Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 346 Your Majesty, Xia Yan must be executed!

Time passes without a trace, spring comes and summer goes, and another year has passed.

The Ming Empire has a history of nearly two hundred years, but the world is still prosperous and peaceful.

Some people say that the establishment of a new dynasty will begin a process of increasing entropy, while reform and stabilizing order is a process of anti-entropy.

Zhu Houzhao has been suppressing the increase of entropy since he ascended the throne, but he does not know whether the process of suppressing the increase of entropy will end after him, allowing the dynasty to continue to move towards a state of disorder and chaos.

Fortunately, the world is still peaceful now, and his descendants can only enjoy their blessings. Zhu Houzhao cannot control future generations. Now he can only do well in the present and cherish his last years.

The fraud in the imperial selection process made Zhu Houzhao discover the increasingly obvious signs of the newly emerging merchant class's struggle for political power. He also severely dealt with a number of officials who fell under the sugar-coated bullets of the merchant class.

But as an emperor, Zhu Houzhao not only had to eliminate the factors that caused entropy increase, but also had to rebuild a system that could more easily slow down entropy increase.

For this purpose, Zhu Houzhao specially summoned the cabinet ministers to discuss the matter first.

The current political system of the Ming Dynasty is actually not very perfect. Although the various departments of the Imperial Guard have been separated as the highest military organs, the Cabinet has become the highest administrative organ, the Ministry of Personnel has become the highest personnel management agency, the Censorate has become the highest supervisory agency, and the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple have become the highest judicial organs.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not have a team to work with him to plan the overall military and political affairs of the entire empire.

Now it is mainly the cabinet ministers who are still playing this role. After all, the cabinet ministers are responsible for the administration of the empire and are more aware of the current social situation of the empire.

"The fraud in the imperial election exposed many problems. The most alarming one is the interference of businessmen in politics! Hou Lu, who is just an ordinary businessman, can actually manipulate the selection of cabinet ministers! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it!"

Zhu Houzhao said this and then asked the cabinet ministers Xia Yan and Xu Jin: "What do you two think?"

Xia Yan also saw the drawbacks of the court recommendation. He had to admit that times had indeed changed. During the Hongzhi period, the power of merchants in the world was not as strong as it is now, and the court recommendation would undoubtedly make it easier to recommend capable officials. But now, the power of merchants was almost confronting the powerful. In Jiangnan, wealthy businessmen could even threaten the government with a strike. Now that the court recommendation was controlled by merchants, it was inevitable that all officials were children of merchants.

Therefore, Xia Yan also hoped that His Majesty the Emperor could take back the power of Tai'a and directly issue imperial decrees to appoint and dismiss officials. Of course, such appointments and dismissals would inevitably be subjective. After all, it was impossible for the emperor to know all the tens of thousands of officials in the world. Therefore, in Xia Yan's view, at most, they could be recommended by important ministers and appointed and dismissed by the emperor.

However, if an important minister recommends an official, it is inevitable that the emperor will lose his mind in appointing and dismissing officials due to the influence of this important minister because he values ​​the official too much.

Therefore, Xia Yan felt that the court recommendation should still exist, but not too many people should be allowed to participate in it, because allowing too many people to participate in the court recommendation has proved that it has not prevented businessmen from interfering in politics through bribery and other means. Allowing a small number of important officials to recommend officials in the court would make it easier to achieve the goal of balancing the interests of all parties, because an important official basically represents the interests of one party.

"Your Majesty, Tai'a was originally in your sole control, but you have been busy with so many things that you have no time to spare. It is fair and reasonable to have the ministers of the court nominate him. However, if there are too many people involved in the nomination, it is inevitable that Your Majesty will not know whether all the nominees are wholeheartedly working for the public. Therefore, I suggest setting up a political council and regularly appointing a group of important ministers to serve as ministers of the council. Your Majesty and the ministers of the council will nominate officials and decide on important matters. There will be an odd number of ministers of the council and the emperor. Each minister of the council will have one vote, and the emperor will make the final decision!"

"In order to prevent the Council of State from monopolizing power, the term of office of each Council of State shall not exceed ten years. Every five years, the emperor must reappoint the Council of State to prevent the emperor from favoring one person for too long. The number of Council of State shall not exceed nine. In this way, the emperor can know their background and observe their dynamics. Moreover, since they are the Council of State, they are important officials of the country and can only be in this position if they are virtuous. They will naturally care about the country and the people and the grace of the king!"

Xia Yan stepped forward and reported at this time.

Council Office?
Minister of State?

Zhu Houzhao thought about it and understood what Xia Yan meant. The Ming Dynasty had no prime minister system, which meant there was no decision-making body. Although the cabinet had this function, it could not directly represent the power of the prime minister. For a superpower empire, it would not work without a decision-making body that could coordinate the overall situation.

When the emperor was young, he was smart and capable and could serve as a decision maker himself.

