Zhu Youxiao indeed intended to weaken the power of the officials.
Although Zhu Youxiao admitted that as an emperor, he could not rule the empire in every detail.
After all, he is not Zhu Yuanzhang, and he cannot work more than ten hours a day for his rule.
He would rather have more leisure time.
Therefore, it was destined that his imperial power would be divided into many parts, and then represented by some people to maintain the rule of this empire.
But Zhu Youxiao didn't want the power to recommend officials to be really only in the hands of the Ministry of Personnel.
In this way, the civil servants in the Ministry of Personnel will control the entire empire and exercise power. This will not only help sell officials and win titles, but also help engage in party strife and eliminate dissidents.
For this reason, Zhu Youxiao also wanted to grant the power of recommendation to more courtiers.
In this way, even if the courtiers use their power of recommendation to sell officials and titles, there will be many sellers and the official price will not be raised too high. In this way, people who buy officials will not push the people too hard in order to make money back.
At the same time, this will also make the civil service group more divided. Everyone has the right to recommend others, so naturally no one will obey anyone.
It is the same as when Zhu Yuanzhang founded the People's Republic of China, in order to restrain local powerful people from getting bigger, he required that the chief of lijia and the chief of grain should be taken turns by wealthy households.
In the past, the grassroots level was dominated by one family, with one local powerful man monopolizing all the power in the township.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang's change meant that "the emperor will take turns and come to my house next year", which caused the local powerful to obey no one and be in a state of division, which was more conducive to imperial rule.
This is what Zhu Youxiao wants to do now.
Since it is inevitable for officials to share their imperial power, it would be wise for more officials to share it.
"You will draw up a decree based on this and declare to the world that from now on, whenever important ministers are vacant, they will need to be recommended by officials from the capital of the fourth rank or above, and then recommended by the court. This will be used as a precedent. No special recommendation by the Ministry of personnel is allowed. If there is any violation in future generations, , there is a risk of using the power of the Ministry of Personnel to sell off official titles and be arbitrary and tyrannical. The new Minister of Political Affairs, the Privy Council Envoy and Deputy Envoys, and the new cabinet ministers should immediately come up with the necessary quotas in the Political Affairs Hall, Privy Council, and Cabinet. , increase the quota if it is necessary. Now that the territory of the empire has increased, the internal affairs have also increased a lot. It is also necessary to add six or seven auxiliary ministers, cabinet ministers and even privy military ministers. Once the quota that needs to be increased is established, four Those with higher grades will be recommended by officials in the capital, and then they will be recommended by the court. The system of court recommendation will have to be discussed again, and we will talk about it when the time comes. Now we will recommend talents."
Zhu Youxiao said for this reason.
If the current communication technology had not kept pace, he would have planned to let local officials participate in official recommendation and nomination.
But now, because it often takes several days or even one or two months to contact the local government, he can only allow more Beijing officials to participate in the recommendation.
Yuan Keli naturally obeyed the order.
For him, who is the Minister of Political Affairs, Deputy Envoy to the Privy Council and Chief Assistant to the Cabinet, it is beneficial but harmless to weaken the power of the Ministry of Personnel.
It's just harmful to the entire civil service group.
Therefore, although Yuan Keli did not oppose it, he did not support it either. He only acted as an executor who followed orders.
"Your Majesty does not have the power to be transferred to the six ministries, let alone the six ministries. Why is it that you restrict the power of the staff? Does your Majesty think that the power of the senior ministers and old men is not strong enough?"
Wu Weiye felt very dissatisfied and disappointed with such an imperial edict.
"How can it be possible for the power to be given to the six ministries? It is still contrary to the king's rule to rule alone. It is better to give it to everyone. Today, I don't want to exhaust myself to death, nor do I want anyone to check and balance him!"
Zhao Jinmei said this.
"The next elected assistant ministers, cabinet ministers, and Privy Council ministers will all be recommended by the fourth-rank Beijing official recommendation committee. In this case, how can we gentry be sure that good ministers who are beneficial to us will be selected? ! How can we let the selected ministers speak for our entire Shilin, they will only follow the emperor's influence!"
