Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 950: Taking advantage of the situation
Wang Jinwu said in distress, "This is also what I am worried about. I am not worried about fighting in the battlefield, as it is nothing more than a knife in and a knife out. However, the affairs of the court are not my forte. When I think about entering the cabinet and dealing with those big turbans every day, my head is enlarged. Your Majesty has a deep meaning for letting me join the cabinet, but if I do not do good things after entering the cabinet and fail to live up to Your Majesty's trust, wouldn't it be a betrayal of Your Majesty's trust?"

Sun nodded silently. Wang Jinwu's worries were not without reason. Wang Jinwu had always been leading troops and had very little contact with the various departments in the court. He had only dealt with the Ministry of War because of military affairs, and had never held any position other than military duties. Now he suddenly became a cabinet elder, and the representative of the military in the cabinet. Not to mention the attitude of the court officials, Wang Jinwu had no idea what to do after entering the cabinet and how to be a good cabinet elder.

Although Zhu Shenzhui reminded him today that he should listen more and talk less after entering the cabinet, he also pointed out a key point that whenever there are military issues, Wang Jinwu must make judgments from a military perspective. Even if there are different opinions in the cabinet, he, Wang Jinwu, should argue for his rights.

But this is easier said than done. Wang Jinwu was worried that he could not outsmart the civil officials. You know, these civil officials are extremely smart people, and they often say half of what they mean. Wang Jinwu is a military general, and he is used to being straightforward. He felt insecure when working with these people.

"Why not ask big brother?" Sun thought for a moment and suggested.

"Brother?" Wang Jinwu was stunned for a moment before he realized that Sun was referring to his elder brother-in-law Sun Chuanting.

"Big brother is a Jinshi and has been in the officialdom for many years. He knows things about officialdom that others don't. And big brother is now the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, an important official in the court. If you have any questions about cabinet affairs, ask him, he may be able to help you."

Wang Jinwu's eyes lit up immediately, and he raised his hand and slapped his thigh: "Yes! How could I forget about my brother?"

Originally, Wang Jinwu wanted to ask Xu Xiancheng, but he felt it was a bit inconvenient. After all, Xu Xiancheng and he were both relatives by marriage, but he was in the cabinet while Xu Xiancheng was not. If Xu Xiancheng had any ideas in this regard, he would be in trouble if he asked.

As for Zhang Xijun, he was a suitable candidate, but Wang Jinwu knew that Zhang Xijun was different from himself. Zhang Xijun had always been Zhu Shenzhu's man. Although the two had some friendship, it was just ordinary. In addition, after the Jiangnan case, Zhang Xijun had been staying in Nanzhili and had not returned. It was said that the court planned to set up another governor in Nanzhili, and the candidate for this governor was Zhang Xijun.

Now Sun suddenly mentioned Sun Chuanting. Isn't this the best candidate? Regardless of the relationship or identity and status, Sun Chuanting is both civil and military. Wang Jinwu has always admired the ability of this brother-in-law. Wouldn't it be better to seek advice from him?

Thinking of this, Wang Jinwu burst into laughter. Sun was such a good wife! That's it! Asking Sun Chuanting for help, with Sun Chuanting's ability, he would definitely be able to help. The more he thought about it, the better it seemed. How could Wang Jinwu hold back? He immediately got up and wrote a letter to Sun Chuanting, in which he carefully informed him that he was about to join the cabinet and expressed the emperor's intention. After he finished writing the letter, he sealed it with wax and sent someone to send it to Xi'an. Only then did Wang Jinwu breathe a sigh of relief.

Zhu Shenzhui acted quickly. A few days later, at a court meeting, he first agreed to the resignation of cabinet elder Liu Yuliang, and then praised the old minister a lot, gave him corresponding retirement benefits, and allowed him to leave Beijing and return to his hometown to retire.

After Liu Yuliang left the cabinet, there was a vacancy in the cabinet. Before everyone could get ready to fight for this vacancy, Zhu Shenzhui directly announced the candidate for the cabinet. What surprised everyone was that the person who was added to the cabinet this time was neither Qian Qianyi, nor Yang Sichang, nor Zhang Xijun, Xu Xiancheng, etc., but Wang Jinwu, who no one expected.

No one expected that the emperor would not play by the rules and actually choose a military general to join the cabinet. This was unprecedented since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

When they heard the decision of Wang Jinwu joining the cabinet, many people expressed their opposition on the spot and tried to stop it. The reason was simple. All civil officials had always regarded the cabinet as their own territory. In the eyes of these civil officials, the cabinet was the territory of civil officials, and civil officials regarded entering the cabinet or even becoming the prime minister as the end of their careers. Now suddenly a military general entered the cabinet, which directly broke the convention of civil officials controlling the cabinet, which they could not tolerate in any way.

Once this precedent is set, the situation that civil officials are superior to military officials will no longer exist, and the political foundation of the civil official group that has suppressed military generals for nearly two hundred years will be shaken. Moreover, from the perspective of the civil official group, having military officials enter the cabinet is equivalent to setting a precedent for military generals to interfere in politics, which is not a good thing. The separatist regimes of the Tang Dynasty and the military officials who disrupted the government are a lesson for us. It is precisely because of this that the emperor of the Song Dynasty ruled the world together with the literati and suppressed the military officials, which led to the achievement of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, which lasted for 319 years.

