Chapter 278: The second step

It has been more than 20 days since the new policy, and the government and the people are still immersed in the "no punishment for words". Those who are impatient even wrote tens of thousands of words, record the injustice in their hearts, and handed them to the bookstore to engrave books. For a time, the paper in Luoyang is expensive, and the court officials no longer say that it is cool and the weather is cool, but they just want to snatch the emperor's red pen and remove all the evil diseases in their eyes. When ordinary people meet, they no longer say, "Did you eat it?" Instead, I bought this book yesterday, which is about those things that are favoritism and fraud by officials, etc.

Although the word "not guilty for words" is only five short words, it is more precious after experiencing the century-old political oppression of the Mongol Yuan and the nearly thirty years of high-pressure control in the Hongwu period. These five words inspired the unprecedented enthusiasm of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty. They longed for the Ming Dynasty to return to the relaxed political atmosphere of the Tang and Song dynasties. They were so excited that several other measures introduced with it were ignored.

It is understandable that opening the sea ban is ignored, after all, not staying in the coastal areas means that the importance of opening the sea ban cannot be appreciated, but there is another thing that has been ignored by most people, that is, the establishment of a temporary military senate, and even Zhu Yunwen did not take it seriously.

The purpose of the establishment of the temporary military affairs Senate is to send officials of the head and above to participate in the government departments, led by the Ministry of War to coordinate the combat affairs of the Yan army. In today's terms, it is the wartime coordination committee or the "some leading group". In addition, Li Weizheng deliberately added the word "temporary", indicating that it is only a temporary need and can be abolished when conditions are ripe in the future. In addition, the level of participating officials is low, so its introduction did not attract the attention of most people at all.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that the office address of the temporary military service senate was the original Jinyiwei Yamen. The Jinyiwei Yamen had been in vain for more than two years, killing countless people, and causing the resentment of the gods to be angry, had long been demolished. Now it is a large pond, full of lotus roots and fish, and was renamed the Lianchi Lake. All the documents in the Jinyiwei warehouse were burned in August last year. In addition to causing many people's tragic memories, the Jinyiwei Yamen actually no longer exists. This time, the temporary military service senate sign was reopened on the former site of the Jinyiwei, which means that the Jinyiwei has become a complete history.

The Military Senate is just a temporary organization. Except for the twenty lower-level officials transferred from various ministries, there are only three permanent officials, all of whom were sent from the Ministry of War. One of the highest ranks is a doctor, but these officials and ordinary officials are only responsible for the daily operation of the Military Senate and they do not participate in specific political affairs.

It is clearly written in the imperial edict issued by Zhu Yunwen that the Military Affairs Senate is led by the Ministry of War, and each department participates in consultation. That is to say, the Ministry of War issues a certificate to convene the departments. If there is nothing to do, there is no need to hold a meeting. Therefore, after nearly half a month of establishment, three meetings were held, most of which were irrelevant to the minor matters. After hearing the report of the meeting attendees, the ministers of each department criticized them casually, and even the Secretary of the Shangshu did not even care about it.

That morning, Zhuo Jing, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came to court as usual. Because the emperor was ill, the morning court had been suspended for half a month, and all the important officials came to court for official duties directly. Zhuo Jing had just sat down at his court room and had not had time to take a sip of tea. Weng Lingqing, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, came to report.

"Mr. Zhuo, the Ministry of War sent a letter yesterday, saying that the Military Affairs Senate will hold a consultation meeting today, and the subordinates come to ask the Lord for instructions on the resettlement of refugees fleeing south."

Zhuo Jing took a sip of tea and waved his hand and said, "What's the point of asking for advice? Just go to the meeting. Report to me again afterwards."

Weng Lingqing hesitated and said, "But the issue of this negotiation is too big. It is the resettlement of refugees from military households fleeing south. His subordinates are worried that they have no right to express their opinions on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue."

Zhuo Jing also felt a little strange. The first three meetings were all about trivial matters, such as the investigation of grain inventory in various places, etc. Why did today's topics suddenly become bigger? He thought about it and said, "Or else let a doctor go to the meeting today."

Suddenly, Ye Tianming's voice came from the door, "I think it's better for Lord Zhuo to go to the meeting in person!"

Ye Tianming walked into the room and smiled and said, "If Master Zhuo is busy with affairs and is inconvenient to go, then I will go."

Zhuo Jing was stunned. He heard something in Ye Tianming's words, so he waved his hand and asked Weng Lingqing to go out first. He closed the door and asked, "Brother Ye, what do you mean?"

