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When Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Liu Hemings expression became strange. No one knew what he was thinking about: reminiscence? nostalgia? resentment? lingering regret? 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 Jade Emperor Mountain was a rare clear day. The snow on the ground was very thick, and it made a crunching sound when you stepped on it. Although the wind wasnt particularly strong, the weather was very cold, it was easy to get frostbite, and 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 calf with a missing little toe: "See here? The little toe on this foot was frozen off at that time, frozen off on the way from Liufeng Village to Jade Emperor Mountain. I didnt even feel the pain then."
"His Majesty the Emperor was the one leading the way to scout the path for everyone. Following behind His Majesty were the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Qin, and then me, along with Liu Erniu, who is now the Grand Commander of the Front Army of the Five Military Commissions, and Liu Huaiwen, the Minister of Revenue."
"You probably wouldnt imagine that the one walking at the front was always the most dangerous. Back then, there were no roads like we have now, no highways, railways, concrete roads, or stone slab roads. They were all dirt roads. Moreover, the snow reflected light, which was very bad for the eyes. So, for the almost twenty li from Liufeng Village to Jade Emperor Mountain, everyone had to step cautiously forward, not knowing when they might step into a pit."
"As for clothing..." Liu Heming first glanced at the clothes of the scholars present, then gave a self-deprecating smile: "Where the hell were there any decent clothes? His Majesty was wearing thick clothes, but his clothes were stuffed with reed flowers. We weren't much better. Only some of the older people wore cotton-padded jackets, and those were taken from Scholar Liu's belongings—Scholar Liu was killed by His Majesty before his clothes were taken. So, these were clothes from a dead person. To say it didnt feel unlucky would be a lie, but back then, there was no room for picky choices."
"You probably dont know, but Jade Emperor Mountain back then was just a dilapidated temple that had long been abandoned. It had no windows, no firewood or rice or oil or salt. Because many of the tiles and bricks had been pried off by nearby villagers, many rooms were drafty, leaking from the roof or the walls."
"As for food... a lot of money and grain was indeed confiscated from Scholar Liu's house, but His Majesty was generously distributing most of the grain to the villagers of Liufeng Village. The same went for the gold, silver, and deeds. Only a few days' worth of rations were brought to Jade Emperor Mountain, and they were all old grain."
"If you have read some relevant materials, you should know the first rule His Majesty set for us: 'We will freeze to death rather than tear down the people's houses, and starve to death rather than steal the people's grain. We are not allowed to take a single needle or thread from the people.' Well, what were we following His Majesty for? We were starving, yet we were told not to harm the people? We weren't even like rebels when we rebelled!"
...The scholars were completely stunned.
Now that the good and common people of Japan are hiding around the Great Ming merchants, what can the Shogunate do?
If they anger those Great Ming merchants and provoke them to draw their swords and confront the Shogunate, the Shogunate will be the one to suffer in the end!
His thoughts becoming increasingly tangled, Tokugawa Ienari frowned and asked, "Have you communicated with those Ming merchants? Aren't they afraid of contracting leprosy?"
In the era when infected patients were rampant in later generations, the dog sons raised by the Eagle of the Barbarians always used "What's wrong with this country, it's a question of the body" to cause trouble.
The problem was that Emperor Zhu himself was caught in the question of "the body."
What kind of path should the Great Ming take?
Should it change to the so-called freedom of separation of powers like Europe?
In fact, this idea could only be thought about. If this method were truly implemented in the Central Plains, it would be suicide.
To deeply analyze the specific reasons behind this would be too complex, but in the final analysis, it all comes down to the word "interest."
You choose.
In fact, this is also why Europeans and the barbarians of the Eagle of the Barbarians are generally more open-minded.
This is because Europe has never had a truly unified dynasty, and the barbarians are accustomed to the mentality of small countries with small populations, and also accustomed to the system of small courts.
Russia is similar—is Bolshevism good? Yes! The key is that human beings have desires!
This kind of operation is fine under normal circumstances, after all, even the people in the Central Plains seem to be the same, and there seems to be no difference.
However, once disasters such as the Little Ice Age become frequent, or when the people truly cannot survive, the difference between large and small courts becomes apparent.
The Eagle of the Barbarians is no better than Europe, otherwise, Comrade Bai Zhenhua would not have ascended the throne, nor would the great joke of an internal conflict starting with the Second Ukrainian have occurred.
However, it is also possible that simply moving the Bolshevik system of a large court over might not work.
There is a huge hidden danger in directly copying the Bolshevik system, which is that the Great Ming does not currently have the environment for that set of theories to survive.
Even before the Qing Dynasty was gone, they were still desperately promoting theories like "the emperor is wise," "the emperor loves his people like his children," "only a small portion of the officials are at fault," and "everyone should look forward to a just emperor."
Of course, it cannot be said that this theory is wrong, because all countries in the world promote it this way.
However, the key point is that Qianlong and his subordinates, the bondservants, were promoting this theory while Qianlong was also boasting of his "ten complete martial skills." At that time, the Qing Dynasty had not yet been beaten by the great powers, nor had it paid reparations to Japan after paying reparations to Britain, nor had it ceded Qingdao after Qingdao.
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. At that time, there was no soil for that kind of theory to grow. If Emperor Zhu had not called for "overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming" but had directly advocated for "distribution according to need," the most likely outcome would not have been widespread support and widespread rebellion against the Qing, but rather the entire world rallying around Qianlong to help Qianlong fight Emperor Zhu.
...Wouldn't it be better to fight for the merit of following the dragon and exterminating the thieves, rather than wholeheartedly serving those dirt-legged peasants?
