Chapter 839 928 Arrangement

Gao Yi died, Zhang Juzheng was still ill, and fortunately Wei Guangde came back at this time, so that the Ming Dynasty cabinet would not be left without anyone.

Now all the memorials in the cabinet were sent to Wei Guangde's duty room. Wei Guangde was busy dealing with these official duties for three consecutive days.

Of course, Wei Guangde was not just working hard, he was also thinking about making some adjustments to the court positions.

You know, in the more than a year since he left the court, many people's positions have also changed. Although it cannot be said that things have changed, but his people have been squeezed out a bit, and he needs to push his people back.

At that time, Wei Guangde's influence in the court was weakening, and Gao Gong took the opportunity to take some positions.

Now that Gao Gong was defeated, naturally Gao Gong's people had to hand over all their official positions.

Gao Gong's departure not only gave up a position of cabinet minister, but also left the position of Minister of Personnel vacant. Now the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the Ministry of Personnel Seal.

Yesterday, Zhang Juzheng had sent Wei Guangde a note at home, which was about the plan for the position of the Minister of the Court.

Zhang Juzheng planned to transfer the current Minister of War Yang Bo to the Ministry of Personnel, because Yang Bo was the Minister of Personnel before he was sick, and he had experience in governing the Ministry of Personnel. If he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, he could quickly get a handle on a bunch of things.

Moreover, the Ministry of Personnel in the past two years has been run by Gao Gong as a one-man show, and it needs a prestigious old minister like Yang Bo to calm the situation.

Those who were promoted by Gao Gong at the beginning need to be replaced slowly.

If it were someone else, Zhang Juzheng would be worried that something would go wrong if he did not have enough qualifications and prestige.

Zhang Juzheng recommended Yang Bo to be the Minister of Personnel, which naturally left a position for the Minister of War. In the note, he also asked Wei Guangde's opinion to see who was suitable for this position.

Wei Guangde understood that this was actually a deal between Zhang Juzheng and himself.

He wanted the Ministry of Personnel, and gave the Ministry of War to himself.

However, the position of a Minister of War was not enough.

During the time when Wei Guangde was away from the court, many officials from Jiangxi lost their official positions.

For example, Shu Hua was sent to Shaanxi to participate in politics because he was dissatisfied with Gao Gong's actions. Wu Guifang was also excluded and had to return home due to illness. Others, such as Tan Lun, were also the same.

Wei Guangde began to slowly sort out his interpersonal relationships and get qualified people to some important official positions.

Even if they are not qualified enough, even if they cannot be Shangshu, they must be Shilang or the ruling party.

After all, there are only six Shangshu positions, even if Nanjing is counted, there are twelve.

If there are people in the position, it is not easy to deal with those people if they have not made mistakes and have not taken the initiative to submit petitions.

Wei Guangde certainly prefers Tan Lun to be the Shangshu of the Ministry of War.

He has served as the governor of Jizhen and the Shilang of the Ministry of War. Of course, he is the most suitable person to be in charge of the Ministry of War.

Zhu Heng can still hold on for a few years. Wei Guangde has met Zhu Heng and knows his physical condition. He is also paying attention to training new people.

Wei Guangde also had to reassign the positions of Shu Hua and Wu Guifang. In addition, there were still many officials in Jiangxi who did not come out under the pretext of recuperation.

Now it seems that these people can be mobilized to resume their posts.

For example, Wei Guangde's old friend Zhang Ke, who had submitted a petition to return home because of party disputes, and simply quit his job.

This time in Pengze, Wei Guangde also met Zhang Ke.

This person was still not very willing to serve, but Wei Guangde still planned to write him a letter to ask him to come out and help.

Lao Kan had almost done his job as the Right Governor of Fujian. He should be transferred to the Left Governor, and then find him a position as the Governor of Fujian, and finally transferred back to the court to join the Censorate to help him watch over the mad dogs of the censors.

While sorting out, Wei Guangde roughly arranged the positions of these people.

It was very helpless that Wei Guangde repeatedly screened and did not find a suitable official to join the cabinet.

Yes, it seems that half of the court officials are from Jiangxi. Now, if you want to find a high-ranking official from Jiangxi in the court, it seems that there is no one except me.

It can be seen how much Jiangxi officials have been suppressed in the years since Yan Song fell.

Because of Yan Song, the Hanlin Academy does not like Jiangxi Jinshi, so it is difficult to select Shujishi.

At this time, a figure appeared in Wei Guangde's mind.

This person is Cai Guozhen, Wei Guangde's predecessor and Wei Guangde's classmate. He was a Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing and a native of Yixing, Jiangxi.

It was also for this reason that Yan Song wanted to win over Cai Guozhen.

However, Cai Guozhen is a smart person. Perhaps he saw the cycle of things going to the extreme and then going to the extreme. He did not think that joining Yan Song was a good destination, so he chose to refuse when Yan Song and his son tried to win him over.

