In the afternoon, Guo Song temporarily summoned the five ministers of the political affairs hall to discuss important matters.
Everyone hurried to the palace of King Jin. Pan Liao walked out of the courtyard and met Zhang Qianyi.
"Old Pan, why do you think His Highness the King of Jin summoned us temporarily for this purpose?" Zhang Fengyi asked with a smile.
Pan Liao smiled slightly and said: "I guess it is to confirm the new minister. His Highness wants to hear our opinions."
“It’s finally decided!”
Zhang Qianyi sighed with emotion, then smiled and said: "Who does Lao Pan think will win?"
Pan Liao smiled and said: "It's hard to say, His Highness has never communicated with us before. I think he has probably made a decision, but he still wants to hear our opinions."
"Indeed, these two aspects touch the hearts of many people!"
According to the practice of the Tang Dynasty, officials of the third rank and above were appointed by the emperor. After Emperor Daizong Li Yu ascended the throne, the emperor's appointment power was expanded to the fourth rank and above.
Guo Song made adjustments and clarified the power of recommendation and veto. The power of appointment of the prime minister was in his hands, and each prime minister had the right to recommend. Except for the prime minister, the remaining officials of fourth rank and above were decided through consultation among the prime ministers, but Guo Song had a veto.
right.
This appointment was only limited to civilian officials. The titles and honorary officers of third rank or above were still conferred by Guo Song. In addition, the appointment and dismissal of the military was a separate system and was not within this scope.
Not long after, the five prime ministers gathered in the official room of the King of Jin. This was an informal discussion, and there were not many people. Guo Song arranged for his men to bring some soft chairs for everyone to sit in his official room.
"The main reason I invite you all to come today is to discuss the vacancies of the two prime ministers. If it takes too long, it will be detrimental to the operation of the court. If possible, I hope to finalize it today."
Everyone understood that His Highness King Jin must have thought about it, so he invited everyone to discuss it. Of course, if everyone had strong objections, King Jin would consider it carefully.
Guo Song took out five recommendation lists and continued: "Here are the five candidates recommended by you, Cui Yuanfeng recommended by Pan Xiangguo, Xue Xun recommended by Du Xiangguo, Wei Yingwu recommended by Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, and Dugu recommended by Privy Envoy Cao
Li Qiu, as well as Lu Zhi recommended by Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of War, plus Pei Yanling recommended by Li Mi before he became seriously ill, Cui Sun recommended by Xue Xun, the senior minister, and Lu Mai recommended by Du Qiu, the senior minister, there were actually eight people in total.
candidate.
Then we will remove Xue Xun recommended by Du Xiangguo. Due to physical reasons, he is not qualified for the important responsibilities of the Prime Minister. Du Xiangguo can consider recommending another person."
Du You shook his head and smiled: "No need, the seven candidates for prime minister are all talented people, so I don't need to recommend them anymore."
Guo Song had already asked Du You before, and Du You said that as the Minister of Civil Affairs, he respected the opinions of other prime ministers. Guo Song asked Du You again here, asking him to express his position publicly in front of everyone.
"Okay! Since Du Xiangguo gave up the recommendation, we will consider the new Xiangguo from among the seven people. In fact, these seven people basically represent my employment standards. They have both ability and political integrity, and strong qualifications. Some of them may have lower qualifications, but
It can also be considered as an exceptional promotion."
Speaking of this, Guo Song stopped and glanced at everyone. Seeing that no one had any intention of interrupting him, he smiled and continued: "Then I will talk about my considerations. First of all, I don't want the Prime Minister to be in the interests of one party.
Representatives, you represent the court, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the world, and you must not be the spokesperson of a certain force. That is what the eunuchs of the Southern Tang Dynasty did. This will never work here, but I will also consider the gentry from all over the world.
In order to appease them, it is necessary to consider geography, so this time, for the quota of two prime ministers, I will consider one from Hebei and one from Guanzhong."
As soon as Guo Song said this, Pei Yanling and Lu Zhi were eliminated first, leaving Cui Yuanfeng, Cui Shen and Lu Mai from Hebei, who were from the Qinghe Cui family, Boling Cui family and Fanyang Lu family respectively, as well as Du Guqiu and
Wei Yingwu, they are from Guanzhong.
Guo Song smiled at Pan Liao again and said, "Pan Xiangguo recommended Cui Yuanfeng. Can you please tell Pan Xiangguo the reasons for recommending him?"
Pan Liao stood up and said: "Thank you for your highness's trust in giving me an opportunity to recommend the prime minister. Let's talk about qualifications first. Cui Yuanfeng was born as a Jinshi. He has been an official in the local area for a long time, from the chief secretary to the governor. He was retained by the people twice.
Although he lost the opportunity for promotion, he had been evaluated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs for fifteen consecutive years. After entering the court, he served as the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple and the Minister of Household Affairs. During the Jingyuan Revolution, he was granted the title of Tongzhongshumenxiapingzhangshi, and was promoted to
He is qualified. After the Jingyuan Mutiny, he was dismissed from his post because he opposed the appointment of the traitor Lu Qi. He has been idle at home and resolutely not to be used by Tian Chengsi's uncle and nephew. I think his qualifications, virtue and talent are sufficient, so I recommend him for this humble position.
