Daming talker

Chapter 678: Be prepared for danger in times of peace (ask for monthly tickets!)
Lin Tailai originally intended to leave the literary conference after sitting there for two hours, but because of the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister Zhu Geng, he stayed until the end out of courtesy.

Although Deputy First Alliance Leader Lin did not give any public instructions other than writing three poems.

However, the creative trend of the literary conference unconsciously turned to frontier poetry and military poetry.

This is probably what they mean by "peaches and plums are silent, yet people come to them of their own accord."

The exhausted and listless old leader Wang said to Lin Tai: "When you return from the Eastern Expedition, the position of leader of the literary world will be given to you."

Although it was an ordinary sentence, Lin Tailai always felt that Lao Wang was setting a flag.

When it was getting late and everyone was going home, the old leader Wang transformed himself into the official of the Ministry of Personnel again and started to talk business.

He dismissed his attendants and whispered to Lin Tai alone, "Lu Guangzu resigned and left the country, and the court is going to appoint a Left Censor-in-Chief.

The most likely candidate at the moment is Sun Pi Yang, the Minister of Justice. No one can match Sun Pi Yang in terms of qualifications. "

Lin Tailai frowned and asked, "If Sun Piyang becomes the Chief Justice, who will be the Minister of Justice?"

Wang Tianguan replied: "Based on qualifications, Sun Yu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is the most likely candidate."

Lin Tailai couldn't help but complain, "If Sun Piyang is appointed as the Left Censor-in-Chief and Sun Yu is promoted to the Minister of Justice, and the two positions of the chief ministers of the two ministries belong to the rivals, then wouldn't Lu Guangzu have gone there in vain?"

Wang Tianguan sighed helplessly, "Both of them were Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing. Their qualifications are too strong, so it's difficult to manipulate them in the election."

Civil service politics has matured over the years and has formed a set of stable rules. Therefore, the election of senior officials must also abide by the "Basic Law", unless the emperor directly steps in to change the rules.

For example, Sun Pi Yang himself is an experienced official. He became a Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing, which can be regarded as the earliest in the current court.

Moreover, the Minister of Punishments and the Left Censor-in-Chief both belong to the three judicial departments, so it is natural for the Minister of Punishments to be promoted to the Left Censor-in-Chief, and his qualifications and priority are extremely high.

If you want to stop Sun Pi Yang, the rule of the game is that you must at least put forward a person who is equally qualified as Sun Pi Yang.

Just like last time, in order to prevent Lu Guangzu from becoming the Minister of Personnel, Lin Tailai promoted Wang Shizhen, the Minister of the same year.

Regardless of whether Wang Shizhen is a bureaucrat or not, at least on the surface his qualifications are at the same level as Lu Guangzu, and their ages are not much different either.

So the biggest problem now is that we can’t find someone with the same qualifications as Sun Pi Yang.

Sun Yu's situation was similar. He was also a senior Jinshi who passed the imperial examination in the 35th year of Jiajing. According to his age, he should have been promoted long ago.

Moreover, he had previously served as the Minister of Dali Temple, which made him very suitable for promotion to the Minister of Justice.

After finishing his secret talk with Wang Shizhen, Lin Tailai thought that it seemed that his departure from Beijing would have to be postponed for a few days, so he should prepare for some things in advance.

Lin Tailai returned to the Lin Mansion in Li Ge Lao Hutong with a heavy heart, and then sent someone to inform all members of the Renewal Society to carry out emergency situation education tonight.

Mr. Lin feels that the members of the Renewal Society have recently shown a tendency to become arrogant again, and a certain warning must be issued.

Chairman Lin attached great importance to this education and even called the Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao and the Minister of War Ye Mengxiong to come.

Normally, Lin Tailai would not call these two people to a meeting. After all, the target is too big and will have a bad impact, and it is not easy to keep it secret.

After everyone arrived, Lin Tailai first talked about the fact that the possible candidates for the Left Censor-in-Chief and the Minister of Justice were Sun Pi Yang and Sun Yu respectively.

Then he said to everyone in the Renewal Society: "The current situation is not good."

Wang Xiangmeng, the deputy director of the Ministry of Personnel, replied: "Although Sun Piyang is close to the Qingliu forces, he is actually relatively neutral, unlike extreme figures like Lu Guangzu.

Therefore, when the court was recommending him, those neutral figures should not oppose him, and he might indeed be appointed as the Left Censor-in-Chief.

But judging from his personal characteristics, even if he becomes the Left Censor-in-Chief, the situation should not be that bad."

Lin Tailai snorted coldly: "You have right-wing compromising ideas! Personal characteristics are not worth mentioning in the face of the overall situation!
I just want to ask one question, if there was no support from the Qingliu forces, could Sun Pi Yang have been promoted to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief?

If Sun Piyang becomes the Left Censor-in-Chief with the support of the Qingliu forces, then even if he wants to remain neutral, can he reject the Qingliu forces' political views?"

