I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

December 8th, afternoon.

Shen Nian received an imperial edict from the court, granting him permission to enter the cabinet to participate in state affairs and concurrently serve as Minister of Personnel, in recognition of his contributions to the development of Ji and Liao. He was to return to the capital after the New Year to rectify the administration of officials and the affairs of the nation.

He entered the cabinet and was appointed Minister of Personnel, which meant he held great power.

Like Gao Gong back then, he was not the chief minister, but his real power exceeded that of the chief minister.

Based on Shen Nian's current political achievements and public support, his power upon returning to the court will surpass that of Zhang Juzheng, who was at the pinnacle of power.

After receiving the imperial decree, Shen Nian's mood was not greatly affected, as he had already made thorough preparations.

Next, he would talk to Hai Rui, Li Chengliang, and Fang Fengshi about how to transform the Zhu family's rule into a rule for all the people, and seek their advice.

He plans to return to Beijing on January 2nd next year, traveling entirely by land, and expects to arrive in the capital in about half a month.

His family, including Hai Rui, will remain in Liaodong.

In the following days, after finishing her work, Shen Nian began to spend all her time with her family.

His return to Beijing this time is either a success or a death sentence; the risk is extremely high.

Shen Nian would not allow his family to take the risk with him. If they failed, he would immediately send his family to Eastern Harbor, which was the retreat Shen Nian had planned for himself.

……

On the second day of the first month of the sixteenth year of the Wanli reign, early in the morning.

Liaoyang City, in front of the city gate.

After bidding farewell to her family, Shen Nian set off for Beijing with Qi Hu and a group of guards.

On the city gate tower, Hai Rui, with his white hair and beard but still looking very robust, watched the returning procession and murmured to himself, "The Ming Dynasty should belong to all the people of the world. It should not rise and fall because of imperial power. This world needs to change!"

……

On the 18th day of the first lunar month, around noon, the weather was clear and cold.

Shen Nian appeared outside Anding Gate in the north of the city with a group of guards.

Emperor Wanli ordered five Grand Secretaries—Shen Shixing, Yu Youding, Wang Jiaping, Xu Guo, and Shen Yiguan—to personally welcome Shen Nian, giving him the utmost respect.

That's why he did it.

On the one hand, he felt guilty towards Shen Nian, and on the other hand, the current court urgently needed Shen Nian to rectify it, and only Shen Nian could do so.

If things aren't rectified soon, the Ming Dynasty will truly descend into chaos.

In front of the city gate.

Upon seeing the five cabinet ministers whom she hadn't seen for a long time, Shen Nian couldn't help but dismount.

Grand Secretary Shen Shi walked up to Shen Nian and gave her a big hug.

"Ziheng, I am incompetent and ashamed!" Shen Shixing said with a helpless expression.

In just three years, the new policies were almost completely abolished. If it weren't for the booming development of Ji and Liao, the court probably wouldn't even be able to pay the salaries of officials in the capital.

"Leave the rest to me!" Shen Nian said, patting Shen Shixing on the back.

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by the five Grand Secretaries, Shen Nian rode into the city. The people of the city spontaneously stood on both sides of the street, shouting: Grand Secretary Shen! Grand Secretary Shen!
The sound was like a mountain roaring and a tsunami crashing, echoing through the sky.

This is Shen Nian's prestige.

Over the past three years, Shen Nian's contributions to Jiliao have been widely recognized. In particular, in contrast to the current state of decline, Shen Nian's return to the capital is to save the Ming Dynasty.

The cabinet minister Shen Yiguan, who followed behind, had a dark face.

He disliked that a cabinet minister received such treatment; in his eyes, wasn't this just the next Zhang Juzheng?
……

About half an hour later, Shen Nian arrived at the forbidden area.

He changed into his official robes and, led by Shi Qing, the commander of the Imperial City Guards, arrived at the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

The current Wanli Emperor is too lazy to even go to the Wenhua Hall.

Then, Shen Nian heard Xiao Wanli's voice through the screen.

The current young Wanli Emperor is unwilling to even show his face when Shen Nian comes to pay his respects.

The emperor and his minister chatted in the East Warm Pavilion for about fifteen minutes before Shen Nian quickly left.

No one knows what the emperor and his minister said, but soon the other five cabinet ministers received an imperial edict: Shen Nian shall make decisions on matters outside the inner court, including the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

This imperial edict granted Shen Nian even more domineering power than Zhang Juzheng.

