Forbidden city.

Outside the Qianqing Gate, inside the Longzong Gate, on the west side of the square in front of the Qianqing Gate, the Prime Minister's Hall.

The Prime Minister's Office is not an official official office, but a place for ministers to assist the government. Because it was the first time that the minister was in the Ming Dynasty, after the new son of heaven ascended the throne, he officially set up this hall office outside the Qianqing gate in the palace for the four auxiliary ministers to concentrate on the deliberation and office.

This hall has also been named the Prime Minister's Office, in order to serve the Son of Heaven for the convenience of the government, as well as the need for secrecy, the Prime Minister's Office is specially located in the palace rather than in the imperial city.

The hall of the Prime Minister's Office used to be the Qianqing Gate, the left and right sides are the emperor's south study and the inner study, and then inside is the Qianqing Palace, the main hall of the inner dynasty, and it is also the new emperor's dormitory. The Prime Minister's Office was set up outside the Qianqing Gate to facilitate the emperor's listening to the government.

At this time, in the hall of the newly listed Prime Minister's Office, there are several large copper basins with blocks of ice in them. In the Forbidden City in mid-August, it was still very hot during the day, but these large ice basins were placed in the house, which immediately made the house much cooler.

Inside the hall, next to the north wall, four yellow rosewood circle chairs are side by side.

The four ministers sat on it, all silent. On the east and west sides, there is a row of chairs, a bench on the left side, in front of the cabinet in addition to the first assistant to sit the other four scholars, to the back is the Ministry of Shangshu headed by the Great Nine Qing, six Shangshu plus the political envoy, Dali Temple Qing, the left capital of the imperial history is because of the minister, sitting in the north.

Opposite these four scholars and Baqing, there were several great eunuchs. Sitting at the top is Wang Chengen, who is now promoted to the commander of the ceremonial supervisor and the eunuch of the seal, and the next one is the heart of the eunuch Wang of the East Factory, who is now in charge of the East Factory. Below are the four eunuchs of the celebrant Lu Zhi, Shen Liangzuo, Li Fengxiang, and Wang Yingchao. The next three eunuchs all have the title of Admiral of the Minister, namely Wang Dehua, the Admiral of the Praetorian Guard Battalion, Liu Wenzhong, the Admiral of the Garrison Battalion, and Tang Wenzheng, the Admiral of the Garrison Battalion.

These nine eunuchs are also the most powerful eunuchs in Beijing today.

Similarly, the 25 people present at the Prime Minister's Office today are also officials with the highest power in the center of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Yanru, who was sitting on it, was actually very dissatisfied with the current situation, and he was originally the first to assist. When Chongzhen was in power, he was certainly controlled by the emperor, but as soon as the emperor died, he felt that he, the first assistant, should be able to show his strength and control the center, just like Zhang Juzheng did at the beginning.

But the result is that there is now this Prime Minister's Office. In this way, the Prime Minister's Office became the supreme center of power for the Son of Heaven, and the cabinet, the six ministries, the celebrants, and the five ministries were all under it.

In Chongzhen's edict, there are four ministers who are assisted and praise all government affairs. Therefore, the Prime Minister's Office can rightly take charge of all government affairs before the emperor takes charge of the government.

Originally, the cabinet scholars were only five-rank officials, and their grades were very low, but because they later had the right to vote, they could review the ministers' chapters, and draft opinions to be submitted to the emperor for approval, and they had the right to speak, so the cabinet became the center of the imperial court.

Later, he had the right to approve the red by the celebrant supervisor, and there were too many chapters, and the emperor could not read them one by one. After reviewing the Cabinet's draft vote, they will approve or reject the reply. And the eunuch Bingbi was the master of ceremonies for Zhu Approve, and sometimes even simply let the eunuch Bingbi review the chapter on his behalf.

The emperor transferred some of his authority to the eunuchs who were the celebrants, so that they could share his own burden and weaken the cabinet ministers.

It is with this right to vote and approve the red. Cabinet scholars and celebrant eunuchs are so powerful and hot. And now the Prime Minister's Office governs on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and has the power of post-reading, and it is this post-reading right that allows the Prime Minister's Office to override the cabinet and the celebrant supervisor.

Zhou Yanru spoke slowly and said to the ministers on both sides. "If today's son is young and can't be in charge of the government, the four of us will be ordered by the first emperor. Serve as an assistant. From today, the Prime Minister's Office has been officially established, and the rules will have to be changed in the future. ”

"From today onwards, the internal and external courtiers' concerts must first be registered by the General Secretary of Affairs, and then sent to the secretary's office for registration, and then submitted to the Minister of Ceremonies and submitted to the Prime Minister's Office for review by the Auxiliary Minister."

Zhou Yanru began to declare the new rules to the ministers. It was originally presented to the Emperor, but now it is submitted to the Auxiliary Minister for review.

