Lin Xuan of the Red Chamber

The Jia family sent a letter wanting to repair the relationship with the Lin family, and the Lin family had no way of refusing to go to the pier to meet this matter. After all, the two were in-laws, and Lin Xuan was still Jia Min’s son and Jia’s grandson in name. No matter what the reason is, in the eyes of outsiders, it is still the fault of the Lin family. After all, the current Jia family has not done anything to be sorry for the Lin family.

Moreover, it is better to offend a gentleman than to offend a villain. Although the Jia family is now in decline, its influence cannot be underestimated. Even if the Lin family wants to distance themselves from the Jia family, it cannot be too obvious.

Anyway, now that Jia Min has passed away, even if something happens to the Jia family, as long as the Lin family doesn't get involved, it won't be a big deal. So, as long as the Lin family doesn't get too involved with the Jia family, it's fine. You can do whatever you want.

Lin Xuan pondered for a while, and then figured out what kind of attitude he should have towards the Jia family in the future, and there was nothing to worry about about this letter, so he responded politely and maintained the superficial friendship.

After thinking about how to deal with it, Lin Xuan put away the letter, looked at Shen Shuang who was standing at the top, and said with a smile: "Madam, don't worry, I will handle this matter Bar"

Hearing Lin Xuan's assurance, Shen Shuang breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved, then looked at Lin Xuan and said with some embarrassment: "Xuan'er, in fact, this matter was originally my job, it was not I should bother you, but my position is really embarrassing, no matter how I deal with it, it is not appropriate, so I have no choice but to trouble you."

Lin Xuan shook his head, expressing that he didn't mind. He understood Shen Shuang's helplessness. Jia's family was Jia Min's natal family, and Jia Min was Lin Ruhai's first wife. As the new wife, Shen Shuang's position was indeed embarrassing. Lin Xuan was different. In name, he was Jia Min's son after all, so it would be much better for him to handle this matter.

Lin Xuan talked to Shen Shuang again, asked Lin Junyao about her study of butler during this period, got a satisfactory answer, and then got up to leave.

A few days later, the person who came to take over Lin Ruhai's position had also arrived. Lin Ruhai roughly handed over to him, and after dealing with all the matters on the Jiangnan side, the Lin family left Jiangnan by boat. Beijing has gone.

After receiving the news that Lin Ruhai and his party had already set off, the next morning at the court, the current emperor did not beat around the bush in front of many ministers, and directly raised a question, that is, what position should Lin Ruhai give him when he enters Beijing.

The current emperor ascended the throne at the age of 23, and it has been almost 30 years now, and he is already over 50 years old. After more than 30 years of operation, his position is naturally stable and he is in power. Although the age of the current emperor is about to retire in modern times, but in In ancient times, there was no such thing as retirement, especially the position of emperor, which is a lifelong tenure, especially as the age increases, the current emperor values ​​the rights in his hands more and more, and such court officials return to Beijing However, any position has always been decided by the emperor alone, and it is rarely placed in the court for courtiers to discuss, especially when Lin Ruhai is still the confidant of the current Holy Majesty.

Although the ministers were constantly guessing what the emperor meant, they still discussed it decently when the emperor clearly asked them to discuss it, and because Lin Ruhai had always been the emperor's confidant and won the emperor's heart, The positions they propose are either extremely noble or have real power.

But what they didn't expect was that the current emperor was not satisfied with these positions, and he didn't express at all, but just looked at them majesticly.

When all the ministers were thinking about this, they have always been favored by the emperor. The real emperor's confidant, Xiao Wen, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, suddenly came out and reported: "Your Majesty, according to the practice of our dynasty, the cabinet controls the affairs of the court and affects the affairs of the court. In the direction of the country, the things are the most arduous, and the responsibilities are also the most important. Generally, four to five cabinet elders are required to be responsible together. It's not right for more than a year."

After a pause, seeing that the eyes of the Holy Majesty and the other ministers were all focused on him, Xiao Wen continued: "I think that Mr. Lin is of noble character, rich experience, mature and prudent, and has a very high reputation. He is the last person to join the cabinet. Good candidate."

As soon as Xiao Wen's words came out, the whole court was in an uproar. For a while, the voices of the ministers and even the emperor could not be suppressed.

But this is not to blame these ministers. The dynasty system of the Great Zhou Dynasty is very similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. The cabinet they talk about is not the cabinet of the Qing Dynasty that has no power in name. It is unimaginable to say that the power of the chief minister of the cabinet is comparable to that of the prime minister in the Han Dynasty, especially the importance of the cabinet.

But now someone suddenly proposed to choose a cabinet elder for the cabinet. That person has not yet entered the capital, Lin Ruhai, who has been away from the central government for many years.

In fact, if this matter was brought up by others, these ministers would not react in this way, but this matter happened to be mentioned by Xiao Wen, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the meaning would be quite different. Who is Xiao Wen? At best, he is the emperor's confidant. At worst, he is the emperor's lackey. This person has never had any opinions of his own in the court, and all he said were the opinions of the emperor.

Xiao Wen said that now, obviously he got the emperor's instruction, that is to say, Lin Ruhai's entry into the cabinet was the result the emperor wanted, which caught all the ministers by surprise.

