Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 433 Checks and Balances

Of course, all this is a story for later.

After receiving the foreign envoys, it was almost noon and the palace had already prepared a banquet.

There are several specifications for banquets in the palace. The top-level banquets are usually only used when a new monarch ascends the throne and when there are grand court meetings.

Today is naturally the banquet of the highest standard.

Nothing major happened during the banquet, which lasted until almost evening.

After the banquet, Zhao Xing was already about 70% drunk. He did not go to the harem to rest, but rested for the night in his bedroom in Fuyan Palace.

Zhao Xing had nothing to do on this day. The holiday lasted until after the Lantern Festival during the New Year. Unless there was something important, Zhao Xing had nothing to deal with during this period.

After Zhao Xing finished his exercise and had breakfast, he wanted to go to the harem to accompany several pregnant concubines, but his father sent someone to call him over.

When he was summoned, Zhao Xing guessed that it might be because of his outburst at the court meeting yesterday.

When I arrived at Xingming Palace and met my father, the queen, my expectations were indeed correct.

The emperor did not dissuade him, but just said that he should not have lost his temper at the court meeting yesterday, and warned him not to implicate others.

"Father, it's the first day of the new year, and I don't want to cause any unpleasantness, but these officials have gone too far. Just as they finished checking the land, the landlords and powerful people forced the people to return it. These prefects are responsible for supervising one side, but they concealed such things and did not report them. They don't care about me, the official, at all. If I don't teach them a lesson, they may forget that this world belongs to the Zhao family!" Zhao Xing said in a deep voice.

"I'm not saying you did anything wrong. These people did go too far, but you shouldn't let the Imperial City Department be responsible for this matter."

The retired emperor said worriedly, "You want to use the Imperial City Bureau to cultivate your own spies, which is not wrong. But it is not appropriate to let the Imperial City Bureau try officials. Once a pattern is formed, have you ever thought about how much power the Imperial City Bureau has? You can control it, but it does not mean that the emperor after you can control it. The knife is too sharp, it can not only hurt others, but also hurt yourself."

"Thank you, father, for your reminder. I understand." Zhao Xing said after a moment of silence.

This indeed goes against his original intention of setting up the secret guards.

Zhao Xing initially asked Yin Hanzhang to form a secret guard with the aim of cultivating spies similar to the Jinyiwei.

The reason why he said it was similar was because his definition of secret guards was limited to ears and eyes.

The Jinyiwei had too much power, and Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware of this. In his later years, he cut down the Jinyiwei because he was worried that the next emperor would not be able to hold the sword.

Zhu Di reorganized it when he needed it.

Later on, it turned out that the Jinyiwei had too much power, which affected the stability of the imperial power.

At that time, the emperor no longer had the ability to cut down the Jinyiwei, so in order to restrict the Jinyiwei, the Dongchang came into being.

The Jinyiwei were indeed restricted, withdrew from the stage of history, and existed in name only.

However, in order to restrict the Jinyiwei, the Dongchang had to be given enough power, and the Dongchang became a new hidden danger.

In order to restrict the East Factory, the West Factory and the Inner Factory appeared.

The fighting among these power institutions is itself a detriment to the imperial court.

Zhao Xing summed up these experiences and positioned the Secret Guards, which are now incorporated into the Imperial City Bureau, as spies from the very beginning.

They only have the right to collect intelligence and information, but not the right to arrest and try people.

But as time went by, he gradually forgot this.

Although the previous matter involved the Wizarding Cult and was handled as a special matter, the Imperial City Bureau did arrest officials.

This time, Zhao Xing didn't think much about it and instinctively wanted to hand the official over to the Imperial City Bureau for trial.

Although this showed that he did not trust the officials of the Dali Temple, it did set a bad precedent.

If his father hadn't reminded him, Zhao Xing would not have reacted.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave the Jinyiwei power, perhaps intending to abolish the Jinyiwei after using them up.

But Zhao Xing did not have this idea. The emperor still needed ears and eyes, otherwise what he saw and heard would be what the ministers wanted him to see.

Zhao Xing did not want his descendants to be deceived.

But if the Imperial City Bureau wants to continue to exist, it cannot have too much power.

Even if it was once or only for a short time, it is not acceptable. Otherwise, who knows whether the emperors after him will follow suit.

"It would be better if you could understand."

The emperor nodded in satisfaction and said, "I know you don't trust the officials of the Dali Temple and are worried that they will protect each other. But there is no perfect system in the world, otherwise there would be no dynasty change. You just need to choose the lesser of two evils."

"Thank you for your teachings, father. I understand now." Zhao Xing nodded.

He also understood this principle, but understanding is one thing and doing is another.

Many times, we often ignore it unconsciously.

The retired emperor shared some of his thoughts and then let Zhao Xing go back.

When Zhao Xing left Xingming Palace, a gust of cold wind blew, making him shiver uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Sanshui hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please get on the sedan chair first."

When the weather is cold, the curtains of the sedan chair are replaced with thick cloth to block the wind.

"No, I'll just go for a walk. The cool breeze will make my mind clearer."

Zhao Xing tightened his cloak and walked forward.

Seeing this, Sanshui hurriedly followed.

Zhao Xing realized that he had made a big mistake and wanted to be in control of everything.

This is not wrong, but his desire for control is a bit excessive.

He was worried that the officials' backers would intervene to help reduce their guilt, and he was not confident in having the case tried by officials from the Dali Temple.

You can just send someone trustworthy to supervise.

But he subconsciously wanted to hand this matter over to the Imperial City Bureau for handling.

The reason for this is that the Imperial City Bureau reports directly to him and he can do whatever he wants.

However, imperial power also needs to be restricted. Zhao Xing is disgusted by those who restrict imperial power for their own interests, but that does not mean that imperial power should not be restricted.

He can do whatever he wants with the Imperial City Administration, so why can't the emperors after him do the same?

Therefore, he cannot just do things according to his own wishes in order to make things develop in the direction he wants.

Besides, is there no problem on Yin Hanzhang's side?

This kind of thing definitely did not happen at the same time, perhaps there were signs of it before.

Is it possible that Yin Hanzhang deliberately did not report it, and waited until things had fermented to a point where they were almost fully developed before reporting it?
You know, this incident did not happen in one place, but in many states and counties.

In this case, it would be most appropriate for the Imperial City Bureau to investigate.

Involving so many officials at once would not only allow him to show off himself in front of him, but also make all officials fear the Imperial City Office like a tiger.

Of course, it is also possible that Yin Hanzhang felt that the problem was not serious at the beginning, and only reported it later when it became more and more serious.

After all, after the secret guards were incorporated into the Imperial City Bureau, the Imperial City Bureau had spies all over the world, and it was impossible for them to report everything to Zhao Xing.

Whether or not to report it depends entirely on Yin Hanzhang's judgment.

This does not mean we can conclude that there is something wrong with Yin Hanzhang.

But Zhao Xing suddenly realized that no matter whether Yin Hanzhang had problems or not, it would not be appropriate for him to be in charge of the Imperial City Administration alone.

The purpose of the Imperial City Bureau's existence is to serve as his eyes and ears, so that he will not be fooled by officials.

But the Imperial City Administration is controlled by one person. What if this person wants to fool the emperor?
It is far more terrible for one person to fool others than for a group of people to fool others.

The Imperial City Administration also needs balance and restraint.

(End of this chapter)