Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian's decision undoubtedly pleased the officials of the Imperial Guard and disappointed the officials of the Ministry of Justice.

Because of the emperor's words, although the demands of the vassal states were met, the power of the Imperial Guards in enforcing the law was not touched.

All police forces with law enforcement powers must cooperate with the Imperial Guard, and the Ministry of Justice is no exception.

Looking at the assembled officials who offered no objections after the emperor made his decision, Zheng Sanjun gained a deeper understanding of what it meant to restore the rites and music system and what it meant to redistribute power.

The emperor's actions clearly demonstrated the approval of most officials. They all believed the emperor was the allocator of power, and no one could challenge him.

Even if he was dissatisfied with this, now was not the time to challenge the emperor. After all, he had just become the Minister of Justice, and his term would not begin until September according to the reshuffle schedule.

Seeing that the Court of Colonial Affairs had fallen silent after the emperor had satisfied the demands of the vassal states, Zheng Sanjun had no choice but to step in himself and say:
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice is in charge of criminal matters. I request to work with the Imperial Guard to enforce the law."

"His Majesty recently demanded that the country be governed by the law and rites, but the Imperial Guards have repeatedly violated the law when enforcing the law."

"Your Majesty, I request to work with the Censorate and the Imperial Academy to supervise the matter and prevent the Imperial Guard from enforcing the law arbitrarily and damaging Your Majesty's reputation."

The Ministry of Justice will present the records of misconduct by the Imperial Guards over the years, explaining their problems.

Zhu Youjian frowned as he looked at these cases, then tossed them in front of Liu Qiao and reprimanded him:

"Liu Qiao, I value you so much that I have appointed you as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, making you a minister of the court."

"Is this how you repay me?"

"I want to see corrective measures within a month, or you will have to resign voluntarily!"

Hearing this, Liu Qiao was terrified and hurriedly knelt down to beg for forgiveness, promising to come up with corrective measures to rectify these problems.

However, Zheng Sanjun was very disappointed when he saw it. The emperor's actions were clearly a minor punishment to warn others, and did nothing to harm the Imperial Guard.

However, Zhu Youjian was actually quite pleased with his criticism of the Imperial Guard.

Because the Imperial Guard Temple had become relatively stable after several years of operation, it began to become bureaucratic and various problems arose.

In particular, it contains many hereditary officials of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, whose internal relationships are intricately intertwined.

It would be perfect to have the civil service-led Three Judicial Offices oversee the process and clean up the long-standing problems.

Zhu Youjian praised:
"I have heard of Zheng Qing’s efforts to clean up long-standing cases and reform long-standing abuses in Nanjing many times."

"Since there are signs of accumulating corruption in the Imperial Guard, Minister Zheng should lead the Ministry of Justice to supervise them more closely."

"I hope that the Imperial Guard will be a strict law enforcement team and a guardian of the public safety of the Ming Dynasty."

Let Zheng Sanjun do it without too much worry.

Regardless of what a person is thinking, as long as he is capable and dares to act, and does not violate the rules he has set, Zhu Youjian dares to use him.

Zheng Sanjun was overjoyed to hear the emperor's words. The emperor's attitude showed that he valued him and was very reasonable.

The Imperial Guard was highly valued, yet the emperor didn't protect it; this shows he was a very reasonable emperor.

Having this understanding, and recalling his previous plans, he again suggested to the emperor:
"Law enforcement involves many aspects and requires the cooperation of multiple government departments."

"Regarding overseas arrest operations, I also believe that the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Imperial Guards, and relevant agencies in vassal states should all be included."

"Countries should cooperate to combat international crime." This resonated with Zhu Youjian, who nodded in agreement.
"With increasing international exchanges, international crime is indeed an issue that cannot be ignored."

"The Ming Dynasty will establish a global manhunt capability in the future, but some countries simply cannot afford to build such a system."

“The fact that international criminals from their countries are fleeing into the Ming Dynasty, and that criminals from these countries are also fleeing into the Ming Dynasty, will be a big problem in the future.”

"However, the laws of different countries are not the same. Some crimes that are serious in one country may not be punished in the Ming Dynasty."

"Therefore, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice should attach great importance to the exchange of etiquette and law between the Ming Dynasty and other countries."

The conflict between the laws and etiquette of the Ming Dynasty and foreign countries was a major issue that Zhu Youjian was very concerned about.

The reason he sought to establish relations with the Papacy was that the Pope was now the sovereign of the Western countries, and the Ming Dynasty could discuss issues of national status, succession systems, and other matters of etiquette with the Papacy, thus gaining recognition from most Western countries.

However, the Vatican was too arrogant and had no intention of negotiating with the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and establish an international order.

The consequence of this was that fewer countries initially supported it, but they also had far fewer concerns. The Ming Dynasty could disregard other countries and establish an international order dominated by the Ming Dynasty entirely according to its own will.

He said to Zheng Sanjun and the others:

"The Ministry of Rites' Department of Ceremonies and the Ministry of Justice's Department of Legal Affairs should both establish international cooperation offices to discuss etiquette and legal issues with other countries."

"Therefore, the Ming Dynasty will invite all countries to establish an international organization and formulate conventions that all countries shall abide by."

"The Ministry of Justice can take the lead in establishing an international criminal cooperation association to cooperate in areas such as the apprehension of criminals and to assume the responsibility of maintaining world order."

"The Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty should not only focus on internal affairs, but also communicate more with the Court of Colonial Affairs and actively look outward."

"I hope that the world will be peaceful in the future, and that everyone can enjoy the world order established by the Ming Dynasty."

"Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty truly be called the Celestial Empire, just as it once ruled the known world when it was at its strongest."

The courtiers were deeply moved, feeling the emperor's strong desire to revitalize the Ming Dynasty.

Having just entered the court and had only a few interactions with the emperor, Zheng Sanjun understood even more why the emperor's reform of rites and music was so ambitious, yet few people opposed it—

This was not only because the emperor had expelled the dissenting officials from the court, but also because the current emperor truly had the will to seek the light and upheld the righteous path.

As long as one has ideals and aspirations, one will not oppose the emperor.

His disciple, Huang Daozhou, was a well-known opponent. However, his opposition was not to whether or not to re-establish the rites and music, but rather how to re-establish them.

During his tenure as a judge in Suzhou, he consistently implemented the government's policies and offered his own insights in practice.

Although the emperor forbade him to return to the court, he did not deliberately suppress him. During this reshuffle, Huang Daozhou was promoted to the position of Assistant Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

The atmosphere of unity and mutual support between the emperor and his ministers was so wonderful that few people wanted to disrupt it and return the court to the atmosphere of the Tianqi era.

Having gained approval, Zheng Sanjun actively discussed his ideas for international organizations with the emperor, explaining them in detail.

Zhu Youjian was pleased that his minister had an international perspective, and encouraged him to act boldly and then summarize his experiences.

The rites and laws of the Ming Dynasty began to extend to its vassal states and foreign countries. Some of the rites and laws implemented in the Ming Dynasty were formulated into international conventions after discussions with international organizations and were recognized by most countries.

The world order dominated by the Ming Dynasty was emerging in this process, progressing steadily with its expansion. (End of Chapter)