Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 102 Civilian Checks and Balances
"Is it okay for civil officials to check and balance civil officials?" Zhu Cihong was a little skeptical.

Chongzhen didn't answer but asked instead: "Lang'er, my father asked you, why is there a rule that officials from the Ministry of Officials are not allowed to join the cabinet?"

"This minister knows." Zhu Cijiong hurriedly replied, "Because the officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs hold the right to select officials below the fourth rank, once the officials of the Ministry of Officials are allowed to join the cabinet and become the chief assistant of the cabinet, then they can use it." The power of election is forcibly implemented, and those who have different political opinions will be suppressed and excluded. In this way, the official position of the imperial court has become the private transfer of the cabinet chief and assistant, and the trusted officials of the cabinet chief and assistant will become high-level officials. , the imperial court will become a court of speech, and the chief assistant will become a powerful minister!"

Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong with a smile: "Lang'er, do you understand the crux of the problem now?"

"My son understands." Zhu Cihong's face flushed red, suppressing his excitement and said, "The right to elect an official locks the way for the chief minister of the cabinet to become a powerful minister. If the right to vote does not fall into the hands of the Ministry of Officials, then the civil servants who were born as secretaries and supervisors will become another civil servant group independent of the existing civil servant group, and these two civil servant groups are naturally political enemies because they have a lot of power. Big overlap!"

Zhu Cihong has undoubtedly found some ways to govern the country.

Governing the country is difficult to say, but it is not difficult to say that it is not difficult. It is nothing more than financial power plus personnel power, and military power belongs to another dimension.

As long as the financial power and personnel power are grasped, no matter how bad an emperor is, he will not be so bad, at least he will not be enshrined as a memorial tablet by the civil servants, and because there are civil officials from his own side in front to attract the firepower of the other civil officials, so There is no need to worry about falling into the water or being strangled to death by the maid.

Chongzhen smiled and asked again: "Then my father will ask you again, is it better to use eunuchs to check and balance civil officials, or is it better to use civil officials to check and balance civil officials?"

Zhu Cihong said without hesitation: "Naturally it is better for the civil officials to check and balance the civil officials."

Zhu Cihong undoubtedly agrees with Chongzhen, eunuchs tend to be more greedy because of their physical defects.

"But there is also a problem." Zhu Cijiong said with a frown, "The civil servants of the secretary supervisor are encroaching on the authority of the twelve supervisors, four divisions and eight bureaus of the inner court, so they will inevitably enter and leave the harem, so it is inevitable that they will have contact with the concubine."

Good guy, Zhu Cijiong is worried that the civil servants in charge of the secretary will cuckold the emperor.

"This matter is simple." Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "The power of the inner court belongs to the new secretary supervisor, and the eunuch still belongs to the eunuch."

That is to say, the powers of the twelve supervisors, four divisions and eight bureaus of the inner court were separated from the eunuchs, and the secretaries and supervisors were replaced by officials working outside the Forbidden City. The eunuchs were only responsible for the communication between the secretaries and the emperor and rough work in the harem , This perfectly avoids the contact between the secretary, supervisor and civil servant and the concubine.

More importantly, the eunuch has since bid farewell to power.

Another is that the new civil servant group that replaced the eunuchs will also be incompatible with the old civil servant group, because public power is naturally exclusive, and overlapping powers will inevitably lead to fights.

Overlapping powers will inevitably lead to internal friction and a decline in efficiency.

But Chongzhen is confident in controlling the rhythm. At the beginning, the secretary and supervisor must not encroach on too many powers, that is, to exercise military powers such as farming, regiment training, etc., and at most add a water transport, that is, a limited amount of encroachment. Some of the powers of the Ministry of War, the old civil servants will definitely not tear themselves apart with him because of this.

When the secretary has become a climate and has the ability to compete with the old civil servants, there is nothing to worry about.

At that time, if the old civil servants are willing to compromise, that would be the best. If they are not willing to compromise, then they will be uprooted directly, and the old civil servants will be completely replaced by the new civil servants, so as to completely clean up the official circles of Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen's idea is good, but there is still a problem.

If this problem cannot be solved, this vision will be nothing but fantasy.

Zhu Cihong realized this problem, and suddenly said: "There is still a problem."

"What's the problem?" Zhu Cijiong said disapprovingly, "I think it's fine."

Zhu Cihong said: "The reason why my father set up a secretarial supervisor is because the current civil servants are rotten and useless, because they have been corrupted by the bad habits of the officialdom, and they only know how to collude."

"But the civil servants of the secretary are also civil servants, and they can only be selected from among the existing officials."

"Who can guarantee that the elected officials will not be corrupted by bad officialdom?"

"Who can guarantee that they will come out of the mud without pollution, and will not join forces with the old civil servants? I am afraid that no one can make this guarantee? In fact, it is impossible."

"Really." Zhu Cijiong was stunned.

"Then don't choose from among existing officials."

Chongzhen said: "Select directly from the scholars."

"Choose from the scholars?" Zhu Cihong was stunned, "Let the scholars become officials directly?"

