The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 170 Establishing Cabinet Authority
The scholars who caused trouble at the gate of the palace just wanted to vent their dissatisfaction.

After all, he came all the way here full of confidence, and now he returns without success, anyone would feel angry.

What's more, the assessment by the Ministry of Officials is indeed unfair.

This is something that can’t be helped, everyone’s level is about the same, the number of places is limited, and there is no meritocracy.

There are too many monks, and if you want to be admitted and conferred a rank of official status, it depends on who gives more money to the official minister and whose relationship is closer.

As eunuchs, scholars and literati from Donglin Academy, or even scholars who have been involved, the chances of being admitted are naturally much smaller.

On the contrary, it is much larger.

Zhu Cihong doesn't care about this kind of thing at all, at least for the time being. Although Zhang Yan wants to care about it, she also knows that it's inconvenient for her to intervene in government affairs, so it's just a scene.

The scholars also knew in their hearts that Xu Lan was just perfunctory to them, but for their own fame they had to leave one after another, and continued to vent their dissatisfaction in restaurants and brothels.

And Ma Shiying was not in charge of public opinion in various places. After some preparations, he issued a decree on the exchange of local officials to each prefecture and county.

The transfer this time is mainly between the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River. All officials will be transferred from the county, state, and prefecture, and arrive at the yamen where they are to be transferred by the end of April.

Those who fail to meet the deadline will all be dismissed from their posts and will never be hired, even the lowest third class yamen servant is no exception.

After this decree was issued to the local area, it was like stabbing a hornet's nest, and it was resisted by almost all the officials, and the crowd was furious for a while.

Most of these officials are from local rich families, and many of them even belong to a family of officials, and their ancestors have been working as officials in the yamen for generations.

The civil servants with great power have already had a great family and business in the local area, owning a large amount of land, shops, and houses. If they are transferred away, what will happen to these family properties?Could it be possible to move to a new place?

But if you don't move and leave by yourself, you will definitely be swallowed up by the newly appointed officials or the local rich over time.

Even some small cadres who have no rights have houses in the city, and even have more than ten acres of Susukida outside the city. They belong to the middle class, and they can't leave casually.

Seeing that the officials from all over the country were reluctant to leave, Ma Shiying also panicked and became anxious. If the officials were not subdued, the New Deal would not be implemented at all.

"Queen, when will His Majesty return?"

Apparently he couldn't bear it any longer, so he ran to the palace to ask for instructions.

"Your Majesty said that this matter is completely up to you to deal with. He won't take care of it, and neither will Aijia. If you can't even handle this matter well, how can you preside over the new coup and be a minister of ZTE?"

Zhang Yan said coldly, without showing any affection.

Ma Shiying lowered his head in shame, and understood that His Majesty is testing him, if he can't even do this well, then he is an incompetent minister.

Now that he has been put on fire, if he is considered by the emperor to be an incompetent minister and a useless person who can't do anything, one can imagine what will happen to him. Thinking of this, the shame on his face immediately turned into stern determination.

He bowed and said: "I also ask the Queen Mother to allocate 50 taels of silver to the minister."

"Ma Shiying, do you think those officials are short of a month's salary? Even if Aijia gives you 50 taels of silver and asks you to send it on, those officials will go to their posts honestly?

Salaries can be reissued when they get to the place. What you have to do now is to use thunderous means to dismiss officials, ransack their homes and kill people, and completely establish the authority of the cabinet. "

Ma Shiying stared at Zhang Yan in a daze, she was so dumbfounded that she couldn't believe it even if she was beaten to death, these words came from the mouth of the Empress Dowager Yi'an.

Zhang Yan was also a little embarrassed, but these words were all explained by Lang'er, and she had to repeat them.

"I understand how to do it, I will leave!"

Ma Shiying also came to his senses, took a deep breath, and left.

As soon as he returned to the Wenhua Palace, officials from various ministries surrounded him one after another.

"Master Ge, is Your Majesty back?"

"Master Ge, how does His Majesty reply?"

"Your Majesty hasn't returned yet, so I left a message, and the old man has full authority to deal with it."

At this moment, Ma Shiying was not as flustered and anxious as he was in front of Zhang Yan just now. Instead, he sat down on the main seat calmly, picked up the teacup and took a sip until everyone was anxious, and then he took it easy. said slowly.

"George, can the Empress Dowager agree to distribute the salary?"

The newly appointed Minister of the Household Department hurriedly asked, and the others also looked straight at Ma Shiying, obviously they were also very concerned about this issue.

After all, before the soldiers and horses arrive, the food and grass go first.

"Confused!"

Ma Shiying slammed the teacup on the table, and then reprimanded: "Do you think that if you give those officials a month's salary, they will honestly go to various places to take up their posts?

In the current situation, it is necessary to use thunderous means to make an example, to let them know that the new policy of the imperial court is irresistible, and the authority of the cabinet is unquestionable. "After speaking, he slapped the table heavily.

"Mr. Ge, it's good to be so good...just, just..."