"The Auxiliary Minister of the Prime Minister's Office will read it and hand it over to the Cabinet of Ceremonies for review, and then give a vote. After the Cabinet vote is drafted, it will be transferred to the Auxiliary Minister for review, and after the Auxiliary Minister agrees with the Cabinet's draft opinion, he will hand it over to the Celebrant for approval, and then transfer it to the Celebrant Eunuch for review and sealing. If there is any impropriety, it can be rejected and re-approved. ”

Reviewing the recitals is the embodiment of rights, and they are interlocking and must not be taken lightly.

"After the eunuch has passed the examination and seal, the seal will be sent back to the secretary of the celebrant for backup. Then the original was transferred to the cabinet and sent six sections. If the audit of the six departments is correct, the six departments will be issued for implementation. In case of violation, it may be dismissed. ”

It's a well-designed process, one link at a time.

Any internal and external twists and turns cannot be passed on to the Department of Celebrants and the Prime Minister, let alone the Cabinet, without going through the Department of Politics.

All the memorals sent to the Celebrant by the Secretary for Communications and Politics must be read by the four Auxiliary Ministers in the Prime Minister's Office before being sent to the Cabinet for their advice on how to deal with them according to the actual situation.

After the process of drafting the vote, it is registered by the Celebrant and submitted to the Prime Minister's Office to make a final decision on the Cabinet's draft vote. If the Prime Minister and the Auxiliary Secretary disagree with the Cabinet's proposal, he may send it back for redrafting. If it doesn't work once, it can be done twice, or even three times, and the auxiliary minister can not only send back the redraft vote, but also directly change the vote and directly make a disposition opinion, without having to send it back to the cabinet for redrafting.

The Auxiliary Minister intends to make the final disposition of the vote, and the eunuch of the celebrant is the secretary of the Auxiliary Minister, who makes the approval according to the opinion of the Auxiliary Minister. In the end, it will be handed over to the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch.

The eunuch of the celebrant is equivalent to the secretary of the auxiliary minister, and the eunuch of the palm seal is equivalent to the secretary general, and he has to make the final check to see whether it is in line with the decision of the auxiliary minister, if the approval result is inconsistent with the decision of the auxiliary minister, it cannot be passed, and it must be sent back for re-approval.

After the secretary-general's palm seal eunuch is approved, the fold will be filed with the vote and Zhu Approval, and then sent back to the cabinet, and then the six sections will conduct a final review.

If the six sections are approved, they can be officially issued and disposed of according to Zhu's opinions. If the six departments think it is inappropriate, they can send it back, and they may have to go through the process again.

In this process. The Department of General Administration is the first checkpoint, and only legal folds can be sent. Not everyone can play the recital, only according to the imperial court system, the recital of officials with this status and qualification can be sent through the General Political Department.

The General Administration Department checks the recital.

The celebrant then registers it, the Prime Minister's Office checks it, and then sends it to the Cabinet to give its opinion. It is also important that the Secretary for General Affairs does not send the recital directly to the Cabinet, but goes through the process through the Department of Ceremonies and the Prime Minister first. This ensures that all the folds will not be missing, and will not be withheld by the celebrant or the cabinet.

There is mutual supervision of these links. It can ensure that the piece will not be deliberately lost, hidden, withheld, etc.

The Cabinet is also an important part of the process, as they have to read the constitution and come up with a deal of advice. This is both their responsibility and their right.

According to this process, the minister ordered the minister to govern on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and the decrees issued by the cabinet had to be drafted by the cabinet. Even the emperor's edict has to go through this process, and since the Son of Heaven is not in charge now, the emperor's edict does not go through Fengge Luantai. What is the name of the edict?

Although the little emperor has ascended the throne, his rights are severely restricted, in addition to the Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet, the General Administration Department and the Six Sections. For the emperor's edict, he also has the right to repeat the refutation at any time.

Now there is a Prime Minister's Office, although it is the Prime Minister's Office, but according to the system. It is also subject to constraints.

The Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet, the Celebrant Supervisor, the General Affairs Department, the Six Sections, and the Six Ministries are in a state of mutual restraint to prevent the phenomenon of a monopoly of power.

But that's just an ideal situation. The real state is certainly not so ideal. For example, the celebrant was originally only equivalent to the emperor's secretary, who assisted the emperor in approving red and used it to restrain the power of the cabinet. But in fact, the celebrant was once above the cabinet.

Even the emperor, when he disagreed with the cabinet, often issued a direct edict to the cabinet, and issued such an ineffective decree in the system.

But in the end, it is difficult for the cabinet or the six departments to refuse this kind of central purpose.

As now, as soon as the Prime Minister's Office is established, it immediately overrides the Cabinet, the Celebrant and the Celebrant Minister, the Six Ministries, the Five Ministries, and so on.