……

On the 20th day of the first month, Shen Nian, in the name of the cabinet, ordered the cabinet ministers to jointly launch the capital inspection with the Ministry of Personnel in order to reform the bureaucracy.

at the same time.

Wang Xijue, the former cabinet minister who had been dismissed, was reinstated as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and tasked with reforming the censors and officials in charge of remonstrance.

……

On the tenth day of the second month, the cabinet was on duty.

Shen Yiguan stormed into Shen Nian's room.

"Grand Secretary Shen, I support the capital inspection, but the intensity of your inspection is far too great. Nearly 40% of the officials in the capital have been dismissed, transferred to other posts, or demoted. Some of these young officials have been in office for less than five years and have only experience as prefectural or county officials. What qualifications do they have to hold important positions in the capital? Furthermore, why can the treasury funds of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works only be disbursed after your approval? Isn't what you're doing too domineering?"

Shen Nian stood up and looked at Shen Yiguan.

"Grand Secretary Shen, a serious illness requires strong medicine. His Majesty has appointed me as Minister of Personnel, which gives me the authority to transfer officials throughout the country. If you are dissatisfied, then produce evidence. Otherwise, I have no time to argue with you!"

"You...you...you're running a one-man show! You're trying to monopolize power! You...you want to be the prime minister!"

Shen Nian snorted coldly and ignored him.

In the past, he would reason with Shen Yiguan, but now, since they have different paths, they cannot work together. Shen Nian will deal directly with anyone who tries to stop him from doing things.

Seeing that Shen Nian ignored him, Shen Yiguan immediately turned and left.

……

The next morning, Shen Yiguan wrote a memorial impeaching Shen Nian for monopolizing power in the court.

Emperor Wanli immediately withheld the memorial, claiming it was a fabricated story.

At the same time, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing of the Directorate of Ceremonial were very honest and dared not engage in any political activities.

Two days later.

A group of censors from the Censorate jointly impeached Shen Yiguan for allegedly forming a faction, and presented a great deal of evidence.

Emperor Wanli adopted Shen Nian's suggestion, dismissed Shen Yiguan from all his official posts, and ordered him to return to his hometown to live in seclusion. He left the capital that same day.

……

In February, the capital inspection concluded, and Shen Nian replaced almost half of the officials in the capital with those who supported the new policies and were capable of implementing them.

In March, Shen Nian began to rectify local officialdom, reinstate the performance evaluation system, and reorganize the recurring land annexation, the abolished Single Whip Law, and the post station regulations. He also began to vigorously develop commerce, abolish the exorbitant taxes on industry and commerce, completely lift the sea ban, and supplement the imperial treasury.

In April, Shen Nian began to reorganize the Beijing Garrison, promoting his confidants to the position of Commander-in-Chief, reducing the original 100,000 troops to 80,000, entrusting important responsibilities to the generals trained by the Jingwu Academy, and putting all military power except for the Imperial Guard and the State Security Bureau in the hands of the Cabinet and the Ministry of War. Then, he vigorously developed firearms.

In May, Shen Nian completely stripped the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard of their independent case-handling powers, abolished the Embroidered Uniform Guard's investigative powers, and further expanded the power of the Censorate.

In June, Shen Nian began to reorganize the imperial family and nobles, transferring many of their sons to positions on the border and stripping them of their actual power in the capital.

……

Shen Nian did all this without any objection from the young Wanli Emperor, because at this moment, he had no concern for the Ming Dynasty; he only wanted to enjoy himself comfortably in the harem for the rest of his life.

During this period, Shen Nian's domineering behavior also aroused the dissatisfaction of officials, but they only had two choices: compromise or resign.

……

In the blink of an eye, it was October.

During Shen Nian's nearly ten months of reforms, the imperial court in the capital regained its vitality, and the entire two capitals and thirteen provinces were developing in a positive direction.

Some have even begun to say that Shen Ge Lao's achievements are worthy of the position of prime minister.

...On the first day of November, Shen Nian put forward a new idea at the cabinet meeting.

He believed that if the Ming Dynasty was to continue to prosper, relying on systems was better than relying on people.

He suggested establishing the Great Ming Court Assembly in the capital, setting up councils in the provinces, and establishing council offices in prefectures, counties, and townships. These councils would be composed of officials, gentry, businesspeople, and representatives of the people, who would pool their wisdom and opinions to supervise government offices, appoint and dismiss officials, implement new policies according to local conditions, develop agriculture, industry, commerce, and trade, and form a pattern of governance jointly by officials and the people.

