Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197 The Court’s Prediction Method

Not only did he not suffer any loss in the confrontation with the civil servants, he instead seized the right to appoint the censor of the capital and designated the military position as Jiuqing Tingtui.

Zhu Youjian was even more certain that he was in power at this moment.

It doesn’t matter whether the civil servants are truly submissive, or whether they remain silent for the time being and prepare to make a comeback later. Zhu Youjian didn't even give them a chance and ordered:
"The great scholar of the cabinet drafted an edict, determined the court's law, and issued it as an edict."

"In the future, this will be the method for recommending officials to the court."

The regulations just agreed upon were directly designated as imperial laws and fixed in the form of edicts, without giving civilian officials the opportunity to change them.

As long as he doesn't relent and issue new edicts, no one can change it.

This decision once again caused a lot of discussion among the ministers attending the court meeting.

As Zhu Youjian expected, some people just waited for officials to come to Beijing and then proposed changes.

Some officials believed that it was a good thing for the emperor to establish the law of court prediction, and they would not disrespect court law at all like Wei Zhongxian did when he was in power.

But no matter what, there is nothing wrong with the emperor issuing an edict on what has just been determined. Unless they repent now and don't take the previously established regulations seriously.

But in that case, today's court meeting would become a joke. If civil servants do not respect court meetings, the emperor will respect them even less. No one among the officials attending the court wanted to see this.

Therefore, no matter what the ministers think and no matter how they discuss, these regulations of the Ting Tui Law are finalized.

Watching Huang Liji, the chief minister of the cabinet, drafting the decree, Zhu Youjian looked at the contents and added:
"Cabinet ministers do not participate in court recommendations. This is a common practice and is written down in the edict."

"The cabinet bachelor only assists me in handling affairs and has no power to employ people."

"The Imperial Academy's president will be promoted in the same way as Taixue offers wine. The transfer of Hanlin Academy officials will be recommended by the Ministers of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, in addition to moving according to the order of the Mokan Law."

This is after depriving the cabinet of the power to appoint Zhan Shifu and depriving them of the power to appoint Hanlin Academy officials.

It even made it clear that the cabinet did not use human rights and could only assist the emperor in handling affairs.

The four cabinet bachelors were certainly dissatisfied with this. But they had no ability to resist and could only write this regulation under the emperor's gaze.

The rest of the courtiers were extremely happy to see this. Because the cabinet ministers did not participate in the court recommendation, they fought for it step by step.

Now that the emperor has explicitly prohibited the right to use the cabinet, how could they be dissatisfied?
It can be said that Zhu Youjian took advantage of the current weakness of the cabinet to further weaken the power of the cabinet before the new cabinet ministers took office. By strengthening the power of the Jiuqing court to counter the cabinet vote-making power.

At this point, his adjustment of the power of the cabinet and the Nine Ministers has been basically completed. Jiu Qing changed from being almost a subordinate of the cabinet to having decision-making power. Especially when it comes to hiring people, they have a big say.

Formulate the decree and read the edict. After the Mo Kan Law and the Martial Law Law, the Ting Tui Law, as a new system, was established by the emperor in the form of an edict.

The promulgation of three major decrees in one month can almost be called a reform. This made Zhu Youjian know that he could no longer adjust, otherwise the ministers would really be unable to bear it.

Although he also wanted to improve the court deliberative system and model the democratic centralism of later generations to determine the collegial deliberative system. But considering that this change involves more departments and powers, there is no change in the end.

Telling himself not to rush, Zhu Youjian prepared to stabilize for a period of time and focus on implementing various adjustments.

Before that, he also needed to appoint Nanjing officials and control the Nanjing court, which was important to the emperor. Before that, the governor of Shanxi needs to be promoted.

Today's Tingtui finally officially started after two episodes of Shaofu Temple and Tingtui.

The ministers were a little tired at this time, and were somewhat calmed down by the emperor's attitude, so they did not cause any more trouble.

After Zhu Youjian stated that the governor of Shanxi gave priority to local officials and needed to take office as soon as possible, the minister recommended Li Yangchong, the right chief envoy of Shanxi, to be the governor of Shanxi. As for Shanxi's Right Chief Envoy, Zhu Youjian also ordered the ministers to push forward now. He looked at Wu Shangmo and said:

"Wu Shangmo, the censor of Shandong Province, once participated in the impeachment of Wei Ni and made great achievements."

"He has been serving as censor for several years. What is his title now?"

Unable to figure out the emperor's thoughts, Xu Zongli, the censor of Qiandu who co-ordinated the affairs of the Imperial Procuratorate, said:
"Wu Shangmo served as censor in the second year of Tianqi's reign. He once patrolled Sichuan and made many contributions."

"But he is not attached to Wei Ni, and he has no title."

Zhu Youjian was shocked when he heard this. It is really rare for a censor without a title. In particular, Wu Shangmo had served as Sichuan's inspector, and it was customary for him to be promoted.

But thinking about Wu Shangmo's Donglin background, he understood a little bit. Of course the eunuchs dislike such a censor.

It is very rare for Wu Shangmo to insist on staying in the court.

Looking at Wu Shangmo's gray beard and hair, Zhu Youjian asked:
"How old is Wu Qing this year and how many years has he been an official?"

Wu Shangmo was also a little excited about being so concerned about the emperor, and calmed down and said:

"I was born in the 41st year of Jiajing. I took the provincial examination Yayuan in the 22nd year of Wanli. I was a Jinshi in Bingchenke in the 44th year of Wanli."

"In the first year, he was appointed as the magistrate of Yiwu County, and in the second year of Tianqi, he was appointed as the censor."

"I am sixty-six years old this year and have been an official for twelve years."

Sixty-six years old, twelve years, chewing two years, Zhu Youjian sighed in his heart, although the imperial examination is relatively fair, there are really many shortcomings.

A talent like Wu Shangmo was admitted to Yayuan at the age of thirty-three in the 22nd year of Wanli. As a result, he did not become a Jinshi official until he was fifty-five years old.

A person's most productive time is wasted by exams. This kind of unreasonable thing should be avoided in the future.

Thinking that Wu Shangmo would not be able to serve as an official for long at such an old age, Zhu Youjian said with a pleasant expression:

"An official like Wu Qing who has made meritorious deeds but was suppressed by Wei Ni should be promoted by the imperial court."

"The governor of Shanxi was promoted from a local official, so the vacant right chief envoy should be an official sent by the imperial court."

"For officials who are in charge of government, such as the chief envoy and the prefect, those with experience as county magistrates should be given priority."

"Wu Shangmo has been included as a candidate, and the nomination process will begin now."

Ask Yang Jingchen to propose a few more names and put them together for recommendation. As expected, Wu Shangmo, a man praised by the emperor, successfully became the main candidate.

Zhu Youjian immediately ordered Wu Shangmo to be promoted to Shanxi Right Chief Envoy, and told him:
"When Wu Qing arrived in Shanxi, he became a high-ranking official."

"We must pay attention to the refugees in Shanxi and cooperate with the three provinces to suppress bandits."

Wu Shangmo burst into tears. He really didn't expect that at his age, he would have such an opportunity.

He knew that the emperor was dissatisfied with his opposition to Jiuqing Tingtui. Now he appointed himself as Shanxi's right chief envoy, which actually drove him out of the imperial court in the capital.

However, he had to be grateful for the kindness he received from being promoted from Yushi Chao to Chief Envoy. What he has learned has a place to put it to use.

(End of this chapter)