Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 405: The Privy Council and the Executive Council

Although the news of Southwest Qijie has not been officially announced, everyone who is interested knows about it.

They were amazed at this great victory, and were even more surprised that Zhu Xieyuan was transferred to the position of Minister of War and Supervisor of the Great Wall Border Affairs.

A general who was away from home would not attract much attention in the court. Just like Sun Chengzong, a university scholar, had little influence in the court after he was appointed as the general of Liaodong.

But it was different for the commander-in-chief Zhu Xieyuan, as he was allowed by the emperor to return to Beijing every month.

Moreover, Miyun, the headquarters of the Great Wall Commander, is not far from the capital, so it is easy to travel back and forth quickly.

This made many officials realize that Zhu Xieyuan's identity as the Minister of War would have a great impact on Yuan Keli, the Minister of War.

Many people were looking forward to Yuan Keli's reaction, believing that facing Han Yu's relentless pressure, this man who once held the power of prime minister would not easily tolerate it.

Without disappointing his ministers, Yuan Keli submitted a memorial in October, requesting the establishment of the Privy Council.

In this memorial, Yuan Keli expounded the necessity of re-establishing the Privy Council, and suggested separating the Privy Council from the Ministry of War to separately take charge of military commands and political affairs.

This rumor, which has been circulating in the capital for a long time, has finally come true.

As a Grand Secretary, Han Yu was one of the first people to see this memorial.

After reading the memorial, he keenly felt that the emperor's hand was involved.

The various departments that Yuan Keli set up for the Privy Council were very much in the style of the emperor. Yuan Keli could not have thought of these at all.

I guess the emperor and Yuan Keli have been discussing this for a long time and are now formally proposing it.

As the leader of Donglin and the second assistant in the cabinet, Han Yu gradually gained control of the power of the second assistant after taking office. He even eroded the power that originally belonged to the first assistant because of his independent right to draft bills.

But he didn't do too much, because Huang Liji, the Prime Minister, was in the lying stage -

As early as last year, Huang Liji promised in the court that he would work for two more years at most.

This earned the Donglin Party's tacit approval and they did not try their best to impeach him, the prime minister who was left behind by the eunuch party.

As the current leader of the Donglin Party, Han Yu would naturally not have a major dispute with Huang Liji when there was only one year left in his term.

In addition, Huang Liji was a very sensible person. Apart from the responsibilities that the emperor stipulated that the Prime Minister must bear, he would push them away whenever he could. He did not care at all about the loss of power of the Prime Minister and was plotting to monopolize power.

For him, if he doesn't fight or compete, his seat as a wise minister in the Purple Pavilion is basically secured.

On the contrary, if one fights for power and profit, he may cause the emperor and his ministers to dislike him and lose the opportunity to be listed in the Purple Pavilion.

Huang Liji knew that he had no chance of becoming a hero of the Purple Pavilion, and that doing more would only lead to mistakes, so he now just lay down and acted as a tool on the table.

Facing Huang Liji, who had almost no desires, Han Yu did not dare to easily start a dispute with him. He just secretly fought for some power and increased his influence.

Now, his actions elicited a small counterattack from Huang Liji, and Huang Liji arranged for him to write the draft of Yuan Keli's "Memorial Requesting the Establishment of the Privy Council".

Faced with this memorial, Han Yu was in a dilemma, because he had already regarded the next Prime Minister as a sure thing, and of course he did not want the Privy Council to be divided up in this way.

After all, according to Yuan Keli's arrangement, the Privy Council was a completely independent government office, comparable to the Council of State Affairs and on par with the current six ministries of the Cabinet.

However, this memorial clearly had the emperor's handwriting.

He came to power under the banner of "returning power to the emperor". If he ignored the emperor's ideas, he would obviously lose the emperor's favor.

