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When Emperor Zhu's words fell, Liu Heming's expression became strange. No one knew what he was thinking: reminiscence? nostalgia? resentment? Or lingering fear? Or some other messy thoughts?
After a long silence, Liu Heming let out a long sigh and said, "I remember the day I first went up to Jade Emperor Mountain was a rare sunny day. The snow on the ground was particularly thick, and it made a crunching sound when stepped on. Although the wind was not particularly strong, the sky was very cold. It was easy to get frostbite, and it was also easy to sprain an ankle."
Speaking of this, Liu Heming simply took off his right boot and then pulled off his sock, revealing his thigh with a missing little toe: "See? This little toe on my foot was frozen off at that time. It was frozen off on the way from Liu Miao Village to Jade Emperor Mountain. I didn't even feel any pain at the time."
"The one walking at the very front, scouting for everyone, was His Majesty the Emperor, followed by His Highness the King of Jin and His Highness the King of Qin, then me, and now the Great Governor of the Forward Army of the Five Military Commissions, Liu Erniu, the Minister of Revenue, Liu Huaiwen, and others."
"You probably wouldn't imagine that the one walking at the very front was often the most dangerous. Back then, there were no such things as highways, railways, cement roads, or stone slab roads. They were all dirt roads, and the snow was reflective, which was very damaging to the eyes. So, from Liu Miao Village to Jade Emperor Mountain, about twenty li, everyone could only walk cautiously, one step at a time, and no one knew when they would step on a pit."
"As for what we wore..." Liu Heming first looked at the clothes of the scholars, then laughed at himself: "What decent clothes were there? His Majesty's clothes were thick, but they were filled with reeds. We were not much better. Only a few older ones wore padded clothes, which were taken from Liu Juren's body – Liu Juren was killed by His Majesty before his clothes were taken. So these clothes were also from dead people. It's nonsense to say they didn't feel unlucky, but at that time, who had a choice?"
"You probably don't know that Jade Emperor Mountain was just a deserted ruined temple back then. It had no windows, no firewood or rice. Because many tiles and bricks were pried off by nearby villagers, many houses were drafty, either the roof leaked or the walls leaked."
"As for food... a lot of money and grain were indeed confiscated from Liu Juren's house, but His Majesty was lavish with his generosity. Most of the grain was distributed to the villagers of Liu Miao Village, as were the gold, silver, and land deeds. Only a few days' worth of provisions were brought to Jade Emperor Mountain, and they were all old grains."
"If you have read some relevant information, you should know the first rule His Majesty set for us: 'We would rather freeze to death than dismantle the people's houses, and starve to death than rob the people of their grain. We are not allowed to take a single needle or thread from the people.' Well, what are we following His Majesty for? We can't even feed ourselves, and we still can't harm the people? We don't even have the appearance of rebels when rebelling!" The scholars were completely stunned.
Now that the good and low-class people of Japan are hiding around the Great Ming merchants, what can the Shogunate do?
If they anger those Great Ming merchants, and those Great Ming merchants draw their swords to resist the Shogunate, it will still be the Shogunate that suffers!
The more he thought about it, the more conflicted he became, Tokugawa Ienari frowned and asked, "Have you communicated with those Ming merchants? Aren't they afraid of contracting leprosy?"
In the era of rolling and screaming patients in later generations, the dog sons raised by the United States of America always bring up "This country why, fix the body and ask."
The problem is that Emperor Zhu himself has fallen into the doubt of "fixing the body."
What kind of path should the Great Ming take?
Change it to the so-called separation of powers and freedom of the European system?
In fact, this kind of idea can only be thought about. If this system were put into the Central Plains hall, it would be a great death.
To deeply analyze the specific reasons behind this is too complicated, but in the final analysis, it all boils down to interests.
You choose.
In fact, this is also why Europeans and the barbarians of the United States of America are generally so open-minded.
This is because Europe has never had a truly unified dynasty, and the barbarians are also accustomed to the mentality of a small population in small countries, and they are also accustomed to the system of small courts.
