Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 104 Reactions from the Government and Opposition
Back at his residence, Yuan Keli still couldn't believe the content of his exchange with the emperor.

He really didn't expect that his private communication with the emperor would determine so many things:
First of all, there is the inner court office. In addition to Jin Yiwei, the emperor has to go to Zhan Shifu, Qin Tianjian, and Imperial Hospital.

Moreover, the Imperial College was renamed Taixue. In the future, the emperor would build universities and train college students.

The inner court and the outer court were completely separated, and there was no ambiguity.

This is a good thing. It restrains the emperor from making random changes in the future.

Yuan Keli took note of it carefully and decided to go to court as soon as possible to finalize the matter.

Then there is the adjustment of the Three Laws Division, which is also the main content of this conversation. He also has the position of co-coordinating the Three Laws Division and is responsible for this important task:

The Criminal Department was greatly restructured, and the judicial functions were assigned to the newly established court in Dali Temple.

The urban area will also establish a Government Affairs Office, a Tingwei Office, and a Weiwei Office, modeled on the three provincial departments, to re-separate the three powers.

I don’t know if this approach will work?
The separation of administrative, judicial, and law enforcement powers is simple to say, but the coordination in practice cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences.

What Yuan Keli was most worried about was that the Weiwei Temple under the jurisdiction of the Jinyiwei was in chaos, and the civil servants were too strong and wanted to deprive the Weiwei Department Yamen of the same way as the Dusi.

In this case, a violent conflict would inevitably break out between the two parties, and even lead to the emperor's intervention.

Thinking again about the fact that the officials of Jinyiwei and Weiwei Temple were designated as civilian officers by the emperor, Yuan Keli now understood why the emperor appointed him as the Minister of War to be responsible for the restructuring of the Three Laws Department:
"I am the Minister of War, so I must protect the rights of civilian officers. 』

"Otherwise, the military attachés in the Ministry of War and the descendants of civilian officials who have been transferred to military posts will be dissatisfied, and it will be difficult for me, the Minister of War, to continue to serve. 』

"His Majesty knows this, so he asked me to be responsible for the restructuring of the Three Laws Division and to protect the authority of the Weiwei Temple. 』

This kind of foresight was only figured out after Yuan Keli reviewed the situation.

I also gained a deeper understanding of the emperor’s intentions:

This emperor is really like Emperor Sejong as some officials said.

I hope he can use these thoughts more on the right path.

Thinking of what happened to Emperor Shizong Jiajing, Yuan Keli had some worries in his heart. That young emperor was definitely another nightmare for civil servants after Taizu and Chengzu. No civil servant is willing to face such an emperor.

However, thinking about the current emperor's delineation of laws, regulations, edicts, and martial law, he felt that the emperor respected the foreign court and would rather go to the trouble of using the martial law system to seize power instead of forcibly using the edict or even the imperial staff——

You still have to fight with the system, but there is nothing you can do with the imperial staff.

He could only hope that the current emperor would use the system more and the officials would not force His Majesty to use the imperial staff.

Thinking this way, Yuan Keli felt that the martial law system should be finalized as soon as possible. No matter which party benefits more, it must be restrained by this system. In case it cannot be healed, the emperor will use his imperial staff to overturn the table in the future.

Finally, there is the grinding method, and the extended official transfer system, as well as the matters of Mingfa, Mingshu, and judicial arithmetic examinations.

These were major events for both the government and the public, but Yuan Keli knew that except for the transfer of military attachés, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of War, and the Mingfa and Judicial Examinations, which were also under his own control, the rest was more about the emperor wanting to spread the word, and he had to spread it through himself.

So he planned to talk more about these aspects when outsiders talked to the emperor himself.

Others need to be kept secret to avoid trouble.

As Yuan Keli expected, someone soon came to test his tone. The emperor specially stayed for an interview with a minister, and they talked for so long in Xiyuan. Many people were eager to know what they talked about.

