Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

With all matters resolved as desired, Zhu Youjian naturally decided to conclude the meeting.

However, the ministers were somewhat reluctant to end the meeting, and Cheng Ji ordered:

"Your Majesty, there is a need to establish rules regarding the eavesdropping on officials."

"I believe that a formal decree should be issued, and the process should involve the Cabinet's drafting, the Ministry of Justice's deliberation, and the Ministry of Justice's approval before officials can be monitored."

The courtiers echoed this sentiment, believing that restrictions should be placed on the secret police to prevent them from eavesdropping on them at will.

Zhu Youjian originally wanted to leave this area ambiguous, giving the Embroidered Uniform Guard more room to maneuver, but now it seems that won't work.

Seeing that the ministers all agreed, he could only say:
"There's no need for a formal decree to issue one regarding the officials who are monitoring us; the Embroidered Uniform Guard can decide for themselves."

"As long as they detect any behavior that endangers their security, the Embroidered Uniform Guard can listen in; this is their right."

“By listening to ordinary officials, it is necessary to inform the superiors in the hall.”

"If it is a mid- to high-ranking official, then a formal decree is required."

The courtiers were not satisfied with this concession.

After Cheng Jiming took the lead, Han Kuang, as the chief minister, stepped forward and said:
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard's excessive power will make the people uneasy."

"I believe that the actions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard should be restrained, regardless of who they are monitoring."

"Even ordinary people cannot be arbitrarily eavesdropped by the Embroidered Uniform Guard; it must be approved by judicial officials."

Cheng Jiming and others echoed his sentiments. Seeing this, Zhu Youjian knew that he had no choice but to make real concessions.

After considering it, he said:
"It has been clearly stated before that the Jinyiwei must obtain approval before detaining personnel."

“Eavesdropping is a less serious action than arresting people. I think we should relax the requirements and allow the Embroidered Uniform Guard to eavesdrop on civilians.”

"But scholars should be treated with more respect, and proposals from other institutions or approval from officials of the three judicial departments are required."

"The same applies to subordinate officials; they need to inform their superiors in the hall."

"This is especially true for ministers; they need to go through the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet."

"However, in order to prevent public opinion and the leakage of secrets, no formal decree will be issued on this matter."

They partially agreed to their demands, mainly making concessions to the scholar-officials.

These ministers were all scholars, and few of them truly cared about the common people.

Hearing that the emperor respected scholars, and especially that he guaranteed that the ministers who were being monitored would pass through the cabinet, he felt relieved.

However, the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet were still uneasy, fearing that the Emperor might persuade a Grand Secretary with whom he had a falling out to send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to spy on them.

Grand Secretary Han Kuang said:

"I believe that any attempt to eavesdrop on a minister must be made through the Grand Secretary."

"His Majesty cannot simply eavesdrop on any Grand Secretary who serves as a deputy director."

He sought to increase his own power by bringing along other Grand Secretaries and Nine Ministers.

Those Grand Secretaries and Nine Ministers were naturally pleased with this.

Zhu Youjian frowned and stared at Han Kuang, warning him:
“The process of listening to a minister cannot be limited to the chief minister; it can also involve the second minister or one of the key ministers.”

"After all, sometimes even the prime minister can run into problems."

"It requires supervision from others, and even suggestions to wiretap the Prime Minister."

“I do not want a traitor like Hu Weiyong to appear after the cabinet’s power is expanded.”

This is a blatant warning.

Upon hearing this, Han Kuang's newly mustered courage immediately began to dissipate—

Being the Grand Secretary, who had been given power by the emperor, was not an easy job. If he was too assertive, he might arouse the emperor's suspicion.

Upon hearing the emperor use Hu Weiyong as a warning, he immediately lowered his head and repeatedly said that he dared not.

After achieving their goals, the other ministers no longer made demands of the emperor.

They all pledged their loyalty to Zhu Youjian, promising to write down the details so that the emperor wouldn't need to listen in.

Zhu Youjian said with satisfaction:

"The ministers and prime ministers are considered half-rulers in terms of power, and their every move can affect the people of the world."

"However, some people do not have the awareness to use power properly. They not only want to use power to seek personal gain, but they even dare to rebel."

"How can I feel at ease with such a person?"

“Eavesdropping is necessary; it’s for official business.”

"As for your private affairs, I have no interest in them."

He instructed Wen Tiren, who was in charge of the Anti-Corruption and Legal Affairs Committee, as follows:

"From now on, Minister Wen will be in charge of the ministers' daily work records and listening records."

"In particular, the submitted work records should be cross-verified with other documents such as daily logs."

"If any suspicious points are found, you can question the minister who submitted the report."

This further increased Wen Tiren's power, making him a formidable figure among the ministers.

Wen Tiren remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was overjoyed.

With this power, no one among the ministers dared to target him.

