In the cabinet meeting room of the Wenhua Palace, cabinet scholars and several secretaries were sitting on both sides of a long table, and Huang Liji, the first assistant, was sitting on Chongzhen's left hand, holding a document and chattering.

What Huang Liji was talking about was several items on the agenda of today's cabinet meeting. One of the most important is to discuss how to welcome and return victorious generals such as Sun Chengzong.

The first year of Chongzhen was not a good year, the drought in the northwest provinces and the land of Gyeonggi, the flood in the Hangjiahu Plain in Zhejiang, the earthquake in Beijing, the rebellion in the southwest, the people in the northwest raised troops, the people in Henan made trouble, and the Chahar Department moved west to suppress the Datong Pass.

Even if there are two rare pieces of good news, recruiting the Eighteen Zhi pirate gang on the southeast coast, and reaching a collegiate agreement with the Houjin of Liaodong, it is just the imperial court putting gold on its face. As long as you are a clear-eyed person, you can see through it at a glance, this is just the result of the court's compromise.

The peace agreement signed between the Houjin State and the imperial court in Liaodong had not yet dried the ink, and people had already been sent to the vicinity of Kuandian, plotting that the Ming Dynasty would be stationed in Dongjiang Town on Phi Island.

The 36 Mongolian tribes guarding the gate of the Ming Dynasty outside the Guan, because they were unwilling to accept the incidental political demands put forward by the Ming Dynasty when they were relieved, 19 tribes defected to Shenyang with their own lives. Later, Jin simply ignored the peace agreement reached with the Ming Dynasty and gladly accepted these Mongol tribes. It can be seen that the peace agreement signed between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty did not have much sincerity.

But now, the imperial court finally has a real good news, which can be used to polish the first year of Chongzhen, so that people in the world feel that the new emperor is still a little new when he ascends the throne.

In the past few days, Sun Chengzong's record of leading his army to defeat the Mongols outside the Guanwai has been raised by the imperial court to a height comparable to Yu Qian's defeat and preservation of the battle of Shenjing.

This kind of propaganda naturally boosted the morale of the people of the Ming Dynasty, but with the high admiration of the people of the capital for Sun Chengzong and other generals, the cabinet also encountered another trouble, that is, how to deal with this victorious division who only returned to the dynasty.

The enthusiasm of the people of the capital for this victorious division is so high, and according to the specifications of the reception arranged by the cabinet before, it is a little too low. However, it became a difficult problem to mention how high the standard of greeting should be and who to let greet the victorious generals on behalf of the imperial court.

Sun Chengzong, as the teacher of the Apocalypse, originally had a relatively transcendent status. If the cabinet elevates his status again this time, even Huang Liji is a little worried, will Sun Chengzong suppress the cabinet, shift from military affairs to political affairs, and interfere in the cabinet's power to deal with court affairs.

After Huang Liji asked Chongzhen this question, he carefully watched Chongzhen's face to see what kind of decision the young emperor would make.

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while, and then asked the cabinet ministers: "Then Mr. Huang and all gentlemen, who do you think is better to greet Mr. Sun on behalf of the imperial court?" ”

Zhang Ruitu said disapprerovingly: "This time, General Sun led the army to defeat Lin Dan Khan, which is indeed a rare victory, but this kind of victory may not be comparable to Li Chengliang's past victories.

Since there is nothing special about Li Chengliang's entry into Beijing after his victory in the past, then I don't think there is any need for special treatment for the reception of General Chief Sun, so it is better to follow the old routine. ”

Shi Feng glanced at Chongzhen, and found that the emperor frowned when he heard this, so he quickly retorted: "This is this time, that time. In the past, when Li Dashuai was there, there were still elite soldiers and strong generals in Liaodong, Jiannu had no intention of rebellion, and there were no civil uprisings in the interior of the Ming Dynasty.

But today, I have internal and external troubles, the border passes are full of tired soldiers, disasters are frequent in various places, and the treasury is clean enough to starve rats to death.

Sun Kaiyang defeated Lin Dan Khan, who harbored evil intentions, at this critical juncture, and it was a battle that defended the Ming Dynasty and gave the people of the world a chance to breathe. If the imperial court turns a blind eye to such a meaningful victory, will the imperial court still be able to instruct these border army commanders in the future?

The minister thought that it was not easy for Sun Kaiyang to win this battle, and His Majesty should treat him favorably in order to boost the loyalty of the border generals to the imperial court. ”

"The purpose of the various rules and regulations established by the ancestors was to be observed by future generations, not to be destroyed at will. If we destroy the code system at will, will the border generals and local governors respect the authority of the imperial court in the future? Zhang Ruitu retorted mercilessly.

Shi Fenglai was speechless for a while, and the other ministers also looked at each other, not knowing which side to choose, because neither Chongzhen nor Shoufu spoke out.

Huang Liji glanced at Shi Fenglai, who was red-faced, and suddenly stopped Zhang Ruitu from continuing to question. He said to Chongzhen carefully: "Whether it is Zhang Changgong or Shi Cunmei, although the two have different opinions, they are both for the sake of the court. It's just that one focuses on the future situation of the imperial court, and the other focuses on the present.

The old minister thought that the opinions of these two people had merit, but how to decide should still be judged by His Majesty. Even if His Majesty exceeds the specifications to greet President Sun, it is nothing, after all, the grace is from above. ”

Zhu Youzhen flashed his eyes, then said with a smile: "There are so many bad things this year, it is rare to have something that makes the world happy, it is better to break the rules."

