Chongzhen was about to turn around and leave, when a laborer suddenly rushed over.

"Holy Lord, the minister has grievances!" The laborers ran and shouted, "The minister has grievances, the ministers have grievances!" ”

Lu Jiude and the accompanying Praetorian Guards hurriedly protected Chongzhen, fearing that Chongzhen would suffer an accident.

But this was simply superfluous, and the laborer had barely run a few steps before he tripped over the ground by the new troops, and then the whip rained down on the laborer.

The laborers screamed in pain, but they still insisted on shouting grievances to Chongzhen.

"Holy Lord, the minister has grievances, the ministers really have grievances, and the ministers are wronged!"

Chongzhen pushed away Lu Jiude and several other eunuchs and the Praetorian Guards stepped forward, but found that it was actually Meng Xueli, but Meng Xueli at this time had long since lost the majesty he had when he was outside Chaoyang Gate that day.

"Holy Lord, the minister is wronged." Meng Xueli rolled on the ground in pain, but he still didn't forget to shout grievances.

"Although the more than 500,000 taels of silver were collected, they did not collect it for themselves, but for the sake of the saints, and the minister originally planned to hand over the silver to the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"Really?" Chongzhen said, "What about Gu Mei and a dozen beautiful maids?" ”

Meng Xueli almost blurted out that he was also accepting it for the sake of you, but when the words came to his mouth, he swallowed them back raw, because if he really said this, he would really have no way to live.

At that moment, Meng Xueli said again: "Shengshang Rongyu, the reason why the minister accepted Gu Mei and more than a dozen beautiful maids was to stabilize Gong Dingyu and other ministers, because the situation in Beijing was very complicated at that time, and the ministers only had 3,000 subordinates, and the control of more than 200,000 Manchu people in the inner city was already stretched, so they could only make a false appointment with the generals and ministers in the outer city. ”

Chongzhen smiled and said: "Meng Xueli, I gave you a chance, when Zhang Huangyan first entered Beijing, if you could hand over the dirty silver and Gu Mei and other beauties in time, you would be fine, but unfortunately you didn't." ”

Meng Xueli was speechless, and could only blame himself for not making up nonsense.

Several Qinwang scholars who accompanied him also cast disdainful glances at Meng Xueli.

Meng Xueli is really the scum of the Shizi camp.

……

More than half a month passed in a blink of an eye, and the time came to the beginning of August of the 22nd year of Chongzhen (1649).

After nearly two months of tiring travel, Lu Zhenfei and thousands of other Beijing officials and entourages finally arrived in Beijing, Chongzhen was still very sympathetic to these ministers and gave them a three-day vacation.

Three days later, Chongzhen held a great pilgrimage in the Huangji Palace.

This is also the first time that Chongzhen held a grand court meeting after the Jiashen year.

Before that, the Great Dynasty Meeting was basically just a formality and would not discuss anything substantial, but from today onwards, this form is about to be eradicated by Chongzhen.

Chongzhen decided to carry out a thorough reform of the Imperial Council.

After the big and small officials who participated in the court meeting made a salute, Chongzhen directly cut to the point: "Before starting the court meeting, I want to establish rules first, if there are no special circumstances or major changes in the future, don't convene a big court meeting of Beijing officials above the seventh grade, just to go through a formality, the ministers and hundreds of officials have to get up before the fourth watch, in order to avoid the loss of honor in front of the king, they don't even dare to drink saliva, and then thousands of people gather in front of the imperial palace to stand stupidly for a few hours, why bother?" ”

"Is it because the cabinet assistants are too idle, or are the officials of the sixth ministry really having nothing to do?"

"With such a big country waiting to be governed, so many government affairs waiting to be handled, where is there time to waste?"

After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "If you have no opinion, from today onwards, how about adding this rule to the Emperor's ancestral teachings?" ”

Chongzhen's move seems to be sympathetic to the ministers, but in fact, he has other plans.

Lu Zhenfei and other cabinet officials were still very vigilant, and they instantly realized the mystery.

"Holy." Lu Zhenfei hurriedly left the class and asked, "What do you mean by the special circumstances and major changes?" ”

Chongzhen said: "Major changes are easy to understand, such as the invasion of a strong enemy, or the sudden death of the old emperor, or the occurrence of a very serious natural and man-made disaster, all the officials in Beijing need to gather together to discuss countermeasures, and it is logical to convene a great court meeting at this time, as for the special situation I just said......

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "For example, the emperor's opinion is seriously different from the cabinet, and no one can convince anyone, at this time, it is necessary to gather all the officials above the seventh rank in Beijing to discuss state affairs together." ”

The Chongzhen Reform Dynasty was not just a simple attempt to eradicate formalism.

Chongzhen actually wanted to transform the Great Dynasty into a Ming version of the Congress, and all officials above the seventh rank in Beijing automatically became the members of the Ming version of the Congress, and all the officials above the seventh rank in the capital also included military ministers, that is, the military ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which made the emperor and the cabinet disagree with each other, and they could reach their intentions through the National Assembly.

In turn, the cabinet could also stop the emperor's bad intentions through the Great Chamber.