Otherwise, he could easily ask a question and keep the other party busy explaining.

Han Kuang, Yang Jingchen, and the others stared at Wen Tiren with inscrutable expressions.

I know this person has truly entered the inner circle and has become a force to be reckoned with in the cabinet.
-
Despite making concessions, Zhu Youjian was still somewhat uncomfortable.

Thinking of Han Kuang's several speeches on behalf of the court officials, he reprimanded him with dissatisfaction:

"Han Qing, you are the chief minister and the leader of many semi-rulers."

"When considering matters in the future, do not completely regard yourself as a subject or think of yourself as a spokesperson for civil officials."

"Remember, this world belongs to me, and you also have a share in it."

"When you do things, you should stand on the side of the imperial court and consider the interests of the people."

This was a very serious warning, and Han Kuang was so shocked that he broke out in a cold sweat.

After being reminded by Cheng Jiming and warned by the emperor, he understood even more clearly how his identity had changed from before.

Previously, as the chief minister, he could be considered the leader of the civil officials, and he often stood on the side of the ministers to oppose the emperor.

Now the emperor has delegated power to him, and even called him a "half-ruler." This means that he is not only the head of the court, but also, to a certain extent, stands opposite the emperor to his ministers.

This left him feeling extremely confused and unsure of how to respond.

After issuing the warning, Zhu Youjian spoke in a kind tone:
"Han Qing should know that the nobility of the Ming Dynasty is no longer a mere formality."

"After you step down as a half-ruler, you will become a feudal lord of the Great Ming Dynasty."

"The first Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty with real power and a term limit cannot have a humble position; he must set an example for future Grand Secretaries."

"Now that you are in your second term, you can begin selecting your fiefdom according to the standards for an earl."

This is clearly a promise that Han Kuang will at least receive the title of Earl when he retires, provided he doesn't make any major mistakes.

Han Kuang, who had been working towards this goal, was so excited that he knelt down.

He no longer hesitated, and after thanking the emperor, he said:
"Your Majesty's rebuke is correct."

"When I consider matters in the future, I will definitely consider the interests of the people."

Zhu Youjian nodded, and to reinforce his semi-ruler mentality, he took out several memorials and said:
"These memorials were all remonstrances to the emperor or suggestions to the court."

"You are a half-ruler, and you are one with me, the monarch. Therefore, it can also be said that I am advising you."

"If there are any more such memorials, you shall reply as my advisor, and the Secretariat shall affix its seal." "Only suggestions written by ministers themselves shall be reviewed by me personally."

"Otherwise, if we spend all our time reading other people's advice, the affairs of the court will never be finished."

These remonstrances were directly handed over to Han Kuang, who, as the chief minister, was to handle them on behalf of the emperor.

Han Kuang took the memorial, casually flipped through one of them, and found that it was an admonition to the emperor not to become addicted to fishing.

Then, he opened another book, which advised the emperor not to employ actors and to befriend virtuous ministers and keep away from sycophants.

Further down the list, there are complaints about the emperor's excessive and hasty assessments...

The various suggestions were numerous, but they were all trivial matters.

No wonder the emperor was impatient with these memorials and wanted to handle them himself.

This practice displeased some officials, and Li Biao, the Associate Grand Secretary, said:

"Your Majesty, seeking advice and accepting advice is the conduct of a wise ruler."

"Your Majesty, please follow the example of Emperor Taizong of Tang and accept the advice of your officials."

In the present day, with "Zhenguan Zhengyao" serving as a textbook for emperors, Emperor Taizong of Tang is undoubtedly a role model.

In the "Essentials of Governance in the Zhenguan Era", seeking advice and accepting advice are both important chapters.

Zhu Youjian would never make a mistake on this point, he said:

"I would like to accept advice from my subjects, but I am simply too busy to do so."

"How many households were there during the Zhenguan era? How many scholars were there?"

"The Ming Dynasty now has a population of 200 million, and there are 600,000 students."

"Even if only one percent of people offer advice once in their lifetime, I still can't finish reading all their advice."

"Therefore, memorials to the emperor must be categorized and submitted to the Grand Secretary or even other Grand Secretaries for review."

"They have the power of a semi-ruler, so they must bear the responsibility of a semi-ruler."

“Those people are advising me, and they are also advising these half-rulers.”

"This is what Cheng Xueshi and the Grand Secretary mentioned in their private conversation about the unity of power and responsibility."

While this reasoning cannot be called sophistry, it still feels off.

Han Kuang felt that he had to bear the responsibilities of a half-ruler before he had truly obtained the power of one.

The emperor clearly wanted to shirk responsibility and shift the burden of offering advice onto himself.

If you handle it well, that's fine; if you handle it poorly, you'll be blamed.

For a moment, he really wanted to decline.

