Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Your Majesty is teaching us how to be prime ministers step by step!"

After the meeting, some civil servants passed by Yuan Keli and heard Yuan Keli sigh.

As soon as these words were spoken, some officials who had originally been confused suddenly understood.

Chen Ping, the Prime Minister of the Former Han Dynasty, once said: "The Prime Minister assists the Emperor in regulating yin and yang, following the four seasons, and nurturing all living things. He also pacifies the barbarians and the feudal lords, and is close to the people, so that the ministers can perform their duties."

When he first became prime minister, he was a butcher in the village community and distributed meat equally, so he was once said to be slaughtering meat.

Now the emperor is teaching them step by step how to distribute power and let the ministers perform their respective duties. Isn't this teaching them how to be prime ministers?
This made some officials feel less angry. After careful reflection, they found that the emperor was not blaming the civil officials for seizing the power of the military officials, but blaming them for seizing the power but not using it properly, which led to the slackness of military preparations.

Anyone who encounters such a situation will probably be angry. After all, military force is indispensable to governing the world, otherwise many chaotic forces will emerge.

For example, the so-called Cao Gang, when the Cao Army was strong, not many people had heard of it. But after the Cao Transport General was abolished, the names of Cao Gang and Chuan Gang appeared more and more in people's ears.

This means that after the decline of the Cao Army, the Cao Gang replaced it to a certain extent and took over this power.

The grain transport office could not exercise jurisdiction over the grain transport gangs in the same way as it did over the grain transport troops, which meant that the imperial court was gradually losing its power in this regard.

After the ministers understood this, they understood the emperor better and admired Yuan Keli even more.

This person was able to understand the emperor's intention so quickly and told it to other ministers without reservation, thus weakening the ministers' resentment.

No wonder the emperor promoted him to the position of Minister of State Affairs and treated him as the de facto prime minister.

What Yuan Keli was doing at this time was "assisting the emperor above and managing yin and yang below", and he was actually acting as a prime minister.

Yuan Keli had the same feeling, and even felt that he had not done enough, otherwise the emperor would not have been worried about the affairs of the Cao Gang.

Thinking of the emperor's insistence on appointing military officials as commanders of the grain transport system, he sighed again, knowing that the emperor did not completely trust his civil officials.

The generals of the canal transport who were born with military honors would undoubtedly stand on the side of the emperor when they encountered a situation like the canal gang causing trouble. The emperor appointed them to use their honors to suppress those who wanted to cause trouble in the canal transport.

After all, whether the nobles were favored and whether they could inherit the title was almost entirely in the hands of the emperor. It was almost impossible to bribe the nobles to rebel against the emperor with money.

The emperor controlled this force and could use it to suppress any resistance on the canal. If those associated with the canal still refused to obey, the three battalions of lieutenants used to quell local unrest would first quell the unrest on the canal.

Yuan Keli, who clearly understood this, was more in awe of the emperor's methods than other ministers. At the same time, he also felt that his ability to be a prime minister was not enough.

It can even be said that more than 200 years after the abolition of the prime minister, most of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty today want to become prime ministers, but most of them do not have the ability to do so.

So after returning to his mansion, Yuan Keli flipped through chapters such as "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Prime Minister Chen" to see how the famous prime ministers of the previous dynasty served as prime ministers.

As the emperor continued to delegate power and even intended to resume his position as prime minister, he felt that he had to stand up and not let the emperor be disappointed in the civil servants.

Yang Jingchen, Wen Tihen and other people who also wanted to become prime ministers, like Yuan Keli, read history books and the deeds of the Purple Pavilion heroes, trying to figure out how to better assist the emperor and learn how to distribute power.

At the Duke of England's Mansion, Zhang Weixian sighed after reading the meeting minutes.

His son Zhang Zhiji was standing beside him and asked in confusion:

"Your Majesty helped the nobles regain the Grand Canal Commander. Why is Dad unhappy?"

Zhang Weixian looked at his son's confused expression, shook his head slightly, and said:
"After I leave, you must try not to get involved in government affairs."

"If you are unsure what to do, just ask the Emperor."

"Since your father has helped you ascend the throne many times, His Majesty will not embarrass you!"

Zhang Zhiji was even more puzzled and didn't understand why his father told him this.

Zhang Weixian did not keep his son in suspense. He pointed to Yuan Keli's words recorded after the meeting and said:
"See? This is Yuan Keli warning us nobles in the tone of a prime minister."

"If there are nobles who are tactless and think they can regain power with the support of Your Majesty."

"Then the counterattack from the civil servants will come soon."

Zhang Zhiji still didn't understand and asked:

"Isn't your majesty supporting us nobles? Not only is he conferring titles on meritorious officials, he's even reinstating the position of Grand Canal Transport Commander."

"In the future, even if they can't stand on equal footing with the civil officials, the nobles will at least have the status of the Jiajing Dynasty, right?"