Sure enough, after hearing Xiao Wen's proposal, the emperor pondered for a while and then said slowly: "Xiao Aiqing's words are reasonable. Now in the cabinet, only Wu Aiqing, Huang Aiqing, and Shen Aiqing are the elders of the cabinet. The burden is indeed a bit heavy. There should be someone In addition, I have always known that Lin Ruhai, Lin Aiqing's ability and character are the most suitable candidates."

The emperor's clear statement caused an uproar throughout the court. Before this, all the ministers also mentioned the lack of manpower in the cabinet, but they were all suppressed by the emperor. Over time, they also Gradually let go of this idea, who would have thought that it would be brought up again so suddenly now, and the candidate has been given by the emperor privately, so how reconciled are those who are qualified to join the cabinet.

At that moment, Wang Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, came out and said: "Your Majesty, the veteran has always respected Mr. Lin's knowledge and character, and Mr. Lin is also the leader of the literary world, and he has a high reputation among scholars. If he enters the cabinet, he will indeed be able to convince the public."

As soon as Wang Wei opened his mouth, he praised Lin Ruhai, but few civil and military men in the dynasty would believe his words.

Sure enough, at this point, Wang Wei changed the subject and said: "However, although Master Lin's knowledge, character, qualifications, and reputation are all sufficient, the cabinet is different from the Imperial Academy. It is the most important thing, for these aspects, Mr. Lin has been away from the center for many years, but his ability is somewhat insufficient."

Although there are more praises than criticisms in Wang Wei's words, it is obviously the meaning of opposition.

Hearing what Wang Wei said, Lu Xin, who was in the same year as Lin Ruhai and had a deep friendship with the Ministry of Rites, raised his brows and retorted: "Mr. , The ability is obvious to all, and Mr. Lin was born in Tanhua, he also served in the Imperial Academy, and he is familiar with the central organization, so I don’t know where Mr. Wang’s lack of ability comes from?"

On the other side, the cabinet elder Wu Jingrong suddenly came out and snorted coldly: "Although the position of inspector of salt and censor is important, it is completely different from the affairs that the cabinet needs to be responsible for. Representatives can handle the affairs of the cabinet."

Seeing that Wu Jingrong came out to object, another cabinet veteran, Shen Chang, quickly came out and said: "Master Wu is wrong to say that, you must know that everything in the world has something in common, since Master Lin can be a good As the censor of Yanyan, he has the ability to deal with the affairs of the cabinet, so Mr. Wu should not be too biased when speaking."

Although Wu Jingrong and Shen Chang are both cabinet elders, they have different interests, and there are constant conflicts with each other. Not long ago, the two even started a fight for Lin Ruhai's position as the inspector. There will be concessions.

As the elders of the cabinet, Wu Jingrong and Shen Chang naturally have acquaintances. To put it simply, they both have cronies. Now the two of them are starting to fight each other, and officials from their respective factions also follow. endlessly.

Although the two factions quarreled fiercely, Lin Ruhai was not alone and helpless in the court. People who knew Lin Ruhai all expressed their support, and those who supported Lin Ruhai gained the upper hand for a while, and the emperor had already made up his mind, so At the end of the morning, Lin Ruhai's entry into the cabinet was confirmed.

The emperor had already had an idea in his heart, and no one could oppose it at all, so even those who opposed Lin Ruhai's entry into the cabinet could only acquiesce. Although there are still many ways to prevent Lin Ruhai from entering the cabinet, in this case Now, if they are stopping them, they are really going to have an enmity. After all, they and Lin Ruhai don't have such a deep grievance. It's not good to do too much.

In fact, the objections of these ministers are all justified. Lin Ruhai's qualifications are really not enough to join the cabinet. The first step is the Hanlin Academy, and then it is sent to other places. After several years of serving as a big official in the frontier, and finally serving as the six ministers, he is qualified to join the cabinet. Although Lin Ruhai has enough reputation and ability, he skipped the six ministers. He directly proposed to join the cabinet, but he didn't know whether it was good or bad for him.

In fact, these emperors may not be unaware of these emperors, but the current situation in the court no longer allows him to consider the issue of seniority. Since Wang Xianming's royal court retired and returned home, the chief assistant Huang Yourong's family dominates the cabinet, and the others The two elders in the cabinet cannot fight against them at all, and it is imperative to choose another person to join the cabinet to become an elder. You must have qualifications, and those who are both capable and qualified may not have enough network support.

But if you want to gain a firm foothold in the cabinet, if you want to achieve the emperor's goal of balancing multiple forces and preventing one family from dominating, you must have enough connections to support it, that is to say, you must form your own party. If you can't meet this requirement, then It is useless to let him enter the cabinet.

No matter which world you are in, it doesn't matter if you don't have contacts, it doesn't matter, it is definitely very difficult to accomplish something, especially in the court, not to mention those powerful and corrupt officials, those who are ambitious and ambitious, those who are dedicated to The upright officials of the common people also have some confidants and friends. What kind of gentlemen are friends and not party members are just some nice words, which are all to fool the common people.