The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 288 The central government is not the emperor
Empress Ma did not answer directly, but asked, "Think carefully about what Jing Ke's original words were."

The style revealed in this sentence is too familiar, and it is completely Chen Jingke's habit.

It can only be said that she was also influenced by Chen Jingke.

When you reason, you don't just give the answer directly, but you give guidance.

Zhu Yuanzhang recalled it and said: "Historical development is a process of centralization of power and a process of strengthening the monarch's authority."

Empress Ma said: "Yes, but what's the point of this sentence? It's not about increasing the authority of the monarch, but about centralizing power."

"What is the central government? It is the highest government office that governs the country."

"The emperor is the monarch of the country and the highest decision-maker of the central government."

"The increased power of the central government will increase the authority of the emperor."

"In this sentence, the emperor is just the beneficiary of the Central Group."

"Why? Because this is the power given to the prime minister by the law."

"If Jing Ke hadn't appeared, I really can't imagine what Daming would have been like."

"But what's the result? The national system is full of mistakes."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very embarrassed: "You can't blame us for this. We have to deal with so many things every day, and it is inevitable that there are things that we have not considered properly."

"When the emperor is strong, the voice of the prime minister's office becomes weak."

"In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the power of the prime minister was greatly weakened."

"That's it, you still have Biao'er to help you share the government affairs. Without him, you wouldn't be able to do it even if you stay awake for twelve hours."

"The prime minister has great decision-making power legally and can be regarded as half a monarch."

"But in terms of government affairs, the Prime Minister's Office still has great autonomy."

"But in Ming Dynasty, they were all implemented."

Queen Ma rolled her eyes at him and said, "Tell me something you don't want to hear. Do you think the system you have formulated is good?"

“The benefits of a grand central government are obvious, and the institutional changes in recent years have been so drastic.”

"Count it yourself. How many revisions has Jing Ke made to your policies? How many have he readjusted?"

Queen Ma immediately caught this sentence and said, "You also know that a person's energy is limited, right?"

"When the emperor is weak, the voice of the Prime Minister's Office becomes louder."

"You abolish the prime minister and achieve monopoly of power. From now on, the court will have only one decision-maker."

"The prime minister can appoint officials without asking the emperor for instructions."

"It's a luxury for me to even see you."

"What the emperor has to do is point out the direction, and then let other officials prove whether this direction is correct."

"The emperor's order does not have legal legitimacy if it is not endorsed by the prime minister."

"The first is the appointment of officials. We only have the right to nominate officials, not to appoint them."

"The imperial court became a real grand center."

Zhu Yuanzhang was embarrassed again, but he was still more confused:
"This won't work, that won't work either. What do you mean? Just strengthen the cabinet?"

"If it were any other dynasty, it would have caused an uproar and fierce party disputes."

"Then why does he still say that we are right to abolish the prime minister?"

"After the abolition of the prime minister system, the total time you spend eating and sleeping every day will not exceed four hours."

Queen Ma finally gave the final answer: "What is the Central Committee? It is not one person, but a yamen composed of many people."

"Tian Fu once directly promoted a white man to a high-ranking official in Jiuqing. Almost the entire court was made up of officials he promoted."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. He didn't like this answer, but he had to admit that it was the truth.

"The imperial power and the prime minister's power are constantly arguing, which is not conducive to the formulation and implementation of the national system."

Queen Ma said: "Because a central government can only have one decision-maker, it can better implement policies and better coordinate the country's resources."

"He also lost the right to command the army, and was deprived of the qualification to worship heaven and earth. The vice-president was replaced by the prince."

"They can make decisions on many government affairs without asking the emperor for instructions."

"Everyone revolves around the emperor, each performing his duties and coordinating the management of national affairs."

Zhu Yuanzhang was even more confused: "Since there are so many benefits, why do we need to strengthen the cabinet?"

"So, there are still two voices in the center."

"It's just that the court used to have two teams."

"During the Han Dynasty, the prime minister had the most power. When offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, the emperor was the host and the prime minister was the deputy host."

"The emperor can abolish the prime minister, but he cannot deprive the prime minister's office of its power."

"Facing this situation, even if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was dissatisfied, he could only say that I also want to appoint a few officials, and you can leave some positions for me."

"One is the internal minister system headed by the emperor, and the other is the prime minister's office headed by the prime minister."

"After the demonstration is successful, we will start to formulate an implementation plan."

"The plan is ready, the emperor approves it, and then it is handed over to the people below for execution."

"There must be someone to supervise the implementation process, someone to track the progress and make timely adjustments to the policy."

"Not only did you abolish the prime minister, but you also took over all the central government's work."

