When Shi Kefa retired, the position of the chief minister of the cabinet was empty.

The cabinet is not like the Silijian. The Silijian can have an empty position as a eunuch, but the cabinet cannot have a chief minister for a day.

Among the ministers in several courts, the ones who were favored by Zhu Cilang were Zhang Shenyan, the Minister of Personnel, Liu Zongzhou, the Minister of Rites, and Lu Zhenfei, the Minister of War.

Unfortunately, Zhang Shenyan suddenly became seriously ill not long ago. Although Zhu Cilang sent the imperial physician to treat him, it did not have a good effect.

Originally, Zhang Shenyan died of illness in the 17th year of Chongzhen. According to this rhythm, he seemed to be in the near future.

If the remaining two choose one of them, Zhu Cilang tends to choose Liu Zongzhou.

First, Liu Zongzhou was the Minister of Rites and added the title of Grand Secretary of the Dongge, and it was justified to take over as the Chief Auxiliary.

Secondly, Liu Zongzhou is more experienced than Lu Zhenfei.

Liu Zongzhou was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Wanli. He passed through the three dynasties of Wanli, Tianqi and Chongzhen. He served as the head of the Ministry of Rites, the Right Tongzheng, the Minister of Works, and the Left Censor. He was a veritable veteran of the Three Dynasties.

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Liu Zongzhou was already 66 years old and had enough qualifications. Liu Zongzhou took over as the chief minister, and the ministers in the court would not have any objections.

Lu Zhenfei was different. Before serving as Minister of War, he was the highest official position he served as the governor of the grain transportation and the governor of Huai'an. Although he was also considered a chief official in the border area, he was a slim compared to Liu Zongzhou.

Of course, Zhu Cixuan has another consideration for this arrangement. That is, he needs Lu Zhenfei, a hawk, to take charge of the Ministry of War, so that he can better implement his new military strategy without being constrained.

If Lu Zhenfei entered the cabinet and took over as the chief minister, the position of Minister of War would be vacant. At present, Wang Duo committed suicide, Shi Kefa retired, Zhang Shenyan was seriously ill, and there were almost no one who could replace Minister of War. If Zhu Cixuan forced an internal mobilization, he could only transfer Minister of Rites Liu Zongzhou to the Ministry of War, but Liu Zongzhou was a person who firmly opposed the development of firearms. He once told Chongzhen that "I heard about the way of using troops, the benevolence and righteousness of the Supreme Shang Tangwu, and the control of Huan Wen, are not discussed below." "Today, we do not rely on the power of others, so the power of the country will be reduced." "Fire weapons will not be beneficial to success or failure."

This is really far from Zhu Cilang's strategic concept.

Besides, if the firearm is not developed, wouldn’t the biggest advantage of the time traveler be wasted?

Therefore, Zhu Cilang would never let Liu Zongzhou interfere in the Ministry of War. In this way, it is the best choice for Lu Zhenfei to remain in the Ministry of War and Liu Zongzhou to take over as the chief minister.

Anyway, the cabinet chief is just a mascot in Zhu Cixuan's personnel structure and will not have much impact on major policies.

But those who sit in this position must be absolutely loyal to the Ming Dynasty and the royal family.

On this point, Liu Zongzhou and Shi Kefa are consistent.

Compared with his political talent, Liu Zongzhou's Confucianism talent was obviously stronger. He inherited Yangming's Xinxue and opened the Qishan School, and was a great scholar of a generation. The famous Huang Zongxi and others were all his disciples.

Liu Zongzhou is indeed very kind.

In the original history, the Qing army went south and was unstoppable. Liu Zongzhou, who had already begged for bones to live in Hangzhou, died of a hunger strike after the city was broken.

Such a person is definitely a loyal and righteous minister, and it is perfect for him to lead the world as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Of course, it is not enough to just use these ministers at the moment.

The younger generation can be trained in the Imperial Ming Military Academy, but the old-time ministers are in urgent need of them.

There is an old man in the family, like a treasure. Today's Southern Ming court still needs some old ministers to support the situation.

Most famous officials either died for their country after the collapse of Beijing City, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

There are only so many officials in Nanjing, and Zhu Cilang really can't find a suitable candidate.

