Feng Yuanbiao, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, was appointed as the ambassador of negotiations with the Qing and Liao coalition forces, and left Beijing to go outside the pass on the same day. On the same day, Liu Jun also made several personnel proposals to Wu Xuan.

"Since Liu Ge Lao Ding You returned home, there are only five people left in the cabinet. I suggest that the cabinet add two more people and restore it to the scale of the past seven-person cabinet."

Emperor Zhu Cilang said to Wu Qing, "Yuanfu, the prince mentioned this to me before. What I mean is that now there are only two ministers left in the regent and the cabinet is short of staff, which is too hard. It is better to add two people to the cabinet and share the burdens of the two in the future."

"The prince proposed two candidates, Yuan Jixian, the governor of Chuanhu, Yao Minggong, and Yuan Fu, what do you think?"

Wu Yan was caught off guard. He did not expect Liu Jun to suddenly raise such a thing at this time, and he did not expect that he had already discussed it with the emperor in advance.

Yuan Jixian is Liu Jun's teacher, and Yao Minggong is Liu Jun's fellow townsman. If these two people enter the cabinet, it is obvious that Liu Jun will be stronger in the court in the future.

He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then replied, "Your Majesty, officials have always had fixed systems to enter the cabinet, which need to be recommended. According to the system, the nine ministers and the assistant ministers and the ministers of the third rank, the ministers and ministers of the second ministries, the ministers of the second ministries, the ministers of the great nine ministers and the officials of the fifth rank and the ministers, the ministers and the ministers of the court, the ministers and the ministers of the third rank, the ministers and the ministers of the Dali Temple, all of them are ordered to be promoted. All the ministers, the ministers, the ministers and the ministers of the Dali Temple are ordered to be promoted by the six ministers, the chief ministers, the chief officials of the chief officials of the Dali Temple, the chief officials of the third rank, and the ministers of the Dali Temple are recommended."

The selection method of official officials above the third rank of the Ming Dynasty had changed several times after the late Ming Dynasty, and formed a very unique way of advocacy.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the election of senior officials was very simple, and they were usually specially scribed by the emperor. After arriving in Xuande, if there were any officials in the two capitals and six ministries, the Censorate was short of officials, and the court officials were ordered to recommend the integrity, public and wise talents of officials, and the ministers discussed and elected several suitable candidates, and then handed them over to the emperor for selection.

Since then, this method of raising gradually became mainstream.

However, during the Chenghua period, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty denied the way of educating the ranks on the grounds that he was good at raising too many favoritisms. However, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty himself was not competent for the ranks, so in the end, he formed the method of independently electing senior officials by the Ministry of Personnel.

However, high-ranking officials of the third rank or above are different from ordinary officials. They are mostly trustworthy and need to be cautious in their choices. There is also the tradition of the previous election of officials, so the calls for opposition to the Ministry of Personnel to control the individual selection of the election gradually increased.

During the Hongzhi period, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming followed the advice of his ministers and restored the system of recommendation again. From then on, the system of recommendation was officially formed.

According to this system of recommendation, if the imperial court wants to elect a cabinet grandson, it needs the Nine Ministers, officials of the fifth rank and above and the censors of the Ministry of Justice, and recommend two or three or four candidates in one fell swoop, which will be decided by the emperor.

The two most important procedures of the system are: the first is to generate candidates, and qualified officials must be gathered for discussion.

Whenever you encounter a missing official position, such as the Minister of Personnel, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Chief Censorate, the General Secretary, the Minister of the Dali Temple, and the Nine Ministers. If you encounter a more important official position, such as the Minister of Personnel, the Minister of War, the Governor, and the Cabinet Minister, the Nine Ministers, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Minister of War, the Governor, and the Cabinet Minister. In addition to the Nine Ministers, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Minister of War, the Governor, and the Cabinet Minister, the Nine Ministers, the Participants must also be involved in the Daoist Office.

Starting from the late Wanli period, all officials who can recommend the subject can participate.

The second is that when it comes to selection, the candidates will be presented, and the emperor will determine the candidates. The final appointment result can be either the persons selected or the emperor will choose others. This provision itself defines the space for differences in opinions: the opinions that may exist in the nomination of candidates; the opinions that may exist between the emperor and the officials when making the final decision.

When Chongzhen was in power, he used a very strange way to choose high-ranking officials. First, the ministers would release several candidates, and then he wrote the names of these candidates on paper and threw them into the golden bottle, and then used the same method as a lottery. The final touch was the candidate.

In Liu Jun's view, being able to recommend is a good system that can brainstorm and recommend wise men. But no system can be perfect. The Ming Dynasty's will to recommend the system, which allows officials of all sizes to participate in the appointment process of important bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty and express their opinions.

However, in this way, there are too many factions involved, especially after the late Ming Dynasty, the party struggles were strong. If you can push it, it will become a tragedy of party struggles, the space for differences of opinions contained in the support itself will gradually become a party struggle between sentiment, making the disputes between the court even more serious.

