Chapter 885: Big Wedding (Part 2)

Although the governor and governor are permanently stationed in the local area, they have no rank. They are mostly appointed as governors as the official title of the Censor of the Court or the Minister of War, and serve as governors as the chief of the Censor of the Ministry of War. When they enter, they are respected by the court, and when they leave, they act according to the imperial edict, and are the leader of military and political affairs. This is an embarrassing identity of the central government, which is not the central government and the local government is not considered a local government, which still brings great trouble to the governors.

First of all, the local administrative structure is still the original. Because the commander-in-chief has already stepped aside, the administrative organs of each province are headed by the governor and the Censor. The two officials who opened the government offices and met with the yamen have their own set of subordinate officials. For example, the Ministry of Education announced that there were two second-rank left and one right-ranked governor; from the third-rank left, there were no fixed personnel for the political participation, from the fourth-rank left, and there were no fixed personnel for the political participation... There were no scattered officials in this dynasty, and the official positions were all one and one pit, especially the senior officials above the fourth-rank were short of stock, so the meaning of "no fixed personnel" was not optional, but there were many names. Generally, there were more than ten participating in politics in each governor-in-chief and senators to handle government affairs.

This is a senior official, and there are also institutions such as the arch and polishing office, the judiciary office, the jail office, the miscellaneous construction bureau, the military weapon bureau, the Baoquan bureau, the weaving and dyeing bureau, and they all have official positions and designated personnel. As for the custody department, the scale is smaller, but the nature is exactly the same. This is easy to understand, because Taizu set up these two yamen to let them command the government affairs of the province, so naturally the official institutions must be fully allocated.

Let’s look at the governor’s account... I’m sorry, except for the clerks who handle paperwork, there are no affiliated officials. The staff who work as governor’s office is not a state official, but a private hire by the governor. In this regard, even a county magistrate is not as good as a county magistrate, a chief clerk, and a history, who is paid by the state.

This is not difficult to understand, because at first the governors and governors were sent out by temporary orders, not official positions, so there would be no assistants. This has created a common strange phenomenon... The governors are the governors and the chiefs of the governors, while the governors and the chiefs are the chiefs of the provincial bureaucratic system. If the governors and governors cross them and directly command the subordinate bureaucrats, they will violate the taboo of "overpower".

Moreover, the governor was from the second rank, and the inspector was from the third rank, while the governor was often appointed as the assistant censor, and his official title was the fourth rank, and even some governors were appointed as the third rank, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War. They were named as superiors, but they were not subordinates, and their subordinates also led a huge bureaucracy, so it would be strange if they didn't make any mistakes.

In fact, the governor's orders are difficult to implement, and the powers of the province are different. The yamen shirk their responsibilities and slandering their superiors and slandering their superiors is extremely common in all provinces. This not only causes the governor and governor to spend a lot of energy to harmonize yin and yang, but many who are not good at interpersonal relationships are directly surrounded by enemies and cannot stretch. However, once a major event happens, the court will hold the responsibility accountable, and the governor and governor are the first to be affected, and the subordinates will be fine. This depressing life of not being able to eat mutton and making a flirting mess is unwilling to continue... Compared with this, it is a drizzle to take over the financial power. After all, it is a dispute with the Ministry of Revenue. Regardless of winning or losing, it is nothing more than a tight belt to live. At least in the province, it is still poor and poor.

Therefore, the local governors and governors agreed with the decentralization of administrative power. They suppressed them, and the governors and the supervisors had no choice but to contact the party secretly and give them some attention to the new policy in the court. Some officials wrote a letter saying: "According to the new policy, the governors will manage military affairs, the governors will manage civil affairs, and the governors will be controlled by the governors. The governors and governors will be controlled by the governors. The governors and governors are subject to mutual restraint, but rights are interspersed and stacked, and power is difficult to distinguish, and contradictions are inevitable. Therefore, it is nonsense to eliminate the power of affairs.'

He also said: "The two people in a province are in charge of major policies, and have different ambitions and power, and their power must be fought for. If the two governors and governors are not filial, they will tolerate each other for private purposes; if one is virtuous and one is not filial, they will inevitably become inseparable from each other; even if both are virtuous, they may have different opinions and disagreements, so they cannot be at peace with each other, even if they are virtuous, they will inevitably be virtuous."

