ps: Still don't subscribe, this chapter is still a placeholder. Anyone who says it's a common cold again, I'll curse his whole family.
In the later years, when patients with 'rolling and chirping' diseases were rampant, the dog sons raised by the stupid eagle always brought up "This country is like this, what do you ask about the system?"
Now no one asks such questions in front of Emperor Zhu, after all, the Great Ming is the guiding light, the lighthouse in the dark night. Even if there are such questions, they are asked by the rolling and chirping people of other countries, and it has nothing to do with the Great Ming.
The problem is that Emperor Zhu himself is trapped in the question of "the system."
Is it still feasible to continue on the path of imperial rule? After all, the Central Plains have proven the advantages and disadvantages of imperial rule through thousands of years of history. If the emperor is reliable, then imperial rule is the most optimal system and invincible. If the emperor is unreliable, then imperial rule is the fastest path to destruction.
Change it to the so-called European tripartite system of freedom?
In fact, this idea can only be thought about. If this kind of play is put in the Central Plains, it would be a huge mistake.
To put it more bluntly: their way of playing, whether it's tripartite or freedom, or even Bolshevism, how many years have these emerged? Europe is going downhill with tripartite rule, and can only rely on the wealth accumulated by plundering the Great Qing and the two world wars to survive. The stupid eagle plays with freedom to the point where the lives of slaves are very precious, and the Russian Bear plays with Bolshevism to the point of eternal ruin!
Analyzing the specific reasons behind this in depth would be too complicated, but ultimately, it all comes down to two words: interests.
For example, the so-called tripartite rule in Europe is essentially just a nice packaging for the clan system. Without involving military power and financial power, what's left of the so-called tripartite rule?
To put it plainly: their way of playing is nothing more than the mutual checks and balances of large and small clans (nobles). On the surface, it gives ordinary people a voice and a sense of participation, but the actual rulers have never changed, they are still those families, still those people, at most they put a puppet with a low background on the front stage.
As for the freedom played by the stupid eagle, it's even more ridiculous, because the donkeys and elephants of the stupid eagle have owners. Those lords of the Israelite financial groups are indeed working hard to guarantee the freedom you want, but they never guarantee the safety of your life.
You choose.
In fact, this is why the barbarians in Europe and the stupid eagle are generally broad-minded.
Because Europe has never had a truly unified dynasty, and the barbarians are accustomed to the mentality of small states and small populations, and are also accustomed to the system of small courts.
The Russian Bear is similar – is Bolshevism good? Yes! The key is that human beings have desires!
Therefore, if you directly copy the routines of Europe and the stupid eagle to the Central Plains, the result will be turmoil again. The way of playing with small courts is that life and death are up to fate. Since you are given freedom, you cannot ask the court to take care of your life or death.
This way of playing is fine in normal times, after all, even the people of the Central Plains 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 people can no longer survive, the difference between large and small courts becomes apparent.
The European barbarians who are accustomed to the system of small courts rely on themselves for everything. They are also accustomed to the court being incompetent. However, the people of the Central Plains who are accustomed to the system of large courts will demand that the government come to rescue and provide relief, and demand that the government find a way out for the people. The court can be incompetent once or twice, but if it continues to be incompetent, someone might stand up and shout, "Are kings and generals born to be extraordinary?"
Of course, there is another rather novel angle to consider: the reason why the European barbarians' set of practices worked in the early stages was because the Great Qing continuously supplied them with blood. The stupid eagle relied on two world wars to suck blood, and when the Great Qing was gone, and the world wars were over, look at Europe and the stupid eagle now?
The chosen leaders in Europe are getting younger and younger, the promised benefits are getting higher and higher, and the work is becoming more and more unreliable. In the Three Islands, there was even a warrior leader who only blew up pipelines after taking office and then received a pension, with a shelf life shorter than lettuce.
The stupid eagle is certainly no better than Europe. Otherwise, Comrade Biden would not have ascended the throne, nor would the great joke of the civil war within the stupid eagle starting with the second-rate country have occurred.
However, it is unlikely that Bolshevism, which also follows the system of large courts, can be directly copied and used.
