I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 294 I will take the blame!
On the third day, Zhu Houxuan still woke up in pain. His carriage passed the ministers who were like zombies and arrived at the Fengtian Hall.

The morning court was still so boring. One minister after another came out and reported things that had already been decided verbatim.

The other civil servants looked lifeless...

The five issues were discussed quickly. The ministers waited for Zhu Houxun to leave first, while Zhu Houzhao sat firmly in his chair without moving.

"Your Highness?" Wei Bin reminded in a low voice.

Zhu Houxuan placed his hand on the morning court "script" provided by the cabinet and said loudly: "Isn't there one thing that has not been discussed?"

Zhu Houxuan's voice was so loud that it kept echoing in the Fengtian Hall, waking up countless civil servants who had fallen asleep as background characters...

The four cabinet ministers looked at each other, not understanding what Zhu Houxuan was up to...

But after Zhu Houxun made this remark, the cabinet ministers still had to take it up, after all, they had to maintain the dignity of the court meeting.

"Why don't we discuss what Your Highness said after the court is adjourned?" Liang Chu stepped out and said.

Zhu Houxuan glanced at him and said nothing.

Liang Chu had no choice but to continue asking, "What does Your Highness want to discuss?"

Zhu Houxuan then retracted his gaze and said, "What we are going to discuss today is related to everyone present... It is this court meeting itself..."

Zhu Houxuan's words aroused the interest of everyone present. After all, many people had attended the morning court for so many years, but this was the first time they encountered such a new thing.

"I wonder how Your Highness would like to discuss this matter..." Liang Chu continued to ask.

"The morning court has long become a formality, and the formality is greater than the reality. All the ministers gathered here so early in the morning, damaging their bodies and minds, just to discuss five things that have already had results. Most people are just going through the motions, which makes them waste their minds and affects their work during the day. In the long run, it will inevitably slow down the efficiency of the central government. How foolish it is." Zhu Houxuan put forward his own views
The Minister of Rites Li Xunxue immediately stepped forward to refute.

Zhu Houxuan didn't even look at him and continued, "I want to reform the morning court system. On the 3rd, 6th, and 9th days of the month, the number of people attending the morning court should be reduced. Only officials of the fifth rank and above in the Hanlin Academy can attend the court. Others do not need to attend the morning court unless they are related to the matters discussed in the morning court."

Zhu Houxuan's words made everyone present excited. From now on, they would only have to attend nine morning court sessions. Adding the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, they would only have to attend 9 court sessions a month.

This means that Zhu Houxun directly reduced the burden of Ming Dynasty officials by two-thirds, which can be said to be a great deed.

Many officials listened attentively to Zhu Houxun's reform measures. They were all very happy, but they all remained solemn.

I don’t want to attend the morning court, but I don’t want others to know that I don’t want to attend the morning court.

"No, absolutely not!" Minister of Rites Li Xunxue finally found an opportunity for Zhu Houxuan to speak.

"The morning court system is an ancestral system. How can it be changed just like that?" Li Xunxue retorted.

Now, all the ministers attending the court meeting began to secretly curse Li Xunxue for meddling in other people's affairs.

In fact, Li Xunxue also liked Zhu Houxun's plan, but who made him the Minister of Rites? So he could only argue with reason.

"Ancestral system?" Zhu Houxuan said with a playful look on his face. "The ancestral system also has Zhongchao, but now it has disappeared. Before, the court discussed everything, but later it became eight things, and then it became five things. This shows that this ancestral system is not unchangeable, but someone is constantly carrying out reforms!"

The court meetings in the early Ming Dynasty were divided into three sessions: morning, noon and evening. However, the emperors later became lazy and simply cancelled the middle court. Li Xunxue, the Minister of Rites, was speechless after being refuted, but he could only move on.

"Your Highness, etiquette and laws cannot be easily abolished!" Li Xunxue continued.

"It is better to change this morning court session which causes so much suffering to the ministers as soon as possible." Zhu Houxuan said immediately.

"Your Highness, I and my fellow ministers enjoy attending this morning court session and do not consider it a hardship," said the Minister of Rites Li Xunxue loudly.

His voice traveled far away and was heard by many people. They all cursed Li Xunxue in their hearts, "It's okay if you like the morning court, but why do you have to drag us into it?"

Zhu Houxuan was speechless after hearing what the Minister of Rites Li Xunxue said. There were actually people who liked this kind of early court session, and from the sound of it, it seemed that most of the court officials thought so.

"I must carry out the reform this morning. Since all the ministers are happy to do so, then..." Zhu Houxuan pondered.

"Then let all the ministers suffer, and I will take the blame!" Zhu Houxuan said bluntly.

Zhu Houxuan's words made many ministers present couldn't help laughing, and many of them laughed out loud.

Even the Minister of Rites Li Xunxue didn't know what to say.
At this time, Liang Chu stepped out and said, "This matter is of great importance, but Your Highness is only the regent, so please inform His Majesty of this matter and let His Majesty make the decision."

Liang Chu's statement was very clear. He supported the reform of the morning court, because Zhu Houzhao was even more annoyed by the morning court system and often did not attend the morning court for various reasons.
"Then let Your Majesty make the final decision." Zhu Houxuan said, then he stood up and walked to the back hall.

The civil servants who attended the morning court also ended it and left happily. Today's events gave them a lot of topics to talk about, and today's events concerned everyone, so they sincerely wished it success.

Zhu Houxuan became well-known to the public because of this, and his saying "Let all the ministers suffer, and I will take the blame!" became widely circulated.

Xuanfu (near Zhangjiakou), where Zhu Houzhao was stationed, was actually less than 400 miles away from the capital.

The envoy sent by Zhu Houxuan arrived in Xuanfu in one or two days.

Zhu Houzhao was very happy when he heard this and agreed to the proposal overnight.

After receiving the message from the messenger, Zhu Houxuan directly ordered Wei Bin to use the seal.

The stamped memorial was sent directly to the cabinet. If the cabinet did not reject it, it would be sent to the relevant departments for execution.

Zhu Houzhao also sent an envoy to follow Zhu Houxun's envoy back.

He also explained his purpose to Zhu Houxuan. There were already 2 new troops stationed in Xuanfu, responsible for protecting Zhu Houzhao's safety.

After learning the news, Zhu Houxuan immediately gave the highest priority to the construction of a railway from the capital to Xuanfu.

Zhu Houxuan has been using a new method to review memorials these past two days, and the more he reads them, the more interesting they become.

The contents of these memorials were so varied that Zhu Houxuan was overwhelmed and observed the empire from another perspective.
It was at this time that Zhu Houxuan discovered that the civil servants were not united at all. There were many attacks on each other, and the attacks were very impolite.

(End of this chapter)