"Alright, then tell me your thoughts."
Looking at the stack of documents Ji Ding handed over, Ding Yun first pulled him to sit beside her. Then, she put the memorials aside and began to read the pile of documents he had collected, organized, and written, while also listening to him express his ideas. She could do both at the same time.
Being able to multitask was effortless for her.
"Mother, I've consulted some ancient texts. The Gonghe Regency of ancient times was somewhat similar to the nominal monarch policy you spoke of, where the emperor did not hold actual power.
Real power was jointly controlled by imperial clan officials.
The difference was that the Gonghe Regency was more like a coup d'état, whereas what we aim for is self-restraint and self-delegation of power, so there's significant room for maneuver.
My idea is that administrative power can be delegated.
However, military and financial power absolutely cannot be completely delegated. I believe completely delegating them might be unsafe."
At this point, Ji Ding specifically looked up at Ding Yun's expression. Ding Yun looked at him with satisfaction and said,
"Good, you understand the separation of military and administrative power. Continue!"
Encouraged by Ding Yun's affirmation, Ji Ding's spirits immediately lifted, and his tone became more confident:
"Mother, my thought is that we won't interfere with civil officials; we'll primarily keep the military generals under our control. Additionally, the Ministry of Revenue and the supervisory departments must remain in our hands. This will also prevent civil officials from getting out of control.
Related powers can be delegated.
But we must also have the right to sanction civil officials. Mother, my idea is this: after delegating power, we must announce this to the public.
If there are problems with decision-making in the future, it won't be blamed on our royal family. Even if natural disasters occur, it will have little to do with us, as we are no longer governing. If anything goes wrong, we can find the current governing civil officials. If those civil officials truly act improperly, we can then act as the sanctioners of wrongdoing and uphold justice for the people.
In this way, it will definitely greatly reverse the past situation where officials acted wickedly, yet the people cursed the incompetent ruler.
Furthermore, although I will still bear some responsibility, it will only be for defending the territory.
Whether the people live happily and prosperously, or can seek redress for grievances, will all be the responsibility of those civil officials. If there are problems, it will be because the civil officials did not perform their duties well. Psychologically, I will find it much easier to accept.
Mother, what do you think of this?"
Since these words were spoken to his own mother and not to the civil and military officials, there was no need for excessive politeness. He could speak freely without fear of leaks.
"Indeed, it's good.
Although many details haven't been elaborated, the overall framework is sound. I've also roughly looked through the documents you gave me; many of your ideas are interesting, indicating you've put in considerable effort.
How about this: write a detailed plan.
Explain how you intend to implement the nominal monarch policy. Show it to me later. If there are no major issues, then I won't worry about it anymore.
You can handle it all yourself."
Although Ding Yun's original intention was to manage this matter herself, now that her son had some ideas of his own and was even willing to shoulder some responsibility, she didn't mind letting her son try.
After all, she could handle any problems that might arise.
Ji Ding expressed his enthusiastic agreement with this, saying he was willing, and then happily left.
At the same time, Ding Yun could also guess her son's motivations.
He was purely lazy. He neither wanted to work hard nor give up the supreme status of emperor.
After observing and learning during this period, he had likely realized that under normal circumstances, emperors primarily dealt with court affairs. Even most of the budget allocations from the Ministry of Revenue were for politically related projects. There was very little related to the Ministry of War.
Only when there was war did such matters become more frequent.
However, the empire had been at peace for several years.
Currently, the matters related to the Ministry of War each year did not amount to even a tenth of those of other departments.
As long as military and financial power were held, the civil officials could not cause any significant trouble, no matter how they stirred things up.
So, if the nominal monarch policy was implemented according to his ideas, not only would his actual power not diminish much, but he would also be more relaxed, and he could even shift blame for natural disasters and misfortunes.
The only potential problem was whether future monarchs would be foolish enough to be deceived into further delegating power. However, this was a very distant future, and it was unlikely anyone was concerned about it for now. Even if they were, it would be useless.
After all, no matter how many and how strict the ancestral instructions were, there would always be people who went against their ancestors' decisions.
Another two months passed, and Ji Ding submitted the final draft plan, which he had revised seventeen or eighteen times, to Ding Yun. Ding Yun spent several days carefully reading and revising it, marking all potential problematic content and adding her notes.
She asked him to think about how to improve them himself.
Through this continuous review and revision, Ji Ding's understanding of many matters and major state affairs deepened, and the nominal monarch plan became increasingly refined. Finally, after a total of nine rounds of revision and improvement, it was approved by Ding Yun.
And he was allowed to begin its implementation.
Thus, starting from this year, Ding Yun granted Ji Ding, who had not yet married, formal authority to govern. However, she did not immediately retreat to the inner palace. This was because her son was still young and lacked sufficient prestige. Furthermore, he was about to initiate sweeping reforms, and to prevent a lack of cooperation from some quarters, Ding Yun naturally had to continue working hard for a while longer.
This was followed by the formal execution of the relevant plan.
It must be said, it was truly earth-shattering.
The entire empire was in an uproar!
This was because Ji Ding's decree was too explicit and too straightforward. He did not use a lot of vague or ambiguous language to explain the matter. Instead, he directly announced in plain language that an Inner Cabinet would be established to handle governing affairs, and all civil matters would be managed by the Inner Cabinet.
There was no need to go through the emperor anymore.
With such direct content, anyone who could read a few characters and understand basic principles could grasp it. But precisely because everyone understood, the world was thrown into an uproar.
Everyone knew that if this decree were officially implemented, the Inner Cabinet would be no different from regents in the future. Such power was something past prime ministers had desperately sought but never obtained.
It was also a right that many scholars aspired to, but had never achieved.
No one was willing to refuse such a good opportunity. Even though the establishment of the Inner Cabinet had many restrictions, and the Chief Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet had a fixed term and bore joint responsibility for any wrongdoings, all civil and military officials still agreed with both hands and feet.
And actively cooperated.
What truly idealistic scholar did not have a dream of governing the country and bringing peace to the land, or a desire to change the world according to their own ideals? In the past, even with dreams, due to practical factors, such as the emperor above not agreeing, they might not have been able to execute them. But now, as long as one became the Chief Grand Secretary, they could execute them. How could they not be satisfied?
Although the process might still be very difficult,
At least there was no longer absolute hopelessness!
The only ones who might have some reservations and dissatisfaction were probably the military generals. This was because their seats in the Inner Cabinet were relatively few, making them feel that the empire had been at peace for too long, and the royal family no longer relied on them as much.
It felt like a preference for civil over military.
Although they could understand, their mood was inevitably somewhat gloomy.
Until the young emperor, in addition to the Inner Cabinet, separately established a Grand Council of State to oversee matters of war and conquest.
Although it did not have the autonomy of the Inner Cabinet, it was directly responsible to the emperor. This was considered a place of belonging for the military generals, making them feel they were treated with some equality.
The superiors had not forgotten their contributions.
But regardless, with Ding Yun's support, Ji Ding's plan was eventually implemented smoothly. It took over a year to complete the comprehensive reform. Only at this time did Ding Yun officially withdraw from the imperial court, no longer acting as regent or ruling from behind a screen.
Of course, she did not return to the imperial palace either.
Instead, she went to travel the world.