But he is old now, and there will inevitably be lazy kings in future generations. Having a decision-making body to manage the world for the emperor is naturally to prevent the world from losing order or being taken advantage of by merchants. However, having a prime minister means that there will be powerful ministers, which means usurpation of the throne. Xia Yan's method limits the term and time of the ministers of state affairs.

Zhu Houzhao could guess that Xia Yan's suggestions must have been influenced by the theory of a state operation model in the sacred learning, and he proposed this method.

However, Zhu Houzhao also had to admit that Xia Yan had his limitations. He still let the emperor directly appoint the ministers of state affairs. Although this was indeed for the purpose of protecting the imperial power, it still could not avoid the situation where if an incompetent emperor appointed flatterers as ministers of state affairs based on his subjective emotions, the empire would still be without a good leadership body.

This still tests whether the emperor can choose the next crown prince.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao’s ideal result was that even if the system of ministers of state affairs was established as Xia Yan suggested, the ministers of state affairs would not be appointed by the emperor, and even the emperor would not have to rely on the family inheritance system to become the emperor.

However, when Zhu Houzhao was about to say this, Xu Jin had already stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Xia Yan should be executed!"

Xu Jin's words really scared Zhu Houzhao. Xia Yan himself was also stunned and looked at Xu Jin in astonishment.

Zhu Houzhao was the first to calm down. Before Xu Jin could speak, he could guess that he could only follow Xia Yan's ideas, not to mention his own.

I'm afraid it would be difficult for all the civil servants in the court to agree to this. After all, no one wants the country to be ruled by the emperor and a few people he trusts, nor does anyone want the common people to have the final say.

"Taizu left instructions that the state should not talk about appointing a prime minister. What Xia Yan said about establishing a Council of State is no different from establishing the Secretariat, and the so-called Council of State Ministers is no different from the prime minister! Therefore, Xia Yan should be executed! In addition, the Ministry of Personnel, together with the six ministries, the Censorate, the various temples, and the Imperial College, is ordered to recommend cabinet ministers, and the ministers of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War. This is the precedent left by the previous emperor, how can it be changed without authorization! Xia Yan intended to abuse his power, so he should be executed!"

Xu Jin showed an unprecedented tough attitude, his words were very sharp, and he gnashed his teeth as if he had a blood feud with Xia Yan. Of course, the root cause was that Xu Jin was not really intolerant of Xia Yan, but he could not tolerate Xia Yan's behavior of making most civil servants lose the power to influence the court's decision-making.

"Your Majesty, I have no intention of establishing a prime minister. I just want to change the system of imperial recommendation. Although imperial recommendation is a precedent left by the previous emperor, it is not an exception. It is just a temporary expedient. The power of Tai'a is originally in the hands of Your Majesty, so it is naturally up to your holy judgment!"

Xia Yan glared at Xu Jin. He was just making some suggestions based on the actual situation of the court, but he didn't expect Xu Jin to directly ask the emperor to kill him. This made Xia Yan's disgust for Xu Jin even more.

"Xia Qing did not intend to re-appoint the Prime Minister. Even if there is such an intention, he cannot be killed! I have already stated that innocent people cannot be killed without authorization, and human life cannot be taken away at will. You, Xu Jin, are the leader of the Qingliu, how can you say the word "kill" in vain!"

Zhu Houzhao then questioned Xu Jin coldly. He knew that Xu Jin's idea was that I disagree with your point of view, so I will kill you. But as an emperor, although he had his own ideas of governing the country, he did not want to see party disputes in the empire. Therefore, he also disliked these uncivilized officials who had the idea that if you disagree with me, you are my enemy.

Xu Jin did not expect that he would be criticized by Zhu Houzhao. For a moment, he could not help but secretly admire that Xia Yan was really favored by the emperor. At the same time, he also knew that the emperor obviously agreed with Xia Yan's opinion. But the more so, Xu Jin felt that he should not let Xia Yan's idea succeed.

"I will follow your Majesty's instructions. However, regarding the issue of imperial nomination today, I actually think that there is nothing wrong with imperial nomination. The real problem lies in the people. This is because the officials selected by the court are mostly based on utilitarianism, not morality. Therefore, it is difficult for the officials recommended by the court to be honest. Therefore, I think that instead of changing the imperial nomination, we should clean up the government, strictly select officials, and make morality the first priority in the selection. A gentleman should govern the country and correct the root cause!"

At this time, Xu Jin did not dare to force the emperor to kill Xia Yan. He just changed the subject and expressed his views on the fraud in the court recommendation. In addition, according to him, there was no drawback in the court recommendation. The real cause of the current result was the wrong officials appointed by the court.

Xu Jin did not dare to say explicitly that it was wrong for the court to evaluate officials based on their political achievements, but in order to prevent the emperor from blaming the current phenomenon on the court, he only said that the court should still focus on the moral character of officials.

