and then take on his new position when the right opportunity comes."

Although Li Chunfang's words did not specify what this "his role" was, no one present was a fool.

Everyone knew that whether Gao Gong went to Nanjing or not, he would not stay in the position of Minister of Rites for long. At this time, Li Chunfang pushed Zhao Zhenji, undoubtedly to speed up the decision-making of Zhu Zaigui or Emperor Jiajing.

Let them decide Gao Gong's stay or departure as soon as possible, and at the same time he can gain Zhao Zhenji's friendship.

After all, recalling the past, the two of them went to Prince Yu's Mansion together. Such fate and friendship, plus Li Chunfang's great help now.

If Zhao Zhenji also rises from the position of Minister of Rites to the cabinet in the future, how could he not stand on the same side as Li Chunfang and become Li Chunfang's right-hand man in the cabinet?
Therefore, Li Chunfang's proposal was simply an extremely brilliant conspiracy.

Not only could Xu Jie and others find no fault with it, even Zhu Zaigui, who was sitting on top, couldn't help but admire it inwardly.

As expected, the person who could be the Prime Minister in the original historical moment has not lost any of his political level in this time and space where history has changed!

Moreover, Zhu Zaigui was always worried that Li Chunfang and Gao Gong would have a fierce conflict in the future political landscape.

If Li Chunfang could really serve as a stable and capable cabinet chief to help Zhu Zaigui solve some of the early problems in governing, then this would be an excellent choice.

But if he and Gao Gong had a fateful clash, leading to constant disputes and internal strife both inside and outside the court, this would not be a good thing for either Zhu Zaigui or the Ming Dynasty.

Because the ministers who come later will all learn from their predecessors.

So strictly speaking, the factional struggles in the Ming Dynasty actually originated from the struggle between the Yan Party and the Qingliu Party in the Jiajing Dynasty.

They thought that after they defeated each other, the Ming Dynasty would be able to develop into a bright future with clear politics, peace and prosperity according to their respective ideals.

But they forgot that the moment the Yan Party fell, divisions and conflicts began to occur within them.

Xu Jie became the political opponent that Li Chunfang and Gao Gong wanted to get rid of.

After Xu Jie, Li Chunfang became the political opponent that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng wanted to get rid of.

After Li Chunfang, Gao Gong became another political opponent that Zhang Juzheng wanted to get rid of.

If this cycle continued, it was a political inevitability that the Ming Dynasty would eventually fall into endless party struggles for interests.

Therefore, in order to prevent the future Ming Dynasty from falling into such a political struggle where the new generation wants to defeat the old generation, Zhu Zaigui must take action.

This trend cannot be allowed to become the future.

Otherwise, there will be endless troubles!

Zhu Zai looked at Li Chunfang and nodded, saying, "Mr. Li's suggestion is good. I will ask His Majesty to arrange a suitable position for Zhao Zhenji. That's all for today. You can go back and get busy."

After discussing these important matters, Zhu Zaigui sent Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others away.

When Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others heard Zhu Zaigui's words, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

They thought that by now, the serious business had been discussed and Zhu Zaigui would mention Li Ran's matter.

But I didn’t expect Zhu Zaigui to not mention it specifically. This was really surprising, but I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, they hadn't figured out how to respond to Li Ran's crimes at this time.

Xu Jie and the others immediately bowed and said, "We will take our leave."

Then, as if they were afraid that Zhu Zaigui would go back on his word, they hurriedly left the Wenhua Hall.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the backs of the four people leaving and couldn't help but shook his head and smiled.

It turns out that these cunning people are difficult to manage!

However, Zhu Zaigui did not care about this matter because he and Emperor Jiajing had completely different personalities and different experiences.

When Emperor Jiajing was young, he had a murderous heart, but there was no one around him to help.

Even though he killed several censors during the Great Ceremony Dispute and later killed a prime minister, he was still not the kind of heroic ruler who was decisive and ruthless.

Moreover, as he grew older, Emperor Jiajing cared more and more about the world's opinion of him, so in the later period of his reign, he almost never killed anyone.

Even in the original historical time and space, when Hai Rui pointed at him and cursed him as "Jiajing Jiajing, every family is clean", he did not kill Hai Rui. This is enough to prove that Emperor Jiajing was an emperor who cared deeply about his reputation.

But unfortunately, the reputation he cherished so much still has not been recognized by the world even after his death.

Moreover, if the same situation happened to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, an upright person like Hai Rui, who dared to curse the emperor so recklessly, would be chopped off on the spot, not to mention whether he would be killed on the spot, even his superiors, colleagues, relatives and friends would tremble in fear.

Therefore, it can be inferred that compared with powerful rulers like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, Emperor Jiajing was a person who was smart but not ruthless enough.

Although such an emperor can manipulate the court and the world at his fingertips, it is absolutely difficult for him to achieve great things.

But Zhu Zaigui was different. He knew well the importance of establishing authority and the importance of unity of will.

He can negotiate with others now because he does not yet possess the supreme position of "the only one".

If he were allowed to attain the supreme position, he would carry out a vigorous reform of the Ming Dynasty in the future, even going so far as to "reshape the body".

He will certainly, like the big brother of a certain former superpower, purge all those who are disobedient or suspected of being disobedient, from top to bottom, to prevent these people from spreading rumors and confusing the people and disturbing their hearts when Zhu Zaigui is carrying out reforms!
Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was also very clear that his future would be a mixture of praise and criticism, but for the sake of the longevity of the Ming Dynasty and the self-strengthening of China, he would not hesitate even if he was described as a butcher demon by future people!

After all, some things only require the responsibility and courage of one or two generations. If these one or two generations do nothing and expect future generations to do it, then this is most likely wishful thinking.

Because we can see from history that it will be even more difficult for people in the future. Otherwise, why did Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng struggle for so long but end up in disgrace and lose their reputation?

Therefore, if we want the reform to succeed, we cannot rely solely on powerful ministers for a while, but we also need someone who dares to be like Qin Xiaogong who took action against “his own people”!
Otherwise, how could the Qin Dynasty last for seven generations?

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