Whether it is the assistant of the left squire of the military department, the Jingying Rongzheng, or the governor of the household department, this is a very important position, and it is definitely not as easy as the holy decree to take office immediately. Before taking office, Gao Pragmatic still needs to return to the military department to hand over his work.

Although Gao Pragmatic is a Zuo Shilang and a Tang Shangguan in the Ministry of War, his work is still relatively "simple" compared to Shi Xing, another Zuo Shilang under the "Four Squire System of the Ministry of War", because Shi Xing is "assisting Shangshu to grasp the comprehensive", and Gao Shipra is in charge of the Beijing camp.

But the "simplicity" of high pragmatism is only a relatively single scope of work, and in fact, everyone knows that the mess in Beijing is not simple.

Especially after Gao Pragmatic personally led the restructuring of Beijing, this kind of "not simple" is even more remarkable. If Gao Pragmatic did not make arrangements and explanations, the new Rong Zheng Shilang would only be afraid of touching his head and not knowing his brain, and he would not even be able to figure out the door in a few months.

However, the lack of Rong Zhengshilang, the imperial court, has not yet agreed on a candidate, so Gao Pragmatic can only find Liang Menglong to hand over the work first-Shi Xing has also received the holy decree, and Yang Zhaozhishi has been replaced by the Ministry of Works.

Gao pragmatic stepped down, and many people were more anxious than him. Qi Jiguang and the generals of the Praetorian Guard immediately sent people to the military headquarters to make a report, and after getting the approval to allow private individuals to enter Beijing, they all came to the military headquarters to understand the situation; Zhu Yingzhen, Zhang Yuangong and others were busy handing over a joint letter of worship, saying that they would go to Zhaohui Jinggongfang to meet Si Nong in the evening, and even the name of Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, who had been in poor health, was also listed......

It is no wonder that they are in a hurry, after Gao pragmatically "divided the Beijing battalion", the Beijing battalion is divided into two parts: logistics and operations; although nominally it is still under the command of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the command of the military department, after all, it is "doing its own thing," and both sides are very satisfied with the current situation and are unwilling to change it again.

Now that Gao Pragmatic is going to be promoted to the head of the household, will the system of this Beijing camp change under the auspices of the new Rong Zheng Shilang, of course they are very anxious, how can they not make some preparations in advance?

Qi Jiguang and Gao Pragmatic have been old friends for many years, and of course there will be no change in attitude because Gao Pragmatic stepped down as Rong Zheng's servant. On the contrary, he became more and more respectful to the twenty-five-year-old Dasi Nong, and the payment on the prayer post was changed back to "Qi Mou, a little lackey under Muen's door, worshipped at once".

Commander Qi is in this tone, not to mention the greetings of other generals of the Praetorian Guard, it is really a race against humility, and another race against intimacy.

Gao Pragmatic understood the meaning of changing his self-proclaimed post again, Qi Jiguang and a cadre of generals made it clear that they still had the word "Gao" on their heads, and there would be no change because of Gao Pragmatic's job change.

It was a smart move.

High pragmatism is a promotion, not a forced one. As a civil minister, he is a member of the first rank (prince and prince), and he is one step closer to the position that everyone aspires to in the cabinet, and the most important thing is that he is only twenty-five years old now!

Qi Jiguang and others completely dared to make an assumption: as long as the decisive battle of Chahar by the imperial court proceeded as planned, judging from the current status of the "civil marshals" in the eyes of the emperor, there is a high probability that this battle will have to be led by high pragmatism. Well, once the battle is won...... Isn't this position of assistant at your fingertips?

At that time, the "Gao Ge Lao" was very likely to be in time for the year of establishment!

It's amazing!

You must know that today's cabinet is not the cabinet of the early years, and the story of Xie Jindang Chinese New Year's Eve being a cabinet minister at the age of two and being the first assistant at the age of thirty-three cannot be applied - the cabinet at that time was just the emperor's personal staff, but what is the cabinet today? It is roughly equivalent to the political hall of the Tang Dynasty, and the two are completely incompatible.

