Rule over Ming Dynasty

The cabinet is replacing old ones with new ones. Liu Ji has become the well-deserved No. 1 in the cabinet and has ushered in his era.

Although the Ming Dynasty has abolished the prime minister system, since San Yang, civil and military officials have silently regarded the chief minister of the cabinet as the head of the officials.

Liu Ji is now the new chief minister of the cabinet and can represent all officials to a certain extent.

According to the long-standing practice, whenever there is a new member of the cabinet, there will usually be a more formal dialogue between the monarch and his ministers, and this is the case today.

Since Liu Ji had a formal dialogue with the emperor on behalf of hundreds of officials, he naturally had to listen carefully to the different demands of the officials below him before the dialogue.

Since the Spring Festival holiday happened to be just in time, Liu Ji was very well prepared this time and had some exchanges with officials of all sizes in the capital.

Liu Ji just proposed to the emperor to forgive He Qiaoxin. In fact, it was not Liu Ji's personal wish, but a strong appeal on behalf of many officials.

In the Hall of Nourishing Heart, you can hear a needle drop.

Although Zhu Youtang is the emperor, he still has to show his thirst for talents, so that the "virtuous talents" below will continue to sell their blood for him.

In fact, many people have a serious misunderstanding, that is, they one-sidedly believe that the emperor is the emperor's master, and the civil and military officials below must obey the emperor unconditionally.

But the fact is that the emperor is often a real loner, and the civil servant group he has to face has already been one circle of interests after another.

Different from the early days of the Republic of China, officials of that era were usually from truly poor backgrounds. They had a strong desire to serve the country, even if it could provide them with food and clothing.

Now more than a hundred years have passed, and most of the officials in the middle and upper classes come from wealthy gentry families, and there are many second-generation officials like He Qiaoxin.

They have more choices. Once the interests of their circle are harmed, they can resign their official positions and return to the local area to live a life of rich people, and they are still respected officials with high morals and high prestige.

This is true in any era, and those in power actually have to make some compromises.

For example, at a certain period in later generations, wealthy people collectively chose to immigrate overseas, which negatively affected the domestic economy to a certain extent and forced concessions.

After Zhu Youtang failed to fully cultivate Xiaozhong's own team, he knew that he could not become a loner and that a combination of strength and softness was the correct model for an emperor.

Although he knew that the empire would slowly decline if it was controlled by a civil servant group, he also knew that it was not the time to overturn the table directly, so it was necessary to communicate with the officials below through Liu Jiwei's bridge.

"Forgive He Qiaoxin? How do they want me to forgive?" Zhu Youtang did not expect such absurdity to appear in the first conversation, and asked calmly.

Liu Ji knew that this issue was very sensitive, but he still bit the bullet and said: "According to the common request of some of them, He Qiaoxin did not take bribes this time, and he should be acquitted!"

"Not guilty at all?" Although Zhu Youtang saw through the faces of those civil servants, he couldn't help but say happily.

It would be understandable for scholars to be deceived about the value of real objects, but these officials are all old foxes in the officialdom. How could they not do something for others after taking a full 10 taels of real objects?

It's just that these people now think that He Qiaoxin is innocent, which is really ridiculous.

Liu Ji had been accompanying the emperor for more than three years, and naturally realized that the emperor in front of him could not compromise on this matter, so he bit the bullet and said: "Their opinion is: If your majesty feels that He Qiaoxin's behavior is inappropriate, you can Order him to serve!"

"In the end, He Qiaoxin lost his position as Minister of the Ministry of Justice. This is the biggest punishment they think, right?" Zhu Youtang understood the logic and looked dumbfounded.

In fact, there is a cognitive gap here.It is said that the position of Minister of Punishment was given by the emperor, but in the eyes of civil servants, it was a position that should belong to them.

Now that He Qiaoxin has "relinquished" his position, this is already a sacrifice.

Liu Ji knew that this solution would not satisfy the emperor, but he still swallowed his saliva and explained: "Your Majesty, this is because I listened to the demands of many officials below, and I am just telling the truth!"

Since he replaced Wan An as the chief minister of the cabinet, his mentality has also undergone some subtle changes. He can't help but get closer to the civilian group, and thus becomes the leader of the civilian group.

