After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, all the yamen opened their seals and did their work. The top priority after the reform of Longqing is Jingcha. At noon on the same day, the Ministry of Officials, together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Branch Corridors, sent a document to the major yamen in the two capitals, and distributed the "Instructions to the Ministers and Ministers" drafted by the cabinet: "I inherited the great unification at the beginning, and the source of the deep candle is evil, and I urgently want to eliminate major events to clear the turbidity............ Books are not cloudy? , unbiased and non-party, the royal road is swinging, there is no party and no bias, and the royal road is mediocre. , I admonish the ministers, from now on, their essence is white, and their deference is their duty...... If you indulge in the old ways, stick to the old ways, take the court as a must to recall, and take the law and discipline as a must to do it, then my ancestors' constitution is very strict, and I dare not pardon it."

A murderous edict announced the opening of the first Beijing inspection plan of the Ming Dynasty.

Since ancient times, China has a tradition that the Ming Dynasty ruled the officials but did not govern the people, and the successive dynasties regarded the official team as the foundation of their rule, and they were very strict in their examination of merit, especially in this dynasty. Among them, the six-year Jingcha and the canonical system are the heaviest. Thousands of officials from the 36 yamen in the two capitals, with more than four grades, truthfully stated their gains and losses on their political achievements and ethics, and sent them to the emperor for review and ruling. Those below the fourth grade shall be inspected by the Ministry of Officials of the Two Beijing and the Metropolitan Procuratorate respectively...... Among them, Beicha is the main one.

In the process of evaluation, the two divisions cooperate and supervise each other to determine whether officials are virtuous or not. The six section corridor officials are mainly responsible for supervising the entire process of Beijing inspection, whether there is favoritism and irregularities, and violations of the royal law. After the results are out, they will be submitted to the cabinet, and the cabinet will vote to keep them, or send them back for reconsideration to determine whether it is appropriate, and the results of the investigation will be issued after the emperor's ruling.

At the end of the inspection, the six branch corridors will also pick up the remaining officials and impeach those who are missing. "There are not many officials who have been attacked by the gleaners", but no one has been spared.

This is a kind of appraisal with strong supervisory significance, and the object of examination is the morality and negligence of officials during their tenure of office, and the incompetence of officials is investigated and punished, and the merits are not counted. There are eight purposes: "greed, coolness, impetuousness, lack of talent, old age, illness, softness, and imperceptibility." There are four kinds of corresponding punishments: greed and coolness for the people; Imprudent, soft crown with idleness: old, sick; Downtime, impetuous and downcast.

The result is generally only demotion but no promotion, and because this is an evaluation of the official's own ability and integrity, the blow to the individual's career is almost fatal...... If he is demoted and transferred, it is better to say that he will work hard in the future and come back. But once he is deposed, it often means the end of his political life, if not, Jiajing's edict, that kind of artifact to help, don't think about it again for the rest of your life. It's a real hell gate......

The entire process of Beijing inspection generally lasts for two months or even three months, and during this time, the officials of the two Beijing cities are silent and spend their days like a year, and they are extremely tormented. Usually, after returning to work after the Chinese New Year, the officials would still be lazy for a while, either getting together to brag or sneaking out to drink and dinner, and have no intention of getting serious at all. But this year is completely different. Regardless of whether the officials had anything to do or not, they sat upright in their duty rooms, neither visiting the door nor talking to each other. Those dignitaries who are fat or in important positions, in the past, they were very angry, they were arrogant all day long, looking at people with their nostrils, but now they also shrank their necks and softened their voices, and when they saw the uncle sweeping the floor at the door, they all smiled on their faces, and they didn't dare to eat and take cards, for fear that at this juncture, they would offend others and be accused of blackness.

And the officials of the Ministry of Officials cut off all contacts, except for going to work, they closed their doors at home, and even their relatives were not allowed to come to the door, "lest they be impeached by the officials of the Six Branches, and the atmosphere in the entire capital was extremely tense."

As an important official who carried out the Jingcha, Lu Guangzu, the Gongshi Lang, lived in the yamen as soon as the New Year was over, and the Jingcha would never go home until it was finished. There is no way, although Jingcha is mainly based on the official department, but Yang Bo's prestige and status are too high, and he said that he would not see any guests, and no one dared to come to disturb him. He didn't dare to do this, after all, there were too many relationships to offend, so he could only hide in the yamen to find peace, and no one could say anything.

