Chapter 780 879 Cabinet

"Hai Rui?"

Gao Gong's heart tightened when he heard Zhang Siwei say a name with some embarrassment.

It's not that Hai Rui is so great. In Gao Gong's opinion, Hai Rui is just a person who seeks fame and reputation. Otherwise, after obtaining the evidence of Xu Jie's family's donation of land, he should have cut the Gordian knot and directly raided the family and arrested the people.

All the members of the Xu family involved in this case should be sentenced to exile.

But Hai Rui did not do so. Instead, he wanted to bargain with Xu Jie and let him return the donated land.

However, even if he looked down on him, Gao Gong would not ignore Hai Rui's influence on the Qingliu side.

In the Hanlin Academy, the Censorate and the people, Hai Rui was respected by many scholars because of the widespread dissemination of "An An Shu" and the legendary story of waiting for the execution of Emperor Jiajing at home with a coffin.

If it was reported at this time that Hai Rui lost his official position because of his elimination of redundant staff, Gao Gong didn't know how the outside world would evaluate him.

"Then move him to the Nanjing Censorate, or the Ministry of Revenue. I remember that he was the Director of Yunnan Division in the Ministry of Revenue, right?"

Gao Gong understood the importance of this matter and did not want to cause trouble in the process of eliminating redundant staff. After all, this was a very offensive thing.

If someone was dissatisfied with the loss of his official position and used Hai Rui's incident to make trouble, it would be very troublesome.

Zhang Siwei only thought about it for a while and answered: "Hai Rui was the Director of Yunnan Division of the Ministry of Revenue at first, that's right, and then he was the Censorate, Dali Temple and other government offices."

Zhang Siwei said this, in fact, he also wanted Gao Gong to understand Hai Rui's career experience more clearly, so that it would be easier for him to arrange Hai Rui's official position.

But Gao Gong didn't want to hear this. He was a self-centered person. Since he had already decided to let Hai Rui go to the Ministry of Revenue, he would not change it.

"It's the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. When the time comes, just give him a sinecure there. Let him hand over the work he has on hand to the Nanjing Censorate. In the future, the Nanjing Censorate will arrange censors to conduct the annual inspection of Nanjing's grain reserves, and he will not be needed."

At first, Gao Gong wanted to make use of Hai Rui's strengths and let him enter the Censorate.

Since you are an honest official, then help me keep an eye on the corrupt officials in Nanjing.

However, Gao Gong suddenly thought of another thing. Someone whispered in his ear a few days ago that Hai Rui seemed to have found out about his students.

If it were two or three years ago, Gao Gong would not only not consider exonerating his students, but would also pass the news to the Censorate and let them investigate strictly.

But now he won't do that. He needs his students and old friends to build momentum for him.

Lone ministers will not have a good end. Perhaps being in harmony with the world is the way to be an official.

How to use Hai Rui's knife must be carefully thought out. If it is not used well, it will not only hurt others, but also hurt yourself.

"Okay, Hai Rui will be incorporated into the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. I heard that he is good at statistics and calculations, so it can be considered as a personal arrangement."

Zhang Siwei did not say much this time, but just echoed Gao Gong's words and recorded a few words in the book.

That night, the lights in the lobby of the Ministry of Personnel were on all night. Gao Gong led the officials of the Ministry of Personnel to finalize the list of officials to be laid off overnight, and then ordered people to copy it and prepare to choose a day to report the matter.

The Ministry of Personnel did not intend to hide its actions from others. That night, the news had spread in various mansions and brothels in the capital. Some idle officials were inevitably worried that their official positions would also be among the cuts, so they visited their friends of the same age everywhere to inquire about the news.

However, not many people in the Ministry of Personnel knew about these things, so naturally they could not find out much. They only knew that the establishment of officials in some government offices would be reduced, the duties of some official positions would be merged, and the rest would be redundant and would be laid off.

But the specific method of the layoffs was not clear to the outside world.

Wei Guangde had naturally heard about this. Although Emperor Longqing had not issued an order to the cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel had already started to move in a hurry. If he didn't know about it, he would be derelict in his duty.

Of course, what he knew was more detailed than what was spread outside, but he didn't care too much.

If there really was a relative who needed to be taken care of and was on the list of officials to be dismissed, then he could find him a job after the dust settled.

Now Gao Gong has received the emperor's favor and is handling this matter.

Wei Guangde knew that this was Gao Gong's biggest move after returning to the court, and he would never allow anyone to interfere and ruin his good deeds.

If he couldn't influence it, then let him do it. After all, people still need to be officials, and it's not to deprive these people of their official status.

The people in the Ministry of Personnel should be hoping that their superiors would do this every year, so that people would cry and beg them to do things for them and find jobs, and they would get a lot of red envelopes.

In the following two days, because of the actions of the Ministry of Personnel, some officials in the court were inevitably panicked, worried that they would be included in the scope of the reduction. Therefore, there were a lot of people in front of the mansions of Li Chunfang, Wei Guangde and others. Many people could not wait to hand in the invitations and wait for the reply of each mansion before visiting. They just waited outside the mansions with gifts.

