When Xu Guangqi, after confirming it with the four cabinet members and reporting it to Emperor Xuanshun, formally stood in the palace and announced the result to all the important ministers present, the whole hall was boiling.
Before today, no one thought that there would be such a huge reversal.
It is not that no one thought that Feng Ziying might fight for it, including non-mainstream scholars such as Feng Clan and Southwest Lingnan, but they thought that Feng Ziying might fight for the secondary assistant.
After all, in the game competition between Gu Guanqiao and Gu Guanqiao, someone will eventually lose, and the loser must bear the responsibility for the failure and have an explanation for the people who support him, so resigning and retiring should be a responsible and responsible thing. His performance can also help him retain a good reputation among the scholars.
Maybe there will be no chance of recovery after resigning and retiring, but you can obtain resources for your descendants and even your disciples.
There is only one first assistant position. No matter who among the three wins the first assistant position, the other two will inevitably resign and retire. Then the position of the second assistant will be vacant. Then Feng Ziying can win the position of the second assistant by showing her strength. A natural move.
It's just that Feng Ziying is too young after all. He will take over as the second assistant at the age of thirty-two or three, which will definitely cause an uproar among the officials in the court, so he uses such a way to show his strength to intimidate and subdue other dissatisfied dissenters. Should be the best strategy.
But when Xu Guangqi suddenly stood up and recommended Feng Ziying to compete for the position of first assistant after the second round of voting results were still tied, everything got out of control.
The non-mainstream scholars (Southwestern Lingnan scholars) cheered and received strong support from "renegades" who were at odds with the leaders of their faction. In addition, more people who were disappointed with Gu Guanqiao's performance in this round of games began to consider supporting Feng Ziying. After the reasons and consequences, the situation began to take an unimaginable turn.
Of course, Xu Guangqi’s sudden appearance and request for Feng Ziying’s nomination could not be an impromptu move.
Feng Ziying had previously discussed his own judgment with Xu Guangqi, believing that this internal division would have an immeasurable negative impact on the future governance of the Zhou Dynasty, especially on the execution of local governance. It is extremely harmful.
A cabinet that is at odds with each other will find it difficult to exert sufficient influence on local governments. Many matters that were originally determined to be vigorously promoted may become difficult to implement. This situation is unacceptable.
Xu Guangqi thinks so.
Feng Ziying talked a lot with him about some planning ideas for the next five to ten years, especially the reform of the imperial examination, investment in the construction of new schools, support for industry and commerce, and even how to combine the investigation of things and business planning. The combination of so-called side subjects and the application of knowledge in industry and commerce scratched Xu Guangqi's heart.
Although Xu Guangqi was born as a scholar, he was influenced by many ideas from Western Yi. He and Li Zhizao even learned Western Yi writing and studied many theories of physics from Western Yi.
Xu Guangqi was also very unpopular with the scholars on this point, which was also the reason why almost no one in the entire court had a particularly close relationship with him except Li Zhizao, who was his kind.
Unexpectedly, Feng Ziying, an orthodox scholar who studied under Qi Yongtai and Guan Yingzhen, had amazing interests and quite consistent opinions with him.
Xu Guangqi also specially observed Feng Ziying for this purpose to see if the other party intended to please or bribe him, so he had such an attitude towards miscellaneous subjects such as gewu.
However, he found that the other party was even more interested in miscellaneous subjects such as investigation of things and business than himself, and his attainments were even deeper than his own.
It has been rumored that Feng Ziying is the biggest host of the Gyeonggi Coal, Iron and Military Industrial Complex. It was Feng Ziying who put forward many groundbreaking insights in process technology, which enabled the process technology and efficiency of the Gyeonggi Coal, Iron and Military Industrial Complex to maintain its leading position throughout the entire Zhou Dynasty. The highest level, this was confirmed by Xu Guangqi after repeated discussions and investigations.
Of course, Feng Ziying’s strong promotion of potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn is also one of the reasons why she won Xu Guangqi’s great favor. Who doesn’t want to see the results of his hard work be widely used and achieve great success? Feng Ziying's vigorous promotion in Shaanxi also won Xu Guangqi a very high popularity and reputation.
As for Feng Ziying recommending him to the cabinet, Xu Guangqi didn't care that much. After joining the cabinet, his main focus was still on the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, and he basically didn't care about other affairs.
Xu Guangqi also understood some of Feng Ziying's thoughts "accidentally" revealed.
Although Xu Guangqi does not ask about affairs outside the Second Ministry of Workers and Peasants, it does not mean that he does not understand these.
In fact, in his mind, Gu Guan and Qiao are not good-looking people.
Gu Bingqian was obsessed with playing power, but his own character and moral weaknesses made him lack confidence when facing Guan Yingzhen and Qiao Yingjia, so he could only use balancing techniques to control it, making the cabinet extremely inefficient, and the Northern scholars I despise it the most.
Guan Yingzhen seems to be much better, but first of all, Guan Yingzhen is the leader of the Huguang faction, and he will inevitably tend to his own base, which is inevitably mixed with many selfish thoughts. Secondly, Guan Yingzhen has a soft personality.
