Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 743 Supervision Department

Xu Xiancheng's series of moves made the Donglin Party and other party members dizzy. No one expected that Xu Xiancheng would start with the Beijing Inspection and directly propose to restore the Beijing Inspection system.

For a moment, everyone was stunned and subconsciously wanted to speak out in opposition, but they had no legitimate reason to oppose the Beijing Inspection System, because this system has always been in place and has never been abolished. As the Right Censor-in-Chief, Xu Xiancheng was in charge of this matter and was fully qualified to demand the restart of the Beijing Inspection System.

Besides, there is no other legitimate reason to oppose it, right? Isn't it natural to evaluate officials? Even if the imperial examination system is abolished, the ordinary official evaluation system still exists. Even if it is just a formality, the system itself cannot be denied.

Besides, don’t you Donglin Party members always boast that you serve the country and the people, are honest officials, and take the world as your responsibility? If that’s the case, then why are you afraid of the imperial examination system? As the old saying goes, if you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night. If you don’t have any guilty conscience, why do you oppose it? What reason do you have to oppose it?
Fang Fengnian was secretly anxious. He knew too well the power of the Beijing Inspection System. Once the system was restarted, it would not be a good thing for them.

However, he has always praised himself as a clean official, and he is the leader of the Donglin Party. In addition, he is the Minister of Rites, not a censor. It is not right for him to directly oppose the imperial examination system. In desperation, he can only turn his attention to Fang Kezhuang who is not far away.

Among them, Fang Kezhuang was the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and his position in the Censorate was second only to Xu Xiancheng. In addition, Fang Kezhuang was nominally in charge of official assessments, so it was most appropriate for him to handle the matter.

Seeing Fang Fengnian winking at him, Fang Kezhuang secretly groaned in his heart. He was the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, but he had no reason to oppose the imperial examination. He couldn't say that the imperial examination system had been abolished and there was no need to restart it now, right? If he said this, wouldn't it be like leading himself into a ditch?

As a clean official and deputy censor, he did not even approve of the imperial examination system. What qualifications did he have to be an official? Once the news got out, there would be an uproar in the world. What if someone said that Fang Kezhuang was honest on the surface but corrupt in secret and deliberately obstructed the imperial examination system? By then, he would have no way to explain himself.

But it was unrealistic not to say anything. Fang Fengnian knew the power of the Beijing Inspection System, and Fang Kezhuang knew it even better. If this matter fell into Xu Xiancheng's hands, then they, the clean officials, would have a hard time. Zhu Shenzhui was too vicious, and it was clear that he wanted to use the name of Beijing Inspection to exclude dissidents. What would happen if they just gave in?

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Kezhuang stood up and said, "I agree with the restart of the Beijing inspection system, but I also have different opinions."

"Oh, Lord Fang, it's okay to tell me what you think. This matter cannot be clarified without debate, so more discussion would be good." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile.

Fang Kezhuang said: "The imperial examination system has existed in name only since the 21st year of the Wanli reign. Over the past few decades, the imperial court has always replaced the imperial examination with evaluation, and this has long been a conclusion. If the imperial examination is restarted now, the previous evaluation system will have to be completely re-established, which will consume a lot of manpower and material resources."

"Right now, the Ming Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles, and the war in Liaodong is extremely urgent. The court should prioritize stability and concentrate its efforts on repelling foreign enemies, eradicating internal troubles, and stabilizing government instead of making a big fuss about conducting an imperial inspection."

"Once the imperial inspection is restarted now, it will inevitably affect the stability of the political situation and even the war on the front line. I think it is better to be quiet than to move. It is not that the imperial inspection cannot be done, but it is not suitable to do it now. Start preparing first, and wait for some time. It will not be too late to resume after the war is stabilized and everything is stable!"

"What Lord Fang said makes sense. I feel the same way. I think that stability is the best policy. It is not appropriate to restart the Beijing inspection right now. It will not be too late to discuss it later." After Fang Kezhuang finished speaking, Zhang Fengxiang, the Minister of Works and a fellow party member, quickly expressed his opinion and agreed with Fang Kezhuang's suggestion.

Then Fang Fengnian could not help but express his agreement, saying that he was not against the Beijing inspection, but the current situation was not suitable for launching the Beijing inspection immediately, and this matter should be put aside for now and done later. The most important thing now was the war, and the overall situation should not be delayed or affected because of the Beijing inspection.

With the fate of the three Donglin Party leaders, the others instantly became excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and they all jumped out one by one. The attitudes of these people were basically the same. They did not deny or oppose the Beijing Inspection System, but they all suggested that now was not a good time to immediately restore the Beijing Inspection System.

After all, the imperial examination system has been abandoned for decades. To restart this system requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and it also requires the cooperation of various departments. If it is a peaceful time, there will be no problem, but now it is wartime. What if this system causes panic among the people and affects the war? So it is better to take a long-term view.

Of course, there are opponents and supporters. Some people who originally hoped to restart the Beijing Inspection System refuted the Donglin Party’s statement. Some said that it was far-fetched to discuss the Beijing Inspection System and the war together. These are clearly two different things. Does the country not need official administration when it is at war? Moreover, the Beijing Inspection System assesses officials below the fifth rank in Beijing. What does this have to do with the front line?
Could it be that these officials could directly influence the front line? Or that these officials would go to the front line to lead troops to fight? This is simply nonsense.

