Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"boom!"

"Han Kuang is shameless!"

"For the sake of his own reputation, he actually allowed Congress to interfere in politics."

"What qualifications does such a person have to be the chief minister? What makes him think he can lead all the officials?"

After court, Yang Jingchen returned home and slammed his fist on the table, cursing angrily.

He was extremely disappointed with Han Kuang's choice today.

Even as the second-in-command who aspired to be the chief minister, he did not relinquish the power of the civil officials.

Unexpectedly, Han Kuang, as the head of the civil service, took the initiative to relinquish power to the National Assembly.

Once the door is opened to regulate government affairs through legislation, there will undoubtedly be a lot of Congressional interference in politics in the future.

In the future, in addition to the emperor, civil officials will also have a parliament that will constrain them with laws.

Yang Jingchen felt a surge of anger at this thought, believing that the reason he hadn't become the Grand Secretary was because he wasn't shameless enough:
"Even the Emperor reminded Congress that it could use legislation to intervene in government affairs, but instead, they directly granted Congress the power to intervene in government affairs."

"I don't know... Oh dear..."

He covered his head and didn't continue speaking; Yang Jingchen felt a splitting headache.

This was a ailment he developed a few years ago from an illness. When his family saw it, they rushed to fetch a royal physician.

Wen Tiren also arrived at his residence at this time. After learning that Yang Jingchen was suffering from a headache due to anger, he advised him:

"Master Yang, there's no need to worry too much!"

"It was already stipulated at the court meeting that only policies that are to be implemented in the long term can be enacted into law."

"Although Congress can intervene in politics, it will not interfere too much with the powers of the various departments."

Yang Jingchen lay on the bed, weakly saying:

"What's so difficult about turning the short term into the long term?"

"Moreover, the hidden meaning of this regulation is that long-term policies must be enacted into law in order to be implemented."

"Otherwise, it will become worthless once a new leadership changes."

"Just watch, in the future, Congress will frequently interfere with the affairs of the imperial court."

"In addition to dealing with the emperor, the officials in the court also have to deal with the parliament."

This is what bothers him; he feels that if he becomes the Grand Secretary in the future, he will have an extra mother-in-law on his head.

The parliament has now reached Shuntian Prefecture. According to the emperor's plan, the parliament will be held in the entire Beizhili region by the tenth year of Chongzhen's reign at the latest.

By then, the parliament was highly representative and fully capable of acting as the National Assembly.

Judging from the fact that the Shuntian Prefecture Council now requires the cooperation of various government departments, the cabinet at that time might have had to cooperate with the council as well.

Yang Jingchen felt a headache coming on as he thought about this, increasingly unable to understand the current political landscape:
"His Majesty supports the restoration of rites and music."

"Although the National People's Congress was proposed by Liu Zongzhou, the methods for its establishment were mostly devised by the Emperor."

"However, the Emperor both uses and guards against the National Assembly, incorporating it into the court system."

"On the contrary, people like Han Kuang don't care about the consequences at all, and are sometimes even more radical than the emperor..."

Yang Jingchen shook his head repeatedly, puzzled by this.

However, Wen Tiren, thinking from his own perspective, understood why Han Kuang did this—

Although the two men held different positions, they were both competent bureaucrats who knew who to please.

Unlike Yang Jingchen, who followed Zhang Fujing's example, Yang Jingchen, while pandering to the emperor, still maintained his own principles.

This insistence seemed ridiculous to Wen Tiren. However, the emperor trusted Yang Jingchen and used him to suppress him.

Under pressure from the Donglin Party, he had no choice but to band together with Yang Jingchen for support and to help him solve his problems.

Seeing Yang Jingchen still pondering the problem despite his headache, Wen Tiren hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to offer some advice:
"Han Kuang was sometimes more radical because he was the Grand Secretary; no matter how high his official rank was, he was still a subject."

"He only needs to keep the current emperor and his ministers happy to remain in the position of Grand Secretary."

"But the emperor is the sovereign, and he needs to consider things from a longer-term perspective. So when something is beneficial in the present but not in the long run, the emperor will have concerns."

"Han Kuang did not have this concern, so he was sometimes conservative and sometimes more radical."

"By doing this, he is supporting the restoration of rites and music and the establishment of a parliament. The emperor, in order to maintain the authority of the parliament, is unlikely to oppose it."

"Since the ministers could all benefit from this, they continued their own measures through legislation and were very supportive of his proposal."

"As for future problems, let future ministers worry about them."

"Anyway, they weren't the ones in the court back then."

These words left Yang Jingchen stunned for a long time, making him truly realize the difference between a ruler and a subject.

The emperor is the only constant; the officials are the only change.

Therefore, the emperor and his ministers sometimes share the same stance, but at other times their positions are quite different.

Although he was somewhat obsequious to the emperor, he always stood on the side of the court officials. No wonder the emperor kept him as the second-in-command, and wouldn't replace him no matter how poorly Han Kuang performed as the chief minister.

