"Civilian checks and balances civil officials, okay?" Zhu Cihong was a little skeptical.

Chongzhen didn't answer and asked: "Hong'er, my father asked you, why is there a rule that officials are not allowed to enter the cabinet?" ”

"This retainer knows." Zhu Cijiong hurriedly replied, "Because the officials of the Ministry of Heavenly Officials hold the right to elect officials below the fourth grade, once the officials of the Ministry of Heavenly Officials are allowed to enter the cabinet and become the first assistant of the cabinet, then they can use the power of election to forcibly push the administrative authority, but all those with different political views are suppressed and excluded by it, so that the official position of the imperial court will become the private conferral of the first assistant of the cabinet, and when the cronies of the first assistant of the cabinet are promoted to high-level officials, the court will become a hall of words, and the first assistant will become a minister!" ”

Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong with a smile: "Hong'er, now do you understand where the key to the problem is?" ”

"Erchen understood." Zhu Cihong's face swelled with a flush, suppressed excitement and said, "The right to elect an official locks the channel for the first assistant of the cabinet to become a minister, and in the same way, as long as the right to elect the officials of the secretary and supervisor does not fall into the hands of the ministry, then the civil official from the secretary and supervisor will become another civil official group independent of the existing civil official group, and these two civil official groups are naturally political enemies, because their powers overlap greatly!" ”

There is no doubt that Zhu Cihong has found some ways to govern the country.

It is difficult to say that it is difficult to govern the country, but it is not difficult to say that it is not difficult, it is nothing more than financial power plus personnel power, and military power belongs to another dimension.

As long as the financial power and personnel power are grasped, then no matter how bad an emperor is, he will not be enshrined as a tablet by the civil official group, and because there are his own civil officials in front of him to attract the firepower of the other party's civil officials, there is no need to worry about falling into the water or being strangled to death by the palace maid.

Chongzhen smiled and asked again: "Then now my father asks you again, is it better to use eunuchs to check and balance civil officials, or is it better to use civil officials to check and balance civil officials?" ”

Zhu Cihong said without thinking: "Naturally, it is better for civil officials to check and balance civil officials. ”

Zhu Cihong undoubtedly agrees with Chongzhen, eunuchs tend to be more greedy because of their physical defects.

"But there's also a problem." Zhu Cijiong frowned and said, "The civil officials of the secretary and supervisor have usurped the authority of the twelve eunuchs, four departments and eight bureaus of the inner court, so it is inevitable that they will enter and leave the harem, so it is inevitable that they will have contact with the concubine." ”

Good guy, Zhu Cijiong is worried that the civil servants of the secretary and supervisor will cuckold the emperor.

"It's easy." Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "The power of the inner court belongs to the newly established secretary and supervisor, and the envoy is still to the eunuch." ”

That is to say, the powers of the twelve eunuchs, four divisions and eight bureaus of the inner court were separated from the eunuchs, and the secretaries and officials who replaced them worked outside the Forbidden City, and the eunuchs were only responsible for the communication between the secretaries and the emperor and the rough work of the harem, which perfectly avoided the contact between the secretaries and the eunuchs and the concubines.

What's more, the eunuchs have since bowed down to power.

Another is that the new civil official group that replaced the eunuchs will also be incompatible with the old civil official group, because public power is naturally exclusive, and the overlap of power will inevitably lead to strife.

Overlapping powers will inevitably lead to internal friction and reduced efficiency.

But Chongzhen is confident that he can control the rhythm, at the beginning, the secretary and supervisor must not encroach too much on his powers, that is, to exercise the powers of the military level such as Tuntian and regimental training, at most add a Cao Yun, that is, to a limited extent to encroach on the affairs of a small part of the military department, and the old civilian official group will definitely not tear his face with him because of this.

When the secretarial supervisor has become a climate and has the ability to compete with the old civil servants, there is nothing to worry about.

At that time, if the old civil official group is willing to compromise, it is the best, and if it is unwilling to compromise, then it will be directly uprooted, and the old civil official group will be completely replaced by the new civil official group, and a wave of thorough cleansing of the Ming officialdom will be carried out.

Chongzhen's idea is still good, but there is still a problem.

If this problem is not resolved, this idea will be a pipe dream.

Zhu Cihong realized this problem, and suddenly said: "There is still a problem." ”

"What's the problem?" Zhu Cijiong said disapprovingly, "I think it's good." ”

Zhu Cihong said: "The reason why my father set up a new secretary and supervisor is because the current civil official group is rotten and unusable, because they have been corrupted by the bad habits of officialdom and only know how to be in the same stream. ”

"But the civil officials of the secretary and supervisor are also civil officials, and they can only be selected from among the existing officials."

"Who can guarantee that the elected officials will not be corrupted by the bad habits of officialdom?"

"Who can guarantee that they will come out of the mud without staining, and that they will not be in the same league as the old civil service? I'm afraid no one can make this guarantee, right? In fact, it is not possible. ”

"Really." Zhu Cijiong was stunned.

"Then don't choose from among the existing officials."

Chongzhen said: "Directly from the scholars. ”

"Screening from among the scholars?" Zhu Cihong was stunned, "Let the scholar be an official directly?" ”

"It's just a petty official, not even an official, only a petty official." Chongzhen said thoughtfully, "Even if this is the case, it is necessary to strictly screen and temper the scholars. ”

"Tempering?" Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong looked confused.