At this moment, he was reading intently, and the last file this morning: "This is an official's Beijing inspection materials, which is composed of two parts, one is the resume, political achievements, and examination words of the officials sent by the chief officials of each yamen, and the other is an anonymous interview sheet issued by the officials to the yamen,...... The so-called anonymous questionnaire is a kind of anonymous public comment book. Officials are asked to evaluate the ethics and official behavior of their colleagues in the yamen, of course, they are anonymous, and after they are taken home and written, they are sealed with fire paint and sent directly to the ministry, and no one knows what you wrote. Even if there are people with great powers, they can get it through relationships, and because what everyone writes is in the cabinet style, they can only guess and can't determine who made the small report.

The duty of the examination department is to collect the received evaluation and interview forms, and give preliminary opinions, and then submit them to the Shangshu Lord for adjudication ......, although the content of the inspection is subject to the inspection examples, but because of the connotation of the inspection examples, it is difficult to determine, and the seemingly clear items often contain subtle meanings, leaving a gap for the arbitrariness in use. So whether it is merciful or murderous is only in his thoughts.

For example, "old age and illness" can be used as an umbrella for officials who have obvious evil deeds and seem to be reprimanded, and can also be used as an excuse to dismiss officials who are not popular with their superiors.

, the talent is not enough, and it is not in fact related to the talent of the officials. For example, this time, Li Shaoxian, the military selection division of the military department, usually acts impartially and selflessly, but because some people above don't like it, he was falsely accused of "inviting fellow villagers on weekdays, going in and out of the public office, and having private banquets, both to open the way to drill and thorn, and to open the door of suspicion" are all trumped-up charges, although Lu Guangzu knows that he is innocent, but he can only provide a little reinforcement, and he will not be able to transfer him out. And Zhou Yongquan, the waiter of the warehouse, walked out of the famous, sexually violent, more greedy, the treasurer was the heart, he was disgusted, he went in and out to pull out his beard, and he was cruel and loud, but because he gave enough gifts, he was also instructed to sit in time, and he was transferred to serve as the governor.

Although Li and Zhou were punished with the same punishment, "their traces are flawed, and they are not too prescribed, and they are planned to be under the item of reform", but the difference in the severity of the circumstances is so great that they sit in the same case, which shows the ambiguity of its connotation. The same is true for other inspections, so the power of the Gong Shilang in the Jingcha is greater than that of the head office and even the Zuo Du Imperial History.

But when he met a strong Shangshu, he could only act according to his orders, just like Li and Erren of Fang Cai, the results were reported at first, and they were beaten back, and Lu Guangzu had to bend his mind at the hint of Lord Shangshu. However, he has been in the ministry for many years, and he is used to seeing how many good officials have been wronged and how many corrupt officials have risen to prominence, and he will not do anything to resist because of the so-called sense of justice.

But some people he had to fight for, because he gave up the opportunity to be promoted the year before last and transferred from the Wenxuan Division to the Examination Division, just to wait for this dog" "Because of Lu Bing's relationship, he and Shen Mo have long been allies, and the two have similar temperaments and get along very well, so he has already become the backbone of the Shen Party. The year before last, it was Shen Mo who asked him to come to the mansion to talk about it, and Chen said that the benefits of this plan told him that the Shen Party was likely to face a great danger, and in order to be able to have someone to protect him at that time, he was asked to make some sacrifices temporarily, and he could not be promoted, and he had to leave the most important Wenxuan Division and come to this special examination department for offending people.

To be honest, at that time, Lu Guangzu thought that Shen Mo was unfounded, and felt that with Xu Ge Lao covering, the Shen Party would not be in big trouble. But though silence is polite, you must do what he decides to do, unless you break with him. And Lu Guangzu's political future has long been tied to Shen Mo, so although he was unwilling, he still accepted the arrangement.