Originally, the establishment of the cabinet was because the emperor was too busy on the one hand, and on the other hand, the emperor wanted to use the cabinet to contain the six ministries and the six parts of power. At that time, Cheng Zu probably didn't expect today's scene: the cabinet comprehensively suppressed the six ministries.

Gao Pragmatic is now a secretary of the household department, if according to the tradition of the early years, he will not be able to enter the cabinet, but according to the habits of recent decades, it means that he is very close to entering the cabinet. It is necessary to talk about the changes in systems and habits among them.

From the Yongle period, when the cabinet was first established, to the Hongzhi period, there was no formal transfer between the six books and them. This antagonism was already evident in the early days of the Cabinet.

At the beginning of spring in December of the second year of Yongle (1404), Chengzu Zhu Di gave a banquet to the ministers in the Fengtian Palace, and rewarded the six Shangshu and the waiter Jin Zhiwen Qiyi as usual, and at the same time "specially gave the Hanlin bachelor Xie Jin, the attendant Huang Huai, Hu (Guang), and the attendant Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, Jin Youziyi, and the same as the Shangshu", and pointed out very clearly: "I am not biased in the Qing and others, the spokesperson of the department, the secret of the residence, the six of the Qing are around me every day, diligent and hardworking, not under the Shangshu." Therefore, it is necessary to seek to call it meritorious, and not to limit the grade. And emphasized: "I am the emperor in the initial system, and the rank of the chief of Hanlin is the same as that of Shangshu, and the secretary is dedicated to his duties." ”

How to understand this paragraph? In the early days of the establishment of the cabinet, although it was still under the jurisdiction of the Hanlin Academy, and the cabinet ministers at that time also respected the official positions of the Hanlin Academy, Zhu Di rewarded the cabinet ministers with the same as the six Shangshu in this banquet, and clearly emphasized that although their official rank was only five grades, their functions were not under the six Shangshu.

This basically shows that Zhu Di's original intention of setting up the palace scholars was to weaken the status and position of the six scholars, and thus established a relationship of mutual checks and balances between the two.

Of course, the serious mismatch between the positions and powers of the cabinet did not last long, and with the improvement of the status of the cabinet, the Renxuan period began to form the practice of adding six ministers to the cabinet and other fictitious titles such as Shangshu or Shilang.

For example, in the first month of the first year of Hongxi (1425), he added "Huang Huai is a young protector, the household department is still a scholar of Wuyingdian University, a young master and a scholar of Huagai Temple Yang Shiqi is a scholar of the military department, and the prince Shaobao is also a scholar of Wuyingdian University, Jin Youzi is still a scholar of the Ministry of Rites.

Although this kind of sealing is "unforeseen promotion", to a certain extent, it is also an infringement on the functions and powers of the six ministries. The people of the time also clearly pointed out that it was against the meaning of the ancestors, "If you want to add to Liuqing, why not worship its rank."

Although this kind of title undermined the restrictions on the cabinet, it obviously gave it the convenience of interfering in the affairs of the six ministries to a certain extent, and further strengthened the cabinet's checks and balances on the six ministries.

In addition, at the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, the selection method was also significantly different from that of the officials of the six ministries, and the cabinet was basically selected directly from the officials of the Hanlin Academy, and even selected some new science and technology scholars and officials of the Hanlin Academy to observe the government in the cabinet as the preparers of the cabinet ministers. This article still exists in the Wanli period today, that is, the so-called Guanzheng Jinshi is also - their common feature is actually not "Jinshi", but "Hanlin", and there is no one who is not Hanlin but has become a Guanzheng Jinshi.

For this situation, there are about two clear records in the "Ming Shilu", the first time was around the second year of Yongle (1404), when the first class of the new science and technology scholars and the 28 people of Shu Jishi "entered the Wenyuan Pavilion to study", and finally when the three years of the examination were completed, Peng Ruqi, Wang Zhi, Yu Ding and others were able to stay in office.

The second time was in August of the ninth year of Xuande (1434), "ordered to revise Ma Yu, Chen Xun, Lin Zhen, and Cao Nai in the Hanlin Academy, and edited Lin Wengong, Qi Zhongfu, Zhao Hui, Zhang Yi, the left commentator of Dali Temple, and Ji Shi Saqi, He Xuan, Zheng Jian, and Jiang Yuan...... Thirty-seven people went to study in Wenyuan Pavilion".

