Chapter 1038 1129 How to regain face

Chapter 1038 1129 How to regain face

"Good lending, good lending."

In the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City, the cabinet, Wei Guangde was on duty.

Wei Guangde arrived at the cabinet early today to handle official business. During this period of time, Zhang Juzheng felt embarrassed and ashamed because of the impeachment of his student Liu Tai, so he had been hiding in the mansion and closed the door.

You know, even the former powerful minister Yan Song had never been impeached by his students. He worked hard for the court, but in the end, he couldn't even catch up with the treacherous minister Yan Song.

As for the handling of Liu Tai, the inspector, it was also because he was a censor. What was wrong with reporting things?

Such a reason became his biggest reliance and life-saving talisman at this time.

Even if Feng Bao came up with an idea, the two queen mothers in the harem had not made up their minds.

The fighting power of the censors in the Ming Dynasty was too strong. It was not that they could fight, but it was difficult to win them in a verbal battle.

Only by fighting violence with violence can they be forced to surrender.

However, if the two Empress Dowagers really wanted to do this, the bad reputation would never be washed away.

So, in recent days, the palace has issued an imperial decree to reward Zhang Juzheng's residence every day, and praised Zhang Juzheng's position very high.

Unfortunately, this still did not make Zhang Juzheng feel relieved.

Perhaps he really hated Liu Tai.

Before, the palace just asked Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang to jointly draft a fiercely worded reprimand and sent it to Liu Tai.

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that Zhang Juzheng was not satisfied with the result and was still in a bad mood.

On the grounds of being impeached, he refused to leave the palace to do his job.

Although he knew it, his actions were impeccable, which was a common practice in the court.

If he was impeached, he had to avoid suspicion. If Zhang Juzheng left the palace and returned to the cabinet at this time, it would mean that the matter was over and could not be pursued.

Zhang Juzheng was well aware of this, so even though he knew that the palace was anxious, he still chose to do his own thing and continued to wait for the palace to further punish Liu Tai.

Because once he returned to the cabinet and investigated Liu Tai again, even if he found other crimes and punished Liu Tai, it would be said that it was Zhang Ge Lao's retaliation.

Without Zhang Juzheng, the work of three people fell on two people, and the memorials that needed to be processed every day would increase by 50% or 60%.

This also made Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang go out early and come back late every day, and they were exhausted.

Just after processing a memorial, Wei Guangde heard a shout outside the door and knew that Lu Diaoyang was coming.

Put down the memorial in his hand and stood up to greet him.

After greeting each other, Wei Guangde let Lu Diaoyang in, sat him down, and asked Lu Bu to serve tea, and then asked: "What's the matter with you, brother?"

"It's Liu Tai. Now all the memorials are on you and me, but there are many memorials at the beginning and end of the year. I didn't have time to deal with a few memorials yesterday. I wonder how Shandai is doing here?"

Lu Diaoyang said as soon as he opened his mouth.

Wei Guangde is much younger than Lv Diaoyang. Although there are many memorials piled up, he can still barely cope with them.

In fact, the three cabinet ministers in the cabinet can still handle the workload even though it is much heavier.

But if there are only two people, it is really difficult to handle everything.

At the beginning, Yan Song and Xu Jie were able to handle the cabinet affairs in an orderly manner. The main reason was the existence of Yan Shifan, the young cabinet minister.

Otherwise, Yan and Xu would not be able to handle it.

"It's almost the same. I am also exhausted."

Although Wei Guangde was able to handle it in time, he also felt tired, so he would not say that he could still hold on at this time.

"Alas, I am afraid that the matter of Liu Tai this time hurt Uncle Da's heart."

Lv Diaoyang sighed and said, "I went to visit him yesterday and saw that he looked haggard. He didn't cry or make a fuss, but his face was dull. He couldn't vent his emotions. I don't know when he can recover and return to the cabinet to do his job."

Wei Guangde didn't say anything, but just nodded slightly.

At this moment, he still hadn't figured out the purpose of Lv Diaoyang's coming, whether he wanted to join him to overthrow Zhang Juzheng, or something else.

As far as Wei Guangde knew, the relationship between the two was not close friends, but it was not bad.

Considering Zhang Juzheng's current favor in the harem, Wei Guangde didn't believe that Lv Diaoyang dared to have other thoughts.

Even he didn't have the courage.

The higher the position, the more cautious you are. If you are not careful, you will be doomed.

In the past, when you were an official with little influence, even if you did something wrong or said something wrong, the impact was not big. You could apply for an imperial edict one by one, or at worst, you would be demoted and sent out.

But when you are in the position of the cabinet, if you make a mistake, you will retire at the least, or be dismissed at the worst.

At Wei Guangde's age, if he retires, someone must believe it.

