Chapter 1059 1150 Nanjing Officialdom

Chapter 1059 1150 Nanjing Officialdom

"Master, someone from the mansion came to inform me that there is an urgent letter from Yunnan. Please go back after the office is over."

Wei Guangde was handling official business in the duty room, and the clerk Lu Bu came in quietly and whispered in his ear.

"I know."

Wei Guangde didn't even raise his head, just said casually.

Lu Bu saw that the tea cup next to him was almost finished, so he took the tea cup and left the duty room.

Not long after, the tea cup with water was brought back and placed on the side of the desk.

That was where Wei Guangde used to put tea when handling official business.

After doing all this, Lu Bu carefully left the duty room, leaving Wei Guangde alone in the room, but occasionally there was the sound of flipping papers.

After an unknown period of time, Lu Bu, who was waiting at the door, was looking around boredly, and saw a servant from the Zhang Mansion walking quickly to the duty room of the Prime Minister.

In addition to the Zhongshu and clerks arranged by the court, Zhang Juzheng also brought a family member to serve and wait on him in the duty room.

Wei Guangde naturally didn't need it, so he let the clerk do the job.

When the man approached, he pointed to the room.

Lu Bu nodded and whispered, "The master is busy inside."

"There is something today. The Prime Minister asked Wei to go over early to discuss."

The man also lowered his voice and whispered.

"Okay, I know."

Lu Bu nodded. Although he didn't know whether the Prime Minister had the right to summon the cabinet ministers to discuss, he also knew that these things were not for him to ask.

The man bowed to Lu Bu again, then turned around and walked towards Lu Diaoyang's duty room.

Lu Bu watched the man leave, and waited for a while, and then heard Wei Guangde shouting in the room: "Lu Bu, come in and move this pile of memorials out."

Wei Guangde had already dealt with the memorials in his hand, and today's work was completed.

Lu Bu immediately stepped into the room and saw Wei Guangde sitting behind the desk.

At this time, two piles of processed memorials were piled up on the side of his desk, but there was another one placed in front of him, which seemed to have been processed, but it was not put aside.

Lu Bu quickly stepped forward, simply arranged the two piles of memorials, and then looked at the one placed in front of Wei Guangde, and asked hesitantly: "Master, do you want to send this memorial away together?"

"Just take the other two piles out and ask the secretary to deal with it."

Wei Guangde said lightly.

After speaking, he picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.

"Master, someone from the Prime Minister just said that the Prime Minister seemed to have something to discuss with you, and said to go there early."

Lu Bu remembered the previous message and whispered to Wei Guangde.

"Got it."

Wei Guangde nodded.

Lu Bu skillfully picked up a pile of memorials with one hand, slowly retreated to the door, and then turned to go out.

Wei Guangde closed his eyes slightly, rested for a while, then stood up, reached out to pick up the memorial in front of him and put it in his sleeve, slowly walked out of the duty room and walked towards Zhang Juzheng.

"Brother Heqing, you are done with your work."

Halfway through, Wei Guangde met Lu Diaoyang who had finished his official business, and hurriedly bowed and smiled.

"Yes, it's been good these days, there are not many things to deal with, hehe."

Lu Diaoyang smiled and bowed to Wei Guangde in return, and the two walked into Zhang Juzheng's duty room together.

The beginning and end of each year are the busiest times for cabinet affairs, while during this period of time in the middle of the year, there are fewer things to do.

The sound of the two people talking and laughing outside the door had long been heard by Zhang Juzheng in the room. When they entered the door, Zhang Juzheng had already won the rough.

After a brief greeting, Zhang Juzheng led the two to sit down, asked someone to bring tea, and then said: "Today, I invited you two here, mainly for two things to discuss."

Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang did not say anything, waiting for Zhang Juzheng's next words.

Then he heard Zhang Juzheng's story, "At the beginning of the founding of the country, the daily record officials were set up to serve the emperor every day and record his speech and activities. It was actually the ancient system of the left historian recording events and the right historian recording words.

After the official system was established, the Hanlin Academy was set up to write, edit, and review officials. Because the things recorded were important, the officials were set up in detail, and they were not abolished.

Since the name of the position was changed, the rule of daily record was lost, resulting in the omission of historical texts in the past dynasties.

Recently, we are the general manager of the compilation of the "Veritable Records". All the editing is just a collection of the memorials of various departments, with slight deletions and polishing, and then cut into a compilation.

As for the front pillar The words that are not included in the chapters and memorials, even if there are some knowledge and experiences, will not be added.

As for the unofficial history books circulating in the country, we want to collect them, but we are afraid of distortion. Therefore, many major classics and laws are not included, all of which are caused by the abolition of the historian's duty.

