Chapter 429 428 Gao Gong Is Anxious

The news brought by Chen Ju was naturally very bad for Wei Guangde.

Yan Song had already obtained the Tianguan of the Ministry of Personnel first, and Ouyang Bijin had a close relationship with Yan Song. Although sometimes it seemed that he and Yan Song were not in sync with each other, they were relatives after all, and they would definitely look after their own family at critical moments. .

As for the other vacant position of Minister of Rites and the opportunity for the cabinet to replace the cabinet minister, Wei Guangde was still curious whether his elder brother Chen also had accurate information.

Although Yuan Wei's recent promotion has almost confirmed the position of Minister of Rites, Wei Guangde still wants to ask.

"Brother Chen, I also want to ask a question, that is, for the position of Minister of Rites, has His Majesty already favored Yuan Wei?"

Chen Ju blinked and thought for a while before saying: 'It's hard to say. Your Majesty will only keep this kind of thing in your heart. ’

However, looking at Wei Guangde's slightly disappointed expression, he smiled and said: "Actually, based on my observation, Yuan Wei may not be the Minister of Rites."

"How to say?"

Wei Guangde asked in surprise.

"Yuan Wei's promotion path is not so much preparing to be promoted to Minister of Rites, but rather rushing to join the cabinet."

Chen Ju talked eloquently: "If Yuan Wei is really put into the cabinet by the emperor, the position of Minister of Rites will not be vacant. You know, although the cabinet ministers all have the title of minister, they are not in charge."

"Brother, what do you mean, Yuan Wei may join the cabinet this year?"

Wei Guangde sensitively grasped the hint of Chen Ju's words and asked.

"Lu Ge has been in office for a long time, and now the cabinet only consists of Yan and Xu. It will definitely not work."

Chen Ju smiled and said: "Yuan Wei is a very loyal person to the emperor. The emperor can rest assured that he will be included in the cabinet."

The meaning of Chen Ju's words was a bit deep. Wei Guangde was silent for a moment before he slowly figured out the meaning.

Now the two ministers in the cabinet have their own power in the court. Although they are still dependent on the emperor, there are still small group interests after all, and it is difficult to say whether they will have entanglements with the imperial power.

By then, even if Emperor Jiajing can forcefully advance his will, the situation will definitely be very bad.

If an obedient person was put in the cabinet to mix in the sand, the situation might be better.

As for the obedient people, in fact, the officials and ministers who made great contributions to Qing Ci should be those whom Emperor Jiajing could rest assured and could make great use of.

Because these people were considered by the outside world to be flattering the emperor with their Qingci, they had a bad reputation in official circles and scholars. For this reason, they could only rely on the emperor with all their strength.

They have only been out of Qingshui Yamen like the Hanlin Academy for a short period of time, and have little connection with the court. They have not yet formed their own interest groups, so they can naturally use them with confidence.

"If Yuan Wei joins the cabinet, who will be the Minister of Rites in the end? Is it Yan Ne?"

Now Yan Ne is the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel, the person closest to the position of Minister of Rites.

"Yan Na, Guo Pu, Li Chunfang, and Gao Gong are all possible, but Gao Gong is most likely to serve as the Zuo Shilang of a certain ministry."

Chen Ju said calmly, "I heard from my godfather that the emperor seems to have a bad opinion of him recently, and I don't know if the factory guard has reported anything recently.

By the way, Li Chunfang's situation is similar to Gao Gong's. He may also hold the position of Zuo Shilang. It's hard to say which one he belongs to. But his situation is different from Gao Gong's. His starting point is slightly lower now. After all, he has not yet left Ministry, in charge of the Hanlin Academy. "

Hearing this, Wei Guangde was horrified.

What shocked him was of course not that Gao Gong and Li Chunfang might stay as Zuo Shilang, but what Chen Ju said earlier about the surveillance by the factory guards.

I have heard before that if the emperor wants to reuse someone, he will definitely not decide on it at once. Instead, he will send factory guards to monitor him, and he will consider whether to use it after observing for a period of time.

"Brother Chen, you have many connections in the palace. I wonder if my little brother has been secretly secreted."

Wei Guangde didn't finish his words, but he still expressed his feelings.

"The officials from the capital are all within the scope of factory surveillance, but they have different priorities."

Chen Ju just answered ambiguously.

Saying it means not saying it.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart, but it was hard to continue asking.

"Yan Ne is the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Guo Pu is the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel. They are not the candidates chosen by His Majesty to be ministers."

Wei Guangde suddenly felt something in his heart and whispered smoothly.

"Maybe. I remember last year, my godfather told me that the Ministry of Rites might need to be replaced. At that time, Wu Shan was still busy with King Jing's vassal appointment. I didn't know until later."

At this point, Chen Ju suddenly stopped, as if he realized that he had made a mistake. He looked at Wei Guangde opposite and said with a smile: "Is there anything else you want to know? I'm still at ease with you, brother. If you have anything, just ask me. Okay, I’m sure I’ll tell you everything.”