In addition, the establishment of the Privy Council was in line with his call for "returning government affairs to various departments". This made him completely unconfident when he opposed it.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Han Yu wrote an ambiguous draft, which roughly meant that the matter was too important and the ministers did not dare to make a decision on their own, and the emperor's decision was needed.

The opinions of other Grand Secretaries were roughly the same. They all did not want the cabinet's military power to be deprived, but they did not dare to express their opposition explicitly.

Zhu Youjian had been on the throne for more than a year and had already established his authority in the court. The cabinet, which had been constantly stripped of its power, had no confidence to oppose him.

But he did not act arbitrarily and decided to hold a court meeting on such matters.

Before the court meeting, he also summoned the Grand Secretary, Nine Ministers, Lesser Nine Ministers, Four Auxiliary Ministers, Advisory Ministers and other officials, and allowed them to speak freely and discuss in the Wuying Hall.

Xu Guangqi was the only Grand Secretary who supported the creation of the Privy Council, but he also believed that according to Yuan Keli's arrangement, the Privy Council had too much power and must be restrained by other government offices:

"I have observed the system of the previous Song Dynasty. The one that held major political affairs together with the Privy Council and was called the East and West Offices was the Political Affairs Hall."

"I think if we want to build the Privy Council, we must also build the Council Hall."

"Otherwise, the Privy Council will dominate and the court will be in danger of being unbalanced."

This statement is risky because the Political Affairs Hall is also called Zhongshu Menxia, ​​and the ministers in charge are called Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi and Canzhi Zhengshi.

These two positions were the so-called prime ministers, and Taizu had expressly prohibited their establishment.

If it was raised at a court meeting, there would definitely be officials who would impeach Xu Guangqi, forcing him to apologize.

Fortunately, today was a discussion for the ministers in the court, and the emperor had ordered them to speak freely. Xu Guangqi's statement did not attract any criticism.

However, the proposal to establish a political affairs hall still dissatisfied other university scholars.

Because this would allow it to coexist with the Privy Council, but the Cabinet and the Six Ministries would also completely lose the power to interfere with the Privy Council.

So Han Yu said:
"I think it is inappropriate to establish a political affairs hall, and it is not appropriate to violate the ancestral teachings and re-establish a prime minister."

"In my opinion, the Privy Council can be established, but its rank should not be too high, and it should be equal to the Censorate."

"The Censorate is headed by the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, and the Privy Council can have Left and Right Privy Envoys."

"The ranks of the officials below them, such as the Privy Co-Director, Privy Assistant, and Privy Assistant, were also lowered."

This was the solution he came up with, to lower the level of the Privy Council so that the Cabinet still had the power to intervene.

After all, although the Censorate was an independent government office, the status of the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief was obviously not as high as that of the Six Ministers.

If the Privy Council and the Censorate were of equal rank, they would pose no threat to the Cabinet.

Even the status of the Privy Councilor may be lower than that of the Minister of War.

Faced with this situation, Yuan Keli said:
"The Five Military Governor's Office originated from the Grand Governor's Office, and the Grand Governor's Office originated from the Privy Council."

"Now the left and right governors are of the first rank, the governor's associate governor is of the second rank, and the governor's assistant governor is of the second rank."

"His official positions were from the Privy Council of the early Republic of China, where he served as the Chief Privy Councilor, Associate Chief Privy Councilor, and Associate Associate Privy Councilor."

"Therefore, the Privy Councilor proposed by Yuan Mou is of the first rank. The Privy Co-Director is of the first rank, the Privy Assistant is of the second rank, and the Privy Assistant is of the second rank."

"Master Han has lowered the rank of the Privy Councilor. How will the Privy Council face the Five Military Commandery?"

The status of a first-rank yamen is completely different from that of a second-rank yamen.

If Yuan Keli wanted to become a true prime minister, he would not allow Han Yu to lower the level of the Privy Council.

But the rank of a first-rank government office is too high. It can be said that it has reached the top, and no government office can surpass it.

