Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The four categories of secretaries naturally relate to the establishment of the Directorate of Secretariat, as Zhu Youjian stated:
"A working secretary assists in the work, mainly with procedural tasks such as meeting arrangements and work schedules."

"If the superior officer needs it, he can also draft documents and even share some of the superior officer's responsibilities."

"Some people are familiar with this type of secretary; they can be called clerks or advisors."

Upon hearing this familiar address, the courtiers immediately realized what was happening.

They began to understand why the emperor had established the position of secretary; it was to formalize the secretariat role into an official post.

After the position of advisor was changed to working secretary, it became a formal position. Compared to the previous ambiguous status, there were now clear regulations.

In the future, the powers and responsibilities of a working secretary will be regulated.

This was also an important part of reforming the rites and music, bringing everyone into the order of rites and laws.

Liu Zongzhou immediately offered his support:

"The status of officials' staff is uncertain, and their authority is ambiguous."

"I believe that they should be included in the official system and their ranks should be determined."

Qian Qianyi also said:
"During the Three Kingdoms, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, powerful ministers frequently usurped the throne because they transformed their advisors into officials and transferred the authority of the court to their private offices."

"I believe we should learn from this lesson and prevent powerful ministers from seizing power through their advisors."

Zhu Youjian nodded and said:

"The status and power of staff should indeed be defined."

"To prevent them from infringing on our rights, I believe that our advisors should be appointed by the court, or at least reported to the authorities."

"The secretaries of the imperial court were appointed to serve as staff members and to determine their ranks."

"From now on, staff members will no longer be positions with a beard, but will have official titles and ranks."

They accepted Liu Zongzhou's suggestion and, based on Qian Qianyi's advice, ensured that the court officials dared not object.

Otherwise, they would be questioned: Why are you opposing this yourselves? Are you trying to seize power?

With the suspicion that employing advisors would make them powerful ministers, many officials had to swallow their words.

The transformation of staff members into secretaries became a policy of the imperial court.

Zhu Youjian addressed his ministers:

"Different officials have different duties, so different secretaries can be assigned to officials of different ranks."

"My idea is that, in principle, lower-ranking officials and their subordinates should not have secretaries."

"Officials below the fifth rank are mainly composed of scholars and literati, and one or two of them can be employed."

"After serving for nine years, the supervising official may recommend one person for an official position and assume the responsibility of the recommendation."

"High-ranking officials of the fifth rank or above may employ a Juren (successful candidate in the imperial examination) as their secretary."

"The lowest rank is the ninth grade, and the highest is the seventh grade, which is equivalent to the Zhongshu Sheren (a high-ranking official in the Imperial Secretariat)."

"This corresponds to the proverb 'even a seventh-rank official is in front of the prime minister's gate,' which is in line with their status."

This was tantamount to giving staff members the opportunity to become officials, and also giving officials the power to recommend them.

They welcomed this, but were somewhat resistant to the idea of ​​the court assigning secretaries.

Guo Yunhou, Minister of Personnel, said:

"Since a secretary is a staff member, he should be chosen by the master of the house."

"But since they are officials, how should they be appointed?"

Zhu Youjian smiled upon hearing this and explained his arrangements:

"My idea is to have the Secretariat establish directly subordinate secretariats in various regions to be responsible for the arrangement of secretaries."

"All secretaries must be appointed by the imperial court and have ranks determined by their abilities."

"Of course, the officials' right to choose must also be respected. They can choose secretaries from the personnel arranged by the Secretariat, or they can recommend their own candidates and train them at the Secretariat."

"If there are multiple secretaries, at least one of them will be appointed by the Director of the Imperial Secretariat."

This request was quite lenient. Although the officials did not want the emperor to have people assigned to their sides, they eventually accepted it after considering the guards they already had.

Many people decided to change the guards to security secretaries, which would meet the requirements.

This was also Zhu Youjian's purpose: to openly and legitimately place personnel around officials.

At the same time, he wanted to arrange more, for example, confidential secretaries, which he hoped would be arranged by the Embroidered Uniform Guard:

"Confidential secretaries are responsible for classified documents, especially secret memorials with silver seals, which must be handled by confidential secretaries dispatched by the imperial court."

“Every minister must have a secretariat and must be trained by the Security Department to master skills such as encrypted communication and classification management.”

"When taking classified documents out of the workplace, a confidential secretary must accompany the person."

"Foreign exchanges and confidential conversations should also be recorded by confidential secretaries. Deliberately concealing information is considered deceiving the emperor."

Strict restrictions were imposed on confidential secretaries; if a minister recommended someone who could not pass the training provided by the Bureau of Secrecy, then the secretary had no choice but to obey the court's arrangements.

Especially for those with the authority to submit secret reports with silver seals, such matters had to be arranged by the imperial court.

Unless they reject this power and do not want to establish direct contact with the emperor.

Many of the court officials present possessed this power. Upon hearing this, they all felt a pang of bitterness, realizing that even confidential secretaries needed to be appointed by the court.