Wenyuan Pavilion is the place where the cabinet ministers enter the direct office, the essence of these two studies is the cabinet for the selection of successors, which is more clear is that Wang Zhi has been in the cabinet for a long time to write the edict, Ma Yu, Cao Nai in Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong Zhishi after the cabinet pre-machine service, it can be seen that the practice of the cabinet at that time to move into the official position of the Hanlin Academy, which also continued to follow after the orthodoxy, "so the orthodox years Chen Xun, Gao Gu, Miao Zhen, Ma Yu, Cao Nai to enter the bachelor, Zhang Yi, Peng Shi, Shang Zhi to revise the entry, then the old meaning still exists to be examined." 16

This way of directly selecting from the "word ministers" or "historians" to enter the cabinet obviously attaches importance to the secretarial duties, "the people who use the imperial court to enter the cabinet are all out of the Hanlin, and the Hanlin selection of words is just a test of their deeds."

This is completely different from the selection of the six Shangshu focusing on administrative ability, and the six Shangshu in this period, such as He Wenyuan, Wang Ao, Li Bing, etc., all went through the administrative experience of the local and central government, and after being promoted to the central government from the prefect and the magistrate, they were transferred to the post of Shangshu.

I just said that if according to the rules of the past, Gao Pragmatic became a household secretary, and basically cut off the way to enter the cabinet, which is the same reason that Gao Pragmatic was looked down upon by many people when he was appointed as a foreign governor of Guangxi in the early years, and there are examples.

There is a very typical representative figure, that is, Wang Zhi, who once served as the secretary of the ministry, and his experience as a eunuch fully reflects the checks and balances between the cabinet and the six ministers.

Wang Zhi, a native of Taihe, Jiangxi, was a Jinshi in the second year of Yongle (1404), awarded Shu Jishi and "Shiwenyuan Pavilion". He is also the first batch of new scholars selected to study in the cabinet since the establishment of the cabinet. In the end, when the three-year examination was completed, Wang Zhi was able to continue to stay in the cabinet, "a grass".

Of course, strictly speaking, Wang Zhi is not a real minister, and he does not have the name and reality of a scholar of the palace, so he can only be regarded as an alternate for a minister.

Wang Zhi's cabinet career lasted until about the fifth year of orthodoxy (1440), and he entered the cabinet for more than 30 years. Moreover, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and other cabinet ministers were very old when they were orthodox, and they were about to become officials, and Wang Zhi and Yang Shiqi had a friendship with their fellow villagers, and it was a matter of course to become official cabinet ministers.

But the accident happened, Wang Zhi and Yang Shiqi had a disagreement at this time, Yang Shiqi's son Yang Ji "at home violence, the villagers are very miserable", Wang Zhi once reminded Yang Shiqi, but Yang Shiqi was deceived by his son, thinking that "the nunnery (Wang Zhi) is jealous of his fame, vain to say this", so he hated Wang Zhi, and then expelled him from the cabinet.

After leaving the cabinet, Wang Zhi served as a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, and then in the eighth year of Orthodoxy (1443), he was promoted to the rank of official secretary, and served until the first year of Tianshun (1458). During his tenure, Yang Shiqi died of illness in the ninth year of orthodoxy (1444), and the status and prestige of Ma Yu, Cao Nai, Chen Xun, Miao Zhen, Gao Gu and others in the cabinet could not be placed alongside it, and since the second year of Jingtai (1451), due to Wang Zhi's old age and decay, He Wenyuan and Wang Ao were successively appointed as the secretary of the ministry to assist in the management of the department.

It can be said that all obstacles to Wang Zhi's entry into the cabinet have been basically removed. But the actual situation is that Wang Zhi still held the post of secretary of the ministry at this time, which is roughly the same as the secretary of the ministry in the Xuande period, and Xia Yuanji, the secretary of the household department, to prepare for the adviser, that is to say, if the official at this time is promoted to the secretary first, there is no chance of entering the cabinet - because the cabinet at this time, on the whole, is still more important as a "secretary".

