Emperor Ming: Your Majesty, you have caused me so much suffering.

It must be said that the abilities of these high-ranking officials are beyond doubt. If they want to get things done, there is nothing they cannot accomplish. At least for now, various affairs in the capital are progressing rapidly. After all, these affairs are closely related to the official positions and lives of the officials, so they have no choice but to work hard.

After hearing the various reports, Zhu Qiyu felt somewhat relieved.

After the court meeting, Xing'an clearly felt a chill emanating from his emperor, and couldn't help but become cautious.

Zhu Qiyu took a few steps, then stopped and asked, "As the head of the Eastern Depot, has anything unusual happened in the capital?"

Xing'an was startled and hurriedly apologized, saying, "This servant has not heard any report of any urgent matter."

Zhu Qiyu seemed thoughtful, then said, "Don't you think there's something a little strange about today's memorial?"

Xing'an knew that Zhu Qiyu was referring to the abolition of the eunuch supervisory system, a matter directly related to him, an eunuch. The Eastern Depot hadn't given him a heads-up beforehand. This demonstrated a severe lack of control over the capital; they only realized their lives were threatened when a knife was at their throats.

Xing'an broke out in a cold sweat and immediately knelt down, saying, "This servant deserves to die!"

Zhu Qiyu did not blame Xing'an. The situation was chaotic, and it was difficult to be all-encompassing. Some people wanted to take advantage of the situation, and it was impossible to guard against them all.

"Handle palace affairs with Cheng Jing. Have the Eastern Depot keep an eye on the censors in the capital, and report any unusual activity immediately. I previously had you and Li Yongchang assist Minister Yu in overseeing the capital's defenses; be sure to visit them frequently, observe, listen, and ask questions!"

Xing'an felt as if she had been granted a pardon and hurriedly got up, saying, "This servant will go right away."

Zhu Qiyu nodded, then waved to Lu Zhong, who was not far away.

Upon seeing this, Lu Zhong quickly approached.

"His Majesty!"

"Have the Embroidered Uniform Guard keep a close eye on everything in the capital. If anything unusual happens, report it immediately. If it's not urgent, summarize and report it every three days."

"Here you go!"

Today's events suddenly awakened Zhu Qiyu to the fact that the Censorate was being too active and was clearly aiming to seize power.

Zhu Qiyu recalled that during the Jingtai era, official positions such as governors and viceroys were no longer temporary appointments but began to be established. From then on, the rudimentary form of a powerful regional official who held administrative, military, supervisory, and judicial powers began to take shape, and a pattern of civil administration controlling military affairs gradually formed.

This transformation occurred when the governor was given the title of Censor-in-Chief, becoming known as "Governor-Censor-in-Chief." This meant that local inspectors and provincial judges had to obey the governor, as he nominally held the title of head of the Censorate. During the Jiajing era, the title of "Military Commander" was added, along with the title of Vice Minister of War, greatly increasing the governor's power. The governor-general was further granted the title of Minister of War, allowing him to control affairs across provinces.

The result is improved administrative efficiency, but the emperor's excessive power will keep him up at night.

Since Zhu Qiyu assumed regency, the Censorate has been involved in promoting the southward relocation of the capital, the Meridian Gate massacre, the execution of Wang Zhen, and even his own ascension to the throne. Now that Wu Xun is dead and Wang Zhen has been executed, the inner palace will lose power in the short term. Therefore, the military's checks and balances can only rely on the censors. Without inner court officials in the military, these powers are very likely to fall into the hands of the censors. Once this loophole is opened, the consequences will be uncontrollable.

The earlier petition to allow the censor to recruit soldiers and lead troops was already a hint of their true intentions, and now they are openly and brazenly seizing and plundering.

These people saw the inherent weaknesses in Zhu Qiyu's ascension to the throne. After the death of Wang Zhen's faction, the inner court officials should also quiet down in the short term. Wu Xun was already incapable of supporting Liu Shan and could only rely on civil officials. If Zhu Qiyu did not even rely on civil officials, he would have to bury himself in his work and become a commander without troops.

However, this group of people did not expect that Zhu Qiyu would be so ingenious as to let Wu Xun take the credit for being the first to advocate for the enthronement, and give him a strong push, so that Gu Xingzu was not killed in the end. If Gu Xingzu had been killed, it is estimated that Zhu Qizhen's lackey Liu An would also have been killed. Wu Xun would not have been able to rise again in the short term.

