Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 42: Ranking Organization
After shocking the courtiers and standardizing the meeting discipline, Zhu Youjian took the initiative and raised the first issue:
"I talked about the title increase at yesterday's court meeting, and later I had some new ideas when I communicated with Yang Shilang."

"Let him talk to you first!"

He left the matter to Yang Jingchen and let the Minister of Staff, who seemed to be somewhat motivated by Zhu Youjian, to speak first.

Although it was estimated that all the courtiers in the Wenhua Palace knew about this matter, Yang Jingchen still honestly explained the situation of his communication with the emperor. He also concluded:
"In the early years of this dynasty, there were few other titles besides the Three Gongs and the Three Solitaries."

"Later, the cabinet became more and more respected, and academicians were usually given the title of minister. There were also governors, governors, ministers, ministers, and censors."

"Nowadays, there are almost no ministers in the court who do not have titles. The minister's position is to be the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, in charge of the affairs of the right minister, and also the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy."

"Your Majesty added the word 'Nanjing' to distinguish it from his duties and show where his authority lies."

Zhu Youjian nodded when he heard this, and without waiting for the courtiers to speak, he stated his rules:

"This is a matter of the Ministry of Personnel. The officials of the Ministry of Personnel will speak first, followed by the other nine ministers, and the bachelor will speak last."

"Start with the Minister of Personnel and the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, followed by other officials of the Ministry of Personnel."

He pointed at Zhou Yingqiu, the official minister, and asked him to express his opinion first.

Zhou Yingqiu was known as "Sunday Ten Thousand", which means that after he became the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he paid ten thousand gold every day. He colluded with Li Kuilonghang, the former doctor of the Literature and Selection Department, and openly sold his official position and shared bribes.

Since the new emperor ascended the throne, he has been waiting to see what's going on. He has hardly said a word in court, for fear of attracting attention at this time and being impeached. Even Zhu Youjian did not dare to object when he placed the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel at the Standing Committee of the Standing Committee.

Now being called out by Zhu Youjian, Zhou Yingqiu could only say:
"Your Majesty has a very good idea, but the matter is important and needs to be discussed carefully."

It seemed that something had been said, but it seemed as if nothing had been said. Zhu Youjian was helpless and clicked on the next person:

"Cao Sicheng, Minister of the Ministry of Hubu and Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel, please tell me!"

Cao Sicheng couldn't understand the emperor's intentions when he heard the official positions specifically mentioned by the emperor. One of my own, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was given the title of Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. If someone didn’t understand official positions in the court, they would have thought that he was the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu! No wonder the emperor added the word "Nanjing" to distinguish the additional titles.

Having been an official in the Ministry of Personnel for more than ten years, and having served in all four departments: the Department of Examination of Honors, the Department of Conferment Verification, the Department of Examination of Merits, and the Department of Literary Selection, Cao Sicheng was very familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel. Seeing that the emperor's first standing meeting was to discuss the affairs of the personnel department, Cao Sicheng knew that his majesty had the idea of ​​controlling the personnel department, so he could not object openly, but secretly said:

"It is good to distinguish and add titles, but the word 'Nanjing' needs to be discussed."

"We cannot allow a group of Nanjing officials to stand in the court hall of Beijing."

As soon as this was said, all the ministers in the palace agreed. They are dignified officials in Beijing, but they do not want to join the Nanjing official position. Especially the four cabinet bachelors. They all have the title of Minister, but they don't want to become the Minister of Nanjing. It would sound like a joke when they say it.

Looking at the attitudes of the ministers, Zhu Youjian somewhat understood their thoughts and said:
"It seems that you all feel that it is necessary to distinguish between the title and the original position. Do you have no objection to this?"

The ministers had no objections, so Zhu Youjian ordered the officials to record the meeting. After the meeting, the ministers signed and confirmed it, so as not to regret it later and attack his own arbitrary decision.

Then, Zhu Youjian decided to settle the things that could be settled first, so as not to be unable to confirm anything at the first regular meeting he held:

"Then let's discuss how to distinguish between titles."

"Let's not talk about the officials in the court. Local officials are given additional titles and the word 'Nanjing' is added. Does anyone have any objections?"

Of course, there is no objection. After all, Nanjing officials are shorter than Beijing officials. This is to lower the local official rank. The court officials present were naturally happy to see the result.