This ensures that even if there is another Fortified Sect that engages in seven twists and three in the future, it will definitely not be able to drag Daming into a state of no return with his own strength.

This is equivalent to putting the power of both the emperor and the cabinet in a cage.

In other words, in the future, this great court will be the real supreme authority of the Ming Dynasty.

As for whether doing so will put a shackle on him? Chongzhen wasn't worried.

Because what Chongzhen wants to do must be in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty and will inevitably be supported by the majority of Beijing officials, so even if the proposal is voted on at the court meeting, Chongzhen is confident that he will achieve his intentions.

For example, if the liquidation of the northern nobles is put to a vote by the cabinet, it will definitely be vetoed.

However, if it is put to a vote by the Imperial Council, it will definitely be passed, because the vast majority of the Jingguan are southerners, and instead of protecting the interests of the northern scholars, they will only fall into the ground.

There is also the establishment of Beijing Guozi supervisors, which will definitely be supported by the majority of Beijing officials.

Who doesn't have a few children and nephews, Xiucai has increased to 200,000, and the children of the North and South countries recruit 20,000 students every year, and their chances of their children and nephews will be greatly increased, this is a great thing, why oppose it?

So Chongzhen is not worried that this will weaken his imperial power, he will not be drafted, second, he does not want to build a large number of buildings, third, he will not be reckless, plus he has just destroyed Jiannu, and his reputation is growing, compared to the cabinet assistant and the six ministers, the low-level six-rank and even seven-rank officials obviously trust him more.

Of course, Chongzhen's greatest confidence is still in the more than 5,000 things that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to do.

Lu Zhenfei also realized: "Does the Beijing officials above the seventh rank mentioned by the Holy Lord include the various departments of the Internal Affairs Bureau?" ”

"Naturally, it's included." Chongzhen said, "All the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are all Ming officials, and their grades are enough, what is the reason to exclude them from the Great Dynasty Meeting?" ”

Lu Zhenfei frowned when he heard this.

This is a bit outrageous, how much does the Ministry of Internal Affairs have to do now?

Even if there are not 6,000, there are at least 5,000, and there are more than 3,000 in the military department alone. What else does the cabinet want to do?

At that moment, Lu Zhenfei was anxious: "Saint, you had a word first, and all government affairs were handled by the cabinet." ”

"That's right, I said that all government affairs will be handled by the cabinet." Chongzhen nodded and said, "The special circumstances I mentioned do not include specific government affairs, but are only applicable to major matters involving the law, taxation, military use, and circle selection of auxiliaries, such as the official court of the third rank and above in Beijing has introduced an auxiliary that I am very dissatisfied with, but it cannot be used to remove the central decree, what should I do at this time?" It can only be ordered to convene a large court meeting, and all officials above the seventh rank in Beijing can appoint or dismiss it. ”

Lu Zhenfei and the other five cabinet members said in their hearts, sure enough, the saint wants the right to decide on major matters.

The so-called decision through the Great Dynasty Conference is just a pretense, there are so many six or seven low-level officials in the Manchu Dynasty, which one is not a supporter of the saint? Not to mention the five or six thousand given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, if major matters are really brought to the court meeting and handed over to all officials above the seventh rank for resolution, then it must be the final word of the saint.

However, when many low-level officials heard this, their spirits were lifted.

Because according to the idea put forward by the saint, the supreme power of the Ming Dynasty is neither in the hands of the emperor alone, nor in the hands of several cabinet ministers, but in the hands of the Great Dynasty and all officials above the seventh rank! This is simply an unprecedented event, but it is remarkable.

In the future, these low-level Beijing officials will no longer be insignificant ornaments.

A low-level Beijing official may not be able to do anything, but as long as a sufficient number of low-level Beijing officials can unite, it is enough to make Shoufu and even the emperor bow their heads! This is a big deal!

There are already quite a few far-sighted officials who foresee the benefits of this proposal.

This is a good governance that can restrain both the emperor and the cabinet, once passed and written into the emperor's ancestral teachings, it will be able to ensure the smooth operation of the Ming political situation to the greatest extent, and will not be turbulent because of one or two misbehaving emperors or a few arbitrary ministers.

In the present day, this proposal is irrelevant.

After III, this proposal would have become crucial.

At present, many officials in the hall expressed their support.

Even the second assistant Zhang Shenyan expressed his support, and his attitude was extremely resolute.

Lu Zhenfei and several other assistants also began to quickly weigh the pros and cons.

It is unacceptable to cede the decision-making power on major matters such as laws, taxation, the use of troops, and the selection of auxiliaries to the Imperial Council, but the Imperial Council can also veto the emperor, which is inevitably expected.

You must know that this is fundamentally different from the refutation of the holy decree in the six subjects.

Because the six branches only have the right to refute the matter, and there is no power to decide, but according to the idea of the saint just now, the court will have the final decision, once the court will make a decision, not only the cabinet, but even the emperor must also comply, which gives the imperial power a great limit, and prevents the country and the people from suffering because of the appearance of a faint monarch.

In the same way, this system can also avoid the emergence of an arbitrary minister.

Throughout the ages, countless scholars have been pursuing this kind of vertical arch rule?

(End of chapter)