Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 77 The Cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies
This matter of tax and labor reform had been finalized in the previous dynasty. All civil and military officials expressed their approval and support at that time. Although they may not have meant what they said at the time, after all, Zhu Tianqi held their leverage, but How can you regret something that you have already stated in public?

Therefore, Zhu Tianqi is not afraid of someone openly opposing the new tax law. What he is worried about is that someone will act against the new tax law secretly and cause trouble in secret.

Zhu Tianqi did not rush to reply to these memorials opposing the reform of taxes and servitude. Instead, he wrote down the names of the people in Shangshu, and then gave the list to Wang Yuanbao, who asked Wang Yuanbao to send it to Zhu Youjian.

Early the next morning, Zhu Youjian handed over an impeachment memorial, impeaching these people for two major crimes.

First, on the night of September [-]th in the seventh year of Tianqi, several people gathered at Qian Longxi's house to have a secret conversation. They were suspected of forming a party. Together with Zhou Yanru, they slandered the Holy Emperor as "the Emperor Xi", which was a crime of great disrespect. !
Secondly, in October of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, several people publicly bribed the Minister of War, Sun Chengzong, the governor of Jiliao, and Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Household Affairs. They bribed important officials of the imperial court. They should be punished more severely according to the Ming Code!
After Zhu Tianqi read Zhu Tianqi's memorial, he nodded with satisfaction and asked Wang Yuanbao to send the memorial to the ministers who opposed the tax reform.

These people gave up when they saw Zhu Youjian's memorial. Their legs went weak and they knelt on the ground. They were covered in cold sweat and trembling all over. They couldn't say a word.

Wang Yuanbao sneered and said, "The emperor asked us to bring you a message. This reform of taxes and levies is imperative. You should be aware of the current affairs and don't try to take advantage of the situation!"

After saying this, Wang Yuanbao took out the memorials submitted by several of them from his sleeves and threw them in front of them, "The emperor has not approved these memorials yet. If you insist on insisting, you can submit them again. Of course, Next time, the emperor will approve your memorial and the letter from His Highness King Xin together!"

Upon hearing this, several people immediately climbed up and hurriedly picked up their memorials, and then kowtowed: "The guilty minister did not dare, the guilty minister was confused for a while, and he will never dare to talk about the reform of taxation and labor in the future!"

Wang Yuanbao nodded, then turned around and walked towards the door, saying: "Okay, then let's send this memorial from His Highness King Xin back to His Highness!"

After hearing Wang Yuanbao's words, several people finally breathed a sigh of relief, and collapsed to the ground as if they had escaped from death.

This incident can be regarded as a warning to the monkeys. It made those ministers who were waiting and watching and wanted to follow Shangshu to oppose the reform of taxes and levies instantly become honest. It also made all officials in the court realize that the things they did before were not the past. After that, they just turned over the chapter, and the emperor helped them remember it one by one.

With these things in the hands of the emperor, they have always been in the wrong. As long as they dare to stand up against the emperor, the emperor will first dig out these old scores and settle them for them.

Although this incident was unexpected for Zhu Tianqi, it also made Zhu Tianqi feel very happy. After all, this incident could be regarded as a reminder to these ministers and a vaccination, so they should next I don't dare to act rashly anymore.

But I have to say that Zhu Tianqi was indeed a little too green to fight with the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, but this is normal. After all, he had never been in officialdom, and he was not a politician. As for the civil servants and officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, Cognition only stays with paper and screen.

Although Zhu Tianqi once talked with netizens about the history and politics of the Ming Dynasty on major online platforms, and made a lot of noise, let alone an amateur like him, even if he found a master of Ming history or If a veteran in officialdom comes to confront these civil servants of the Ming Dynasty head-on, they may not be able to get much advantage.Therefore, Zhu Tianqi could only choose to "failure" and learn from his grandfather, Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun. The specific manifestations were in two aspects: "not going to court" and "not filling the gap".

Zhu Tianqi knew that he had no ability to fight against the civil service group, so he did not go to court at all, did not meet with his ministers, and often did not approve the memorials of officials, leaving the civil service group helpless.

On the other hand, the current shortage of officials in the imperial court is still a big problem. Because of the previous liquidation of the eunuch party, nearly [-]% of the officials in Beijing were dismissed. Although the imperial court later rehabilitated those officials who were persecuted and reinstated some officials, there is still a shortage of vacancies. The problem has not yet been completely resolved.

The biggest problem of official shortages is mainly manifested in the six ministries and the cabinet. It has been nearly four months since the eunuch party was liquidated, but half of the six ministers are still vacant, and only Qian Longxi and Liu Hongxun are left in the cabinet.

This situation was naturally intentional by Zhu Tianqi, because a cabinet that he could not control would only become an obstacle to himself and a tool for the civilian clique to control government affairs.

The cabinet of the Ming Dynasty was originally a non-statutory advisory body established by Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It only had an advisory status. To put it bluntly, it was the emperor's secretariat. Its main job was to "vote" the memorials, that is, write down the cabinet's draft opinions on paper. It was posted on the memorial and handed over to the emperor for decision-making.

However, the power of the cabinet continued to expand, and it gradually became the administrative center of the Ming Dynasty. The chief minister of the cabinet was already like a prime minister, and even had the "right to refute." Therefore, the emperor's power was greatly restricted.

The so-called "right to refute" means that the cabinet has the right to return the emperor's decisions and orders, and there is precedent for this. As early as the reign of Emperor Jiajing, Yang Tinghe, the first assistant, had "returned the imperial approval" several times, even in Wanli. Shen Shixing, a good old man of the dynasty, also "returned the title of imperial approval" when he served as the chief minister.

This fully illustrates the great power of the cabinet. If the cabinet does not nod, the emperor's orders cannot be conveyed at all. This was already the case in the previous dynasty, let alone the current Tianqi Dynasty. In order to hold power in his own hands, Zhu Tianqi naturally He would not easily form another cabinet, so he simply "shut it down" and left the cabinet empty without mentioning the matter of re-electing cabinet ministers.

In addition to the cabinet, in the Ming Dynasty's political system, another corresponding authority was the ceremonial supervisor. If the cabinet exercised "prime ministerial power", then the ceremonial supervisor was acting on behalf of the "imperial power."

The ceremonial eunuch has the power to "approval", that is, he exercises decision-making power on behalf of the emperor. Generally, the eunuch Bingbi first writes the approval opinion, and then the eunuch holding the seal is reviewed and stamped. Therefore, there is a saying that the eunuch holding the seal is comparable to the first assistant, and the eunuch Bingbi It is said that "the pen is the same as the second assistant", so no matter how powerful the cabinet is, if the chief ceremonial supervisor does not cooperate, they will not be able to get things done.

Therefore, in order to contain the cabinet, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty often deliberately supported the ceremonial supervisor. This also led to the unprecedented political status of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. Not only could they compete with the cabinet, but they could even occasionally dominate the cabinet. However, the powerful eunuchs They were not as loyal as the Ming emperors imagined, so powerful eunuchs emerged one after another in the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)