Wang Xiangmeng added: "No matter what, it can't be worse than the Lu Guangzu era, right? Sun Piyang is more gentle than Lu Guangzu."

Lin Tailai immediately reprimanded him, saying: "I have repeatedly stressed that we must always be vigilant and cautious!

You only see the small piece in front of you, don't you realize that next year, the 21st year of Wanli, will be the year of the Beijing Inspection?

At that time, I probably won't be in the capital, so you can only wish for the best for yourself.

But you are so careless now, you have almost lost your vigilance, which makes me very worried. How can I go to North Korea with peace of mind? "

When they heard the words "Jingcha", everyone finally realized the seriousness of the problem.

The so-called Jingcha is a very important assessment system. Every six years, a thorough assessment is conducted on court officials in the capital.

And based on the eight standards of "greed, cruelty, carelessness, weakness, impetuousness, lack of ability, old age and illness", unqualified personnel are eliminated.

Anyone who knows a little about history knows that during the Wanli period, especially after the middle period, the imperial examination almost became a tool for factional struggles.

Every imperial inspection is a climax of party struggles and is bound to be grand and cause a stir in the city.

The most crucial thing is that the Beijing inspection was jointly presided over by the Minister of Personnel and the Left Censor-in-Chief.

So what Lin Tailai wanted to remind everyone was that the selection of the new Left Censor-in-Chief would be related to the situation of the Beijing Inspection next year.

Even if we do not have enough hard power to stop Sun Pi Yang from taking office, we should not become complacent or let down our guard mentally.

You know, the nature of the Beijing inspection is that "everyone must pass", and you will be in trouble if you are careless.

Another person said: "We still have the Heavenly Official Yanzhou Gong here, so the next year's imperial examination will not get out of control."

Even if the Left Censor-in-Chief is an enemy, we still have the Minister of Personnel on our side.

Lin Tailai could no longer bear it and shouted, "I have just said repeatedly that we should be prepared for danger in times of peace! These four words must be firmly engraved in our minds!

I personally attended today's literary conference, and after only half an hour I noticed that Wang Tianguan looked tired and exhausted.

He is totally different from the time when he could be energetic and perform at literary conferences that lasted for three consecutive days, and even make beautiful women moan all night long!

There are no outsiders here, so I will be honest - it is hard to say how long Wang Tianguan can hold on. "Only Lin Tailai knew that Wang Shizhen in history should have died of old age and illness two years ago.

This time and space has been sustained for two more years by the help of the Minister of Personnel, but who knows when it will end?
When everyone in the Renewal Society heard this, they all looked at Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao at the same time.

There is a prime minister here who is older than Wang Tianguan. Why aren’t you worried about Old Zhao?

Old man Zhao didn't know what to say. His mind was full of what Lin Tailai had said many times - work for Daming Health for ten years.

Lin Tailai continued, “If Wang Tianguan has health problems and a new Minister of Personnel needs to be nominated, we will have even less advantage.

The Minister of Personnel usually comes from two sources: one is the other ministers with the most seniority, and the other is the vice ministers with extremely seniority.

If Sun Yu was promoted to the position of Minister of Punishments, when the position of Minister of Personnel became vacant, Sun Yu would be the first priority candidate for the position among the other ministers with the most seniority.

If this situation occurs in the 21st year of Wanli, then Sun Pi Yang and Sun Yu, who are in charge of the Beijing inspection, will be enemies. How will you deal with it?
How could I command the war with peace of mind when I was far away on the Korean front?

Are we going to pin all our hopes on Wang Tianguan not having any health problems next year?"

Anyway, Lin Tailai doesn't want to take the risk. He will be mainly in North Korea next year, and the rear must remain basically stable.

However, Lin Tailai's "alarmist" remarks stunned everyone at the Renewal Society.

Originally, it was believed that with the iron triangle of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Personnel, and the Minister of War, the current Lin Party's rule was extremely stable.

Why, after listening to Lin Tai's words, does it seem that the situation of the Lin Party has become precarious and the entire system is unstable?
Zhao Zhigao looked at everyone and added, "For external affairs such as the Beijing Inspection, the cabinet can only wait for reports and deal with them accordingly. It is difficult to directly interfere in the process, let alone directly order what to do.

Therefore, all of you who work in the ministry must be alert, deeply understand Lin Jiuyuan's intentions, continue to maintain a cautious style, and always remember the original intention of the Renewal Society. "

Then Zhao Shoufu said to Lin Tai: "We are still facing an old problem. There are too few veteran comrades who can step up.

On the side of the Qingliu forces and the Shanxi-Shaanxi Alliance, there were more than just Sun Pi Yang and Sun Yu who passed the imperial examinations during the Jiajing period.

There are also Yang Junmin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Cai Guozhen, the Left Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing, Chen Younian, the Governor of Jiangxi, as well as Shen Li, Li Shida, and Xin Zixiu who are in the opposition and can be reinstated.

Although many people have been suppressed by you, as long as there is an opportunity, they can rush up and fight for it at any time.

