Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 11 Daily Life Notes

The next day, after Zhu Youjian went to court to handle affairs, he was very happy to see that the cabinet drafted at least two drafts for each memorial as per his instructions.

This change may seem small, but it actually divides the overall power of the cabinet in drafting imperial edicts to cabinet ministers. In the future, Zhu Youjian only needs to arrange a bachelor in the cabinet to obey his orders, and he can draft edicts through him and turn his opinions into imperial edicts. Instead of being like Wei Zhongxian now, he can only implement his will after convincing the entire cabinet.

This is undoubtedly a big victory for Zhu Youjian:
When the civil service group was taken as a whole, even the emperor could firmly suppress it.

But after it was divided into everyone, no one could compete with the emperor.

Now that the cabinet's decentralization of power has been opened up, in the future we only need to adjust the division of labor to control them.

Zhu Youjian was very dissatisfied with the unclear division of labor in the cabinet. At the same time, he also saw an opportunity to control the cabinet——

In the future, if you are dissatisfied with a cabinet minister, you only need to adjust the division of labor to marginalize him, or even wait for him to make a mistake, and then dismiss him and question him.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian must hold the power of division of labor in the cabinet. Letting the chief minister and other cabinet ministers vote separately is the first step in the division of labor. In the future, he will classify various memorials and draft them with the approval of the chief assistant and full-time cabinet ministers.

With a happy mood, Zhu Youjian opened the memorial and took a look, and suddenly he was in a bad mood.

It turned out that the four words "I and the factory ministers" were written on the vote drawn up by Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai and Zhang Ruitu. This made Zhu Youjian feel like he had eaten a fly, feeling extremely uncomfortable:
Who is Wei Zhongxian? How dare you stand alongside the emperor!
Emperor Tianqi also said that he was loyal. What kind of loyal minister is this?
Now that they are both called emperors, wouldn't the next step be to change from nine thousand years old to truly long live one?

This person must not be kept, and must be dealt with severely to serve as a warning to others!

The determination to deal with Wei Zhongxian was further strengthened, but Zhu Youjian did not have an attack. Because he clearly knew that the people of the world had not yet adapted to his being the emperor, and had not even received the news that he was the emperor, so he must continue to use Wei Zhongxian's name to facilitate the implementation of administrative orders.

This realization made Zhu Youjian feel even more aggrieved and even humiliated.

With this mood in mind, when Zhu Youjian looked at the votes of Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai, and Zhang Ruitu, he felt displeased no matter how he looked at them. I feel much relieved to see Li Guopu only using the name "I".

However, Zhu Youjian sighed deeply when he thought that Li Guopu dared to do this because his hometown Gaoyang County and Wei Zhongxian's hometown Suning County were adjacent to each other, and the two had fellow villagers.

Li Guopu was considered loyal. When Queen Zhang's father, Zhang Guoji, was attacked by the eunuchs, he was the one who saved his life.

It's a pity that his relationship with Wei Zhongxian was too deep, and Zhu Youjian didn't dare to contact him.

Before Wei Zhongxian fell, he did not dare to use this person with confidence.

Looking at Li Guopu's voting plan, Zhu Youjian appreciated his loyalty and kept it in mind to prepare for future appointments.

Then, he was not in the mood to read the memorial anymore and said to Xu Yingyuan:

"Send these memorials and drafts to the Supervisor of Ceremonies!"

"Let the factory ministers and Wang Zhangyin decide how to approve it."

"The only thing is that the Shaanxi frontier army must first receive a year's additional military pay, and the soldiers cannot be allowed to flee. This matter cannot be delayed and cannot be delayed for a moment."

"After other situations in Shaanxi are clarified, we will conduct an overall review."

Although Zhu Youjian clearly stated that he attached great importance to the situation in Shaanxi, he seemed not to care much about other matters. Lest Wei Zhongxian think that he is greedy for power and will not be able to tolerate him in the future.

Pushing political affairs out, Zhu Youjian had nothing to do for a while and walked around the palace. Seeing a person waiting in the corridor next to the main hall, he felt a little strange and said:
"who are you?"

"Why are you here?"

Unexpectedly, he was suddenly questioned by the emperor. The man hurriedly saluted and then answered:

"The humble minister Yu Huang is currently the editor and annotator of daily life in the Hanlin Academy. He is in charge of the editor and annotator." Somewhat suddenly, Zhu Youjian nodded and understood his responsibilities. Said to Yu Huang:
"You are the number one scholar in Tianqi's fifth year, right?"

"I remember your name. Brother Huang changed it and added the word "fire"."

Yu Huang hurriedly explained:
"It's not the slightest offense, it's actually Emperor Yu who named the ancient ship."

"The late emperor took great care of me and changed his name for me."

Nodding slightly, Zhu Youjian acquiesced to the matter, regardless of whether he was subsidizing Emperor Tianqi, and said:
"There is a saying in Quli: Li, don't be shy about names. Don't be shy about two names."

"The method of avoiding taboos in this dynasty has always followed ancient etiquette. Except for Emperor Chengzu, who had a single-character name, the other emperors did not avoid taboos."

"Even the two characters used in the name do not need to be tabooed separately unless they are connected together, let alone the word 'emperor'?"

"Brother Huang was worried that you would be slandered by others, so he changed the word specifically!"

Then he said to Yu Huang:

"Write an article according to my wishes."

"Reaffirm this dynasty's taboo avoidance system to prevent the subjects from being ignorant and using other words or missing pens, which will affect the printing of the text."

Yu Huang hurriedly responded and wrote an eight-legged essay based on Zhu Youjian's "two names are not taboo".

Not to mention that this article is brilliant in literary talent, at least in Zhu Youjian's opinion it is very smooth and cannot find any faults. This made him feel that eight-legged essays are still useful and easier to understand than those articles with gorgeous rhetoric.

Very satisfied, Zhu Youjian praised:
"He is indeed the top talent!"

"Enough to serve as a model essay."

The order was sent to the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites to reiterate the taboo system.

Unexpectedly, the emperor treated him with such courtesy. Yu Huang felt warm in his heart. Even he believed that Emperor Tianqi changed his name not out of ignorance but out of love. I burst into tears of gratitude for a moment and missed Emperor Tianqi who named me the number one scholar.

After winning over a wave of people's hearts, Zhu Youjian looked at the daily notes written by Yu Huang and said:
"This is your record, can you let me see it?"

Without hesitation, Yu Huang presented the living notes and said:

"The original intention of Taizu's establishment of the Daily Note was to record his words and deeds, and to convey loyalty and receive teachings."

"Your Majesty can naturally watch and read the loyal words of my ministers."

Another old thing was mentioned:
"When Queen Mother Xiaojing was pregnant with Emperor Guangzong, Emperor Shenzong didn't want to admit it, so Queen Mother Xiaoding Li took the note and showed it to Emperor Shenzong to confirm the matter."

Zhu Youjian's father, Emperor Mingguangzong Taichang, was the beneficiary of this incident. He established his identity as the emperor's eldest son and became the emperor.

But after Zhu Youjian heard this, he was very vigilant, knowing that even if he was an emperor, he should pay attention to his words and deeds. Otherwise, if foreign ministers see the daily notes, it is likely to spread.

This idea made Zhu Youjian realize that the daily life notes can indeed restrain the emperor's words and deeds. No wonder this official position existed and disappeared throughout the history of the Ming Dynasty——

Only Emperor Wanli left complete notes on his daily life.

　"History of the Ming Dynasty": Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai, and Zhang Rui, the great scholars who voted for the decree, must also say "I and the factory ministers", and no one dared to name the loyal and sage.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)