Chapter 43 self drafting

Yang Wencong's news is true, and Ma Shiying has indeed gone to the court, recommending Ruan Dacheng as "familiar with military tactics" and a "virtuous talent", and begging the emperor to use him as soon as possible.However, because of the good news that the peasant army had been defeated and escaped from Beijing, the ruling and opposition parties suddenly boiled up.For several days, the excited imperial court went to Taimiao and Sheji Altar to offer sacrifices and salutes, and Emperor Hongguang came to the Meridian Gate Tower to promulgate the four directions with "Lubu".Next, hundreds of officials went to the siege one after another. Some suggested that envoys should be sent immediately to Beijing to condolence Wu Sangui, who had made an "extraordinary feat", and give him an official promotion; Together with Wu Sangui to attack the peasant army, the affairs are expected to be flattened in one go; some people can't wait to propose that they must try to capture Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Niu Jinxing and other "thief leaders" alive, and offer them up as prisoners, so as to punish these "full of evil" strongmen. The 3,600 knives were tortured alive to commemorate the spirits of the ancestors and emperors in heaven... After this, Ma Shiying's recommendation of Ruan Dacheng was suppressed until five days later in June. It is still not seen that the emperor sent the book to the cabinet for the ministers to consider their opinions.Ruan Dacheng was so anxious that he didn't care about eating and drinking. He stretched his neck and looked forward all day long, and even his belly almost lost weight.

Now, it is the sixth day of June.These few days, it was Ma Shiying's turn to be on duty in the court room.He got up in the morning, finished washing and washing, took some snacks, then left the dormitory and walked through the pavilion.The daily office of the cabinet ministers, named "East Pavilion", is located in the southeast corner of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, and the environment is very quiet and solemn.Go in through the door on the west, pass a small archway, and at the top are five spacious bungalows facing south.In the main room are the memorial tablets of Confucius, the most sage teacher of Dacheng, and his four proud students-Yan Yuan, Zisi, Zeng Shen, and Meng Ke.Below the tablet, there are chairs and tables for the cabinet ministers to discuss affairs.The four suites on both sides of the main room are occupied by each cabinet minister, and are used to handle government affairs.On the east and west sides of the main room, there are the imperial order room and the imperial imperial order room.Those who are in charge of copying the documents in Zhongshushe usually work in it.There is also a small building above the imperial imperial room, where all the books and classics in the pavilion are collected.