Someone even directly denied it: "The ancestors withdrew the provinces and set up three departments to prevent the power of the ministers from being difficult to govern. Now the provinces and the governors and governors are set up three departments, which is a very contrary to the law of the ancestors, making the power of the ministers difficult to govern! This is actually a move to destroy the country! Please establish and abolish this law. If anyone dares to reiterate it in the future, the whole family will be executed!'

Chen Jing knew that this was not the real reason for their opposition, but he still wanted to cheer up and ordered people to refute one by one: "The governor and governor are in the same province, and only the border borders are based on military first, so the governor is able to control the governor. In other provinces, the governor only manages military affairs and does not interfere in local government affairs in normal times. The military and political affairs are clear, so how can we talk about the division of power?'

‘It is ridiculous to say that two people are in charge of major policies and their power has to be fought over. Whoever takes over power is good, or whoever separates power is good?’

'As for the law of ancestors, the division of three departments is the law of ancestors, and the governor is also the law of ancestors. Therefore, the world changes and time changes, and the original law has to be changed. Moreover, today the financial power has been collected from Taicang. The governor has obtained his troops but cannot get money and food. The governor is in charge of civil affairs but has no military power. How can there be any possibility of chaos?'

Such unnutritional verbal battles have never been stopped. However, the new policy has been successfully promoted and vigorously implemented by the governor. In a few years, it has become the general trend and cannot be changed.

Politically and economically thrived. According to statistics at the end of the fifth year of Wanli, the amount of grain stored in Taicang was enough to withdraw for twenty years, and the funding of Taipu Temple was more than 8 million taels of taels of funds were not reached by Renxuan's rule back then. Of course, this was due to silence, but what was more important was the good foundation laid by Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng's bloody battles over the years.

In addition, the northern national defense was also in golden years. Altan was dead. His sons fought for power and profit while competing for the court. Although the Tumans did not surrender, they were constantly defeated under the attack of Li Chengliang and Qi Jiguang, and had been away from the capital for many years. In the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng only focused on fiscal and tax reforms and did not say a word about the rest. Zhang Siwei and others performed their duties and did not dare to challenge the authority of the chief minister. For several years, it has been so quiet that there was no waves, which has not been seen since Jiajing and Longqing.

Compared with these comforting things, that constant verbal battle is like a adjustment to a boring life, so insignificant.

However, in this spring when all things are revived, what has happened and is about to happen indicates that the peaceful days seem to have come, and the troubled days of the Prime Minister have come...

First of all, the problem of the emperor's wedding came. The emperor was sixteen years old this year, and according to the age of one year, he was only fifteen years old. However, his mother, Empress Dowager Li, had already designated a woman from Yuyao, who was born in a small official family in the capital. She was named Wang Xijie as the candidate for the queen, and she hoped to hold a wedding in the fifth year of Wanli.

However, the cabinet believed that the emperor was only fifteen years old in the fifth year of Wanli, and the bride was only fourteen years old, so to avoid being too early, it may hurt the holy body. This reason is high-sounding, because tradition believes that a man develops himself at the age of sixteen, and having sex before this age will damage his essence. Under the insistence of the cabinet, the empress dowager retreated, but she really couldn't wait and asked the emperor to hold a wedding as soon as he celebrated his birthday. This time the cabinet had nothing to say, so she had to order the Imperial Heaven Supervision to choose an auspicious day, and finally set it in March this year.

The reason why Empress Dowager Li insisted on the emperor's wedding as soon as possible was because in Chinese tradition, a man's marriage means an adult, an emperor's adulthood means he can fulfill his responsibilities, and the mission of a minister who is in charge of life is over, and he should return the power to the king!

Empress Dowager Li could understand this, let alone the government and the people. Therefore, since last year, there have been more and more calls for the cabinet to return the power after the emperor's wedding. In everyone's opinion, this is inevitable... Although over the years, the court's small matters have been solved by the six departments of the cabinet, and the major matters have been decided by the court. It can be said that the handling is in order, but there is no emperor in this regard!

As a minister, you can’t always exclude the emperor from power, right? Especially those ministers who are excluded from the core circle and who are frustrated by the reformers want to leave a good impression on the empress dowager and the emperor, so as to take this opportunity to turn things around.

Shen Mo had already expected this day, but he was not caught off guard. He personally served as the Prime Minister of the wedding and ordered the internal and external government offices to start purchasing and preparing, so that the emperor's wedding ceremony must be held in accordance with etiquette and without any explanation. How to deal with it in the future has long been planned...

