The New Year is approaching, and it is the most lively and happy time of the year, but now Liu Jun has a headache. Of his seven cabinet members, two died of illness at the end of the year, three resigned due to illness, and one also resigned after being impeached by the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office.

Of the seven scholars in the cabinet, only one first assistant, Yuan Jixian, remains.

When Liu Jun stepped into the cabinet yamen in a bright yellow dragon robe, he couldn't help but feel a sense of coldness. Yuan Jixian seemed to be a little older, and he walked to the door to greet him.

"Fang Fengnian and Cai Guoyong are old, and they have to rest at home for half a month almost every day in March, and they can't do business at all." Yuan Jixian said helplessly.

"It's really troublesome to lose six cabinet scholars all of a sudden." Liu Jun frowned. After the founding of the country, the current pattern of the imperial court that was finally formed, and now the cabinet suddenly has six fewer scholars, and Liu Jun is unable to choose a suitable candidate.

The position of the cabinet is important, and it is not just a matter of arranging an official to come over, and an unsuitable official is better than a vacancy.

"Please also ask Your Majesty to select a few capable ministers to join the cabinet as soon as possible." Yuan Jixian said, he is the first assistant of the cabinet, and it is difficult to say too much about the selection of cabinet members. Originally, such an important position as a cabinet member needed to be promoted. But when employing people today, it has always been very thoughtful.

"I don't think I'm in a hurry." Liu Jun shook his head, "Since it has been vacant, I have another idea." ”

Yuan Jixian was puzzled, "Your Majesty, there are a lot of cabinet affairs, and the old minister can't handle it alone." ”

According to the current pattern of the DPRK and China, the cabinet has the overall executive power, but there are also celebrants and supervisors who have some review powers. In addition, although the emperor set up the prime minister's yamen, and a large number of prime ministers participated in politics, these prime ministers participated in politics from the heads of the most important departments in the imperial court, and they were only the emperor's advisers at the prime minister's meeting, and the real administrative affairs of the empire were still under the leadership of the cabinet.

"Master, I have an idea." Liu Jun said.

"I don't think the responsibilities of the central government are still clear enough. The Cabinet should also be more powerful and accountable. With the exception of the Privy Council and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, all ministries and temples should be subordinate to the Cabinet and administered by the Cabinet Chief Assistant. ”

"After the cabinet, the first assistant will be in charge, and then there will be an assistant, several group assistants, who will be in charge of the affairs of various ministries, but the first assistant will lead the cabinet. The cabinet is no longer just a vote, but the administrative affairs of the imperial court are directly handled by the cabinet. ”

Hearing the emperor say this, Yuan Jixian was taken aback.

This is not a simple change. This is a earth-shaking change that will completely change the pattern of the imperial court. In the Ming Dynasty, the status of the cabinet has actually been a little embarrassing, scholars only have five grades, often have to rely on the six departments of Shangshu to improve their rank, and although they said in the later period, the authority gradually increased, but in fact, the cabinet scholars have to be really in charge of the affairs of the ministry, otherwise. Having a job as a scholar doesn't actually mean much.

Even if it is the first assistant, they are at most a proposed ticket and yellow, and they only have the right to read it first and then give suggestions, and how to deal with it in the end has to be sent to the palace. It was decided by the emperor or by the eunuchs of the celebrant to approve the red. Even if the red is agreed, it may be rejected by the Chinese book or the six subjects.

Under this system, the Cabinet does not really become the head of state. Even the six ministries are the organs that really control the administration of the imperial court.

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the system changed. The rank of the cabinet was raised, and the scholars no longer served as the secretary of each ministry, but directly led the ministries. But later, the imperial court divided the finance, taxation, and accounting departments from it. In addition, the Privy Council was established, and the judicial Dali Temple, the Criminal Department, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate were not under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet.

The absence of judicial, fiscal and taxation, and military jurisdiction has undoubtedly led to a considerable decline in the authority of the cabinet, especially without the financial power in its hands, and the cabinet will not be able to be the master in many cases. If it weren't for the fact that the scholars still hold the title of prime minister and can participate in the prime minister's meeting, they would have less power.

Now Liu Jun also has a problem, that is, the division of power and responsibility is too scattered. There are seven scholars in a cabinet, and there is actually not much difference in power between the first and second assistants, and there is no primary and secondary. In terms of administrative affairs, the following is divided into several large blocks, and even the financial plan cannot be controlled, how to do a good job in administration?

Now that the cabinet is suddenly short of six scholars, Liu Jun feels that maybe he should take the opportunity to change the current pattern.

Placing all the administrative powers of the empire in the cabinet, which is presided over by the first assistant, is tantamount to restoring some of the powers of the prime minister and adding authority to the chief assistant. Of course, Liu Jun will not go backwards and make another prime minister. However, it is advantageous to concentrate the executive power in the cabinet, and the cabinet will be in charge of the various ministries and temples.

The original Civil Affairs Department, Finance Department, Taxation Department, Audit Office, etc., Liu Jun is ready to be included in the cabinet again.

In the future, the first assistant of the cabinet will be the main assistant, and the second assistant and the group assistant will only assist the first assistant, and the power and position will be clear, and the provincial tension is not clear, but at the same time, there are these first assistants and group assistants are also restricting the first assistant and avoiding the first assistant from exercising power.

"In the future, the administrative affairs of the empire will be handled directly by the cabinet, and you will be the first assistant and you will have the final say."

"Your Majesty, this is not appropriate." Yuan Jixian hurriedly said. This right to make a direct decision is too big, in the past, it was the right to draft votes, but now it has become the right to make a decision, that is to encroach on the imperial power, Yuan Jixian does not dare to be careless.

