Traveling through the Ming Dynasty, as soon as you open your eyes, you will die

Walking in the empty square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and looking at the huge Forbidden City, Lu Mou finally understood why the emperor couldn't get out.

The lazy emperor didn't want to go out, so he just wanted to stay at home and lie down. The diligent emperor simply had no time to wander around. While I was walking for exercise, a large group of eunuchs followed behind me, holding stacks of memorials, waiting for review.

As a result, a batch was approved here, and little eunuchs would be added at any time later.

The approval cannot be completed, it cannot be completed at all.

I have to reduce my burden, I have to delegate my authority and let others share some of my burden, otherwise, I will be exhausted.

Little Lizi reminded: "Long live, it's time to go to Wanshou Mountain to pay homage to the Supreme Emperor."

Looking at the sky, it's time to go say good night to the father, the emperor and the queen, and have some lunch.

"Call the Prime Minister and let's go together."

"Prime Minister Wang is busy with bond issuance at the Central Bank."

"He's a little brat, what does he know? I asked him to supervise, not to intimidate."

"Don't you want him to experience it? Therefore, the Prime Minister wants to learn."

"Three departments, I also want to assign the Shibosi Yamen to him. With so much experience, he won't be exhausted. Let him go home for dinner."

In terms of diligence, apart from Zhu Yuanzhang, no one in the Ming Dynasty could compare with Chongzhen. Looking at it now, Lu Mou is the latecomer.

Sitting in the Yangshou Palace to eat with his father, the emperor and his mother, in addition to answering his father's questions, he also had to take a moment to read the memorial. When I saw a decision on a case from Dali Temple, I threw it away angrily: "Is it a test of my patience to report such a trivial case? Brother, this matter is your responsibility, how are they going to deliver it?" I'm here."

Zhu Cixiang, who was devouring his food, had a mouth full of food and answered vaguely: "I am in charge of three departments in name, but in fact I am the supervisor and have no real power. Therefore, after this case passed through my hands, it was not a matter of You give instructions.”

Lu Mou let out a long sigh: "Supervisor of Ceremonies, I miss him so much."

Chongzhen immediately stopped drinking. Now Chongzhen was already a little drunk, which was cultivated in his leisure days: "Prince Supervisor of Ceremonies, you can't recover."

Because the power of the ceremonial eunuchs and eunuchs in several dynasties was too high and harmed the country, especially Wei Zhongxian, it left a huge psychological shadow in Zhu Youjian's heart. Therefore, after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne and overthrew the eunuchs, he appointed Wang Chengen as the eunuch of the eunuch, the eunuch, in accordance with the rules. However, in fact, Chongzhen had to do everything personally, so the eunuch of the eunuch had been abolished.

This time, his son proposed to be restored, and he became vigilant at that time: "Prince Si Li, you must not restore it. Although you were lazy for a moment, if you look at the entire dynasty, how many good people are there among the eunuchs, Priest Si Li? And once this institution is restored, there will immediately be a fierce power struggle between the inner court and the outer court. By then, you will have more troubles than this. "

Then he took another sip of wine: "When you were in power, weren't you very good? The inner court did not care about external affairs, and the ministers outside were also happy to have no eunuchs to do politics. They were very comfortable. You are much better than I was back then."

At the beginning, Chongzhen first deprived the eunuchs of many rights, and later withdrew the Dongchang Jinyi Guards and the guarding eunuchs from various places. He was warmly welcomed by the gentlemen of Donglin.

But after two or three years of operation, Chongzhen had to restore these institutions. Not only because Chongzhen was too suspicious and did not trust anyone, but also because the ethics of those so-called gentlemen were indeed worse than a fart. Chongzhen had to trust his servants.

But the only one who has not recovered is the Chief of Ceremonies, who still has to do everything by himself.

This time when he heard that his son wanted to reinstate the Supervisor of Ceremonies, Chongzhen expressed his absolute opposition: "After my father's conclusion, as soon as the Supervisor of Ceremonies is established, it will immediately cause a power struggle between the inner court and the outer court. Because Eunuchs and ministers are naturally opposed to each other.

The ministers looked down upon the eunuchs the most, and the eunuchs had changed their minds due to physical defects, so they naturally hated the ministers. Therefore, this institution is the root of trouble and cannot be re-established. "

"But there are too many useless memorials. I don't want to be like my father and be exhausted by such things."

Chongzhen smiled: "Now you understand that the position of emperor is not easy."

"I resign."

"Now that you are in this position, you cannot resign, you must continue."

"Then I will follow my father's example and pass the throne to my younger brother. Come brother, accept the memorial."

Chongzhen laughed loudly: "This is not possible. This is not feasible in legal terms, and it will break the thousands of years of rules that establish the elder rather than the young, which will cause endless troubles. The only way you can let your brother succeed you is to The only thing that can be passed in legal terms is that you have no descendants, and then the brothers will die. Do you want to die? "Then I will have a son. By the way, how can I forget about marrying a wife when I am so busy?" This won’t work, I have to marry a wife and have a son, and then I can pass the throne to my son, and I will be the Supreme Emperor.”