The Bear is similar – is Bolshevism good? Yes! The key is that human beings have desires!
This system is naturally fine in normal times, after all, even the common people in the Central Plains hall seem to be the same, and there seems to be no difference.
However, once disasters like the Little Ice Age occur frequently, or when the common people truly cannot survive, the difference between large and small courts becomes apparent.
The United States of America is not much better than Europe, otherwise, Comrade Bai Zhenhua would not have ascended the throne, nor would the great joke of internal conflict in the United States of America starting with Little Russia have occurred.
However, it is not necessarily true that Bolshevism, which is also a large court system, can be directly transplanted and used.
There is a huge hidden danger in directly copying the entire set of Bolshevism, which is that the Great Ming does not have the environmental conditions for that set of theories to survive.
Even when the Great Qing was not yet gone, they were still desperately promoting the theory that the emperor was wise, the emperor loved his people as his children, and only a small portion of the officials were wrong, and everyone should look forward to the upright officials.
Of course, this theory cannot be said to be wrong, because all countries in the world promote it this way.
However, the key point is that Qianlong and his bonded servants boasted of a complete martial arts, and the Great Qing had not yet been beaten by the great powers, nor had they paid reparations to Japan after paying reparations to Britain, nor had they ceded Qingdao after ceding Qingdao and Lushun.
Therefore, when Emperor Zhu raised the banner of rebellion to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming, the people of the world were still willing to believe in the imperial system, so there was no soil for that theory to survive at that time. If Emperor Zhu had not shouted to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming, but had directly implemented the theory of distribution according to need, it is most likely that instead of the whole world responding and rebelling against the Qing everywhere, everyone would have gathered around Qianlong to help Qianlong fight Emperor Zhu.
Isn't it better to strive for the merit of following the dragon and eliminating the villain than to wholeheartedly serve those commoners?
At that time, the Central Plains hall had not yet experienced the pain of complete national destruction.
Then, the Great Ming became like this – the Great Ming has an emperor, and Emperor Zhu is the founding monarch whom no one can restrain. However, the Great Ming also has a Grand Secretariat, and the power of the Grand Secretariat is no less than that of the emperor.
Especially when the emperor gradually decentralizes power, the Grand Secretariat can even replace the emperor.
This is because Emperor Zhu directly clarified the social status of the Grand Secretariat.
This is actually quite funny, because when Zhu Si created the Grand Secretariat, he treated the Grand Secretaries as secretaries. Later, after the Reigns of Emperors Renzong and Xuanzong, the power of the Grand Secretariat gradually increased.
However, despite the power, the Grand Secretaries who could lead the Six Ministries were not of high rank. The so-called leadership of the Six Ministries was also not legitimate, and they were also restrained by the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Now, Emperor Zhu has clarified the rank and responsibilities of the Grand Secretariat. The Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat is ranked as the first rank, and the other Grand Secretaries are ranked as the first rank subordinate. The ministers of the various ministries are ranked as the second rank.
Correspondingly, the original Six Ministries of the Great Ming and the later added Poor Ministry, the Ministry of Railways promoted from the Railway Department, and a large number of other ministries are clearly placed under the management of the Grand Secretariat. In addition to the Grand Secretary, the remaining six Grand Secretaries are each responsible for a certain area, with responsibilities clearly assigned to individuals.
Parallel to the Grand Secretariat is the Five Military Commissions. The Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat can inquire about matters of the military commissions, but can only inquire – they can ask, but they have no decision-making power. The decision-making power of the military commissions is held by the Grand Governors of the military commissions.
There is nothing to say about the Censorate. Their main responsibility is to criticize people. The emperor and all civil and military officials are targets they must monitor.
However, the Censorate is not under the Grand Secretariat. What can truly manage the Censorate is the Censorate's Office. Along with it is the Court of Judicial Review. These two agencies are not under the Grand Secretariat, but are directly responsible to the emperor. Among them, some censors in the capital are responsible for criticism, while the rest are responsible for inspection. The Court of Judicial Review is responsible for both trial and judgment.
The final interpretation of the Great Ming Law rests with the Ministry of Justice.