Of course, such scenes not only appeared in the homes of cabinet ministers, but also in front of the six ministries and officials of the Ministry of Personnel.

Many people came for themselves, and some came for relatives and friends to inquire about the news, which made all the senior officials very annoyed, and they all had a little dissatisfaction with Gao Gong in their hearts.

In fact, at the level of the second rank, they did not like long queues in front of their homes.

Maybe it seemed to others that they were very happy to receive the gifts, but these gifts were often not selfless and had a price.

At this time, gifts had to be received, but there were some things that the host might not be willing to do.

Moreover, such scenes had a very bad impact.

In the eyes of later generations, it seems that this is what the front doors of the dignitaries' homes should look like in this era, but in fact it is not.

Even when Yan Song invaded the government and the public, there were not many scenes like this in front of the house.

In fact, only when Mrs. Yan Song celebrated her birthday, Yan Song would open the door and let people who came to celebrate her birthday enter. The scene was like this at that time, and there was an endless stream of people giving gifts to celebrate her birthday from morning to night.

Because at that time, not only the people below gave gifts, but the emperor above would send eunuchs to send a congratulatory gift. Naturally, there was nothing to worry about if it reached the palace.

He and his son Yan Shifan also paid great attention to their birthdays, and they would only do this if they were celebrating their birthdays.

Of course, this was also meant to be shown to Emperor Jiajing, who was a very filial man.

What was the original reason for the Yan family's loss of power?

But it was Yan Shifan who behaved inappropriately during the period of mourning. During the period when his biological mother died, he actually drank alcohol and had sex with prostitutes, which made Emperor Jiajing lose trust in his moral character.

For a normal visit, you would first send a message to the host's family, and the host would reply to the message only if they wanted to see you.

As for Yan Shifan's sale of his official position, he also did it in a pawn shop outside the mansion. How could he blatantly engage in power-for-money transactions at home?

"Haha. Mr. Hu, walk slowly."

After Wei Guangde sent away the last guest, he finally sat down on the lounge chair to take a nap tiredly.

There were so many people in the past two days that he didn't dare to meet them all, but he found it extremely troublesome to meet just a few every day.

But even so, there should not be any dissatisfaction shown on the face, and one must smile and speak well.

Lying on the chair, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think about the affairs of the cabinet in the past two days, and couldn't help but sigh.

Yesterday, Chen Yiqin reported, "I saw that the emperor was respectfully planning to govern, and he humbly accepted people's orders. All complicated matters were delegated to cabinet ministers, and he followed the ministers to secretly see what the country should do in general."

This memorial was also Chen Yiqin's last memorial before leaving the court, in which he expressed his thoughts on the government.

Today, Chen Yiqin formally petitioned to become an official.

However, as usual, Emperor Longqing would not agree to his resignation, even if everyone had a tacit understanding secretly.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the cabinet early the next morning, Wei Guangde saw the memorial sent to the palace for review and refused to accept it.

At the same time, there was a memorial written by Zhang Shouzhi, the left minister of the Ministry of Finance, requesting to resign as the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. The emperor refused and ordered him to take up his post immediately.

"Shilang Zhang, I should be called Zhang Shangshu from now on."

Wei Guangde looked at this memorial and smiled at Zhang Juzheng beside him.

"Yes, Shouzhi has taken good care of the household department these days. The household department should be able to be stable for a while."

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "I don't understand Yifu's resignation. He has an old physical problem. He can just take a leave of absence in Beijing to recuperate for a period of time. Why beg to return home."

"Brother Yifu is not in good health. He is worried about the long journey back to Sichuan. If he begs to return home when he is really desperate, he is afraid that he will not be able to return home."

Wei Guangde could only respond in a low voice.

It was inconvenient for him to mention Chen Yiqin, Gao Gong, and Emperor Longqing's involvement.

So he turned around and Wei Guangde told the people in Zhongshu House: "Send this memorial to Mr. Chen Ge's house."

After Chen Yiqin submitted his begging memorial yesterday, he had already gone home to wait for news and did not come to the cabinet, so someone had to send this reply to his home.

After dealing with this, Wei Guangde went straight back to his room, waiting for the Zhongshu people to distribute the memorials sent to the cabinet today for processing.

By the afternoon, Wei Guangde heard the news that Chen Yiqin's second begging memorial had been sent to the palace, and Zhang Shouzhi, the left minister of the Ministry of Hubu, had gone to the Ministry of Hubu in the afternoon and officially took office as the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu.

And on the next day, as expected, Chen Yiqin's third petition for rest was once again sent to the palace.

The reason why Chen Yiqin sent out so many petitions so quickly and intensively was because he did not want to stay in the capital any longer.

These days, there have been a lot of changes in the DPRK due to official affairs.

But when Li Chunfang, Wei Guangde and others' homes were crowded with guests, Chen Yiqin's house suddenly lost popularity because of his begging for divorce.

Perhaps a little sad, except for a few very close people who came to the home, there was no one else.

