October 20th was the day when the court nominated the governor of Yingtian.

The imperial recommendation began during the Chenghua period and has since developed into a very grand political activity known as the Imperial Recommendation Ceremony.

Whenever a minister is absent, the Ministry of Personnel will send letters to all officials in the ministry several days in advance to inform all the senior officials who are eligible to participate in the court recommendation.

In order to allow the officials nominated by the court to think carefully and cast an honorable vote, the resumes of the candidate officials will also be given in the announcement... Of course, this must be kept confidential.

After the morning court session that day, the officials who participated in the court recommendation went to the East Que Gate to attend the recommendation ceremony.

Dongque Gate is the gate facing east outside Wumen Gate. It has three complete court rooms. All meetings of the Nine Ministers and officials recommended by the court all gather at this gate.

Why is it here? Because the gate is where the emperor issues orders and issues rewards and punishments.

When the twenty-two officials of the third rank and above stood in the court room facing each other in the east and west as usual, Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel who presided over the court recommendation, once again explained the task of today's court recommendation to the ministers:

"Everyone has read the notice from our department. Lin Run, the Right Vice-Chief Censor, the Chief of Grain Reserves, the Military Superintendent, and the Governor of the Ten Prefectures of Yingtian, was unfortunately seriously injured in a fire and can no longer perform his duties. Today, our department asks all colleagues to jointly nominate a person who can take on the important task and recommend him to His Majesty for selection."

"Yes." The officials responded and sat down on the chairs that had been prepared in advance.

Civil officials paid the most attention to the sense of ritual, and they divided the court examination into two types: sitting and standing.

When encountering the recommendation of cabinet ministers, the chancellor, the grand marshal, and the governor-general, they are recommended immediately; all ministers, senior officials, and governors are recommended while sitting.

In short, when nominating the Grand Secretary, the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of War, and the Governor-General, the senior officials all stood up to show respect.

When nominating the other seven ministers, vice ministers and governors, there is no need to stand, you can just sit down and discuss.

~~

After the imperial recommendation officially begins, according to convention, the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Office will introduce the basic information of each candidate, their official record, and their previous inspection results to the ministers who are participating in the recommendation.

However, everyone already knows about these situations, so this step is just a formality. Next, after everyone has fully expressed their opinions, the secret ballot will begin.

But today, something went wrong. Lu Guangzu, a doctor in the Ministry of Literature, stepped out and said to all the ministers in a deep voice, "My Lords, there has been a temporary change in the candidate recommended by the court. I would like to inform you of this."

"What happened?" Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Ting and others asked in a deep voice.

"Wu Zhongcheng, the Censor-in-Chief of Jiangnan, Zou Zhongcheng, the Censor-in-Chief of the Salt Administration, Cao Zhongcheng, the Governor of Yunyang, and Jiang Jijiu of the Nanjing Imperial College sent urgent letters, requesting that their names be removed from the candidate list for different reasons." Then Lu Guangzu replied.

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a buzzing sound in the room.

Xu Wu not only went to Wang Bengu's house, but almost all the ministers present received generous gifts from the Xu family. Naturally, they knew that these four were the candidates chosen by Lord Xu.

Who would have thought that these four would all become deserters! None of them were willing to fight for Lord Xu!

"It seems that the situation in Jiangnan is more serious than we imagined..." The officials whispered and exchanged views with each other.

"Yes, these people are all the best at the moment, and Wu and Zou are even more fierce warriors. What kind of situation would it take to make them retreat together?"

Everyone looked at Wang Bengu, wanting to see the expression on the face of this Xu Dang agent.

Wang Bengu's face was very dark.

According to the rules, the list of nominees was drafted by him, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and then submitted to the Lord of Heaven for approval.

The bigwigs present naturally knew the delicate relationship between Yang Bo and Xu Ge Lao. Then it was easy to think that Xu Jie put these four people on the list through him, the Shaozhongzai.

Who knew that the four of them would not appreciate it and withdraw from the court just before the launch. Isn't this a rip-off? !

Wang Bengu felt like he was being made a fool of, but he couldn't vent his anger for the moment and could only sit there sulking.

~~

"I wonder what the Grand Chancellor thinks?" At this time, Mao Butang asked Yang Bo, "Do you agree that the four of them should withdraw from the election?"

"Of course, it's like forcing a bull to drink water." Yang Bo's face was not looking good, and he snorted coldly, "If they don't even have the courage to face challenges and defend the court, what's the point of electing such officials?"

"..." The ministers had no way to refute this, so Huo Bu Tang asked again: "Should we choose one from the remaining three, or wait until the Ministry of Personnel fills in the candidate before making a nomination?"

"No need for me to say more. You all know how urgent the situation in Jiangnan is. We don't have time to waste." Yang Bo said decisively, "But we can add another candidate, and there is no need to postpone it for a few days, because everyone knows that person very well."

Upon hearing this, all the senior officials smiled in understanding, and it was obvious that they knew who it was as soon as they heard it.

Wang Bengu's face turned even uglier, because this meant that the Minister was not satisfied with him and did not trust him...

Yang Bo ignored him and smiled faintly at everyone, saying, "It seems that everyone has guessed who he is?"

"It's probably Hai Gangfeng who accompanied us seven times, right?" The senior officials laughed.

"Not bad." Yang Bo nodded with a smile.

"I think the current situation in Jiangnan can only be handled by Hai Rui!" The senior officials immediately echoed enthusiastically.

"Yes, in troubled times, severe punishments are used, and the magic sword is used to slay demons!"

"I think only Hai Gangfeng can deter the villains and restore the authority of the court!"

All the senior officials were well aware of the heavy responsibilities that the new Yingtian governor carried.

Someone actually dared to take such a risk and assassinate a governor. It was impossible for the court officials not to be angry about this.

However, officials of their rank must always put the overall situation first, so they cannot express their opinions easily.

Of course, this overall situation may belong to the imperial court, or it may not.

So when they make their position clear, it basically means that the situation has been decided.

~~

After a while, Lu Guangzu handed out blank question books and asked all the officials to write down the two candidates they liked on them.

After everyone had finished writing, he counted the votes on the spot.

As expected, almost everyone chose Hai Rui.

In the end, Hai Rui was selected 21 out of 22...

Of course, it cannot be said that Zhao Hao could directly or indirectly influence the twenty-one senior officials. Because many people saw that the situation was clear and did not want to expose their choices meaninglessly, so they did a favor and listed Hai Rui as the main choice.

When the court recommendation was over, Yang Bo wrote a memorial directly in the court room, reporting the results of the recommendation and asking the emperor to make his own decision on the selection.

In the afternoon, the memorial from the Ministry of Personnel was sent to the Cabinet via the Ministry of Public Security.

The three grand secretaries who had known the result in advance immediately drafted a petition for approval and ordered someone to submit it to the Imperial Household Department for approval.

Li Chunfang was very satisfied with this, and he naturally thought that this was the result of his greeting.

When Zhang Juzheng returned to his duty room, the Prime Minister smiled with satisfaction at Chen Yiqin and said, "It seems that there won't be any big problems if we raise our own banner."

"Well, more or less." Chen Yiqin felt a little bit unbelievable, but cutting ties with Lord Xu was already an established policy, so he didn't waste any more words.

But Prime Minister Zhang was a little upset. He had anticipated all kinds of possibilities, but he did not expect Hai Rui to be the candidate.

The return of the high-phase curve will probably add more variables.

It’s just that the Grand Secretary never participated in the imperial nomination, so he had no idea about the result…

p.s. Sorry, my eyes are not feeling well today, which really affects my condition. I will post two chapters first.