Directly copying Bolshevism has a huge hidden danger, which is that the Great Ming does not have the environmental conditions for that set of theories to survive.
The reason why rabbits can practice Bolshevism is that the Great Qing had completely collapsed at that time, and after the bald man took over the Central Plains, he proved by his actions that the set of practices they learned from the West was also unreliable, so later the rabbits learned from the Russian Bear to practice Bolshevism in order to save the country.
But how many years has it been since the Great Qing collapsed?
Even before the Great Qing collapsed, they were desperately promoting the theory that the emperor was wise, the emperor loved his people like his children, and only a small number of officials were at fault. Everyone should look forward to the benevolent emperor.
Of course, it cannot be said that this theory is wrong, because all countries in the world promote it in this way.
However, the key problem is that Qianlong and his subordinates were promoting this theory, and Qianlong also boasted of his ten complete martial arts. At that time, the Great Qing had not been beaten by foreign powers, and had not yet paid compensation to Britain and then to Japan, nor had it ceded Qingdao and then Lushun.
Therefore, when Emperor Zhu raised the banner of rebellion to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming, the common people of the world were still willing to believe in imperial rule, so there was no soil for that theory to survive at that time. If Emperor Zhu had not called for overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming, but had directly advocated for the theory of distribution according to need, the most likely outcome would not have been widespread support and widespread rebellion against the Qing, but rather everyone would have gathered around Qianlong to help Qianlong fight Emperor Zhu.
Would it not be better to strive for the merit of accompanying the dragon and exterminating the thieves, rather than wholeheartedly serving those dirt-footed peasants?
At that time, the Central Plains had not yet experienced the pain of impending national extinction.
Then, the Great Ming became what it is today. The Great Ming has an emperor, and Emperor Zhu is the kind of founding monarch who cannot be restrained by anyone. However, the Great Ming also has a cabinet, and the cabinet's power is no less than the emperor's.
Especially as the emperor gradually delegated power, the cabinet could even directly replace the emperor's role.
This is because Emperor Zhu directly clarified the cabinet's "jianghu" status.
This is quite funny, because when Emperor Zhu's fourth son created the cabinet, he treated the cabinet ministers as secretaries. Later, after the reigns of Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong, the cabinet's power gradually increased.
However, regardless of the power, the rank of the cabinet grand scholars who could lead the Six Ministries was not high. The so-called leadership of the Six Ministries was actually not officially recognized or properly stated, and there was also the supervision of the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Now Emperor Zhu has clarified the cabinet's rank and responsibilities. The Grand Scholar of the Cabinet is of the first rank, and the other cabinet scholars are of the first rank below the top. The ministers of the Six Ministries are of the second rank.
Correspondingly, the original Six Ministries of the Great Ming and the later added "Poor Ministry" and the Ministry of Railways, which was upgraded from the Railway Department, are all clearly placed under the management of the cabinet. In addition to the Grand Scholar, the remaining six cabinet scholars are each responsible for a specific area, almost to the point where responsibility is clearly assigned to individuals.
Parallel to the cabinet is the Five Military Commissions. The Grand Scholar of the Cabinet can inquire about the affairs of the military commissions, but it is only an inquiry. They can inquire, but they do not have the decision-making power. The decision-making power of the military commissions rests with the Grand Commander of the Military Commissions.
There is nothing to be said about the Censorate. Their main responsibility is to criticize people. The emperor and all civil and military officials are their targets.
However, the Censorate is not under the cabinet. The ones who can truly manage the Censorate are the Ministry of Censors, and the Court of Judicial Scrutiny, which is on the same level. These two departments are not under the cabinet, but are directly responsible to the emperor. Among the Ministry of Censors, some censors in the capital are responsible for criticizing people, while the rest are responsible for carrying out the duties of inspection. The Court of Judicial Scrutiny is responsible for both trial and judgment.
And the final interpretation of the Great Ming Law rests with the Ministry of Justice.
In short, there are all sorts of departments, with clear responsibilities, and they need to support each other and also restrain each other.
