Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 250 Two lines of power operation, anti-corruption storm!
"Look, the Ming Daily has published the postal codes and addresses of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the government offices in various provinces."

"The editorial of the Ming Daily vows to wipe out all the gangs, bandits and robbers in the world."

"Heroes use force to break the law. If there is no hero in the Ming Dynasty, everyone will be a hero."

"From today on, everyone can write to various ministries to report and lodge complaints, and supervise the relevant government offices."

"Completely eradicate the soil in which all corrupt officials survive!"

……

On the street, the newsboy's cries attracted countless people's attention.

Many people went to buy newspapers and started talking about it.

"What's going on? The court is making a big move this time!"

"Yeah, didn't they say they were fighting bandits before? But now they've added the fight against corruption."

"Those underworld gangs and petty thieves would not be able to rise to power if they were not protected by the yamen masters and clerks. If the court wants to eradicate them, doesn't it have to fight corruption?"

"It's normal, right? In the past, when the imperial court sent imperial envoys to inspect local areas, they would post notices and ask the people who had grievances to file complaints. This should be similar to Nana."

"It's still different. It's much easier to write a letter than to complain."

"Yes, and you can write anonymous letters without worrying about retaliation afterwards."

"Do you think anyone will write a letter to report this?"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course there is!"

"Anyway, I won't write a letter. These days, it's better to stay out of other people's business. But what you said is also true. If I don't write, someone else will."

“I don’t know how effective this wave of anti-corruption efforts will be.”

"It's hard to say. The Guo Huan case and the Kong Yin case were both big events. They were so bloody, but there are still as many corrupt officials as before."

"But I always feel that this time is different. Look at what the newspaper says about 'public supervision'. If that's true, maybe it can really reduce the number of corrupt officials."

"Not necessarily. Officials protect each other, so the letter has to be useful!"

"It will definitely work. Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in power, things are different from before."

……

Some people believed it, some did not, and some were half-believing and half-doubting.

In the court, Zhu Yunhuan also started his own "big move".

For seven consecutive days, he summoned all officials to hold court meetings.

You know, since Zhu Yuanzhang left and Zhu Yunhuan came to power, he rarely attended court meetings.

Most of them were cancelled.

In Zhu Yunhuan's view, accepting worship at court meetings could strengthen the ministers' awe of the emperor through the sense of ritual.

But the ceremony is too cumbersome and very torturous, so it should only be held occasionally.

Holding court meetings every day would lose their original purpose and ministers would no longer feel awe.

Ministers would take the occasional court meeting very seriously.

After attending court meetings every day, I got used to it and no longer took it seriously.

If there is a real need to discuss matters, the ministers can be summoned individually to discuss, ask for their opinions, and issue orders.

Historical books always say that a certain emperor did not attend court for many years but still held great power. Some people always find this unbelievable and think that the emperor's power was amazing.

But in fact, Zhu Yunhuan knew very well that this was in line with the rules of the exercise of power.

It is easier to maintain control by issuing instructions and orders in private.

On the contrary, if everything is discussed and decided at the meeting without communicating with others beforehand, the supreme ruler will gradually lose his authority.

Because in the eyes of others, you have no say and cannot make your own decisions, so why should they respect you?
The right to decide when to hold a meeting to discuss a matter is a very important power.

The time is up to you, you can communicate with people privately and then hold a meeting after reaching an agreement.

The same is true for the specific matters discussed in the meeting.

Throughout history, many emperors did not understand this principle.

He was fooled by the scholars and went to court every day. He was extremely diligent and discussed all matters at the court meetings.

No matter what was to be discussed at the court meeting, the emperor was led by the ministers instead of making arrangements himself. He only discussed things that had been prepared in advance and let the ministers decide the topic.

Any emperor who did this would eventually cause the government to degenerate into endless party struggles, and the imperial power would not only fail to be strengthened, but would be greatly weakened.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a very diligent emperor, he used to attend court every day.

However, he seldom discussed matters with his ministers in the court. He always made decisions directly, acted arbitrarily and was extremely cruel.

This is exactly the difference between Lao Zhu and those mediocre people.

Since Zhu Yunhuan traveled through time from later times, he could understand the principles of the operation of power through a comparative analysis.