Others believed that the reasons put forward by the Donglin Party were not only a substitution of concepts, but also clearly showed that they did not want to restore the Beijing inspection, and that they had something to hide. Two young officials from the Fushe Society immediately asked Fang Kezhuang what he wanted to do. As the deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he not only did not support the Beijing inspection, but also came up with such an excuse. What did he want to do?
These two young men don't care who you are, or how high your official position is, or how famous you are in the court. In their opinion, Fang Kezhuang's behavior has lost the character of a senior official of the Censorate. How can such a person call himself a clean official? It's just a joke.

For a while, there was a heated debate in the court, with both sides arguing back and forth and neither side giving in, making it extremely lively.

Zhu Shenzhui, who was sitting, watched this scene with great interest, and found it even more interesting than watching a play.

It is really a vivid picture. They talk about benevolence, righteousness, morality and uprightness, but secretly make their own calculations. It is really ridiculous.

After a while, seeing that these people were still noisy, Zhu Shenzhui could not help but cough, and the eunuch Du Xun beside him hurriedly shouted loudly, and the palace gradually calmed down. "Where is the Prime Minister?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"I'm here!" Wen Tiren hurried out of the class and bowed in reply.

"What does the Prime Minister think about the Beijing inspection?" Zhu Shenzhui asked directly.

Wen Tiren smiled bitterly in his heart. He knew this would happen. He, the tool man, was finally picked out by Zhu Shenzhui.

"I think there is nothing wrong with Lord Xu's suggestion. The imperial examination, which has been abolished for many years, should indeed be restored. Moreover, this system was established by Emperor Taizu and should be continued. What's more, all the officials in the court also recognize it." Wen Tiren was smart and agreed with this matter on the surface, but he also dragged his tail and deliberately said that the restoration of the imperial examination was recognized by everyone. In this way, he put his attitude together with everyone else.

Zhu Shenzhu understood what Wen Tiren meant, but he didn't care about anything else. Because he only needed Wen Tiren's attitude. As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren could represent the cabinet, which was a necessary procedure.

"Do the other cabinet ministers think there is anything wrong with what the Prime Minister said?" Zhu Shenzhui turned his gaze to the other cabinet members and asked directly.

Several cabinet ministers immediately expressed that their attitude was the same as Wen Tihen's. They all agreed to restore the Beijing inspection and there was no objection to this.

Upon hearing this answer, Zhu Shenzhui immediately laughed. Without waiting for anyone else to speak, he said directly: "In that case, the Beijing inspection system will be restored immediately. Xu Xiancheng, the Right Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate!"

"Chen is here!"

"Minister of Personnel Zhang Xijun!"

"Chen is here!"

"The Beijing inspection is of great importance. You two will restart the Beijing inspection on behalf of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Personnel, and implement the assessment of officials of the fifth rank and below in Beijing. According to the usual practice, in order to avoid affecting the political situation and even the war on the front line, you must be cautious during the Beijing inspection and not be reckless. In addition, since the restoration of the Beijing inspection system, the Beijing inspection will be limited to once every three years according to the Hongwu period. In order to prevent people from seeking personal power and attacking dissidents during the Beijing inspection, and to prevent lax and untrue assessments, I have decided to set up a department as the Supervisory Department to preside over the Beijing inspection."

"Xu Xiancheng, you will be the Minister of the Supervisory Department. Zhang Xijun, you will be the Deputy Minister of the Supervisory Department. The Supervisory Department is not under the jurisdiction of the ministries and is directly responsible to the Gutong Cabinet. As for the location of this office... Prime Minister, where do you think it is more appropriate to set it up?"

Wen Tiren immediately understood what Zhu Shenzui meant. Zhu Shenzui not only wanted to restart the Beijing inspection, but also set up a new permanent institution as the Beijing inspection department. He even restored the six-year inspection that began in the Hongzhi period to the three-year inspection in the Hongwu period.

Don't underestimate these two actions. The former is equivalent to not only redefining the Beijing inspection system, but also dividing the Beijing inspection rights that originally belonged to the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel through the establishment of a new department and all of them are attributed to the newly established Supervisory Office.

From then on, the Supervisory Office became a sharp sword hanging over the heads of all officials, with the power to examine officials at any time and directly report to Zhu Shenzhui. Of course, Zhu Shenzhui also said that he was also responsible to the cabinet, but this was just talk. Wen Tiren was not so naive as to really think that he, the chief minister of the cabinet, could command the so-called Supervisory Office.

As for changing the review period from six years to three years, it shortened the time of the Beijing inspection, making it a normal practice for the Supervisory Office to review and evaluate officials. Even in Wen Tiren's view, this Beijing inspection system is likely to be expanded in the future, from the evaluation of Beijing officials to the evaluation of local officials, and eventually to include the evaluation of all officials.

Zhu Shenzhui's actions directly broke the original official supervision structure and took control of the officials' lives through the Beijing inspection system. Moreover, this was an open conspiracy and it was impossible to oppose it. Wen Tihen sighed inwardly.

"Reporting to the Regent, I think that Wenzhao Pavilion, which is not far from Wenyuan Pavilion where the cabinet is located, is a suitable place. Setting up the Supervisory Office here will not only enable timely reporting and communication, but also allow Your Highness to inquire about the progress of the imperial inspection at any time. In addition, it will also be very convenient to travel to the cabinet."

"The Prime Minister's suggestion is good. Let's set it up in Wenzhao Pavilion. This matter should be completed as soon as possible. Xu Xiancheng and Zhang Xijun will take the lead, and the cabinet will assist. Select capable people to serve in the Supervisory Office and then report to me." Zhu Shenzhu struck while the iron was hot and finalized the matter directly.

(End of this chapter)