Shen Yicheng didn't offer such a high price to win people over for no reason.
Most importantly, when Tsai Kuo-chen wanted Shen Yicheng to express his opinion, Shen Yicheng also wanted Tsai Kuo-chen to express his opinion. Entering the cabinet by imperial edict meant "flattering the emperor" and breaking the rules. In the era when opposing the emperor was politically correct, breaking the rules meant cutting himself off from the officials and civil officials.
Once he entered the cabinet by imperial edict, he could only rely on the emperor to face the officials and face the battle of words and difficulties from all sides.
Shen Yicheng was different. He was an official assistant of the cabinet.
Civil officials couldn't directly dismiss a cabinet official, but they also couldn't force the emperor to change his mind. Legally speaking, cabinet officials were the emperor's private secretaries. Their ranks weren't high and they were completely appointed by the emperor. This hadn't changed until now. The emperor had the right to appoint cabinet officials according to legal procedures.
If the emperor decreed someone to enter the cabinet, he or she could enter the cabinet openly. This was how it used to be.
But now, with the officials advancing and retreating together, the authority of the emperor's imperial edict had fallen. The right to choose the inner cabinet officials was also changed from the emperor's appointment to the officials' election. The emperor's imperial edict became the imperial edict without the approval of the officials. In the eyes of civil officials, it was no different from waste paper. They could completely disobey it.
However, the emperor still had the right to appoint the cabinet officials. Although the officials pushed the list of candidates to the emperor and the emperor decided the candidates, it seemed that the officials limited the number of candidates. No matter how the emperor chose, the emperor would always be the person everyone agreed on. But if the emperor cast aside the imperial edict and forced someone to enter the cabinet, there was no problem according to legal procedures.
The imperial edict was a rule, or even a legitimate unspoken rule, but it was still not the law.
This was the only way for people who weren't Hanlin to enter the cabinet. Before this, only Zhang Cong succeeded and served as the Prime Minister three times, leaving valuable lessons for the officials who weren't Hanlin to learn.
But that was all there was to it. The civil officials had suffered a bitter split during Yan Song's era, and had almost been destroyed. Having learned their lesson, they began to learn that internal strife was one thing, but when facing the Emperor, they had to advance and retreat together. Step by step, they forced the imperial power into a corner, and step by step, they became invincible.
In this process, anyone who could become Yan Song would be beaten without hesitation. Any civil official who worked for the Emperor, or even spoke a word of justice for the Emperor, would be beaten down and viewed as a traitor, such as Wang Xijue.
At this time, no matter which faction you belonged to, everyone would put the hat of flattery on you and activate the Imperial Censor to scold you until you had a mental breakdown. Even the most thick-skinned person would not be able to withstand this kind of mental pollution attack.
You know, in the morbid moral society of the Daming Dynasty, once you have a flaw in your morals, you're finished.
It wasn't that the Emperor hadn't tried using an imperial edict to order the ministers into the Cabinet, but due to the pressure of the group, no one dared to accept it.
Emperor Wanli of the Daming Dynasty was in such an awkward and desperate situation, struggling helplessly.
But now, the situation seemed to have changed a little.
The reason was because of Shen Yicheng's personal selfishness.
The main reason was that he was frightened by Zhao Zhigao's miserable state.
Zhao Zhigao could be said to be one of the most miserable Grand Secretaries in the history of the Daming Dynasty. It wasn't that his fate wasn't good, but that his life was miserable, sullen, and worse than death.
After understanding the situation of the successive Grand Secretaries since Zhang Juzheng, Shen Yicheng referred to Yan Song's method and made a comparison. He realized that if he wanted to stand firm and become a Grand Secretary with real power, to become a Grand Secretary that no one dared to provoke and everyone had to respect, he needed a solid team.
This team had his own will as the highest will, his own orders as the standard of action, and everything centered on him. Moreover, everyone's interests were the same, and their goals were the same. They wouldn't easily leave the team.
Zhao Zhigao's predicament was that he had never planned to become a Grand Secretary before. It was completely forced by the circumstances to push him into the position. At that time, he was already over seventy years old, and he didn't have any reliable team to cooperate with. In addition, his temperament was gentle, and he didn't like to compete with others. As a result, his life became a sad negative example.
In the Daming Dynasty, there were many Grand Secretaries who had worse endings than Zhao Zhigao, such as Xia Yan and Yan Song. However, there really weren't many who were as miserable as Zhao Zhigao.
This was the capital of the Daming Dynasty, the political center of the Daming Dynasty, the center of the political whirlpool. As a Grand Secretary, if he didn't compete with others, then what did he want to do? Retire?
Politics was a life-and-death struggle. There was no such thing as no one would compete with you just because you didn't compete with others. They would only think that you were easy to bully, and everyone would want to bully you a little. Anyway, there would be no consequences.
Shen Yicheng had seen and remembered every detail of these years. He deeply understood the reason why Zhao Zhigao was so miserable. He had long vowed that even if he couldn't be Zhang Juzheng, he wouldn't be Zhao Zhigao. At least, he would be Shen Shixing!
For this reason, he needed a group of people who had no other backing and no other way out to become his allies. They would help him establish the Cabinet of Shen Yicheng, and fight against those civil officials who wanted to control his will all the time!
Shen Yicheng's ambition kept expanding.
He promised Shi Xing, Song Yingchang, and Tsai Kuo-chen. Then, he secretly prepared to carry out the decapitation strategy against Yang Junmin, to take drastic measures against Yu Jideng, and to treat Xu Zuo coldly. First, he would win over the three departments that he could win over to his side, and then gradually expand his sphere of influence.
At the same time, he had to strictly control the group of Imperial Censors.
It was because Zhang Juzheng controlled some of the Imperial Censors that he was able to carry out drastic reforms and not be defeated by the spiritual pollution strategy at the same time. After Zhang Juzheng's death, the Imperial Censors revived, but they gradually lost control and slowly became a tool for partisans.
At this moment, the Imperial Censors were no longer the group that spoke out for the sake of justice and reason. They were now completely the spokespersons of interest groups. Using their privileged position in political life, they did not distinguish right from wrong and only followed the principle of interest. They had completely become dogs that bit people.
Shen Yicheng had always been at odds with the Imperial Censor, so in front of the Right Imperial Censor Xu Zuo, he had never been able to get a good look. No matter, the evolved Shen Yicheng had already decided to use Zhang Juzheng's method to put a muzzle and collar on this biting dog.
He had long decided that once he ascended to the position of Premier, the first thing he would do was to attack the Imperial Censor and the six departments.
It was just that now was not the time to do it.
A common enemy could help shape a group, and Shen Yicheng needed this common enemy to win over people's hearts.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