Enter the phase.”
Guo Song smiled again and said: "Actually, Cui Sun and Lu Mai's qualifications, moral integrity and talent are not inferior to those of Cui Yuanfeng. Why doesn't Pan Xiangguo recommend these two people?"
Pan Liao pondered for a while and said: "Although Cui Sun and Lu Mai are also good, and are no less than Cui Yuanfeng in all aspects, it's just that when we consider the prime minister, we need to consider some other factors."
"Like what?" Guo Song asked quietly.
"Such as their contribution to the Jin State, their family's influence and their physical condition."
After hearing the three influences mentioned by Pan Liao, everyone realized that Cui Yuanfeng was probably decided by Guo Song himself and handed over to Pan Liao for recommendation. Because Pan Liao's power had been weakened before, everyone speculated whether it was King Jin and Pan Liao.
There was a gap between the Liao and the Liao, or the King of Jin was dissatisfied with Pan Liao. Now it seems that they all thought too much. The person that the King of Jin trusted the most was probably Pan Liao. He only restricted the power of the right minister and had nothing to do with Pan Liao.
Due to the influence of the family, the Cui family of Boling gave birth to Cui Zao, who was attached to the eunuch party, which affected the entire family. As for the contribution to the Jin State, the Cui family of Qinghe donated Mingzhou and gave the Jin army a springboard to enter Hebei.
, Fan Yang and the Lu family helped the Jin army capture Youzhou. Both families contributed a lot. The third point is health reasons. Lu Mai is old and in worse health than Xue Xun. Even Xue Xun withdrew from the election and elected him again.
What’s the point?
After this elimination, only Cui Yuanfeng was suitable, and everyone was silent for a while.
Guo Song did not explain, and said with a smile: "Cui Yuanfeng will let it go first, and then talk about the other place. I plan to choose one of the two, Duqiu Qiu and Wei Yingwu, but I am not sure. I want to hear your opinions. I hope
Everyone can speak freely."
It was Pan Liao who spoke first again, "Your Highness, Du Qiuqiu is very experienced and very qualified, but he has a fatal weakness, that is, he has no experience as a local official. Based on this alone, the humble position does not approve of him becoming the prime minister.
, the humble position is more inclined to Wei Yingwu."
Cao Wannian shook his head and said: "Pan Xiangguo used his lack of experience as a local official as an excuse to oppose Dugu Zizhengqiu. It is too rigid. If he must have experience as a local official, Li Linfu had never been a local official for a day. Why did he become the right prime minister? When he was a local official,
Being an official is just to deeply understand the sufferings of the people and to understand how the court and the local government get along. It is not an absolute condition for becoming a prime minister. Besides, Dugu Zizheng also became a prime minister in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Is it possible that our tolerance is not as good as that of the Southern Tang Dynasty? "
Zhang Qiu'an expressed his position: "Cao Xiangguo didn't know something. It is precisely because we have served in the local area for too short a time and do not have a deep understanding of local people's conditions. Therefore, we need a prime minister who is well versed in local people's conditions. At this point, Dugu Zi
The government does have some shortcomings.”
Zhang Fengyi also said: "To understand the people's sentiments, one does not have to be an official. With Dugu Zizheng's decades of life experience, he probably has a much deeper understanding of the sufferings of the people than we do. I feel that Dugu Zizheng should be suitable."
."
The four prime ministers formed a two-to-two ratio. Guo Song glanced at Du You, who had not expressed his stance, and said with a smile: "What's Du Xiangguo's attitude?"
Everyone's eyes are on Du You. If there is a vote, Du You's vote will be crucial.
Du You was silent for a moment and smiled: "Yesterday I was reading the Zengguang Xianwen written by His Royal Highness the King of Jin. There was a sentence in it that I was very moved about. It's called, 'A family with tens of millions of treasures is not as good as having an old man in the family.' The old man's high moral character and prestige can unite the strength of the family."
, unite the children of the family, and his life experience can help the children and grandchildren overcome difficulties. I thought of our court. Our court has just been established. We really need a senior minister to sit in charge. It is a good way to let the senior minister serve as the prime minister. In fact,
I prefer Li Mi to be the prime minister, but Li Mi is seriously ill, so as Du Qiu is a veteran of the Four Dynasties, I think he is more suitable to be the prime minister than Wei Yingwu."
........
In the afternoon of the same day, Guo Song issued a regent order, conferring Cui Yuanfeng, the former minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, as the official Jin Ziguanglu, and serving as the minister of the Ministry of Rites.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Tong Zhongshu is responsible for the affairs under his command, and the Political Affairs Hall is responsible for discussing affairs.
At the same time, Pei Yanling was granted the title of Jin Ziguanglu Doctor, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Tong Zhongshu's Ping Zhangshi.
He was appointed as the official Jin Ziguanglu, Cui Sun was appointed as Taichang Qing, and Lu Mai was appointed as the Grand Scholar of Jixian Palace.