My father is Jiajing

"Have you heard? Gao Gong is going to join the cabinet."

Outside the Wenhua Hall, a group of ministers who were waiting to be summoned by Zhu Zaigui gathered in groups of three or five. Those who knew each other were whispering about the latest big news or secret gossip.

"What kind of news is this? It's already been decided that Gaobudang will join the cabinet. Do you need to tell me?"

Two officials in blue robes were chatting idly.

They all came to attend a routine "court meeting" held in Wenhua Hall before the winter solstice.

Of course, this term is not quite accurate. After all, Zhu Zaigui was not the emperor, and he had no right to convene a court meeting.

Therefore, a gathering like this where a large number of Beijing officials gathered in the Wenhua Hall to discuss national affairs would be more appropriately called a "regular meeting."

Moreover, this "regular meeting" system was a new rule that was gradually formed after Zhu Zaigui had been regent in the Wenhua Hall for nearly a year.

In the past, even if Zhu Zaigui did not convene a meeting, the cabinet would, according to the order of Emperor Jiajing, hold "court recommendation" meetings from time to time in the Huangji Hall or other palaces in the Forbidden City where major state affairs could be discussed, with the participation of all ministers, and then report the results of the court recommendation to the emperor, who would make the final decision.

Therefore, meetings like this involving many Beijing officials were originally supposed to be held in the Huangji Palace.

However, due to the fact that Emperor Jiajing did not attend court, and because Zhu Zaigui was regent in recent years, as customs changed over the years, the regular meetings of Beijing officials originally held in the Huangji Hall were moved to the Wenhua Hall.

It also has an informal name, "Wenhua Hall Regular Meeting".

However, compared to this informal name, more Beijing officials would use the term "regular meeting of Beijing officials" or simply use the term "court meeting" when talking about this meeting.

After all, in their subconscious and ideas, the fact that Zhu Zaigui was supervising the country and governing the country in the Wenhua Hall was almost no different from the adult crown princes governing the country in the Eastern Palace in the early days of the founding of the country.

Moreover, the Jiajing Emperor had been in seclusion for cultivation, so unless something was particularly important and required the emperor's approval, he would hardly even issue an edict, leaving all decisions to Zhu Zaigui and the cabinet.

Therefore, every time the regular meeting was convened in Wenhua Hall, officials of all ranks who were qualified to attend would gather in groups of three or five to chat or exchange official secrets that they knew to each other.

Cabinet members including Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, and Yan Ne stood in front, followed by the ministers of the six ministries including Gao Gong, Guo Pu, Hu Zongxian, and Zhao Wenhua, and the vice ministers of the six ministries including Zhang Juzheng and Yan Maoqing.

Next came other officials from the capital's government offices who were also qualified to attend the regular meetings of officials in the capital.

Although most of these people hold ordinary official positions.

However, they, together with the heads and senior officials of major government offices such as the Cabinet and the Six Ministries, constituted an important part of the Ming Dynasty's central court.

Without these people, it would be almost impossible for the cabinet and the six ministries to play the role of state machinery.

So, even though most of these officials are minor officials in blue robes who are not officials of the highest rank, they are still very important.

Moreover, every time the court makes important deployments and personnel appointments, they have the opportunity to be present to witness them. If they encounter some difficult decisions and want to share responsibilities and risks, the top leaders will call them together to hold a meeting called "court recommendation."

But it is obvious that the regular meeting of Beijing officials in Wenhua Hall this time is not to hold a "court recommendation", but to convene these people to announce the next major decisions of the court, so that these people can also have a sense of participation, and can better implement the court's arrangements and deployments, and convey the court's will and decisions to every corner of the Ming Dynasty through the nodes for which they are responsible.

Zhu Zaigui followed the clock and finally appeared in the Wenhua Hall at half past noon.

The moment he appeared, all the doors of Wenhua Palace were opened, and Xu Jie and others entered the main hall of Wenhua Palace in turn according to their respective positions.

After everyone has entered the hall, guards will close the door again and stand guard around the hall.

It seemed as if all this was just like the normal procedure of attending court.

But in fact, there are still many differences in details and etiquette.

After all, Zhu Zaigui was not the emperor, so even if he wanted to show off his power, he had to do it in moderation.