In the past, Chen Ju would not be so generous and say everything he knew in front of Wei Guangde.

After all, one moment and another, now that King Yu's position has been stabilized, Chen Ju, as a chamberlain, will have to consider the issue of the new emperor sooner or later.

Try to make good friends with King Yu now, and you will naturally feel at ease when King Yu takes the throne in the future.

For people in the inner court, the emperor's trust is the most important.

After separating from Chen Ju, Wei Guangde directly asked Zhang San to drive the carriage back to Prince Yu's Mansion.

It was already four or five o'clock in the afternoon in later generations, and all the major offices in the imperial court had already dispersed. Usually, the subordinate officials in Prince Yu's Mansion, except Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng, usually left directly if they had nothing to do.

But today when Wei Guangde returned to the palace, not only Yin Shizhan and Zhang Juzheng were still at the academy, but even Gao Gong came.

I think it was when Wei Guangde left the palace to meet Chen Ju that Prince Yu sent someone to call Gao Gong.

When Wei Guangde walked outside, he heard people laughing in the house. He thought that as usual, he was invited to the palace for a banquet.

Now Prince Yu was really happy and relaxed, and he set up banquets more and more frequently.

After all, not only Wei Guangde, but also people in the palace did not expect to get any useful information from Chen Ju today.

In Prince Yu's opinion, only old eunuchs like Huang Jin and Gao Zhong might be able to guess something.

After Wei Guangde entered the house to meet Prince Yu and others, he did not keep them in suspense, and directly told everyone the news he heard from Chen Ju.

Hearing that Yan Song had taken down the position of Minister of Personnel at noon today, Gao Gong's expression changed from nervousness, anger to final disappointment.

Although Gao Gong had realized that something was wrong when Yuan Wei was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, and that his status was not that high in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, he could not hide his disappointment.

"Mr. Su, although you have lost your chance this time, you may still be able to get the position of Left Vice Minister. You just need to wait for the next opportunity."

Yin Shizhen noticed Gao Gong's expression and tried to persuade him.

Gao Gong smiled bitterly but said nothing.

What Wei Guangde said before was only about the possible arrangement of the positions in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. After all, the emperor had not consulted anyone, and Chen Ju only told Wei Guangde what he had heard from Gao Zhong and his own guesses.

In addition, Wei Guangde mentioned the matter of the Censorate again. That was what Xu Jie had said before, but he did not know whether Gao Gong knew about it.

Yin Shizeng then continued, "We still have to learn from Lord Xu. He has long been eyeing the position of the Censorate, but he never showed it."

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng when he heard Yin Shizeng say this.

Xu Jie is indeed experienced. He has long been eyeing the Censorate and even arranged people, but he did not let the outside world know.

"No wonder."

At this time, Prince Yu suddenly laughed and said, "When Minister Pan succeeded Minister Zheng as the Left Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he took leave to recuperate after working for a few months. I was wondering why he retired before the position of Minister was finalized. It turned out that he was waiting here."

There should not be many people who knew about Pan En at that time. Wei Guangde noticed that except Gao Gong, everyone else in the room had a surprised expression on their faces, including Zhang Juzheng.

Now Pan En has long recovered from his illness and returned to the court, but the Minister of the Ministry of Justice has been appointed, and he came back from his illness when the Right Censor of the Censorate was vacant, so he directly entered the Censorate.

Now that I think about it, the way that Lord Xu sought a job was really clever.

However, these were not something that anyone in Prince Yu's mansion could compare to. With Lord Xu in power, many things that others could not do could be accomplished naturally.

"Yes, Lord Xu's reputation in front of His Majesty is still not as good as that of Prime Minister Yan. He cannot directly ask Lord Pan for an official position like Prime Minister did. He can only find a way to wait for the official position to be vacant and accumulate experience."

Yin Shizhan said.

Saying this, he was actually expressing a meaning to Gao Gong. You have been in the Ministry of Rites for a short time. In the absence of the emperor's favor, don't just think about rising to the top. You can't compare with Yuan Wei and others. It's better to accumulate experience.

Wei Guangde thought that if he had time in the next few days, he would study Xu Jie's way of employing people and learn some experience from him, so that he could promote and appoint his own people in the future, such as Lao Kan.

Wei Guangde also realized the importance of the Censorate because of the impeachment memorial, so he had the idea of ​​pushing Lao Kan to take charge of the Censorate.

Looking at Paine's promotion and the careers of the former Zuodu Yushi, it's time to start working hard and prepare a team for yourself.

Everyone in the room had their own thoughts, and soon dispersed.

Today, Prince Yu saw that Gao Gong was in a bad mood, so he naturally didn't arrange a banquet to entertain him. I'm afraid no one would want to drink this cup.