When people leave, the tea is cool, nothing more than this.

In this case, why would Chen Yiqin consider prolonging the time? It would be better to complete the three instruments as soon as possible and let Emperor Longqing let him go.

After Chen Yiqin handed over the third begging memorial, Emperor Longqing's criticism finally changed.

"Your Majesty has learned a great deal and has a great talent. He has been a servant early and has a great reputation. He started from the residence of the late emperor who served me as a vassal. Over the years, it has become more prosperous. It is also the residence of my heirs. The family members are based on the old school and are promoted to the residence." Lun Pavilion, Cardinal Bizan, you are a colleague and respectful

I have gained the status of a minister, and I have always been loyal and diligent. I rely on my neighbors to figure out the best principles. Gu Chen is slightly ill and has repeatedly begged for comfort and comfort. You Li has violated his elegance and ambition. I specially use Yu to add the minister to the crown prince. The ministers and ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, the rest of the officials are still the same, and they are still given Chiyi dispatched officers to escort them. There are eight ministers who have been given to Yuli, and the officials are given six stones every month to say that I am a good family member.

He went back to the fields begging, and he was as tall as any master."

Emperor Longqing's reply was directly a written edict.

Adding the crown prince and grand master is meaningless to Chen Yiqin who has become an official. However, the company arranged for eight bearers to serve him and gave him a monthly retirement package of six stones, which can be regarded as a great benefit to Chen Yiqin who has become an official.

This is a bonus. As the elder of Shangshu Pavilion, my own retirement benefits are still there, which is much better than most officials who just arrange Chiyi after they retire.

Chen Yiqin can be said to be able to return to his hometown in glory to recuperate. No, it should be said to be recuperating from illness.

Just when Chen Yiqin was packing up his family and preparing to leave Beijing, Wei Guangde was attending another cabinet meeting at Li Chunfang's house.

Although Chen Yiqin devoted himself to his official duties, Gao Gong did not immediately move into the position of second assistant, but it was only a matter of time.

As for today's cabinet meeting, the convener is Gao Gong.

"In the past few days, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has been busy with the layoffs and redundant personnel, and some affairs in the DPRK have been delayed as a result.

The reason why I invite you all to come here today is to discuss and settle everything together, so that your Majesty will be informed tomorrow. "

After everyone arrived, Gao Gong started speaking before Li Chunfang could speak.

Everyone in the cabinet seems to be used to Gao Gong's pretentiousness, their expressions remain unchanged and they are all ears.

"Li Qian, the former right minister of the Ministry of War, was also the right minister of the Imperial Palace and the censor of the capital. He was the governor-general of military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi and was also in charge of food and wages. Wang Xilie, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, was changed to the left minister of the main ministry. Zhu Dashou, a bachelor's student at the Imperial Academy, became the right minister of the Ministry of Rites. Jin Xueyan is the left minister of the main department, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy is in charge of the affairs of the academy, and Zhang Siwei, the right minister of the official department, is in charge of the affairs of the ministry."

In fact, these matters have been discussed by the court for a long time, and everyone has no opinions. However, the Ministry of Personnel has not submitted a document, so he has not been able to formally take office.

But in fact, in the Ming Dynasty, many officials were already working in new positions.

For example, Zhang Siwei had been a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy before, but he was already serving as the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but he never had the intention to become a full-time official.

Of course, the reason why he was able to go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs was because of Gao Gong.

Gao Gong took a fancy to his talent, so he called people to the Ministry of Personnel to help.

People who were born as bachelors of the Hanlin Academy were appointed as the Ministry of Personnel or the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites when they entered the officialdom. This was also an unspoken rule or a private rule, so no one said there was anything unusual about doing so.

If you do not enter the official position from these two yamen, you will be a little far away from the cabinet. Although it cannot be said that you cannot join the cabinet, these two positions are indeed a fast track for Hanlin bachelors to enter the cabinet.

Gao Gong wants to straighten Zhang Siwei now, which is actually to put him on the road to rapid advancement, so that he can be arranged to join the cabinet as soon as possible and speak for himself in the cabinet.

Just when everyone nodded and thought that the report of the Ministry of Personnel could be reviewed, Gao Gong suddenly said: "After decades of investigation, the number of punishments and eliminations is almost the same, so it is normal to attack. Although the number is sufficient, If there are unworthy people, just ignore them. Even if the number is insufficient, no one can force him to make up for it. This is ridiculous."

Hearing Gao Gong's beginning, Wei Guangde knew that Gao Gong was planning to use the Beijing Police to cause trouble.

What does inspection and elimination mean? There is a fixed number. If there are enough people, even if an official is found to be incompetent, there will be no punishment. If the number is not enough, even if there are competent officials, they will be deducted from the crime.

After Gao Gong finished speaking, Wei Guangde looked around to see what other people's reactions would be, when a clerk outside the door suddenly came in and reported: "Dear elders, Mr. Wang Lin, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Mr. Wei Xuezeng, the right minister of the Ministry of War, have something urgent to ask for."