Plus, he knows a little about psychology.

He has a deep understanding of what is useful to the emperor, what is useless, and what should be avoided in moderation.

He also knew what he should do and how to handle the meeting.

This time, contrary to usual practice, morning court sessions were held for seven consecutive days with only one purpose, which was to show the court officials and the people of the world his attitude towards fighting against corruption and his determination to eradicate gangs, thieves and bandits.

This is different from the Huang Zicheng case.

The Huang Zicheng case was too high-pressure, which would scare all the ministers, fearing that they would be accidentally implicated.

If the matter is delayed for too long, there will be unrest in the government and the people will be in panic.

But this time, it is purely to show the importance of this.

Let the ministers and officials of the world think carefully about the consequences of anyone who dares to shirk their responsibilities, be perfunctory, work carelessly, or even engage in corruption.

This is different from Lao Zhu who likes to kill a lot of people afterwards.

Zhu Yunhuan prefers to say the "ugly words" first.

With the previous efforts to win over the Huang Zicheng case, the ministers all believed that this storm was not directed at them.

At the same time, I also know how much importance His Royal Highness the Crown Prince attaches to this.

Soon, all departments of the imperial court were mobilized, and official documents were quickly sent to local government offices.

In addition, Zhu Yunhuan also went against his usual practice and personally went to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Ministry of Personnel, and other court departments, and summoned all the officials of the department to give them a speech, telling them the importance of eradicating evil forces, gangs, and bandits.

Of course, more importantly, there is the fight against corruption.

The Ming Daily also published an editorial every day, explaining the matter in an extremely harsh tone.

At the same time, the postal code addresses of many departments such as the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, etc. were published repeatedly every day, calling on the whole nation to supervise.

In any top-down ruling system, the exercise of power has two lines.

One is the obvious line and the other is the hidden line.

The obvious ones are the imperial edicts announced to the world by the court, official documents, laws and regulations, official letters issued by various departments, etc.

This is obvious.

There is another more important line, which is the private instructions, reports and communications among officials.

For example, after receiving an official document from the imperial court, the provincial censor usually has two choices.

If it is a small matter, we should naturally handle it according to the requirements in the official document.

If it was a major event, or if there were other doubts in his mind, or if it involved his own interests, he would suppress it first. Then, he would write to the ministers and cabinet ministers in the court, his "mentors", and other high-ranking officials who had promoted him, to ask for their opinions.

If they say it must be done, then do it.

If they say it's optional, then you have to weigh the pros and cons carefully.

If the other party hinted that he could not do it, then the official document of the court would most likely become a piece of waste paper and be thrown there without any care.

Officials will find ways to shirk responsibility and delay, or just ignore it as if it doesn't exist.

There are policies and measures to counter.

He always finds a way to delay and suppress it!

Sometimes, his "mentor" might send him a letter without waiting for his instructions, telling him what he should or should not do.

Of course he would act according to the instructions of his "mentor".

This is the hidden thread of the operation of power!

The vast majority of officials have "connections" above them.

You can't get promoted without holding on to someone powerful.

Whether something should be done, how it should be done, and to what extent it should be done, on the one hand, depends on the official documents of the court, but mainly depends on the instructions of one's own people.

The dual-line operation of power has lasted for thousands of years throughout the feudal dynasties.

The two lines, one bright and one dark, constitute a complete power system.

After all, there are always power struggles and factions in the court.

No matter how wise the emperor is, no one can make it disappear.

This is also an important reason why when ordinary people see many government decrees issued by the court, local officials simply do not take them seriously and do not implement them at all, but the higher authorities never hold these officials accountable.

Because the official received "instructions" from above in a place that ordinary people cannot see!
In order to avoid possible political risks, the instructions given by officials behind the scenes are often vague.

This requires the officials below to have high wisdom and be able to deeply understand the meaning of their superiors.

However, there is no need to worry about this.

Because no matter how poorly an official performs his duties, he is very capable in this area.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to be promoted and reused.

The officials’ “skill points” are added here.

The "instructions" that seem vague and ambiguous to outsiders are as clear as a mirror in the minds of officials. They can understand them at a glance.