When Ma Shiying came to the pavilion, he first went to the main room to salute Confucius' tablet as usual.Seeing that it was still early, he still walked into the yard, started walking with his hands behind his back, and walked alone. It was quiet all around, except for the chief assistant Gao Hongtu who had been ordered to handle water affairs along the Yangtze River ten days ago and had not yet returned to Beijing, the other two second assistants—Jiang Yueguang and Wang Duo hadn't shown up yet either.There were only one or two accompanying figures of Zhongshu Sheren and servants, and they flickered in the corner by the door, and then disappeared.On the contrary, the birds that live on the branches and treetops are probably busy preparing to go out of the nest to look for food, and they are chirping happily.However, Ma Shiying has no interest in appreciating.This is not only because his letter recommending Ruan Dacheng has not been sent out for a long time, but because the night before yesterday, Ruan Dacheng, who was supposed to avoid it at this time, finally couldn't help it and sneaked into his house. He said something alarmist about the future situation, which made Ma Shiying feel a little restless for two days.Undoubtedly, Ruan Dacheng also proposed two countermeasures that he thought were shrewd: one is to send people to Jiangbei, secretly inform Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing and other four general towns, and ask them to try their best to make trouble for Shi Kefa, so that he can't cope with it. The Northern Expedition was deployed smoothly.And as long as Shi Kefa can't become a teacher, he won't be able to make great achievements suddenly, and it won't be easy to find the prince.Second, within the imperial court, the cabinet and officials must be arrested as soon as possible.Considering that Gao Hongtu and Jiang Yueguang are not easy to get rid of for a while, then first attack Zhang Shenyan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Lu Daqi, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials.After getting rid of these two people, they will turn around and deal with Gao and Jiang.Ruan Dacheng believed that since the Ministry of War was already in the hands of Ma Shiying, if the cabinet and the Ministry of Officials were taken over, the rest would be nothing to worry about.When the overall situation of the court and central government has been decided, another trusted and capable person will be sent to replace Shi Kefa.In the future, the good name of rebuilding ZTE will naturally be attributed to Ma Shiying's name, prosperity and wealth, and endless enjoyment!Regarding Ruan Dacheng's plan, Ma Shiying did not clearly express his attitude at the time, but he has been thinking about it afterwards.Undoubtedly, he also felt that although Shi Kefa had been forced to leave the capital to supervise Huaiyang, he was always a threat to his status with his ability and high reputation in the government and the opposition.If you only focus on combating and banning Shi Kefa, then the two points suggested by Ruan Dacheng are indeed feasible strategies.However, as a result of doing so, not to mention delaying the opportunity for the Northern Expedition, it would also inevitably cause a huge battle in the court.If it goes wrong, it will cause division and civil strife.In the current situation, this should be avoided as much as possible.Because Ma Shiying knew in his heart that judging from the report ahead, the reason why he was able to achieve such a brilliant victory this time was not mainly because of Wu Sangui's great ability, but because he borrowed Qing soldiers from outside the pass, and the peasant army officers and soldiers were in Beijing. After making a lot of money, the reason for the lack of fighting spirit.In addition, according to undisclosed information, it is not Wu Sangui who is currently occupying Beijing, but Dorgon, the regent of the Qing Dynasty.So, what is the intention of the Qing soldiers in the future?How will the situation develop?These are still unclear.Now, in the new court in the south of the Yangtze River, Ma Shiying has become an undisputed supporter, and he has returned to Liudu to govern as he wished.In order to consolidate his position, he does not wish for violent turmoil to occur, but tends to maintain relative stability for the time being.

"Well, since Lao Ruan helped me so much back then, I can't avoid this debt of favor no matter what. Then, let's finish his affairs first. As for the others, don't rush to make up your mind !” After making such a secret decision, Ma Shiying seemed to let go of a worry, and then stopped walking, and hurried back to her room. This is a room for office and stay. As usual, the room is separated by a partition. The outer room is furnished with desks, chairs, and bookshelves for office use, while the inner room is used for resting couches and daily living utensils.In order to highlight the virtue of honesty and integrity in government, the whole layout is based on the principle of simplicity, and all luxurious decorations are rejected.Now, Ma Shiying sits down in front of the bookcase used for office work, while receiving a cup of hot tea from the servant, while flipping through the few business matters that have just been dealt with last night.After a while, he heard noises outside the window, and the sound of footsteps coming and going, coughing, and short conversations became more and more frequent.From the sound, Ma Shiying knew that Jiang Riguang had arrived, and so had Wang Duo.However, he had no intention of going out to meet them.Because firstly, they are not in the same circle, so there is nothing to gossip about; secondly, with Ma Shiying's current status, he feels that there is no need to take the initiative to be courteous with the other party.So, he still sat and continued to read the official affairs.Gradually, the sounds outside became rarer and subsided.It seems that people have already taken their positions and started their day's work.Ma Shiying stopped reading, gathered up the official affairs in his hands, and ordered his servants to send them to the royal manufacturing room.Then, taking the teacup in his hand, he stood up again.