Although the Ming Dynasty experienced a brief period of great power among military generals and nobles at the beginning of its founding, this situation was completely reversed just a few decades later, and the Ming Dynasty entered a state of civil servants governing the country. The status of military generals was constantly suppressed. The purpose was to eliminate the interference of military generals in politics and weaken the problem of military generals becoming too powerful to influence the government.

But now the emperor suddenly wanted to put military generals into the cabinet as elders. This not only touched the cake of the civil service group, but also touched their bottom line. For a time, the opposition was getting louder and louder. Every day, many memorials came in like snowflakes. These situations really made Zhu Shenzhu feel great pressure. Some fools even threatened to die, asking the emperor to revoke his order and stop Wang Jinwu from entering the cabinet.

Facing such pressure, Zhu Shenzhu had been prepared for a long time, but he did not expect such a big reaction. However, Zhu Shenzhu did not back down, but instead strengthened his determination to let Wang Jinwu join the cabinet.

As an emperor who ascended the throne by force, he encountered such a big obstacle in arranging cabinet members, so one can imagine the situation faced by other emperors. This shows why several emperors since the reign of Emperor Yingzong have always wanted to change the situation where military power was controlled by the civil service group, and even supported the struggle between the Ministry of Rites and the cabinet. Isn't it because the power of the civil service group has become so great that even the emperor is afraid of it?

Moreover, the reason why the Ming Dynasty has become what it is now is that the civil service group is too powerful to be eliminated, which is an important problem. This is also one of the fundamental reasons for the emergence of factional struggles in the Ming Dynasty court.

Although the situation in the Ming Dynasty has improved now, the fundamental problem has not been solved and it is only a temporary solution. If we cannot completely reverse this situation, in the long run the Ming Dynasty will still become what it was before, and by then the Ming Dynasty will be completely hopeless.

If it was so difficult for him to do this, how could another emperor succeed? Didn't the emperors Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli and Tianqi see the problem? The answer is of course not. These emperors were not fools. They certainly saw it clearly and made some efforts. Unfortunately, they failed for various reasons. Zhengde and the later Tianqi died inexplicably. Jiajing and Wanli, the grandfather and grandson, were so frustrated that they lay down. Isn't it because of this?

This matter must be done, and there is absolutely no room for compromise. Zhu Shenzhu knew very well that once he compromised, there would be no possibility of change, and he himself could not do it, and his son and grandson might not be able to do it either. In this case, let him do it. As long as he has the military power in his hands, no matter how great the resistance is, Wang Jinwu's entry into the cabinet is inevitable.

Zhu Shenzhui adopted multiple measures to achieve this. On the one hand, he was determined not to withdraw his order and insisted on having Wang Jinwu join the cabinet. He also stated that there must be military representatives among the cabinet members in the future. This would become the "ancestral system" starting from the Yongming Dynasty and would continue.

As for the opposing ministers, Zhu Shenzhui simply turned a deaf ear to those who just shouted verbally. If they made a big fuss, he would not show mercy and would find reasons to beat them or dismiss them from office. He was not an ordinary emperor. The Emperor Tianqi did not tolerate these people, let alone Zhu Shenzhui. What's more, most of these opposing officials were political speculators who opposed just for the sake of opposing and to seek fame. These guys who were just sitting in their positions and doing nothing could be dealt with, and there was no need to tolerate them.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhui won over the military and nobles of the Ming Dynasty, making them stand firmly on his side and compete with the civil officials. Most of the military and nobles of the Ming Dynasty were also happy to see this. Both the military and the nobles had been suppressed by the civil officials for many years and were miserable. Now the emperor was willing to support them and even set up the position of cabinet elders for the military and nobles in the cabinet. Isn't this a good thing for them?
Faced with such interests, it might be difficult for them to come forward on their own, but it was entirely possible to let them follow behind and wave their flags and shout to disperse the firepower. As senior military generals and veteran nobles of the noble group came out to support this matter one by one, the pressure on Zhu Shenzhui suddenly decreased sharply.

The last step, of course, was to divide the civil service group. Before announcing this, Zhu Shenzhui had privately communicated with Wen Tiren, Qian Qianyi, Yang Sichang, Chen Qiyu and others, informing them of his intention to set up military representatives in the cabinet.

Although these bigwigs were extremely shocked by the result, they also subconsciously had the idea of ​​opposing it. However, compared with ordinary civil servants, they were in a higher position and had a deeper perspective on the issue, so they naturally understood the real intention of Zhu Shenzhui's doing so.

For their own reasons, and also because the emperor made some promises to them during the conversation, for example, Wen Tihen wanted to continue working as the chief minister of the cabinet for a few more years, while Qian Qianyi, Yang Sichang, Chen Qiuyu and others wanted to join the cabinet.

Zhu Shenzhu promised Wen Tiren that as long as he supported this matter as the Prime Minister, he could continue to be the Prime Minister, at least for another three to five years. Faced with such a temptation, how could Wen Tiren not be tempted? Don't forget that Wen Tiren's biggest obsession is to be the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. He is not greedy and does not form a party. Isn't it just to stay in the position of Prime Minister for a few more years? The longer he stays, the better. If he can die in this position, Wen Tiren will be satisfied in this life.

The same was true for several other people. Qian Qianyi and Yang Sichang had long wanted to join the cabinet, and Chen Qiyu had the same idea. Zhu Shenzhu privately promised that as long as they fully supported him, he would guarantee them a place in the cabinet, at least one year, at most two years, and he would definitely let them join the cabinet. Faced with such a temptation, who could resist?

(End of this chapter)