Early in the morning, the Tongzhengsi located inside the Xigongsheng Gate began a busy day of work.

The Minister of Public Administration Xue Songyi personally sat in the public office and supervised his officials in opening the memorials delivered to the office from all over the country.

After opening the envelopes, officials from the Ministry of Public Administration had to carefully examine and sort out the importance of memorials from provincial governors, military and political offices, the six ministries and five prefectures, the Censorate and other imperial court offices, and immediately transcribe and submit urgent matters.

The rest of the memorials were reviewed by the Tongzhengsi, and the reasons were copied into the bottom sheet, which was called "tiehuang". They were then registered and numbered before being sent to the Silijian.

Moreover, the Ministry of Public Administration could also return memorials that did not meet the format requirements and order the petitioner to resubmit them as required.

The Ministry of Public Administration had many requirements for memorials, ranging from the common headings and taboos to the number of pages and size of memorials for officials of different ranks, with detailed regulations.

The Tongzhengsi's discretionary power gave them a weakened version of the "right to seal and reject".

As long as they want to prevent your memorial from seeing the light of day, you will not be able to pass the test of the Ministry of Public Security.

After all, if you pick and choose, you can always find faults.

There is really nothing wrong with it, I can even add some problems for you...

This is why Lord Xu asked the Minister of Public Security to help him block the attacks that were difficult to guard against.

Three days ago, Xue Songyi had issued a secret order that all memorials from home and abroad impeaching Lord Xu would be rejected.

He personally sat in the Tongzheng Hall, taking a defensive stance.

However, after three days, no memorial impeaching Lord Xu has been found.

This is quite reasonable. After all, in everyone's mind, Lord Xu is as pure and spotless as a white lotus...

An hour later, the initial screening of today's memorials was completed.

You Tongzheng reported to Xue Songyi that there were still no impeachments against Lord Xu.

Xue Songyi nodded with satisfaction and ordered him to send the important memorial and a silver seal to the Imperial Household Department first.

The so-called secret petition with silver seal, also known as Jietie, began in the reign of Emperor Renzong and flourished in the reign of Emperor Jiajing. It was a silver seal bestowed by the emperor on officials above the third rank at home and abroad. Only the emperor could open the petition with this seal.

This was set up for ministers who were unable to make public comments or reports, and the Ministry of Public Administration had no authority to open it.

But officials above the third rank were very prudent and seldom used this power, because the very fact that you submitted such a secret report meant that you were closer to the emperor, and that you were either a slanderer or a flatterer.

Doing so will cause one to be spurned by the civil service group, be considered unworthy of a minister, and may even end one's political career.

Of course, occasionally someone will be forced to use this right.

For example, today I received a letter of denunciation from the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing.

But Xue Songyi was not worried at all, because the Minister was the only one who would not impeach Lord Xu.

~~

When Lord Xu returned to Wenyuan Pavilion after many days, he saw three grand secretaries and a group of cabinet secretaries and secretaries who had been waiting for him by the big stone bridge.

"Welcome Prime Minister back to the cabinet!" As Lord Xu stepped onto the stone bridge, the three university scholars bowed together.

"Welcome the Prime Minister back to the cabinet!" Si Zhilang and the servants all knelt on the ground.

Seeing this situation, Lord Xu's wounded heart finally came back to life.

"Please stand up, everyone. You have worked hard these days." Xu Jie extended his hand to support them and said with a slight smile, "Starting today, I will be counting on you again."

"We are willing to serve you like a slave." The cabinet officials flattered Xu Ge Lao loudly in response to his return.

"Alas, you can't say that. We are all trying to relieve your majesty's worries." Lord Xu corrected him, but the smile on his face remained.

Then, accompanied by three grand secretaries, he came to the main hall of Wenyuan Pavilion and sat down.

The Zhongshu Sheren brought in the memorials that had been accumulated during this period and piled them up into a small mountain in front of the four grand secretaries.

Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng briefly introduced to Xu Gelao what major events had happened in the court during this period. What was the extent of the completion of the tasks assigned before...

Elder Xu listened patiently for a while, and when the secretary was done and left, he dropped the memorial in his hand and said in a deep voice:

"Three of you, please put these matters aside for now. The most urgent task is to restore the normal operation of the court. This is also what Your Majesty was most worried about when you met him earlier."

"Please give me some instructions, Prime Minister." Li Chunfang immediately picked up the brush with one hand, twisted his sleeve with the other hand, sat upright, and listened attentively.

"I heard Prime Minister Zhang talk about the whole story last time." Elder Xu had already made up his mind, so he said slowly, "I have a few immature ideas. Let me share them with you for your reference."

"First of all, I want to criticize myself. I was indeed not thoughtful enough when I agreed to let the eunuchs sit in the regiment camp and guard the local areas, and to return the Tengxiang Four Guards to the Imperial Horse Administration. I didn't expect the backlash to be so strong..." Xu Jie looked at everyone apologetically, and said sincerely, "I will review myself. I am old, and I am not so thoughtful. In the future, please correct me and don't worry about anything."

The three of them were fed up with what they heard. Was this a poorly thought-out question? It was obviously you who dug the hole, right?

Especially Chen Yiqin, who has a straightforward temper and can't control his temper. Recently, everyone has been tormented by him and is about to fall apart. Now I just say a few words casually, please correct me?

I'm correcting you, you son of a bitch!

He couldn't help but want to ridicule the prime minister, but was stopped by Zhang Juzheng, who was sitting opposite him, with a look.

Only then did Chen Yiqin swallow his anger and look out the door without looking back.

Xu Jie didn't take it seriously. He knew that he was just using his power to pressure others this time. The three grand secretaries, including Zhang Juzheng, must be feeling uncomfortable.

But who cares? At my age and stage, I only care about my own feelings.

"Since no one has any objection, let's put this matter on hold indefinitely." Elder Xu sneered in his heart, and then continued:

"Then we need to get the six departments back to work as soon as possible. This is the top priority."

"Master, Section Six has been too rebellious this time. Even if we want them to come back, we must first severely punish the section chiefs and those who led the riot."

Zhang Juzheng hated those censors so much that he gritted his teeth and said, "Otherwise, they will all quit their posts in the future, and the court will be in chaos!"

"Well, this is a special case." Although Xu Jie was also very unhappy with the mad dogs in the Six Departments, he had now offended the emperor, offended the eunuchs, and alienated his colleagues. He could only rely more closely on the censors of the Six Departments to continue to control the court.

So, Lord Xu spoke for the censors and said, "After all, the eunuchs attacked Section Chief Ouyang first, and then went even further the next day, gathering a crowd at Huiji Gate to ambush all the members of the six departments, injuring countless court officials who advised the emperor."

As he spoke, he slammed the table and said sternly: "This incident is sensational and the circumstances are extremely bad. Your Majesty's handling of it is indeed a bit evasive and he only wants to calm the situation. It is completely understandable that the six departments have a backlash."

Li Chunfang kept nodding and taking notes, Zhang Juzheng pretended to listen attentively, and Mr. Chen still tilted his head and looked outside the door.

Suddenly, he saw the eunuch Teng Xiang, who was in charge of ceremonies, crossing the stone bridge and walking towards him quickly.

ps. The fourth update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~