But considering the emperor's promise of unified authority and responsibility, and the promised title, they had no choice but to endure it.

Cheng Jiming saw his predicament and said:

"Your Majesty, although we are willing to take responsibility for Your Majesty, there are some things that are really difficult to handle."

"If the advice is valid, or if our handling of it does not satisfy the person who offered the advice, I believe Your Majesty should handle it personally."

Zhu Youjian still admired Cheng Jiming and was willing to reason with him.

Hearing this, he nodded and agreed:

"If the Grand Secretary or other Grand Secretaries think that I should adopt this suggestion, I will personally observe and consider it carefully."

"The same applies to other ministers; they can jointly recommend useful suggestions."

"After your screening, there shouldn't be that many invalid items."

"From now on, all memorials and suggestions shall be handled in this manner."

"Yang Cifu, the supervisory committee member, you are responsible for overseeing the handling of the situation. If you find anything inappropriate, please report it."

Yang Jingchen hurriedly accepted the order, knowing that the emperor wanted him to supervise the Grand Secretary.

Han Kuang felt even more bitter, knowing that if he didn't handle the memorials of advice well, even the Vice Minister might impeach him.

The thought of impeachment reminded him of what the emperor had said about such memorials. The emperor simply stated:
"Besides remonstrance, there is another type of memorial that is impeachment, which is also very energy-consuming."

"If the impeachment were true and useful, that would be fine, but many impeachments are based on hearsay or even frame ministers."

“From now on, this type of memorial will be reviewed by the Commission for Integrity and Law.”

"If no solid evidence is attached, it can be returned to them for rewriting."

"If they can't find it and are unwilling to ask the Embroidered Uniform Guard for assistance in the investigation, then we can ignore them."

This is something Zhu Youjian has always emphasized: impeachment requires evidence.

However, the atmosphere in officialdom is not so easy to change. Many censors and even ordinary officials impeach others based on unfounded accusations.

Zhu Youjian didn't understand at first, but later, as the Embroidered Uniform Guard gathered more information, he realized that these people's impeachments weren't intended to get the court to investigate, but rather to blackmail others.

In the materialistic late Ming Dynasty, the monetization of officialdom was extremely severe. There were specific prices for impeachment memorials and for their withdrawal.

In addition, many officials have blemishes on their records and are afraid that rumors will implicate them in real scandals, so they usually choose to pay money to avoid trouble and attract attention.

Zhu Youjian was determined to break this chain and made it clear that impeachment must be based on evidence.

Even if no evidence is found, you can request the Imperial Guard to take action.

If you don't want either, then ignore the baseless accusations.

The ministers in the court had heard about such things, and some of them had even suffered as a result.

They greatly admired the emperor's disregard for unfounded accusations, and some even suggested that those people should be reprimanded.

Zhu Youjian disagreed with this suggestion, saying:
"A rumor that comes out of nowhere may not be without cause."

“Even unsubstantiated accusations can be useful; they can reveal a person’s reputation.”

"If the same thing is impeached too many times, the court should take measures to investigate during the change of leadership to prevent people from taking office with problems."

“There is no need for reprimands. We should not block channels of communication or dampen the enthusiasm of officials in charge of science and technology.”

Using lower-ranking officials to control higher-ranking ones and having them impeach ministers was a means of checking and balancing ministers, and Zhu Youjian would never give it up.

Although he disliked unfounded impeachments, he could choose to adopt them if necessary and order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate the impeached ministers.

The ministers present were all astute; how could they not understand the emperor's intentions? Wen Tiren, the Commissioner for Integrity and Law in charge of this matter, said:
"Even so, we cannot allow some low-ranking officials to slander ministers with unfounded rumors."

"I believe that such memorials should be kept secret to prevent anyone from leaking them or even creating public opinion."

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval:

"These kinds of commemorative stamps should indeed be kept secret."

"Otherwise, if the news is published in the newspapers and many people believe it, will the imperial court take action or not?"

“If such a chapter is leaked, the writer and the leaker will be held accountable.”

"Especially for officials in the science and technology sector, there should be clear performance evaluation criteria. They shouldn't always be allowed to make baseless accusations; they need to provide concrete evidence."

"If officials in the science and technology bureaus cannot produce solid evidence and most of their impeachments are based on hearsay, they should be severely reprimanded or even dismissed."

"I expect all officials to submit their memorials with reason and evidence."

The ministers unanimously praised this method of restraining officials in the censorate.

They all agreed with this approach, believing that science and technology officials should not be allowed to act recklessly.

Zhu Youjian did this because he didn't want his ministers to be too busy dealing with impeachments to get their important work done.

Therefore, he usually doesn't want to watch impeachments unless someone commits a serious crime.

For him, stability in the court was paramount. Unless it was a major issue, it could be dealt with during the leadership transition. (End of Chapter)