The officialdom is used to bullying the weak. You dare not imagine what it was like at that time.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

Wei Guangde didn't want to experience it himself, so he had already made up his mind not to touch Zhang Juzheng.

Although Zhang is not as powerful as he was in history, his influence is still huge.

If Wei Guangde hadn't shared a lot of his power, I'm afraid that at this time, there would be censors who would directly abandon the dignity of the imperial court and ask to deal with Liu Tai in order to curry favor.

Wei Guangde didn't say anything, so Lu Diaoyang had to continue: "I think the crux of Shuda's inner demon lies in Liu Tai.

I heard that someone suggested to the two queen mothers to deal with Liu Tai. I wonder if Shandai knows about this?"

After listening to Lu Diaoyang's words, Wei Guangde was slightly relieved.

It's not that you want to use him as a gun. As for dealing with Liu Tai, a small censor, it's not impossible to touch him if you think of a way.

They are so bold as to directly impeach the cabinet minister. Today it is Zhang Juzheng, who knows if it will be me tomorrow.

"I have heard of it, but the Queen Mother is concerned about the power of the censors to report things, so she did not agree."

Wei Guangde continued.

This has actually been reported for a long time, so it is nothing to say a word.

The Ming Dynasty rarely dealt with censors, which was also the rule set in the early Ming Dynasty.

However, Wei Guangde looked at Lu Diaoyang at this time, pretending not to know and asked: "Brother He, do you mean?"

"Shan Dai, you understand what I mean, and I won't say much else. We should jointly report and ask the court to deal with Liu Tai.

In this way, the matter can be completely settled.

Otherwise, it will not be good for you and me to continue hanging like this."

Lu Diaoyang said immediately.

"No, no."

Wei Guangde shook his head like a rattle when he heard this. He would never do such a thing and leave a handle.

"The rumor-mongering was set by Emperor Taizu, and all previous emperors dared not abandon it. How can we do it?"

The cabinet ministers took action to punish the censors, and Wei Guangde did not want to get into trouble. He did not know what Lü Diaoyang was thinking.

Perhaps, he just wanted to calm the matter down as soon as possible, but he could not involve himself in it.

Lü Diaoyang's career was almost coming to an end, but Wei Guangde was still young and absolutely could not get stained with this stain.

Wei Guangde clearly remembered that those who had a relationship with Zhang Juzheng in the end did not seem to have a good end.

Some people were imprisoned for various crimes, and being dismissed was the best treatment.

If he and Lü Diaoyang jointly signed this matter at this time, it would be unknown what would happen if someone dug it up in the future.

Especially the right of the censors to report rumors, although it was quite controversial in the court, but the indisputable fact was that the right of the censors did not disappear until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

"Speaking on rumors" is a double-edged sword. It is not only a sharp weapon for rectifying the officialdom, but it is also easy to become an excuse for factional attacks in the officialdom.

In fact, the emperors of all dynasties knew the harm of speaking on rumors, but no emperor would restrict the right of the censor, because the handle of the knife was in the hands of the emperor.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he referred to the old system of the previous dynasty and carried out a series of reforms on the court, including the design and creation of the central system. Moreover, the political power structure of the central government of the Ming Dynasty basically followed the system design of the early Ming Dynasty. Kedaoguan was a very important system among them.

Kedaoguan is a combination of Keguan and Daoguan, also known as "Yanguan".

Keguan is a relatively independent supervision system independent of the Censorate. Based on the summary of the system design of the previous generation, Zhu Yuanzhang established six major departments of Li, Hu, Li, Bing, Xing, and Gong according to the six ministries, and set up left and right Jieshizhong officials respectively, including more than 50 people, who were specifically responsible for supervising the six ministries. They were relatively independent in the process of operation, but could refute each other.

Daoguan refers to the 13 Dao Supervisory Censors under the Metropolitan Procuratorate, with a fixed number of 110 people, responsible for supervising officials inside and outside the court.

Because they are all responsible for supervision and have similar responsibilities, they are called Kedao Censors.

Although the official rank in the court is not high, Kedao officials have the power to "spread rumors and hear things", so they are still unique in the power struggle in the Ming Dynasty.

In the political power structure of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power represented by the emperor and the "prime minister power" represented by the chief assistant and the cabinet as the main body are actually opposite, but the establishment of Kedao officials actually formed a power structure with "three horses" running in parallel.

In the feudal dynasty, the state institutions are essentially for the monarch, and the imperial power has absolute authority in it.

As the founder of the state machine of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, at the beginning of the founding of the country, required Kedao officials to "all officials' virtues, gains and losses in governance, the good and bad customs, and the benefits and problems of the army and the people, all should be investigated" and take on the important task of correcting all officials.