Since there is no such thing as Nanjing City, Zhu Cilang decided to expand the scope a little.

After careful consideration, Zhu Cilang decided to recruit Wen Anzhi.

Many people may think that the name Wen Anzhi may be unfamiliar. Even among the many heroes of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he is not as famous as Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, Zhang Huangyan and others. But in Zhu Cilang's mind, Wen Anzhi is definitely a well-deserved national hero.

Wen Anzhi was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi. He served as the chief magistrate of Nanjing Imperial College and was later dismissed from office and returned to his hometown by Xue Guoguan. He stayed in his hometown in Yiling for more than ten years. Until the Jiashen Kingdom changed, he was still idle at home.

Emperor Hongguang and Emperor Longwu both issued edicts to him one after another, but because Yiling was in the enemy-occupied area at that time, the transportation in Wen'an was inconvenient.

However, Zhu Cixuan felt that in addition to inconvenient transportation, there was another important reason. That is, Wen Anzhi's dissatisfaction with King Fu, King Tang and others rushing to be emperor.

Wen Anzhi was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi and a student of the emperor. Naturally, he would not be called to an official just because of the words of fighting for the establishment of a vassal king. Perhaps in Wen Anzhi's mind, he was very disdainful of these vassal kings who were still fighting for the establishment of a fire in the face of national crisis?

As for Wen'an's later call to the Grand Secretary of the Dongge of the Yongli Court, he definitely did not think that the Emperor Yongli was better than Hongguang and Longwu, but Wen'an's clear understanding that the Ming Dynasty had reached the moment of collapse, so he decided to give up his prejudice against Yongli and go to Guangxi.

"Together, Jia Yong is looking for the quiet valley. He looks at the peach and plum blossoms, but the spring scenery is not thin. The long pine trees are green, so there is more joy in comrades. He gets off the horse and sorts out his words, and no longer asks about the lonely."

When passing by Longquan, Wen Anzhi left behind this song "Longquan Xiaofa", which is enough to express his determination to restore the world.

This old minister was already 68 years old when he saw Yongli in Wuzhou, Guangxi, but he was still full of ambitions.

It can be said that an old horse is in the stable and has ambitions for thousands of miles.

In order to fight against the Qing Dynasty, Wen'anzhi asked to supervise his troops in the Sichuan-zhong Rebellion Army. Emperor Yongli appointed Wen'anzhi as the crown prince Taibao and the minister of the second department of official and military affairs, governor of the military affairs of Chuan and Hu, and gave Shangfang swords.

With the efforts of Wen Anzhi, the thirteen Kuidong families, which had been immortal with the Ming court, finally joined forces with the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty.

This is why Yuan Zongdi, who was later in the 13th year of Yongli, attacked Chongqing by Li Laiheng.

However, this plan ultimately failed because Tan Hong and Tan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Yongli also fled to Myanmar shortly afterwards. In the end, the Southern Ming Dynasty was destroyed and Wen'an died of depression.

Judging from the effective foundation of Wen'an, he gathered the thirteen Kuidong families to join forces with Ming and resist the Qing Dynasty, he was not only a Shi Kefa, but also a loyal minister of Liu Zongzhou style, but also a very capable minister.

Now that the state is in difficult situations, Zhu Cilang needs more officials like Wen Anzhi!

Therefore, Zhu Cilang decided to recruit Wen Anzhi, who was far away in Yiling, as the Left Minister of Rites.

Unlike Emperor Hongguang in the original history, Zhu Cilang inherited the rule of Emperor Ming as the crown prince of Chongzhen, which is legitimate.

Therefore, Wen Anzhi would never have any concerns about fascinating the vassal kings in history.

The only problem is that Yiling is still in the enemy-occupied area at this time.

After Li Zicheng first controlled the four prefectures of Huguang, Jingzhou, Xiangyang, Chengtian and De'an, he left the general Bai Wang to guard it, and Yiling was under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou Prefecture. If Zhu Cilang wanted to contact Wen'anzhi, he had to send people through the enemy-occupied area.

......
Chapter completed!