Shen Nian's actions were naturally aimed at increasing the power of the cabinet and gradually undermining the imperial power, so that the power of the scholar-officials in the Ming Dynasty would be granted by the system rather than by the emperor.

Shen Nian's suggestion was quickly approved by the officials, and deliberative bodies were gradually established from the capital to the local areas. After a six-month trial period, it was decided whether to make it a permanent system.

……

Before we knew it, it was the end of December.

That year, officials in the capital were all very busy, especially the five cabinet ministers, who hardly had a single day off.

At the same time, many people suddenly realized that the Ming Dynasty, without direct emperor control, might have been more free and prosperous.

……

December 28th, afternoon.

Cabinet Office.

The five Grand Secretaries, Shen Shixing, Shen Nian, Yu Youding, Wang Jiaping, and Xu Guo, gathered together to discuss the political plans for the coming year.

The Ming Dynasty at present has gradually recovered to the vitality it had in the tenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign.

Shen Nian's idea is to focus on developing commerce and trade next year, continue to expand the power of the Ming Dynasty's council and local councils, make all systems and regulations more transparent, and carry out cultural promotion to make this "co-governance" model deeply rooted in people's hearts, so that officials across the country believe that the power of the scholar-officials does not come from the imperial power, but from the system, and that the system is controlled by the Ming Dynasty's council, which protects the interests of the majority of the people.

As dusk approached, Shen Nian was exhausted after finishing the cabinet meeting. Just as he was about to go home and get a good night's sleep, a eunuch came to the cabinet and said that the young Wanli Emperor had urgent business to attend to and wanted to see Shen Nian.

Shen Nian was taken aback.

Since his return to the capital, Emperor Wanli had never summoned him on his own initiative; he always requested an audience with the emperor himself.

When Shen Nian pressed for the reason, the eunuch only said that there was an urgent matter, but could not explain why. He just urged Shen Nian to go to Qianqing Palace as soon as possible.

This gave Shen Nian a bad feeling.

He thought for a moment, then claimed he needed to use the restroom. He returned to his duty room and placed a small firearm hidden in a secret compartment at his waist.

This firearm was specially made for Shen Nian by the firearms battalion and can fire seven bullets at once.

Shen Nian was not wary of the young Wanli Emperor, but rather of the eunuchs Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing from the Directorate of Ceremonial.

That year, Shen Nian continuously reduced the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial, almost stripping it of all its power outside the palace.

Shen Nian also found evidence of the two men's corruption and abuse of power. The reason she did not take action against them was because of the sake of the young Wanli Emperor.

If the two of them were to attack him, Shen Nian would have already prepared a backup plan.

A moment later, Shen Nian whispered a few words to a trusted confidant, who immediately understood and quickly walked outside.

A moment later, Shen Nian arrived in front of the Qianqing Palace.

Just as Shen Nian was about to enter, Fang Ping, a eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial and a former student of Shen Nian's in the Inner Academy, shook his head at Shen Nian.

He had sensed danger inside, but there wasn't time to warn Shen Nian.

Shen Nian smiled slightly and strode inside.

At that moment, the Imperial Guards responsible for guarding the Qianqing Palace not far away quickly changed shifts and took action.

Shi Qing, the commander of the Imperial City Guard, had already secretly arranged everything. As long as Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing did anything improper, Shi Qing's men would eliminate all of their subordinates.

For Shen Nian, this was also a great opportunity to get rid of these two wicked eunuchs.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Shen Nian walked into the side hall.

At this moment, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing walked in.

Zhang Cheng looked at Shen Nian and said coldly, "By order of His Majesty, Grand Secretary Shen Nian has shown contempt for the monarch, seized power, and plotted to usurp the throne. We are ordered to kill him on the spot!"

Swish!Swish!Swish!
Several eunuchs rushed in.

"Make your move!" Zhang Jing said coldly, believing that as long as they killed Shen Nian, they could regain their original power.

The moment he finished speaking.

Several eunuchs held their knives to the necks of the eunuchs beside them and killed them with a single blow.

At the same time, Shi Qing and Fang Ping led a group of people in and rushed in.

Shen Nian had already arranged everything. Most of the people around Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing were Shen Nian's people.

Shen Nian looked at the two of them.