Zhang Weixian shook his head and asked:

"What happened to Guo Xun and Qiu Luan during the Jiajing period? Don't you take this as a warning?"

"Besides, Your Majesty is not restoring the original position of the Grand Canal Commander, but rather appointing military officers to command the army on the basis of recognizing the power of civil officials."

"The newly appointed Grand Canal Transport Commander has a completely different status from the original Grand Canal Transport Commander. You must make the distinction clearly!"

Zhang Weixian called his grandson Zhang Shize to come over, and he carefully explained the difference to his children and grandchildren, making them realize that the emperor was strong on the surface, but in fact he recognized the power seized by the civil officials.

Only when civil officials were incapable of performing their duties would they be found to have made mistakes and forced to share some of their power with military officials.

But in reality, civil officials are still in power, and military honors are only auxiliary.

Under his earnest teachings, Zhang Zhiji and Zhang Shize finally understood the difference and the emperor's distribution of power.

Zhang Shize seemed to be thinking about something, and said:

"It seems that in your majesty's eyes, the relationship between civil officials and military officials is like the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council of the former Song Dynasty—"

"Although the two are referred to together, in reality the Privy Council is subordinate to them. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the Privy Councilor was concurrently held by the Prime Minister of the Political Affairs Hall."

"The power held by the Military Honor is under the leadership of the civil officials."

Zhang Weixian was very satisfied with his grandson's performance when he heard this. He stroked his beard and said:

"My family has successors, and we will have no worries for a hundred years!"

"Where did you get these words from, and why did you think of the Council of State and the Privy Council?"

Zhang Shize was praised and replied with joy:
"I heard the conversation among the spectators during the martial arts club competition."

"There are rumors in the capital that His Majesty wants to re-establish the Council of State and the Privy Council."

"Now the Minister of War Yuan Keli is the Minister of State Affairs, which is actually equivalent to the Privy Councilor, and his status is equivalent to that of the Prime Minister."

"In the future, the Ministry of War may be separated and the Privy Council from the early days of the country may be re-established."

Zhang Weixian's eyelids twitched when he heard this. He said:

“Are there many rumors like this?”

“Has it been in the newspapers?”

Zhang Shize thought for a moment and said:

“Although there were many rumors, they were not published in the newspapers.”

"Even Ming Pao, which likes to publish scholars' political commentaries, has never published these."

Zhang Weixian heaved a sigh of relief and said:
“It’s good that it’s not in the newspaper!”

"It seems that things have not been finalized yet. The Privy Council may not be reset."

Knowing that the predecessor of the Five Military Commandery was the Grand Commandery, and the predecessor of the Grand Commandery was the Privy Council, Zhang Weixian told his grandson: "When you have time, tell this to other nobles serving in the Commandery, and ask them to do some practical things and submit a petition to His Majesty to ask for credit."

"Whether the Privy Council will be established in the future or not, the Five Military Commandery must be preserved."

Zhang Shize was shocked and said:

"Grandpa, what you mean is that Your Majesty intends to replace the Five Military Governors' Office with the Privy Council?"

"Then where will our nobles, military commanders, and relatives of the emperor be appointed to positions?"

The power of the Five Military Commandery had long been seized by the Ministry of War, and had become a nominal position. However, even though it was a nominal position, it still had a great influence, and could exert influence on both the Beijing Garrison and the local garrisons.

The status of the nobles will be reflected to a certain extent in the positions of the Five Military Commanders' Office.

Therefore, no noble in the capital was willing to give up these honorary positions.

Zhang Shize couldn't believe it when he heard that the Five Military Commandery might be replaced.

Zhang Weixian shook his head when he heard this, thinking that his grandson still lacked some experience, and gave him some advice:
"Don't forget your majesty's vacant Jinwu Guard Commandery!"

"If the Five Military Commandery doesn't do something, His Majesty might really think it's useless and transfer all the people with the title to the Jinwu Guard Commandery."

"It would be best to give the Five Military Commands some power so that Your Majesty would not be inconvenient to abolish it, and it can also be used to place generals who have made great contributions."

"After all, if the Privy Council is re-established, it must be run by civilians. Generals who have made great contributions need a government office with some real power, but not too much power, to house them."

The Zhang family has a long history and is well aware of the emperor's mind. Zhang Weixian knows that most emperors value military merits but are wary of them.

After all, the possibility of a civil official usurping the throne is very small, but cases of military generals usurping the throne are everywhere in history.

The current emperor has continuously improved the status of military commanders, but he still places them under the command of civil officials. Whether it is the minister of the Ministry of War in the court or the commander-in-chief, governor-general, or provincial governor, they are all civil officials.

The emperor even established civil servants such as military governors and military lieutenants to further curb the power of military generals.

The purpose of this is nothing more than worrying that the court will lose control after the status of military generals is improved.

Therefore, Zhang Weixian took advantage of the emperor's mind and asked the nobles to strive to keep the Five Military Commission, and even to take back some power when re-establishing the Privy Council, in order to accommodate the military generals and nobles who would make great contributions in the future.

