Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1273 Prime Minister? Cabinet?
The new capital of the new continent.

Prince Zhu Mincheng of Song had just received an imperial edict from the Ming Dynasty. After reading it, he was so happy that he almost jumped for joy.

It's done! It's finally done!

Unexpectedly, Sun Hao's suggestion was actually approved by the court. The Ming Dynasty decided to allow vassal states like Zhu Mincheng to establish their own governments and military commands. Furthermore, the imperial edict clearly stated that, in the future, vassal states outside the mainland would not only be able to appoint their own officials and set up their own government offices, but also form their own armies, in order to effectively become a true independent kingdom.

Thinking of this, Zhu Mincheng couldn't help but clench his fists, wishing he could burst into laughter. This was the perfect thing he had always dreamed of! With this, there would be nothing left to hinder him, and he could finally go all out.

"Someone come here!" Zhu Mincheng shouted. The eunuchs of the Prince's mansion rushed in to ask what was wrong with the prince. Zhu Mincheng was about to call all his subordinates to a meeting, but he suddenly changed his mind and said, "Go! Invite Chief Secretary Sun to see me."

The eunuch responded and hurried off. After the eunuch left, Zhu Mincheng tried to calm her excited mood slightly and her mind raced as she thought about the next steps. After waiting for about half an hour, Sun Hao came in a hurry and went inside to pay his respects to the Prince of Song.

"Your Majesty!"

"Senior brother, please take a look." Upon seeing Sun Hao arrive, Zhu Mincheng quickly invited him to sit down and then handed him the imperial decree.

"This is……?"

"It's an imperial decree that just came from the mainland," Zhu Mincheng said with a smile.

Seeing Zhu Mincheng's beaming face, Sun Hao immediately understood the situation. He took the imperial decree, opened it, and read it carefully. After reading it all, his face was also filled with joy. He cupped his hands and congratulated Zhu Mincheng, saying, "Congratulations, Your Highness! I didn't expect the court to actually agree to this. Now Your Highness has no more worries and can fully unleash your potential!"

"Haha, congratulations to you too..." Zhu Mincheng nodded cheerfully, then said to Sun Hao, "I called you here to discuss this matter. Now that the court has made such a decision, many things can be started. I wonder what you can teach me, senior brother? What arrangements would be more appropriate for the next steps?"

Sun Hao had already prepared a plan for this, and immediately cupped his hands to Zhu Mincheng, saying, "Your Highness, now that the court has made its decision, Your Highness's first priority is to establish a government office and set up a court to determine the structure of our Song Dynasty's court. As the saying goes, 'Without rules, there can be no order.' Once this matter is settled, everything else will fall into place."

"Absolutely!" Zhu Mincheng agreed, but he still needed to hear Sun Hao's opinion on how to establish the court structure.

"We can simply follow the model. My Song Kingdom is an outer vassal state of the Great Ming, and Your Highness is a prince of the Great Ming, so we can naturally follow the system of the Great Ming. The court can be set up according to the Three Departments and Six Ministries of the Great Ming. However, the Commander-in-Chief of the Three Departments can be slightly modified. After all, my Song Kingdom is different from the Great Ming, and at present, there is no need to set up duplicate institutions in the army. I suggest that the Commander-in-Chief be merged with the current military system of the Great Ming and all be placed under the jurisdiction of one department. This would be more appropriate."

Zhu Mincheng pondered the suggestion carefully and found it to be a good one. He had graduated from the Ming Dynasty Military Academy and was very familiar with the Ming military system. Moreover, the main reason why Zhu Shenzhui reformed the Ming military system, especially the gradual weakening and abolition of the military household system, was that the military household system had long been a mere formality after more than two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty and was no longer necessary. In addition, due to the new army, the military system was re-established. Furthermore, the separation of military ranks and military positions was adopted, and the original Five Military Commissions were replaced by the General Council Office.

Since the Song state wants to start anew, there is no need to follow the old path of the Ming Dynasty. Wouldn't it be better to take a shortcut and overtake it?
However, there is a problem here: systems can be created and copied, but names cannot be used. If a vassal state directly uses the names of the Ming Dynasty's government offices, wouldn't that be overstepping its bounds? Therefore, Zhu Mincheng asked Sun Hao how to handle this matter more appropriately.

“Hehe, Your Highness, you’re just being overly concerned. It’s not that difficult,” Sun Hao laughed. “For vassal states like Korea, their systems are basically copied from those of our Great Ming Dynasty, only the names are different. For example, the Six Ministries in Korea are called the Six Offices, and there are also twenty departments corresponding to each government office. Although they sound different, they are actually exactly the same. It’s just a name.”

Zhu Mincheng's eyes lit up. He had forgotten that Joseon's political structure as an outer vassal state was similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. The six ministries of the Ming Dynasty were called the six departments in Joseon. The head of the other department was not called the Minister, but was called the Judge, which was to avoid the use of the official title in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, there are many similar cases. The Dali Temple of the Ming Dynasty is called Sixianfu in Korea, the Censorate is called Sijianyuan, the Five Military Commissions is called Wujunyuan, and the Cabinet is called Yizhengbu. All these have changed their names, but their actual powers are the same.

However, the Uijeongbu (National Assembly) of Joseon differed slightly from the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty. To be precise, the Uijeongbu was more like a prime minister system, with the left and right Uijeongbu essentially serving as the left and right prime ministers, similar to the early Ming Dynasty. Other aspects were essentially the same, just a superficial change.