After confirming this matter, Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that no matter what happened next, Chang Shen's meeting today would be considered fruitful. Huang Liji and other cabinet academicians were immediately ordered to draft an edict, which was confirmed on the spot by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Personnel and issued a formal edict.

As long as the process is completed and the decree can be accepted by the court and local officials after it is issued, the authority of the regular participants in the meeting will gradually be established. I can directly decide on departmental affairs through meetings. The cabinet bachelors and Jiuqing also knew the emperor's intention, but this was a good thing for them, so they naturally would not object. Even though the officials of the Ministry of Personnel had opinions in their hearts, the minister and the minister did not speak. The other officials were frightened by Zhu Youjian's killing of chickens to scare monkeys, so they did not dare to say anything at this time.

In this way, Zhu Youjian's first decree determined at the Standing Committee Meeting was successfully issued.

After completing this matter, Zhu Youjian did not forcefully confirm other matters and said to everyone:

"After the ministers announced their titles, they said they would first decide on the titles of third- and fourth-grade officials and determine the candidates for permanent court officials."

"Everyone, tell me, what is the difference between the titles of third- and fourth-grade officials?"

Starting from the official of the Ministry of Personnel again, Zhou Yingqiu said some nonsense. After Zhu Youjian ignored him, he looked at Cao Sicheng.

Cao Sicheng had just objected to adding the word Nanjing to court officials, but at this time he did not propose other ways to distinguish and add titles.

Zhu Youjian had no choice but to look at Yang Jingchen, hoping that the person he had chosen would bring surprises.

Yang Jingchen lived up to his expectations and said to everyone:

"The reason why His Majesty wants to distinguish and add titles is to distinguish them from his own officials and clarify their duties."

"In this case, official positions that are already occupied by people cannot be used. We can imitate the Three Gongs and Three Solitaries and set up false titles and additional titles."

"There is a General Administration Department in the court, and there are Chief Secretary and Xuanwei Department in the local government. They are all second- and third-rank yamen. I thought that we could set up a virtual Xuanzheng Secretary, and set up a third-rank Xuanzheng Secretary to participate in politics, a fourth-rank Xuanzheng Secretary to general administration, and a fourth-rank Xuanzheng Secretary. The Chief Secretary and the Councilor are given additional titles as court officials."

"This additional title is the same as the political participation, general affairs, and council levels of the General Secretary and the Chief Secretary, making it easier to transfer in the future."

This was the solution he came up with after returning home last night, thinking that the court officials would be unwilling to add the word "Nanjing". Once it was proposed at this time, everyone was really surprised.

Even Zhu Youjian admired his idea of ​​setting up a false yamen. After all, it does not cost money, and it can regulate transfers, which is in line with Zhu Youjian's original intention of improving the title system.

However, not everyone likes the name Xuanzheng Secretary. The Minister of Rites came to Zongdao and said:
"There is the Xuanwei Division in the local area, and there is the Xuanzheng Yuan in the former Yuan Dynasty. The name Xuanzheng Division is not good, and I think it should be changed to the Chengzheng Division."

"The Chief Secretary is equivalent to the Chief Secretary and the Chief Secretary, but slightly higher than the Chief Secretary."

Lu Tunan, the general envoy of general affairs, was dissatisfied and said:
"So, wouldn't the Chief Secretary be like the Chief Secretary and become a second-grade yamen?"

"If someone is appointed as a political envoy in the future, wouldn't that mean he becomes a second-rank official?"

"It would be better to change the name to the Political Consultative Department and make it a third-grade Yamen."

He expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the Secretary for Administration was higher than the Secretary for General Affairs and proposed the establishment of a Department for Political Participation.

Lai Zongdao paused for a moment, feeling unhappy that Lu Tunan, a small political envoy, dared to contradict him. It's just that now they are all regular officials and they are all in front of the emperor. Even if he is unhappy, he can only suppress it and say:
"The Administration Department does not have an envoy, but only has the title of Participating in Administration, General Administration, and Counseling as additional titles."

"Envoy Lu Tong, don't worry about someone else joining the envoy, who will be in front of you in the court."

Lu Tunan heard this and was about to refute it on the spot. Zhu Youjian smoothed things over and said:

"Which name to choose between the Secretary for Administration, the Secretary for Propaganda, and the Secretary for Political Participation will be decided first, and the grade can be discussed later."

Let the ministers decide on the name first, and then discuss the specific level.

(End of this chapter)