Will the emperor be able to govern the country if he is diligent?
the answer is negative.
Diligence does not necessarily lead to good governance of the country.
There are many emperors in history who were very diligent, but they managed the country in a mess.
In Zhu Yunxun's view, Lao Zhu's current model cannot last forever.
The reason is simple. No one can work as 007 forever.
Over time, no one’s body can bear it.
Therefore, historically, after Lao Zhu's death, there was an immediate backlash.
The current model will soon be abolished.
With the rise of the cabinet system, the emperor not only delegated the power of voting to the cabinet, but also handed over the handling of red approval to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Of course this is not good.
It is also one of the important reasons for the rise of the Donglin Party in the Ming Dynasty.
Basically, the contents of the memorials submitted to the cabinet are made public (disclosed in the court), and there are no secrets at all.
Any memorial given by any civil servant would be spread throughout the court in an instant.
There is only a little confidentiality system in name, because the memorial has to deal with many people, but it is essentially equivalent to nothing.
No one has ever been punished for leaking the contents of the memorial, whether it was the cabinet responsible for drafting the vote, the general affairs department receiving the memorial, or the ceremonial supervisor responsible for approving the red affairs.
In fact, the cabinet and the General Affairs Department often deliberately leaked part of the memorial contents in advance.
The content that should have been reviewed before being published in the Di newspaper (it could have been omitted to be published if necessary, but it could not prevent leaks) was circulated to the court when the memorial was submitted to build momentum.
In this way, in order to win the reputation of "outspoken and dare to remonstrate", the memorials written by civil servants became more exaggerated and more unscrupulous than the last.
However, the emperor's review of these memorials was subject to many restrictions.
Because all content after review is made public.
After these civil servants see the review, if they don't agree with them, they will reject it.
Then everyone wrote a memorial together to advise the emperor.
There was strong public pressure on the emperor.
In fact, it restricted the imperial power and limited the emperor's administrative space.
The emperor of the late Ming Dynasty delegated the power of voting to the cabinet and the power of voting to the ceremonial supervisor. In addition to being unable to handle so many memorials, this was also an important reason.
If the emperor personally approved it, then there would be "mistakes" everywhere and "flaws" would be picked out everywhere.
After all, these civil servants use a "magnifying glass" to see.
The emperor reviewed so many memorials every day, and he could always pick out the bones from the eggs.
But if it is left to the cabinet, it will be decided by their own people. If they are dissatisfied, they will fight with the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
The emperor could sit on a mountain and watch the tigers fight, balance the forces in the court, and stay in power.
From the perspective of controlling power, this method cannot be said to be unwise.
However, the result of this will inevitably lead to court officials focusing most of their energy on the struggle for power and not caring about real political affairs.
In the late Ming Dynasty, there were many parties in the court, and there were constant struggles for power. Of course, they were closely related to the Donglin Party.
But it was this system that gave them the soil to develop and develop, which led to such a situation.
If you want to change, you can only start from the source and don't give them the soil to grow.
Of course, the systems of later generations were not directly applicable to this era.
After all, productivity levels are different and technological civilizations are different.
Systems are all based on corresponding scientific and technological tools.
Despite this, many things can be used after certain improvements and modifications.
Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes.
In the era of scientific and technological civilization in later generations, the social governance will be ten thousand times more complicated than the Ming Dynasty of this era!
If the supreme ruler reviewed and handled everything personally like Lao Zhu, ten thousand clones would not be enough.
But that's not the case.
Because of decentralized governance, everyone performs his or her own duties.
The supreme ruler only needs to take over the power.
Of course, a complex system is also required to maintain it.
Regarding this, Zhu Yunxuan already had a lot of ideas in his mind.
However, Lao Zhu deliberately abolished the prime minister system and did not allow future emperors to establish prime ministers again.
In fact, it was to warn them not to rely on others to handle government affairs.
Although historically, the Ming emperors of later generations did not listen to this "ancestral instruction" at all.
However, now that Lao Zhu is still alive, he is still just the crown prince.
How easy is it to persuade Lao Zhu to change?
Moreover, the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty would never agree.
After all, he was cutting off the roots of civilian rule from a systemic and fundamental level.
They can only become office workers honestly and can no longer cause trouble in the court.
How could the civil servants agree?
If he were the emperor, he might be able to enforce it, but he is not yet.
Lao Zhu didn't want this in the first place, and all the ministers in the court were opposed to it.
Don't think about it, it's definitely out of the question.
Zhu Yunzhen thought, there was only one way to get the civil officials to agree.
Lao Zhu can let these people shoot himself in the foot, or he can learn from their example and use it again.
Just let them fight, let him lift the stone again, and smash his own foot again.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yunzhen spoke.
"This is my first time dealing with government affairs today. There are many things I am not familiar with. I still need to ask the ministers in the court for advice. Someone will come and summon all the ministers to see me."
When the emperor's grandson supervises the country's governance for the first time, he must consult the ministers.
These ministers have been waiting outside for a long time.
However, they did not expect that Zhu Yunzhen would not call them in one by one for questioning, but would instead ask them to meet together.
"See His Highness Taisun."
The officials filed in and saluted respectfully.
Zhu Yunzhen sat above. The large chair was extremely inconsistent with his small body, and his childish face only added to this feeling.
But after a series of events, the officials below no longer dared to look down upon him like a seven-year-old child.
His Highness Taisun's reputation as a genius has long been spread throughout the world.
Now, who doesn’t know that His Highness Taisun is very wise despite his young age?
However, most of these civil servants were obviously still dissatisfied.
