Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"This is really unsettling!"

Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial and said angrily.

He had long anticipated that this year's leadership transition would be anything but peaceful, but he still hadn't expected so much turmoil to have already occurred.

He was somewhat negligent in his duties and didn't want to deal with these troublesome matters.

However, the courtiers did not allow him to be idle and kept finding things for him to do.

This made Zhu Youjian realize why many emperors lost power, even the power to appoint ministers was handed over to the court officials through recommendation.

Now that he controls the court, he has no choice but to worry about this matter and can't afford to be idle even if he wants to:
"We still need to establish rules and regulations so that officials will act according to etiquette and law."

"We're currently in a period of revising ritual music, so we have to keep a close eye on things!"

With this matter on his mind, Zhu Youjian summoned Yang Jingchen and Liu Zongzhou and asked them to improve the relevant systems:
"The previous system of avoidance in the imperial court was somewhat crude."

“In the Civil Code of the Ming Dynasty, special articles should be formulated to include everything that can be written.”

Liu Zongzhou was in charge of formulating rites and music, and naturally he hoped that there would be as many rites and laws as possible.

Upon hearing this, Yang Jingchen submitted a memorial to the throne:
"I have been ordered to improve the recusal system, and I have been thinking about it a lot lately."

"The avoidance method originated from the Three Mutual Recognition Law of the Later Han Dynasty, which included avoidance based on place of origin, avoidance based on marriage, and avoidance based on official appointment."

"Avoidance based on place of origin means avoiding the use of people from one's original place of origin; local officials do not employ people from the same place of origin."

"Affinity avoidance requires avoiding the place of origin of relatives."

"The principle of recusal in appointments means that people from two different prefectures cannot supervise each other. In other words, if someone from prefecture A is appointed as the prefect of prefecture B, then someone from prefecture B cannot be appointed as the prefect of prefecture A."

"All three avoidance methods are aimed at local officials."

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval upon hearing this:

"That's right, the Three Mutuals Law was all aimed at appointing local officials."

"Moreover, it ultimately failed to prevent the warlord separatism at the end of the Han Dynasty, and further improvements are needed."

"Yang Qing, why do you think this is? Could you explain in detail?"

Yang Jingchen had considered this matter and immediately responded to the emperor:

"The three-way mutual avoidance method is so strict that it even makes it difficult to select officials."

"However, there are also some oversights, especially the lack of regulations for subordinate officials."

"This leads to officials being unfamiliar with the local conditions when they arrive in the area, and they can only resort to recruiting local powerful clans."

"Therefore, powerful and influential figures emerged during the Later Han Dynasty, eventually leading to warlord conflicts."

"Your Majesty has promoted the clerks to lower-ranking officials and stipulated that all officials should recuse themselves, which can prevent subordinates from becoming too powerful."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zongzhou frowned and said:
"If these clerks are promoted to officials and then recuse themselves, who else is familiar with the area?"

"Don't we still have to rely on the powerful clans?"

Yang Jingchen said:

"Furthermore, the clerk, as the head of the officials, does not need to avoid the area of ​​his hometown."

This is a regulation for county assembly meetings. The clerk, as the head of the officials, can attend the assembly meetings and convey the decisions made at the meetings.

However, there were no regulations regarding whether this clerk could assist officials in governing the local area or whether he came from a prominent local family.

Zhu Youjian said:
"The term of office for the clerk should be limited, not exceeding nine years, and those with official titles or merits should be appointed."

"Also, county magistrates should avoid their own county, and prefectural magistrates should avoid their own prefecture. There's no need to make things too complicated."

“Every time an official is appointed, about half of the members of the assembly should remain in the assembly.”

"To avoid losing control of the local area due to a complete overhaul."

Having casually given these instructions, Zhu Youjian was more concerned about the absence of governors and ministers. He said to the two men:
"Previous avoidance methods focused more on relatives."

