Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 1034 Ming Dynasty Politics (5)

Qian Qianyi, a native of Changshu, Southern Zhili, was the leader of the Donglin Party and the former Second Assistant to the Prime Minister... There was no one in the Ming Dynasty's political arena and officialdom who was unaware of Qian Qianyi's style, especially at the end of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, when the emperor ordered the cabinet to be reorganized in order to form a new cabinet of the Ming Dynasty. Qian Qianyi's voice was much higher than that of Sun Chengzong, Bi Ziyan and others.

Even before the meeting was over and the emperor had not yet selected the list of the first, second and third assistants of the cabinet, some people had already privately called Qian Qianyi the prime minister.

How glorious Qian Qianyi was at that time.

Until the impeachment memorial from the Censorate appeared, the key point was that this impeachment memorial was not submitted by one person, but by a group of people, which caused a shock to the central government of the Ming Dynasty.

The Left Censor-in-Chief Li Qiyuan, the Right Censor-in-Chief Zhong Yuzheng, the Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief Sun Juxiang, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief Yang Jingchen, the Left Assistant Censor-in-Chief Zhu Yanxi... a group of high-ranking officials of the Censorate jointly impeached Qian Qianyi, who was in the most glorious and popular position, and had him dismissed from office, stripped of his nationality, and thrown into prison.

The joint impeachment of the Censorate was a special power granted by Zhu Youxiao, which required a certain number of people to investigate the actions of cabinet members.

The separation of supervision and administration must be done, otherwise it would be impossible and unrealistic to maintain a certain level of administration.

However, how to ensure that this system would not be used by people with ulterior motives and then affect party struggles? Zhu Youxiao racked his brains and finally improved some systems.

The Censorate is the supervisory center.

The procuratorate supervises local areas.

The Commission for Integrity is responsible for combating corruption.

Around this entire supervisory system, various rules, systems and regulations were gradually improved and clarified. The three academies were directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor. Those who wanted to serve as officials in the three academies had to pass the corresponding assessments and examinations. In other words, it was not enough to just pass the imperial examinations. To enter the supervisory system, they had to take part in additional assessments. Corresponding standards were even formulated for different situations, such as new scholars and those entering officialdom.

The reason why it is so complicated is for one purpose only, which is to ensure that no bad apples sneak into the supervisory team. If the Ming Dynasty's supervision is full of loopholes, how can it exercise its supervisory power well?

Even in the area of ​​supervision, Zhu Youxiao set up different operating modes of the supervision system under different circumstances. One is that the emperor is in charge personally, and the other is that the royal ministers are in charge concurrently. There are also corresponding adjustments to the details under different modes. This is to ensure that there are no loopholes in the supervision system.

Because Zhu Youxiao knew better than anyone that any system or institution in this world, no matter how perfect it is revised, will eventually be found loopholes by some people over time and then exploited. Moreover, any power in hand ultimately depends on people to implement it, so it is difficult to guarantee that favoritism will not occur. Rules and regulations are established for checks and balances and deterrence, and the same is true for people.

Qian Qianyi's failed suicide attempt caused quite a stir among the top cabinet officials, but the situation in Xiyuan at that time was quite different.

Ok Hee Palace.

"...According to Luanwei's secret investigation, during the period when Qian Qianyi and his cronies were arrested and investigated, officials of the Integrity Bureau headed by Cui Chengxiu had openly or covertly inquired about the matter."

Li Ruolian, the commander of the Luan and Long guards, had a serious expression and bowed respectfully, saying, "Even the Metropolitan Procuratorate has transferred some important case files to the Procuratorate, and according to the regulations, the Integrity Bureau seems to want to intervene."

"Especially regarding the investigation in the southeast, some people in the Integrity Court were too enthusiastic. However, although His Royal Highness Prince Xin knew about this, he did not care too much. After all, after Qian Qianyi was impeached and arrested by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, a large number of officials related to him were arrested one after another. There are too many interests that need to be sorted out."

"So, in the previous Southeast Cleansing, some people secretly took over some of the interests around the Integrity Commission?"

Zhu Youxiao narrowed his eyes slightly, leaning on the cushion and said, "Did you find anything secretly about the monitoring of Cui Chengxiu and others? Did they have any correspondence with the southeastern side?"

"Based on the information we have, this is the case."

Li Ruolian reported truthfully: "Since Cui Chengxiu and his men returned to the capital, the Luanwei have intercepted a few letters, but there has been no such communication since then."

It's really the interests that move people.

Zhu Youxiao's eyes turned cold.