The distinction between direct descendants has already penetrated into their bones.
They just believed that Zhu Yunxuan should not be made a grandson.
It's just that Lao Zhu played a trick on them once, so for the time being he could only hold his nose and admit it.
When Huang Zicheng saw the pile of memorials on his desk, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
There are so many memorials, let’s see how you can finish them!
Most other officials have the same mentality.
After all, they were complicit in this matter.
"Today I followed the imperial grandfather's order to supervise the country's administration and review memorials. Only then did I realize how heavy the government affairs are."
"In one day, the number of memorials submitted by the ministers reached over a thousand."
"Even if I have three heads and six arms, it is difficult to review and process them all."
"Do you have any good ideas, sir?"
As soon as these words were spoken, many officials below were very surprised.
I originally thought that Taisun summoned them to meet him to ask about how to deal with something, the situation in the court, the situation in the local area, military and national affairs, etc.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yunxuan said, "I can't finish these memorials. What can you do?"
Is this something you can ask and say casually?
The emperor's grandson really doesn't act according to common sense!
A group of officials looked at me and looked at me, but they remained silent.
But many people had a look of pride on their faces, trying not to laugh out loud.
This is exactly what they want to see.
Huang Zicheng stood up and said: "Your Majesty has entrusted the great responsibility of supervising the country to His Highness the Grand Sun. His Highness the Grand Sun should work diligently and do his best to review memorials and handle government affairs."
"How can we be intimidated and retreat in fear of difficulties?"
"This is not what a sincere prince should do. I hope that His Highness the Grand Sun will be able to reflect on himself and live up to His Majesty's trust."
Zhu Yunxuan called out in his heart what a good guy!
He kept silent about how he had read thousands of memorials, and instead accused Zhu Yunzhen of wanting to be lazy and that he should work diligently, regardless of the actual situation.
But it just happened that what he said was sanctimonious, and there was nothing wrong with it.
This is the usual method used by civil servants.
Anyway, no matter what, I just blame you from the moral high ground.
What?
Are you still not convinced?
Then I will teach you what "propriety" is and how a king should observe etiquette and be moral.
Zhu Yunzhen just laughed and said nothing.
Huang Zicheng immediately felt as if he had punched cotton.
"What about the others? Any good ideas?"
Zhu Yunzhen left Huang Zicheng aside and asked deliberately.
"The lower official thinks so too."
"Same as the lower official."
Officials all bent down to salute, all agreeing with Huang Zicheng's statement.
No wonder it is said that the officials are protected.
This is how they treat those in power, let alone the common people.
"What Mr. Huang said makes sense."
Zhu Yunxuan praised them, then changed his tone and said with a look of helplessness on his face: "But there are so many memorials. Even if I don't eat, drink or sleep, I can't finish them all."
When the officials below heard this, they couldn't help laughing and almost laughed out loud.
Qi Tai stood up and said: "His Royal Highness Taisun is a little unfamiliar with the affairs of state for the first time, so he has to be slower in reviewing memorials."
"As long as we give it time and get familiar with His Highness Taisun. With Taisun's talent, reviewing memorials will be as fast and accurate as flowing clouds and flowing water. As long as we are diligent and dedicated, His Highness Taisun will definitely not be in trouble when reviewing memorials."
Is this a matter of proficiency?
There are thousands of memorials. Even if it takes five minutes to read one, it will take 5,000 minutes, which is more than 80 hours.
Even if you work eight hours a day, it will take more than ten days to finish reading.
But there is only one day, and there will be a steady stream of new memorials coming.
It's impossible to watch it all.
Not to mention reading a memorial, five minutes is simply not enough, and you still have to review it.
It is not something that can be criticized casually.
It may be necessary to call the corresponding officials to further inquire about the situation before they can be formally approved.
Perhaps a memorial will take an hour or two, or even longer, to process.
Qi Tai's words were obviously a trap for him.
"What Mr. Qi said makes sense." Zhu Yunzhen pretended to agree.
He has taken the moral high ground first, and it doesn't matter if he disagrees with it.
What's more, Zhu Yunxuan had already expected this.
Next, comes the main event.
Immediately, he changed the topic and said with a bitter face: "But I still want to go out to play, I still want to set up a military academy, I still want to write poems and songs, I still want to go hunting..."
Zhu Yunxuan gave a lot of reasons, all of which were reasons for wanting to play and not wanting to do anything.
Without waiting for these people to come up with their high hats of ethics and ethics to dissuade them, he went on to say: "The Tao Te Ching says: It is said that governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies, and Gu Shen takes it for granted."
"In the past, Zheng of the Wei Dynasty admonished Tai Zheng, saying that as a politician, you should promote the nine virtues, be simple and able, choose the good and follow it, then the wise will do their best, the brave will do their best, the benevolent will spread its benefits, and the trustworthy will follow it. Loyal."
"Use both civil and military forces, and rule from the top down. There is no need to work hard and think hard, and you can do the work of a hundred officials."
"This is a sincere statement."
"I thought that political affairs should be entrusted to your lords instead of being handled by a single representative."
"The emperor should rule from the ground up, rather than doing everything himself."
"However, since the prime minister system was abolished in this dynasty, all government affairs have been entrusted to His Majesty alone."
"Even Grandpa Huang became sick from overwork and became seriously ill."
"Now that I am alone in supervising the country's governance, I realize that the importance of government affairs cannot be handled by one person."
"I would like to ask the emperor to set up an advisory office and ask all of you to act in the government affairs."
"What do you think?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Wenhua Palace exploded.
…
(End of chapter)