During this year's Spring Festival, his Liu Mansion became the most beautiful residence in the capital.

It's just that he never expected that since these officials dared to make such a request, and there were quite a few officials, he felt like he was being roasted on a fire.

"Mr. Liu Ge, what do you think about this?" Zhu Youtang naturally knew that Liu Ji's house had been trampled to pieces this year, and suddenly asked with a slight movement in his heart.

Liu Ji was shocked and immediately knelt down to His Majesty and said: "Of course I will not agree. This time I am just conveying their demands. My loyalty to Your Majesty can be seen from the sun and the moon!"

Those officials were whimsical, but he was sober. How could this ridiculous request be accepted by the emperor, and he knew better who gave him his status.

Guo Yong saw Liu Ji kneeling in panic, but he knew that Liu Ji was a shrewd man.

In the current Ming Dynasty, the emperor cannot replace all officials, but it is easy to kill a specific official.

If Liu Ji had any dissent, even the high-ranking chief minister of the cabinet would be replaced by the emperor in minutes.

"Get up! Those people have been holding back for so long. Isn't it more than just this appeal?" Zhu Youtang knew that although Liu Ji was not as loyal as Wan An, he was also a conscientious and qualified first assistant, so he expressed his position without any embarrassment. road.

Liu Ji hesitated for a moment, then took out a notebook from his sleeve and said: "They have different opinions on the "Regulations on Punishment", so I hope to add a few more articles this time, and please have your Majesty take a look!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", he also made a statement to his descendants: "Don't be smart and mess with the laws I have established. Not a word can be changed."

It’s just that no law can cover everything, especially some people who like to get into trouble.

For example, students are not allowed to have long hair.Just how long is this long hair? Since there is no fixed measurement, the measurement of the director of the academic affairs office of some schools is 2 centimeters, and the measurement of the director of the academic affairs office of some schools is 10 meters.

In addition, some incidents lack legal guidance, such as someone deliberately spreading smallpox last year. For this kind of thing, heavy laws must be instituted to deter such behavior.

Although the "Penalty Ordinance" became notorious in later generations, its starting point was not problematic, and it even met the actual needs of the time. Problems are often caused by people's greed.In the original history, it was the civil servant group that led the "Regulations on Punishment", which caused this new Ming law to become a tool to safeguard their interests.

After Zhu Youtang came to power, he gradually realized that there were many textual loopholes in the "Da Ming Code" and some areas were not covered, so he made the decision to amend the "Regulations on Punishment".

But now, history seems to be repeating itself again, and those civil servants want to reach out again.

Guo Yong stepped forward and handed the notebook to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang opened the book and looked at their demands. The first thing that caught his eye was: "If a civil servant commits stolen goods, it will be proven to everyone that he can pay a prescribed amount of charcoal, bricks, rice and other property to atone for his crime."

The meaning of this article is very clear. If a civil official commits corruption in the future and there is sufficient evidence, the official's salary will be suspended. However, the offending official can choose to use the prescribed money and grain to atone for his crime.

Although there is no explicit requirement to cancel the Ming law that requires eight hundred heads to be beheaded, once the "Regulations on Punishment" are adopted, all future corruption crimes can be exempted through fines, and that Ming law naturally exists in name only.

Zhu Youtang looked at the first article and found that these people thought they were cowardly and shameful, and they had the nerve to throw out such regulations.

This regulation will not only encourage corruption by officials, but also undermine the fairness and authority of the law, and even make it impossible to punish wealthy officials.

Once he really indulges officials in corruption, the dynasty will sooner or later be hollowed out by these shrewd officials. Not to mention revitalizing China, China will definitely make the same mistakes again.

Liu Ji swallowed his saliva and added cautiously: "They said that if Your Majesty adopts these regulations, it will not only show Your Majesty's wisdom, but also increase revenue for the Ming Dynasty's finances and solve the urgent needs of the Ming Dynasty!"

The most urgent problem of the Ming Dynasty today is financial issues.Whether it is the 300 million taels in the early stage of gold mining in Luzon or the war to conquer the Jurchen tribe in Haixi at any time, financial support is needed.

If fines are used to punish corrupt officials, although many civil servants will escape legal sanctions, it will undoubtedly solve part of the financial problem.