Otherwise, even if Emperor Jiajing turned a blind eye and did not care, those censors would have scolded Zhu Zaigui to death.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui did not really focus all his attention on personal pomp and circumstance in order to highlight his special authority.

Under the gaze of Xu Jie and others, Zhu Zaigui sat on the main seat in front of the Wenhua Hall.

Xu Jie and the others bowed and said, "Your subjects greet the Regent."

After Zhu Zaigui sat down, he raised his hand slightly and said, "No need to be polite. I am here to attend your regular meeting, more to learn and witness. You can start now."

Zhu Zaigui's opening remarks were almost always the same, as if he was really just there to watch the fun.

But this kind of talk is just for listening.

The officials present, regardless of their rank or age, are not stupid.

If Zhu Zaigui was really just there to learn and witness, then these regular meetings should have been held in other formal palace venues such as the Huangji Hall, rather than being moved to the Wenhua Hall and having Zhu Zaigui look down on them.

Therefore, the convening of such regular meetings, whether to discuss or announce major national policies or to make the final decision on something, would actually make all officials accustomed to Zhu Zaigui's presence and his superior attitude and status in front of them!

This is also a crucial matter for Zhu Zaigui.

Because as a person in a respected position of power, one must be powerful!

Otherwise, how can you control the people?

Therefore, sometimes these seemingly redundant, boring and useless ceremonies can actually be very useful due to their subtle influence.

Otherwise, why could the ancient emperors control the nine provinces and become the common rulers of the world with just the two words "Son of Heaven"?

You have to know that in ancient society, the emperor's range of activities was almost limited to a corner of the capital.

But he was able to become the master of the entire world. It must be said that it was these seemingly empty pomp and etiquette that made people feel awe imperceptibly.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui sometimes thought that these red tape would waste time and hinder him from handling other things. However, in order to better control the world and his ministers in the future and open up his own era, these things were also Zhu Zaigui's compulsory courses.

Of course, this kind of etiquette and pomp should not be taken too seriously, otherwise the people who formulate etiquette norms for the emperor will add private matters to these etiquette norms, thus affecting the emperor's authority and decision-making.

In this way, not only will you not get the dominance you want, but you may also be told where you sleep at night and who you sleep with.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was still very wary of things like etiquette and pomp.

He treated these formalities with the attitude of using them if they were useful and throwing them away if they were not.

It is just like Emperor Wu of Han who wanted to consolidate the imperial power. He could give Dong Zhongshu the opportunity to kick out the Huang-Lao school of thought, which was originally recognized by the Han Dynasty as the core ideology of governing the country, and give Confucianism a unique position.

However, whenever some hot-blooded Confucian scholars began to use the "Heaven-Man Harmony" method invented by Dong Zhongshu to restrict the emperor's power, Dong Zhongshu had to cover his head and tremble, worrying that Emperor Wu of Han would kill him.

Although Zhu Zaigui is not as great as Emperor Wu of Han, at least he is more advanced (shameless) than the ancients in terms of ideological cognition.

Therefore, if someone wants to use some nonsense to restrain him, he will never be like most emperors in history who have fallen into difficulties in moral cognition and are overwhelmed by the so-called reality to the point of being unable to breathe.

You must know that all morals and cognitions will actually change with the times.

As long as Zhu Zaigui can control the rhythm, grasp the initiative, hold the right to interpret moral cognition in his own hands, and not let those conservative people have the right to speak and argue with him about right and wrong, then things will be much easier in the future.

He would no longer face the risk of fighting for power like Emperor Jiajing did when he first ascended the throne.

Now Zhu Zaigui has already made arrangements in advance to allow these ministers to adapt to his authority and status in advance.

As long as the opportunity comes, Zhu Zaigui can make a truly gorgeous turnaround, allowing those ministers and officials who can't keep up with the pace to truly feel what it means to "a new emperor, new ministers"!
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Xu Jie and other officials bowed again.

Zhu Zaigui waited until Xu Jie and other officials had finished paying their respects, then he began to speak: "Today's regular meeting will discuss and announce more matters than in the past. I hope you will bear with me. Next, the cabinet will announce the emperor's will."

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Jie bowed slightly to Zhu Zaigui at this time, and then walked to the center of the Wenhua Hall, where all the officials in the Wenhua Hall could see him.

