Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Rumors of the reform of the Supreme Court quickly spread.

An office with eight chief justices and nine chief justices naturally attracted the attention of the officials.

They all realized that the emperor was serious this time, otherwise he wouldn't have added so many officials.

"This is truly a restoration of rites and music, a way to govern the country by rites and music."

"A judicial office has so many ministers."

Previously, the State Council had the most ministers, and now there are thirty ministers in total across the six ministries.

The Privy Council had nine officials and the Censorate had seven, which was more than any of the Six Ministries.

After the establishment of the three ministries, the Court of Colonial Affairs had a considerable number of ministers, now numbering four.

The Supreme Court and the Office of Transmission had the fewest ministers, with only one or two, ranking last among the Nine Ministers.

Now that the emperor has made this change, the Supreme Court is suddenly trembling with fear—

There are eight Chief Justices and nine Court Ministers. If they are all high-ranking officials, then there are seventeen of them.

Obviously, this is impossible. An insider said:
"Although the nine Grand Secretaries of the Court hold high positions, not all of them are included among the court officials."

"From now on, the Supreme Court will be like the Censorate, with eight ministers."

"The Censorate will have a full-time Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, who, together with the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Supreme Court and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, will be responsible for the cooperation among the three judicial departments."

"Among these three judicial departments, the Ministry of Justice is still ranked last."

When this matter was mentioned, the officials who heard it all laughed.

After losing its judicial power, the Ministry of Justice became the least powerful of the three judicial departments, even less powerful than the Court of Imperial Guards, which was a laughing stock.

An official from the Ministry of Justice objected, arguing that the Ministry of Justice's Legal Affairs Department was just as responsible for law and ritual as the Ministry of Rites' Ceremonial Affairs Department. This drew laughter and playful banter from the crowd.

While the Legislative Affairs Division is important, most of its work is handled by the National Assembly's Committee on Law and Etiquette. Currently, its role is merely implementation, providing support.

After losing its core judicial power, the Ministry of Justice became nothing more than a menial office.

As the Minister of Justice, Wang Yongguang was very indignant after hearing these discussions.

Although he was tactful, he didn't want people to say that the Ministry of Justice had become a menial office under his leadership.

Especially since he is already seventy-two years old this year, and without the emperor's special decree to remain in office, he will have to step down when the term of office changes.

To avoid retiring with such a bad reputation, Wang Yongguang approached Wen Tiren and said:
"Lord Wen, you must give an explanation for what happened at the Ministry of Justice."

"The existing system of three judicial departments cannot be allowed to fall apart in our hands."

"If the Embroidered Uniform Guard were to seize our positions and turn us into the Four Judicial Offices, how would we face the scholars?"

Wen Tiren had already discussed it with the emperor, and upon hearing Wang Yongguang's words, he smiled and said:
"Minister Wang, there's no need to worry. You truly deserve the title of Grand Minister of Justice."

"His Majesty intends to have the Minister of Justice preside over the Public Security Commission, with the Minister of the Imperial Guard serving as its deputy director."

"I wonder what Minister Wang thinks? Is he satisfied with this?"

Wang Yongguang was both surprised and delighted, because this was something he had been longing for.

Just thinking about his previous refusal to accept the concurrent post of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and his own failed attempt to become Director of the Public Security Commission, Wang Yongguang said:

"Does His Majesty have any request to have the Minister of the Imperial Guards transferred to the Ministry of Justice?"

Wen Tiren nodded and said:

"Exactly!"

"The Ministry of Justice wants to take charge of the Public Security Commission, but it can't do so without the cooperation of the Imperial Guard."

"It should be known that the power of law enforcement has always been in the hands of the Imperial Guard."

"If the Grand Minister of Justice wants to live up to its name and be on par with the Censorate's supervisory and prosecutorial powers and the Supreme Court's judicial powers, it must obtain the law enforcement powers of the Imperial Guard."

"Only in this way can the three judicial departments be in balance and still coexist."

Wang Yongguang stamped his foot and sighed, knowing that it was too late to stop it.

After the Supreme Court became completely on par with the Censorate, if he continued to exclude the Imperial Guard, the Ministry of Justice would truly become a menial office. However, he genuinely didn't want to be associated with the Embroidered Uniform Guard and tarnish his reputation.