Chongzhen laughed again: "You think so well, is it what you want to be the emperor? You can't do it before I, the emperor, die. And as long as you are still young and strong, you want to support a baby to become the emperor , do you think the ministers agree?"

Then he said leisurely: "You have only been emperor for a few days. You don't know the taste of real power. Once you taste the taste of real power, you will know the taste and never want to let go."

"Then why did you let me go, Father?"

Chongzhen smiled: "The first one is that great change, which made me reflect deeply. In fact, no matter what aspect, my father, I am not a qualified emperor. For the long-term peace and stability of our ancestors, for the inheritance of our old Zhu family. , I must hand over the power to you."

Then he said solemnly: "When your brother, the prince, was here, legally, he must be the emperor. But your ability far exceeds that of your brother, so I still appointed you as the regent. At this point, I have After several nights of deep conversation with your prince brother."

Lu Mou suddenly stood up: "Did my father force my brother to death? No wonder he didn't let me give him an injection to treat him when he was sick. My father and my brother had the same disease. With such a physical constitution, my father has already... He has fully recovered, but my brother’s physical condition was better than that of my father, but he refused to be cured. Is it because of this?”

Chongzhen smiled sadly: "I did not force your brother to death. As for why your brother was ill and incurable, I understand to a certain extent. He is imitating your uncle, the emperor."

After saying this, the circles around his eyes couldn't help but turn red, and he remained silent.

Lu Mou sat down helplessly. I can no longer bring up the idea of ​​abdicating the throne, because that will let down my brother's spirit in heaven.

Zhou Hou saw the father and son talking and talking about such a dull topic. He quickly suppressed the sadness in his heart and added some dishes to the two of them: "It is God's intention that Ci Xun has a bad fate. No matter what the reason is, you You can't let your brother down. Just be tired."

Lu Mou sighed and appointed himself. Then he changed the subject: "Then I will set up a secretariat and let them share some of the burden for me."

Chongzhen reminded with a smile: "When the cabinet was originally established, its essence was the Secretariat. If you set up another Secretariat, wouldn't it overlap with the powers of the cabinet?"

Lu Mou was completely stunned on the spot. Yes, this was an overlap. no need.

"And once you set up a secretariat, even if you use civilian officials to serve as it, because of the superposition of powers and functions, conflicts will arise between the cabinet and the secretariat, and there will inevitably be a struggle for power and headaches. "

"so what should I do?"

"Who are you asking me? If I could have come up with a way to solve this problem, I wouldn't be so tired."

Lu Mou turned to look at his younger brother, and suddenly realized something: "Centralization of power is a good thing, but excessive centralization can become a dictatorship. This is why the cabinet has always represented the power of ministers and usurped the emperor's imperial power. Giving them some rights appropriately will not only achieve a harmonious balance between imperial power and ministerial power, but won't it be easier for me as the emperor to do my job?"

Chongzhen thought for a while and suddenly clapped his hands: "This is a good idea. In fact, when the entire imperial court is the most stable and relaxed, it is indeed the most difficult time when the dark clouds are overwhelming and the building is about to collapse. It is the period when the three of us, father and son, are in charge of the imperial court."

"Father is right. Then let's go back to normal. Father will continue to be the supreme emperor and general manager, I will be the ruling emperor within the house, and my brother will be the prime minister king outside the house. How about it?"

Chongzhen denied it at the time: "There are no two days in the sky and no two kings in the country. This has been a means of stabilizing the country since ancient times. How can this exception be broken? But what I said is just like what you just said, it will be a means to stabilize the country since ancient times." Part of the imperial power was delegated to officials at all levels.

For example, as implemented during the Renzong era, the Minister of Household Affairs made the final decision on expenses below 10 taels. Expenditures below 50 taels are decided by the cabinet.

The decision to sentence someone to exile would be made by the Three Judges, while the decision to sentence someone to death would be made by the emperor. Let all ministries truly demonstrate their capabilities, so wouldn't the emperor be relaxed? "

Lu Mou immediately began to pick through the large pile of memorials at hand, and then stuffed the contents of the memorials about the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Personnel into his brother's arms: "These are all under your control, hurry up Take it to the office. You can discuss it with the uncles. You don’t need to go through me."

At this moment, the tall memorial was reduced by half.

Lu Mou leaned back in his chair with ease and said, "It's a great way for my father to teach his children such lazy ways of doing things."

Chongzhen was completely speechless.

I want you to give some of your power to your ministers and realize the beautiful vision of a true king and ministers co-ruling the world, instead of asking you to be a lazy emperor and take things to the extreme. This kind of thinking is unacceptable. (End of chapter)