"You point out the direction, you make the plan yourself, and you give the order to execute it."

"Supervise, understand the progress, etc., all the work is done by you alone."

“You tire yourself out so much that things don’t get done.”

"You yourself feel aggrieved. You feel that your hard work has not resulted in the benefits you deserve."

Zhu Yuanzhang was still deep in thought, but after hearing the last sentence, he quickly argued:
"Who is wronged? Don't treat me like the angry little daughter-in-law."

"Aren't we doing this for the sake of the Ming Dynasty?"

Queen Ma did not object and said: "Although your approach is a bit extreme, it is the right way. The Grand Central Committee is the historical development trend."

"And your previous monopoly of power also laid the foundation for Biao'er's changes."

"If you had not abolished the prime minister, Biao'er would have met with opposition from the ministers if he wanted to reform the central institutions."

"Now that the Prime Minister's Palace is gone and the emperor has sole power, Biao'er can redistribute power according to his own needs."

"No matter how he divides his life, the ministers will only support him and think of him well."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly and said: "That's good, that's good. When you say that, sister, we suddenly feel enlightened."

Queen Ma smiled and said, "Are you still worried now?"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said: "Don't worry anymore, don't worry anymore, Biao'er is not stupid, he knows better than anyone how to divide power."

Then his face tightened: "Chen Jingke is such a bastard, and he's not even telling the truth. Let's see how we deal with him."

Empress Ma knew that he had deliberately changed the subject, so she smiled and followed his words and said:
"Then you have to take good care of him. He hasn't come to say hello to me for several days. It's really disgusting."

"But he doesn't seem to have a cousin yet, right? He'll be twenty-one after the New Year, and it's time to get a cousin."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "Just use the bastard as his cousin and let him hide it from us."

Queen Ma naturally didn't take it seriously and said, "We really need to give him this cousin."

"He doesn't have a teacher. Let's not mention the knowledge of Chen Yuan and his wife. Among the elders, apart from us, only Tiande has this qualification."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with disdain: "As far as Xu Tiande's knowledge is concerned, he is not even as good as a hair of ours. What kind of epithet can he use?"

"This matter can only be done by the two of us... Do you have any ideas?"

Queen Ma said: "Isn't this what I discussed with you? What do you think?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought: "Scenery is shadow, and it is accompanied by light. There should be clear characters in his words."

"Ke means respectful and respectful. I think it's appropriate to use the word "jin"." "I hope he will behave politely and prudently in the future. What do you think?"

Empress Ma praised: "Mingjin, Mingjin, not bad. It has both the literal meaning and the moral meaning."

"This is a good word choice. You haven't read the books in vain these years."

"Hehe, that's..." Zhu Yuanzhang was proud at first, and then realized:

"No, sister, you are trying to bury us in various ways."
-
Let's say that after Zhu Biao returned to the East Palace, he immediately called Chen Jingke over, stepped back and said:
"Dad has agreed to strengthen the cabinet."

Chen Jingke said in disbelief: "Really? This...how did you convince him?"

Zhu Biao said with emotion: "I didn't say anything, I just told him that I was too tired and wanted the cabinet to help me share some tasks, and he agreed."

Chen Jingke knew that he didn't want to talk more about the process, so he wisely didn't ask.

But these are not important anymore. It is enough that Lao Zhu agrees to decentralize power to the cabinet.

Originally, Zhu Biao asked him whether adjustments needed to be made to the central organization to adapt to the needs of the new policy.

He didn't answer.

The reason is very simple, that is, I think Lao Zhu will not agree.

In his opinion, giving the cabinet the power to vote is already the limit.

For the sake of Zhu Biao's high blood pressure, Lao Zhu pinched his nose and agreed because he felt sorry for his son.

If you still want to strengthen the cabinet, you can only wait until he closes his eyes to get the chance.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Biao just went to Qianqing Palace for a tour, and Lao Zhu actually relaxed.

It was beyond his expectation.

Did Lao Zhu figure it out? Or is Zhu Biao more eloquent?

But I think it's mostly the former. Lao Zhu can't speak and move in words, he can only figure it out on his own.

The more this happened, the more incredible Chen Jingke felt.

Zhu Biao knew what he was thinking and said: "Don't think about this. I came to you to discuss how to restructure the cabinet."

"Now you can put aside your worries and tell me what you think."

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, so Chen Jingke naturally no longer had any worries and said:

"First of all, separate military power, supervisory power and judicial trial power."

"The Fifth Military Governor's Office, the Imperial Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple operate independently and are only responsible to the emperor and are not under the management of the cabinet."