When the political situation in the early Ming Dynasty was not yet stable, the color of the Kedao officials in maintaining the imperial power was extremely strong, which can be seen from some historical facts in the early Ming Dynasty, among which the Hu Lan case is the best example.

Although the imperial power enjoyed a dominant position in the early Ming Dynasty, the threat of the nobles' merits had to attract Zhu Yuanzhang's attention, and rash measures would certainly cause dissatisfaction among the ministers.

At this time, the Kedao officials played a very important role. The Kedao officials impeached Hu Weiyong and others for being arrogant and disrespectful of the king's law and harboring rebellion, allowing Zhu Yuanzhang to grasp the handle relatively smoothly, and there were fewer obstacles in the subsequent activities.

Later, the emperor reduced his burden through the cabinet, but he was also full of worries about the cabinet officials.

They also needed someone to help them keep an eye on those who held real power. If necessary, as long as the Kedao officials "reported the matter", they could easily take back the power.

Kedao could report to the emperor only out of suspicion without real evidence, and they would not be held accountable if they were wrong. This was the privilege given to them by the emperor.

Lü Diaoyang wanted to join forces with Wei Guangde to punish Liu Tai. Wei Guangde didn't know whether it was Zhang Juzheng's idea, but he would never get involved.

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng just wanted to bind him, or maybe it was for other reasons, anyway, Wei Guangde would never get involved.

Another thing to mention is that the selection of people in the Censorate is also very independent, and it is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel at all, but is a self-contained entity.

Although the Kedao Censor must obtain the seal from the Ministry of Personnel, the right to appoint is not really in the Ministry of Personnel.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Censor was generally "passed" from civil servants who had worked in the central ministries and courts, mainly the Hanlin Academy, for three to five years.

Officials from other backgrounds are not eligible to enter the Censorate.

Jinshi officials who have been demoted or dismissed cannot be selected. This is a restriction on the selection.

Secondly, if the censor violates the rules and laws, the crime shall be increased by two levels and dealt with severely.

Other officials can be reinstated for various reasons after being demoted or dismissed, but censors cannot be reinstated once they are dismissed. Even if they meet the conditions for reinstatement, they can only be arranged to work in other government offices.

In addition, the children of Beijing officials above the third rank and foreign officials above the governor cannot be selected as Kedao officials in order to prevent high-ranking officials from interfering in supervision and collusion of power.

It can be said that although the censors have great powers, they are also subject to more restrictions.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng both coveted the Censorate and Kedao, but the only ones who could really reach out were Kedao, not the Censorate.

Why did Wei Guangde start from the Censorate and work from Guangdong to Fujian in order to seek a position in the Censorate? Isn’t it because he is worried about being noticed?

The reason for going through such a big circle is to allow Lao Kan to be airborne in the Censorate in Fujian as a governor, and directly become the deputy censor, ready to take over the title of the left censor.

If he was sent out, there would be enough local officials, so he would not be discovered.

On Zhang Juzheng's side, Wei Guangde believed that there must have been an ambush long ago, but he didn't know who Zhang Juzheng had prepared.

Seeing Wei Guangde's firm attitude, Lu Diaoyang persuaded him for a while, but Wei Guangde didn't agree.

What a joke, this matter is too important, and it is related to the turmoil many years later.

Although Wei Guangde wanted to ease the relationship, Zhang Juzheng was quite persistent, similar to Gao Gong in some aspects, and he would not listen to others. He was still very strict in disciplining the young emperor Zhu Yijun.

Even in private, he had disputes with Wei Guangde many times because of this matter.

There was no way, Wei Guangde was too lazy to care, anyway, it was Zhang Juzheng who would be unlucky in the future.

Wei Guangde was unwilling to sign the petition, but Lü Diaoyang still submitted a memorial alone and sent it directly to the Silijian.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether the two people had any deal behind the scenes, and he didn't bother to care.

As long as he stepped firmly, he wouldn't be affected.

The next day, it was Zhang Juzheng's turn to teach Xiao Huandi.

But under the current circumstances, it was naturally impossible to teach, so the palace ordered Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng to switch classes.

After the regular class, during the break, the little emperor talked about Lü Diaoyang's memorial.

Although the emperor did not rule the country personally, he knew everything, and the two empress dowagers would naturally not handle government affairs behind his back.

"Master Wei, what does it take for Master Zhang to come back and continue to teach me, and handle government affairs?"

Zhu Yijun is now in a period of diligence and learning. He also wants to be a capable monarch, and he is not complacent because he has lost a strict teacher.

"Your Majesty, Master Zhang should be embarrassed, after all, Liu Tai's matter."

Wei Guangde just shook his head slightly.

"Then how can we help Master Zhang regain his face?

Do we really have to punish Liu Tai?

The Queen Mother said that it is against the ancestral system for censors to be convicted for citing opinions."

The little emperor continued.