Thinking of the parliament that represents the people's will, Yang Jingchen murmured:
"A parliament composed of the emperor, his ministers, and representatives of the people."

"From now on, the Ming Dynasty will truly be governed by the emperor, his ministers, and the people!"

"It's us subjects who have to suffer from being caught in the middle."

Wen Tiren also felt that it would be more difficult to be an official in the court in the future, because in addition to the emperor, the National Assembly would also be watching.

However, this was not something he needed to consider, so he comforted Yang Jingchen, saying:
"There's no need to worry too much!"

"The Emperor has the power to veto bills passed by the National Assembly, and all laws and regulations must be signed by the Emperor. The Cabinet has the power to countersign imperial edicts."

"Perhaps we can strive for this power to clarify that bills enacted by Congress are sacred decrees and must be countersigned by the Cabinet."

Yang Jingchen's eyes lit up; he felt he could try to win it over.

If a bill passed by Congress needs to be countersigned by the Cabinet and issued from the Cabinet as an imperial edict, then the Cabinet has a strong ability to resist interference from Congress.

He and Wen Tiren pondered how to fight for this power.

Given the emperor's wariness of parliament, they might be able to secure this power.
-
Zhu Youjian was indeed very wary of parliamentary interference in politics; he did not want all matters, large and small, to go through parliament.

That way, the various government departments wouldn't have to do their jobs; any policy they wanted to introduce would have to be debated in the National Assembly.

That's not a system for getting things done. Many parliamentary systems fall into inefficiency and even indecisiveness.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was very wary of parliamentary interference in politics, as that was not something the parliament should be doing.

However, he strongly supports the long-term measures being passed into law by Congress.

This ensures policy continuity, preventing good policies from failing due to the departure of officials. It largely addresses the drawbacks of visiting officials and allows for the implementation of longer-term measures.

Therefore, he requested that all government departments and the National Assembly work together to draft regulations for the formulation of political laws and to standardize this power of the National Assembly.

Zhu Youjian partially agreed with Yang Jingchen's proposal that the cabinet should have the authority to countersign bills passed to the parliament.

"For politically sensitive bills, if they are not proposed by the Cabinet, then they need the Cabinet's approval."

"However, the legislative power belongs to the National Assembly, and other normal laws and regulations are still formulated according to normal procedures."

What is the normal procedure?

According to the previous agreement, the formulation and revision of the three major rites and laws, namely the "Great Ming Ritual and Law Convention," the "Great Ming Feudal Ritual and Law," and the "Great Ming Inheritance Ritual and Law," required a four-fifths majority vote in the National Assembly and approval by the Emperor after being passed by the ministers in court.

Amendments to first-level laws such as the "Great Ming Code" and the "Great Ming Code" required a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly, approval by ministers in court, and final approval by the emperor.

The power to enact these laws belongs not only to Congress but also to the deliberations of the court.

The power to enact other second-tier laws and third-tier regulations rests entirely with Congress. Laws require passage in a plenary session of Congress, while bills and regulations only require the approval of a standing committee of Congress.

Local councils can formulate local regulations, village covenants, clan rules, etc., which are limited to local use and can be based on existing etiquette and laws. This is the fourth level of regulations.

The current preparatory office for the National Assembly is theoretically equivalent to a temporary standing committee meeting of the National Assembly. Therefore, it passes bills and regulations. Formal laws and regulations, such as formal rites and laws, need to be finalized in a plenary session after the establishment of the National Assembly.

Having acquired the power to enact political legislation, the Preparatory Office of Congress has been able to intervene in political affairs.

In order to prevent serious conflict between the National Assembly and the Cabinet, and to set rules for the National Assembly in preparation, Chu Yu-chien partially agreed to Yang Ching-chen's proposal and granted the Cabinet the power to countersign political bills.

The cabinet ministers and court officials naturally agreed with this. In fact, they were not particularly willing to see parliament interfering in politics and pointing fingers at the policies of the various government departments.

Some ministers even proposed that the National Assembly should not enact any political bills unless proposed by the various departments of the court.

However, while the idea is good, putting it into practice is very difficult. This is because many laws are closely related to politics, and the decrees of the various government departments must conform to the law.

Therefore, after discussion, it was decided to follow the emperor's decision that bills that were clearly politically sensitive must be approved by the cabinet.

Even bills proposed by some departments must be approved by the cabinet.

This allowed the cabinet's power to continue to increase, giving it an increasingly commanding presence over other departments.

This is also why the Cabinet was unwilling to change the five-branch system to the Council of State Affairs when it was first implemented.

What they want is to control all five branches of government, not just the State Council.

Now that the parliament has also been incorporated, the cabinet has gained the power to intervene in the law by granting the power to countersign imperial edicts and by requiring that laws and regulations be promulgated by the emperor.

