My father is Jiajing

The Ministry of Personnel in the capital.

Zhao Zhenji and Zhang Juzheng sat together staring at each other.

Although Zhao Zhenji had known for a long time that he would become the Minister of Personnel, this was the first time he worked with Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng also looked at Zhao Zhenji. Although Zhao Zhenji was one level higher than him, Zhang Juzheng was also very clear that he and Zhao Zhenji were fundamentally different.

Zhao Zhenji is a good supporting player, but he is not necessarily a good leader who can stand on his own.

Now the two of them were sitting in the lobby of the Ministry of Personnel. Apart from the tentative atmosphere between them, they were just looking at each other.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Zhenji couldn't help but sigh, lamenting the difficult times.

Zhang Juzheng seemed to understand what Zhao Zhenji meant, and he bowed to him and said, "Minister, why are you sighing?"

Zhao Zhenji raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "Uncle, to be honest, the prince put me in the position of the Ministry of Personnel just to put me on the spot!"

"I have been away from the capital for many years and I don't know much about the government affairs in the capital. Now the prince has suddenly placed me in the position of Minister of Personnel. If I can't make some achievements, I will inevitably be ridiculed as an incompetent person who got promoted by luck."

Zhang Juzheng didn't dare to express his opinion easily after hearing Zhao Zhenji's words which were no different from self-depreciation.

After all, if he said the wrong thing, he would offend his direct superior.

By then, even if Xu Jie could still protect him, and Prince Yu could still give him a chance because of their past friendship, his future would not go far.

After all, he is not Gao Suqing, who has a hot temper and is always aggressive.

Gao Suqing can express some temper and some words without any scruples, but this does not mean that others can follow suit.

So after some deep thinking, Zhang Juzheng also tried to smooth things over for Zhao Zhenji and said, "What are you talking about, Minister? During your time as the governor of Zhejiang, your contribution to the war against the Japanese was also great! Otherwise, why would the prince have allowed you to serve in the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel?"

"Before, when I was chatting with Lord Xu in our spare time, Lord Xu said that Minister Bu Tang had the talent to be a prime minister, and that he must enter the cabinet to assist the emperor and sort out yin and yang."

"Now that the Minister has arrived at the Ministry of Personnel, this should be a piece of cake. There won't be any difficulty at all."

Zhao Zhenji laughed and said, "Uncle, you and I are both old acquaintances of the palace. Besides, there are only two of us here now, so there is no need for such formalities. You can just call me Meng Jing."

When Zhang Juzheng heard what Zhao Zhenji said, he didn't take it seriously.

The two of them are now in a true superior-subordinate relationship. If he really took Zhao Zhenji's polite words seriously and called Zhao Zhenji by his courtesy name in the lobby of the Ministry of Personnel, wouldn't that mean that Zhang Juzheng couldn't tell the difference between the big and small princes?

Zhang Juzheng bowed repeatedly and said, "How dare I? Please don't do this, minister."

Zhao Zhenji saw that Zhang Juzheng was quite sensible, and a smile really brightened up on his face. He was afraid that this young man would not cooperate with his work, causing his Ministry of Personnel to achieve nothing and lose face.

Now it seems that I was overthinking it.

Since this is the case, Zhao Zhenji no longer continues to test Zhang Juzheng.

After all, before he took office as the Minister of Personnel, Zhu Zaigui had given him a task, asking him and Zhang Juzheng to discuss in detail the implementation of a new official assessment method in the Ministry of Personnel.

Now it seems that Zhang Juzheng does not have the arrogance of Gao Gong, and he also knows the proper distance between superiors and subordinates.

Zhao Zhenji also felt that this matter should be dealt with as soon as possible and no more time should be wasted.

After all, the emperor's southern tour would only take a month and a half at most.

If he still can't come up with a new explanation within one and a half months.

When Zhu Zaigui comes back and sees the situation, he might be disappointed with him and Zhang Juzheng.

Therefore, in order not to disappoint Zhu Zaigui and for his own future prospects, he wanted to go further.

Zhao Zhenji also decided not to play dumb with Zhang Juzheng anymore.

Zhao Zhenji said, "Before the prince left Beijing, he told me something and asked me and you to work together to get it done."

Zhang Juzheng looked up at Zhao Zhenji. He didn't expect that Zhao Zhenji would say such a thing after all the preparations he had made.

Zhang Juzheng said quickly, "Please give me your instructions. I will work together with you to complete the prince's order!"

