"Is it okay for civil servants to check and balance civil servants?" Zhu Cixiang was a little skeptical.
Chongzhen didn't answer and asked instead: "Xun'er, my father asked you, why is there a rule that officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Heaven are not allowed to join the cabinet?"
"This son-in-law knows," Zhu Cijiong replied eagerly, "because the Tianguan of the Ministry of Personnel holds the power to select officials below the fourth rank. Once the Tianguan of the Ministry of Personnel is allowed to join the cabinet and becomes the chief minister of the cabinet, he can take advantage of it.
The power of election forcibly enforces administrative authority, and anyone with different political views is suppressed and excluded. In this way, the official position of the imperial court becomes the private grant and acceptance of the chief minister of the cabinet. When the trusted officials of the chief minister of the cabinet become high-ranking officials
, the imperial court becomes a hall of one voice, and the chief minister becomes a powerful minister!"
Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong with a smile: "Hang'er, do you understand the key to the problem now?"
"I understand," Zhu Cixiang said with a blush on his face, suppressing his excitement, "The right to select officials locks the way for the chief minister of the cabinet to become a powerful minister. For the same reason, as long as the secretary-supervisor official
If the power of election does not fall into the hands of the Ministry of Personnel, then the civil servants who are secretaries and supervisors will become another civil servant group independent of the existing civil servant group. Moreover, these two civil servant groups are naturally political enemies because they have a lot of power.
Big overlap!”
There is no doubt that Zhu Cixi has figured out some ways to govern the country.
It is difficult to say that governing a country is difficult, but it is not difficult to say that it is not difficult. It is nothing more than financial power plus personnel power, while military power belongs to another dimension.
As long as the financial and personnel rights are grasped, no matter how bad an emperor is, he will not be much worse. At least he will not be enshrined as a memorial tablet by the civil servants. Moreover, because his own civil servants stand in front of him to attract the firepower of the other party's civil servants,
There is no need to worry about falling into the water or being strangled to death by the palace maid.
Chongzhen smiled and asked: "Now my father will ask you again, is it better to use eunuchs to check and balance civil servants, or is it better to use civil servants to check and balance civil servants?"
Zhu Cixiang said without thinking: "Of course it is better for civil servants to check and balance civil servants."
Zhu Cixiang undoubtedly agreed with Chongzhen that eunuchs tend to be more greedy because of their physical defects.
"But there is also a problem." Zhu Cijiong frowned and said, "The civil servants in the Secretary's Prison are usurping the authority of the Twelve Prisons, Four Divisions and Eight Bureaus of the Inner Court. They will inevitably go in and out of the harem, so they will inevitably come into contact with the concubines."
Good guy, Zhu Cijiong was worried that the civil servants in the secretarial department would cuckold the emperor.
"This matter is simple." Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "The power of the inner court belongs to the newly established secretaries and supervisors, while the eunuchs still belong to the eunuchs."
This means that the power of the twelve inner court eunuchs, four departments and eight bureaus will be separated from the eunuchs. Instead, the secretaries and eunuchs will work outside the Forbidden City. The eunuchs will only be responsible for the communication between the secretaries and the emperor and the menial work in the harem.
, this perfectly prevented the secretary, supervisor, and civil servant from coming into contact with the concubine.
More importantly, the eunuch completely said goodbye to power.
Another is that the new group of civil servants who replaced the eunuchs will still be incompatible with the old group of civil servants, because public power is naturally exclusive, and overlapping powers will inevitably lead to fights.
Overlapping powers will inevitably lead to internal friction and reduced efficiency.
However, Chongzhen was confident that he could control the rhythm. At the beginning, the Secretary Supervisor would certainly not be able to usurp too many powers, that is, to exercise military powers such as farming and regiment training. At most, he could add water transport, which meant that he could only usurp a small area to a limited extent.
The old civil servants would definitely not break up with him because of some of the powers of the Ministry of War.
When the secretarial supervisor becomes a leader and is able to compete with the old civil servant group, there will be nothing to worry about.
At that time, if the old civil servants are willing to compromise, that would be the best. If they are not willing to compromise, then they will be directly uprooted, completely replace the old civil servants with the new civil servants, and carry out a thorough cleansing of the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
Chongzhen's idea is good, but there is still a problem.
If this problem cannot be solved, this idea can only be a fantasy.
Zhu Cixiang realized this problem and suddenly said: "There is still a problem."
"What other problems are there?" Zhu Cijiong said disapprovingly, "I think it's pretty good."
Zhu Cixiang said: "The reason why my father set up a new secretariat is because the current civil servant group is rotten and useless. It is because they have been corrupted by the bad habits of the officialdom and only know how to join in the evil."
"But the civil servants who serve as secretaries and supervisors are also civil servants and can only be selected from existing officials."
“Who can guarantee that the elected officials will not be corrupted by bad official habits?”
"Who can guarantee that they will emerge from the mud untainted and will not join the old civil servant group? I am afraid that no one can make this guarantee? In fact, it is impossible."
"It's true." Zhu Cijiong was stunned.
"Then we won't select from existing officials."
Chongzhen said: "Select directly from the scholars."
"Select from the scholars?" Zhu Cixiang was stunned, "Let the scholars directly become officials?"