During the Chongzhen period, the more serious fight was the struggle between Qian Qianyi and Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren. At that time, the minister of the cabinet was promoted, and the leader of Donglin Qianyi became the candidate. Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren were not elected, so the two attacked Qian Qianyi in the name of forming cliques and cheating in the imperial examinations. Recently, Qian Qianyi was disqualified from the qualifications to enter the cabinet and was questioned, and Zhou Yanru was able to enter the cabinet.

Now in the court, since Zhou Yanru's death, the original Jiangbei Party has also scattered birds and beasts, either joining Wu Yan's Jiangnan Party or turning to Liu Jun's Chu Party.

When Liu Zongzhou left Monday, the neutral officials were also in charge.

If it is difficult to push, it will definitely turn into a fierce party struggle again.

However, since Wu Yan brought out the system of recommendation, Liu Jun could not refuse. However, according to this system, the candidates who finally introduced the system were still determined to be qualified for selection, but the two ministers who were in power for the emperor were still in the hands of the two ministers who were in power for the emperor.

So after all, Wu Yan actually made such a move.

According to the co-referral system, there are three main types of official positions that need to be co-referred. One is the important officials in the Beijing official system, including cabinet ministers, ministers of various ministries, ministers of the left and right censors, deputy censors, ministers of Dali Temple, and envoys of the Tongzheng.

The second category is the central government’s special local officials, including the governor, governor, and inspector.

The third category is the senior military officers in the local area, including the admiral, the general, and the deputy general.

Before this, the selection of senior officials such as these Secretary, Minister, Governor, General, and General were ordered by the ministers to discuss the election and the ministers at the meeting of the Prime Minister.

Now Wu Yan proposed to the court to push the matter, which clearly wanted to provoke a fight.

"Yuan Fu is thoughtful, so let's hold a meeting according to Yuan Fu's wishes." Liu Jun replied with a smile. To this day, he is not alone in the court.

The next morning, the Prime Minister's Office held a meeting to promote the court's proposal.

The meeting was chaired by Zheng Sanjun, Minister of Personnel. The attendees included six cabinet ministers, as well as six ministries, Tongzheng envoys, Zuodu Censor, Dali Temple Minister nine great ministers, and officials of the fifth rank or above in Beijing, and censors of the Kedao gathered to discuss the election.

Before the court discussion began, the hall of the Prime Minister's Office was already full of tension.

Zheng Sanjun announced that each person can propose two alternative lists for one official. The other person who participated in the court discussion and the other persons who were less than 500 officials can be elected.

After all the nominations for the candidates for the missing official, they began to evaluate one by one. The last two candidates were selected as the most recognized two as positive and accompanying official recommendations. They were listed as official recommendations and submitted to the ruling of the ministers and the emperor on the official recommendation list.

"I elected Chen Yan, Minister of Rites, and Jiang Dejing, Minister of Personnel, to the cabinet." Zheng Sanjun was the first to elect.

"I recommend the Zuodu Censor Ni Yuanlu to enter the cabinet."

"I recommend Li Banghua, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to the cabinet."

None of the ministers elected first, including Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong, who Liu Jun wanted to elect.

Wu Yan sat there with a smile on his face. He glanced at Liu Jun with his eyes open. He found that Liu Jun was calm and did not show any anger.

"I elected the governor of Sichuan and Lake Yuan Jixian, the governor of Central Plains Yang Wenyue, the governor of Sanjiang Kong Fangxu, and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhang Guowei to enter the cabinet!"

A voice whispered loudly.

Wu Qi frowned and looked up, but saw that it was Li Chunjiang, the former governor of Lushun. Li Chunjiang, who had just recently entered Beijing to serve as the Left Minister of the Ministry of War.

As soon as Li Chunjiang started, another person stood up and suggested that Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong enter the cabinet. Wu Qi immediately recognized it and said that Li Ke was the minister of the Chinese side, Yizhi, the son of the Sanjiang Governor Kong Fangxu, who was also a backbone of the Fu Society, and is now a member of the Chu Party.

Then the Minister of the Ministry of Justice gave the Zhongshu Hou Fangyu a proposal to Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong to enter the cabinet. This was another member of the Chu Party and the son of Hou Xun, the governor of the Pass outside the pass.

One proposal after another, all of them mentioned that the Chu Party entered the cabinet. Although most of the proposals were of low rank, they all held the position of a censor of the Kedao.

Wu Yan found that he seemed a little careless. He thought that this time the referral would definitely suppress Liu Jun. After all, Liu Jun's army is strong, but he is not as good as him in the court.

He never expected such a result.

Liu Jun kept smiling without saying a word.

As expected, the next push will be completely out of control.

Hundreds of officials all recommend candidates. How to confirm the results?

This kind of push is promising but no voting, and the results are all determined by everyone's expectations. In fact, how can it be what everyone wants now?

Zhu Ciyang was impatient with the quarrel. He asked Liu Jun and Wu Yan, "Will the ministers continue to argue like this? When will the result be achieved?"