Liu Jun smiled, "There is nothing unsuitable, there are thousands of imperial affairs, and I can't handle these things even if I work day and night." Therefore, I have to rely on the first assistant of the cabinet to help deal with it, and you rely on the second assistant and the group assistant to help you deal with it. The ministers of each ministry handle their own affairs, and major matters are reported to the cabinet meeting and handed over to the cabinet members to deal with. In short, there must be a rule for these things, the squire and the secretary of each ministry, the first assistant, the second assistant, and the group assistant of the cabinet, you are responsible for the general leader, and you are in charge of the overall situation. Of course, a copy of the decision made by the cabinet must be sent to the celebrant and a copy to the council for review, and if there is anything inappropriate, it may also be rejected. ”

"Parliament?" Yuan Jixian frowned, "It's the same as the North Korean parliament?" ”

"Some believe, but it's not the same."

Since Liu Jun is ready to hand over the administrative power to the cabinet and strengthen the responsibilities of the cabinet, he will not just delegate power and not supervise.

Executive power is vested in the Cabinet and, of course, there must be oversight.

But Liu Jun does not intend to give this supervisory power to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the duties of the Metropolitan Procuratorate should be equivalent to the Supreme Procuratorate, the Dali Temple is equivalent to the Supreme Court, and the Criminal Department is equivalent to the Ministry of Police. These three branches are the judiciary. The supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate should also be only in the area of discipline.

As for administrative supervision and review, it should be separated. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set up a system of six departments to give matters, which was a special administrative review, and the six departments corresponded to the six departments to review their administrative orders, and if they felt that the decision was wrong, they could reject it, then the administrative decision could not be implemented.

Now Liu Jun is going to separate the six sections, including the Chinese books that originally had the right to review, from the administrative part and set up a special system. Liu Jun plans to call this part the House.

The executive orders made by the cabinet in charge of the administration must be submitted to the House of Representatives for review and approval at the same time as they are submitted to the emperor. If the House fails to approve and can dismiss it, then the executive order cannot be passed.

Of course, as the emperor, Liu Jun also has a veto power over the administrative decisions of the cabinet. Regardless of whether the House passes or not, as long as the emperor intervenes, it cannot be passed.

Although in this way, the emperor is still supreme. However, compared with the past, everything had to be reviewed and approved by the emperor, and now this system will be significantly more efficient.

The Cabinet has executive power, and the House of Representatives has executive review power.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate exercises prosecutorial power. Dali Temple exercises the right of adjudication. On top of the Imperial History of the Imperial Court and the Dali Temple, Liu Jun is ready to set up another Imperial Historian, the Imperial Historian Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Inspectorate and the Dali Temple. Responsible for the judicial affairs of the empire and has judicial independence.

The judicial system is not under the jurisdiction of the administrative system, and the Imperial Historian is on the same level as the Cabinet Chief.

According to the original separation of powers, the separation of powers can form a three-legged situation and make the pattern more stable. Therefore, it is not enough to separate the executive and the judiciary, but also to have an independent legislative power.

Therefore, Liu Jun is ready to strengthen the power of the House of Representatives, which not only has the power of administrative review and rejection, but also has the power of legislation.

The parliamentarians have the right to introduce bills, and within the limits of the Imperial Constitution, as long as the bills are passed by the parliament and approved by the emperor, then the bills will come into force, and the executive branch under the leadership of the cabinet must act in accordance with the bills, and the judiciary must administer justice according to the bills passed by the parliament.

The administrative budget drawn up by the cabinet and the military expenditure budget of the armed forces must be examined and approved by the parliament before they can be implemented. If it can't be passed, it has to be cut until it is passed.

Of course, the emperor still has the right of veto, and even the order issued by the emperor is not vetoed by the parliament.

Liu Jun's proposal for the separation of powers is only the separation of powers under the guarantee of imperial power, and even this separation of powers is actually just to further strengthen the imperial power. Therefore, no matter what, Liu Jun will not set himself up.

The authority of the emperor reigned supreme.

In the army system, the military administration is subordinate to the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of War is subordinate to the Cabinet. The army's military budget must be approved by the Parliament, and the Privy Council is independent of the three major systems of the executive, legislative, and judicial, and belongs to the military order system and directly belongs to the emperor. In addition, there was a military aircraft conference, which was the emperor's military adviser and staff body.

In this way, the power of the cabinet has undoubtedly been greatly increased, and they have been given complete administrative power, especially the power of financial planning.

It was also clear to the judicial department that the Metropolitan Procuratorate was separated from the Dali Temple, and was led by a newly established Imperial Historian, and became a judicial system alongside the cabinet administrative system.

Of course, the establishment of the House of Representatives has also drawn a circle between the executive and judicial branches, the executive power of the Cabinet must be subject to the supervision and examination of the House, and the judicial system must also administer according to the bills enacted by the House.

The military order system is as independent as ever, directly under the command of the emperor.

"In the future, each of the three major systems must not cross the line, and must not hold positions in other systems at the same time."

Yuan Jixian digested this large number of new ideas of the emperor in his heart, and in general, it seemed that there was not much change from the current system, but in fact, it was deeply changed.

In the administrative area, the leadership of the cabinet was fully established, and the chief celebrant and the internal minister, who used to be almost on a par with the cabinet, were now hit the hardest, and they eventually lost the right to approve the red. The cabinet no longer needs to post yellow votes, and the emperor does not need to approve each movement, and of course there is no longer a need for the celebrant to approve the red on his behalf. The emperor would only veto cabinet decisions that dissented. (To be continued.) )