At that time, the Central Plains had not yet experienced the pain of impending national annihilation.
Then, the Great Ming became what it is now—the Great Ming has an emperor, and Emperor Zhu is the kind of founding monarch who cannot be constrained by anyone. 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 as the emperor gradually delegated power, the Grand Secretariat could even directly replace the emperor's role.
This is because Emperor Zhu directly clarified the social status of the Grand Secretariat.
This is actually quite funny, because when Emperor Zhu the Fourth 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 rank of the Grand Secretaries who could lead the Six Ministries was not high. The so-called leadership of the Six Ministries was not legitimate, and they were also constrained by the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Now, Emperor Zhu has clarified the rank and responsibilities of the Grand Secretariat. The Grand Secretary is ranked as First Rank, the other Grand Secretaries are ranked as First Rank (junior), and the Ministers of the various ministries are ranked as Second Rank (senior).
Correspondingly, the original Six Ministries of the Great Ming and the later added "Poor and Humble Ministry," the Ministry of Railways upgraded from the Railway Department, and many other ministries are clearly placed under the management of the Grand Secretariat. Besides the Grand Secretary, each of the other six Grand Secretaries is responsible for a specific 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 concerning the military commissions, but only inquire—they can ask, but they have no decision-making power. The decision-making power of the military commissions lies with the Grand Commanders of the military commissions.
There's not much to say about the Censorate; their main responsibility is to criticize. The emperor and all civil and military officials are targets they must monitor.
However, the Censorate is not managed by the Grand Secretariat. The real authority over the Censorate is the Office of the Censor, and alongside it is the Court of Judicial Scrutiny. Neither of these offices is managed by the Grand Secretariat; they are directly responsible to the emperor. Among them, some censors in the capital are responsible for criticism, while the rest undertake inspection duties. The Court of Judicial Scrutiny is responsible for joint trial and judgment.
The final interpretation of the Great Ming Law rests with the Ministry of Justice.
In short, there are all sorts of departments, and their responsibilities are clear. They must support each other and also restrain each other.
Basically, it can be said that the emperor is useless, but without the emperor, it is also impossible. Emperor Zhu, of course, can directly bypass the Grand Secretariat, the ministries, and even the Five Military Commissions to do whatever he wants. However, future emperors after Emperor Zhu, apart from supervising and having the right to replace the Grand Secretary, will generally be unable to intervene in political affairs.
Do they want to regain power by replacing the Grand Secretary?
First, they must find evidence of the Grand Secretary's crime through the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and then the Censorate must initiate impeachment, and the Court of Judicial Scrutiny must convict them. Only after completing this procedure can the Grand Secretary be replaced. If even one step in this process cannot be completed, the Grand Secretary cannot be replaced.
The tenure of the Grand Secretary and the Grand Secretaries is fixed, calculated from the date of entry into the Grand Secretariat, with five years per term, and a maximum of two terms. This is a strict ironclad rule set by Emperor Zhu and cannot be changed.
...In addition, the Great Ming Law emphasizes that anything not prohibited by law is permissible, and it also establishes a series of policies to suppress clans and wealthy merchants. The protection of ordinary people is reflected not only in the law but also in the agricultural associations, which bear part of the responsibility.
This puts the state system of the Great Ming in a very delicate state: it appears to be very beautiful, almost a model of a virtual monarch. Except for the existence of an emperor, the rest can almost be considered democratic freedom, and it can even be said to be running 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 without flaws!
Whether it was cutting off two Ma Su in tears at the time, or later those who became rich first but were unwilling to help others become rich, and even wanted to extend their hands into the court, these things are objectively existing!
This is why Emperor Zhu has been delegating power to the court but has never relaxed his control over the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Imperial Censors—the officials of the Great Ming do not have that high of a level of awareness! If they are slightly relaxed, they will create a huge hole!
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but give a self-deprecating smile.
No matter how hard he tried, he was not a god, so how could he solve those long-standing problems?
After a self-deprecating smile, Emperor Zhu said directly, "What I want to talk about today is very simple. First, we will eliminate those rascals and vagrants. Since they are unwilling to live a good life, we will send them to construction sites to live a hard life. Especially those who act unscrupulously in their villages or commit illegal acts will be directly shot."
"The second thing is about those workshop owners who are unwilling to make money honestly but want to oppress the people. Those who should be killed will be killed, and those who should be exiled will be exiled. The longer they are allowed to enjoy themselves, the more citizens will suffer from their harm."
"And those officials who court death by stepping out on their own, do I need to say how they should be dealt with?"
Zeng Cheng, Liu Heming, and the other elder officials present all knew that when Emperor Zhu referred to himself as "I," there were usually no major problems. However, apart from the grand court assemblies, once he used the word "朕" (zhen), it usually meant he had the intention to kill.
After Zeng Cheng, Liu Heming, and the other elder officials bowed in response, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Zeng Cheng and said, "Minister Zeng, you have been in office as Prime Minister for almost thirty years now, haven't you?"
This former prefect of the Great Qing, who had actively defected to Emperor Zhu during the Liangmeng Mountain period, became the Grand Secretary of the Great Ming in the first year Emperor Zhu ascended the throne due to his own abilities and his understanding and implementation 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, nor that Emperor Zhu insisted on keeping Zeng Cheng to break his own established rules, but rather that when Emperor Zhu formulated this rule, it was already the twentieth year of the Emperor's reign, as popularly known.
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. After that, he cannot hold any other positions with substantial power and can 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 will no longer be the Grand Secretary, all his treatment will still be according to the Grand Secretary's, and he will even be granted a noble title.
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