In short, there are all sorts of messy departments, and their responsibilities are clearly defined. They must support each other and also restrain each other.
It can be said that the emperor is useless, but without the emperor, it is also impossible. Emperor Zhu can directly bypass the Grand Secretariat, various ministries, and even the Five Military Commissions to do whatever he wants. However, future emperors of the Great Ming, in addition to supervision and the right to change ministers, will basically be unable to intervene in political affairs.
Want to regain power by changing ministers?
First, the Embroidered Uniform Guard must find evidence of the Grand Secretary's crime, then the Censorate must file an impeachment, and the Court of Judicial Review must convict. Only after completing this process can the minister be changed. If any step of this process cannot be completed, the Grand Secretary cannot be changed.
The terms of office of the Grand Secretary and the Grand Secretaries are fixed, calculated from the day of entering the cabinet, five years for one term, and a maximum of two terms. This is a strict iron rule set by Emperor Zhu, and it cannot be changed.
In addition, the Great Ming Law emphasizes that anything not prohibited by law is permitted, and at the same time sets a large number of suppression policies for clans and wealthy merchants. The protection of ordinary people is reflected not only in the law but also in the fact that the Farmers' Association also bears part of the responsibility.
This puts the national body of the Great Ming in a very delicate state: it looks very beautiful, and can be considered a model of a nominal monarch. Except for the emperor, the rest can be considered democratic and free, and can even be said to be operating with near-perfect posture.
However, Emperor Zhu knows very well that this kind of perfection is basically bullshit.
Even the system of the Rabbit is not perfect!
Whether it was weeping and executing two Ma Su's, or later becoming rich first but unwilling to lead others to become rich, and even trying to extend their hands into the imperial court, these were all objective facts!
This is why Emperor Zhu has been delegating power to the imperial court but has never relaxed the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Censorate. The officials of the Great Ming do not have such high awareness! If they relax a little, they will cause huge problems!
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but laugh at himself.
No matter how great he is, he is not a god, how can he solve those ancient problems?
After a self-mocking laugh, Emperor Zhu directly said, "What I want to talk about today is very simple. First, we will eliminate those hooligans and scoundrels. Since they are unwilling to live a good life, we will throw them onto the construction sites to live a hard life. Especially those who are arrogant in their villages and even engage in illegal acts, they will be shot directly."
"The second matter is those workshop owners who are unwilling to make money and want to oppress the people. Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be exiled should be exiled. The longer they are free, the more people will be harmed by them."
"And those officials who come forward to court death, do I need to say more about how they should be dealt with?"
Zeng Cheng, Liu Heming, and other senior officials present all knew that when Emperor Zhu referred to himself as "朕" (zhen), there were generally no major problems. However, except for the grand court assembly, once "朕" was used, it usually meant he had the intention to kill.
After Zeng Cheng, Liu Heming, and other senior officials bowed in agreement, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Zeng Cheng and said, "Minister Zeng, you have been prime minister for almost thirty years, haven't you?"
This former prefect of the Great Qing, who voluntarily defected to Emperor Zhu during the Battle of Liangshan, became the Grand Secretary of the Great Ming the year Emperor Zhu ascended the throne due to his ability and his understanding and execution speed of Emperor Zhu's various instructions. It has been twenty-six years now. The reason for this situation is not that Zeng Cheng was reluctant to resign or that Emperor Zhu insisted on keeping Zeng Cheng to break his own established rules, but that Emperor Zhu set this rule when he was in his twentieth year of reign, which is what the common people call the twenty-first year of his reign.
That is to say, Zeng Cheng, as the Grand Secretary, can continue to serve for another four years, and then he must honestly step down from the position of Grand Secretary, and he cannot hold any other positions with substantial power. He can only honestly stay in the capital or return to his hometown to retire.
Of course, the Great Ming has always treated meritorious officials well. Although he is no longer the Grand Secretary, all his treatment is still handled as the Grand Secretary, and he will even be granted a noble title.
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Heavenly Emperor's Noble Lineage reminds you: Please remember to collect after reading.