Xu Jie said: "In recent days, your majesty and the prince have made the following arrangements based on the actual needs of the court. First, Hu Zongxian was dismissed from his post as the governor of Zhejiang and Zhili, and was given the title of the crown prince's guardian, and was appointed as the Minister of War in the capital. Second, Zhao Zhenji was dismissed from his post as the governor of Zhejiang and the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, and was promoted to the right censor of the Beijing Censorate. Third, Yan Maoqing was dismissed from his post as the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital, and was promoted to the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing."

When Xu Jie was talking about the first two appointments, all the officials in Wenhua Hall were able to accept them.

After all, the contributions of Hu Zongxian and Zhao Zhenji in the southeast over the years are obvious to all.

Now the Japanese pirates have been swept to the sea, and there is no trace of them on the southeastern land. Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and other generals who fought against the Japanese pirates have been rewarded with titles. As the two people, Hu and Zhao, who are in charge of the overall situation in the southeast, they should naturally be promoted.

Therefore, it is not surprising to hear that the two of them were retained in the capital and appointed as the Minister of War and the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

But who is Yan Maoqing?
How did he get promoted?

Although the place where he was promoted was not the Ministry of Revenue in the capital, but the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing.

But it’s also quite shocking.

You should know that the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue is different from several other ministries in Nanjing.

The Nanjing Ministry of Revenue was also in charge of taxes and levies in the six southern provinces, and was a real powerful minister.

Yan Maoqing was just a "traitor", but he was promoted to the position of Nanjing Minister of Finance, a position with enormous power and benefits. This was really surprising.

For a moment, there was a buzz of discussion in the Wenhua Hall, and everyone seemed to be very surprised.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the reactions of the officials in the hall. This was within his expectations, but Zhu Zaigui did not show any expression.

In recent years, Zhu Zaigui has had a good idea of ​​whether Yan Maoqing is effective or not.

Since Gao Gong was to be sent to Nanjing, he must be given a shield to attract fire. Otherwise, when he was doing things in Nanjing, officials and gentry in Nanjing and the Jiangnan region would focus their eyes and attention on him, which was sometimes not necessarily a good thing.

Therefore, it would be a very good idea to arrange for a former core member of the Yan Party, Yan Maoqing, to go to Nanjing to increase his presence and help Gao Gong attract some attention.

Xu Jie listened to the discussions of the people in the hall and said with a stern face: "Silence!"

After hearing Xu Jie's voice, all the officials in the hall lowered their voices and were no longer so presumptuous.

After all, in the eyes of most of these officials, Xu Jie was not only the chief minister of the cabinet, the head of all officials, but also the leader of this group of self-proclaimed clean officials.

Now that the leader has spoken, they must obey.

Seeing that all the officials in the hall had fallen silent, Xu Jie couldn't help but feel relieved. It would be great if his intimidation could make the ministers in the cabinet and the six ministries and censors so obedient.

But unfortunately, those who have reached this level of officialdom no longer have the naivety and reverence they once had. They will never be intimidated by the titles of cabinet or cabinet prime minister.

Even because of Zhu Zaigui's tacit approval and Emperor Jiajing's indifference in recent years, the six ministries began to compete with the cabinet for power, wanting to set off a new round of disputes between the cabinet and the six ministries and redivide the power between the cabinet and the six ministries.

But it is also a pity that Zhu Zaigui would not allow such a thing to happen.

Even though there were his own people like Gao Gong in the Six Ministries, Zhu Zaigui did not allow the Six Ministries to directly challenge the authority of the Cabinet.

Otherwise, once this kind of trend is formed, the cabinet and the six ministries will be caught in endless power struggles, which will affect the administrative efficiency of the court.

Therefore, before Zhu Zaigui created a new institution to replace the role of the cabinet, he still had the obligation to maintain the authority of the cabinet.

Otherwise, if the cabinet disputes started, they would pass the lawsuits and the ball to Zhu Zaigui every day, asking Zhu Zaigui to be the referee for them. Would the state apparatus of the Ming Dynasty still be able to function?
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Tomorrow the dragon will rise! ~~
I wish all the emperors to soar high in the sky! (End of this chapter)