Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After learning that the arm-board communication test was successful, Zhu Youjian quickly realized that the conditions for the establishment of the Privy Council were ripe.

With this communication system, the Privy Council can at least ensure that it can command the troops near the capital at will and will not become an empty shell.

If I continue to delay, the officials in the Ministry of War will be at a loss and won't know what to do next.

At that time, voices against the Privy Council will gradually emerge.

These people may even unite with conservatives in the court to oppose institutional adjustments and continue to maintain the status quo.

This was something Zhu Youjian could not accept, and what he was even more worried about was that the civil officials would adapt to the current situation and try to find ways to limit their power, just like they did with Emperor Wanli, and would find trouble even when there was nothing to do.

I have to take the initiative to find things for them to do so that they can adapt themselves to the power assigned to them and cannot use the previous civilian methods.

So he quickly put forward his own plan for adjusting the court institutions and submitted it to the ministers for discussion.

Yuan Keli, Han Yu and others received the plan as soon as possible and tried to figure out the changes therein.

"The rank of the Privy Council has not changed. The core is still in charge of military orders and has the power to mobilize troops."

"It's just that the military affairs such as logistics and equipment that were previously intended to be left to the Ministry of War have also been assigned to the Privy Council."

"It seems that His Majesty is confident in the Privy Council and intends to continue to delegate power."

Yuan Keli looked at the plan and discussed it with Li Banghua and other ministers of the Ministry of War.

In the original setting of the Privy Council, the power of the Privy Council was mainly in the area of ​​military orders.

The military and political powers such as the selection of officers, rewards for meritorious service, and logistical equipment remained with the Ministry of War.

Although the Privy Council is of a higher rank, its power is actually not much different from that of the Ministry of War. The six ministries can control the Privy Council by relying on the Ministry of War.

The plan proposed by the emperor this time was to separate logistics, equipment and other matters from the military department and place them in the Privy Council.

In addition to the power of military command, the Privy Council also has some powers in military and political affairs.

The emperor even wrote that in addition to being one of the six ministries of the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of War also served as a Privy Council institution under the name of the Ministry of Military Affairs.

The Privy Council holds almost complete power in military affairs.

The reason why we say "almost" is that the emperor retained the Five Military Commission, which was in charge of the Beijing camp and local garrisons.

Li Banghua looked at the plan, frowned and said to Yuan Keli and others:
"The Beijing Camp is still headed by a meritorious official as the commander, and the assistant minister of the Ministry of War as the military commander."

"Your Majesty even stipulated in this plan that generals above the rank of lieutenant general in the Beijing camp must have the status of the Five Armies Commander-in-Chief."

"The Five Military Governor's Office can also intervene in the affairs of the corresponding local garrisons and help hereditary officers and soldiers maintain their due rights."

"This is not about trusting the Privy Council, but about wanting the Five Military Commands to control it."

Li Banghua did not think highly of the Five Military Governor's Office, an office with almost no real power.

He even thought that the Five Military Commanderies should be abolished, and all those who held the title by name should be sent to the Jinwu Guard Commandery set up by the emperor.

Therefore, in his discussions with Yuan Keli and others, the Privy Council decided that in addition to establishing the Ministry of Navy on the basis of the Navy Yamen, it should also establish the Ministry of Army to take charge of the Beijing Camp, Border Army and other land forces.

The emperor had been noncommittal about this before, but now he has finally made his position clear. He rejected the proposal to establish a Ministry of Army and replaced it with a Ministry of Border Defense, which is responsible for border troops and defense forces.

The Beijing garrison and local garrisons were still under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commanderies, and they were mutually restrained by the Privy Council.

Many military officials were dissatisfied with this, especially Li Banghua, who served as the military commander of the Beijing Camp. He was eager to drive out those who were just sitting there doing nothing and reorganize the Beijing Camp according to his own ideas.

Yuan Keli understood their thoughts, but he also knew that it was impossible for the emperor to hand over the Beijing camp entirely to civil servants.

He explained to the officials:
"In addition to the Privy Council mobilizing troops, the former Song Dynasty also had three yamen commanding troops."