Yuan Keli concealed what should be concealed and released matters such as regulating the transfer of officials and increasing the Mingfa and Mingshu departments, causing an uproar——

No one could have imagined that the emperor and Yuan Keli had a private conversation and agreed on such a major matter.

Although the matter has not been completely settled, everyone can see that the emperor has become stronger after overthrowing the eunuchs, and there will be no major changes in the court, at most minor revisions.

The establishment of the Mingfa Department and the Mingshu Department is a given, and the transfer of officials will probably not change.

Thinking of his seventh-grade official position, a Kedao official said:
"It's because we were promoted too quickly!"

"It will be too difficult to rise to level five or above in the future!"

I felt a little sour in my heart and slandered the current emperor.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty emperors often directly promoted ministers and shaoqing to officials of meritorious service. Now the emperor sets up various levels of promotion titles after he succeeds to the throne. The promotion of titles for half a rank is a reward.

I thought this would be fine, but I didn't expect that the Grinding Method and Nian Gong are now being implemented. Without corresponding annual merit, the grinding year cannot be reduced and the grade cannot be improved.

From now on, the emperor will mostly reward them with one year or two years of merit for their merits, rather than a half-grade promotion and a title——

The emperor is becoming more and more stingy, and the rewards are getting lower and lower.

Even the Kedao officials who were promoted the fastest had this idea, let alone other officials.

At any rate, Kedao officials have also added the function of impeaching officials, which gives them greater power and makes it easier to achieve meritorious service.

The power of these officials has not increased, but there is a tight curse on their heads. If they do not make every effort to reduce their efforts, they can only accumulate time and change.

Even the sequential migration has restrictions, and can only reach the fifth level. If you don't have merit, you can only get out.

This made those officials in the yamen who ignored their duties and only thought about how to get promoted complained repeatedly about the grinding method:
It was so easy for officials in the past, so why is it so hard for us in our turn?

Why implement the grinding survey method instead of the original method?

"The original method?"

"So there were no exams?"

"The three-year preliminary examination, the six-year re-examination, and the nine-year general examination that are still implemented above the fifth rank are the original methods?"

"But how many of them comply now?"

"Those who have good connections can count in three years, but those who have no connections will not be cared for after nine years." "Just because the original method cannot be implemented, His Majesty implemented the grinding method."

"I think the Grinding Method is fair. You can get promoted to the fifth level even if you don't have any other options. It's much better than before!"

said an old official. I don't know if it was because he had been sitting on the bench for a long time, but he started to complain at this time.

The Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty are very distinguished. Many people are on the fast track for promotion after passing the Jinshi. However, it is not uncommon for Jinshi to sit on the bench and no one cares about them at all.

Now the emperor wants to implement the grinding method, and everyone can move to the fifth rank. Even after achieving great merit, you are still qualified to become a higher-level official. These people think that the grinding method is very fair and far better than before——

The grinding period for each Jinshi is four years. If you don't make every effort to reduce the grinding period, you won't be promoted.

Even though there may be some tricks in the assessment of merit, it is fairer than before.

In this way, the matter of grinding survey attracted the attention of many officials.

Not many people paid much attention to the civil service classification, the judicial arithmetic examination, and even the law and arithmetic subjects.

After all, the officials in the court have already come ashore, and they don't pay attention to the eighth- and ninth-grade officials at all, let alone the low-ranking officials.

In their view, those who were Jinshi in Mingfa and Mingshu, as well as officials with non-Jinshi origins, were there to serve them. Any trivial matters can be left to those officials in the future.

In order to maintain the status of Jinshi, some people feel that those who have passed the Mingfa and Mingshu subjects cannot be called Jinshi. The emperor cannot specially grant someone who is of the same background as a Jinshi, lowering the status of a Jinshi.

These people planned to go to court to persuade the emperor not to do so. You cannot put the title of Jinshi on those people.

They planned this, and some rejoiced. With the opening of Mingfa and Mingshu departments, we saw opportunities coming.

Wang Lin, a deputy-ranked Gongsheng student of the Imperial College, has already planned to take the exam when the course starts next year, and requested to take the exam together with the Chinese-style exam.