Albert Wu smiled bitterly because of this.
After Sun Chengzong saw such a decree, he quickly understood why the emperor appointed him to replace Cui Jingrong as the Minister of Personnel instead of selecting the Minister of Personnel through the court. It was clearly for this day.
"Those who do not plan for the overall situation cannot plan for the moment. In order to more smoothly weaken the power of the Ministry of Personnel, His Majesty deliberately made himself the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel before issuing this decree. If you want to be a cabinet minister, you must accept such an edict wisely. Arrangements are made by recommendation from others. If you don’t want to, your career will end at being the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs! After all, it’s Your Majesty!”
Sun Chengzong smiled and thought in his heart.
As a good person in the officialdom, no one can compare with him in terms of reputation, at least much better than Xu Guangqi. Therefore, Sun Chengzong did not worry about no one recommending him, he only worried about whether the emperor would use him.
"Your Majesty, the list of recommended Auxiliary Ministers of the Political Affairs Hall, Ministers of the Privy Council and Cabinet Ministers for the fourth-rank and above imperial officials has been compiled. Some recommended Sun Chengzong as the Assistant Minister of the Political Affairs Hall, and some recommended Zhu Xieyuan as the Privy Councilor. .”
On this day, Yuan Keli reported to Zhu You, who was practicing calligraphy.
Zhu Youxiao said without even raising his head: "You don't need to show it to me. Just call the nine ministers to recommend. All the recommended people are candidates, and then the court will recommend three times the number of places that need to be added." Count them, and then I will personally discuss them. If you are really talented, I will use them on the spot!"
"According to the order!"
Yuan Keli replied.
"Since the founding of the dynasty, many emperors have been immoral and courtiers have done no great evil. Therefore, the country has been able to enjoy more than two hundred years without decline. The so-called disruptors of the dynasty are mostly eunuchs and women in the temple. Even the treacherous minister Yan Song is not He is a great traitor and evil, but he is actually just a favored official in the world temple. It can be seen that we, the scholar-bureaucrats, are good doctors for the long-term peace and stability of the country, but why is it that your majesty is so wary of civil servants and does not say anything about reducing the power of the official department? Now the court directly recommends it. Three times the number of additional places will be needed, and His Majesty will have to personally discuss it before making an appointment. In this way, no one can be sure who will be selected!"
After Wang Yongguang learned about Tingtui, he told Sun Chengzong about it.
Sun Chengzong smiled and said: "Your Majesty is not on guard against civil servants. Instead, he is willing to trust more civil servants. Otherwise, he would not have changed the power of recommendation from exclusively to the official department to to all ministers."
"Having said that, it will undoubtedly be more difficult for courtiers to do something in the future. After all, it will be difficult to gain momentum."
Wang Yongguang replied.
“A trend may not necessarily lead to success!”
Sun Chengzong continued to reply.
Wang Yongguang was greatly disappointed when he saw that Sun Chengzong was not on the road, so he stopped talking to Sun Chengzong.
Sun Chengzong turned around and went home, wrote a secret book and presented it to the emperor.
After the court push, Sun Chengzong, Wang Yongguang, Li Biao, Liu Hongxun, Yang Weiyuan, Zhu Xieyuan and others were pushed forward.
Zhu Youxiao therefore discussed these people.
As soon as these people arrived at the Qinzheng Hall, Zhu Youxiao first asked Wang Yongguang: "Wang Yongguang, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Aiqing, I heard that you privately said that the emperors of this dynasty are very immoral, and the courtiers are not very evil, but cause troubles." Most of the officials in charge of the imperial court are eunuchs and eunuchs, so Guo Zuo is still undefeated to this day. So, in your opinion, the fact that the Ming Dynasty has survived until now is all due to the work of all the ministers?"
After hearing this, Wang Yongguang glanced at Sun Chengzong. He was so frightened that he was sweating and immediately fell to the ground: "Your Majesty, forgive me! I, my minister..."
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