Our party has only been formed for a short time, and the only person we have is Ye Da Sima, a senior Jinshi in the Jiajing Dynasty, but he cannot leave the Ministry of War.

If you can't even push forward an experienced court official, how can you compete with the other party for position?
There is an even more serious problem. Lin Jiuyuan, you have been appointed as the Minister of Strategy for the Korean direction. In order to avoid suspicion of collusion between the inside and the outside, it is not convenient for you to participate in the court recommendation. "

Lin Tailai kept sighing, "Last year, I realized this problem and started to win over a group of senior officials. I invited Shi Xing, Zhong Zhengji and other ministers to participate in the literary conference.

But these idiots don't know when to go, they just jump around blindly and cut themselves off from the Renewal Society. I am helpless too!"

This really cannot be blamed on Lin Tailai. If he had accumulated experience slowly over the past 30 years in the court, this would not have been a problem.

But he had only been in the court for three years. How many politically reliable old comrades could he find?
Hearing that the future situation might be pessimistic, everyone felt a little depressed and prepared to go through a year or two of hard times.

If Lin Tailai had not been in the capital during this period of time when the party struggle reached its climax, they might not have been able to cope with it.

Zhao Shoufu comforted everyone and said: "Comrade Lin Jiuyuan also said that the future is bright, but the road is also tortuous. There is no need to be discouraged by temporary setbacks."

Feeling that the warning education was almost done, Lin Tailai said: "If we can't gain the upper hand in terms of human factors, we can only prepare for a rainy day by revising the system in advance."

Then he said to Chen Yunjian, the director of the Ministry of Examination, "While I have not yet gone to Liaodong and Wang Tianguan is still alive, hurry up and do what you can."

Chen Yunjian asked doubtfully: "What?"

Lin Tailai ordered: "First, I will promote you to the position of Deputy Director of the Ministry of Examination. After all, you have been in charge for three years and are eligible for promotion.

After I go to North Korea, you will be in charge of the work of the Performance Evaluation Office.

Then, taking advantage of the vacancy in the post of Left Censor-in-Chief, he asked Wang Tianguan and Deputy Censor-in-Chief Zhan Yangbi to work together to promote the reform, and let the Examination Office take on the important task of the imperial examination in the future.

Originally, the content of the imperial examination overlapped with the duties of the Ministry of Examination, so the Ministry of Examination could be used to handle the matter.

This is called leaving professional matters to professionals, which can also allow us to focus on improving efficiency and avoid high-level officials shielding officials or high-level officials arguing with each other.

If the reform is successful, there will be no more worries about accidents in the next year's Beijing inspection."

After explaining the affairs of the Ministry of Examination, Lin Tailai said to Wang Xiangmeng: "Find a way to get the current doctor of the Ministry of Selection to leave, and you take over!
If something unexpected happens to Wang Tianguan, we can feel a little relieved knowing that the most important official in the Ministry of Literature is our own."

Then he said to Prime Minister Zhao: "While I am in Korea, see if you can use your position as Prime Minister to win over some ministers from the Nanjing ministries and agencies.

There are no reliable candidates for the senior ministers in the capital, but perhaps we can find some senior ministers in the Nanjing ministries and agencies."

Everyone took note of the latest deployment, but most of the deployments could only be implemented by Lin Tailai himself.

Perhaps this can be considered a "weakness" of the Update Society, which relies too much on the personal abilities of its leaders.

Finally, Lin Tailai set a time point: "It would be best if everything is done before I leave. I think the probability of it being done is still very high.

The opponents want me to leave the capital as soon as possible. Secondly, they will definitely focus on the competition between the two ministers, and will retreat and make concessions in other aspects. "

Sitting in the corner, Zhou Yingqiu, who had not spoken tonight, suddenly said, "Actually, there is no other way."

Others were quite puzzled as to why Zhou Yingqiu had not spoken until this moment today?

Lin Tailai encouraged, "If you have any ideas, just speak up! The Renewal Society depends on everyone's efforts!"

Zhou Yingqiu replied: "There is a strategy in the Art of War called "Attack when the enemy must come to its rescue", no matter whether they push Sun Piyang or Sun Yu.

All we have to do is grab someone they must save and beat him to death, and they will be forced to give in.

For example, the newly crowned top scholar Han Yu was the son-in-law of Zhang Siwei, a relative of Yang Junmin, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the future hope of the entire Shanxi and Shaanxi forces.

As long as we take measures to destroy Han Yu, the Qingliu forces and the Shanxi-Shaanxi alliance will not hesitate to act rashly, and at least we can disperse their forces. "

Everyone in the Update Society was speechless. Zhou Yingqiu was becoming more and more vicious. What was Han Yu's fault?
After thinking for a while, Lin Tailai said, "Let's try it together. You will be responsible."

If all the above arrangements were implemented, Lin Tailai, who was about to travel to North Korea, would feel a little more at ease.

(End of this chapter)