Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2414: The Duke is not an assistant, but a regent (V) Cabinet discussion

It was not surprising that Zhao Zhigao took the initiative to bring up the matter of adding cabinet ministers. His own health was very worrying, and if it had not been for the recent major changes, he would never have left the house to attend to state affairs - to be precise, he had only been to the cabinet three or four times in the previous few months, and he only came to barely read a few memorials and could not hold out after simply drafting a few words.

Under such circumstances, he really couldn't be said to be obsessed with power. What's more, he had already been promoted to the position of Second Assistant, and the position of First Assistant was not something he could expect at all. So what else could he do if he didn't want to retire? Did he really want to die in office?

Now that the late emperor has passed away and the new ruler has ascended the throne, I have also gained the experience of being a regent and assistant minister. Think about it, as I was the third place in the imperial examination in the second year of Longqing, and now I am a real "three-dynasty veteran", what else is there to be dissatisfied with?

Besides, the replacement of the old with the new is a natural law. Last year, I encountered countless attacks, all accusing me of joining the Practical School in order to keep my official position and my son. Now, Shen Yikuan, the last big backer of the Mind School, was implicated in the Zheng Guotai and Li Wenjin case. It seems that he will be punished if he doesn't die. There is nothing to do next. On the contrary, because I stand on Gao Youshi's side, although I didn't actually contribute much, I have been cleaned up. It is a good time to retire after success.

Furthermore, since Gao Yuanfu is now in control of the government, he will certainly promote his most trusted people to join the cabinet to assist him. I am still clinging to my position and not taking the initiative to move. Do I have to wait until others lose patience and drive me away? Rather than losing face like this, it is better to take the initiative and preserve my reputation.

As expected, when he said that, Gao Youshi said, "Now that the emperor is young, the cabinet does have to take on more responsibilities. It is necessary to add more cabinet ministers. At least we have to fill Shen Yiquan's vacancy first... What do the two cabinet elders recommend?"

Zhao Zhigao's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he thought to himself: Fortunately, my guess was correct, but the cabinet ministers' recommendation should have gone through the process of public nomination by the nine ministers, but now the prime minister asked me and Zhou Yong directly. This is not the way to add a successor, but to let us two recommend a successor...

When he thought of this, he subconsciously glanced at Zhou Yong. The meaning was very clear: I, Zhao, am old enough to retire, and you, Zhou, are nine years younger than me, so are you planning to follow me? You were brought into the cabinet by the prime minister, did the prime minister tell you about this beforehand?

[Note: Zhao Zhigao was born in 1524, and Zhou Yong was born in 1533. Zhao Zhigao will be years old next year, and he could have retired long ago, but Zhou Yong is only , and he could have stayed for a few more years if the emperor wanted him to stay. Zhao Zhigao had not retired before, and Zhu Yijun kept him as a political symbol that the number of people in the cabinet of the Xinxue School and the Shixue School was roughly equal.]

Something happened that surprised Zhao Zhigao. Zhou Yong smiled and said, "Since the late emperor returned to the capital, I have submitted petitions to resign seven times. Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne and the government is stable, when will I return home? Lord Zhao, don't be surprised. I took the initiative to ask the prime minister for this."

Zhao Zhigao then remembered that Zhou Yong had indeed been submitting memorials saying that he was dizzy and deaf and asked to retire, but at that time he thought that he was just "according to the rules" to retire at the age of 70 and did not take it seriously. Now it seems that he may have really planned to retire at that time. However, the emperor was ill at that time and may not have wanted to do any imperial decree, so the matter has been delayed until now.

In this case, Zhao Zhigao did not refuse, nodded, and said: "I see, then I will not say much. I recommend Yu Shenxing, the Minister of Rites, to join the cabinet to assist in government administration. Please ask the Prime Minister to convene the court for recommendation."

Gao Youshi didn't comment, just nodded and looked at Zhou Yong again.

Zhou Yong was calm and said with a smile: "I recommend the Minister of War Song Yingchang to join the cabinet to assist in government affairs. Please ask the Prime Minister to convene the court to recommend him."

Gao Youshi nodded again and asked, "If there are vacancies in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, what else do you two recommend?"

Zhao Zhigao said, "In the Ministry of Rites, if the position of Shangshu is vacant, I think the Zuo Shilang should take over."

Zhou Yong also seemed to have a tacit understanding and said, "The same is true for the Ministry of War. If the position of Shangshu is vacant, the Zuo Shilang can take over."

Gao Youshi smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "In that case, please ask Lord Zhou to inform the Ministry of Personnel to select one or two more ministers as candidates for the imperial nomination in addition to these two, and also inform the nine ministers to prepare for the imperial nomination."

Zhou Yong bowed in response.

In fact, the recommendation of Zhao Zhigao and Zhou Yong is quite reasonable. After all, Zhao Zhigao is from the School of Mind and Body. Although he has been following Gao Youshi's baton since the incident with his son, no one can deny his origin from the School of Mind and Body in terms of "academic qualifications".

