My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 46 Knocking on the Palace
Of course, the Imperial Household Department did not dare to take charge of Su Ze's hot memorial. The eunuch Li Fang, who was in charge of the seal, asked several eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department to read it and then immediately delivered it to the emperor's desk.

Emperor Longqing was also in a dilemma when he saw Su Ze's memorial. Although he was also interested in Su Ze's proposal, he hesitated when he thought of the combat effectiveness of the Kedao.

For a moment, he hesitated about how to deal with Su Ze's memorial and could only keep it for the time being.
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Six-science corridor.

Although Su Ze's memorial was kept in the palace, a copy had to be sent to the Ministry of Rites according to the rules.

Just as the emperor's cabinet had guessed, Su Ze's memorial to the Ministry of Justice immediately caused a huge uproar!

This time, not only those censors who had been at odds with Su Ze in the past, but all the censors from the six departments and thirteen offices slammed the table and attacked Su Ze madly!

What is the greatest power of the Six Departments and Thirteen Paths?
In fact, it is not the right to impeach officials.

There is no need for a special position to tell tales to the leader; anyone can do it.

Moreover, compared with the Ministry of Personnel's power of recommendation and assessment, the so-called impeachment power of the Ministry of Personnel is actually very limited.

So many ministers were impeached, how many were dismissed in a year?
In fact, the greatest power of the Kedao was the power to monopolize the emperor's "channel of speech".

The power of the six departments to report on matters means that they can submit letters to the emperor no matter how big or small the matter is. The purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang establishing the Kedao was to prevent senior officials from monopolizing the channels for speaking out, so that the voices of the grassroots and even the people could be heard through the Kedao.

The science and technology officials can put forward their own opinions on the country's major policies and feedback the people's livelihood issues at the grassroots level.

Of course, this is the system, but today, the dragon slayer has become the dragon. Kedao has become a monster with his own will. In order to monopolize the power of speech, he will suppress Su Ze's proposal.

Chen Zan, the Criminal Affairs Censor, suffered a loss in his last battle with Su Ze and was reprimanded by the emperor.

After reading Su Ze's memorial, Chen Zan was extremely excited and raised the manuscript on the spot and shouted:

"It is the ancestral rule for our officials to speak out on hearsay! Su Ze attacks this ancestral rule! He deserves death!"

The censors also stood up and agreed, and the entire Six Departments Corridor became even more fanatical.

"I would rather die than allow such a treacherous villain to seduce the Lord!"

Chen Zan stood up, straightened his clothes, and said, "I am going to go to Zuo Shun Gate to knock on the gate!"

When the five words "Zuo Shunmen knocked on the palace gate" were heard, the entire Six Departments Corridor fell silent.

Knocking at the Zuoshun Gate is the censor’s ultimate killer move.

During the great ritual debate of Emperor Jiajing, more than 200 officials who opposed the debate knelt at Zuoshun Gate and wrote a letter to "protest". All officials knocked on the palace gates, and the noise shook the court, in an attempt to force Emperor Shizong to submit.

Knocking on the palace gate was the strongest means for censors to put pressure on imperial power. At this time, the emperor had only two options: submission or beating in court.

If you choose to beat with a stick in court, Chen Zan will immediately become an idol among the censors, and will be given the super BUFF of "speaking frankly at the risk of death" and being the absolutely politically correct scholar-official!

Unless the emperor was like Emperor Jiajing who turned the table over, ordinary emperors had no choice but to submit in the end.

In short, knocking on the palace gate at Zuo Shunmen was a desperate charge with one's life and property at stake. Chen Zan was going to explode together with Su Ze!
After Chen Zan finished speaking, several other censors also stood up and said:
"I am coming too!"

Of course, Su Ze's memorial did not reach the level of the Grand Ceremony Debate, and many censors were unwilling to gamble their futures and lives on it.

Finally, Chen Zan led thirteen censors to the Zuo Shun Gate.

Seeing such a group of censors rushing towards Zuo Shunmen, the eunuch in charge of Zuo Shunmen was scared to death and quickly sent someone to report to the Silijian.