Then I didn't know how to operate the silence, and soon he left the Anthology Division and really became the Gong Gong Division. As time went on, he became more and more able to see the situation......,... With Shen Mo's promotion to a cabinet scholar, the Shen Party has clearly broken away from the Xu Party and become independent, so that Xu Jie, instead of providing shelter as usual, will secretly suppress it. And Shen Mo offended Yang Bo several times, and the two had a deep grudge, and Lord Shangshu would definitely take this opportunity to take revenge. As a result, his own idle chess, which Shen Mo laid out early, suddenly became extremely important, and if he changed someone to be this Langzhong, even if he didn't say hello from above, he would definitely meet his intentions and desperately dethrone the Shen party. And now that I'm here to do my best to maintain it, it's a lot better.

Lu Guangzu felt incredible, how did Lord Shen foresee today's situation more than a year ago? After all, Yang Bo was still eating sand at the border at that time, and the official department was still a high arch. In fact, this is not the credit of silence, but the conclusion reached by his advisers on the premise that the emperor's life was not long in coming. But Lu Guangzu only thought that he was a silent and uncertain prophet, and he was already admiring him.

After writing the last comment, the morning's work was finally completed, Lu Guangzu breathed a sigh of relief, got up and moved his sore shoulders, and asked people to carry these files and send them to Yang Bo's duty room.

Yang Bo still values Lu Guangzu very much, because he is sincere and low-key, serious and meticulous, respectful to his superiors but not blindly obedient, and can always put forward his own opinions in an appropriate way, such subordinates are both comfortable and reassuring, and in order to avoid suspicion, he did not replace this young man and ordered him to assist in Jingcha affairs.

Yang Bo also hated it, and broke one day into three days to make it, not that he took power, but Jingcha's plan, the fewer people involved, the better, the more people, the more favors, and the more difficult things to do, he had already said to Lu Guangzu: , this time Jingcha, just the two of us, everyone else is a trick, it doesn't matter if we are tired of gathering hardships, it is worth it to complain less in the end. Therefore, this time Jingcha, except for some transactional work, no one else is allowed to participate, and only the two of them will be reviewed in the first and final trial.

In this way, there is always not enough time, so when Lu Guangzu came in, Yang Bo didn't look up, and continued to write his things, but just said, "It's over?" ”

"I finally didn't delay the ministry." Lu Guangzu knew that time was tight, so he didn't go around the bend, and replied straight to the point.

"Well, let it go, don't go yet." Yang Bodao: "I'll see what needs to be changed, and I have to send it over as soon as I finish the change." "During the entire Jingcha period, the results were reported every ten years, and today is the day of the first report.

"Yes......" Lu Guangzu sat there, inevitably feeling a little worried in his heart, because there were more than a dozen Shen party elements in this batch of inspection lists, and many of them were the backbone of the important yamen. Although Yang Bo had no objection to his preliminary trial results in the past few days, I am afraid that it will not be so easy to pass today.

After Yang Bo finished writing the things in his hand, he picked up Lu Guangzu's briefing and read it, he read it very carefully, sometimes frowning and sometimes asking questions, which made Lu Guangzu always frightened and careful, and he sweated all over his body in winter.

"Are you hot?" Yang Bo glanced at him and said strangely.

"Dilong is a little prosperous, and the lower officials may be wearing too much." Lu Guangzu smiled dryly: "Don't get in the way, don't get in the way." ”

Yang Bo just asked casually, then returned to the topic and said: "After reading it, I basically agree with your opinion, but there are a few places where the old man has circled, you see if you want to think about it again." ”

"Yes." Lu Guangzu hurriedly got up, took the briefing with both hands, and then sat opposite Yang Bo, quickly flipped through the list above, and the big stone in his heart couldn't help but fall to the ground............ The Lord of the Ministry actually let go of the Shen Party elements, and only circled a member of the Literature and Anthology Division............ The Department of Literature and Anthology is responsible for the appointment of officials, and it is the key department of the Ministry of Officials that Yang Bo wants to use his own people, which is also the meaning of the topic, and it is not aimed at the Shen Party.

Based on the performance of the previous few days, Lu Guangzu can basically determine that Yang Bo did not mean to attack Shen Dang but let himself protect him, which is really incredible, I don't know what kind of ** soup Lord Shen poured into the old man.

"What?" Seeing that he was a little distracted, Yang Bo asked.

"Oh......" Lu Guangzu hurriedly replied to the divine dao: "The opinion of the ministry is very correct, but it is just ......"

"Say." Yang Bo rubbed his temples.

