Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 52 The Ministry of Personnel is the Ministry of Personnel of the Ming Dynasty!

"Your Majesty, I just secretly regret that I didn't meet such a holy king like Your Majesty earlier!"

Liang Chu couldn't help but stand up and bow.

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly and said, "Yuanfu is a loyal and old minister. There is no need to say anything about this. Since there is no objection, go down and draft the decree according to my opinion."

Liang Chu bowed and said yes.

Liang Chu's mind had not calmed down for a long time after leaving Yuntai Gate.

He is an old minister who has served in three dynasties, but he has never encountered a situation like this.

That is, an emperor could bring him such frequent surprises and accidents in a short period of time.

Liang Chu didn't know whether he should be happy or alert.

If he was considering the interests of the country and the people, he should naturally be happy. After all, this emperor was not only smart and hardworking, but also willing to trust his civil officials.

But if it comes to his personal safety, he feels like sitting on pins and needles.

He knew that other cabinet ministers would be even more jealous of his position, and Yang Tinghe would not tolerate him staying in the position of prime minister for too long, just as he himself now wanted Yang Tinghe to never return to the cabinet.

"Why did your expression suddenly become so serious when you came to see the emperor this time?"

When Liang Chu returned to the cabinet, Mao Ji saw that Liang Chu had a gloomy face and remained silent, so he couldn't help but ask a question.

After Mao Ji asked, Liang Chu smiled and said, "The people of the world are blessed!"

"How do you say this?"

Jiang Mian couldn't help but come over and ask.

Liang Chu continued to smile and said, "Didn't you all see it?"

"Your Majesty, in order to protect the safety of more than 200,000 refugees, you did not hesitate to bring them to the capital, and now you do not hesitate to clear their farms, and you did not hesitate to cry in front of me and other cabinet ministers for this. This time when you came to see me on the platform, you directly expressed your willingness to protect these people, and you are willing to take this opportunity to train yourself so that you can truly become a great ruler of the world. You also entrusted the great affairs to my cabinet and trusted our cabinet."

"Such a majesty may have great ambitions, but he will never ignore the common people."

Liang Chu then added another sentence.

Mao Ji asked curiously, "What exactly is your majesty going to do?"

Liang Chu then relayed Zhu Houcong's purpose to the two of them.

Mao Ji and Jiang Mian were silent for a while after hearing this.

"rare!"

Mao Ji spoke first.

Jiang Mian also echoed: "It's very rare!"

then.

Jiang Mian looked at the two of them and said, "Your Majesty is naturally wise and has great ambitions, but he is cautious and not impatient. He wants to personally manage a place and experience the difficulties of eliminating malpractices and reforming instead of rushing into major policies. In this way, perhaps he can more clearly understand why most of the court officials hope that he will follow the example of Xiao Miao, and I am afraid he can take the initiative to follow the example of Xiao Miao."

Mao Ji followed with a smile and said, "Yes, you don't know how difficult it is until you have experienced it. It is much better to let Your Majesty take the initiative to realize that it is a more appropriate policy to follow the system of the filial temple, rather than to change the laws of the ancestors, than to force the court officials to do so."

"I hope so."

"But we can't be impatient. We need to give His Majesty some time."

"In addition, since Your Majesty has handed over the major policies to our cabinet, we must be as fair as possible and not suppress those who are actively reforming the system!"

"Of course, don't think those who talk about restoring all the old systems of our ancestors are pedantic!"

"All are based on virtue and talent, without bias or partiality. Your Majesty makes all the choices yourself, and you are free to show grace and power."

Liang Chu replied at this time.

The two nodded.

Zhu Houcong required that the newly resettled soldiers and civilians should not just be given land, but should continue to be managed so that they could become truly prosperous and make real contributions to the country. He also required that a special Gyeonggi Province be set up so that the emperor could directly manage this area.

Therefore, the cabinet followed the imperial edict to establish Gyeonggi Province.

Zhu Houcong also had the cabinet issue an edict shortly after this, appointing Xia Yan as the governor of Gyeonggi Province as the councilor of Shanxi Provincial Government, in charge of the civil affairs, finance and education of Gyeonggi Province.

Fan Jizu was appointed as the deputy governor of Gyeonggi Province from the position of deputy censor of Shanxi Province, in charge of criminal cases and supervision in Gyeonggi Province.

Dai Yi was promoted to the position of deputy governor of the capital, in charge of the military and political affairs of Gyeonggi Province. All three of them were given the power to make secret reports.

This means that the resettled soldiers and civilians will continue to be managed by special officials sent by Zhu Houcong, instead of watching them being encroached upon by the local tyrants and plundered by foreign invaders shortly after they settle down.