However, when it comes to recommending a successor, he certainly wouldn't dare to recommend someone from the School of Mind now. But if he directly recommends someone from the School of Practical Learning, it won't work either, as too many people will point fingers at him and scold him in the future. So he can only recommend Yu Shenxing, a neutral person, and change the infamy that he will most likely have to face in the future from "rebellious" to "cunning".

As for the successor of Yu Shenxing after the vacancy of the Minister of Rites, he did not name him, but only said that the left vice minister would take over - what a good replacement, it was extremely reasonable, but the question was who was the left vice minister of the Ministry of Rites? It was Fang Congzhe, a student of Gao Youshi!

It goes without saying that Song Yingchang took over Zhou Yong's position because he was a minister of the Ministry of War and had been in charge of military affairs for many years. But who was Song Yingchang? It was amazing. He was originally from the School of Mind. When he was young, he was still a section chief (the Six Sections were all in charge of the Ministry of Justice) and criticized the tribute of Altan Khan, which was strongly advocated by Gao Gong.

It stands to reason that questioning Gao Gong, who was in power at the time, should not have been a good thing, right? But it was not. Gao Gong was concurrently the Minister of Personnel at the time. He checked Song Yingchang's resume and test results and found that this kid had done a good job as the prefect of Jiangzhou before he became a censor. Therefore, he did not hold him accountable for "talking nonsense" and instead sent him to Jinan as the prefect of Jinan. Jinan is the capital of Shandong Province, which is a position where it is easier to achieve results, so this was really a good use.

After that, Song Yingchang held many positions, which need not be elaborated. In short, in the War to Aid Korea, he led the troops as a civil official. Later, as the war progressed, Gao Yousi personally led the army to Korea and became his immediate superior.

It was during this period that he was impressed by Gao Youshi and determined that Gao Youshi was the most dedicated minister in the Ming Dynasty. From then on, he became Gao Youshi's disciple and never said a word, even though a group of officials from the School of Mind accused him of selling out his friends for personal gain and refused to repent.

Gao Youshi was worthy of his service. Soon after his triumphant return, he recommended Zhou Yong for the position of Minister of War, and Zhu Yijun had no objection. This has been the case ever since. So to put it simply, Song Yingchang, a Zhejiang native who came from the School of Mind and Body, is now a die-hard supporter of the School of Realism.

As for Zhou Yong's statement that the vacancy of the Minister of War was the same as that of the Minister of Rites, and that the Left Vice Minister should take the place. In fact, the matter was the same as Fang Congzhe's - the Left Vice Minister of War was in charge of military affairs, and now it was Xiao Liangyou.

In fact, Xiao Liang had originally served as the Minister of Works, but last year the Huai River flooded, breached several dikes and flooded two counties. As a result, he assumed leadership responsibility and was transferred from the Minister of Works to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, which was considered a demotion.

However, the court knew that the Ming Dynasty had not done well in water conservancy. Even though the Practical School had been in power in recent years and had greatly strengthened water conservancy construction and maintenance, it could only ensure that the degree of disaster in the Yellow River was reduced, and the investment in the Huai River could not keep up. Unfortunately, the disasters have become more and more numerous and more serious in recent years, so... Xiao Liangyou deserved to be unlucky and there was nothing he could do about it. As for this replacement, Xiao Liangyou had an explanation. During the rebellion of Zheng Guotai and Li Wenjin, Xiao Liangyou cooperated with Yuan Fu to quell the rebellion. Because of his order, Li Wenjin's order to send reinforcements to the four guards of Tengxiang was not executed. The guards found various reasons to refuse to gather in Beijing because they were worried about the punishment of Yuan Fu and the Ministry of War, which made Li Wenjin curse.

As the saying goes, when your superiors want to promote you, they will find merits for you even if you have none, and make your merits look even greater if you already have them. Xiao Liang has merits to his credit, and he made them under the pressure of subsequent responsibility. So what's so strange about rewarding you based on your merits now?

After discussing the addition of cabinet ministers and the transfer of officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, Gao Youshi took out a memorial and said, "Prince Shunyi has arrived in Changping and will arrive in Beijing to meet His Majesty in two or three days. But the emperor is still young, so it may not be convenient for him to meet His Majesty, so I have to meet him on his behalf. What do you think, two cabinet ministers, should we make some arrangements for the imperial guards?"

Since the Imperial Guards were mentioned, Zhao Zhigao pretended not to hear anything and just turned to look at Zhou Yong. Zhou Yong paused for a moment and said, "The Tumed tribes' submission is a big deal. Although the Ming Dynasty has been fighting smoothly over the years and the Tumed tribes are well aware of the might of our imperial court, many things have happened in the past few days... I think it is appropriate to let them see the power of the Imperial Guards, but I don't know if the Imperial Guards have the strength to do so?"

Gao Youshi said: "Although this incident happened suddenly, I still issued orders to the Imperial Guards in a timely manner. The Imperial Guards seemed to be mobilized frequently during the incident, but the losses were minimal. It is not a problem to hold a military parade now."