This aspect is also similar to Gu Bingqian, and a soft first assistant is by no means a blessing for a huge empire like the Zhou Dynasty.
As for Qiao Yingjia, Xu Guangqi despised him the most.
Look at his contempt for industry and commerce and his ignorance of financial planning. He is barely qualified to be a censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Zuodu, but he is not qualified to be a cabinet minister, let alone a chief minister?
Feng Ziying also has many weaknesses.
Age and seniority are his unavoidable and irreparable disadvantages, although he also has many advantages that others cannot match. He has a lot of local experience, outstanding military exploits, and is proficient in financial planning. In addition, he is extremely open-minded and has good relations with the industrial and commercial forces in the north and south. , these are incomparable to any of the three Gu Guanqiao.
Under this situation, Xu Guangqi felt that he could give it a try, both publicly and privately. Especially after Feng Ziying had already had this idea, even if he did not come forward, Feng Ziying could still recommend herself, or someone else could create momentum to promote this. situation.
Unexpectedly, this attempt was actually successful. Even Xu Guangqi felt that God had favored Feng Ziying and him. Not only did he succeed in one fell swoop, but he also crushed them with force, even without a vote from the cabinet ministers. Twenty-three votes were received. It should be noted that the three highest votes obtained by Gu Guanqiao were only eighteen votes, including the votes of cabinet ministers.
So much so that later on, apart from Qiao Yingjia who could not lose face, even Gu Bingqian and Guan Yingzhen voted in favor of Feng Ziying.
The main hall was full of people.
Even if it is a foregone conclusion, there are still many people who find it difficult to accept or imagine it.
Why did this move lead to Feng Keng becoming the first assistant?
Although twenty-seven votes have been confirmed, subsequent vote verification still needs to be carried out.
Everyone wants to understand, or want to review, why did Feng Keng counterattack quietly?
From a bystander who was not even a candidate, he suddenly rose to the top and was directly promoted to the position of chief minister?
There must be some internal details here that are unknown or that no one is aware of.
Xu Guangqi also realized that many people are still a little ignorant, dazed, confused, and confused, and their hearts are still chaotic, hoping to fully understand what happened.
The most important step is to check and vote. It also allows people to have a clearer understanding of what happened in the process. Every time a vote is checked, people can understand why they got the vote.
…
“There are a total of twenty-seven votes in favor, and they are now confirmed by singing one by one,…”
"The first vote is Fu Shi, the left deputy of the Imperial Procuratorate,..." Fang Zhenru Qingyue's voice sounded.
"..., a member of the Jia family of Rongguo Gong, and a colleague of Xiao Fengge when he was the Prime Minister of Shuntian Mansion. It seems that he was a Tongpan at that time, right? It is said that the relationship between the two was extremely close at that time. It was probably Jia Cunzhou who introduced him to Xiaofengge. , Hehe, Jia Cunzhou’s concubine became the concubine of Xiao Feng Ge Lao again, and the relationship naturally became closer..."
“The second vote is Zuo Guangdou, the right deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate,...”
"..., this is a bit confusing. Zuo Guangdou has nothing to do with Mr. Xiao Feng Ge? He has never worked together before. Moreover, everyone knows Zuo Guangdou's temperament. He would rather bend than bend, and even Liu Ji Gong may not be able to do so. I can hold it back..."
“Hey, you don’t know this, right? Zuo Guangdou has always been dissatisfied with Liu Ji Gong. Besides, you see, Pan Ruzhen and Zuo Guangdou are both Tongcheng Rural Party members...”
"That's wrong. Zuo Guangdou will not change his attitude at will just because Pan Ruzhen has a good relationship with him. In my opinion, Xiao Fengge's influence among the Jiangnan scholars is not as small as imagined. Otherwise, those few in Songjiang Why should you vote for Mr. Xiao Fengge?"
"You are right. The strategy of opening up the sea had a great impact on Jiangnan. In addition, the Liguo Coal and Iron Complex in Xuzhou and the Stock Exchange in Yangzhou were all promoted by Xiao Fengge. How can the Jiangnan scholars be dissatisfied and unthankful? ? It is impossible to say that those Jiangnan businessmen will exert influence on Jiangnan scholars..."
“The third vote, Cao Yubian, the minister of Dali Temple,…”
“Just because Cao Yubian is dissatisfied with Mr. Ru Jungong? Is he going to vote for Mr. Xiao Feng Ge? He won’t leave. To say that Mr. Ru Jungong is still the candidate for the election of Mr. Xiao Feng Ge.”
"This shouldn't be the reason. I heard that Mr. Xiao Fengge intended to reform the imperial examination and proposed that laws should be included in the content of the imperial examination. Cao Yubian is the most enthusiastic about this. Perhaps this makes them sympathize with each other?"
“The fourth vote, Wei Fan, the Minister of Taipusi Temple,…”
"Haha, this is the only young scholar among the southwestern scholars. After being ignored by the imperial court for so many years, they can finally make their voices heard. It's no wonder that no matter who is the chief minister, they ignore them. It's rare for Mr. Xiao Fengge Such a newcomer, and his subordinates are not divided by their place of origin, of course people will support him..."