Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

From the meeting of the people to the National People's Congress, things changed so fast that Zhu Youjian was a little dizzy.

It wasn't until the end of the court meeting that he realized something was wrong after thinking about it carefully:

"Things have changed too quickly, and this matter is a bit strange. 』

"We need to look carefully to see if there is any collusion in the court." 』

Zhu Youjian had thought about the matter of Congress, but he had never mentioned it to anyone else.

He had never connected the matter with Congress, nor had he even thought about the connection between the two.

He just felt that the matter of the deputy list was closely related to the election of people, and he didn't care about any outcome. So leave this matter to the juren and let them make their own choice.

In his eyes, this is a normal thing. Just like holding a hearing before enacting laws and regulations.

However, Ming officials thought that this matter was related to the National People's Congress. Zhu Youjian felt a little strange and wanted to check if there was something fishy.

Therefore, after the court meeting, he immediately ordered the Jin Yiwei to investigate Liu Zongzhou's traces in these days to see which ministers Liu Zongzhou had contact with and whether he was acting with other officials -

"The National People's Congress, or the National Assembly, can be regarded as the key establishment for rebuilding rituals and music! 』

"But that's not necessarily the case in the future. 』

"I want to modernize the Ming Dynasty and promote industrialization in the Ming Dynasty. There is no way I can stop this. 』

So Zhu Youjian began to think about whether to organize this:
"The Congress must be built. This is the trend of the times and the general trend." 』

"It's the officials' reaction, which is a bit beyond expectations!" 』

This made Zhu Youjian, who wanted to understand this matter, smile bitterly, and could not tell the officials directly:
"I never thought about the National People's Congress, you are just guessing! 』

“There must be a platform to coordinate the conflicts between all parties. 』

“These people are trying to figure out my thinking based on what I did last year. 』

Moreover, when making decisions on major matters, the emperor also respected the opinions of ministers and even held court meetings.

"It seems that Congress can be used as a center of power, allowing it to compete with court ministers for power."

Therefore, Zhu Youjian could only accept this matter and bear the consequences.

The matter of the National People's Congress was brought up through some combination of circumstances.

Ruling out the possibility of acting by both parties, Zhu Youji thought about it and could only attribute the matter to the officials' overreaction and some random associations.

Zhu Youjian had a clear understanding of the power of the Ming Emperor. He had long known that the Ming Emperor had lost the right to appoint ministers -

After Liu Zongzhou proposed the National People's Congress, those officials firstly could not defeat him, and secondly, they suddenly realized that it was a good thing for the emperor to transfer power. So they quickly died down and allowed the matter to be passed at the general meeting.

After realizing that the source was himself, he felt dumbfounded and a little wary:
"What is good at the top will be bad at the bottom. This statement is indeed true!" 』

The matters discussed by the whole people turned into the National People's Congress under their misinterpretation.

Important officials such as academicians, ministers, governors, and governors of Jiuqing must be recommended by the court.

Therefore, after using some tricks last year to successfully gain control of the court. He has slowly given up on this method and easily stopped using it in court. The purpose is to regulate the order of the court and prevent himself from falling into intrigues with the ministers and causing the monarch and ministers to lose trust.

Without the counter-signature of the cabinet, the civil servants will not recognize the imperial edict issued by the emperor.

First, clarify your attitude and make sure that Congress can establish it.

The emperor only had the power of removal, but no real power of appointment.

That would make the officials feel that he couldn't afford it, and it would also cause the remake of ritual music hosted by Liu Zongzhou to suffer a major blow.

So Liu Zongzhou easily suppressed those people in the court, which was strange when Zhu Youjian thought about it carefully. You must carefully investigate this imperial master you worship. If Liu Zongzhou wanted to cause trouble because of his status as imperial master, Zhu Youjian would let him know what "thunder and rain are, but heaven's grace".

"I played tricks with the ministers in the court last year, and the ministers in the court are playing tricks on me now. 』

"They adapted so quickly, but they were a little slow! 』

But they can't blame them for this. In order to gain power last year, Zhu Youjian used many tricks and often used one thing to ambush other things.

This is what Zhu Youjian guessed about the whole thing.

"As an emperor with real power, I have the greatest decision-making power now. 』

After Zhu Youjian overthrew the eunuchs, he took advantage of the vacuum when many ministers were away from the court to gain a lot of power. And through the regulation of the court system, he expanded his power.

“After the Congress is established, it will inevitably compete with the government for power. 』

As one of the most watched court ministers, Zhu Youjian had long sent guards around Liu Zongzhou in the name of protecting his teacher. Therefore, Jin Yiwei knows his whereabouts very well. Even the exact list of people he dated was recorded.

