Chongzhen's idea of centralization and decentralization finally gave Huang Liji, who had always felt unsteady in his heart, a bottom. If the center of the imperial court can really centralize the decision-making power and prohibit the officials below from discussing the policies of the imperial court without authorization, it will relieve a lot of pressure on him, the head of the cabinet.

The most difficult thing for the current cabinet is not when policies are formulated, but when policies are issued to local governments and they are required to follow them. Whenever the cabinet finally introduced a policy, some local officials jumped out to find fault, and then some officials in the DPRK and the central government began to add fuel to the fire, intensifying the contradictions, and then transferring the problem to the cabinet, especially him, the first assistant.

Of course, Huang Liji knew that the reason for these officials to do this was nothing more than to attack the prestige of the cabinet and his first assistant, and finally urge the current cabinet to lose the emperor's trust and fall and reorganize the cabinet, so that they could take the throne.

It is impossible for any policy in the world to change the status quo without the shortcomings that have been criticized, because changing the status quo is tantamount to causing some vested interests to suffer losses, or temporarily losing immediate interests for the sake of long-term interests. Since someone's interests have suffered, there will naturally be opponents of the policy.

And only those who do nothing can criticize those who do things without worrying about being attacked and criticized. Whether it is the former cabinet or the current cabinet, it is impossible not to do things as the housekeeper of the Ming Dynasty. What's more, Huang Liji, who is promoting reform, has exposed a lot of weaknesses that can be criticized.

It can be said that although Huang Liji has gained more power than the previous Ming Shoufu, he has never enjoyed the benefits of this power for a day, but he has been trembling every day to deal with it, and he doesn't know where the dark sword will come from.

This is why he must closely follow Chongzhen's pace and promote the progress of reform, otherwise he will not be able to keep his current position. It is precisely because he is now holding the banner of reform that a group of officials below who are dissatisfied with the status quo of the Ming Dynasty will support him and confront those who oppose it.

But in this kind of life like walking on thin ice, Huang Liji is really a little haggard. He is not a traverser, he didn't know that the Ming Dynasty would die more than ten years later, so for him, being able to maintain the normal operation of the country is already an outstanding political achievement during his tenure.

After two years of political and economic reforms, the court officials, who had been divided and antagonistic by the apocalypse party struggle, began to re-divide themselves in the process of reform, and the political antagonism caused by the party struggle began to gradually reconcile.

In the past few years, there have been continuous disasters and famines, resulting in a continuous decrease in land revenue, and the problem of the Ming Dynasty's treasury being empty and the imperial court's shortage has also been alleviated by the revitalization of banking, industry and commerce, and overseas trade.

Problems such as the Lu'an Rebellion in the southwest, the displaced people and disaster victims in the northwest, the Houjin and Mongolia outside the border, and the pirates in the southeast are also being solved one by one, and even if they are not solved, they can see the direction of problem solving.

The turbulent society began to gradually stabilize, the fierce political struggle began to ease, and economic production began to recover everywhere. In the current situation, Huang Liji feels that the pace of reform should be slowed down slightly, and the method of doing nothing is more suitable for the current situation.

However, as a reformer who was not firm enough, he had only raised the banner of reform under the pressure of Chongzhen and the Donglin Party who wanted to liquidate him. So when the reform trend has taken shape, he also has a lot of worries and does not dare to put down the banner in his hand.

Once he is regarded as a traitor by the reformers and cannot gain the forgiveness of conservative officials, he will become a political loser who is condemned by everyone.

Now Chongzhen's policy of centralization and decentralization finally made Huang Liji see how to disperse his political responsibilities and how to gain further control over local officials, thus paving the way for him to smoothly transfer cabinet power in the future.

A state council that included high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty would not only strengthen the authority of the imperial decrees, but also allow Huang Liji to see the possibility of escaping from being held back by the emperor.

If after the establishment of this Council of State, the majority of members still support the cabinet and carry out further political, economic, and social changes to the Ming Dynasty, then the voice of opposition to reform will undoubtedly decrease a lot, which is a good thing for the cabinet headed by Huang Liji.

And if the majority of the committee members oppose the policy of further reform, it will not be bad news for Huang Liji, at least he does not have to confront Chongzhen alone, and whether he will continue to deepen the reform.

Therefore, Huang Liji couldn't wait to praise Chongzhen, he really felt that the idea put forward by the emperor today was very good. After complimenting, Huang Liji looked at the desk in front of Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty's idea of centralization and decentralization will be discussed with his colleagues in the cabinet after he returns. Let them be handed over to Your Majesty along with the re-demarcated plan for the Governor's Zone.