After a pause, he continued, "Since the reign of Emperor Longqing, the Tumed have been the most important vassal of our dynasty. Now, more than 30 years have passed, and the tribe has finally fully surrendered. This is a great strategic victory for our dynasty, and it also means that there will be no more enemies on the grassland from now on, and the Mongolian cavalry will become the military force of our dynasty. Such a great cause was originally accomplished by the late emperor. How can we not complete this great achievement for the late emperor to comfort his spirit in heaven? Lord Zhou, please arrange this matter with the Ministry of War. I will strictly order the Imperial Guards to cooperate closely."

After hearing this, Zhou Yong asked, "Does the Prime Minister have any requests for this military parade?"

Gao Fusi did not answer, but asked: "What do you think, Lord Zhou?"

Zhou Yong pondered for a moment, tapping his fingers lightly on the memorial: "In recent times, this military parade should both demonstrate military might and not be too extravagant. In my opinion, the First and Second Regiments of the Imperial Guard can be mobilized for joint exercises, especially the display of new firearms, but..." He suddenly raised his eyes, "Does the Prime Minister want to take this opportunity to let Ba Hannaji see the new cavalry tactics with his own eyes?"

Gao Youshi nodded slightly, and traced the Western Regions on the map with his fingertips: "That's exactly what I meant. Although the Tumed have surrendered, there are still doubts among the tribe. Letting Bahanaji witness the power of our cavalry and chariot battalion in coordinated combat is both a deterrent and a reassurance."

"Indeed." Zhou Yong coughed lightly, "Then, has the Prime Minister considered letting the Tumed cavalry participate in the review?"

"This move has been planned for a long time." Gao Youshi pulled out a secret report from his sleeve. "The 5,000 guards that Han Naji brought with him this time are exactly the foundation of the new cavalry I want to train. The day after the military parade, you and I will discuss the reorganization with him face to face - the chief and deputy chief of the Naturalized First Army will be him and his subordinates, and the chief of staff and the propaganda envoy will be appointed by officers and generals selected by the Ministry of War."

Zhou Yong's eyes fell on the location of the Tumed tribe on the map, and he suddenly lowered his voice: "Prime Minister, there is one thing I still don't understand. Although the white disaster is urgent, the Tumed tribe is the most powerful among all the tribes on the grassland. Why is it that the Tumed tribe was the first to submit?"

Gao Youshi looked out the window through the glass, looking at the unmelted snow on the eaves of the Forbidden City: "For more than 30 years of tribute, the Tumed have relied on our dynasty the most. Today, they are inseparable. Once faced with a big enough crisis, they can only think of asking for help from our court." When he turned around, the candlelight cast a shadow on his face. "When I offered tribute, I used this reasoning to convince my third uncle and Emperor Muzong."

"The court's decision on sending officials to the city..."

"Officials are only responsible for three things: counting grasslands, collecting horse taxes, and teaching agricultural techniques." Gao Youshi suddenly sneered, "Although the princes and leaders on the grasslands value silk and tea, that is only in normal times. When they are in danger, what they lack is grain seeds that can survive the white disaster."

At this point, he pulled out a Jinghua secret report from his desk, "This is the cold-resistant barley seed that Shaanxi Provincial Administration and Jinghua cooperated to transport last year. It is a gift I prepared specifically for Tumed."

Zhou Yong suddenly realized: "So that's it! This tactic of 'using food to encourage submission' is probably more effective than an army of 100,000."

"Just having grain seeds is not enough. After all, distant water cannot quench a nearby fire." Gao Youshi pursed his lips, "Do you know why Bahanaji insisted on going on a pilgrimage this winter?" Without waiting for Zhou Yong to answer, he continued, "Because after the winter solstice, the grassland will enter a period of high incidence of white disasters. He is in urgent need of the relief promised by the court."

"The military parade..."

"The military parade is for the tribes behind him." Gao Youshi pressed his finger heavily on the map, "We need to let them know that submitting to the Ming Dynasty can not only save their lives, but also gain benefits."

He suddenly stood up and pushed a report from the Ministry of War in front of Zhou Yong. "This is an urgent report from Liu Jing from the Western Regions - the Western Expedition Coalition has returned. They fought a battle with an unidentified coalition near the Caspian Sea. Because it happened suddenly, they seemed to have suffered a small loss and retreated."

Zhou Yong took a deep breath and said, "Our army hasn't been defeated in a long time..."

"It's not necessarily a defeat. I told you, they had it so easy along the way that they forgot my previous warning - the Russians also have firearms, and they also have Cossack cavalry under their command, who are not easy to deal with. If they underestimate the enemy, it's not surprising that they will suffer losses."

Gao Shishi paused and continued, "Erdemtu must have had contact with his father, Bahanaji, so Prince Shunyi should also know about this. Therefore, we must do our best to demonstrate our military strength at this military parade."

Gao Youshi's voice suddenly turned cold, and he said, "We must let them know that the reason why Erdemutu and Boshektu suffered this time was not because of their poor riding skills, but because of their insufficient firepower. Only by joining the Ming Dynasty can we reverse this disadvantage."
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