Undoubtedly, Cai Guozhen's approach at that time was quite risky, and therefore his career was not smooth, and he was suppressed and retaliated by Yan Shifan.

The last official position was naturally not good. He was appointed to Nanjing as the head of the Ministry of Justice, and then moved to Fujian as the deputy envoy of education.

Fujian at that time was not a good place to go, with war and chaos.

Cai Guozhen also had the idea of ​​retiring. Taking advantage of his mother's death, he simply returned to his hometown and stopped working as an official, just enjoying the mountains and rivers.

Wei Guangde returned to his hometown to mourn, and these officials who returned to Jiangxi came to pay their respects one after another. When Wei Guangde met this person who had almost forgotten him, he felt that he was familiar and almost didn't recognize him.

Wei Guangde planned to find a good place for these people first, and then write to him to arrange for them to work as officials, so that they would not stay in Jiangxi anymore, because he was too short of people here.

However, the most urgent thing was to supplement the cabinet ministers.

Now the cabinet only has him and Zhang Juzheng, and they need assistants to join the cabinet to help handle government affairs.

These days have been really sad, and Wei Guangde doesn't want to continue like this.

The official closest to the cabinet is undoubtedly the Minister of Rites, and the current Minister of Rites Lü Diaoyang is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.

Lü Diaoyang was the second place in the 29th year of Jiajing, and was initially appointed as a Hanlin editor. He has also been steadily walking on the broad road from the Hanlin Academy to the cabinet.

Of course, his speed is not as fast as Wei Guangde's promotion, but it is not slow.

Lü Diaoyang, whose courtesy name is Heqing and whose pseudonym is Yusuo, is from Lingui County, Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi.

Lü Diaoyang has a warm personality, is fair in doing things, and never forms cliques. He is also a candidate for the cabinet that Wei Guangde can barely accept, but there is also a problem, that is, his ancestral home.

Similar to Wei Guangde's old friend Zeng Shengwu, Zeng Shengwu came out of the Huguang County Examination, passed the Joint Examination, and passed the Palace Examination to become a Jinshi, and his ancestral home is in Jiangxi.

Although Lü Diaoyang stood out in the Guangxi provincial examination, his ancestral home is Daye County, Wuchang Prefecture, Huguang, and he is more or less a fellow villager with Zhang Juzheng.

Don't think that fellow villager and fellow year are not important. In fact, this is the most important thing between officials in this era, even in later generations.

As for the others, Wei Guangde instinctively would not consider them. Wang Xilie and Zhu Dashou from the Ministry of Rites are more or less inferior in qualifications.

Moreover, Wei Guangde instinctively did not want to use Zhu Dashou, because although this person and himself are of the same year, perhaps because of the awkward status, the two have not interacted much.

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Wang Xilie should have been the person Wei Guangde strongly recommended to join the cabinet, but Wang Xilie had a little problem here.

At the beginning, it was Wei Guangde who helped Wang Xilie to enter the Ministry of Rites as the right assistant minister, but in the end, Wang Xilie did not have a grateful heart, and used his senior status to suppress Wei Guangde.

Perhaps the reason is similar to Zhu Dashou's. Zhu Dashou was a manor in that department, but his promotion was not as fast as Wei Guangde's, so he was somewhat disliked by him.

Wang Xilie was from Nanchang Prefecture, and he was a fellow villager of Wei Guangde. They should have been in the same boat, but Wang Xilie was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing. He was considered Wei Guangde's predecessor, so he was a little bit arrogant.

Even though Wei Guangde asked Zhu Heng to remind him privately, Wang Xilie still did so. Perhaps he was too old to listen to advice, and he was unwilling to bow his head in front of Wei Guangde, a young official.

Maybe he felt that he was also on the road to entering the cabinet, and he could enter the cabinet without Wei Guangde's help.

For such a person, it would be strange if Wei Guangde allowed him to enter the cabinet.

After Wang Xilie entered the cabinet, he did not speak for himself everywhere, but helped Zhang Juzheng instead. That was funny.

Well, he was nepotism, and his eyes were only on those close to him.

It seems that Lü Diaoyang and Zhang Juzheng are not much closer than others, at least that's what Wei Guangde thinks. Judging from his behavior, he should not unconditionally side with Zhang Juzheng.

However, if Lü Diaoyang is promoted, the position of Minister of Rites will be vacant. Should Wang Guanglie and Zhu Dashou be promoted or someone else be arranged to take over? Wei Guangde is in a dilemma.

What he doesn't know is that although Zhang Juzheng is recuperating in the mansion at this time, he is also doing the same thing as him, that is, who to pull into the cabinet, how to arrange the vacant official position, and who to let take up.

He and Wei Guangde thought of the same thing, that is, the cabinet needs to fill people, and they both chose Lü Diaoyang at the same time.