Ye Tianming sighed slightly and said, "The imperial edict has been issued, the official office has been established, and the meeting has been held three times. All the temples have taken the initiative to cooperate and have achieved results. Even if this military senate hall is officially in operation, it is impossible for the emperor to regret it and want to cut it. Li Weizheng's methods are indecent. I really have to admire him."

Zhuo Jing became even more confused and asked again: "Why did the emperor think of cutting it? Please make clear."

Ye Tianming shook his mind and said, "I won't explain it to you. If you go to the meeting today, you will understand everything. Lord Zhuo listens to me and you will gain."

Zhuo Jing was confused, but Ye Tianming was not an ordinary person. He said this. He nodded and said, "Okay! Just listen to Brother Ye, I will attend today's meeting in person."

The Military Senate was at the right time (that is, nine o'clock in the morning), and the location was at the Tianbao Pavilion of the Military Senate, which was originally the large warehouse where Class B documents were placed. Li Weizheng changed it to Tianbao Pavilion and re-arranged it. Now it is a wide conference hall with only a special conference round table, with black paint and shiny. There were more than twenty high-backed yellow rosewood chairs placed around the table. This kind of chair is very similar to the chairs in the study room, so the heads who came to the meeting felt quite uncomfortable when they sat on it.

In addition to this set of large round tables and chairs, there are dozens of chairs around. Despite this, the lobby of Tianbao Pavilion still seems too empty. When people walk in it, they will make a sound.

There was still a quarter of an hour left, and most of the representatives of officials from more than a dozen departments had arrived. The doctor Cui Guangqing, who came to the meeting on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, saw his friend from afar, Qiu Haizheng, the doctor of the Ministry of War. Qiu Haizheng, was the consul of the Military Senate sent by the Ministry of War to serve as the consul of the Military Senate, responsible for the daily operation of the Senate. He himself did not participate in the meeting, but just issued a certificate to inform the departments to come to the meeting to see if the chairs were enough before the meeting, and whether everyone had prepared tea cups, etc.

When Cui Guangqing saw Qiu Haizheng, he quickly pulled him aside and asked, "Brother Qiu, why did you think of holding a military refugee resettlement meeting today? Isn't this a bit of a big deal?"

Qiu Haizheng smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know why, it was issued by the above. I will just send this certificate."

"I told Mr. Liu about this, so he asked me to have a meeting first and then talk about it. It was really confusing." Cui Guangqing was also confused.

Qiu Hai was signaling to several officials next to him and said, "Your Ministry of Justice is pretty good. At least I thought of sending a doctor to a meeting. The other temple ministries are still in charge. I think something is wrong here."

There was a slight commotion coming from the door. When the two looked back, they were stunned. They saw Zhuo Jing, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, walked into the lobby. Behind him, he followed Weng Lingqing, the head of the meeting last time. Zhuo Jing directly found a seat to sit down with a gloomy face and said nothing. Weng Lingqing did not dare to sit, so he stood behind him. The officials next to him were all in charge. As the saying goes, the senior official was a senior official of the third rank. Zhuo Jing was very experienced in the court and even scolded the second rank of Shangshu. The head was only a sixth rank. He was so scared that he did not dare to sit with him, and they all walked away from a distance.

Qiu Haizheng and Cui Guangqing looked at each other, and there was a look of shock in their eyes. It seemed that there was a problem. Qiu Hai was the leader of today and did not dare to neglect it. He hurried forward and greeted: "Mr. Zhuo, you are here in person."

Zhuo Jing nodded, but still said nothing. At this moment, he was also very embarrassed. There were a group of small officials around him. If he was a doctor during the meeting and the officials gathered together, he would be so ugly, but he also knew that Ye Tianming would not speak in vain. When his heart was about to go up and down, a low scream suddenly came from the door. Zhuo Jing turned around and couldn't help but feel excited. He knew that he was right.

The Minister of War Li Weizheng strode into the conference hall, followed by the Minister of War Ma Qian. Li Weizheng entered the door and smiled and said, "Everyone, I'm late!"

His eyes fell on Zhuo Jing, and he nodded slightly to him, his eyes filled with praise. At this moment, Zhuo Jing suddenly realized that he understood what Ye Tianming meant. The Military Affairs Senate was actually a tool for Li Weizheng to seize power, and he was the place where senior officials from various departments were convened for meetings in the name of military affairs.