Wang Zhi also lamented this in his later years: "Xiyang does not want to give his colleagues the cabinet, and he can't do it without regrets." Combined with Wang Zhi's experience as a eunuch, this regret is obviously not unrelated to the fact that the political system at that time blocked his return to the cabinet while targeting Yang Shiqi.

In addition, the power of the cabinet to "vote" during the orthodox period and the administrative power of the six books also have a strong check and balance, and the most incisive explanation for this is the high arch.

Gao Gong mentioned in "Three Begging Heavenly Graces and Dismissal of Concurrent Duties": "The affairs of my country are all subject to the ministers, and the ministers are drafted. or if it is not appropriate, it will be refuted; or not, mediation. Don't dislike the similarities or differences, be sure to join the army. Therefore, there are many things that make sense, and people dare not be traitors, and the cabinet and the ministry cannot be mixed together......

Chunfang is relieved of his appointment, and the minister is the first of the two auxiliaries, if he still receives the affairs, then he will do it from the title, from the proposed ticket, and the mediation will not be convenient in the end, it is said that water is used to help water, who can eat it......

Today's cabinet is a matter of importance, and hundreds of officials are in charge of advancing and retreating, and all of them have power. The ministers are the first ministers of the cabinet, and they are still the chief officials of Cao, so isn't it too important to exercise power? The power is too heavy, not only the ministers are difficult to live in, and the state system is not suitable. ”

This is Gao Gong's third resignation and concurrently the secretary of the ministry, which very clearly points out that the central power structure of the cabinet and the six ministries of power are complementary and mutually restrictive, which is also the imperial court in the abolition of the prime minister system, carefully designed the operation and restraint mechanism of the outer court, if the two are in one place, the exercise of power is too heavy, seriously threatening the stability of the imperial power and the stability of the national system.

Of course, there is also a bit special here, that is, the official department is different from other books, and Gao Pragmatic is not as sensitive as the Ministry of Officials in the end.

"Everything is difficult at the beginning", after Gao Gong served as the first assistant and the secretary of the ministry, whether it was the elder of the pavilion and the secretary, or the elder of the pavilion with the position of the secretary, it became normalized.

In other words, the Cabinet and the Six Ministries are no longer as distinct as they were in the early years, and now they are not only beginning to merge, but there is even a distinction between the upper and lower levels: the Cabinet is in charge of the Six Ministries.

Of course, this is not absolute, in the original history of the Wanli Dynasty, once the first assistant was weak, or could not get the strong support of the emperor, the six ministries may also be reversed to empty the cabinet.

The reason why Qi Jiguang and others did not dare to have the slightest disrespect for Gao Pragmatism was that Gao Pragmatism could be expected to enter the cabinet, which everyone knows; Second, at this time, the household department and the military department were the home fields of the real school.

The elder who is in charge of him above Gao Pragmatic's head is Zhang Xueyan, who is the boss of the real school and has always been an important supporter of Gao Pragmatic, so it is conceivable that he will definitely support Gao Pragmatic's distribution in the household department.

In terms of the military department, although Rong Zhengshilang was temporarily absent, Qi Jiguang expected that this must be because the change of the cabinet and Qiqing came too suddenly, and the real school itself was a little unprepared, so he did not have time to nominate candidates.

Qi Jiguang believes that there is a high probability that this new Rong Zheng squire will still be produced from the Shixue School, and it is very likely that the emperor will summon Gao Shishi and ask him to recommend a successor - this is also a tradition, just like when Pan Sheng pushed Xu Xuemo up.

With such a judgment, Qi Jiguang and others naturally continued to be respectful, and Zhu Yingzhen, Zhang Yuangong and others naturally had to hurry up and ask for a high pragmatism.

As a result, Gao Pragmatic met with the generals of the Praetorian Guard under his command for the last time at the Ministry of War, and gave him a face-to-face lecture.

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PS: In the next chapter or the second half of the chapter, the new cabinet and the list of the seven secretaries will be listed, so as not to remember it - I still remember, and the next thing is to "change the copy".