What really caught him off guard was something that happened yesterday. At that time, he and Zhang Juzheng were arguing in Wenyuan Pavilion. Over the years, the two have quarreled a lot about the new policy, but they all took the overall situation into consideration. They only quarreled in private and discussed the matter, and did not mention it in front of anyone afterwards. Therefore, at this time, it is strictly forbidden for anyone to get close to the duty room.

However, just as the two of them slammed the table and stared at each other and were quarreling, a knock on the door suddenly came. Shen Mo immediately pulled down his face and said, "What's wrong!"

"Yuanfu," Zhang Yuanqi's voice came from outside. This stubborn top scholar, who has been in the cabinet for five and a half years, has been promoted from Shen Mo's servant to an official in charge of internal and external affairs of Wenyuan Pavilion. In addition to a few cabinet masters, he is the most useful in the cabinet: "If Jiangling urgently writes to Zhang Pavilion Master!"

Shen Mo looked at Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Juzheng's face turned pale. The news sent from his hometown was so serious that it made Zhang Yuanming break the rules... Thinking of his father's health since last year, Zhang Juzheng dared not think about it anymore.

"Come in." Shen Mo said.

Zhang Yuanqi led a dusty officer in front of him.

When Zhang Juzheng saw that the visitor was his fourth son, Zhang Jianxiu. Because he was unable to study, he embraced a Jinyiwei Qianhu, who was in charge of military positions, and served his grandparents in his hometown of Jiangling. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened at home?"

"Dad..." Zhang Jianxiu knelt down with a thud and cried bitterly: "Grandpa has passed away."

"What, what did you say?" Zhang Juzheng suddenly felt dizzy.

"Grandpa passed away at home on the 13th of this month." Zhang Jianxiu cried: "Grandma ordered me to come to the capital to report the death!"

"How is this possible..." Zhang Ju, as if struck by lightning, collapsed on a chair. After a while, he came to his senses, kowtowed heavily to the south, and bent his chest with his heart and bones wailing, "Dad, my child is unfilial!"

Silence was also sad around him. He knew that Zhang Juzheng was really sad... After the official took office, he was separated from his parents for a long time. For example, Zhang Juzheng had never returned to Jiangling since the 36th year of Jiajing, after three years of illness and retiring back to Beijing, and had never seen his father for twenty years.

Last summer, Jiangling wrote to him saying that his father was very ill and sometimes he had difficulty walking, and he wanted to see him for the last time. Zhang Juzheng was preparing to take leave to visit his parents, but the financial and tax reform reached the most critical stage, so he had to wait until he got his hard bones down before leaving. Who knew that before he finished his work, Zhang Wenming had passed away. He could not support himself in his life, be filial to his bedside, and be unable to meet him for the last time when he died. As a son, how could he not be resentful and blame himself for his whole life?

Chen Si ordered people to send Zhang Juzheng home, who was overly sad, and there was no time to be sad for others. It was not that he was cold-blooded, but that Zhang Juzheng was about to be in charge of the system for three years. During these three years, wouldn’t he have to support the situation alone and deal with those enemies who regard reform as thorns in his side? When he thought of this, he was overwhelmed.

Of course, no matter what you think, you still have to follow the procedures. He first approved Zhang Juzheng's request to condolences and no longer come to work. Then he reported this to the emperor and the empress dowager and asked for a sage to Zhang Juzheng. Then, after the court came the next day, he led the cabinet members to Zhang Juzheng's mansion in Shamao Hutong to pay tribute. He saw that a pair of lanterns in front of Zhang's mansion had been replaced with white words, with the big "Dian" written on it.

When I entered the Grand Secretary's Mansion, I saw that it was covered with white mourning inside, and the living room was temporarily arranged into a mourning hall. Looking at the hanging trousers in the living room and the elegy couplets such as "sound and appearance" on it, I felt sour and almost burst into tears. I said in my heart: "Dad, please take care of yourself!"

After hearing that there was a sage edict, Zhang Juzheng asked his family to avoid it first, and knelt down and listened to the condolences of the young emperor and his son. Then he cried bitterly and said intermittently: "Thank you, the emperor, the queen mother and the care..."

Silence helped Zhang Juzheng up and whispered in his ear: "Brother Taiyue is mourning, let's think about how to deal with it first."
Chapter completed!