Those civil servants saw that the Ming Dynasty was short of money, so they took the opportunity to propose this regulation, but they hoped that the emperor would adopt their regulation in order to solve the financial problem.

"Mr. Liu Ge, what do you think of these regulations?" Zhu Youtang could see the wishful thinking of those people at a glance and asked bitterly.

It is actually impossible to say that the emperor himself has no weaknesses at all.

Firstly, running the country requires stabilizing some talents. Even if a large company calls back an unethical executive for the sake of performance, this is the correct approach for enterprise development.

Even though it is known that most of these civil servants are hypocrites, the management of the empire cannot be separated from this group of experienced managers, and they must continue to appoint them even though they know that there are problems with the civil servant group.

Emperor Chenghua realized this in the later period, especially when thousands of soldiers died in Datong without anyone telling them, he began to lie down completely.

Zhu Youtang learned the lessons of Emperor Chenghua's rule, so he was not eager to show off directly, nor did he plan to reopen the West Factory. Instead, he chose to "get along well" with this huge civil servant group.

The second is that the imperial court's finances need to be resolved. Now the empire needs to support a large number of people every year, causing more and more wealth to flow into the pockets of these people.

Now if you want to lead China to rise, you need to seize the time to solve the current financial problems, so as to complete your long-standing layout.

In particular, the start-up capital of 300 million taels for mining the Luzon gold mine is related to the empire's continuous financial revenue, so it is even more urgent.

Or perhaps because of these two reasons, the civil servant took the opportunity to offer chips, thus forcing Zhu Youtang to make some concessions.

Liu Ji was very aware of Zhu Youtang's character, and immediately said seriously: "Of course I will not agree, but this is the request of the officials below. I am only collecting their opinions for your majesty this time!"

"What do they think about the national debt?" Zhu Youtang closed the book and took it in his hand, and asked the question he was most concerned about.

Liu Ji found that this problem was much simpler, so he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said: "They all claim to be upright officials, but if His Majesty can agree to release He Qiaoxin and add those few regulations, they will make great efforts and will Spend all your money!"

The meaning of these words is self-evident. If Zhu Youtang makes concessions, they will spend more money to subscribe for the batch of treasury bonds that will be reissued next year.

Guo Yong had been listening beside him and couldn't help but shook his head bitterly.

This group of officials who claimed to be serving the country and the people were actually thinking about their own interests and even wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail the emperor.

"If I want you to hand over the list of officials who issued the appeal, would you be willing?" Zhu Youtang put down the book in his hand and asked with a half-smile.

Originally, he just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to update his new photos to have a dialogue with the civil service group, but after hearing the demands of this group of people, he now has murderous intentions.

Although he didn't know who the officials were who made these demands, he knew that the officialdom was also divided into an inner circle and an outer circle, and killing the inner circle wouldn't matter at all.

Liu Ji hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to kneel down and said: "Your Majesty, this is a long-standing official tradition, and they have always been given preferential treatment to those who speak without guilt. They only opened their mouth to appeal to Your Majesty because they trusted the veteran minister. If Your Majesty insists on asking the veteran minister, If you hand over the list, please be relieved of your duties as minister!"

Guo Yong saw that Liu Ji did not choose to betray his faith and please the emperor, but he did not know whether to accuse the old man of being disloyal or to praise the old man for his integrity.

"Stay back!" Zhu Youtang knew that he was being forced by others, so he gently raised his hand and said.

He just asked casually. In fact, he took the initiative to listen to the opinions of the officials below, because it seemed a bit unkind to give the top priority.

Even if Liu Ji is willing to hand over the list, he will take revenge on those officials.Although a bunch of pests have been eliminated, it still cannot solve the situation where the civil servants seem to be inseparable. I am afraid that there will be more people who oppose me in the future.

"I retire, my emperor, long live, long live, long live!" Liu Ji secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said respectfully.

Although he is a member of the Imperial Party, he also has his own principles.This time he acted as a communication bridge between the emperor and the officials. If he chose to sell the family, then he would be breaking his trust.

Even if the emperor tried his best to protect himself from the attacks of hundreds of officials, he had done such a treacherous thing, and he had no shame in staying here any longer.

A formal dialogue between the king and the king in the fourth year of Hongzhi ended in an unfriendly atmosphere. (End of chapter)