The next day, as expected, the cabinet received the order from Xiyuan.

Two.

People in Prince Yu's mansion had heard the news yesterday, but they were not surprised, but the news surprised all the ministers.

Wu Peng retired, Wu Shan lived in idleness, and two Shangshu positions were vacant at once. Many people thought it would be a fight between dragons and tigers, and they would fight fiercely when they were promoted, but they didn't expect that Emperor Jiajing would directly decide on the person.

"Promote Yuan Wei, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to the position of Minister of Rites and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince."

"Change Grand Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Minister of Works Ouyang Bijin to the position of Minister of Personnel."

After all, Wei Guangde was the first to get the news, and he was still very calm when confirming the news. He had no chance in the first place, as they were a long way apart.

Just a few days later, Prince Yu's Mansion did not wait for the good news of Gao Gong's transfer to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but received another news from Xiyuan.

On the fifth day after Yuan Wei was promoted from the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel to the Minister of Rites, an imperial decree came from the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan: "Order Yuan Wei, the Minister of Rites and Academician of the Hanlin Academy, to enter the Xiyuan to serve as a writer."

Looking at his immediate superior Yuan Wei receiving the imperial decree, with this imperial decree, Yuan Wei was officially and legitimately in the Xiyuan, and Gao Gong could not hide his envy.

At the beginning, he, like Yuan Wei, would be called to Zhilu by the eunuchs sent by Xiyuan, but not to consult on government affairs, but to help Emperor Jiajing select Qingci, which was very enviable.

After all, after selecting Qingci, he would have the opportunity to meet the emperor and say a few words.

If you don't see those Shangshu, many of them may not be summoned by the emperor for one or two months.

The imperial edict that Yuan Wei received now is the basis for him to enter the Xiyuan with a legitimate reason, and he has truly become a close minister of the emperor.

Having a position in the Xiyuan is even better than getting a Shangshu position, which means that the emperor favors you.

For a while, more officials came to visit the already lively Yuan Mansion, and even Yan Shifan went to Yuan Wei's house to sit.

The Yan family is an old minister of the current emperor, and Yuan Wei is a rising star.

Yan Shifan's move caused a great shock in the circle of Beijing officials. At several banquets attended by Wei Guangde, everyone was full of envy, and at the same time, they disdainfully denounced Yuan Wei as a lucky villain who relied on Qingci to win favor.

Of course, this was said when Yuan Wei was not present. If Yuan Wei was in person, I think everyone would have another rhetoric.

Since that day when it was confirmed that Ouyang Bijin would be the Minister of Personnel and Yuan Wei would most likely be the Minister of Rites, Gao Gong's goal had shifted to the position of Left Vice Minister of Personnel.

Yuan Wei was promoted to the Minister of Rites, and the newly promoted position of Left Vice Minister of Personnel was naturally vacant, so Gao Gong naturally wanted to compete for it.

Wei Guangde brought back the message at the beginning, but he did not say the second half of what Chen Ju said.

Emperor Jiajing was slightly dissatisfied with Gao Gong. Although he did not know the reason, Wei Guangde could probably guess it.

Gao Gong did not know that this promotion had nothing to do with him at all.

But no matter what, for him, he should be promoted from Right Vice Minister to Left Vice Minister first, and gain some experience, so that if the position of Minister is vacant next time, he will be more competitive.

For this purpose, Gao Gong has been busy these days. Not only did he secretly meet with Xu Jie, but he also went to the Yan family to visit Yan Shoufu. As for the newly appointed Minister of Rites and Minister of Personnel, there would naturally be no shortage of them.

In the past, Gao Gong and Yuan Wei had more contact not in the Hanlin Academy, but in the Wuyi Hall in the Western Garden, where they discussed and selected Qingci together. Now it is different. They meet every day in the Ministry of Rites, but Gao Gong still chooses to visit Yuan Wei.

The purpose is naturally very clear. Now as long as someone can speak to the emperor, Gao Gong doesn't care about anything else and must maintain a good relationship.

As for Ouyang Bijin, in the eyes of Gao Gong and other people in the court, Ouyang Bijin's ability to move from the local to the central government was all due to Yan Song's promotion behind the scenes.

Since he is a member of the Yan Party and a relative of Yan Song, he will naturally stand on the side of the Yan Party. Moreover, the young cabinet minister has been selling official positions and titles in the capital for many years, relying on the control of the Ministry of Personnel.

When Wu Peng retired, he immediately sent Ouyang Bijin to the Ministry of Personnel in a hurry. His intentions are obvious.

To be honest, it is far less pleasant to contact Ouyang Bijin than to deal with Wu Peng. Gao Gong has always had a good relationship with Wu Peng, but he didn't expect him to be retired at a critical moment.

However, Gao Gong’s actions had nothing to do with Wei Guangde, as he had already covered the Zhengde period in his lectures at Prince Yu’s Mansion.