In particular, bills that are clearly politically sensitive must be approved by the cabinet before they can be enacted.
-
Zhu Youjian thought of the hierarchy of government orders when he thought about the hierarchy of laws.

According to the previous agreement, the emperor's decrees were equivalent to laws and were treated as temporary laws.

It can even temporarily repeal certain legal provisions and require Congress to amend them.

This was a major reform of the legal system, clarifying the relationship between laws and imperial edicts.

Prior to this, laws and decrees were often not distinguished. The imperial court frequently promulgated legal systems through imperial edicts.

For example, the "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty" contains a lot of content from the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty," as well as the subsequent improvements and modifications made to some articles by imperial edicts.

Over two hundred years, these laws and regulations have become extremely complex, like a mountain of code.

This is also why Zhu Youjian ordered the restoration of rites and music; it was necessary to clarify the laws and systems.

He even drafted the "Sunset Clause," specifying the implementation dates for various edicts and laws. These must be reviewed at least every sixty years to prevent problems from accumulating indefinitely.

However, he still feels it is insufficient because, apart from imperial edicts, the level of government decrees has not been determined.

Especially now that the cabinet has the power to issue decrees, the boundaries of its power urgently need to be clarified.

Although Zhu Youjian was gradually delegating power to the cabinet, he was wary of its expansion. He did not want the cabinet to slip out of his control and render him, the emperor, powerless.

Therefore, he planned to enact laws to clarify the relevant systems. If the cabinet violated these laws, the Secretariat and the Six Ministries would overturn their decrees.

In the past, Zhu Youjian had entrusted matters of etiquette and law to Liu Zongzhou or to trusted ministers like Zhang Pu for suggestions. Now that neither of them were present, after some deliberation, he entrusted the matter to Qian Qianyi, who was concurrently serving as a Grand Secretary of the Chancellery.

Because this matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat, both imperial edicts and cabinet decrees must pass through the Secretariat.

At the emperor's behest, Qian Qianyi quickly proposed in court, in the name of the Imperial Edicts Office, to standardize imperial edicts and various government decrees:

"To prevent the false transmission of imperial edicts and the forgery of government decrees, I believe that all imperial edicts and government decrees should be numbered and the materials and formats used should be clearly specified."

"The silk and ink used in imperial edicts, and the paper and ink used in government decrees, should all be local specialties, just like the materials used for banknotes."

"Officials should be informed of how to use the seal and what the seal should look like."

"Officials at all levels should carefully examine any decrees or orders they receive to prevent malicious individuals from causing trouble."

This suggestion was approved by Zhu Youjian. He said with great pleasure:

"This should have been done a long time ago."

"Sometimes even I don't know how many imperial edicts I issue in a year."

"From now on, all imperial edicts should be numbered according to a certain pattern and archived in the Imperial Edicts Office."

"Official documents from the Cabinet and the Five Courts and Six Ministries should also be copied by the Secretariat, and the Six Censors can check for any contradictions or violations of etiquette and law."

"Local official documents are stored in the secretarial offices of the Secretariat in various places, which can be viewed by local officials in charge of rites and law and officials of the Provincial Surveillance Commission. Non-confidential information should also be made public to the public, especially to members of parliament, so that they know the government's policies and to convey and explain them to the public."

This power was added to the Director of the Imperial Secretariat to manage relevant archives.

The officials of the Secretariat were naturally pleased, as their power was further strengthened.

The officials of the cabinet and the five courts and six ministries looked somewhat solemn as they pondered the emperor's intentions.

Without them needing to think it through, Qian Qianyi, acting on the emperor's will, continued:

"The Ming Dynasty governs the country with laws and decrees. In the past, Emperor Taizu established the system by ordering the Secretariat to formulate laws and decrees."

"The Secretariat has long been abolished, and the Emperor has given the power to make laws to the National Assembly. Imperial edicts are equivalent to temporary laws."

"I believe that the decrees of the Cabinet, the decrees of the Five Courts and Six Ministries, and the decrees of various departments should also be classified into levels, corresponding to the legal hierarchy."

"Only in this way can there be laws and regulations to follow when governing, thus limiting the misconduct of officials."

"Please establish a legal system based on the hierarchy of laws."

This proposal is truly thought-provoking.

After the parliament, through its power to enact laws and regulations, began to potentially interfere with the policies of various government departments, the court officials quickly realized that:
It is essential to clarify the legal system and elevate the status of government decrees.

We cannot allow people to focus solely on the level of laws while neglecting the level of government orders. Laws and orders have always been considered together; we cannot place only emphasis on laws.

They hoped that the decrees of the various government departments would be given a status equivalent to laws and regulations.

In this way, they will not be completely controlled by Congress in the future, and the various departments will follow the laws enacted by Congress.

Realizing the possibility of parliamentary interference, Ming Dynasty officials instinctively acted to support the proposal. (End of Chapter)