"There are no specific regulations regarding relationships such as master-apprentice, fellow villagers, and community groups."

"The new avoidance system must stipulate these, and include all interpersonal relationships."

"To prevent anyone from using their protégés or fellow townsmen to manipulate the political landscape."

This was mentioned when he ordered the improvement of the recusal system, which was originally intended to limit the master-disciple relationship.

Yang Jingchen, who was the one who devised this method, immediately said upon hearing it:

"The current dynasty has improved the avoidance system, stipulating that if a father, elder brother, uncle or aunt serves as a high-ranking official in the two capitals, his younger brother, male or nephew who serves as an official in the Censorate or Daoist Bureau shall be transferred to a different post."

"It was also stipulated that officials in the internal and external subordinate government offices who were related as father, son, brother, uncle, or nephew should all avoid the position of the lowest-ranking official."

"I believe that the relationship between teacher and student should be like that between father and son, brothers, uncle and nephew, and should be one of respect and avoidance."

"However, those from the same hometown or community are not as close as relatives, so we can be a little more lenient."

Zhu Youjian was now intrigued, knowing that Yang Jingchen was speaking for his Jinjiang Party, and said with great interest:

"How do you think we should relax the restrictions?"

"You mean we don't need to avoid it?"

Yang Jingchen calmly said:

"Of course we must avoid it; we cannot belong to the same government department."

"I believe that a total number should be stipulated to prevent the court from being controlled by local cliques and groups."

"For example, His Majesty had previously determined that the total number of ministers and chancellors would not exceed two, such as the Donglin Party members."

"I believe this method should be incorporated into the recusal system."

Liu Zongzhou, who was standing nearby, hurriedly defended himself:
"Your Majesty, the Donglin Party is a fabrication by the eunuch faction; it has never been a political party."

"How can there be a recusal rule for a non-existent political party?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian sighed and said:
"That's the problem."

"Whether the Donglin Party exists or not is known to everyone in the court. There is often factionalism and exclusion during the Beijing inspection and selection of officials."

"That's why I stipulated the formation of de facto factions, including those who engage in factionalism, favoritism, and exclusion of dissidents in the list of de facto factions."

“These people are always thinking about how to suppress dissidents, and anyone who disagrees with them will be attacked.”

"The recusal system must be based on facts to prevent the formation of cliques, and the social organization system must also be improved to target them."

"The imperial court cannot only restrict gentlemen who register associations, but also restrict villains who form factions."

"The same applies to the master-disciple relationship; even de facto master-disciple relationships should be cracked down on."

Zhu Youjian explained his thoughts on factionalism and the concept of a master-disciple relationship to Liu Zongzhou, then instructed him to formulate relevant rules and regulations. He then asked Yang Jingchen:

"How do you think fellow villagers, community groups, and other organizations should avoid this situation?"

Yang Jingchen said:

"For the imperial court, fellow townsmen should be clearly defined as those from the same prefecture."

"No more than five ministers shall be appointed from the same prefecture or the same society; no more than two ministers shall be appointed from the same ministerial office or the same society."

"If they are relatives or teachers and students, their relationship is even closer. Ministers and ministers should avoid each other, and there should not be more than two ministers."

"For example, if Huang Zhangyuan were still a Grand Secretary, he and Cheng Xueshi should avoid each other."

This was exactly the method Zhu Youjian wanted to implement.

Because he had long noticed that there were too many in-law relationships in the court, and some were deeply intertwined.

Besides Cheng Jiming and Huang Lijie being related by marriage, Lin Yuji and Zhang Ruitu, Wang Yongguang and Cui Jingrong... these people are all related by marriage.

With Yang Jingchen's proposed avoidance method, these people dared not marry casually, lest they be prevented from rising to high positions due to the avoidance system. This was very beneficial in combating nepotism, so Zhu Youjian greatly appreciated Yang Jingchen's suggestion, praising him:

"Yang Qing is right, all these people should be included in the recusal list."

