"Your Majesty, is it unorthodox to do so. Cabinet ministers should pay first attention to character, followed by talent, how can they be self-recommended? If there are fortunate people close to him in the future, they will be lucky enough to deceive Your Majesty and steal the authority. Isn't Your Majesty's goodwill today a source of chaos in the future? Zhang Ruitu had to stand up and object.

The candidate he pushed, Yang Jingchen, has an age advantage compared with others, and is not yet 50 years old.

However, Yang Jingchen's family was poor since he was a child, and he was later sponsored by his father-in-law Pan Hu before officially entering the academy to study.

Yang Jingchen was 32 years old, and in the second year he went to Beijing to take the examination, and he won the second place in the examination, and the seventeenth place in the second class of the court examination.

Yang Jingchen is outstanding in learning, but there is a small problem, the accent is too strong. This is because he has not undergone systematic official education since he was a child.

Although his accent has changed slightly during the years he has served in the capital, it is still a little difficult for a person like Chongzhen who grew up in Beijing to understand Yang Jingchen's words.

In fact, there were only a handful of linguistic exchanges between the cabinet ministers and the emperor. Most of the communication between the two sides was in writing, or through a third person who was summoned by a eunuch.

Therefore, Zhang Ruitu did not think this was a flaw before, but now Chongzhen requires each candidate to introduce their talents one by one and explain their thoughts on the work of the cabinet, which is obviously not good for Yang Jingchen.

With the growth of cabinet power, Zhang Ruitu is also determined to win the position of first assistant. Of course, before that, he must first consolidate his position in the cabinet.

After the cabinet was expanded, Xu Guangqi and Guo Yunhou's status in the cabinet surpassed him, and Shi Fenglai has always been Huang Liji's echo worm, so he desperately needs to find a supporter in the cabinet.

He didn't want Yang Jingchen to be brushed down by the emperor because of this small flaw, which might make him completely lose his right to speak in the cabinet.

Zhu Youzhen listened to many of the other officials' remarks, and couldn't help but straighten his posture and said, "Can you tell me?" What exactly is the Cabinet for? ”

Zhang Ruitu and the others immediately looked at Huang Liji, and this question seemed to be suitable for only this Shoufu master.

Huang Liji was silent for a while, and then he had to stand up under this silent pressure, and said cautiously: "The cabinet naturally exists to assist His Majesty in governing the Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhu Youjian looked at Huang Liji for a while, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Since the cabinet is the body that assists me in managing this country, shouldn't I first understand whether these candidates recommended by the ministers have the will and ability to assist me in managing this country?" ”

Regarding Chongzhen's replacement of the Ming in his sentence with the state, Huang Liji only froze slightly, and then said quickly: "Your Majesty wants to understand that these candidates who have been publicly promoted to replace the cabinet ministers are naturally what they should be.

However, the candidates recommended by the Ministry of Officials and Jiuqing were included in the list of candidates after examining the past qualifications of the officials. If Your Majesty now uses momentary remarks as the criterion for evaluating whether or not he can be admitted to the cabinet, it will inevitably be detrimental to certain candidates who are clumsy in their words.

In the future, if everyone takes His Majesty's current practice as the standard, will there be a culture of empty talk among officials in the DPRK and China? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Huang Liji and the ministers in the palace, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Mr. Huang was only thinking about whether this was fair to other officials. But for me, the first thing to consider is.

If a cabinet minister is selected who is not competent, is it fair to the people of the country? The people of the Ming Dynasty paid taxes, provided conscription for the country, and soldiers who defended the country.

The selection of an unqualified cabinet minister is, in theory, nothing more than a waste of the state's support for him. But for the citizens of this country, it is a real murder of their loved ones. ”

Zhu Youzhen's words immediately sparked a discussion among the officials in the palace, and Huang Liji was speechless, but Liu Zongzhou finally couldn't help but step forward and said, "Your Majesty's words, is it too alarmist?" It's true that the cabinet ministers are incapable of delaying state affairs, but it doesn't seem appropriate to say that this murder or something. ”

Zhu Youzhen said unceremoniously: "In June last year, the Shanxi earthquake affected Henan, Shuntian and Hejian, and tens of thousands of people were affected. In July, the wind and floods in Suzhou and Changzhou in the south of the Yangtze River flooded countless houses, and tens of thousands of people were affected.

When did the Cabinet receive the news, and when did the relief work? Why did those people who were lucky enough not to die die after the disaster could not receive relief after the disaster? Isn't this the murder of the people who were afflicted? ”

Huang Liji felt that his head was a little dizzy, he just wanted to maintain the tradition of cabinet selection a little, why did the emperor immediately start to turn over the old accounts.

However, he could not help but respond to the emperor's questioning. can only helplessly ask the emperor for guilt, and the two ministers Shi and Zhang also stepped forward to ask the emperor for guilt.

Seeing that the officials in the hall were waiting with bated breath for their disposal, Zhu Youzhen suddenly showed his face and said: "The so-called: the past is not forgotten, and the future is the teacher." I bring up the old story in the hope that the gentlemen in the cabinet will not forget that the purpose of joining the cabinet is to serve the country, not to reward your personal virtue.