Chongzhen actually had a comprehensive arrangement for this.

It will be a battle of blood and fire that will go down in history.

As soon as the conversation between the father and son came to an end, Wang Chengen came in and reported: "Long live the lord, the right capital Yushi and Tuntian Yushi Duyinxi ask for an audience." ”

"Plugging Yinxi?" Chongzhen frowned.

"He is not in Tuntian, Xuzhou, what is he doing in Liucheng?"

Wang Chengen said: "It is said that there is an urgent military situation about Cao Yun. ”

"Caoyun?" Chongzhen's expression froze, and he said in a deep voice, "Bring him in." ”

Du Yinxi came in and first bowed to worship, and then got up and said: "Shengshang, Xuzhou is about to run out of food!" ”

"What? Xuzhou is about to run out of food? Chongzhen almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and said in disbelief, "How is it possible?" Judging from the time, the fourth batch of grain should have arrived, right? According to the calculation of a batch of 200,000 stones, the total amount of grain transported to Xuzhou before and after has been 680,000 stones, and you can't eat it all, right? ”

Du Yinxi smiled bitterly: "Holy Lord, only two batches of 280,000 stones were transported from Caoliang. ”

"Huh?" Chongzhen's face collapsed instantly, and only two batches of 280,000 stones were transported? That is, there has been no grain since he left? That's a bit excessive.

"Did you send someone to Shanyang to urge food?"

"Yes, and six groups of people were sent, but there has been no reply."

"What does it mean that there is no reply? Is there any grain to solve, when can it be solved to Xuzhou, should always tell you, the imperial history of Tuntian, right? ”

Chongzhen was already very angry.

Lu Zhenfei didn't take him as an emperor in his eyes.

Du Yinxi said: "In fact, none of the messengers sent by the minister saw Lu Futai. ”

"How can it be!" Chongzhen slapped his fist on the edge of the window, but quickly held back his anger, because it was useless to get angry, and immediately asked Du Yinxi, "How many homeless people are coming to Xuzhou now?" ”

"It's more than 800,000 people." Plug Yinxi said solemnly.

Chongzhen's mood became heavier and heavier, more than 800,000 people, even according to the standard of 250 grams a day, they had to eat almost 3,000 stone of grain a day, not to mention that the 140,000 border troops in Twenty-eight Towns and the Zhuang Ding engaged in Tuntian had 250 grams of rations a day was not enough, so there was really not much left of the two batches of 280,000 stone grain that were transported before.

Chongzhen asked again: "How long can the current grain storage last?" ”

Du Yinxi replied: "The existing grain stock will last for a maximum of twenty days. ”

"Can't you just plant some melons, fruits, and vegetables to fill the holes?" Chongzhen said with some dissatisfaction, "There are also wild vegetables or something that can be collected somewhat, and it will last for a month anyway, right?" ”

Du Yinxi heard the dissatisfaction in Chongzhen's tone, but he didn't defend himself.

In fact, he did what Chongzhen said, and he did it better than Chongzhen thought.

But it was useless, he had to supply the military rations of the border army in the 28th town and ensure that more than 800,000 homeless people ate, all his efforts were a drop in the bucket, and only the autumn grain could be alleviated, so he was not qualified to justify.

Because in Du Yinxi's opinion, it is his dereliction of duty to not do the errand well, and the board should be hit on him, so what is there to justify?

But fortunately, Chongzhen soon realized his gaffe.

"Blocking Qing, my anger is not directed at you, don't you mind." Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "What makes me angry are those bureaucrats who eat vegetarian meals, as well as the bad habits of officialdom, including drifting. ”

Du Yinxi couldn't help but raise his head to look at Chongzhen, and stopped talking.

Chongzhen's heart moved when he saw this, and he pointed out: "Blocking Qing, do you feel the same way?" ”

"The minister does have some feelings." Du Yinxi thought deeply and said, "Whether it is in the Beixin Banknote Pass or in the Changsha prefect, whenever the minister wants to do something, he always feels that there is a pair of invisible hands dragging the minister back, no, no, no, not a pair, but countless hands are dragging the minister, dragging the minister into the quagmire." ”

"Is it right to drag you into the mire and join them?" Chongzhen pointed out.

"They call it the light and the dust." Du Yinxi smiled and said, "But the minister is not sure, because the minister has not had too deep contacts with these people. ”

In a word, the officials of Beixin Banknote Customs and Changsha Prefecture once tried their best to pull Du Yinxi into the quagmire of corruption, but they did not succeed, and Du Yinxi withstood the temptation and was unmoved.

If someone else says this, Chongzhen can only say that I believe you are a ghost.

But when Du Yinxi said this, Chongzhen believed it, because this is a national soldier who is consistent in his words and deeds!

Therefore, Du Yinxi is simply a model for the new civil official group, but Chongzhen did not show it, let alone reveal that he was going to start a new stove to Du Yinxi to know, and it was not time for him to know.

"Blocking Qing, I already know about the grain." Chongzhen said.

"You go back first, I'm ready to leave for Shanyang to urge the grain."

"At least half a month, at most twenty days, I will definitely deliver the grain."