Now it is appropriate to clarify the historian's duty and restore the old system, so that one daily lecturer will take turns every day to record the emperor's daily life, and also record the imperial edicts, pardons, imperial edicts, etc., as well as the cabinet's drafts. "

Zhang Juzheng's meaning is very clear, to re-establish the daily record official, the daily lecturer will take turns every day, and when on duty, he will be responsible for recording the emperor's daily life, words and deeds, and handling government affairs.

The daily record is a record of the words and deeds of the emperor in ancient China. The style of this historical book was created by Empress Mingde of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Gu Yanwu said in "Rizhilu": "In ancient times, the emperor had a left historian to record events and a right historian to record words, so as to prevent mistakes and show the future kings. The duty of recording and annotating is still there."

Since the Han Dynasty, almost every emperor has a daily record, but very few have been passed down, mainly because they are generally not passed on to others and are only used as one of the basic materials for compiling national history.

It can be seen that the real significance of the daily record lies in the compilation of the "Veritable Records" mentioned by Zhang Juzheng just now.

The previous emperors did not re-establish the recorder, so Zhang Juzheng said that the compilation of the "Records" was a compilation of the memorials of various departments. It is better to say that it is a collection of memorials of the court rather than the "Records".

The so-called emperor's words, that is, the emperor's comments on the memorials, are definitely inappropriate.

"Records" is a record of the words and deeds of the emperor in ancient times. Many people think that the historians will follow the emperor closely and record his every word and deed in detail, especially the private affairs of the harem.

However, in real history, the emperors of various dynasties would not really let their ministers write such gossip-filled diaries.

The emperor's life in the harem should not be recorded by the recorder, but by the "Inner Records" recorded by the eunuchs.

Therefore, the records of the emperor's daily life should have two books, "Records" and "Inner Records".

Now the emperor is young, so "Inner Records" is naturally out of the question. Otherwise, Zhang Juzheng should be in charge, and there is still the empress dowager in the palace.

Now Zhang Juzheng mentioned "Qijuzhu" again, Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang looked at each other.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, or most of the emperors in Chinese history, actually didn't pay much attention to "Qijuzhu".

Qijuzhu originated in Zhou Dynasty. With the maturity of the concept of recording history in the Spring and Autumn Period, the record of the emperor's words and deeds began to expand from ritual and music activities to his political activities.

During the Han Dynasty, the relevant archives and records began to be written independently, namely "Han Zhuji".

It was not until the late Eastern Han Dynasty that the term "Qijuzhu" officially appeared in history.

The main reason why "Qijuzhu" developed so slowly was that after the Western Zhou Dynasty, emperors generally did not attach importance to this thing.

First, with the "collapse of rituals and music" and "reasoning with fists", the constraints of ritual and music norms on dynasties and society became weaker and weaker.

The corresponding educational role of the king's related activities also became less and less, and the motivation to insist on related records was naturally insufficient.

Secondly, ancient emperors basically did not meet their ministers easily and did not express their opinions directly to their ministers.

The main purpose is to create a sense of mystery by making it difficult to get close to and figure out, and then to enhance the majesty of imperial power.

Recording the emperor's words and deeds will destroy this sense of mystery to a certain extent, so the emperors are generally not enthusiastic or resist this.

The situation changed again during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, because the imperial power began to decline.

"The emperor changes with time, but the family is iron-clad" made the emperors no longer high and mighty, nor mysterious.

In order to maintain the imperial power, the emperors had to make up for themselves in all aspects.

Therefore, the "Daily Notes", which were not valued before, were taken out by the emperors to extract value.

By making their own words and deeds into classics, they can highlight and emphasize their status.

During this period, the importance of "Daily Notes" was increased, and the "great glory" of the emperor in sacrifice, filial piety, and state affairs was passed down to the world, that is, the emperor set an example.

However, just when "Daily Notes" could have a major development, history entered the Tang Dynasty, and a major event broke out in the early days of the Tang Dynasty. This was the scandal of Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin killing his brother, forcing his father, and usurping the throne.

In order to explain his unforgivable crimes, he helped his father to reorganize and revise the "diary" and find reasons for his actions. Li Shimin also took great pains to create a situation where he was forced to protect himself.

Of course, for scholars, Li Shimin was a wise ruler, but the "Xuanwu Gate Incident" was also a stain that he could not wash away.

The emperors after that disliked the "Daily Notes" because Li Shimin made the "Daily Notes" famous, but was spurned by scholars.

During the Song Dynasty, although the "Daily Notes" of each emperor were still written by a full-time professional, the records had to be submitted to the emperor for "correction" before they could be sent to the National History Museum for archiving.

Moreover, it became a routine for the new emperor to check and revise the "Daily Notes" of the previous emperor after he ascended the throne.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the old things of the previous dynasty and had established the Daily Notes before the founding of the country, which was responsible for recording the emperor's words and deeds and court events.

However, in the ninth year of Hongwu, the rank of the daily record was lowered twice in just six months, which may indicate that the Ming Taizu was already dissatisfied with the position of daily record at that time and was considering its abolition.