So when the officials heard that he proposed to raise people for discussion, they wondered whether the emperor was hiding something else, and then thought that this was to enable scholars to participate in political affairs and grant them power. Liu Zongzhou was inspired by this and thought of the National People's Congress.

Zhu Youjian looked at these and found that Liu Zongzhou did not have contacts with many ministers. This made him let go of his doubts a little:
"It seems that Mr. Liu did not cooperate with other officials. This incident is more of a coincidence. 』

However, many ministers obviously did not realize this. They were still trying to figure out Zhu Youjian's intentions according to the old method last year.

As long as Zhu Youjian did not forcefully stop it, Liu Zongzhou would include it when he reproduced ritual music.

After all, although Liu Zongzhou's reputation was great, there were not many officials in the court who would not compete with him because of this. Academic fame does not equal political influence.

Then Zhu Youjian continued to think about the pros and cons for himself after the establishment of the Congress:

"Who has the decision-making power is a major issue. 』

Zhu Youjian had long realized that such things as playing tricks on one's mind could not continue. Because he was playing tricks with the court ministers alone, sooner or later the court ministers would figure it out. Emperor Jiajing's affairs were carefully considered by his ministers, which served as a lesson for others.

It can be said that this was the backlash caused by Zhu Youjian's actions last year, which made him alert and pay more attention to his methods in the future.

But in essence, these powers still belong to civilian officials. Zhu Youjian did not touch this point and did not attract their fiercest opposition.

As the civil servants adapt to him, these powers will be regained little by little by the civil servants in the future.

Just like Emperor Jiajing, after seizing power in the early stage, he lost it bit by bit in the later stage. Even a few years after his death, Zhang Juzheng, a powerful minister who dared to call himself regent, appeared.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was worried about this in his heart. He even thought about taking advantage of his great power to abolish the system of court consultation, just like the Qing Dynasty established the Military Aircraft Department, so that the ministers could only obey orders.

But after taking over the power for a period of time last year, holding regular meetings and reviewing memorials every day, he found that he was unable to do this. It was impossible for him to devote all his energy to these matters like Emperor Taizu.

As long as he relaxes even a little bit, power will be lost to his ministers. Just like the military minister of the Qing Dynasty, at first he could only kneel down and listen to orders, but later he gradually gained some decision-making power and was respectfully called "Zhongtang".

The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty who have experienced changes in cabinet power can adapt to this more quickly. No matter what institutions Zhu Youjian establishes, as long as he relaxes a little, the power will be taken away by his ministers. Therefore, after much thought, Zhu Youji did not make major changes to the current system, but instead consolidated his power through regulations.

But in his heart, he was uneasy about this, because there was no other force that could check and balance the minister. The emperors after him may have less and less power, and may even be like Emperor Wanli, who can only stay in the harem and not come out.

What is happening in Congress now makes it possible. That is to let members of Congress argue with the ministers in the court, and let them share the emperor's decision-making power with the ministers in the court.

Zhu Youjian had previously wanted to establish the Ming Dynasty Congress based on the Zizheng Yuan, which also had this intention. The members of the Zizhengyuan are now all ministers who have become ministers. It is natural for them to participate in court recommendations and discussions——

When the emperor is dissatisfied with the decisions of the court ministers, he can ask members of the Zizhengyuan to participate in court discussions and change the situation in the court.

For the emperor, it served as a check and balance for the ministers in the court. This is also the role of the Ming Congress as envisaged by Zhu Youjian.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian did not reject the Congress in his heart, and even felt that after the Congress was established, it would be able to better maintain the emperor's power:
"The current Ming Dynasty system has too high requirements for the emperor. As long as there is a slight relaxation, power may be seized by ministers." 』

"With the Congress, the emperor only needs to balance the court and the Congress, and he can live in the ninth level and have the final decision-making power. 』

"Whatever the opinions are in the court and what the parliament is, the emperor only needs to listen and make a decision. 』

"A middle-aged emperor can do this well. Even with the help of ministers and parliament, it is possible to do well and achieve some achievements. 』

"The only thing we need to worry about is the expansion of the power of Congress. In the future, it is very likely that the government will be responsible to Congress and the emperor will become a virtual king." 』

This is what will happen after the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, and Zhu Youjian does not have to worry about it for the time being. He can clarify the relevant powers when establishing Congress and set up many obstacles on the road to Congress becoming the highest authority.

Even if Congress relies on the support of the people in the future, it will have the highest power. Zhu Youjian felt that as long as his descendants were not tyrants like King Zhou Li, they would probably still have the status of virtual kings after losing power.