Everyone was shocked, with a hint of hesitation on their faces.

To establish the authority of the cabinet, everyone is in favor of it.

But after all, the cabinet is not the Ministry of Education, and you, Ma Shiying, are not the prime minister. It is a pleasure to talk about everything now, but it is also a pleasure for His Majesty to kill a donkey in the future.

"Everyone, today is different from the past. Today's broad-mindedness is far beyond your and my imagination. Don't you all still fail to see His Majesty's true intentions?

What His Majesty wants is a cabinet that can handle all kinds of government affairs, the head and assistant of the cabinet who has the courage and the right to handle all kinds of government affairs, not like before!
What's more, when the sky falls, I, Ma Shiying, will die first. I'm not afraid, so what worries do you have? "

Ma Shiying glanced at all the six senior officials and said in a deep voice.

Everyone also fell silent, they could see this, otherwise His Majesty would not have designated the chief assistant of the cabinet as a first-rank official, nor would he have directly granted Ma Shiying the right to appoint and remove third-rank officials on his own.

"Now that the sage is in power, the power of the cabinet is also there, the status is also there, fame and fortune, and a reputation in history is in front of you. If you are still timid, looking forward and backward, then stand up now, take off your official robes, and get out immediately. This old man will never It's hard for the strong."

"Elder Ge is right, such a once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity, how has it happened in the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years?"

"Not bad!"

Seeing that Ma Shiying had reached this point, everyone gritted their teeth and nodded, deciding to go all out.

Even if they were worried about His Majesty's killing of donkeys in the future, no one would want them to take off their official robes and resign after having tasted the real power.

After all, throughout the thirteen dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been an emperor who completely delegated power without checks and balances like today.

After the six ministries of the cabinet unified their thinking, Ma Shiying also went all out and dismissed dozens of civil servants in the counties and prefectures near Nanjing.

At the same time, it was once again strictly ordered that all prefectures and counties who fail to arrive within the time limit shall be dismissed for investigation and handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for trial.

Sure enough, seeing that Ma Shiying, the second assistant to the cabinet, really dared to use violence directly, the officials from all over the place also panicked. After all, no buttocks were really clean after investigation.

Everyone also knows that if Ma Shiying dared to do this, he must have received the full support of His Majesty.

Not to mention ransacking their homes, even if they are dismissed from office, all the officials can't bear it, because without the power in their hands, they are nothing, not to mention that they are also serious civil servants, and almost no officials are willing to lose their official status and rights .

In the end, the two powers harmed each other, and it was better to take the light. Some civil servants who were born in rich families explained it and hurried to the yamen where they were.

After all, all yamen officials have to be replaced, and there is no crowding out. As long as there are officials and rights, it is a big deal to start all over again. What's more, as long as they do a good job and curry favor with the superiors, no one will dare to move the property left in the local area.

Of course, almost all civil servants have a slight illusion about promotion, and they don't expect to be high-ranking officials. They are satisfied if they can be magistrates in one place. The six central departments, after all, require a large number of civil servants among the six departments.

And everyone knows that compared to the seventh-rank county magistrate, the fifth- and sixth-rank civil servants in the six departments are easier for them.

As a matter of fact, everyone knows that although the imperial edict says that these non-Jinshi-born civil servants can be promoted to the chief assistant of the cabinet at the highest level, everyone just listens to it. I am afraid that the emperor himself will not understand this kind of nonsense. letter.

Most of the civil officials from the eighth rank who have a big family and career choose to go alone, while most of the officials from the ninth rank to the ninth rank choose to sell their fields and houses and move there with their families.

There's no way, they are the ones who usually offend people. Once they lose their errands in the yamen, they will really be a fart. Maybe they will be killed by their enemies secretly at any time.

What's more, compared with those civil officials, these small officials care more about this hard-won official status.

Although it is only the lowest official status, it is also registered in the Ministry of Officials. As long as they have not committed any serious mistakes, even magistrates of counties and prefectures can no longer be dismissed casually like before.

As for the questioning of guilt and imprisonment, it must be passed through the Ministry of Officials.

Although there is no official document stipulating these procedures, almost all officials have tacitly accepted this point.

As the time became more and more compact, the entire Nanzhili was full of officials on the way, some with only a servant and family, and some with their families.

The officials in almost every county were dismantled and scattered, and they did not reappear in the same yamen. After arriving at the yamen where they were located, although the official position remained the same, no one knew anyone.

At this time, the magistrates of the prefectures and counties in various places really reached their peak power. They are the only ones who fool the officials, and there is no such thing as being fooled by the officials.

No, the first thing all officials, big and small, do when they arrive is to pay tribute to the magistrates and counties where they are located, and to entertain their superiors.

Similarly, the gentry and landowners and gangsters from all over the world also entertained these small officials who had just arrived, and it was a great pleasure to build relationships and make friends.

For this kind of sophistication, not to mention Ma Shiying, even Zhu Cihong is helpless for the time being.

(End of this chapter)