Today, Zhu Qiyu directly tested Yu Qian in court, since Yu Qian was currently the most likely person to allow censors to interfere with military power. The power to mobilize military personnel originally belonged to the Ministry of War, and Yu Qian was currently in charge of the Beijing Garrison, so he was fully capable of making this happen.

However, the result was still quite gratifying for Zhu Qiyu. At least Yu Qian was unaware of the matter, or if he was aware, he still prioritized the overall situation and the premise of everything he did was to protect the capital.

Zhu Qiyu gazed thoughtfully outside the palace, muttering, "I can bestow power, but I absolutely cannot seize it."

Elsewhere, several high-ranking officials gathered, and Yu Qian's expression was extremely grim.

After settling down, he almost burst into a tirade: "Whose idea was this? Why wasn't I informed beforehand? Today, His Majesty clearly suspects me."

Wang Zhi could only comfort Yu Qian, saying, "Tingyi, this was not something we ordered. It was just that our subordinates had this idea, and we were just going along with it. Why are you so angry? You are busy with the defense of the capital, and we didn't want to distract you, so we didn't tell you."

Yu Qian took a breath, his brows furrowed deeply, and said, "I don't understand. With the country in crisis, why not discuss defending against external threats first, protecting the capital, and then proceeding gradually? Moreover, not all the eunuchs are troublemakers. This is a rule set by Emperor Taizong, which cannot be easily changed. In every dynasty in the past, there have been eunuchs who supervised the army; they were the emperor's eyes and ears. I have already made it clear today that as long as all parties adhere to their duties and maintain the status quo, there is nothing wrong with it."

Upon hearing Yu Qian's words, Chen Yi retorted, "Minister Yu, I cannot agree with this statement. Emperor Taizu also clearly stated that eunuchs should not interfere in politics. If it weren't for these palace women and these treacherous officials, the border would be in such a state of disarray. It is precisely because these eunuchs, relying on the emperor's favor, have acted recklessly, and the border generals have followed suit, colluding with each other, engaging in corrupt practices, and even secretly communicating with the grasslands, that the situation on the nine border regions has deteriorated to this extent."

"His Majesty has already dealt with Wang Zhen and escorted Guo Jing and Cao Jixiang back to the capital to be executed by slow slicing. This shows that His Majesty also has concerns about the eunuchs who supervise the army. So why should we stop someone from submitting a memorial to discuss this matter? This memorial can be used to test His Majesty's attitude."

"If we could have agreed, that would have been a great joy. But even though we refused today, we have suffered no loss. At least we can understand His Majesty's attitude. His Majesty intends to restrain the inner court officials, and that is the result of today's events. The memorial made an outrageous demand for the power of the Censorate to supervise the army. In the future, we can negotiate and allow the Censorate to also have the power of investigation and punishment."

Currently, the Censorate of the Ming Dynasty does not have a fixed system of accompanying censors in the army, but they are usually specially appointed. Censors are not allowed to interfere in military operations. There are special patrol censors in the nine border regions to supervise, but they can only report to the emperor and cannot take action.

This is like having a tight rein on you. First, you have to impeach them, then get a reply from the court, confirm that a thorough investigation is needed, and then send an imperial censor or other officials to handle the matter.

This greatly reduces efficiency. If the other party has connections in the court and can tip them off in advance, the matter will basically become a lot of noise but little action.

Just as Wang Zhen could protect his accomplices, impeaching them without consequence, even if the evidence seemed irrefutable yesterday, it might have vanished tomorrow. This would become a false accusation, and the censor would be the one to suffer.

This is why some censors are particularly difficult to deal with, and seem to be making trouble for no reason. In fact, they are forced to do this because if they don't make a big fuss and cause things to get out of hand, many things will eventually just be left unresolved.

What the Censorate wants now is the power to take action. If illegal activities are discovered, they can be dealt with first and evidence can be secured, instead of submitting a report and waiting for approval.

Yu Qian had to admit that what Chen Yi said was true, but he chose to believe that Zhu Qiyu could restrain his ministers and that Zhu Qiyu was a wise ruler.

"Your Majesty is a wise and virtuous ruler. I believe we should have more faith in Your Majesty, and the Tumu Crisis will not be repeated."

Chen Yi disagreed, saying, "Minister Yu, can you guarantee that His Majesty will remain unchanged or that his successor will also be wise? In my opinion, only by eradicating the problem through systemic reforms can we completely eliminate these abuses."

Yu Qian shook his head and stood up, saying, "But we can't act at this juncture. I will not accompany you until we defeat the Oirat."

"Minister Yu, wait! Wait!"

Yu Qian walked away resolutely, without looking back!