"Your Majesty is using the Five Military Commandery as the Three Yamen, and it is only natural."

"Besides being in charge of the Beijing Camp, the Five Military Commandery doesn't have much power."

"In the future, the garrison will only serve as a source of soldiers, and hereditary officers and sergeants can be regarded as low-level titles."

"Your Majesty asked the Five Military Commands Office to protect them in order to stabilize these people."

“The Border Defense Department is not the Army Department, but the powers it possesses are not much different.”

Compared with the Ministry of the Army, which is in charge of all land forces, the Ministry of Border Defense is mainly responsible for managing border troops and defense forces recruited from garrisons.

It can be said that the troops that can actually fight are under the dispatch of the Border Defense Department.

Yuan Keli was already satisfied with this and did not expect the emperor to put all the troops under the control of the Privy Council.

Under his persuasion, officials from the Ministry of War gradually accepted this plan.

Regardless of whether the Five Military Governors' Offices were still divided into two parts, after the establishment of the Privy Council, the civil officials had the power to mobilize the army.

All military command and deployment must be approved by the Privy Council.

Yuan Keli could guarantee that all ministers of the Ministry of War would support this plan in the court.

But he was not sure whether other ministers would support him.

Because of this plan, the power of the Executive Yuan was stripped away. In addition to the Executive Yuan, the Supreme Court and the Court of Internal Affairs were established.

Needless to say, the Dali Court was transformed from the Dali Temple.

The emperor separated the judicial power from the Executive Yuan and established it as a separate court.

Moreover, the power of the Dali Yuan was quite large. The six departments of the Imperial Censorate were incorporated into it, and it had the power to review all the orders of the government offices and determine whether they were in accordance with the etiquette and law.

The rituals and laws formulated by Liu Zongzhou after he re-established rituals and music will be implemented and maintained by the Dali Court.

The Dali Court has the power to reject any order that is not in accordance with etiquette and law.

It can be said that this is a higher-level Jieshi Zhong who can check and balance all other yamen.

The emperor also required that senior officials of the Dali Yuan should be nominated by ministers and appointed directly by the emperor, just like the Censorate.

The same was true for the Lifanyuan, where the emperor placed all matters related to the royal vassal states, internal vassal states, external vassal states, and diplomacy in its charge.

He also used the power of martial law abroad that he had previously obtained without the knowledge of his ministers, and was able to directly govern the Lifanyuan without going through the cabinet's orders.

Yuan Keli could imagine that officials from the cabinet and the State Council would definitely have objections.

Because the Dali Yuan and the Lifan Yuan divided their powers.

He guessed correctly. After Han Yu saw the establishment of the Dali Yuan and the Lifan Yuan, he was quite dissatisfied with the plan.

Qian Qianyi, who also belonged to the Donglin Party, said bluntly:

"Your Majesty is dissatisfied with the Executive Yuan proposed by Mr. Han, and wants to use the Supreme Court and the Court of Internal Affairs to share power."

Cheng Jiming and others nodded and shared the same opinion.

The Executive Yuan proposed by Han Yu almost caused the Privy Council that the emperor was planning to establish to fail in its infancy.

This five-academy plan was the emperor’s counterattack.

Han Yu had previously proposed the establishment of the State Council in order to keep the cabinet superior and to provide checks and balances between the State Council, the Privy Council and the Censorate.

Now the emperor agreed to set up the Administrative Council, and at the same time added the Supreme Court and the Court of Internal Affairs. It seemed that there were more institutions of checks and balances, but in fact they were dividing the power of the cabinet:
The Dali Yuan merged the six departments of the Imperial Censorate and was able to refute the orders of the Cabinet and the six ministries.

The Lifanyuan was an institution completely controlled by the emperor, and did not require the cabinet ministers to write drafts.

After the establishment of these two courts, not only was the power of the Executive Yuan reduced, but the Cabinet was also restricted, being controlled by the Dali Yuan and sharing power with the Lifan Yuan.

This is far from Han Yu's original intention.

Thinking about the power difference, Han Yu was silent for a long time and said to everyone:

"My Lords, His Majesty has submitted this plan to the court for discussion."

“Will you support or oppose it then?”