Zhu Mincheng thought this was a good idea. Since there was a precedent in Korea, there was no need to start from scratch; they could simply follow the structure of the Ming Dynasty's court. However, the term "Six Ministries" in Korea sounded a bit awkward; no matter how he pronounced it, it felt strange. In Zhu Mincheng's view, it was more like the structure of government offices under prefectures and counties. "How about calling them the Six Bureaus?" Sun Hao suggested after thinking for a moment.

"Six Bureaus?" Zhu Mincheng pondered for a moment. The names of the Six Ministries and the Ming government offices were redundant and could not be used. The Six Departments were used in Korea. Zhu Mincheng was a prince, whose status was higher than that of the princes in Korea, so he naturally would not use the Korean name. As for the Six Offices or Six Sections, these were also official titles in the Ming government offices. On the contrary, the name Six Bureaus proposed by Sun Hao did not exist. Moreover, Six Bureaus sounded more impressive than Six Departments. It seemed that this name was not bad.

"Then let's tentatively designate it as Bureau Six, but the chief officials can still be called Ministers and Vice Ministers."

“This… I’m afraid we should change the official title?” Sun Hao said hesitantly.

"No changes, we'll use this one!" Zhu Mincheng made the final decision: "I am not the King of Joseon, so why not? Besides, the positions of Minister and Vice Minister have existed since ancient times, and I have already changed the Six Ministries into Six Bureaus, so why add anything unnecessary? Whether we change it or not, it's the same, everyone understands that."

"By the way, senior brother, do you think that besides these six bureaus, our Song Kingdom still needs to set up a prime minister or a cabinet?" Zhu Mincheng suddenly asked.

Sun Hao's heart stirred slightly, and he subconsciously glanced at Zhu Mincheng, only to see Zhu Mincheng looking at him with a half-smile.

"I believe it would be better not to appoint a prime minister."

"Why?" Zhu Mincheng asked in return, "Senior brother is the chief secretary of my royal palace. If a prime minister is appointed, the position of left prime minister will definitely belong to senior brother. Does senior brother not want to be the prime minister?"

Sun Hao shook his head, adopting a resolute refusal: "Your Highness, if a prime minister is appointed, not only will the prime minister be in charge of state affairs, but Your Highness will also have to share power with him, which is highly inappropriate. Emperor Taizu abolished the prime minister system for this very reason. How wise Emperor Taizu was! Since our dynasty abolished the prime minister system long ago, why should we establish it again? Furthermore, once a prime minister is appointed, there will likely be people in the homeland who will use this as a pretext for criticism. If officials in the court propose to follow the Han system and appoint a prime minister from the central government, how can Your Highness refuse? It is clear that appointing a prime minister is indeed inappropriate. I suggest that we establish an institution similar to the cabinet to assist Your Highness in handling state affairs. Your Highness can then make the decisions on state matters independently. This would be much more appropriate."

"If that's the case, then, senior brother, you..."

“Your Highness, I am a subject of the Song Kingdom and your subordinate. How could I possibly abuse my power for personal gain? The Song Kingdom is newly established, and it is a time when we subjects should work together to assist Your Highness in building the foundation. As for my position and authority, I am already satisfied as Your Highness has trusted me so much and has consulted me on matters of state.”

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!" Zhu Mincheng laughed. Although his question was ostensibly a request for advice, it was also a test to see what Sun Hao was really thinking. He hadn't expected Sun Hao to give him such an answer, which greatly pleased Zhu Mincheng.

As the Prince of Song and currently the ruler of a vassal state, Zhu Mincheng naturally needed to plan carefully for his own future. He was acutely aware of the potential dangers of appointing a prime minister. While he hadn't assisted his father in governing like his elder brother, the crown prince, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Mincheng, having received imperial education and guidance from a young age, was certainly not a politically naive or incompetent ruler.

He was well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the Ming Dynasty's political structure, including why Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and added the cabinet system above the six ministries. Wasn't it to solve the problem of the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister?

As Sun Hao pointed out, appointing a prime minister would create a check on the monarch's power and could also lead to problems arising from sending a prime minister from within the country. Even with its various problems, the Ming Dynasty's cabinet system is still relatively advanced compared to other countries' political structures. Until a better system replaces it, continuing with the Ming system is the most suitable choice.

The reason he asked Sun Hao this question was to gauge Sun Hao's thoughts. Even though he trusted and relied heavily on Sun Hao, a ruler still needed to have methods for managing his subjects. Sun Hao did not disappoint him and gave the most appropriate answer, which greatly pleased Zhu Mincheng.

"The Zhu family is really not easy to fool. Luckily, I kept my guard up." Sun Hao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he did have some ideas about the prime minister. As the chief secretary, his position was similar to that of the prime minister, only with slightly less power.

Once he truly became the prime minister, he would hold a position second only to the emperor in the Song Dynasty. However, Sun Hao was very clear-headed and knew that although his junior brother was usually carefree, he was actually a very shrewd person. It wouldn't be easy to fool him. Rather than letting the other party become suspicious of him, it would be better to make a clean refusal and speak from the other party's perspective.

As long as Zhu Mincheng continues to trust and rely on him, does it matter whether he is the prime minister or not? Sun Hao made the right move. Seeing Zhu Mincheng's hearty laughter, he was completely relieved.

(End of this chapter)