“Originally, I was prepared to spare your lives because of your service to His Majesty, but I didn’t expect you to be so ungrateful. What a pity!” Shen Nian said, shaking his head.

Just then, Zhang Jing, who was very close to Shen Nian, suddenly pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and stabbed at Shen Nian.

The moment Shi Qing charged at him, Shen Nian drew the firearm from his waist.

boom!
Zhang Jing was shot through the chest and fell to the ground with a thud. Zhang Cheng, who was standing next to him, was so frightened that he immediately lay down on the ground.

Shen Nian looked at Fang Ping and said, "Fang Ping, explain all this to His Majesty!"

After saying that, Shen Nian turned and left.

……

Before we knew it, it was June of the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign.

After a six-month trial period, the system of court deliberations was highly efficient, satisfied the common interests of the majority, and even the expenses for small projects such as bridge repairs and road paving required the approval of councilors, making it open and transparent. It was met with great acclaim from both officials and the people, and Shen Nian decided to establish it as a permanent system for officials and the people of the Ming Dynasty.

On July 20th, the Imperial Treasury was completely abolished by a collective vote of the members of the Ming Dynasty's parliament. All expenses of the palace were to be allocated by the Ministry of Revenue, which was supervised by the cabinet. Without the consent of the Ming Dynasty's parliament, the emperor had no right to levy taxes or use the national treasury's money and grain.

This policy has a great restraining effect on imperial power. At present, the new policies, financial power, military power and even ideology of the Ming Dynasty are completely controlled by the Ming Court Council headed by Shen Nian.

Even if the young Wanli Emperor couldn't accept it, he had no choice but to.

At the same time, Shen Nian naturally replaced Shen Shixing and became the new Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty.

Two years later, with the complete lifting of the maritime ban and the government's strong support for trade, the Ming Dynasty's silver reserves had reached ten million taels.

People throughout the land do not know the young emperor, but they do know Chief Minister Shen.

Some local councils even advocated that Shen Nian be promoted from assistant minister to prime minister, thus completely undermining imperial power and taking control of the Ming Dynasty.

……

In the blink of an eye, it was the twentieth year of the Wanli reign, and Shen Nian had become a forty-two-year-old middle-aged man.

Mid-February.

Shen Nian, together with the members of the Ming Dynasty's council, spent three months drafting the first formal administrative code of the Ming Dynasty, entitled "The Code of the Cabinet".

The regulations altered the powers of the emperor and the chief minister under the pretext of updating ancestral rules.

First, the system still established that the emperor was the supreme head of state of the Ming Dynasty, but the actual power was given to the cabinet and the council. The emperor only retained the power to confer honorary titles on members of the imperial family and nobles, as well as the power of rituals such as sacrifices.

The cabinet would become the de facto power center of the Ming Dynasty, with the Grand Secretary holding supreme military and political power nationwide and accountable to the Imperial Council. The emperor had no right to interfere. The appointment of the Grand Secretary and other ministers was entirely the responsibility of the Ming Imperial Council. At the same time, the duties of the army were clearly defined: the army's mission was to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, not to the monarch, and the rule of law was advocated over the rule of man.

After the "Cabinet Regulations" were promulgated nationwide, Shen Nian immediately ordered the Ming Dynasty's parliament to draft a new "Constitution of the Great Ming" to replace the "Great Ming Code" and many ancestral constitutions. The most significant changes were the addition of clauses protecting the property, freedom of speech, freedom of business, and freedom of election of ordinary people, aiming to achieve equality for all and equitable rights and responsibilities.

After learning all this, the young Wanli Emperor was powerless to resist, and even if Shen Nian changed dynasties, the people of the Ming Dynasty would probably cheer with joy.

He could only accept it all. The fact that Shen Nian didn't change his reign title was actually the greatest respect she could show him.

……

Afternoon of the 28th year of the Wanli reign.

Fifty-year-old Shen Nian sat in the cabinet office, picked up a brush, and signed his name on a document entitled "Permanent Exemption of Taxes and Grain for the Whole World".

He let out a long breath and murmured, "I have made sure that all the people of the world can have enough to eat!"

Two days later, the "Edict of Permanent Tax and Grain Exemption for the Entire Nation" was promulgated throughout the land, and the people rejoiced, shouting: "May the sun and moon shine together, and may the Great Ming Dynasty live long!"
……

This book is finished. (End of this chapter)