The four inner guards had already set up a guard of honor to greet him, and the emperor specially gave him a golden chariot to receive him.
After a row of salute guns were fired, the crowd went to the palace with beating gongs and drums.
The gentry and common people who got the news along the street came out to watch.
The newly-appointed cabinet scholar and chief prime minister was given warm cheers and congratulations.
In a private room on the second floor of a restaurant on the street, a group of candidates who were waiting for examinations stood in front of the window and watched this scene with great envy.
"Wen Gong Xuan Ma pays homage to the prime minister, and everyone expects him to return home."
"Of course, the civil servants and governors can achieve such great achievements in just a few years, and Xuan Ma becomes Prime Minister. Who can object?"
"The new chief minister of the new cabinet is a high-ranking official recruited from the local government. He is from Donglin and is a civil servant in charge of the military. It seems that even if the cabinet is changed collectively, it will not affect the government affairs too much."
“I don’t know who the auxiliary committee is this time!”
"He should also be capable of literary and military skills."
A scholar looked at the grand scene on the street and said, "If we want to talk about being able to do both literary and military work and have high qualifications, then Zhang Guowei, Zhu Dadian, He Tengjiao, Qu Shichu, Du Yinxi, Yu Ying, and so on. Hong Chengchou should also be able to do it."
Count it as one.”
"Zhu Dadian and He Tengjiao are also cabinet bachelors. Zhang Guowei and Yu Ying are also cabinet bachelors. They are all coming down."
"Hong Chengchou is an old traitor, what qualifications do he have to be prime minister?"
Several people are arguing.
"You won't use Ma Shiying or Ruan Dacheng, right?"
"It may not be impossible. Maybe Yan Wogong or Shen Youlong, Wu Yi, Shen Tingyang, Xiong Rulin, etc. are all capable of literary and military skills."
Everyone is also very aware of the emperor's employment habits. They don't care too much about who was a traitor, eunuch, or Donglin in the past. As long as they can unite to resist the captives and not engage in party strife in the new dynasty, the emperor will re-employ him. Ma Ruan and Ma Ruan were famous in the past.
It stinks, but Ruan Dacheng is now the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Ma Shiying is the Governor of Jiangnan and the Governor of Jiangsu.
"I think that if the first assistant used Donglin Wengong, he will definitely not use Donglin again that time. There must be a balance."
Wen Anzhi entered the palace in a golden chariot sent by Tianxia.
"Xuan, Chief Assistant Wen'an goes to the palace!"
Wen Anzhi climbed up the stairs step by step and entered the hall to pay his respects.
You don't need to say three words to receive the Prime Minister, and Zhu Yihai doesn't like that kind of pretense.
In the upper hall of Wen'an, Zhu Yihai gave him the seal of Wenyuan Pavilion and two silver seals, one for Huaizhong Yaowu and the other for Qi De Zhongzheng.
The Wenyuan Pavilion Seal was not an official official seal before the Shao Tian Dynasty. In the past, the cabinet bachelors were no more than fifth grade and worked in Wenyuan Pavilion. However, in the Ming Dynasty, Wenyuan Pavilion was not a real official government office. Wenyuan Pavilion used small seal characters for printing, and it was not an official official seal.
The seal cannot be used in writing in the yamen. It can only be used when the academicians seal inscriptions and memorials.
Zhu Yihai later established the cabinet as a formal government office, and the cabinet's bachelors were still first-class, so he recast the Wenyuan Pavilion seal with a large silver seal and a large seal script.
This Fang Wenyuan Pavilion seal is also the official seal of the cabinet. It represents the cabinet and is printed by the chief minister.
"Awarded the Prime Minister's Seal!"
The chamberlain held out another silver seal, but it was much smaller. It was a small silver seal, similar to the earliest Wenyuan Pavilion seal. It can also be seen from this seal that today's Prime Minister's Office is actually similar to the early cabinet.
It is the emperor's personal secretarial agency.
It's just that in the past, the cabinet's procedures were to wait for them to read the memorial first, and even put forward suggestions for disposal, called vote drafting, and then the emperor would read it.
Later, the emperor was too lazy to govern, or had no ability, so he simply left it to the eunuchs to criticize the officials on his behalf, and the emperor became the hands-off treasurer.
