Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 259 The Inspection Office is Too Strong

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had already made up his mind to make plans for the affairs of Korea and Liaodong, and the decree was first sent to the Ministry of Rites.

Zhu Guozuo was devoted to making progress, so the Right Vice Minister of Rites Fang Congzhe arranged for the Ministry of Rites to issue a summons to the Haixi Jurchens, Jianzhou Jurchens and the Kingdom of Korea.

Fang Congzhe was a native of Deqing County, Huzhou Prefecture, and was a second-class Jinshi in the 11th year of the Wanli reign.

Before resigning and returning home, he had already become the fourth-rank official in the Imperial College.

Fang Congzhe was a good writer and Wang Xijue admired him very much. In those days, he also gave lectures to the young Zhu Changluo. When he returned to his hometown to live in seclusion, he was valued by Ye Xianggao.

After Guo Zhengyu was transferred to the position of Dali Temple Minister, Fang Congzhe was directly promoted to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites with the recommendation of Wang Xijue and Ye Xianggao.

He has been in this position for four years.

There are many vacant positions for Shangshu this time, so he also has hope.

Now the Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo also "admires" him very much.

"Ru Yu, you must urge the Ministry of Reception to handle this matter." Facing his doubts, Zhu Guozuo shook his head, "No matter whether the Hada tribe has been swallowed by the Jianzhou Jurchens, it doesn't matter. Your Majesty has ordered that since the Jurchen tribes still pay tribute with the imperial edict of the Ming Dynasty, they must send people. This time, all the imperial edicts issued by the Ming Dynasty must be brought!"

Fang Congzhe looked at Zhu Guozuo with a serious expression.

Among the same Jinshi candidates, Zhu Guozuo was the top scorer and he was ranked 30th in the second class.

So now one is the second-rank Minister of Rites, who has been in office for more than six years, and the other is the third-rank Right Vice Minister of Rites, and they are direct superiors and subordinates.

Zhu Guozuo was from Jiaxing, and he was from Huzhou.

Fellow townsman, fellow student, colleague... Zhu Guozuo regarded him as his confidant: "Ru Yu, this matter was ordered by His Majesty immediately after he summoned all the ministers for discussion, which shows how important it is. For now, you should take care of the ministry affairs first, as for the recommendation of the court..."

Of course there has to be a deal.

Zhu Guozuo had to spend a lot of time to run the operation, but the Ministry of Rites had a lot of things to do, so it needed capable people to do it.

Fang Congzhe's expression was still solemn, thinking about the risks of asking the leaders of the Jurchen tribes to come to the capital with all the imperial edicts to pay homage: "Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, 1,498 imperial edicts must arrive before the end of July? Since the governor of Liaodong was replaced in the first year of Taichang, they have only come to the border cities. This time we have to ask them to go to Zunhua, and I am worried that they will refuse..."

One imperial edict corresponds to one person.

In theory, the 1,498 imperial edicts issued by the Ming Dynasty to the Jurchen tribes were a symbol of the Ming Dynasty's control over the Jurchens, corresponding to the 1,498 garrison commander positions granted by the Ming Dynasty to the Jurchen tribes.

Now requiring everyone to come is equivalent to requiring all the core figures of the Jurchen tribes to enter the capital.

He must be the real core figure. Because these imperial edicts are related to the tribute trade interests with the Ming Dynasty, they have always been distributed by the Jurchen tribes to win over the backbone of the tribe.

To put it bluntly, in the current power structure of the Jurchen tribes, the imperial edicts granted by the Ming Dynasty to the commanders of the garrison garrisons of different ranks are one of the credentials to determine their status.

Mixed with the Ming Dynasty's official system and their relatively primitive and traditional tribal relations.

At this moment, Nurhaci had not yet formally established the Eight Banners, but after annexing the Hada tribe of the Haixi Jurchens, he already had the Yellow, White, Red, and Blue Banners.

At present, each banner consists of 300 people in a Niulu, and is managed by a Niulu Ezhen.