General Chief Sun and the officials of the General Staff Department worked hard to win this battle for our Ming Dynasty, and it was only natural that the welcoming ceremony should be made more solemn.

I believe that it is not only necessary to raise the specifications of the victorious army, but also to let the people of the capital have a good look at the appearance of the victorious army. In this way, if there are any setbacks in the future, the people of the capital will always have a thought in their hearts, and they will not follow the crowd and mess up the daily life of the capital.

Mr. Huang and I naturally can't go to greet him, but it doesn't hurt to choose a gentleman among the ministers and take the civil and military officials to the city ten miles to greet them. It is up to Mr. Huang to decide whether this person is chosen.

In addition, let Shuntianfu organize the people of the capital and the students of various elementary schools, universities, and military academies to line up on the way from Deshengmen to the small teaching field to welcome them.

This welcoming ceremony should not only make the soldiers who returned to the capital feel honored, but also let the people of the capital receive education, so that they can understand that the comfortable life in the capital did not fall from the sky, but the soldiers of the Ming army exchanged their lives for it. ”

Regarding Chongzhen's choice, Huang Liji could only sigh in his heart. Although he did not approve of Chongzhen's decision in his heart, he was even more reluctant to conflict with the emperor at this time.

Sun Chengzong's victory over the Mongols not only brought him great prestige personally, but also won a lot of hearts for Chongzhen by the way. After all, in the past few months, officials in the DPRK and China, including cabinet ministers, have either not been optimistic about this war, or they hope for a quick victory, and will not let this army gather near Datong to delay and waste food without a fight.

It was Chongzhen who alone withstood the letters of these officials, turned a deaf ear to the withdrawal theory put forward by the officials, and resolutely opposed the argument of a quick victory, insisting on dragging this war to a node favorable to the Ming army before fighting a decisive battle.

Since Chongzhen often published the full text in the Daming Times when refuting these erroneous remarks, when the news of the victory came, the officials of the DPRK and China could not link themselves to the victory for a while, and could only watch Chongzhen reap the prestige brought by this victory.

Originally, after Chongzhen proposed to negotiate peace with Houjin and the policy of unified purchase and marketing of grain in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces, his reputation was mixed among the people. But now with this victory, the little emperor who is fighting independently has a hint of Mingjun in the hearts of the people.

Huang Liji knows his own business, as he has had a close relationship with Wei Zhongxian in the past, he has always been a remnant of the eunuch party in the reputation of the southern scholars, and now he is a traitor who blinds the saint.

The Donglin Party and the southern bureaucratic gentry, after a year of hiding, thought that they had seen clearly Chongzhen's temperament. Although the emperor still had a bad impression of the Donglin Party, he was still able to tolerate the Donglin Party members to do something in the court.

However, the situation in which bureaucrats from the north of Korea occupy important positions in various places has made these southern scholars more and more impatient. They don't think that this is a situation that Chongzhen deliberately did.

The young emperor who had just ascended the throne couldn't even recognize words, let alone people. This is obviously a conspiracy of Huang Liji, the remnants of the eunuch party, to deceive Chongzhen, and to install private individuals in the six ministries to crack down on the southern scholars.

Of course, whether it was the Donglin Party or the southern scholars, after several unsuccessful direct attacks on Huang Liji, they finally began to realize that as long as Chongzhen was willing to trust Huang Liji, they would not be able to oust Huang Liji, the leader of the northerners in the DPRK, from the position of first assistant.

As long as Huang Liji is still in the position of the first assistant, it will be difficult for the Donglin Party to overturn, and the unjust case against the Donglin Party and the southern scholars jointly created by Wei Zhongxian and Huang Liji.

So now in the capital, the public opinion controlled by the Donglin Party began to quietly change, and there were fewer remarks criticizing Chongzhen for changing the ancestral system without authorization, and there were more articles attacking Huang Liji for using power for personal gain and wantonly promoting his cronies.

Huang Liji, who is old and sophisticated, naturally knows that this is someone who wants to bury suspicion of him in Chongzhen's heart, so as to break up the tacit relationship between him and Chongzhen now.

Huang Liji, who knew this, naturally would not expose in front of everyone at this time that there were differences of opinion between him and the emperor. Although he feared that Sun Chengzong's influence in the court would increase, now was not a good time to stop Chongzhen from trying to exercise power.

Huang Liji nodded at Chongzhen, and said: "Then this matter will be handled according to Your Majesty's wishes, and the minister thinks that this welcoming matter may as well be handed over to Master Qian and Shuntianfu to handle." What do you think? ”

Looking at Shousuke's sweeping gaze, the ministers had no intention of objecting, and even Zhang Ruitu, who had strongly opposed it before, remained silent.

Then Huang Liji said the second thing, "... Since the implementation of the new official reform, 3 or 4,000 official positions have been vacated in various county offices.

The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, because of the functional subdivision of the departments, the establishment has almost tripled, and now they are all large departments with hundreds of people.

But now there are only a few hundred officials to choose from. Under the previous rules for the selection of officials, they had to train for several months before they could take up posts in new departments.

Therefore, now the center of the imperial court and the local government have a shortage of manpower. The minister thought that either the training time for officials should be shortened, or the requirements for the selection of officials should be temporarily lowered, otherwise the new policy would cause a situation in which the upper and lower levels would be unstable and it would be difficult to implement the decrees issued by the imperial court..."