"It's just a petty official, not even an official, but a petty official." Chongzhen said thoughtfully, "Even so, the scholars must be strictly screened and tempered."

"Tempering?" Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong were confused.

In fact, Chongzhen had already made overall arrangements for this.

This will be a tempering of blood and fire enough to be recorded in history.

The conversation between the father and son came to an end, and Wang Chengen came in to report: "Long Live Lord, Du Yinxi, the censor of the capital of Youqin and the censor of Tuntian, asks for an audience."

"Du Yinxi?" Chongzhen frowned.

"He's not farming in Xuzhou, what is he doing in Liucheng?"

Wang Cheng'en said: "There is an urgent military situation about water transportation."

"Water transport?" Chongzhen's expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Bring him in."

When Du Yinxi came in, he made a big salute first, then got up and said, "My lord, Xuzhou is about to run out of food!"

"What? Xuzhou is about to run out of food?" Chongzhen almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and said in disbelief, "How is it possible? From the time point of view, the fourth batch of grain should have arrived, right? Just count as a batch of 20 shi , the grain grains transported to Xuzhou before and after add up to 68 shi, how can you eat them all?"

Du Yinxi smiled wryly and said: "My lord, Cao Liang only shipped two batches of 28 shi."

"Huh?" Chongzhen's expression collapsed in an instant, and only two batches of 28 stones were shipped?That is to say, since he left, no grain has arrived?This is a little too much.

"Have you sent someone to Shanyang to collect food?"

"Sent, and sent six groups of people, but have not received a reply."

"What's the meaning of no reply? Did you get it from Caoliang, and when you can get it to Xuzhou, you should always tell you, the censor of Tuntian?"

Chongzhen was already very angry.

Lu Zhenfei didn't take him seriously as the emperor.

Du Yinxi said: "Actually, none of the envoys sent by the minister have seen Lu Futai."

"It's unreasonable!" Chongzhen slapped the window sill again, but quickly held back his anger, because getting angry didn't help the matter, and then asked Du Yinxi, "How many refugees are here in Xuzhou now?"

"It has exceeded 80 people." Du Yinxi said solemnly.

Chongzhen's mood became more and more heavy. More than 80 people, even according to the standard of 250 grams a day, would eat almost 3000 shi of grain a day, not to mention the 14 frontier troops in the twenty-eight towns and the strong men engaged in farming 250 grams a day. The rations are not enough, so there is really not much left of the two batches of 28 shi grains shipped in before.

Chongzhen asked again: "How long can the current grain storage last?"

Du Yinxi replied: "The existing grain storage lasts up to [-] days."

"Can't we plant some melons, fruits and vegetables to fill the hole?" Chongzhen said with some dissatisfaction, "I can also collect some wild vegetables, anyway, it will last a month, right?"

Du Yinxi could hear the dissatisfaction in Chongzhen's tone, but he didn't defend himself.

In fact, he did what Chongzhen said, and he did it better than Chongzhen thought.

But it was useless. He had to supply the rations of the frontier army in the twenty-eighth town and ensure the food for more than 80 refugees.

Because from Du Yinxi's point of view, if he didn't complete the errand well, it was his dereliction of duty as the Tuntian Yushi, and he should be hit with the board, so what's the excuse?

But fortunately, Chongzhen soon realized his gaffe.

"Du Qing, I'm not angry with you, don't mind." Chongzhen said with a sigh of relief, "What makes me angry is those bureaucrats who eat vegetarian food, and the bad habits of officials including drifting."

Du Yinxi couldn't help raising his head to look at Chongzhen, hesitant to speak.

Seeing this, Chongzhen's heart was moved, and if he pointed out something: "Du Qing, do you feel the same?"

"I do have some feelings." Du Yinxi said deeply, "Whether it is in Beixin Chaoguan or the prefect of Changsha, whenever I want to do something, I always feel that there is a pair of invisible hands dragging The minister stepped back, no, no, not a pair, but countless hands are dragging the minister, wanting to drag the minister into the quagmire."

"Isn't it right to drag you into the quagmire and join them?" Chong Zhenyan pointed out.

"They call it harmony with the light." Du Yinxi smiled, and said, "But I'm not sure, because I haven't had too deep contacts with these people."

In a word, officials from Beixin Chaoguan and Changsha Mansion tried their best to drag Du Yinxi into the quagmire of corruption, but they failed. Du Yinxi resisted the temptation and remained unmoved.

If another person said that, Chongzhen could only say that I believe you are a ghost.

But when Du Yinxi said so, Chongzhen believed it, because he was a national scholar who was as good as his words and deeds!
Therefore, Du Yinxi is simply a role model for the new civil servant group, but Chongzhen did not reveal it, nor did he disclose to Du Yinxi that he was going to start a new business.

"Duqing, I already know about the Caoliang matter." Chongzhen said.

"You go back first, I'm going to go to Shanyang to urge grain."

"It's as little as half a month, as much as [-] days, and I will definitely deliver the grain."

(End of this chapter)