Since the memorial to recommend Ruan Dacheng to the imperial court has not been released, Ma Shiying is somewhat uneasy now.In fact, the reason why he hadn't taken any action in the past few days was because he considered that this was a rather tricky matter.Because Ruan Dacheng is different from the general "abandoned officials" who have been dismissed from office, he is a person included in the "reverse case".And the "reverse case" was "imperially ordered" by the late Emperor Chongzhen.Based on this point, Dong Lin had strong enough reasons to oppose it; on his own side, it was difficult to come up with more convincing reasons other than explaining that Ruan Dacheng had been wronged because he made a mistake at the beginning.However, Ruan Dacheng was actually not that clean, which made things rather difficult.If we say that in the contest to support King Fu, because he sacrificed the magic weapon of "ancestral family law", he won the support of most officials—even some people in Donglin, so that Shi Kefa, Jiang Riguang, etc. If a person falls into a passive and weak position and finally wins a big victory, then, facing the difficult problem of Ruan Dacheng, the trend of pros and cons will just be reversed.If you make trouble, you will become the target of public criticism.The most obvious sign is that two days ago, when he consulted Han Zanzhou about this matter in private, the head eunuch who had stood firmly on his side during the period of supporting King Fu became hesitant. Noncommittal.Han Zanzhou is now formally appointed as the eunuch of the Ceremony Supervisor, and has great power to review memorials on behalf of the emperor.Then, will it be because of him that the emperor also felt that Ruan Dacheng's appointment had a lot to do with it, so he "stayed in China and didn't send it" to Ma Shiying's appointment?If so, things will be even more difficult to handle.But if it drags on, Ruan Dacheng will definitely believe that he is unwilling to contribute, and will even come to pester the door like a ghost, making trouble for himself all day long.It was this kind of dilemma that made Ma Shiying so restless that he barely noticed the sound of light and hasty footsteps in the passage outside the window...

However, he stopped at last, and turned quickly, towards the door.At this time, the curtain has been lifted, revealing a bright hole.Then, the red and fat face of the classics official appeared.He was holding a yellow satin square box in his hand, followed by a young eunuch.Ma Shiying felt refreshed, knowing that the memorial had been sent out.However, I was a little flustered because I wasn't sure whether I had my own share in it.But he remained composed and waited in silence. As usual, the classics officer put the square box on Ma Shiying's desk with both hands, then bowed and retreated.At this time, an unusual situation appeared—the little eunuch following behind intentionally stood still.It wasn't until the sound of the official's footsteps disappeared that he turned his head, looked around, and saw that there was no one else in the room, so he approached and whispered to Ma Shiying, "Master Tian ordered you to come to the pavilion." My lord, he said that he had already told the Lord Long Live about that matter. The Lord Long Live said: "Since he was wronged and settled the case at the beginning, it's easy to get back with him!" Lord Tian asked the elders of the pavilion to quickly draft an order and submit it for wholesale."

The "Tian Lord" mentioned by the little eunuch is the eunuch Tian Cheng.This person fled to the south with King Fu at the beginning, and he was considered to be "conglong" meritorious.After Fu Wang became the emperor, he had a lot of trust in him.And because he was desperately poor during his escape, Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng saw the opportunity and gave him a sum of money, so they became very tight with each other after that.Two days ago, after Ma Shiying ran into trouble with Han Zanzhou, she changed to Tian Cheng's way and asked him to cooperate with the camera in the palace.Now, after hearing the little eunuch's message, the stone hanging in Ma Shiying's heart was immediately let go.He nodded quickly and said:

"Worship Tian Gong for me, just say you know it. I will thank him in person at another time. This pavilion will draw up an order." After the little eunuch left, Ma Shiying went to the desk, put down the teacup, and began to peel off the cover of the wooden box. From the stack of notebooks inside, he first picked out his own copy of the book, and found that one of them had been marked by Zhubi. He sat down again, leaned back in the chair, unfolded the cover, and read it carefully from beginning to end. He felt that the words were smooth and concise.He thought for a while, then put down the memorandum, took a court ticket, excitedly picked up the Jilang Xiaokaihu pen, dipped the inkstone on the inkstone carved with the pattern of coiled flowers, and planned to write his approval opinion.However, there was a slight movement in my mind suddenly, and I felt something was wrong, so I couldn't help but stop writing and meditate.