Chen Zan took the lead in kneeling down, shouting "Shout out to Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Shizong", and then burst into tears.

Eunuch Zhang, the gatekeeper, felt his scalp tingle and his whole body tremble with despair. The censor's knock on the palace gate was a serious matter. As the gatekeeper, Zhang's duty was to guard the Zuoshun Gate, but Chen Zan's crying here meant he was already guilty of disturbing the emperor's carriage.

If he fails to handle one of them properly, more charges will be pinned on him. Eunuch Zhang thought about how he had just spent 1,000 taels of silver to recognize Feng Bao, the chief secretary of the Imperial Household Department, as his godfather. Now, let alone getting a promotion, it would be difficult for him to even keep his life.

Eunuch Zhang's expression twisted. Why should we eunuchs be in trouble when you outer court officials fight?
When the Zuo Shun Gate knocked on the palace gate, the Silijian also quickly held a meeting.

Li Fang looked at his colleagues with a headache, especially Feng Bao, the chief clerk of the Imperial Household Department and the director of the East Factory. He said with a haggard look:
"The censor has knocked on the palace gate. We must report this to His Majesty immediately. This matter all arose from Su Ze's memorial. We all need to have a public opinion on how to deal with Su Ze."

Li Fang looked around and saw that the eunuchs who were in charge of writing were all very cunning and kept silent.

If something like this happened, the emperor would definitely ask the Imperial Household Department for their opinion.

However, Li Fang did not want to be branded as a eunuch interfering in politics, so he prepared to launch a "public opinion" from the Imperial Household Department.

However, the few scribes present did not want to get involved in this dispute outside the court.

One of the eunuchs with a square face and a pen said:
"Eunuch Li, this is a matter of the outer court. Why should our Imperial Household Department get involved?"

The speaker was named Chen Hong. He was originally the eunuch in charge of the Shangshenjian. Because he was good at guessing the emperor's intentions, he was selected into the Silijian. Now he is the third in command of the Silijian.

Chen Hong spoke, and Feng Bao also said:

"Eunuch Chen is right. We should not talk too much about the affairs of the outer court officials. If we talk too much, we will be in trouble both inside and outside."

Li Fang looked at his subordinates' objection and said in a rare fit of anger:

"Whether it's the outer court or the inner court, we are all your Majesty's subjects. We are all here to share your Majesty's worries!"

Li Fang still had some prestige in the Imperial Household Department. After he spoke sternly, Feng Bao also lowered his head.

Li Fang said:

"If Your Majesty asks, how about we follow Prime Minister Li's advice that day?"

Everyone took up their pens and said "Yes".

As expected, a trusted young eunuch of Longqing soon came running over, and Emperor Longqing summoned the Imperial Household Department to discuss the matter.

Feng Bao walked behind Li Fang, his hands in his sleeves, holding a memorial that had just been delivered.

The memorial is different from the public memorial, and is equivalent to a secret memorial submitted directly to the emperor.

The memorial did not need to go through the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, but was sent directly from the Ministry of Public Security to the Ministry of Ceremonies.

In fact, ministers in the Ming Dynasty did not like to submit memorials. Memorials that were not submitted through public channels were more like small reports or essays, and were not very credible to the emperor.

Moreover, if one submits memorials frequently, he will be criticized by the censors for "getting promoted by luck". If he is labeled as a "two-faced official", saying one thing in front of others and another behind their backs, is there anything that cannot be said openly?
That will affect the future of your entire official career.

Feng Bao was originally a little hesitant, but when he saw Li Fang so strongly supporting Li Chunfang's opinion, Feng Bao had other ideas.

Although Li Chunfang and Li Fang both seemed very Buddhist, they actually used "soft" means to control the cabinet and the Imperial Household Department. The assistant ministers and scribes under them rarely directly opposed their decisions.

As an ambitious eunuch, Feng Bao was obviously not satisfied with this situation.

This is an opportunity.

(End of this chapter)