Zhu Yunhuan was very clear about this, which is why he held court meetings for seven consecutive days in the imperial hall and then went to various departments in person to continue the meetings.

Make your intentions clear.

In this way, officials in the court will send letters to their subordinates separately, telling them that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is serious this time, so you should stop making excuses and procrastinating, and even more so, don't try to offend the emperor and offend his opponent, as that would only bring trouble to yourself. If something really happens, I can't protect you.

Only after those people receive the letter will they truly take the official documents issued by the court seriously.

Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty's huge bureaucratic system be truly and comprehensively mobilized.

Lao Zhu's campaign against corruption resulted in countless deaths and rivers of blood, but why was the final result so disappointing?
The reasons are of course multifaceted.

But an extremely important reason is that Zhu prefers killing afterward rather than mobilizing for the event.

In Lao Zhu's opinion, if you violate the order that has been issued in advance, you will be killed without mercy.

But from the perspective of the killed official, he felt that he was so wronged. I didn’t know you were serious about it, and I didn’t know you took it so seriously!
I regret it, but it's too late.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Yuanzhang was governing the country using the methods of governing the army, and he believed that everything must be enforced.

But Zhu Yunhu knew better that even when commanding the army, important military orders had to be reiterated repeatedly.

This is what is called "repeated instructions".

Why not just not mention it again and again in the next order, instead of repeating it over and over again?
Because of the depravity of human nature.

If we don't catch people at all times and reiterate the issue over and over again so that people don't dare to relax in the slightest, then it will be meaningless to rely solely on punishment after the fact.

In Zhu's eyes, court officials cannot have hidden power.

So he also follows this principle when doing things.

The two most powerful political forces in the Ming Dynasty court, the Huaixi nobles and the Zhejiang Party Group, were both targets of Zhu Yuanzhang's severe crackdowns.

But Zhu Yunhuan understood that it would be impossible to have no hidden power.

The employment rules in the officialdom determine that higher-level officials have great influence and say in the career advancement of lower-level officials, forcing them to become dependent on them to a certain extent and act according to the orders of officials who can influence their own advancement.

Power is always like this, it cannot be eliminated, it can only be utilized.

Why was it difficult for the Tax Commissioner to collect taxes before?

The louder the opposition in the court, the more the local officials would disapprove of the tax officials and refuse to cooperate when they received letters from their superiors, and the more difficult it would be to collect taxes.

Now, with Zhu Yunhuan's full support, the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty was operating rapidly. After receiving letters from their own people, local officials no longer dared to ignore the court's orders to crack down on gangs, thieves and bandits.

The two lines of power, the light and the dark, work in concert, and the bureaucratic system unleashes astonishing energy.

……

at the same time.

The postal service's reporting and supervision system also began to play a role.

Unlike the previous reporting of the Huang Zicheng case, the people are still somewhat cautious about reporting corrupt officials, criminal gangs, and underworld sects.

It is unclear what the consequences of reporting will be and whether there will be retaliation.

As a result, there are far fewer letters of complaint.

However, this will ensure that the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate have sufficient manpower and energy to conduct in-depth investigations into the reports.

Rather than being overwhelmed by a flood of letters.

The Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice all have special reporting and handling centers.

The Censorate accepted reports of officials breaking the law.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for dealing with gangs, thieves, bandits, etc.

The Ministry of Justice naturally accepts reports related to case trials.

In these departments, offices similar to those of the Imperial Court's Tongzhengsi were set up.

After receiving the report letter, it will be opened on the spot, recorded and then handed over to the following department for processing.

There are two types of reporting letters: one is real-name reporting and the other is anonymous reporting.

All reports made under real names must be verified one by one without any omissions.

Anonymous reporting is handled on a case-by-case basis.

One is the circumstances and content of the report, whether it is bombastic or in-depth and detailed.

Are the issues raised particularly serious?

The second is to see whether there are many anonymous letters with different handwritings reflecting the same thing.

Based on these, we make a distinction between priorities and then send people to investigate and deal with the situation.

With the reporting and supervision system at its core, a new anti-corruption storm is sweeping across the Ming Dynasty.

……

(End of this chapter)