A person whose reputation is more important than the country's citizens should not be in the Cabinet. People who have no compassion for the people of this country should not be in the cabinet. People who have no ideals about how to benefit this country should not be in the cabinet. ”

Zhu Youzhen said his requirements for the cabinet ministers in one breath, which made the officials in the palace a little confused.

But the people who can stand here to participate in the meeting today are all high-ranking officials above the three grades, and they have worked hard to get their current position, so how can they be willing to defend the emperor for Huang Liji and the others.

Although politically, since Wei Zhongxian was sent out of the capital, Huang Liji has faintly become the leader of the so-called eunuch party.

However, no one in the eunuch party, whose organizational form was looser than that of the Donglin party and relied entirely on the combination of political interests, was willing to act as cannon fodder for Huang Liji at such a juncture in order to divert the emperor's attention.

If it was a low-level official attached to Huang Liji's group at a public court meeting in the past, he would probably stand up without hesitation and try to win the favor of Shoufu, so as to win a rise to the top.

But for these officials who are not too far from the status of the three cabinet elders, they probably gloat more in their hearts, after all, if the three cabinet elders are forced to retire, wouldn't the cabinet have three more positions, not to mention a vacant position of the first assistant.

Wu Chunfu was struggling in his heart, and he carefully weighed whether he would be jealous of Shoufu if he came out to support the emperor's proposition now. The favor of the emperor or the jealousy of the first assistant, which side is more favorable.

Before he finished thinking about it, Xue Zhen, the secretary of the Criminal Department, couldn't wait to stand up, and praised Chongzhen's suggestion to reform the old and make the new a great inspiration.

Xue Zhen's compliment made Zhu Youzhen's face slightly hot. He couldn't help but say to Xue Zhen kindly: "Sure enough, the court is still the big priest who thinks clearly, and he knows my mind well." ”

With Xue Zhen's leadership, Zuodu Yushi is naturally unwilling to follow behind. Then there was Tian Yang of the Ministry of International Trade and Postal Affairs, echoing with several other officials.

Seeing that Chongzhen had mastered the rhythm of this meeting, Huang Liji immediately decided to give up entanglement with the emperor in such details.

"The old minister is stupid, he can't understand the deep meaning of His Majesty's measures, and he is really frightened. The minister believes that the rules for the selection of future candidates for the absence of members in the cabinet should be based on what His Majesty said today. ”

After Huang Liji finished speaking, he didn't forget to glance at Xue Zhen coldly. Among the more than 20 officials, only Han Yi and Liu Zongzhou belong to the Donglin Party. Sun Chengzong, a scholar, was unable to attend this meeting because he did not have the title of Jiuqing.

Liu Zongzhou felt that Chongzhen's people-oriented thinking was very much in line with his appetite, so he did not speak out against Chongzhen's use to break the rules of cabinet candidates.

Of course, he didn't realize that the people in Chongzhen's mouth and the people he thought were not the same thing.

And Han Yi watched from the sidelines, Chongzhen took the opportunity to beat Huang Liji, and felt much more comfortable in his heart. He and Liu Zongzhou were not surprised that they were swept off the list of candidates, after all, it was still these former eunuch henchmen in power in the DPRK and China.

But Huang Liji left Qian Qianyi on the list, which was undoubtedly a slap in the face. Doesn't this make it clear that he Han Xiangyun is not as good as a Qian Qianyi.

Although Han Yi is broad-minded, it is still a little unnatural to let a junior in his eyes pass over him.

And Zhu Youzhen looked at Huang Liji bowing his head, and his heart was finally a little more relaxed. He drove Wei Zhongxian out of the capital, and tried his best to suppress the Donglin party, not to make Huang Liji the same power as Zhang Juzheng.

In the list of candidates received last night, except for Li Tianjing and Qian Qianyi, the other four people actually had an inexplicable relationship with the three pavilion elders, which made him a little vigilant.

Therefore, at the meeting today, he deliberately wanted to knock on the cabinet to see how many of these high-ranking officials who controlled the Ming Dynasty were willing to defend Huang Liji to the death.

However, the effect of the beating looked good, except for the three elders, the other officials did not show that they were willing to live and die with the three elders, which made Chongzhen's mood much easier.

And understanding the relationship between the three cabinet elders and the ministers, Zhu Youzhen also simply let go of the three cabinet elders and began to listen to the self-introduction of the six candidates.

The first to come up was Li Tianjing, who was appointed as the envoy of Shaanxi, he was recommended by Xu Guangqi, who was good at arithmetic and astronomy, and originally Xu Guangqi wanted him to participate in the compilation of the Chongzhen almanac.

However, out of the need to balance the cabinet, Zhu Youzhen asked Xu Guangqi to recommend Li Tianjing to the cabinet, and prepared to put him in charge of education work, so as to disperse the education management power in the hands of the group of conservative officials in the Ministry of Rites.