It's hard to say whether the security secretary will still need to be appointed by the imperial court; some people are already planning to replace him with their own family members.

However, the emperor's next words made them realize that it was best to use someone from the imperial court for security secretaries, as their own people might not be able to handle the task:

"The security secretary is responsible for security and protection. In addition to guard duties, he also arranges trivial matters such as social security and medical insurance."

"A security secretary must be at least a mid-level martial artist and have a weapon license to legally possess weapons."

"They also need to acquire the necessary medical and health knowledge and urge officials to undergo regular physical examinations."

"In the future, the court will arrange a private doctor for each minister and establish medical records."

This was entirely a benefit for the ministers, and they all felt they shouldn't refuse.

Hiring a secretary like that yourself would cost a lot of money.

When the topic turned to money, Zhu Youjian continued:

"The appointment of working secretaries and personal secretaries should respect the wishes of the chief official. If the chief official is unavailable, they should be selected from the Secretariat."

"Confidential secretaries and security secretaries should, in principle, obey the arrangements of the imperial court. However, if they have their own candidates, they can also recommend them for the positions, but they must undergo training."

"The four types of secretaries are trained and assigned by the Secretariat, Logistics Department, Confidential Affairs Department and Security Department respectively."

"Officials who choose their own secretaries receive their own salaries, while secretaries appointed by the imperial court receive subsidies from the inner court."

This decision finally made the court officials realize where the emperor's hidden agenda lay.

It turns out that he wanted to bribe the people around his ministers by spending money.

Some officials are extremely wealthy and don't care about these expenses.

However, some officials who were short of money felt they had nothing to hide and were naturally happy to accept the arrangements made by the Director of the Secretariat.

For Zhu Youjian, this was not a loss, because he originally intended to increase the expenditure of the Imperial Funds Commission for public welfare and public undertakings.

Paying salaries to officials was naturally included in this calculation, to avoid any questions about whether the royal family's property was public property. At the same time, these secretaries would allow Zhu Youjian to understand the movements of officials and the political landscape.

If necessary, Zhu Youjian could even have his secretary temporarily fill in for certain officials during martial law.

It can be said that the Secretariat was his backup plan for officialdom. As long as officials of the seventh rank or above had secretaries arranged by the Secretariat, he was not worried about the country falling out of control.

Even within the cabinet, the Director of the Secretariat could be replaced. This is why the cabinet has always been extremely wary of the Secretariat.

However, Zhu Youjian does not intend to use this point at present, so he allows the cabinet and the inner court to jointly control the Secretariat.
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After confirming these, Zhu Youjian also made changes to the other government offices that were included in the Zhongshu Jian (the Secretariat).

The main change is that the Pedestrian Affairs Bureau has been renamed the Pedestrian Office, and the title "Bureau" is no longer used.

The newly established offices of the imperial court were basically designated as fifth-rank offices. Many government offices that were previously called offices were renamed.

However, the name Shangbaosi was retained because this office happened to be a fifth-rank official. Officials of Shangbaosi were usually sons of ministers of the Imperial Guard. Like the Imperial Recorder, it held a relatively independent position.

The Zhongshu Ke (中书科) was renamed because its departmental rank was set at the eighth grade. It was then called Zhongshu Chu (中书处), one of the core institutions of the Zhongshu Jian (中书监), and housed the Zhongshu Sheren (中书舍人), who served the emperor.

In addition to the seventh-rank Zhongshu Sheren (Secretariat Drafters), Zhu Youjian established the seventh-rank Zhongshu Zhishi (Secretariat Administrator), who served as the leader of the Zhongshu Sheren and was responsible for a certain type of affairs.

However, regardless of rank, the term of office for officials in the Secretariat was strictly limited, with a maximum of nine years.

The cabinet hopes to use this restriction to prevent the Central Secretariat from becoming a new cabinet and threatening their position.

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval of this restriction, and then merged the two offices of Imperial Edicts and Imperial Decrees into the Imperial Decrees Office for management.

These secretaries were not ranked before, and were mainly selected from among those who had passed the imperial examinations, were students of the Imperial Academy, and were Confucian scholars.

Because they frequently handled confidential matters and would wield significant power in the future, Zhu Youjian decided that from then on, candidates would be selected at least from the list of successful candidates in the provincial examinations and from the supplementary list of those who passed the metropolitan examinations.

They were granted official positions such as the eighth-rank official Zhongshu Xingren and the seventh-rank official Zhongshu Sheren.

Few people object to this kind of naming.

However, Han Kuang suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Officials in charge of the two departments shall not be promoted to the rank of the Nine Ministers."

Will this restriction continue to be observed in the future?

Zhu Youjian hadn't really paid attention to this, and when Han Kuang mentioned it, he was surprised and said:

"What kind of restriction is this?"

Why is there this rule?

Han Kuang said:
"Only the Grand Secretary is in charge of imperial edicts."

"Although the two secretaries are familiar with imperial edicts, they are not from the Hanlin Academy, so they are not allowed to covet the position of prime minister."

Zhu Youjian now understood; it was a restriction imposed on those who were not Jinshi graduates.