If the Privy Councilor was really established as the first rank, no official except the Prime Minister would be able to surpass him.

Even a weaker Prime Minister may not be as good as the Privy Councilor.

Therefore, the cabinet was opposed to establishing the rank of Privy Councilor as the first rank.

The six ministers were not very happy about this either.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Youjian decided to compromise and said to his ministers:
"In this case, I have decided to keep the left and right privy councillors vacant, and the Privy Council will be under the jurisdiction of the Privy Co-Director."

"The Minister of War shall be given the title of Privy Councillor or Privy Councilor and participate in the affairs of the Privy Council."

"What do you think, sir?"

This proposal made the ministers look at each other, and no one agreed directly.

Because if he agreed, it would mean that the establishment of the Privy Council had been confirmed and was now at the discussion level. The court meeting that would be held later was just a formality.

So when faced with the emperor's question, no one answered.

Minister of Personnel Yang Jingchen saw that the atmosphere was a bit awkward and said:

"Since the positions of left and right Privy Councillors are vacant, why not just abolish them and make the Privy Council a first-class government office?"

"I think this arrangement is more reasonable."

Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"Vacant does not mean unoccupied, but it means that it is not usually appointed."

"But if someone has made great contributions, such as when General Sun pacified the Jianlu and returned to the court, he must be rewarded with a first-rank official position such as the Privy Councilor."

"Under normal circumstances, the First-Rank Privy Co-Director is in charge of the affairs of the court."

In fact, when he decided to establish the Privy Councilor, he had no intention of granting this position easily.

The Privy Councilor had too much power, and the emperor himself was uneasy about it.

The reason for establishing the Privy Council was to raise the level of the Privy Council to be comparable to the Cabinet.

Yuan Keli also had the same idea, and even had the idea of ​​"aiming high and getting medium", and was ready to lower the level of the Privy Council.

When the ministers heard the emperor say this, many of them nodded secretly, thinking that a Privy Council of the de facto first rank was barely acceptable.

Yuan Keli was now given the title of Minister of State Affairs, which was the first rank. Although his status was slightly higher than that of the other nine ministers, it was not much higher.

And the Nine Ministers also need a leader to help them fight against the Cabinet. If they serve in the Privy Council outside the Six Ministries, it will be more acceptable.

When necessary, the Privy Co-Director was brought out to counter the Cabinet Grand Secretary. When not needed, the power of the Privy Co-Director was squeezed back to the Privy Council.

This couldn't be better for Jiuqing.

As they thought so, the cabinet ministers felt something was wrong. Because the establishment of the Privy Councilor would give the Nine Ministers a clear leader. The power of the cabinet would obviously be impacted in the future.

Han Yu said hurriedly:

"Your Majesty has established the Privy Council, so he will naturally know when to appoint the Privy Councilor."

"But future generations are ignorant and may easily appoint a privy councilor."

"I am afraid that there will be powerful officials in the court, and no one will be able to control them in the future."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, feeling that this might indeed happen.

After all, there were many emperors who did not follow their ancestors' teachings.

If the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had followed their ancestors' teachings, the court system would not be what it is now.

It is indeed a matter of concern that later emperors would appoint Privy Councilors in violation of the system he established.

So after thinking about it, he came up with a plan and said to Liu Zongzhou, who was in charge of remaking the rituals and music:

"I want to give the power to appoint the Privy Councillor to the Congress. What do you think, sir?"

"In the future, the appointment of the Privy Councilor will require the approval of four-fifths of the National Assembly in addition to the Emperor's proposal and the approval of the court."

"What do you think of this approach, sir?"

This is to let the Congress check and also to increase the power of the Congress. Liu Zongzhou said happily:

"If this is the case, powerful officials will be wiped out."

"When the future Congress is established, powerful officials will not be allowed to appear."

The ministers looked at each other and finally had nothing to say.

If someone could get four-fifths of the members to approve a bill, he would have either made a great contribution or had completely grasped the power of the court.