Niulu'ezhen was the name of the tribal "official" of the Jurchens when they set out from their family castles. Originally, there were only ten people in a team, with one Niulu'ezhen leading the other nine, either for hunting or fighting.

Now the number has skyrocketed to 300 people per Niulu, which is enough to reflect the expansion of the power of the Jianzhou Jurchens.

What supports this structure is the imperial edict issued by the Ming Dynasty to the Jurchen tribes.

"As far as I know, the Jurchen tribes that hold the governor's edict are all leaders of large tribes; the governor's edict is for fierce generals; plus the garrison edict, does this mean that all the key figures of the Jurchen tribes are required to come to the suburbs of Beijing?" Fang Congzhe thought it was impossible. "They will definitely refuse the summons. Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, I'm afraid this cannot be done without a compromise."

He said it with absolute certainty.

Zhu Guozuo pursed his lips and smiled slightly, then looked at Fang Congzhe deeply and said, "Ru Yu, think about the decree again."

Fang Congzhe looked at him, frowned and thought carefully.

After a while, he hesitated and asked, "...Not all people have to come, but all the imperial edicts must be brought?"

"That's right!" Zhu Guozuo nodded approvingly. "This matter is naturally not easy to handle. We need to send a capable envoy. But since Your Majesty intends to sort out the imperial edicts of the Jurchen tribes, whether they obey the orders of the Ming Dynasty will be related to whether the Ming Dynasty will recognize these imperial edicts in the future. Ru Yu, this matter must be done well. After the Minister of Rites is selected, the Assistant Prime Minister and the Secretary must be determined first. If I can make a move, I will definitely recommend you for the position of Grand Master of the Imperial Clan."

After saying that, he looked at him seriously and said, "In the two hundred years since the founding of the country, the Ming Dynasty has never investigated the imperial edicts of the Jurchen tribes. Now your majesty wants to handle this matter. There are many foreign vassal affairs, and the Ministry of Rites has a heavy task! You are stupid, try your best! If you can get a clear reply from the Jurchen tribes before nominating the Minister of Rites, this matter will be foolproof. If you handle this matter well, who else can be the Minister of Rites but you?"

"...I understand." Fang Congzhe bowed, "Thank you, Grand Master, for clearing up my doubts." "Come on, come on, tell me which leaders and experiences are useful, and quickly select the personnel..."

Zhu Guozuo is determined to win this time, and once he succeeds, why doesn't the Ministry of Rites, which has been in business for more than six years, leave more good karma?
But at this time, there are also some people who are determined to win.

The recommendation of the Minister of Personnel was temporarily presided over by Ye Xianggao. Ye Xianggao held a high position of power and had no intention of moving, so he wanted very much to promote a capable confidant.

But as we all know, among those who are now eligible to participate in the imperial recommendation, the largest number come from the Censorate.

Because the Inspection Institute also manages six departments.

Originally, only officials of the third rank or above plus the Nine Ministers, the Chief Censor, and the Imperial College Chief Academician were eligible for the imperial recommendation. There were three officials of the third rank or above in each department. The Metropolitan Censorate already had two Chief Censors and two Deputy Chief Censors. With the addition of two Chief Censors, there were six departments eligible to participate in the imperial recommendation.

Later, when Lu Guangzu was the Minister of Personnel, he petitioned for another thing, which was approved. That is, when selecting the important positions of the Minister of Personnel, the Minister of War, the Governors-General of each Frontier, and the Minister of the Cabinet, the Six Departments and the Thirteen Supervisory Censors should also participate in the process. In this way, the number of seats in the Metropolitan Censorate was increased, and it almost became an overwhelming force in one fell swoop.

The original positions of the censors were rather scattered, which was not so bad.

But now all the censors are under the control of the Censorate, which is very scary.

Not to mention that Shen Li is enough to influence the destination of the 27 votes of the entire Inspection Institute system. As long as he can influence half or even a small half of them, he can make a substantial decision on the final list of candidates.