"It's just that the above few people are in the matter, isn't it ............" Lu Guangzu said carefully: "Should my subordinates be merciful?" ”

"It is clearly written on the exposé post that these people have been foreign officials, and they have more or less bad comments, so what's wrong with deposing them?" Yang Bo said disapprerovitically.

"You're right, it's just the first time that the people in the Six Branch Corridor have been inspected by the headquarters, and it seems that it is okay to ......be a little relaxed," Lu Guangzu was afraid that Yang Bo would misunderstand, and hurriedly explained: "Although the Six Branch Speech Officials only have six or seven grades, the imperial court has always ordered them to report themselves to the emperor in order to protect Yan Lu. It's basically going through the motions. This time, it was assigned to the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, of course they didn't want to, and they all held back their fire. ”

Yang Bo looked at Lu Guangzu's nervous appearance and asked, "What wind did you hear?" ”

"It's rumored outside, Gao Ge Lao borrowed your hand to give Yanguan a good look." Although Lu Guangzu stayed at home, he was still well-informed.

"This is all chasing after the wind and catching shadows and mediocre people to disturb themselves, you also believe these rumors in the meritorious examination?" Yang Bo stroked his long beard and angrily reprimanded.

"The department, the six science corridors are a hornet's nest, don't look at each small and inconspicuous, but if you move around, you will provoke a group, and you will pounce on them like crazy people, not to bite people to death, but also to annoy people to death!" Lu Guangzu sighed and said: "My subordinates still think that they don't have any great evil, and it's okay to open the net." Although it seems to be against the leader, he is actually thinking about the leader, so he is not worried that Lao Yang will turn his face.

Yang Bojiu has been involved in court politics for a long time, and his thoughts on the ministers are naturally thorough and clear, he smiled and said: "The Jingcha of the six department corridor officials has always been presided over by the emperor, but this time since it is an exception, the old man can only be treated equally. Saying that, he looked at Lu Guangzu and said, "Don't worry about it, it's not early, hurry up." ”

Lu Guangzu originally reciprocated the favor, and thanked Yang Bo for not refuting his face, so he said a few more words, and now that Yang Bo doesn't appreciate it, he naturally doesn't talk nonsense anymore. So he revised the briefing according to his boss's wishes, and showed it to Yang Bo again and passed it.

After letting Lu Guangzu go back, Yang Bo ordered the sedan chair to go to the cabinet, and there was only this kind of Beijing inspection plan, and he had to set foot in a sad place in Hua.

It is noon at noon, and the street is bustling and bustling.

Although Tianguan travels with umbrellas to guide and open the way with melon money, there are still many people on the road. Yang Bo didn't rush it, he simply didn't care about the time, he closed his eyes and recuperated there.

Although his eyes were closed, he was not idle for a moment in his heart, repeatedly recalling Lu Guangzu's words, should he be merciful in his treatment of those officials?

While thinking about it, the sedan chair suddenly stopped, and Yang Bogang wanted to ask, "Have you arrived?" , but heard a scolding voice from outside: "Ge Lao travels!" Evade quickly! ”

, what pavilion elders? , Yang Bo's face was immediately very ugly, he opened the sedan curtain and looked out, and it happened that the sedan chair opposite also lifted the curtain, revealing a handsome face with a long beard and square face, which turned out to be Zhang Juzheng.

As soon as he saw that it was Yang Bo, Zhang Juzheng's expression suddenly became cramped, and he scolded his housekeeper and said, "Blind, didn't you see that it was Yang Shaobao's sedan chair?!" Saying that, he arched his hand towards Yang Bo and said, "The subordinates don't understand the rules, forgive me." So he asked people to quickly avoid the sedan chair.

"Hehe......" Yang Bo said with a smile on his face: "Where is it, it should be me who takes the initiative to avoid it." "Push and concede, or he went first.

After a small episode, the sedan chair was on the road again, and Yang Bo's face became very ugly. According to the old practice, hundreds of officials and ministers should take the initiative to avoid when they meet on the way, but only the officials and ministers can not avoid it. However, when Yan Song was in power, he was in a high position, and the secretary of the ministry also began to take the initiative to avoid it, and then it became customized.

But in any case, Zhang Juzheng is only the last minister, and his palanquin man dares not to put himself in his eyes, which is really unbearable!

, it is necessary to re-establish the authority of the Ministry of Officials" Yang Bo secretly determined, he couldn't show too weakness.