At this time, he learned that the emperor wanted to open up the law and calculation subjects and recruit the top four and five top Jinshi. He felt that there was a great opportunity.

I immediately planned to strike while the iron was hot and submit the memorial in advance.

However, thinking that Qian Jiazheng, a Gongsheng student, had participated in the memorial to impeach Wei Zhongxian on the Ten Deadly Crimes and was stopped for several days by Lu Tunan, the general affairs envoy, who used calligraphy and painting as inappropriate, Wang Lin went to Qian Jiazheng again and asked him to review the details so that he could pass the general affairs department.

Qian Jiazheng also heard about Mingfa Branch and Mingshu Branch, but he did not contact him.

He was a member of the imperial examination, which meant that he only had the title of scholar and had no intention of directly participating in the examination.

Unlike Wang Lin, a deputy-listed Gongsheng student, after being listed on the deputy list of the provincial examination, he was only one step away from being a candidate for the main list. He has always been unwilling to take part in the general examination.

Hearing Wang Lin's request at this time, Qian Jiazheng shook his head repeatedly, feeling that Wang Lin was really whimsical and the court could not agree:

"If the secondary-listed Gongsheng students are allowed to take part in the examination, what will those of us who are not deputy-listed Gongsheng students do?"

"What do you think is the difference between deputy list Gongsheng students and other Gongsheng students?"

She wanted to say there was a difference, but Wang Lin couldn't tell. The deputy list "Potian" is also a deputy list, not the main list.

So he thought for a moment and said:

"It doesn't have to be limited to the deputy list. We ask His Majesty to allow all Gong students to participate in the examination."

"Brother is also a Gongsheng student, don't you want to take part in the examination?"

Of course Qian Jiazheng wanted to take part in the examination, but he had some knowledge of court affairs and knew that this was unlikely, so he said to Wang Lin:

"If Gongsheng can participate in the examination, what do you want the other supervisors to think?"

"In addition to Gong students, there are also Juren students, Guan students and En students in the Imperial College."

"Even if the juren don't mind us taking their exam opportunities, will the officials and students just watch helplessly?"

"Their family is extraordinary and has greater influence than us. If trouble occurs, who will bear the responsibility?"

"If you can't even deal with the Imperial Academy, how can you get His Majesty and the court ministers to agree?"

"You can't let the rest of the Imperial College students cause trouble just to take care of Gongsheng students, right?"

Several questions in a row left Wang Lin speechless. I also felt that Qian Jiazheng had said a lot, and there was little hope that the imperial court would directly allow Gongsheng students to participate in the examination.

But he was unwilling to give it a try. As soon as his thoughts changed, Wang Lin thought of a way and said:

"We won't participate in the Jinshi subject, but we should be able to participate in the Mingfa and Mingshu subjects, right?"

"These two subjects are newly opened. Maybe no news will be received from other places until the exam."

"In order to avoid too few people taking the exam, His Majesty may allow Gong students to participate."

This is a way, Qian Jiazheng's heart beats.

Thinking of the difficulty of the Zhejiang Provincial Examination, he also had no confidence in passing the examination. I thought I could give Wang Lin a try and see if I could get the qualifications for Mingfa and Mingshu.

If you can get the top four or five top Jinshi degrees in Mingfa and Mingshu, even though they are not as noble as the top three, you can still be an official like a Jinshi. If you don't join the official position as a supervisor, it will be difficult to make a difference in the officialdom.

Moreover, the Mingfa and Mingshu subjects are newly opened. Scholars from other places are not prepared, so there will not be too many people taking the exam——

If he takes the exam, he has a good chance of passing it.

Thinking of this situation and the number of laws and regulations taught by the Imperial College, Qian Jiazheng felt that the Mingfa and Mingshu subjects were very suitable for the Imperial College students to participate in. You can work with other supervisors to fight for exam opportunities.

So he and Wang Lin wrote a memorial together and submitted it to the General Affairs Department.

(End of this chapter)