The Privy Council system no longer participated in the court recommendation, that is, the Imperial Study had four votes, namely the Chief Minister of the Secretariat, the Minister of Public Administration, the President of the Hanlin Academy, and the Chancellor of the Chancellery; the Administrative Council had twelve votes, namely the Minister of Government Affairs, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Works; the Jinxian Court had ten votes, namely the Minister of Rites, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, the Minister of Imperial College, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of Honglu.

In other words, if the court nominates an official of the second rank or above, the votes of the Censorate alone will be more than the sum of the votes of the other three.

Fortunately, the court nomination only nominated one principal and two accompanying candidates, for a total of three places.

Out of the total fifty-three votes, getting enough votes will be enough to make the final list, and then it depends on who the sacred heart belongs to.

Zhu Guozuo is confident that he will be included in the long list, but to win the emperor's heart, he must do a good job of handling the matter that the emperor is currently concerned about.

Only if Fang Congzhe helps him can he help Fang Congzhe.

The emperor had specially favored him and promoted him to be the Minister of Rites for many years. In the court, the young and energetic Zhu Guozuo was only one step away from becoming the highest official in the country, and too many people were willing to have this good relationship with him.

After three Ministry of Rites examinations and one special examination, how many new "mentors" has Zhu Guozuo been called?
The close contacts in the capital were watched more diligently by the factory guards who were in the process of being adjusted.

In the Forbidden City, Zhu Changluo listened to Wang An's report and smiled slightly.

"You don't have to watch so closely." He reminded Wang An, "Now you are the head of the inner court, the commander of the Jinyiwei and the chief supervisor, you only need to do the necessary work of investigating and filing. The investigation of all officials is to verify, not to predict. Before the time comes to investigate, there is no need to make me suspicious."

Wang An's heart trembled, and he bowed and said yes.

Zhu Changluo stood up and walked over to him, patting his shoulder. "I know that the eunuchs are not as powerful as they used to be, and their authority is gradually decreasing. Although you have been trained for a few years, you still need to be cautious in managing the eunuchs. Tell the people below to keep their duties. How could I treat the people serving me badly? Right now, it is not the time to set a new system for the eunuchs and palace maids. Before I get the financial affairs and foreign threats in order, don't make trouble or cause chaos."

"This servant will remember this!"

Zhu Changluo left the Qianqing Palace and walked towards the Kunning Palace.

The relatively "idle" days of the past three years are over.

The emperor has to repeatedly balance so many forces and guide them to do so many things in the direction he wants. This is a very exhausting task.

In the past few years, Tian Le was one of his legs, Tian Yi and Chen Ju were his other legs, Changminghao was one of his arms, and Wang Xijue and the beneficiaries after the reform center were his other arm.

Now, you need to pay attention to each hand and foot before you can fight both internally and externally.

Now that the news from the Ministry of Rites has spread, the court officials will probably start to feel nervous.

The emperor intends to focus on external affairs, so is it easy to take those great official positions this time? What should you do after taking them? Are you mentally prepared?
Zhu Changluo was not too concerned about the aspect of the court recommendation.

Whether or not they can finally sit in the corresponding position still depends on whether everyone is willing to support the upcoming audience with the Jurchen tribes and whether they can win the emperor's favor.

In particular, we must understand whether we should know the limits of internal strife and where the focus of national welfare lies.

On March 27, the results of the imperial recommendation came out. A total of seven third-rank officials from the Imperial Study, Jinxianyuan, and Shizhiyuan, plus thirty-two fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-rank officials from the capital, either jointly or individually, submitted memorials to impeach the Censorate for forming a faction to attack dissidents and for voting too heavily, which was a great harm to the country.

The spearhead was directed at Shen Li, who refused to give up even though he was old.

I haven't traveled for seven years. I was ordered to fulfill my promise to take my children out for some fun. I also want to relax and adjust. Things have not been going well for me recently. I have been involved in lawsuits and funerals. Please forgive me. I will go to Beijing for my 20-year college reunion in two days.

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(End of this chapter)