Undoubtedly, in the late Ming Dynasty, the status and power of cabinet scholars had been greatly improved compared with the previous period, and they were even called "the current prime minister".However, their functions were still limited to drafting edicts for the emperor, and they had no right to directly issue orders to various ministries.According to the system, all matters related to the promotion, appointment and removal of officials must be handled and executed by the Ministry of Officials.The Ministry of Officials is currently in the hands of Zhang Shenyan and Lu Daqi, the backbone of the Donglin faction.Ma Shiying thought of using Ruan Dacheng, it would be very difficult to pass just their level.The only way is to invite the authority of the emperor and force it down.Originally, even doing this was not easy.Because according to the practice of the cabinet, the power of reviewing draft proposals is concentrated on the chief assistant. As the second assistant, Ma Shiying can only participate in opinions, but Gao Hongtu's ideas may not agree with him.However, Ma Shiying had already played a trick beforehand. He took advantage of the opportunity when Gao Hongtu left Nanjing due to business affairs and let him take charge of the cabinet, and suddenly asked Ruan Dacheng to be appointed.In this way, he can decide for himself the content of the proposal.However, this method is safe and sound, but it is too revealing.In particular, he has single-handedly handled the recommendation and drafting of votes, and if he spreads it in the future, he will inevitably be criticized and criticized, which will damage his "clear name".This is what Ma Shiying is not happy to see. "Well, it's more logical to find another person to draft the ticket!" He thought.But, who to look for?Wang Duo, who ranked last in the cabinet, was the most suitable person, but although this person is not from the Donglin faction, he is surprisingly timid and afraid of getting into trouble, so he would not take this risk.Then Jiang Yueguang was left.Ordinarily, as the current leader of the Donglin faction in the court, Jiang Riguang would not agree.However, Ma Shiying found that since he entered the cabinet, the other party has put on a cooperative attitude, and is willing to discuss and accommodate when encountering problems, which seems to be quite conciliatory. "Well, or I can find him! If he is willing to help in this matter, I will try my best not to embarrass them in the future!" Thinking of this, Ma Shiying suddenly became energetic.So he refolded the manual, put it in an envelope, called a trusted servant, gave instructions in person, and ordered that it be sent to the house next to Dongtou immediately, and Jiang Riguang was asked to follow the instructions. Intent votes proposed.

When the servant's back disappeared from the door curtain, Ma Shiying listened to the sound of footsteps gradually going away, while reaching out to take out the remaining memorials from the yellow satin box, a feeling of conceit arose in her heart: "Huh, With the great achievement of supporting the present, coupled with the fact that there are towns in the north of the Yangtze River that obey my orders, and Tian Cheng and Li Yongfang are the leaders of the favored eunuchs, sooner or later the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet will go to me, Ma Come and sit. At this level, I am afraid that everyone in the court can see clearly. Jiang Juzhi is not a fool, how dare he not buy my face!" After that, because he felt that the first assistant should have the deep self-cultivation and grace of the first assistant, he couldn't help it. There should be no need to be too distracted by a mere matter, so he resolutely withdrew his attention, lowered his head, and began to concentrate on the rest of the business.

However, before he finished reviewing a memorial, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps again.The servant who had been sent before hurried in and offered him the offer with both hands. "Well, is it done?" Ma Shiying asked, his eyes still lingering on the official business at hand-it was the memorabilia of Huguang Xun's request to enter the court according to Huang Shu's request.Since Huang Shu is currently serving as the supervisor of Zuo Liangyu, and Zuo Liangyu's movements have always been Ma Shiying's attention, so this memorial aroused his interest. The servant shook his head: "Report to Master, Mr. Jiang refuses to issue a ticket." "What did you say?" Ma Shiying was startled suddenly, then raised his head, "He won't?" The servant nodded timidly. "Then—then what did he say?" "My lord, the villain dare not answer." "Hmph, tell the truth!" "Yes. Mrs. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang said, go back to Mrs. Ma, you dare to be crazy, crazy, but there is nothing but a bad name festival! Your lord often says that he was painted into a big face, but I would rather abandon my official position. If you do it, you can't let people point at me and scold me, spit on me!" Ma Shiying's eyes widened and he was stunned.Gradually, his pointed and thin face flushed with embarrassment, and then turned blue again.Finally, he gritted his teeth, took a ticket in silence, and drew a line of words on it with a pen: After finishing writing, he threw the pen away and shouted: "Send it in, send it in for me right away!" Then, he pushed the chair away with a "crash" and stood up angrily.