"The general principle is that, regardless of the type of relationship, the proportion of such relationships among court officials should not exceed one-tenth, in order to avoid the emergence of powerful ministers."

"The same applies to governors and viceroys; those with connections must recuse themselves, and the total number must not exceed two."

"You should draft the specific measures and submit them to the National Assembly Preparatory Office for review."

Yang Jingchen was overjoyed, knowing that he had passed the test.

His proposed method was specifically designed for the Jinjiang Party, and the number of Jinjiang people who were close to him did not exceed this limit.

It was simply impossible to secure the position of Associate Grand Secretary for Lin Yuji. After all, he was a Grand Secretary, and this fellow townsman couldn't be in the same government office as him.

While pondering how to secure the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for Lin Yuji, Yang Jingchen received another instruction from the Emperor:
"The avoidance of relatives should be more strictly enforced, especially for fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, and nephews."

"A restriction should be set so that no one can hold the same position for 30 years."

"To prevent some official positions from being passed down from father to son, thus turning temporary officials into hereditary officials."

"The number of ministers of the same clan should also be limited, and all these relationships should be included."

This regulation is clearly targeted at someone, Yang Jingchen asked cautiously:

"If an official becomes a member of the Hanlin Academy, can his son or nephew not also become a member of the Hanlin Academy?"

"And what about positions like Minister of State Affairs? Are they ineligible to hold them?"

Zhu Youjian was now in a dilemma. After thinking for a moment, he said:

"It refers to specific official positions, especially substantive positions, rather than a certain category."

"Hanlin is a type of official, while the Four Assistant Ministers are honorary titles and are not included here."

"But if this Hanlin scholar also serves as the head of a district, his son, even if he is not a Hanlin scholar, cannot serve as the head of that district for thirty years."

"We cannot allow them to successively acquire the same power."

Yang Jingchen understood now and pondered how to incorporate this requirement into the article.

He and Liu Zongzhou exchanged a few words, and he added a lot more.

For example, the total number of ministers in a certain province does not exceed 15%, and the four assistant ministers, especially the officials in the two capitals, are included in the court ministers, etc.

After discussions concluded that it was difficult to further improve the draft, Liu Zongzhou left with the draft.
-
Yang Jingchen was left behind. Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with his initiative in limiting the expansion of the Jinjiang Party and rewarded him with a small favor:
"Since the Liaodong War last year, I have felt quite exhausted."

"Although there was the help of the Grand Secretary and other high-ranking officials, there were still some shortcomings."

"Today I will set a rule: any decree that is not personally approved by me must be countersigned by the Second Grand Secretary for political matters and by the Privy Council for military matters before it can be issued."

"As the second-in-command, Minister Yang should take on more responsibility."

Hearing these words, Yang Jingchen was so excited that his body trembled uncontrollably.

This regulation established the power of the second-in-command to countersign, which was the power that the cabinet could vie for with the emperor.

In the past, imperial edicts issued without the approval of the cabinet were called "imperial edicts" and would be resisted by the court officials.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he made it clear that at least one Grand Secretary must draft and countersign the edict before a formal decree would be issued.

This is the cabinet's power to countersign the emperor's document, and it's also the reason why the Grand Secretaries haven't caused any trouble despite the cabinet being repeatedly stripped of power in recent years.

They already have enough power; if they cause any more trouble, the emperor will become suspicious.

The cabinet, through this power, was able to restrain the emperor.

The emperor's granting of the power of countersignature to the second-in-command means that the second-in-command can restrain the power of the chief minister.

The second-in-command has gone from being a cabinet rank to having real power.

Yang Jingchen, the second-in-command, immediately bowed to express his gratitude and then asked a question:
"How should we verify an imperial edict personally approved by His Majesty?"

"Should we make a mark so that we can easily confirm it?"

"If His Majesty dictates and the Directorate of Ceremonial approves on his behalf, does that also count?"

