golden scales

"Bureaucrats." Zhu Cihong spit out two words, and said with a light smile: "People are superfluous, corrupt the law, fight for benefits, and give in if there are no benefits... If these people are in my hands, they will never be lenient. It's just the whole court. , there are countless such people, and I can only avoid the enemy's edge."

Li Yuzhi nodded, as if he had fallen asleep, and said after a long time: "The old minister was born in Jiajing 44, ten years before Wanli, and he was just a student Mengtong. In the 28th year, he was granted the title of magistrate of Dongming County. At that time, the most troublesome thing for the old minister was Pass the test."

Zhu Cihong knew that the old man's speech could easily stray and miss the point, so he didn't urge him, and only let the senior minister slowly recall.What's more, being able to listen to the voice of the past era in person is also a kind of life opportunity that can't be met.

"That's the way to get it done," Li Yuzhi sighed. "It's nothing special in writing. It's nothing more than asking officials to list what they will do this year, and then submit it to the Sixth Ministry, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Sixth Division and the cabinet. The Sixth Ministry and the The Metropolitan Procuratorate conducts assessments on a monthly basis, and the six subjects are examined every six months. The cabinet also conducts examinations when it is in Beijing for investigations and major plans. If it is really checked, it should be "limited assessment, clear at a glance", it seems that the whole body has been stripped, it is too much tormented.

"Hehe, the old minister is so confused. The way Chitose practiced in the East Palace is the method of examination, so there is no need for the old minister to explain it."

"You keep talking, I'm willing to listen." Zhu Cihong said with a smile.He has been studying this examination method in his past and present lives, and the more he studies it, the more he feels like the performance appraisal of the Ming Dynasty.

While marveling at the fact that Zhang Juzheng is a genius, Zhang Juzheng cannot ignore the rationality of Zhang Juzheng's previous administrative framework.

When Zhang Juzheng was promoting the examination method, he cited the "old system" a lot, and he emphasized "declaring the old regulations" instead of the "new policy".It can be seen that as long as someone can host and the subordinates are willing to work hard, the operating efficiency of the empire is still very efficient.Later generations like to push everything on the head of the system, which is really unreasonable in the Ariake Dynasty.

If you don't talk about Zhang Juzheng's successful counter-evidence, you can also see the scientific surname in it if you carefully examine the political settings of the Ming Dynasty.

With the Metropolitan Procuratorate as the eyes and ears of the court, from the central government to the local government, from general administration to special administration—such as education, salt inspection, tea horse, etc.—there are censors.Moreover, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is a vertical leadership, and the lower-level censors do not have to be responsible to the administrative bureaucrats, let alone be managed.This is enough to ensure the impartial reading of Yushi.

For the central system of the head of the heart of the empire, six subjects of reading were set up for Shizhong, which were in charge of the palm seal of Dugui Shizhong, and had the power to refute the emperor's imperial edict.At the same time, the "scientific copy" and "scientific reference" in daily work are the internal affairs of the six departments corresponding to the inspection.In addition, there is "cancellation": imperial edicts and memorials are attached to the scientific records every day, and sent to the cabinet for record every five days. Only after verifying that the relevant departments have implemented the edicts and memorials can they be canceled.

According to the rules of the meeting code, the six subjects will announce and execute the edict, repeat the major events, and re-sign and issue minor events;All the internal and external chapters are sparse, copied out by classification, and referred to the Fubu Department to refute and correct their violations.

Having these two immune systems operating simultaneously is enough to ensure the stability and health of the regime.

At the local level, there are commanders and envoys who are in charge of the military power of the local guards, which belong to the Dudufu of the Five Armies and obey the orders of the Ministry of War; the procuratorial envoys are in charge of the judicial affairs of a province—cases above prison sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment for trial, and at the same time, officials must be supervised. , is the local office of the Metropolitan Procuratorate; it is responsible for the administration of civil affairs under the Ministry of Public Security, is assessed by the Ministry of Officials, and implements various policies of the six central ministries.These three are separate and not affiliated to each other, and they are all supervised by the Metropolitan Procuratorate system.

From Zhu Cihong's point of view, this is already the most complete system in this era.The common disputes of "separation of powers among the three powers" and "one governing power" in later generations also had political practice in the Ming Dynasty: you only need to look at the power struggle of the cabinet and the abolition of the governor and governor-general system to know.

Such a good system, why did it become such a mess today?

Zhu Cihong believes that this has a direct relationship with the cabinet and the emperor.

It is not a problem that Emperor Wanli does not go to court, the problem is that he does not make up officials.A large number of officials who have not been tempered and trained have stepped onto the political stage during the Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties. They neither understand the operating mode of the empire, nor have they been eliminated through political tests, and they cannot even understand that politics is the art of compromise, which eventually led to the collapse of the empire fact.