This is already a good result for the Ming royal family——

In any case, it is better than the Manchu Qing entering the pass and almost killing the Zhu Ming royal family!
Therefore, in his heart, he feels that establishing a parliament now will bring many benefits to him, but the disadvantages will take a long time to appear in future generations:

"Then we will establish a parliament and standardize its powers. 』

"Now we will first grant the power of supervision, as well as the power of official establishment, finance and taxation, military service, enactment of etiquette and law, and judicial trials. 』

"Let members supervise the behavior of officials to prevent officials from acting recklessly and excessively expanding their numbers. 』

"At the same time, we will use the tax laws passed by Congress to force taxes across the country! 』

The theory put forward by Qian Qianyi that officials were permanent residents made Zhu Youjian very wary. I am worried that someone will use this theory as a basis to expand the number of officials.

Therefore, he has decided to let Congress supervise officials in the future, and leave the establishment of officials to Congress and local councils to decide.

The same is true for taxes. Taxes and tax rates passed by Congress are used to impose mandatory taxes across the country.

No matter how low the tax rate enacted by Congress is, in Zhu Youjian's view, it is impossible to collect less than now.

The same is true for military service. Zhu Youjian could use the parliamentary decision to make the people of Ming Dynasty perform military service. At the same time, the use of corvees was supervised to avoid exploitation by officials.

In terms of financial expenditures, judicial trials, etc., Congress and local councils can also supervise and restrict officials from misbehaving.

All kinds of benefits are what Zhu Youjian can think of. To achieve this, officials and parliamentarians must not be allowed to work together. It is even more difficult to prevent collusion between officials and parliamentarians.

So Zhu Youji thought about it and thought that the Ming Dynasty's Congress should be divided into two houses, the Zizheng Yuan and the Consultative Yuan:
"The Zizhengyuan is more under my control from top to bottom, but it is also deeply involved with officials. It is possible to join forces with officials and form a stronger interest group. 』

"The Consultative House elects congressional representatives from the bottom up. They can represent the interests of all parties and allow all parties in the Ming Dynasty to have a place for discussion instead of violent rebellion. 』

“The National Assembly and local councils should be divided into these two types of people so that they can restrain each other and not be able to speak for themselves. 』

Zhu Youji thought a lot about the Congress. We plan to establish this institution in Ming Dynasty by taking advantage of the beneficial aspects of Congress and limiting its negative aspects.

Moreover, Lu Xiang, who was in charge of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Ordnance Research Institute, mentioned something to him. Let the thoughts in his heart become more perfect.

"You want to design the Mingtang and preside over the construction of the Mingtang."

"Isn't it true that there is no urgency in this matter? Why bother designing it now?"

Listening to Lu Xiang's request, Zhu Youjian said in confusion.

The construction of Mingtang Piyong was proposed by Taixue Jiu Ma Zhiqi some time ago, saying that it was used to issue rituals and music.

But Zhu Youjian didn't really want to carry out large-scale construction, so he postponed the matter and did not consider construction for the time being, but only solicited designs.

Unexpectedly, Lu Xiang, as if he didn't know what he meant, actually said that he wanted to build a Mingtang when he went to the palace to report.

This made Zhu Youjian frown and asked him what he thought.

Lu Xiang was a little surprised and said:
"I have some selfish motives in this matter."

"It was because Shilang Kuai built the Chengtian Gate and other buildings in the imperial palace that he gained such a great reputation."

"I admire Shilang Kuai in my heart, so I want to build a Mingtang."

"Your Majesty is the most noble, and people also say that the emperor wants to sit in the bright hall."

"I want to build a magnificent Mingtang for Your Majesty, and then issue rituals and music."

Lu Xiang blushed as he explained his reasons. Because the construction of Mingtang Piyong was mainly due to his selfishness. I want to leave my name like Kuai Xiang through this building.

Zhu Youjian listened to his thoughts and frowned. Lu Xiang took Kuai Xiang as an example, and he had known this for a long time. It is normal to have the ambition to build a bright hall.

Moreover, the reasons put forward by Lu Xiang really moved him. That is the saying "the emperor sits in the bright hall", so that the bright hall naturally belongs to the emperor:

"If the emperor wants to sit in a bright hall, there must be a throne in the bright hall." 』

"In this way, if the Mingtang is used as the seat of parliament, the emperor can exert influence there. 』

"It seems that the Mingtang needs to be built, and it is very necessary!" 』

The reason why I didn't pay much attention to Mingtang Piyong before was because Zhu Youjian didn't think it was of any use. The same is true for the promulgation of rituals and music in places such as the Huangji Palace, the Ancestral Temple, and the Temple of Heaven.

Now that Lu Xiang reminded him, he realized that Mingtang was very suitable for the Congress:

The specifications of this building are sufficient and suitable for the emperor to exert his influence.

So he had already decided in his heart that the Mingtang must be built, and it must be built well.

There must be a hall where members of Congress can hold meetings.

Congress should also have the power to promulgate rituals and music and strengthen its function of formulating rituals and laws. (End of chapter)