Today, the emperor's Prime Minister's Office is a temporary organization, similar to a certain office group in later generations. It is not a formal government organization, has no formal official establishment, and has no official staff.
Some officials are conferred titles such as Prime Minister, Associate Minister, Bachelor's Degree in the Prime Minister's Office, Bachelor's Degree in the Prime Minister's Office, etc., and they take turns serving in the Prime Minister's Office.
Important military and government affairs are sent directly to the Prime Minister's Office without going through the cabinet, and the Prime Minister and other ministers cannot read them first. They have to be read directly by the emperor first, and then the emperor makes decisions. The ministers in the Prime Minister's Office act according to orders and do not keep records, etc.
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But the Prime Minister's Office also has the qualifications to draft edicts.
The edicts they drafted were divided into two types, such as court ministers and above, foreign officials and soldiers, magistrates and above, and disaster relief and other matters. The prime minister accepted the emperor's instructions and was read by the ministers of the Prime Minister's Office.
Copying it and handing it over to the relevant departments is called Mingfa, or it is called an edict from the cabinet.
Confidential documents related to admonishing ministers, instructing strategies, assessing political affairs, and censuring improper punishments are not handed over to the cabinet but are sealed by the Prime Minister to prevent leakage. After being stamped with the seal of the Prime Minister's Office, they are handed over to the Victory Reporting Office of the Ministry of War and sent to relevant provinces.
When an official sends an order to a certain official to open it and order it to be delivered to the post within a time limit, it is called court mail.
The imperial mail can only be opened and read by myself.
From the working model of the Prime Minister's Office, we know that this is purely the emperor's secretarial agency, and it is not full-time. They just act according to orders and have no power to make private decisions.
Unless the emperor encounters some major matters and cannot make up his mind, he will consult with the prime ministers and ministers, so he only has partial participation in decision-making power and no administrative power.
Executive power remains with the cabinet.
But the cabinet has lost the decision-making power on major affairs.
Fortunately, as the new chief minister, Wen Anzhi was also given the title of chief minister of the Prime Minister's Office, which means he is still at the core decision-making level. Otherwise, this chief minister would not be worthy of his name.
Wen'an bowed to receive the seal and thanked him.
Song Zhipu also handed over a pen to Wen Anzhi.
This pen is neither ordinary nor ordinary. First of all, it was a pen given to Wenyuan Pavilion by the emperor. There were many pens, but it was also a symbol of cabinet power and was commonly known as a political pen.
The chief assistant is the executive pen, who presides over the cabinet's academic affairs discussions. The executive pen is responsible for keeping records.
So this piece is a symbol, representing the power of the chief minister.
The seal of Wenyuan Pavilion, the political pen, and the two major symbols of power in the cabinet are now given to the new chief minister by the emperor and handed over from the old chief minister to the new chief minister.
Handover completed.
Zhu Yihai smiled and clapped, and the ministers also applauded.
Since the Ming Dynasty's cabinet system, although the number of cabinet ministers has been uncertain, there has never been such a big change. Usually, after the old cabinet minister is unavailable or has been convicted, old or sick, etc., he will be replaced, or another one will be replaced.
If necessary, add ministers.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! You can change the cabinet directly, which is really unprecedented.
But the old cabinet ministers did not leave because of their guilt. The change of cabinet this time was still very peaceful, and everyone was very happy about it.
The court is too turbulent, which is not good for all ministers.
"Wei Guogong, you succeed as the Yuan Fu and are also the Chief Prime Minister. You also recommend me a candidate for the Second Fu!"
Your Majesty, please continue to recommend me, this time I will recommend you as a secondary assistant.
"I recommend Zhang Guowei, and Zhu Dadian prepares the candidates for the emperor!"
Other ministers also recommended more than a dozen names, including former cabinet ministers such as Jiang Yueguang, Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan, and Jiang Dejing, as well as local governors such as Shen Youlong, Wu Yi, Huang Daozhou, and Shen Tingyang.
Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng were also nominated, but not many.
These names are aggregated and each has its own number of votes.
Zhu Yihai looked at these names. It was obvious that ministers from the Donglin Party had the most votes, and most of them had been in the cabinet before.
However, many of these candidates did not meet Zhu Yihai's requirements at all. Although some were born in the second-ranked Jinshi and had a high reputation, they had no outstanding political achievements and no strong resumes in local provincial governments. Some were from official backgrounds and did not even have ministry experience.