The reason why Cui Chengxiu and his gang were hired in the first place was to use the Integrity Commission as a sharp blade to cut through the complicated Ming officialdom. Not to mention, in those years, Cui Chengxiu and his gang were really handy.

No matter it was the Beizhili Warehouse case, the Shandong Grain Transport case, or the major cases that arose before and after these cases, as well as the many major cases that arose from the investigation of the Zhejiang Grain Transport case, many people were arrested and killed, not to mention the amount of stolen silver and property seized during this period, which was countless!
Zhu Youxiao knew very well the moral character of the Ming Dynasty's civil servants, whether at the central or local levels. No matter how well the corrupt officials among them disguised themselves, they would do anything they could as long as they relaxed a little.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao never relaxed his administration of officials.

The same is true.

The monitoring system he integrated cannot rely solely on the ones mentioned above to ensure that there will be no problems, so a monitoring system in the dark is also monitoring this open monitoring system.

As for this secret monitoring system, each person is carefully selected and has passed layers of screening and assessment before being able to enter.

"In the past two years, I have granted many powers to the supervisors, which has certainly improved the administration of officials a lot." Zhu Youxiao lifted his sleeves and looked at Li Ruolian.

"Some bad signs have begun to appear in the three courts of supervision, prosecution, and integrity. I even dared to ask the people of the Court of Supervision to jointly impeach the cabinet and launch a corresponding investigation and review. How can the supervision system fall behind?"

"Continue to investigate, not only the Anti-Corruption Bureau, but also the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Procuratorate. Screen them carefully for me. I want to see who is trying to fish in troubled waters!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Li Ruolian immediately bowed and saluted.

But he knew in his heart that a group of supervisors would fall this time.

And in Li Ruolian's subconscious mind, what he thought of was Cui Chengxiu and his gang.

But Li Ruolian never knew that the fate of this group of people was doomed as early as the emperor decided to use them. They entered the officialdom with bad intentions. Even if they could restrain their desires in the short term, it would be impossible to restrain their desires for a long time.

Zhu Youxiao would never allow a dragon slayer to become a dragon in the end, otherwise everything he had done before would be a huge joke.

If the team of the supervisory system wants to maintain its purity, it must not only strictly control the addition of fresh blood, clarify various strict systems, and provide material and spiritual guarantees, but also have a series of important cases under this system to let the people who come in know what price they will pay for making such mistakes!
"Your Majesty, Prince Xin requests to see you."

Not long after Li Ruolian left, Liu Ruoyu walked in with his head lowered.

"Tell him to come in."

Zhu Youxiao said.

"The slaves obey the order."

Looking at Liu Ruoyu who walked away with his head lowered, Zhu Youxiao sighed inwardly. This incident was a huge blow to Zhu Youjian.

In fact, after the Qian Qianyi case broke out, Zhu Youxiao saw all of Zhu Youjian's performance. He worked very hard and attentively, going out early and coming back late. It was also under Zhu Youjian's example that many people in the Censorate and the Procuratorate were greatly stimulated and encouraged.

If Prince Xin is like this, what about them?

However, in the intricate officialdom, especially at the central level, if you really want to get something done, you cannot just focus on the matter itself, but also take into account all aspects to avoid someone secretly tripping you up without you noticing, which would then make it impossible for things to be done.

This is why Zhu Youxiao handed the Qian Qianyi case over to Chief Prosecutor Zhu Youxiao to handle personally, but without others knowing, Zhu Youxiao still paid attention to and controlled some things.

Zhu Youxiao wanted to use the Qian Qianyi case to make Zhu Youjian deeply realize that when it comes to concurrently taking charge of supervision, it is not just because of the status of a minister king that he can do whatever he wants.

If it were really that simple, the Ming Dynasty would have changed a lot. Why is it that we still need to forge ahead in many areas?

"Please punish me severely, brother!"

Zhu Youjian's words made Zhu Youxiao calm down.

The moment he entered the hall, Zhu Youjian knelt on the ground. He was in a strange state. He had never expected that such a thing would happen despite all his precautions.

This was a slap in his face.

He had previously promised his royal brother that he would investigate the case thoroughly and make it a solid case.

The reason why Qian Qianyi's case is special is not only because Qian Qianyi did many heinous things during his time as the second assistant to the cabinet, but also because this case also caught all the diehard elements of the Donglin Party.

What are diehards?

That is, there is nothing hidden on the surface, but they are closely connected in private.

In the past two years, due to the continued unrest in the southeast, Zhu Youxiao arrested some people at different times, which made the political parties at the core of the Ming Dynasty disappear, at least on the surface.

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Party strife cannot be banned.