"It is easy to do good, but difficult to do evil. Throughout history, how many people have the highest moral character like a saint? Your Majesty, I think it is a fool's dream to entrust the safety of the Ming Dynasty to the noble character of officials. Moreover, the person who proposed this idea is either a pedantic person or a hypocrite who is loyal but treacherous!"

Xia Yan responded to Xu Jin rudely.

Zhu Houzhao could also smell the gunpowder between the two men, and he knew that it was difficult to ask a person to be a saint and expect him to keep giving. After all, idealists have always been a minority. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also knew that Xu Jin's purpose in saying this could not be to prevent the majority of civil servants from losing their goal of controlling the imperial power through the court system.

"Although moral character is important, it is difficult to set a standard. Moreover, serving the people requires more than just moral character and talent. As a central figure, one can only observe the results. The court's reforms have been discussed here first, so let's disperse."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and did not continue the discussion with the two men. As for Xu Jin, he naturally had nothing to say, knowing that this guy was not an official who would sit in the middle position. Xia Yan's proposal gave him inspiration, but Zhu Houzhao did not immediately decide to change it. After all, adding a decision-making body was not a trivial matter, and he had to consider it carefully.

Xia Yan couldn't hide his disgust for Xu Jin, so when the two came out, Xia Yan snorted and said, "Mr. Xu is not a gentleman either, why force others to be a gentleman!"

"The Prime Minister is not a villain, how can you insist that everyone in the world is a villain!"

Xu Jin replied and smiled coldly. In Xu Jin's heart, he actually didn't take Xia Yan seriously.

Because in his opinion, Xia Yan was a man who got things done and would not pose a threat to his own civil service group. Moreover, a new emperor chooses new ministers, and Xia Yan would not be able to serve as prime minister for many years. What Xu Jin really wanted to get rid of now was the Western Factory and some nerds in the civil service group who did not follow the crowd, such as Hai Rui.

Unconsciously, a rumor began to spread in the capital, saying that the reason why Hou Lu dared to manipulate the court was because he had the support of a palace eunuch behind him, and this palace eunuch was none other than Gao Zhong, the governor of the Western Factory. Gao Zhong's original intention was not to manipulate the court, but to use this incident to weaken the power of the outer court and frame Xu Jin, the leader of the Qingliu. Otherwise, Hou Lu would not have confessed out Wei Ying as soon as he entered the imperial prison, and said that he was a Qingke disciple of Lord Xu.

As a result, some civil servants and scholars began to be misled by this and started to shift the attention from the scandal of fraud in the court to the eunuchs framing loyal officials. For some children from wealthy bureaucratic families, this view was naturally very easy for them to accept.

"The rise of the merchant class, their attempt to control government affairs and further exploit the common people, are all fabricated lies by treacherous villains who want to confuse the public!

Let me ask, how could an ordinary businessman with no power or position be able to control the government? There must be powerful officials behind this who are instigating this. The so-called class antagonism is nothing but nonsense. Even if there are profit-seeking businessmen, there are also those who value Confucianism and uphold morality. Moreover, businessmen provide jobs so that the poor in the city do not have to worry about food and clothing. How can this be considered exploitation of them!

According to some people from humble backgrounds, wouldn't it be better if there were no merchants in the world? If so, who would provide them with job opportunities? Therefore, the fact that the imperial election fraud was manipulated by merchants was nothing more than an accident. Its essence was that the eunuchs could not tolerate the upright officials in the court! "

Some scholars who supported businessmen began to use this opportunity to express their views.

There are even more and more people supporting this view.

After all, among the scholars, those who benefited from commercial capital still accounted for the majority. Moreover, even the children of common people, once they have studied and have their own industries, will forget the hard days of their parents or themselves who were exploited by the rich and had to work overtime and die but still could not get rich. In addition, the welfare benefits of the court are getting better and better, and the control over merchants is also stricter, so many children of common people do not have much painful experience of being exploited, and begin to cheer for the merchants who provide them with favors.

Of course, many scholars who were influenced by new ideas and had their own thoughts began to criticize this view.

In any case, among the people, various opinions are beginning to become increasingly contradictory.

……

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial written by Censor Lu Kai impeaching Gao Zhong, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the governor of the Western Factory, and requesting the court to conduct a thorough investigation into Gao Zhong's false accusation against Xu Jin." Because it was an impeachment of the Imperial Household Department, Left Censor-in-Chief Ni Song personally delivered the memorial to the emperor.

After Zhu Houzhao took a look, he thought to himself, "Ni Song submitted the impeachment memorial against Gao Zhong so quickly, but the impeachment memorial against the court corruption took a long time. I don't believe you have no stance. I'm afraid you are still in the same boat with Xu Jin!"

Thanks to book friend Ling Yanchuan for the 500 starting coins reward. Thank you to book friend 201709051326435 for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to book friend Ai Xigua and Coke for the 100 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)