However, the Prime Minister's Office can have such authority, and the first assistant Zhou Yanru and the second assistant Wu Fu are all ministers of care, and Liu Zongzhou, one of the great nine secretaries of the Zuodu, is also a minister of life, plus a governor of Zhili who leads the nine towns of Gyeonggi, and the four ministers are all not small.

In addition, although Wu Chengen was promoted to the rank of celebrant and eunuch with palm seals, he was not the kind of power-hungry person such as Wei Zhongxian. In this matter, he did not have the slightest obstacle, but strongly supported it, which led to the current situation.

The Prime Minister's Office is a temporary deliberative body, not a formal yamen, and there are no permanent officials, and the four ministers also hold other important positions.

Today, the official members of the Prime Minister's Office have summoned these important ministers from inside and outside the DPRK to come, naturally in order to get off to a good start. And, there is indeed an important matter to be discussed today.

The imperial court failed to use troops in western Liaoning last year, coupled with the reorganization of troops and horses at the border passes and Gyeonggi, the outbreak of banditry in the northwest, and the resistance to taxes in the southeast, plus the famine this year due to last year's famine, the imperial court has already emptied its treasury.

Even the emperor's funeral expenses were first resisted by the two million silver dollars brought by Liu Jun. But in the future, the imperial court still needs to use money everywhere, such as the distribution of military salaries in various places, the restoration of the defense of western Liaoning, and even the suppression of bandits in the northwest, all of which will cost money.

Zhou Yanru and others have no good way, and now they only look forward to continuing to let the Four Seas Bank issue bonds, and expect the tariffs and commercial taxes in the southeast to be collected.

And all of these have to count on Zhu Ciye. On the side of the Four Seas Bank, he only sold his account, and the others, even the emperor, couldn't get money from there. And all over the southeast, it is the Chu Party world, and Zhu Ciye is also needed.

If it weren't for this, Zhou Yanru and Wu Fu would not tolerate Zhu Ciye being on an equal footing with them.

The focus of today's meeting is to get real money from Zhu Ciye.

"Ge Lao, this is natural." Wang Chengen continued with a smile on his face, "The Son of Heaven is young, and before he became a politician, the imperial court relied on the four former emperors' ministers to preside over the government. ”

"Oh, the first emperor dragon controls Bintian, and the edict allows a certain assistant to assist today, I am deeply afraid, for fear that there will be a little difference, and there will be no shame to face the emperor underground in the future." Zhou Yanru spoke with a Wudi accent, "Let's just say that now, I just experienced the funeral of the former emperor and the enthronement ceremony of His Majesty, and now the treasury is extremely empty, and the internal treasury is also empty. ”

Wu Fu answered on the side at this time, "The financial situation of the imperial court is indeed worse, but fortunately, we still have the king of the county." When the first emperor was there, he often said that the king of the county could not only fight well, but also train soldiers and fight, and also make money economically. Originally, the imperial court also relied on the county king to issue bonds and raise a large amount of money, which exempted the three salaries. He smiled at Liu Jun as he spoke, "If the prince of the county can't get the silver, then the court can only relevy three salaries, otherwise not only the soldiers' salaries can't be paid, but even you and I can't pay the salaries of everyone here." ”

"The king of the county must have a way, didn't he say a few days ago that he would be able to raise another three million silver dollars to enter the capital immediately." Wang Chengen hurriedly laughed on the side.

The important ministers in the hall all looked at Liu Jun together.

Now everyone is counting on Liu Jun.

"At this time, everyone is in the same boat, in the same boat." Liu Jun only smiled slightly.

As soon as these words came out, everyone was very happy, and Liu Jun's attitude was still good.

Liu Shi Liu Jun put on a serious face and slowly swept towards everyone.

"The Ming Dynasty is not halfway up, and the first emperor collapsed, and now although he reached a peace agreement with the Qing Dynasty, the situation in the Ming Dynasty is still not stable. The imperial court and the Tartars fought last year, which can only be regarded as a defeat for both sides, although the final recovery of Liaoxi, but the Tartar forces are still there, and they still have no less than 100,000 strong troops, which is still the biggest threat to our dynasty. ”

"And because the imperial court mobilized a large army in western Liaoning last year, it led to the emptiness of the northwest, and because of the great hunger after the catastrophe, the bandits took advantage of the situation and made a comeback. Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is difficult, I was entrusted by the edict of the first emperor to assist Your Majesty, thanks to the grace of the first emperor, I can only do my best and die. I still say the same thing, no matter how difficult the situation is, we should also be in the same boat. ”

Liu Zongzhou nodded to Liu Jun in deep agreement, originally he was more inclined to the second assistant Wu Fu in the court, but now, he also did not hide his appreciation for Liu Jun's words.

Zhou Yanru didn't move Liu Jun with a few beautiful words, he still had the same expression, sat upright, and coughed, "Then let's start the discussion!" (To be continued.) )