Zhu Biao naturally understood the reason, nodded and said: "It suits me very well. The cabinet is just a pure administrative agency and cannot interfere with other things."

Chen Jingke continued: "Let's go back to the cabinet and give it the right to vote and refute."

"The superiors are responsible to the emperor, and the subordinates lead the yamen to manage civil affairs."

Zhu Biao nodded again, this innovative measure coincided with his idea.

If you want to coordinate national resources, you need a unified management organization.

After the Prime Minister's Office was abolished, a new department was needed to assume this responsibility.

The Cabinet is undoubtedly the best suited for this position.

Seeing that he agreed to this policy, Chen Jingke's heart dropped completely.

The cabinet system has finally returned to its original rhythm.

But it's not a complete return, because the cabinet in the previous life was obviously too powerful.

It manages the country's military and political power, and the cabinet members are all Confucian people. In the end, a good institution turned into such a bad state.

Now that cabinet members are selected from various groups, Confucianism can no longer cover the sky with one hand.

The cabinet no longer has military power, supervisory power, and judicial trial power, and its power has been greatly reduced.

The most important thing is military power, which can only be in the hands of the supreme leader, otherwise it will inevitably lead to chaos in the country.

After the general framework was formulated, Chen Jingke set up the internal institutions of the cabinet.

"Establish an office in the cabinet to assist cabinet bachelors in handling various tasks and be responsible for the internal affairs of the cabinet."

"The Zhongshu Division was established to take charge of tasks such as issuing imperial edicts and issuing imperial edicts."

"Establish a subordinate department to be in charge of conveying government orders and connecting with various yamen."

"..."

This set of institutions is a combination of the settings of government agencies in previous generations and the characteristics of the three provinces and six ministries system.

Chen Jingke believes that he is very suitable for this era.

Zhu Biao also agreed with this. The new cabinet was indeed very complete and more detailed than he thought.

Then, Chen Jingke made suggestions for the selection of central officials:
"A person standing on a nine-story tower cannot see the details on the ground clearly."

"Similarly, senior central officials cannot truly understand the real situation among the people, and it is easy for the tragedy to happen."

"Furthermore, border defense is also a major national issue. If central officials do not understand the border situation, they will easily make wrong decisions."

"There is only one way to solve this problem, which is to select central officials."

"Officials must have working experience at the grassroots level and in border areas before they can serve as central officials."

"This central official includes the six ministers, ministers, and cabinet bachelors."

The grassroots work experience here is not to become a village official in the village, but to at least serve as a county magistrate.

Zhu Biao frowned slightly and said, "I might cause Li Linfu's old trouble."

In the middle and early Tang Dynasty, there was an unwritten rule that only those who had served as generals in the border army could become prime minister.

In order to serve as prime minister for a long time, Li Linfu desperately promoted foreign generals and attacked Han Chinese who had served as generals in the border army.

Because it is more difficult for a foreigner to be the prime minister.

It was under this background that An Lushan lost control and almost ruined the Tang Empire.

Chen Jingke explained: "Your Highness has misunderstood. The border work experience I mentioned is not for them to become generals in the border army."

"Instead, I went to a border province to serve as an official, and I was still in charge of civil affairs."

"Moreover, the Ming Dynasty separated military and political affairs, so Li Linfu's situation would not happen."

Zhu Biao felt relieved and said, "I was wrong. You made a good point."

"In the future, those who are interested in entering the central government will find their own way to go to the grassroots level and go to the border to gain experience. This is a good thing for the country and the people."

Then he jokingly said: "So, if you want to enter the center, you have to go to the local area and the border."

Chen Jingke replied: "I only want to be the staff of the Emperor of Heaven, and have no interest in entering the center."

Zhu Biao burst into laughter and said, "Don't be so serious, I was just joking with you."

"That set of rules is for ordinary people. Your ability doesn't require going through this formality."

Chen Jingke said seriously: "No, this form must be followed. No exceptions can be made for anyone, even if he is a born saint."

Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment and praised: "Jing Ke is a true and honest gentleman."

It is easy to make rules but difficult to follow them.

If you make an exception for geniuses, others will dare to promote a hundred mediocre people under the guise of imitating you.

Therefore, there are some rules that the emperor must abide by, and if he wants to go through the back door, he will find other ways.

At least that fig leaf can't be ripped off.

Chen Jingke sighed and said: "In fact, it was only in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China that civilians could rise to the center."

"When the stable class of the country gradually solidifies, it will take at least three generations of hard work for ordinary people to have the opportunity to look forward to the position of the center."

"This rule is actually formulated for powerful and bureaucratic families, so that they can take the initiative to send the descendants they focus on training to the grassroots and border areas for training."

(End of this chapter)