However, the minister still wants to ask, can the edict written by His Majesty before the expedition be destroyed? Although the General Staff and Sun Kaiyang have worked hard and made great achievements in this operation, the minister still hopes that His Majesty can reward and punish him in moderation, not too much, otherwise he may intensify the emotions of some people outside the palace. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said, "What Mr. Huang said is that I will be careful to reward meritorious deeds this time, and I will not give them too many tongues. If the gentleman has nothing else to do, let it go..."

Holding a document given by Chongzhen, Huang Li left the Qianqing Palace happily and returned to the cabinet to convene colleagues to discuss how to centralize power.

As a result, those officials who kept writing to the cabinet found that the cabinet ministers, who were originally anxious, had inexplicably settled down, and their snowflakes did not get a positive response.

While the officials in the capital were still waiting to see what the emperor would do with Sun Chengzong, who had made great contributions, students from several colleges and universities in the capital were having a discussion about what filial piety and whether it was in line with the guidelines for women to go out to work.

The reason for the quarrel between several students and scholars was: whether it was against filial piety for the emperor to cut off his hair to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed when he went out of Beijing to fight in person. Because the parents of the body do not dare to destroy it, and filial piety is the beginning.

Although no one dared to question whether the emperor's actions at that time were necessary, some scholars who were dissatisfied with the victory of the war due to the warriors implicitly criticized the emperor's behavior in the name of inquiry.

Several students at Yenching University happened to hear the criticism of these scholars against the emperor, and after Guozijian was changed to Yenching University, all the students who studied at Yenching University witnessed Chongzhen's concern for the university.

In the hearts of these students, their future prospects are directly linked to Chongzhen's fate, although not many of them will take the road of the imperial examination, but it does not mean that they do not want to enter the official career and serve the emperor.

In addition to Chongzhen, these students also knew that if others sat on the throne, they would definitely disdain Yenching University and turn their attention to the scholars from the imperial examination.

Unlike those who aspire to make a name for themselves through the imperial examinations, the students at Yenching University see Chongzhen not only as their own monarch, but also as their own leader. Because in the process of changing from Guozijian to Yenching University, the inmates who were put into local positions were all selected by the emperor himself.

These students naturally know very well that as long as they can get the emperor's approval after completing their studies, they will have the opportunity to enter the ranks, and actively moving closer to the emperor's preferences has become the mainstream opinion among the students.

The scholars, on the other hand, were all promoted through the imperial examinations, which were considered to be the right path. Being able to win the first class is either the appreciation of the examiner or the result of their own efforts.

Therefore, their feelings for the emperor are very complicated, on the one hand, they follow the feudal code of ethics and regard the emperor as the monarch's father. But on the other hand, they feel that they have studied hard for ten years before they have the opportunity to become a leader, and it is naturally their responsibility to govern the country and correct the deviation of the emperor's behavior.

As a result, scholars were politically eager to gain the emperor's appreciation so that they could let go of their ideas of governance. However, in terms of behavior, they had to criticize the emperor's improper behavior to show their independent personality and avoid being put on the hat of a flattering villain.

The students who supported Chongzhen and the scholars who tried to point out Chongzhen's inappropriate behavior naturally erupted into verbal and physical conflicts because of their own positions.

Although the clash was eventually dissuaded by the patrol officers who arrived at the scene, both sides were clearly unconvinced. Both sides are literati, and since there is no winner or loser in the fight, it is natural that they have to write articles to criticize their opponents.

In terms of public opinion warfare, the students of Yenching University obviously have a natural advantage, because they not only have the organization of the student union, but also their own school magazine. Dozens of scholars who live in the capital to prepare for the exam will naturally not be the opponent of the organized students of Yenching University.

However, when the two sides wrote an article scolding the war, they naturally did not dare to entangle the matter of Chongzhen's hairbreak, so the focus of the scolding war was focused on whether the behavior advocated by the Book of Filial Piety was really in line with filial piety.

The students' criticism of the promotion of filial piety naturally aroused the discontent of a group of conservative bureaucratic gentry. These bureaucratic gentry, whose interests had been damaged by the reforms introduced by the imperial court, were worried that they could not find a way to fight back against the reformers.

The controversy between the students and the scholars over the Book of Filial Piety suddenly gave them a plan to scold Huai. As bureaucrats and gentry who control a lot of social resources, they naturally have their own tabloids.

From filial piety to the counterattack against reform policies, there is nothing more than the large number of female workers hired in the newly built workshops in the capital in the past year or so, which has the influence of violating ethics and corrupting the atmosphere.

The moral controversy over filial piety and women going out to work suddenly became the focus of the people of the capital. Even the articles of both sides were on the Daming Times and placed in front of Chongzhen.