He has been in charge, even if he has been in the cabinet, he will still be dissatisfied.
The emperor placed the tickets with names on them on the royal eucalyptus in front of him, and he pondered for a long time.
Finally he raised his head and glanced at the court officials.
"Now that the Central Plains has not been recovered and the country has not yet been stabilized, I believe that the main task of the new cabinet is to defeat the Tartars as soon as possible, expel them from the country, and recover the two capitals and thirteen provinces."
"So the new cabinet still needs to be both civil and military!"
"I have decided to appoint Prince Zhiren of the Kingdom of Yue as the Second Assistant to the Cabinet, and confer the title of Bachelor of Wenhua Palace, Young Master, Crown Prince and Grand Tutor, and Prime Minister."
"Given two silver seals, one is called Zizhong Yaowu, and the other is called Zhongzhen Qisheng!"
As soon as the emperor's decree came out, there were sounds of surprise in the palace.
No one expected that the emperor actually appointed a general as his second assistant. This was something that had never happened before in the nearly three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, in the Hongwu Dynasty, when there was no cabinet, the founding marshal and Duke of Wei, Xu Da, served as prime minister.
But after the cabinet was established, all those who joined the cabinet were bachelors.
Those who are not Jinshi will not be admitted to the Hanlin, and those who are not Hanlin will not be admitted to the Cabinet.
Today, the emperor breaks the rules again?
Just now, the ministers have selected dozens of lists of candidates for the position of assistant minister, but none of them is named Wang Zhiren. Not only is there no Wang Zhiren, but there is not even a military commander named.
The emperor just ordered Wang Zhiren.
What’s the point of this tweet?
After a period of silence in the palace.
Gao Hongtu stood up and said, "I think it's inappropriate."
But before he finished speaking, the emperor immediately said, "Does Gao Xueshi think that non-Jinshi can't join the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin can't join the cabinet? This set of stereotypes is out of date."
"His Majesty!"
Zhu Yihai said coldly, "Why should the civil and military divisions be so clear? The cabinet used to be the emperor's secretary, assisting in writing work, so the Hanlin was used, but now the cabinet has become the official yamen of the imperial court, and is also the commander-in-chief of hundreds of officials, responsible for the central office of voting.
How can it be done exclusively by civil servants?"
"Governing a country and being in charge of the center naturally require both civil and military skills. The cabinet also needs a combination of civil and military skills. Governors and cabinet ministers, I believe, are not limited to civil and military skills, only ability."
The emperor showed his cards directly.
There must be military ministers in the cabinet from now on.
Military ministers can not only serve as admirals, but as long as they have the ability, they can also serve as governors and governors, and even serve as generals, prime ministers, and ministers in the cabinet.
The emperor's reasons are also very good. Now that the two capitals and thirteen provinces have not been confiscated, why should we use civility to control military affairs and achieve both civil and military affairs?
The cabinet must have military ministers.
Wang Zhiren's status among the military officials of the Shaotian Dynasty is unquestionable. Zhu Yihai was the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Province when he started his army, and he has been serving as the governor of the Beijing camp in recent years.
His qualifications, abilities, prestige and loyalty are all impeccable.
"Please ask Wen Shoufu to prepare an imperial edict, Xuan Ma to pay homage to the prime minister, and Wang Zhiren to serve as the second assistant!"
There were still people who wanted to object, but it was obvious that the emperor was so determined and backed down.
Everyone understood that the emperor's temper was always autocratic, and it was difficult to persuade him to change his decisions. Only then did everyone realize that today's so-called court recommendation did not allow them to actually discuss the recommendation.
At most, they were here to witness the ceremony.
I really witnessed so many firsts today.
The first time the Ming Dynasty changed cabinets, and the first time a general entered the cabinet, he was still the second assistant.
I don’t know how many first times there will be in the future.
Wen Anzhi walked to the eucalyptus where Xu Shiqi had just planned to pay homage to Wen Anzhi's chief minister. Xu Shiqi was still standing there, polishing the ink for him.
"please!"
Wen Anzhi picked up the pen, thought a little, and then completed the edict of worship in a smooth and flowing manner. Both the words and the lyrics were excellent, and Xu Shiqi on the side praised it repeatedly.
"Your Majesty, please take a look!" Wen Anzhi presented the edict to the emperor.