Facing such a powerful minister, the empty title of Privy Councilor means nothing, and the Prime Minister is nominally ranked ahead of him.

However, even so, the ministers still imposed various restrictions on the Privy Councilor.

First, the term of office is a maximum of three years and is not renewable.

Secondly, when the Privy Councilor is appointed, the Left and Right Privy Councilors must be appointed at the same time and they must jointly take charge of the Privy Council in order to form a check and balance and prevent the emergence of powerful ministers in the Privy Council.

Zhu Youjian adopted all of these and had them added to the regulations for the establishment of the Privy Council. Then he said to his ministers:

"So, it seems that you all agree to establish the Privy Council?"

"Should we hold a court meeting in Wuying Palace to decide this matter?"

Most of the officials who were qualified to hold court meetings were now in the palace. Zhu Youjian thought it was troublesome to hold court meetings and wanted them to decide on the spot.

However, this idea was unanimously resisted by all the ministers.

After the imperial nomination was changed to be held at court meetings under the supervision of the emperor, it was almost completely controlled by the emperor.

They didn't want the emperor to participate in the court discussion system.

Even if this court meeting and the next one... may just be a formality, the ministers must maintain this system and wait for the next emperor.

Zhu Youjian was helpless about this and somewhat regretted not having amended both the court discussion and the court recommendation last year.

However, if the court discussions were supervised by the emperor, they would be almost no different from court meetings.

So after thinking about it, he still didn't force it. It was not worth confronting the court officials for such an infrequent meeting.

What's more, he has already made up his mind to change the court meetings to be held in the parliament in the future to make it easier for the ministers such as the Prime Minister to participate.

At that time, in order to prevent the parliament from interfering in state affairs, court ministers might take the initiative to ask the emperor to hold fewer court meetings.

Just as Zhu Youjian was thinking about this, he suddenly heard Han Yu say:

"The Privy Council and the Council of State Affairs were called the East and West Ministries in the early Song Dynasty. Now the Council of State Affairs is not suitable for establishment. I think we can establish the Council of State Affairs instead."

"All cross-departmental committees can govern in the name of the Executive Yuan."

"Local governors and government offices shall comply with the orders of the Executive Yuan."

The ministers were surprised to hear this, and then they thought of the reason why Han Yu opposed the establishment of the Political Affairs Hall and proposed the establishment of the State Council.

First, the Zhengshi Hall was also known as the Zhongshu Menxia. The establishment of the Zhengshi Hall was equivalent to re-establishing the prime minister, which was contrary to the ancestral precepts left by Taizu.

Secondly, after the establishment of the Political Affairs Hall, there must be Tongpingzhangshi and Canzhizhengshi to take charge. They are the actual prime ministers, and the cabinet will be divided into different powers.

Of course, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet could also be appointed as Tongpingzhangshi or Canzhizhengshi, but in that case, he would completely become a member of the Zhengshitang and lose the power to interfere in the Privy Council and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

As for the cabinet ministers, they are not willing to have their power limited to government affairs!
Therefore, Han Yu proposed to set up a State Council, but without a minister in charge of the affairs of the Council, a special committee would be responsible for cross-departmental coordination.

These special committees all have university scholars writing and voting. The cabinet can intervene in the affairs of the Executive Yuan through the committees.

Moreover, it has not been incorporated into the Executive Yuan, and can still interfere with the Privy Council and the Censorate in the future. For example, if the Anti-Rebellion Committee is retained, the Cabinet can interfere with the Privy Council.

It can be said that if this arrangement is passed, the cabinet will still be able to be high above. The three courts, the Executive Yuan, the Privy Council, and the Censorate, will check and balance each other below.

No matter how high the rank of the Privy Council is, its threat to the cabinet is limited.

The ministers who understood this were full of praise for Han Yu:

This is to use the system proposed by the emperor to expand the power of the cabinet.

(End of this chapter)