As a cabinet minister, he was not allowed to participate in court discussions.

But as the leader of the Donglin Party, he could influence many people.

This is also the reason why the Donglin Party was so powerful in the past. They could easily defeat those scattered people in the court. Now the emperor controls the use of the Donglin Party in the court, but the influence of the Donglin Party is still great and can influence many people close to them.

Cheng Jiming said at this time:
"This five-chamber plan was triggered by the establishment of the Privy Council. Your Majesty asked the Minister of War Yuan Gong to preside over the court discussion."

"I think most of the ministers in the Ministry of War support this plan."

"They have been talking about setting up a Privy Council these days."

From a department to a branch, and under the branch there is a department. The excitement of the officials in the Ministry of War can be imagined. They all have the opportunity to take this opportunity to be promoted and take charge of a department alone.

Moreover, their names will be recorded in the history of the Privy Council in later generations, telling about their achievements in opening the Privy Council.

Most of the civil officials in the court would not oppose the establishment of the Privy Council, because it meant that the civil officials had complete control over the military power.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many voices of opposition over the past month.

All civil servants knew what the establishment of the Privy Council meant to them:
This meant that the emperor gave up on using military generals to check and balance civil officials, and instead separated personnel from the civil servants to allow the civil servants to check and balance each other.

Civil officials no longer have to worry about returning to the era of the early days of the country when military generals were in power.

Before, Han Yu was not opposed to the establishment of the Privy Council, but was opposed to dividing the power of the cabinet, so he proposed to establish the Executive Yuan at the same time.

Now the emperor agreed to the establishment of the Executive Yuan, but he also proposed to set up the Supreme Court and the Court of Internal Affairs.

Moreover, the five academies are bound together, so if they are to be set up, they should be set up together.

Han Yu pondered the changes and sighed:

"Your Majesty is really good at using power!"

"I think this proposal will most likely be passed."

As for the matter of the Supreme Court in the plan, since there is a precedent of the Censorate, the ministers should accept that the emperor has the power to appoint officials of this government office.

Moreover, officials such as Liu Zongzhou who were responsible for remaking rituals and music would support the establishment of the Dali Court.

Because the duty of the Dali Yuan is to uphold rites and laws.

As for the power of the Lifanyuan, the emperor now controls it.

Previously, the emperor took advantage of his ministers' inattention and imposed martial law outside the country to seize this power.

Now it is just a matter of standardization and setting up a government office to be responsible for it.

In fact, since the establishment of yamen will inevitably attract civil servants to join, many civil servants will be excited and strengthen their influence on these affairs.

In Han Yu's view, leaving a government office under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor would also allow the emperor to vent his vigorous energy, so that he would not focus on military and political affairs and keep thinking about seizing power from civil officials.

As for the Lifanyuan seizing the power of the Ministry of Rites, he did not take it to heart, because in his opinion, this was not an important power.

The current Minister of Rites, Wen Tiren, will not oppose the emperor.

After all the calculations, there are not many ministers who oppose the five-chamber plan.

Even Han Yu himself could accept this plan.

Therefore, after careful consideration, he still did not mobilize the limited Donglin Party members in the court to oppose this plan.

He just submitted a memorial proposing amendments to the five-academy plan.

Unfortunately, the emperor did not give him any chance to discuss the matter and insisted on holding a court meeting on the plan in the near future.

He and many dissatisfied ministers had no choice but to agree to this plan.

On November 11, at the court meeting chaired by Yuan Keli, with the strong support of officials from the Ministry of War, the Five-Academy Plan was successfully passed.

From now on, the court organization will be adjusted according to this plan. It will take about half a year to complete the reform of the five courts.

Huang Liji, the chief minister of the cabinet, was appointed by the emperor to take charge of this matter and was mainly responsible for the Lifanyuan.

He was assisted by Han Yu, the Second Assistant Minister of the Cabinet, and was mainly responsible for the Dali Yuan.

The Minister of War Yuan Keli was mainly in charge of the Privy Council.

The State Council does not have a chief official, so there are basically no major changes.

There wasn't even a seal for the Executive Yuan, and the six ministries and other government offices still managed their own departments.