Subsequently, the daily record was abolished. However, it is worth noting that the abolition of the daily record was not long. Four years later, in the fourteenth year of Hongwu, the daily record was restored again, but it was abolished again soon.

However, for a long time afterwards, the Ming Dynasty did not re-establish the daily record official, and naturally there was no "daily record" of the Ming Dynasty emperor.

Later, in the late Hongzhi period, Ming Xiaozong agreed to re-establish the daily record official to record the daily record.

However, soon after Ming Xiaozong died, the position of the daily record official was abolished by Emperor Zhengde.

In the eleventh year of Jiajing, Hanlin scholar Liao Daonan requested to re-establish the daily record and let Hanlin take part-time jobs, and Emperor Jiajing agreed.

But soon after, Emperor Jiajing hid in the harem and began to practice Taoism. Naturally, the Hanlin officials did not dare to go to the harem to meet Emperor Jiajing casually, and naturally they could not record his daily life and his conversations in handling government affairs.

At this time, although the Hanlin Academy was nominally responsible for compiling the emperor's "Daily Notes", it was actually in name only and could only collect memorials from various departments to compile the so-called "Daily Notes".

"Brother Uncle, is this the idea of ​​the palace or..."

Wei Guangde stared at Zhang Juzheng and asked after a moment.

"It was my idea."

Zhang Juzheng was very single and answered directly, "At the beginning of the year, when your majesty was worshipping the imperial temple, I noticed that there was no Hanlin to serve as the daily record official beside your majesty."

Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun has been sending officials to pay homage to his ancestors for more than two years since he came to the throne on June 10, the sixth year of Longqing.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month in the third year of Wanli, he visited the Ancestral Temple in person for the first time when he was thirteen years old. However, until his death, he rarely visited the Ancestral Temple in person.

Perhaps it was a certain fate, but Zhang Juzheng was already worried about this matter at this time.

However, when it came to Wei Guangde's ears, he was quite disapproving.

Since the little emperor is young, he naturally seldom goes to perform sacrifices in person. When he grows up, he will naturally go there every year.

"You can report this matter, but let the palace decide."

Wei Guangde knew that Li Zhi was not popular with the emperor. Now that Zhu Yijun was young, many things were unclear.

When I get older and know what is true and what is false, I may have a different attitude.

"I'm looking for you two today. I drafted the charter and want to ask you to correct it."

What Zhang Juzheng said about correcting the problem actually meant asking them to sign it too.

The cabinet ministers all agreed, so it was naturally difficult for the palace to firmly oppose it.

It's not like forcing the palace, but if this attitude is revealed, the people in the palace will naturally think about it.

Wei Guangde glanced at Lu Tiaoyang, who was still thinking, and said with a smile, "But, I wonder what other things my uncle has to do?"

If Zhang Juzheng had said yes to the first thing, his face would probably not look good.

Wei Guangde didn't think it was a big deal and didn't bother to worry about it.

Zhang Juzheng did not ask Lu Tiaoyang for his opinion, because after Wei Guangde spoke, Lu Tiaoyang just glanced at him and said nothing.

"The second thing is about Nanjing. You should know that the six ministries in Nanjing are idle, and the previous dynasty often had one person in charge of the ministry.

As far as the official department is concerned, there are many vacancies among the six ministers and ministers in Nanjing. How should they be filled? "

Zhang Juzheng said again.

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng. In fact, he had already shown his attitude. He was going to follow the old rules first and asked him to say whatever he wanted.

However, there really wasn't much going on in Nanjing Sixth Division. The really big things were all reported to the capital.

In the yamen in Nanjing, there is a minister or minister, who can indeed handle official affairs.

"Brother Uncle, what you are saying is that if Nanjing is short of personnel, there is no need to replace them unless it is urgent?"

Wei Guangde asked tentatively.

Zhang Juzheng nodded, expressing his opinion.

Wei Guangde understood after thinking about it that Zhang Juzheng left a place for some people in Nanjing.

Well, if there are people in the court who oppose him, he can go directly to Nanjing, where there are many vacant positions and he can be promoted.

If they are filled up early, there may not be room for them yet.

"What do you think, brother Heqing?"

Wei Guangde did not express his position this time, but looked at Lu Tiaoyang and asked for his opinion.

This is his second assistant, with Zhang Juzheng at the top and Lu Tiaoyang at the bottom. He has to take care of both ends in the middle.

He should not discuss big and small matters with Zhang Juzheng and treat others as nothing.

"The duties in Nanjing are light and simple, so it doesn't matter. But if this system is set, I don't know what outsiders will say."

Lu Tiaoyang was obviously a bit wavering. Even though he thought it was not a big deal, he did not dare to make up his mind for fear of being criticized for it.

Nanjing's officialdom was actually much more troublesome than later generations thought, and it was also the most prone to trouble.