Therefore, he tacitly approved of Wen Tiren's subsequent suggestion to go with the flow during the leadership transition.

This would both demonstrate his resistance and give the next Vice Minister of Justice sufficient power.
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Liu Qiao, the Minister of the Imperial Guard, was overjoyed to learn of this matter after joining the Anti-Corruption Committee and throwing a grand banquet.

His concurrent appointment as Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice not only signified his promotion to the same rank as the Commander, a third-grade official, but also indicated that he had become a high-ranking official in the imperial court.

The importance of this position can be seen from the three major powers of a minister.

During the Chongzhen reign, only officials who became ministers could be said to have entered the core of the court.

Zheng Shiyi, the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, became a high-ranking official in the imperial court because he also served as the Minister of Intelligence of the Privy Council.

Now he is about to reach that point, which means that the two of them will be on equal footing.

This is naturally a good thing for him, but it also means that the Embroidered Uniform Guard has two core members.

Fang Hongzan, Zheng Shiyi's deputy in the intelligence center, said:
"Congratulations, Commander Liu!"

"Now that you've become a vice minister, you must speak up for the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"Don't let becoming an official in the Ministry of Justice bring you the power of the Embroidered Uniform Guard with you."

Everyone burst into laughter, and many said they couldn't.

Liu Qiao understood Fang Hongzan's subtext and reminded him that he was still the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, unlike those civil officials.

On such a joyous occasion, Liu Qiao certainly wouldn't be angry. Moreover, he knew his status among civil officials; otherwise, even concurrently serving as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice wouldn't have been so difficult.

Those civil officials would never consider him one of their own. The only reason they are being forced to accept him now is because of the power they hold.

Even when Liu Qiao traded the position of Director of the Public Security Commission for the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he didn't know if he had made a bad deal.

After the banquet, he asked the scholar he had recruited, Gui Zhuang:
"Mr. Gui, what was the Emperor thinking when he transferred the Imperial Guard to the Ministry of Justice?"

"Should we abandon the Imperial Guard Temple?"

This is something Gui Zhuang has been reminding us of. The emperor doesn't want to bear a bad reputation, so he might very well abandon the Imperial Guard.

However, upon hearing these words, Gui Zhuang congratulated him, saying:

"Congratulations, Commandant!"

"His Majesty has solidified the power of the Imperial Guard and will not relinquish it in the future."

"As long as the Commandant of the Guards remains loyal to the Emperor, he will be able to be promoted to a high-ranking official in the future."

Liu Qiao was delighted to hear this, but also somewhat puzzled.

Gui Zhuang explained:
"The Emperor appointed the Commandant of the Imperial Guards as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, on the condition that the Ministry of Justice be responsible for the expenses of the Commandant of the Imperial Guards' offices outside the capital."

"This shows that the Emperor attaches great importance to the Imperial Guard in the capital and will not completely abandon the Imperial Guard."

"As long as the Commandant of the Guards manages the security of the capital well and stands firmly on the Emperor's side, he will be a qualified minister in the Emperor's eyes."

"That way, you'll have a chance to be recommended by the Nine Ministers to govern a region. What else could you possibly worry about?"

Clearly, he had figured out the emperor's thoughts and believed that the emperor wanted to use this route to appoint loyal officials from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Liu Qiao was overjoyed to hear this and felt genuinely grateful to the emperor.

In the past, the best position in the Embroidered Uniform Guard was naturally the Commander-in-Chief, but there was only one such position.

Moreover, it is rare for the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to have a good end, and there are no good positions available after retirement.

Now things are different. After becoming the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he had the opportunity to transfer to other ministerial positions.

Even being promoted from a vice minister to a governor-general was considered a high-ranking position, as only outstanding governors-general had the opportunity to serve as vice ministers in the imperial court.

If it weren't for the difficulty for Jinyiwei officials to be recommended for good positions in the court, he wouldn't even have needed to be recommended by the Nine Ministers to serve as a minister on the frontier.

The emperor's actions effectively opened up pathways for members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to transfer to other positions, for which Liu Qiao was extremely grateful. (End of Chapter)