"They are just minor officials. They cannot even be counted as officials, they can only be counted as minor officials." Chongzhen said thoughtfully, "Even so, the scholars must be strictly screened and tempered."
"Tempering?" Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong looked confused.
In fact, Chongzhen had already made comprehensive arrangements for this.
This will be a tempering of blood and fire worthy of being recorded in history.
When the conversation between the father and son came to an end, Wang Chengen came in and reported: "Long live the Lord, Du Yinxi, the censor of Youqiandu and the censor of Tuntian, requests an audience."
"Du Yinxi?" Chongzhen said with a frown.
"If he isn't working in Xuzhou, why is he here in Liucheng?"
Wang Chengen said: "There is an urgent military situation regarding water transportation."
"Walk transportation?" Chongzhen looked serious and said in a deep voice, "Bring him in."
Du Yinxi came in and first bowed and paid homage, then stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Xuzhou is about to run out of food!"
"What? Xuzhou is about to run out of grain?" Chongzhen almost suspected that he had heard wrong and said in disbelief, "How is it possible? Judging from the time, the fourth batch of grain should have been shipped, right? Let's calculate it as a batch of 200,000 shi.
, the total amount of grain transported to Xuzhou is 680,000 shi, how can you eat it all?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Du Yinxi smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, only two batches of 280,000 shi of grain have been transported."
"Huh?" Chongzhen's face fell instantly. He only shipped two batches of 280,000 shi? In other words, no grain has arrived since he left? This is a bit excessive.
"Have you sent someone to Shanyang to collect food supplies?"
"I sent it, and sent six groups of people, but I still haven't received a reply."
"What do you mean there is no reply? I should tell you, the censor of the field, if you have received the grain and when it will arrive in Xuzhou, right?"
Chongzhen was already very angry.
Lu Zhenfei didn't take him as the emperor seriously.
Du Yinxi said: "In fact, none of the messengers sent by me saw Lu Futai."
"That's unreasonable!" Chongzhen slammed his fist on the window edge, but he quickly suppressed his anger because getting angry would not help. He then asked Du Yinxi, "How many refugees are here in Xuzhou now?"
"There are already more than 800,000 people." Du Yinxi said solemnly.
Chongzhen's mood became increasingly heavy. More than 800,000 people, even based on the standard of 250 grams a day, had to eat almost 3,000 shi of grain a day, not to mention the 140,000 frontier troops in the 28th Town and the strong men engaged in farming. 250 grams a day
The rations are not enough, so there is really not much left from the two batches of 280,000 stone grains shipped before.
Chongzhen asked again: "How long can the current food reserve last?"
Du Yinxi replied: "The existing grain reserves can only last for twenty days at most."
"Can't you plant some fruits and vegetables to fill the holes?" Chongzhen said with some dissatisfaction, "You can also collect some wild vegetables and so on. It will last for a month no matter what, right?"
Du Yinxi heard the dissatisfaction in Chongzhen's tone, but he did not defend himself.
In fact, he did everything Chongzhen said, and he did it better than Chongzhen thought.
But it was useless. He had to supply rations to the frontier troops in the 28th Town and ensure food for more than 800,000 refugees. All his efforts were in vain. He could only get relief when the autumn grain came out, so he was not qualified to defend himself.
Because in Du Yinxi's view, failure to complete the errand was his fault as the censor of the field, and he should be punished, so what was there to defend?
But fortunately, Chongzhen soon realized his gaffe.
"Qing Du, my anger is not directed at you, don't mind it." Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "What makes me angry are those bureaucrats who have nothing to do with their bodies, and the bad habits of officialdom including drifting."
Du Yinxi couldn't help but raise his head and glance at Chongzhen, but stopped talking.
When Chongzhen saw this, his heart moved, and he pointed out: "Qing Du, do you feel the same way?"
"I do have some feelings." Du Yinxi said with deep understanding, "Whether I was in Beixin Chaoguan or serving as the prefect of Changsha, whenever I wanted to do something, I always felt like there was a pair of invisible hands pulling me.
I stepped back, no, no, no, not one pair, but countless hands were dragging me, trying to drag me into the quagmire."
"Is it right to drag you into the quagmire and join them in their evil deeds?" Chongzhen pointed out.
"They call this harmony with light and dust." Du Yinxi smiled and said, "But I'm not sure, because I don't have too in-depth interactions with these people."
In a word, officials from Beixin Chaoguan and Changsha Prefecture tried their best to drag Du Yinxi into the quagmire of corruption, but they failed. Du Yinxi resisted the temptation and remained unmoved.
If someone else said this, Chongzhen could only say that I believe you are a ghost.
But when Du Yinxi said this, Chongzhen believed it, because this was a national scholar who was consistent in his words and deeds!
Therefore, Du Yinxi is simply a role model for the new civil servant group, but Chongzhen did not show it, let alone revealed to Du Yinxi that he was planning to start a new business, and it would not be timely.
"Qing Du, I already know about the grain supply," Chongzhen said.
"You should go back first. I am going to go to Shanyang to urge you to send grain."
"It can take as little as half a month or as long as twenty days. I will definitely deliver the grain."