It is said that since Wei Bin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, was imprisoned, Zhu Houcong appointed Wang Yue as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

The eunuch Qiu Jusheng became the chief eunuch of the Silijian.

The eunuch Gu Dayong, who was in charge of the imperial palace, also took on the duties of the East Factory.

Huang Jin was also promoted to eunuch of the Sishejian.

Except for Huang Jin, all the eunuchs Zhu Houcong brought from Prince Xing's Palace were promoted.

However, the official titles of these eunuchs were not high enough, and it would take some time for them to completely replace the old officials of the Zhengde Dynasty and enter the Imperial Household Department.

After the Minister of Personnel Wang Qiong was imprisoned, the position of Minister of Personnel was naturally selected by Zhu Houcong through imperial decree.

Zhu Houcong has just ascended the throne, so it is naturally not appropriate to make direct appointments.

of course.

Zhu Houcong currently does not have many important ministers whom he can absolutely trust.

Therefore, even if he was very simple, there was no minister worthy of his special appointment.

As for the list of ministers of the Ministry of Personnel recommended by the court, there is no doubt that they are officials who are naturally respected by the court officials and are also officials favored by Yang Tinghe.

In the eyes of most civil servants, these people are naturally of high moral character and are well-known for their integrity among the literati.

Not long after, Zhu Houcong got the list of candidates recommended by the court.

According to the list, the main candidate is Nanjing Minister of War Qiao Yu.

There are two accompanying pushers.

One of them was Shi Yan, the Minister of Rites and concurrently in charge of the Zhanshi Palace.

The other is Yang Dan, the Nanjing Minister of Personnel.

Zhu Houcong laughed when he saw the list.

Originally, he had no hope that the Minister of Personnel, one of the six high officials who could compete with the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, would be able to satisfy him.

But after seeing the list, he suddenly realized that one of these three people was worthy of his reuse.

Because although these three people certainly advocated that he recognize Xiaozong as his emperor father and hoped that he could follow Xiaozong's system, like most of the upright civil servants such as Yang Tinghe, one of them, although he shared the same opinion as Yang Tinghe and was also a well-known conservative, was a truly upright conservative.

How far has this person come?
According to what Zhu Houcong learned when he was researching Jiajing in his previous life, this person was so upright that he didn't even give face to his sponsor Yang Tinghe.

According to historical records, this person was upright and honest, and he declined requests for favors... He was highly respected at the time, but Yang Tinghe of the Cabinet was not happy about it. After just two months, he was transferred back to his original position.

In other words, this person made Yang Tinghe unhappy because he did not allow all officials to use backdoors. Therefore, less than two months after he became the Minister of Personnel, Yang Tinghe demoted him to his original position.

Of course, this person didn't even give face to the emperor.

Historical records show: Since Fei Hong and this person resigned from power, until the end of the Jiajing period, they kept a close eye on the ministers and no one said anything unpleasant to their ears.

This person is Shi Yan, who is very similar to Hai Rui in terms of his uprightness.

However, what is recorded in this historical material is not very accurate. After all, in the late Jiajing period, there was a famous Hai Rui who made direct criticisms to the emperor, which made Jiajing hear unpleasant words.

Back to the topic.

Zhu Houcong chose this person to be the Minister of Personnel without hesitation.

Because he knew that no matter who he chose among these three people, it would be difficult for him in the future, but at least if he chose Shi Yan, it would also make things difficult for Yang Tinghe, and maybe because of his integrity, he could prevent all the officials in the court from becoming conservative officials.

However, the officials in the court at that time had not yet truly realized how upright Shi Yao was, including Yang Tinghe. Just like in history, they had to wait until Shi Yao became the Minister of Personnel before they clearly realized:

The unspoken rule that they relied on bribery and connections to get quick promotion opportunities, and even wanted to use the power of the Ministry of Personnel to promote or demote people as a tool to crack down on dissidents, no longer exists!

Therefore, when the current court officials learned that Zhu Houcong had appointed Shi Yan as the Minister of Personnel, they were not disappointed but quite happy. They all lamented that the important position of the Ministry of Personnel was finally held by an upright minister, and that the treacherous minister Wang Qiong was no longer in charge of the Ministry of Personnel.

After Shi Yao became the Minister of Personnel, Zhu Houcong also approved his request to come to Qingning Palace to meet the emperor and thank him, and instructed him:
"I know you are upright, so I hope you will not use the Ministry of Personnel for the selfish purposes of others. You should remember that the Ministry of Personnel belongs to the Ming Dynasty, not the Ministry of Personnel of the Cabinet, nor to you, Shi Yao!"

(End of this chapter)