It can be said that after this meeting, there was no apparent turmoil in the court. In fact, everyone knew that the court system would be changed and power would be redistributed.

The root of this can be traced back to the emperor's establishment of the honorary title of the Four Assistant Ministers. From that time on, it meant that the Cabinet, the Five Government Offices, and the Six Ministries would inevitably be changed.

To prevent the chief regent from holding both military and political power at the same time and threatening the emperor's position.

The improvement of the status of Minister of War Yuan Keli is a direct reflection of this.

People with sharp eyes like Zhang Weixian have already realized that after the imbalance of power caused by the continuous seizure of power by civil servants, the emperor has planned to break up and reorganize the court offices and redistribute power.

The emperor ordered Liu Zongzhou to re-establish rites and music, and pointed out that re-establishing rites and music was a redistribution of power and wealth, which was a clear and aboveboard statement.

What the future status of civil officials and military honors will be, and what position the Duke of England Zhang family will occupy in them, will all be reflected in the re-creation of rituals and music.

Zhang Weixian, who had figured out all this from the rumors in the Privy Council and the Council of State, suddenly asked his children and grandchildren:
"Which of you two is willing to go overseas to establish a fiefdom?"

Zhang Zhiji was surprised and said in disbelief:

"Dad, the nobles who founded the feudal domains were all those who had not been granted hereditary nobility before."

"Does a family like our Duke of England need to establish a fiefdom?"

"What's wrong with being in the capital? Why do you want to go overseas and be a savage?"

Zhang Weixian was furious when he heard this and rebuked:
"What does it mean to be a savage?"

"Does it mean that the King of Han has gone overseas and will become a barbarian in the future?"

"Don't say that again, or I'll send you out!"

He was really disappointed with Zhang Zhiji, knowing that his son was a waste. He could only protect the family business at most, but had no ability to create new situations.

So he looked at his grandson and asked expectantly:

"Have you figured out why Grandpa did this?"

Zhang Shize was still a young man with the ambition to achieve great things, otherwise he would not have formed a martial arts club and mixed with many children of nobles who had the same idea.

After thinking hard for a while, Zhang Shize said:

"In the future, the status of a noble will depend on the fiefdom you own."

"Grandfather wants our family to choose a good fiefdom and maintain our status in the court."

Zhang Weixian nodded with satisfaction, stroked his beard and said to his son Zhang Zhiji:
"Look, your son understands better than you!"

"What use are the nobles to the emperor now? Apart from helping out when the new emperor ascends the throne, they usually perform sacrifices on behalf of the emperor."

"With such a role, why should Your Majesty give power to the nobles? Why should the civil officials value the nobles?"

"But with a fief, it's different."

"Your Majesty needs our tribute, and the court officials need us to guard the border."

"Tell me, if my Zhang family could have ruled Jiaozhi for generations, would it be the same as it is now?"

Taking out a map, Zhang Weixian pointed to Jiaozhi on it, and Yunnan next to Jiaozhi.

Zhang Zhiji and Zhang Shize now understood that he had his eyes on the location of Jiaozhi and wanted to be like the Duke of Qian, to control Jiaozhi for generations or even make Jiaozhi his fiefdom.

Zhang Zhiji was reluctant to give up the wealth and splendor of the capital, and said to his father reluctantly:

"Dad, what's so good about the Duke of Qian? They can't compare to the Zhang family..."

Zhang Weixian was so angry that he jumped up and down, interrupting him and pointing to the northwest of the capital:

"Don't you know yet that His Majesty wants to build a new city in the area of ​​Tsinghua Garden and let the overseas princes build their mansions there?"

"In the future, the Mu family of Qianguogong will send people to live in the mansion in the capital. Who do you think His Majesty and the ministers will value more?"

Completely disappointed with his son, Zhang Weixian found that he could not even see such an obvious thing and was only immersed in the glory and wealth of the capital.

So he decided to increase the training of his grandson and let his grandson Zhang Shize lead a group of people to establish a fiefdom overseas.

I am already old, and the future status of the Zhang family depends on the ability of this grandson.

After calling together the Zhang family members to discuss the matter, Zhang Shize quickly gained the support of the entire Zhang family. The Zhang family's branch members in the army also recommended people to join the martial arts club and martial arts school to prepare for the future establishment of a fiefdom.

Other nobles who noticed the actions of the Duke of England Zhang family also increased their support for their own martial arts clubs and selected family members to prepare for the establishment of fiefdoms in the future.

It can be said that the Duke of Yingguo, as the leader of the nobles in the capital, inspired many nobles to learn from them.

Many nobles also set their sights on the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Canal Transport Service, which was re-established by the emperor, and they wrote or asked others to write military strategies in order to compete for the position.

The nobles in the capital, under the emperor's various actions, were fully mobilized to seek their own future status. (End of this chapter)