It is impossible to eliminate the problem of forming groups.

Zhu Youxiao was clear about this.

But Zhu Youxiao thought it was not difficult to carry out certain checks and balances. He even had the idea of ​​establishing a party in the future.

This was also a turning point, and a bill was introduced at the central level to clarify the specific rules for forming political parties. Although you can form a party, you must pass a review first. If you form a party without the approval of the authorities, it means you have ulterior motives and are committing favoritism and corruption. Once discovered by the authorities, no matter what position you hold, you will be thrown into jail and await trial.

This is a knife, a knife that can be used to chop down at any time and anywhere. If this can be done, at least some crazy behaviors can be curbed, rather than becoming more and more serious as they are suppressed.

Opposition party?

Daming does not admit it!!

"When you encounter a little setback, you become listless?"

Zhu Youjian's attitude did not make Zhu Youxiao angry. Instead, he smiled and said, "This is not how my brother should behave. I can still remember clearly what my brother did when we were sent to Liao. I am very pleased to hear that people in the court and the public praise my brother as a good man."

Zhu Youjian was filled with ashamed.

Seeing Zhu Youjian like this, Zhu Youxiao sighed inwardly.

In fact, over the years, Zhu Youxiao knew very well what kind of person Zhu Youjian was. He had the ability, but the key was that he could control his desires. However, he was too naive in some aspects. How should I put it? He felt that the justice of the Ming Dynasty was there, and since they chose to use you and you said those words, you should do a good job, instead of failing to get things done in the end and causing a mess.

This also makes Zhu Youjian not to trust a person easily, but if he really trusts him, he will do it without reservation. If the person is trustworthy, everything is easy to say, but if he is two-faced, once Zhu Youjian knows it, he will react very fiercely.

"Get up, the ground is cold."

Zhu Youxiao stood up and walked towards Zhu Youjian. "At the beginning, I asked you to take charge of the supervision as a minister. After the Qian Qianyi case came up, I handed it over to you without hesitation. I told you that the most complicated thing in the world is the human heart. You can't ignore the insight into the human heart and human nature just because of your position and the things you have experienced."

"Qian Qianyi's failed suicide attempt should be a wake-up call for you. If the person is alive, everything will be fine. If the person is dead, some things will be difficult to continue."

"When I learned about this, I also thought about punishing you severely, but when I thought about all the things you had done before this, I couldn't bear it."

"Brother Royal."

Zhu Youjian felt even more ashamed.

If his royal brother punished him, whether by beating or scolding, or something else, he would feel better, but Zhu Youxiao did not do so.

Because Zhu Youxiao knew that this was not the case.

If we want Zhu Youjian to truly understand the complexity of human nature, we must make him face this experience and lessons.

People can't teach people.

Things teach people to succeed at one time.

Zhu Youjian, the minister of the royal family, will be of great use in the future. If he can grow up and gain experience, at least in the next few decades, when it comes to the administration of officials and supervision, Zhu Youxiao can save a lot of energy and do things in other areas.

But if this goal is not achieved, Zhu Youxiao will choose to replace him.

"Don't think about it, go to the Yangxin Palace and have some sleep."

Zhu Youxiao stepped forward, patted Zhu Youjian on the shoulder and said, "I know you are very upset now. Go to the place where you used to live, relax yourself, and have a good sleep. The sky has not fallen yet. Remember, no matter what time it is, don't make a decision easily when you are upset."

"Brother Emperor~"

Zhu Youjian showed a complicated expression.

After he was conferred the title of Prince Xin, Prince Xin's residence was built in the capital. After the residence was completed, he moved out of the palace. Before and after this, several other people also moved out.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation has a special meaning to people like them.

"Go."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "Talk to them too."

"Yes."

Zhu Youjian lowered his head and replied.

Zhu Youjian was very clear about the people mentioned by his royal brother. There were still some royal vassals living in the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, and they were Zhu Shugui and other people who had not yet reached adulthood.

Since he had decided to use the system of ministers as kings, Zhu Youxiao would certainly carry it through to the end. Even without the knowledge of many people, several batches of candidates had appeared on Zhu Youxiao's desk. If these people could pass the test, they would be involved in politics as ministers as kings at different times.

The Ming Dynasty's national system has been clearly defined by Zhu Youxiao. The various groups and systems defined around the imperial system are the basic national policy, allowing for checks and balances between each other. Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty move forward in stability, ensuring continued internal reforms while also taking into account external expansion. Even if this path is difficult, Zhu Youxiao has to go on it, because in this way, the Ming Dynasty can take a different path.

(End of this chapter)