It was just because the five academies were uniformly designated as the first rank by the emperor, and officials such as the six ministers of the Executive Yuan could theoretically be promoted to the first rank.

The five academies are usually headed by officials of the second rank, but can be headed by ministers of higher ranks.

The Censorate was therefore upgraded from a second-rank government office to a first-rank government office.

Zhu Youjian's main purpose in setting this up was to appoint some retired ministers to the Lifanyuan, which he controlled. He wanted these people to play their remaining energy and restrain the cabinet ministers and nine ministers who were in power.

The power held by the head of the Lifanyuan was no less than that of the later US Secretary of State.

A capable minister holding this position can easily become one of the most important officials in the court.

It can be said that although Zhu Youjian had just decided on the establishment of these five institutes not long ago, he had actually had ideas about most of them a long time ago, and it can even be seen as a continuation of last year's institutional adjustments.

Most government offices have also laid the foundation, and adjustments are being made in an orderly manner.

However, there was a change that Zhu Youjian did not expect, that is, after the Dali Temple was promoted to the Dali Court, one of the nine temples was missing.

Some ministers were not used to the term "six ministries and eight temples" and proposed to add another temple.

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, proposed that the agricultural affairs of the Taifu Temple should be separated and the Sinong Temple should be established.

The current Taifu Temple had too much power, almost equal to the Ministry of Revenue, so he proposed to decentralize power and separate the Agricultural Administration and the Food Administration to establish the Sinong Temple.

After considering it, Zhu Youjian agreed to the proposal.

First, agricultural affairs are indeed important and deserve to have a separate government office set up for them.

Second, the term "six ministries and eight temples" does not sound good. "Nine temples" is more in line with the ancient system and is easier for officials to accept.

Moreover, with the addition of the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, the number of the Nine Ministers no longer needed the President of the Hanlin Academy to make up the number. The Nine Ministers could be directly listed.

Therefore, many officials in the court agreed with the proposal to establish the Sinong Temple.

After that, the Ministry of Revenue was divided into the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture. There were three government offices in total, which were in charge of the national finances of the Ming Dynasty.

Some people imitated the name of the former Song Dynasty and called the three yamen Sansi. The official in charge was called Ji Xiang, which is another name for Sansi Shi.

Of course, because Taizu expressly prohibited the appointment of prime ministers, they were more often called advisors.

The Minister of Revenue in the Executive Yuan was also regarded as a de facto prime minister and was often given the title of first-rank minister of government. He became one of the new leaders of the Nine Ministers after the power of the Minister of War was weakened.

(After the adjustment, the Ministry of Revenue and its supervisory departments, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, were collectively referred to as the Three Departments, or the Three Accounting Departments, to be distinguished from the Three Law Departments)

The first Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture was still Guo Yunhou.

Because he liked the title of Grand Minister of Agriculture and was more proficient in agricultural affairs.

So he took the initiative to give up the relatively more powerful position of Taifu Temple Minister and took the position of Sinong Temple Minister.

The vacant post of Taifu Temple Minister was transferred to Dong Yingju, the Minister of Finance who was in charge of money and law.

This assistant minister, who had previously been in charge of monetary affairs and had just been appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, submitted a memorial proposing the establishment of a Ministry of Revenue Bank to be specifically responsible for the receipt, expenditure and transportation of silver and money.

In the memorial, Dong Yingju listed the necessity of establishing the Ministry of Revenue Bank and the role played by Shuntian Bank in the collection of taxes in Shuntian Prefecture over the past year.

It was believed that a national bank should be established in the style of Shuntian Bank, with branches set up in various places to be responsible for local affairs.

The monetary affairs he was previously in charge of should also be transferred to the Ministry of Revenue Bank, which would be responsible for the minting and issuance of currency.

It is hard to say what kind of commotion this memorial caused in the outer court, but when Zhu Youjian saw it, he sighed:
The speed of evolution of civil servants is faster than expected.

The previous situation where the Imperial Household Bank monopolized the financial industry could no longer continue.

I also need to find another money bag to prepare money and food for the next suppression of rebellion and disaster relief. (End of this chapter)