After the successful reorganization of the cabinet, it changed from a secretarial organization to the real head of the empire, and its power was more than that of the prime ministers of Tang and Song Dynasties.If they [***], then the political system of the entire empire is bound to [***].And the cabinet of the Chongzhen Dynasty[***] was mediocre, and it was also the most unbelievable in the Ming Dynasty.

Why didn't this happen in the previous dynasty?

Because before Tianqi and Chongzhen, there were only two ways to enter the cabinet: Tingtui and Zhongzhi.Until the late Wanli period, Zhongzhi's entry into the cabinet was still regarded as a disgrace, and civil officials refused to accept it easily.This adds an extra layer of filtering system to ensure that cabinet members have sufficient influence on the executive branch.

At the time of the apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian controlled the emperor and opened the way for Zhongzhi to enter the cabinet.When it came to Emperor Chongzhen, changing courts was like changing servants. Later, he even canceled the court push and issued the imperial decree directly.What kind of binding force can such a cabinet elder have on the six ministries and localities?The myth that Shi Brown entered the cabinet more than ten years ago only happened in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

So in the final analysis, the responsibility still falls on the emperor.

"In the Wanli Dynasty, until Shen Xianggong was in power all the time, the administration of officials was still passable." Li Yuzhi continued: "Later, the dispute between the country and the country became too fierce. There was no one. When it came to the Tianqi Dynasty, they swarmed in again, which made the whole court into a mess and became a source of factional disputes."

Zhu Cihong nodded, feeling that Li Yuzhi's views were the same as his own, but the Dazai dared not criticize the emperor.

"In the 40th year of Wanli, the veteran was in Taiyuan, recommending Zou Yuanbiao, Feng Congwu and others." Li Yuzhi suddenly smiled and said, "If Feng Congwu is lucky enough to meet His Highness, I should be very pleased. He can be said to be the No. It is a pity for His Highness, who wants to worship Guan Xue, but cannot follow a true Confucian like me."

"It doesn't matter," Zhu Cihong said, "As long as I loosen the soil, great Confucianism will always grow."

Li Yuzhi smiled happily, his eyes were dark, like a naughty boy.After laughing, he said angrily: "The old minister is old and confused. I don't know what to say. Or let's talk about the method of examination. As long as the top and bottom stick to it, and never slack off, there is absolutely no government that cannot be eliminated. It's just that Mr. Zhang offended a lot of people because of this, and the old ministers are mediocre, and dare not do things that are independent. He wasted his time in this official position and wasted state affairs, and he feels guilty when he thinks about it."

As Li Yuzhi spoke, tears were already streaming down his face.Zhu Cihong got up and took the brocade handkerchief from the case, and handed it to Li Yuzhi for him to wipe.

"His Royal Highness has an inspiring heart and is proficient in examinations. In the eyes of the veteran, he is no less capable than Mr. Zhang." Li Yuzhi breathed a sigh of relief: "Speaking of which, the veteran doesn't believe in someone who is born with knowledge, even if the name is as Xu , Zhang Zhiren, if there is no tempering by Yan Song when he was in power, he will definitely not be able to achieve the great things later. His Highness has made the veterans change their old views and is completely convinced."

"I didn't become as knowledgeable as I am today." Zhu Cihong said truthfully.

Li Yuzhi only thought that Zhu Cihong was modest, so he smiled lightly, and said: "The old minister is going to see you before leaving Laizhou. What the emperor means is that if the Eastern Palace is willing to return the government to the cabinet, the position of the heavenly official Dazai will be given to him." It is not a problem for His Highness to recommend you to join the cabinet."

That's the political deal.

Zhu Cilang heaved a sigh of relief.If you compare your own Donggong system with the Ming Dynasty’s political system, there are six departments in the servant’s office, the finance department is equal to Ke Dao, and the ten-member regiment is Jinyiwei; Wu Wei and Sun Chuanting are considered to have joined the cabinet; Guarding... I have to say that this team is highly efficient, but it is too simple to get on the stage and not see the light.

Because of the existence of this shadow political axe, the imperial father must have a thorn in his heart.

The ministers in the southern capital would also say that the East Palace has the thoughts of Cao Cao, Wang Mang, Lu Hou, Wu Zetian, Li Heng and other predecessors.

"What I'm worried about is that people like Donggong are still afraid of being in my hands. Once they are classified as low-ranking officials, they will be defeated by the officialdom." Zhu Cilang said.

Li Yuzhi was an old man, squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "Although the Dazai can only appoint officials below the fourth rank, the officials who happen to be working are also below the fourth rank." (To be continued.)