Zhao Zhenji looked at Zhang Juzheng's decisiveness and couldn't help but laugh: "Uncle, don't you even ask what the matter is?"

Zhang Juzheng said: "I am the emperor's salary and I must be loyal to him. I am not only a subordinate of the Ministry, but also a subject of the prince. Since the prince and the Ministry have given orders, I will definitely live up to the expectations of the prince and the Ministry."

Zhao Zhenji nodded with satisfaction again. Sometimes he still admired Zhang Juzheng's decisiveness.

Although he is not very old, his calm and decisive personality is so eye-catching that people can't help but feel that he is no ordinary person.

After Zhao Zhenji sighed at Zhang Juzheng's personality, he stopped going around in circles.

Zhao Zhenji said: "Your Highness feels that the current Ministry of Personnel is too idle and cannot play a substantive role in recommending talents for the court and assessing officials."

"Most officials nowadays are promoted and transferred based on their qualifications rather than their abilities. Your Highness has a strong opinion on this point."

"Although senior officials are sometimes more stable, seniority can sometimes inadvertently turn into nepotism, which is hard to understand the official atmosphere of the court."

"So, the prince's request to you and me is to sort out and come up with a new official assessment system as soon as possible, sweeping away the previous method of selecting and recommending officials based on qualifications and personal connections, reorganizing the officialdom atmosphere for the Ming Dynasty, and effectively giving full play to the role that the Ministry of Personnel should play."

As soon as Zhao Zhenji finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng's eyes widened in disbelief. He never expected that Prince Yu would ask the Ministry of Personnel to do something so far-reaching at this time.

This really went beyond Zhang Juzheng's imagination.

At the same time, Zhao Zhenji said slowly, "That day when I was discussing music with the prince in Wenhua Palace, the prince also said something more important."

Although Zhang Juzheng could not guess how important and shocking Zhao Zhenji's next sentence was.

But the fact that he actually put this sentence after the important event of the Ministry of Personnel is enough to show that Prince Yu’s words will have a more far-reaching impact!
Of course, it is better to know about such far-reaching things sooner rather than later.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng bowed to Zhao Zhenji again and said, "Please let the minister give you clear instructions."

Zhao Zhenji said quietly: "The prince said that the time he and His Majesty were away from the capital was to test the adaptability of some officials and to prepare for the recruitment of new members to the cabinet." Upon hearing this, although Zhang Juzheng felt that this matter was indeed not small, it was not to the point of being amazing.

After all, the current cabinet consists of Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, and Gao Gong. And Gao Gong is far away in Nanjing, so in fact, there are only two people.

According to the rules of recent years, there must be at least three or four in the Beijing Cabinet.

Therefore, even if Zhao Zhenji did not say this, any discerning person could see that one or two new people were added to the cabinet.

Moreover, according to past experience in recruiting people, the Minister of Rites is the easiest one to be recruited, followed by the six ministers who have experience in the Hanlin Academy.

Now, among the six ministries, except for the Ministry of Works which is concurrently held by Li Chunfang, there are only five positions for Shangshu left.

Among these five ministers, the only ones who had experience in the Hanlin Academy were Minister of Rites Guo Pu and Zhao Zhenji in front of him.

The others, such as the Minister of War Hu Zongxian, the Minister of Punishments Zhao Wenhua, and the Minister of Revenue Gao Yao, had no experience in the Hanlin Academy.

Therefore, if the cabinet needs to add two people, it will be both Guo Pu and Zhao Zhenji. If it needs to add only one person, Guo Pu has a much greater chance of winning than Zhao Zhenji.

After all, whether in terms of qualifications or the current situation.

Guo Pu is far superior to Zhao Zhenji, and now Guo Pu is with the emperor, so the emperor can easily pay attention to him.

But Zhao Zhenji actually said this at this time, which means that Zhao Zhenji only said half of his words, and the second half is the real point.

Zhang Juzheng continued to listen attentively to what Zhao Zhenji said next.

Zhao Zhenji looked at Zhang Juzheng's reaction and was impressed by Zhang Juzheng's intelligence. No wonder he was called a child prodigy when he was young.

I only said half of the sentence, but he guessed it so quickly. It's really amazing.

Zhao Zhenji continued: "Your Highness believes that the current non-Hanlin officials are not very motivated, and their level of concern and execution for court affairs are poor."

"So, Your Majesty thinks this may be because of the unspoken rule that 'only Hanlin scholars can serve in the cabinet'. Moreover, before the reign of Emperor Yingzong, the court did not select Hanlin scholars to serve in the cabinet."