Wu Qi was very embarrassed.

Liu Jun made a suggestion at this time, "Your Majesty, I suggest that it is better for every minister here to issue a vote. The two cabinet ministers elect one in two rounds, and one in each round is selected. Each person nominates one candidate at a time. Then count all votes, according to the offense, and select four candidates for each vacancy, and hand them over to the ministers and Yuanfu to select two waiters for each vacancy, and finally hand them over to Your Majesty to make a decision and select the appointed person."

"Well, I think it's OK. If I continue to recommend this, I will probably not be able to choose a result for three days and three nights." Zhu Cixuan agreed immediately without waiting for Wu Di to object. He was already a little impatient and wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

Voting is an unprecedented way to recommend it.

Four candidates will be selected based on the number of votes you get, and there is nothing to argue about now, everything depends on the votes.

The votes were open to vote, and the votes were quickly voted, and then the votes were counted. The names of candidates were reported one by one. In the end, the first cabinet minister had vacant seats, and more than 30 candidates appeared.

The final vote counting result was released, and the four people who received the top four votes were selected. The one who received the most votes was the current governor of Chuanhu, Yuan Jixian, the second was Yao Minggong, the third was Kong Fangxu, and the fourth was Li Shuchu, all of whom were ministers of the Chu Party. Chen Yan and others who Wu Qi wanted to recommend were all ranked behind, and the top four failed to enter.

The list of four candidates was delivered to the two ministers of resolute life, and Liu Jun and Wu Yan could each choose one candidate.

Liu Jun directly chose Yuan Jixian.

Wu Yan looked at the four people on the list and didn't want to choose any of them, but he couldn't choose any of them except these four people. In the end, Wu Yan chose Kong Fangzhao. In fact, three of the four people on the list were all Donglin Party and fought side by side with him. But now, they are all important members of the Chu Party.

Yuan Jixian and Kong Fangxi, two candidates were sent to Zhu Cixuan.

Zhu Cilang picked up the red pen and drew a circle on the name written by Liu Jun.

Wang Chengen stepped forward and sang loudly, "Your Majesty chose Yuan Jixian, the Governor of Chuanhu, to enter the cabinet!"

The second list of cabinet ministers began to vote again.

The top four votes were selected again, Yuan Jixian was elected and will no longer run for the election this time. Yao Minggong won the first vote, Fang Kongzhang was the second. Li Shuchu was the third, and Zhang Guowei was the fourth.

Wu Qi's face was already angry and his face was swollen and purple. He never expected this to be the result. He suddenly thought of a key question. Liu Jun suggested that everyone present had a vote. This is the big problem. The most common ones here are Kedao censors, with nearly a hundred.

These people have not had high positions, but the number of people is the largest. As a result, Liu Jun asked everyone to have a vote, but the result was that although he received the support of many ministers and ministers in advance, how many ministers and ministers were there?

"Your Majesty, I think this voting system is inconsistent with the conference recommendation system, and the censors of Kedao should not have a vote with the ministers and ministers."

Wu Xuan suggested that although the Censors of Kedao participated in the promotion, they only had the right to discuss and should not have the right to vote. There were too many Censors of Kedao. If everyone had a vote, it would be unfair to promote. He suggested that only six of the six departments were given to the Censorate. The left and right censors of the Censorate had the right to vote, and the rest of the Censors had no right to vote.

Zhu Cilang looked at Liu Jun.

Liu Jun immediately said, "I think what Yuan Fu said is reasonable, but this time the recommendation has already achieved results, so it is impossible to be useless again. You can change the voting rules from next time, and this time it should still be valid."

"What you both said makes sense, then this time the vote will still be valid, and the future recommendation will be followed by the new rules."

"Your Majesty, I believe that one more should be added, the Kedao Censorate. There are only six departments to serve as the officers and the left and right censors. The left and right deputy censors have the right to vote, but the Kedao Censors have the right to review and control the candidates for the vote. If the selected waiter has corruption and redemption status, the Kedao Censors can raise objections. After investigation and verification, the qualification of the candidates shall be cancelled."

"The most important thing is that Your Majesty has the final right to make decisions on the outcome of the recommendation, and has the right to not use the candidates elected by the recommendation, and to submit the candidates to the court officials for discussion."

"Accurate." Zhu Cilang thought that Liu Jun's two additions were very good, which particularly highlighted the authority of his emperor.

Wu Yan still had to object, but the emperor had already urged him to elect a candidate immediately.

In the end, Wu Yan chose Zhang Guowei.

Liu Jun chose Yao Minggong.

Among these two candidates, the emperor chose Yao Minggong, whom Liu Jun, no surprise.

"Your Majesty elected Yao Minggong to the cabinet!"

Yuan Jixian and Yao Minggong were selected to join the cabinet at the same time, and both were given the title of Grand Secretary of the Dong Pavilion.

Immediately afterwards, what went against Wu Yan's surprise was that Liu Jun took advantage of the situation and proposed to elect the Governor of Sichuan and Lake.
To be continued...