This is the specific process of imperial approval. Since Emperor Xuanzong, there have been very few memorials personally approved by the emperor. Usually, the approval was handled by the Directorate of Ceremonial, the scribe, and the eunuchs in charge of the court.

It's impossible for an ordinary Grand Secretary of the Cabinet to tell which ones were personally approved by the Emperor.

Since Zhu Youjian had brought it up, he had certainly considered it, and said:
"I will have a personal seal made. Anything with this seal will only require the countersignature of a Grand Secretary."

"For those without a mark, the agreement of both the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary is required; if there is a dispute, a cabinet meeting will be held."

"This cabinet meeting also needs to be improved. Any decision must be countersigned by the Vice Grand Secretary, and the Grand Secretary also has the power to veto it."

"If the cabinet cannot reach an agreement, then we shall petition Your Majesty for a decision, and I will take the time to resolve the issue!"

Increase the power of the second-in-command and elevate the status of the cabinet.

If the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary agree, the imperial edict can certainly be issued.

If the Grand Secretary and the Deputy Grand Secretary disagree, then the decision rests with the Cabinet. This is unless the Grand Secretary uses his veto power, or the Deputy Grand Secretary continues to oppose it.

This means that the Deputy Grand Secretary also has veto power and can overturn the Grand Secretary's decisions.

As the second-in-command, Yang Jingchen naturally understood the emperor's meaning. He knew that the emperor was afraid that the chief minister would have too much power after delegating authority, so he elevated the second-in-command.

If he were the prime minister, or had the opportunity to become prime minister, he would naturally dislike this rule.

However, he is currently the second-in-command, and it is highly unlikely that he will be able to snatch the position of prime minister from Han Kuang in the next term. Therefore, he naturally welcomes this regulation and hopes to obtain the power of co-signing.

Using his power of drafting edicts, Yang Jingchen quickly drafted one and sent it to the Ministry of Rites for deliberation, which was then issued as an imperial decree concerning the system.
-
Cheng Jiming, who also served as Minister of Rites, naturally saw this imperial edict.

Only after being reminded by him did Han Kuang realize that the emperor had secretly dealt him a blow.

After the emperor became increasingly negligent in his duties and began to relinquish power, he wanted to make a big splash in the political arena.

I never imagined that my power would be shared with the Vice Minister.

He sighed and said:
"His Majesty still doesn't trust me!"

"Have Yang Jingchen keep an eye on things."

Chengji's Destiny:

"Should we reject this decree?"

"Forward to the court for discussion."

Han Kuang was somewhat tempted, but ultimately shook his head and said:
"The court deliberations also yielded the same result; no minister wanted to see the Grand Secretary become too powerful."

"Moreover, this power of countersigning is not exclusive to the Vice Grand Secretary; the Privy Council also has the power of countersigning in military affairs."

“That’s Yuan Keli’s power. Who can take it away from him?”

Cheng Jiming was speechless upon hearing this, knowing that what Han Kuang said was true.

Even if Yuan Keli were to vie for the position of Grand Secretary, he would have a large number of supporters, let alone the mere power of a deputy signatory.

If Han Kuang dares to stir up trouble, it is estimated that those officials who are dissatisfied with the rule that "only those who have studied in the Hanlin Academy can enter the cabinet" will support Yuan Keli in vying for the position of Grand Secretary.

If the emperor were to agree, the position of Grand Secretary would no longer be exclusive to members of the Hanlin Academy.

That would make the competition for the position of Grand Secretary even more intense, and even Cheng Jiming was not confident of securing it.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to allow the decree to pass and become part of the imperial system.

This unexpected incident was a major blow to Han Kuang, making him realize that even as the Grand Secretary, the Emperor could still overlook him.

No matter how powerful the Donglin faction was, he couldn't act recklessly; the emperor could sideline him at any time. (End of Chapter)