Basically, it can be said that having an emperor is useless, but not having an emperor is also impossible. Emperor Zhu, for example, can directly bypass the cabinet ministries and even the Five Military Commissions to do whatever he wants. However, future emperors after Emperor Zhu will basically be unable to interfere in political affairs, except for supervising and having the right to change the prime minister.
Want to regain power by changing the prime minister?
First, the Embroidered Uniform Guard must find evidence of the Grand Scholar's crime, and then the Censorate must impeach him, and the Court of Judicial Scrutiny must convict him. Only after completing this process can the prime minister be changed. If even one step of this process cannot be completed, the Grand Scholar cannot be changed.
And the tenure of the Grand Scholar and the cabinet scholars is 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 law directly set by Emperor Zhu, and it cannot be changed.
In addition, the Great Ming Law emphasizes that what is not prohibited is permissible, and it also sets a large number of policies to suppress clans and wealthy merchants. The protection of ordinary people is reflected not only in the laws but also in the fact that peasant associations also bear part of the responsibility.
This puts the national structure of the Great Ming in a very delicate state. It looks very beautiful, almost a model of a nominal monarch. Except for the existence of an emperor, the rest can be considered democratic and free. It can even be said to be running in an almost perfect manner.
However, Emperor Zhu knows very well that this kind of perfection is basically nonsense.
Even the rabbits' set of practices is not flawless!
Whether it was crying and executing two Ma Su in the past, or later becoming rich first but unwilling to lead the poor to become rich, and even trying to extend their reach to the court, these are all objective facts!
This is why Emperor Zhu has been delegating power to the court but has never relaxed the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Censorate. The officials of the Great Ming do not have that high a level of awareness! If you relax a little, they will create a huge hole!
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but smile self-deprecatingly.
No matter how hard he tries, he is not a god, how can he solve those ancient problems?
After a self-deprecating smile, Emperor Zhu directly said: "The matter I want to talk about today is very simple. First, eliminate those riffraffs. Since they are unwilling to live a good life, throw them onto construction sites to experience a hard life, especially those scoundrels who run rampant in the villages and even engage in illegal activities. They will be shot directly."
"The second matter is about those workshop owners who are unwilling to make money but want to oppress the common people. Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be exiled should be exiled. The longer they are allowed to live freely, the more common people will be harmed by them."
"And those officials who step forward and court death on their own, do I need to say more about how to deal with them?"
Of course, Emperor Zhu does not need to say more, because Emperor Zhu has used the word "朕" (Zhen).
Zeng Cheng, Liu Hemming, and other bigwigs present all knew very well that when Emperor Zhu referred to himself as "咱" (zan), there were usually no major problems. However, except for the grand court session, once "朕" was used, it usually meant that he had murderous intent.
Once Emperor Zhu has murderous intent...
After Zeng Cheng, Liu Hemming, and other bigwigs bowed and agreed, Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to Zeng Cheng: "Minister Zeng, you have been prime minister for almost thirty years now, haven't you?"
Zeng Cheng was stunned for a moment.
This former prefect of the Great Qing, who had voluntarily defected to Emperor Zhu during the Liangmengou period, had become the Grand Scholar of the Great Ming in the year Emperor Zhu first proclaimed himself emperor, due to his abilities and his understanding and implementation speed of Emperor Zhu's various instructions. It has been twenty-six years since then. The reason for this situation is not that Zeng Cheng was reluctant to resign, nor that Emperor Zhu insisted on keeping Zeng Cheng to break his own rules, but rather that when Emperor Zhu set this rule, it was already the twentieth year of Emperor Sheng.
That is to say, Zeng Cheng, the Grand Scholar, could continue for another four years, and then he would have to honestly step down from the position of Grand Scholar. After that, he could not hold any other positions of real power and could only honestly stay in the capital or return to his hometown to retire.
Of course, the Great Ming has always treated its meritorious officials well. Although he would no longer be the Grand Scholar, all his treatment would still be handled according to the Grand Scholar, and he would even receive a noble title.
Now that Emperor Zhu suddenly mentioned that he had been Grand Scholar for almost thirty years, did he want him to step down?
(End of this chapter)