With a bell ringing, the meeting began. Li Wei sat down in a position led by the Ministry of War and said to everyone: "Everyone, I convene this meeting on the will of the Emperor. This meeting is to discuss the resettlement of northern military refugees. This may involve ordinary refugees, including their land distribution, tax reduction, and the arrangements for spring plowing seeds and oxen this year. It is of great importance. I don't know if you have received the authorization from your own temple department. If you have not obtained the authorization, you can go back and ask for instructions now. I will wait for you for half an hour and then have a meeting in half an hour."

As soon as he finished speaking, the chief officer who had already restlessly stood up, and the doctors immediately said goodbye and left, running towards their temple headquarters.

In less than half an hour, the ministers, ministers, ministers, criminals, Dali Temple, Taichang Temple and other departments came one after another. Although some departments refused to come, most important departments and senior officials came. Li Weizheng had already made it clear that this was a meeting held in accordance with the emperor's will. If he did not come, he would resist the order and refused to obey it. Under the righteousness, all senior officials had to come.

After the meeting, Zhuo Jing hurried back to the court room. He pushed Ye Tianming's room and asked, "How did Brother Ye know that Li Wei was coming to the meeting in person today?"

Zhuo Jing asked Ye Tianming very much, saying that he knew that although Ye Tianming was Li Weizheng's father-in-law, Ye Tianming would not know about such things, which only means that Ye Tianming has foresight.

"I've seen it a long time ago. This is his second move. There are not many people in the world who can see his move."

Ye Tianming stroked his beard and smiled proudly: "I'm afraid the emperor would never dream of any concessions and suggestions made by Li Weizheng were just smoke bombs to cover his real intention, and his real intention was this temporary military senate."

Zhuo Jing pondered for a while and then said, "I don't think it's completely true. Releasing the ban on words and sea bans are all major decisions, and it won't be just smoke bombs. Although the Military Senate can give Li Weizheng greater power, there is a prerequisite for the emperor to agree. Just like today, the reason why Li Weizheng was able to successfully hold a meeting was because the emperor issued an imperial edict in advance. If the emperor wakes up and no longer gives him this order, then the senior officials of the temple may not be willing to come."

Ye Tianming shook his head slightly, "Brother Zhuo, do you think Li Weizheng didn't expect this? Let me ask, if he convened a meeting tomorrow, on the plan to fight against the Yan army's grain transportation, with the big hat of resisting Yan, how could you not go? Can you bear this responsibility? So I said that he had already arranged everything, and the righteousness was in his hands, unless you were willing to bear the charge of accusation of accusing the King of Yan."

Ye Tianming walked a few more steps behind his back, and he suddenly said in confusion: "But what you said makes sense. After all, he is legally unreasonable, and he feels a bit stealing. And I have always been unable to understand why he gave the Military Senate the word "temporary". In this way, there is a possibility of cancellation. Is this Military Senate just a test or transition for him?"

The two were wondering when suddenly a report came from outside the door, "Mr. Ye, the newspaper you want is here."

"Oh! Take it in."

The door opened, and an official came in with a newspaper. The newspaper was "The Theory of the Capital City" which was just founded ten days ago. Inspired by the "no guilt for words", many famous writers published current affairs commentary articles on it, and Ye Tianming reads it every day.

He took the newspaper and smiled at Zhuo Jing: "In the past few days, a commentator with the pen name "Tianbao Old Man" has published several in-depth articles. The day before yesterday he published an article pointing out that the reason why the late emperor committed the Hu Weiyong case was actually to abolish the general system that lasted for thousands of years since the Han and Tang Dynasties and replace the general power with the power of the monarch. Moreover, this person also pointed out that if the heirs of the throne were deserted in political affairs, under the system of highly concentrated monarchy, it would inevitably lead to the autocracy of eunuchs, and finally formed a vicious situation of serious corruption in the Ming Dynasty. It was a sharp attack. I admire this person's opinion very much."

Zhuo Jing also sighed very much: "I know this. In the past two days, almost all officials have been talking about this article, which has a great impact. However, this is true in the Hu Weiyong case. I believe many people have thought of it, but who dares to say it out loud? Now some people dare to publicly criticize the late emperor. It seems that Li Wei was doing this 'no-crime for words' and has a far-reaching impact!"

"Although I say that, I've just started now. This 'Tianbao Old Man' is a little too brave, and the backstage of this "The Theory of the Capital" is probably very tough."
Chapter completed!