Similar to the reason why Wei Guangde chose him, Lü Diaoyang is more upright and fair in his work. And as far as Zhang Juzheng knows, Lü Diaoyang and Wei Guangde have no other contact except for their intersection in the Ministry of Rites.

Such a person, he can use with confidence.

Of course, Lv Diaoyang's ancestral home is also a plus point, at least it can ensure that Lv Diaoyang can be closer to him in the cabinet.

Similarly, Zhang Juzheng is also facing the dilemma of who can take over the position of Minister of Rites after promoting Lv Diaoyang.

Wang Xilie and Zhu Dashou, one is Wei Guangde's fellow villager, and the other is his age. He doesn't want to support either of them to take the position.

So, it seems to be a last-minute relationship, but the two of them have never made any progress in their lives and can only retire as assistant ministers.

Feeling that after two days of rest at home, his body has improved a lot and he is much more relaxed. Zhang Juzheng plans to go back to the cabinet to do his work early tomorrow morning.

After all, he doesn't want to let the power of the cabinet fall into the hands of others.

He finally got the position of the prime minister, and Zhang Juzheng didn't want to give it up so quickly.

So, even without Wei Guangde, he had to stick to it.

In fact, to be in a position as an important minister, ability is no longer the most important thing, but to rely on being a versatile person and being able to endure physically.

As long as you are in better health than your colleagues, you can outlast them.

After they retired and returned home due to health reasons, I climbed up step by step.

To sit in a high position, all of them dragged down their opponents to death.

This was the case with my teacher Xu Jie. He waited until Yan Song was over 80 years old, and then he lost the emperor's favor when he became confused, which gave him an opportunity to take advantage of.

If the action against the Yan family had been taken a few years earlier, when the Yan family was in the emperor's favor, it would have been Xu Jie who was unlucky.

This is also why in later generations, the maintenance of officials is very important. Annual physical examinations and regular recuperation are essential.

Zhang Juzheng didn't think so before, but he gradually understood it after entering the cabinet.

Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others all left the court for their own reasons, and he will do the same in the future.

The next morning, Wei Guangde entered the cabinet and was greeted by the Zhongshu Sheren who was waiting at the door.

"Wei Gelao, Prime Minister Zhang has just arrived at the cabinet to do his work. He asked you to take time to go there when you arrive at the cabinet."

The Zhongshu Sheren said to Wei Guangde politely.

"Well, I see."

Wei Guangde was not surprised that Zhang Juzheng came back suddenly. Zhang Juzheng had rested for two and a half days.

That day, he went to Gao Yi's mansion to pay his respects. He stayed for half an hour and then left and went back to the mansion to recuperate.

Wei Guangde went to pay his respects in the afternoon of the same day. After all, the cabinet could not be left without someone on duty.

Wei Guangde went back to his duty room first, and then walked to the Prime Minister's duty room leisurely. He let someone inform him before stepping in.

Zhang Juzheng looked much better today than he did that day. At least he didn't look like a dying person.

Well, don't blame Wei Guangde for cursing him. Zhang Juzheng looked like he was lingering on that day, as if he would not live long.

"The Prime Minister looks good. It is very different from the previous days. I am happy to see you today."

Wei Guangde bowed and smiled to Zhang Juzheng as he entered the room.

"Sit down quickly, Shandai. You are tired these two days."

Zhang Juzheng had experienced sitting in the cabinet alone. It was not the joy of holding power, but suffering.

So after Wei Guangde entered the room, Zhang Juzheng had already stood up to greet him.

After the two sat down, Zhang Juzheng asked about his well-being.

The cabinet has great power, but greater responsibility. Routine memorials are easy to handle, but now is not a normal period after all. The coffin of the late emperor is still parked in the palace. Now the main memorials of the court are for this.

To put it bluntly, it is to ask for money, and the Ministry of Revenue to give silver.

If the Ministry of Revenue has money, it would be easy to talk, just write a "yes" and it's done. But now the Ministry of Revenue has no money, which worries the cabinet ministers.

After the greetings, the conversation between the two was actually mainly about the distribution of power, how to distribute the official positions at the level of Shangshu.

Now that Gao Yi is dead, Wei Guangde is already a veritable second assistant, but the second assistant is still the second assistant, and he is a little less confident than the first assistant.

Speaking of which, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng are both lucky. It only took a few years for them to go from assistant ministers to the positions of first assistant and second assistant. Think about those who left for various reasons, such as Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhan, etc., what else can they say.

"Yang Bo will be the Minister of Personnel, replacing Gao Gong, and Tan Lun will be appointed to the Ministry of War"

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde discussed in a low voice, and it was easy to reach an agreement on these two positions.

Then Zhang Juzheng proposed that Lu Diaoyang, the Minister of Rites, be appointed to the cabinet. Wei Guangde remained calm. Although he knew that this was the best choice, he still wanted to play a trick.

"I suggest that Lu Shusheng take the position of Minister of Rites vacated by Diaoyang."