“So, what the prince meant was to open a new window for those non-Hanlin officials who have the ability and ambition but cannot rise to high positions and make decisions. This way, they can also use their own abilities to get the same opportunities as Hanlin officials, and can all be selected to join the cabinet and assist the political leaders!”

Zhang Juzheng took a breath of cold air!
This matter is really huge!
It really exceeded his imagination!
He never expected it to be such a big deal!

If non-Hanlin officials were also able to enter the cabinet in the future, what a huge impact that would have!

No wonder Zhao Zhenji said there was something more important.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Juzheng exclaimed: "Your Majesty is really swift and decisive! I never thought that you would make such a decision!"

Zhao Zhenji looked at Zhang Juzheng's reaction and laughed, "Isn't that right? When I heard what the prince said, I was just like you are now. At that time, Hu Zongxian and Zhao Wenhua, who were also serious about entering the cabinet, could no longer hide the gleam and ambition in their eyes after hearing what the prince said."

"It can be seen how much impact this matter has on the two of them. Now the prince and His Majesty are touring the south to worship their ancestors, leaving behind Elder Li and the rest of us. To put it bluntly, this is to test whether we can make convincing political achievements during this period of time."

"Moreover, the prince also said that the scope of the cabinet members to be elected this time is also limited to the ministers of the six ministries. The assistant ministers of the six ministries will also be considered."

"If you and I can do this job well, even if we cannot join the cabinet after His Majesty's southern tour, we will definitely have the opportunity to join the cabinet to assist His Majesty in the future."

Zhang Juzheng's heart was churning and his face turned red. He was so excited.

If this is true, then the time he spends in the cabinet will be shortened a lot.

Moreover, even without Xu Jie's strong support, he could still enter the cabinet with his own abilities.

And this difference is huge.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng bowed to Zhao Zhenji earnestly and said, "Thank you for your instructions. I will live up to your expectations and cooperate with you to compile a new set of official assessment methods for you during your majesty's southern tour."

Zhao Zhenji nodded in satisfaction and continued, "I'll leave this matter to you, uncle. If you have any good ideas or suggestions, please don't hide them and just come to me for discussion. Even if some suggestions are ill-considered, that's fine."

Zhao Zhenji's words also made Zhang Juzheng feel completely at ease.

Zhang Juzheng bowed again and said, "I understand!"

Then Zhao Zhenji and Zhang Juzheng started talking, and their subsequent topics became relaxed and natural, without so many twists and turns.

Zhang Juzheng first explained to Zhao Zhenji the situation of the Ministry of Personnel that he had learned about before arriving there.

The previous Ministers of Personnel were Guo Pu and Gao Gong. Although Zhang Juzheng did not often deal with them directly, they were in the same capital, and he was often summoned by Zhu Zaigui to discuss matters with Gao Gong and others in the Wenhua Hall.

Therefore, I still have some understanding of the major decisions and changes made by the Ministry of Personnel in recent years.

In addition, he is now the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, so naturally he also has the authority to review the decision-making files of the Ministry of Personnel.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng's understanding of the current situation of the Ministry of Personnel was definitely much better than that of Zhao Zhenji, a "greenhorn" who had just arrived in Beijing a few months ago.

Zhang Juzheng started by talking about the housing provident fund for Beijing officials in the early years and the salary increase for lower-ranking officials, and went on to talk about the local clerk assessment and management system that the Ministry of Personnel was about to establish but had not yet started.

These local clerks, who are usually not registered, do not seem to hold formal official positions.

However, in actual administrative management and execution, the role they play is crucial.

It can even be said that if a local official fails to control and manage the clerks in the local government office, then his entire term as local official may even be undermined by these insignificant clerks.

Therefore, in order to prevent such petty officials from having a negative impact on future major policies, Zhu Zaigui ordered Guo Pu to establish a set of management and assessment standards for local clerks, and even said: "If clerks are talented, they can also be promoted to regular officials and included in the official register of the Ministry of Personnel."

For those capable clerks, this can even be said to be a major opportunity for them to change their destiny.

However, all of this must be based on the premise that there must be an effective management and assessment rule. Otherwise, if the loophole for clerks to become regular employees is abused, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty will be in chaos again!
So, when Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji talked about this matter, Zhao Zhenji was also thinking about it very seriously.

Especially regarding clerks, he knew much more deeply about them than Zhang Juzheng. After all, when he was the governor of Zhejiang, he made extensive use of clerks.

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