These secretaries frequently interacted with the Grand Secretaries and were very helpful in officialdom.

If there were no restrictions, they could potentially rise to the rank of minister or prime minister, so this rule was established in the first year of the Longqing reign.

Zhu Youjian had no intention of violating this rule, because giving important positions to these people would be unfair to the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

However, he wouldn't leave the officials of the Secretariat without a way out, and after considering it, he said:

“If a Zhongshu Sheren, no, all officials of the Zhongshu Jian, are specially granted the title of Yuanshi for their merits, they are exempt from this restriction.”

"Those who have not been granted the title of Yuanshi shall not serve as ministers or prime ministers."

"But once you become a Yuanshi (a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations), this restriction no longer applies. If you pass the Hanlin Academy examination as a Yuanshi, you may even become a Grand Scholar."

"Secretaries and staff who have no experience in governing a region are, in principle, not candidates for ministerial positions."

The previous restrictions were retained, but opportunities to break through them were provided.

Being a secretary can be seen as a shortcut to officialdom, but it also comes with its limitations.

Zhu Youjian then discussed with his ministers restrictions on advisors and the avoidance of personal connections, as well as the nine-year recommendation opportunity. This was to prevent certain individuals from abusing their power to recommend advisors and to promote their own people on a large scale.

Finally, Zhu Youjian established an external liaison office in the Secretariat to liaise with the offices and record-keeping departments of various government departments.

These agencies were responsible for routine official correspondence; they were the government offices that dealt with the Secretariat most frequently. The secretaries of the Secretariat also had to deal with them.

In the future, the Directorate of the Imperial Secretariat can leverage this connection to extend its authority and expand its influence.

This is also why Zhu Youjian established the Zhongshu Jian (Director of the Imperial Secretariat). Reminded by Han Kuang, he planned to use some means to strengthen his control over local areas.

The Secretariat and the local secretariats will assume this responsibility.

If an official ignores an official document, the secretariat that transmits the document and the secretary who receives it will also bear responsibility.
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After establishing the organizational structure of the Secretariat, the next step was naturally to appoint officials. Zhu Youjian said:
"The Director of the Secretariat is headed by an Associate Grand Secretary. Since there is only one Associate Grand Secretary, let Academician Cheng take on the role concurrently!"

"The one in charge of the seal of the Secretariat is Wang Chengen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. From now on, he will represent the inner court in managing the Secretariat."

Wang Chengen, who was standing in attendance, immediately expressed his gratitude upon hearing this.

After working diligently in the Inner Palace Supervisory Office for several years, his position was finally promoted.

The newly established position of Director of the Secretariat will inevitably become a pivotal one in the inner court, and may even threaten the Directorate of Ceremonial.

However, to achieve this, one needs complete control of the Secretariat.

He needs to be quite shrewd to compete with the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Thinking of this, Wang Chengen couldn't help but look at Cheng Jiming.

Cheng Jiming also received the imperial decree and expressed his gratitude, accepting the appointment.

Zhu Youjian nodded secretly, quite satisfied with this.

The Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was known as the Inner Minister, whose status was comparable to that of the Grand Secretary.

The eunuch who holds the imperial pen is comparable to a Grand Secretary; this is a widely accepted view among both the court and the public.

However, this was never explicitly stated before. Now, the positions of the Grand Secretary and the Grand Secretary are jointly held by the two officials, which can be considered to have been established.

This seemingly innocuous act effectively solidified the status of the inner court and the cabinet.

Moreover, it gave them a platform to fight: control of the Secretariat.

Zhu Youjian hoped that the inner court could be more capable and not relinquish control of the Secretariat.

To this end, he also arranged for Jinyiwei officials to be in charge of the Confidential Affairs Department and the Security Department, which were arranged by the Confidentiality Department and the Guard Department.

After the court assembly concluded, Zhu Youjian also instructed the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Embroidered Uniform Guard:

"The Director of the Imperial Secretariat must be used well."

"From now on, if there are any minor matters in the inner court, you can contact the secretary directly through the Secretariat."

"The secretaries selected by the imperial court must be well controlled, and they should be required to submit reports regularly as one of the intelligence sources for the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The Embroidered Uniform Guard should pay attention to organizing and teaching the secretaries who go to work in different places about local customs, the rules of official conduct, and so on."

"The selection of secretaries should also be carefully considered, and they should mainly be selected from the schools controlled by the inner court."

This was one of the career paths Zhu Youjian arranged for university students, allowing those without the title of Jinshi to become secretaries to officials and gain the opportunity to become officials.

The education they received in school would also influence their superiors. By allowing the older generation to be influenced by the younger generation, they could gain a better understanding of the court's policies.

This was also one of Zhu Youjian's measures to strengthen local control. Compared with some stubborn officials, the students in the academy had a better understanding of the reform of rites and music.

Graduates from schools such as the Security School, the Business School, and the Clan School can all be assigned there.

These sons of hereditary officials, eunuchs, and members of the imperial clan would give Zhu Youjian a better understanding of the local areas. (End of Chapter)