Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 321: Kill first and tell later, royal power charter!
"Issue an order that the Jinyiwei will be responsible for supervising the elimination of gangs and evil, combining intelligence reports with the participation of the people to restore the Ming Dynasty to a clear sky and clear water. All reports from the people will be accepted by the local Jinyiwei, and then the names will be removed and copied to the government offices. All reports will be answered, and those who dare to leak secrets and report will be dismissed and their homes confiscated."

Zhu Houcong issued an edict in this empty hall. Huang Jin was not there, but the edict was still accurately delivered to the government office.

This is the Holy Emperor.

No matter how you think about it, the Jinyiwei still needs to be used.

The special welfare benefits of the Jinyiwei allow them to have no selfish thoughts or distractions and focus on handling matters.

This is something that traditional yamen officials do not have.

For example, the regular crackdown on gangsters and evil.

If it is handed over to the local government, or another government office is set up to accept reports from the people, it won't be long before the people stop reporting.

The reason is corruption.

Having lived two lives, there is a very accurate description of it: "corruption like a house collapsing".

Even though Zhu Houcong put a lot of effort into cleansing the two capitals and the provinces several times, he still couldn't eradicate the problem.

Throughout history, the Central Plains has been a society based on personal relationships and where courtesy and reciprocity are valued, which has created a breeding ground for corruption.

Zhu Houcong could not make all officials heartless and unfeeling. Even if he could do it, he could not do it. Such a society would be equally terrible.

An inhuman official in charge of a region is a disaster to the people under his rule.

The huge organization of Jinyiwei led to serious internal corruption, even house-collapse-level corruption, but the welfare benefits that were independent of the imperial court and unique in the world made it impossible for all the secret agents and members to give up.

In other words, the corruption of the Jinyiwei existed within the Jinyiwei. The meat was rotten in the pot, and there was plenty of it. There was no need for the people in the Jinyiwei to reach out to another pot.

This can be seen from the fact that after Zhu Fang entered Nanyuan, he immediately received tens of thousands of taels of "tribute".

There are too many secret agents of the Jinyiwei, and too many people of all kinds. They travel around the upper societies of Asia and Europe, and meet only high-ranking officials and dignitaries. As long as the Jinyiwei are willing, they can obtain considerable wealth.

But the essence of the world is that the value produced by a person's hard work cannot be spent by one person alone, or even by several people.

If it's not enough to spend, then someone is stealing most of your labor.

In the Jinyiwei, almost everyone was working hard, and countless "inexhaustible" outputs continued to accumulate, reaching a terrifying level.

The Jinyiwei did not submit its income and expenditure accounts every year like the imperial court did, because they could not do so.

It is no exaggeration to say that the wealth of the entire world is being influenced or shaken by the Jinyiwei. Even if the income and expenditure books are really presented, they must be fake.

If you want to solve the problem of Jinyiwei, you have to kill all of them. Everyone in Beizhenfusi has problems.

The Jinyiwei was like an arm of Zhu Houcong, and a very powerful and useful arm at that. But when the Ming Dynasty was taking off, they cut off one of their arms for no reason.

Of course, Zhu Houcong did not let the Jinyiwei do whatever it wanted. He allowed Zhu Fang to enter the Northern Pacification Office in order to put order into the chaos of the Jinyiwei.

At least, the chaos within the Jinyiwei in the Ming Dynasty must be resolved.

To some extent, Lu Fang can be said to have lived two lives. He had forty years of experience as an old ancestor in the inner court and joined the Jinyiwei as a deputy commander. In terms of ability, he was better than Zhu Qi, the acting commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei, and Lu Bing, the real commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei.

The Jinyiwei will not do anything that threatens the Ming Dynasty court, and even if it does, they have the ability to resolve it.

Zhu Houcong put the matter aside for the time being.

The in-depth and regular crackdown on organized crime and evil has just begun.

The reports were accepted by the local Jinyiwei, but the processing had to be completed by the local government. If the processing was not completed or was unsatisfactory, the performance of the local government officials would be recorded in their performance evaluations.

You should know that the "New Year's Eve" for officials in the two capitals and fifteen provinces is divided into two parts: one is the evaluation by the Ministry of Personnel, and the other is the performance evaluation system of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

As for the specific results, when the evaluation and the results are consistent, the Ministry of Personnel will be followed; when the evaluation and the results are inconsistent, the Embroidered Uniform Guard will be followed.

In this way, as long as there are evil forces in the local area and the local government is unable to or cannot solve them in time, by the end of the year, the words "unstable governance" will inevitably appear in the Jinyiwei performance evaluation.

This not only means the end of his official career, but also if he is targeted by the censors (inspecting imperial envoys) of the Censorate again, he may be questioned and executed.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Cabinet received the imperial edict one after another.

The Jinyiwei immediately organized personnel to handle the matter. Zhu Qi, the acting commander of the Jinyiwei, who understood the emperor's intention, realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately went to the cabinet to discuss the details with the elders.

In the cabinet, in the government affairs hall, two new cabinet ministers, Hai Rui and Zhu Heng, finally arrived at the core confidential place of the Ming Dynasty.

Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang expressed their welcome. After a round of greetings, they had just sat down when they saw the imperial edict.

Gao Gong, it can be said, instantly understood the content behind this decree.

From now on, the fate of promotion, demotion, transfer, demotion and dismissal of all officials in the Ming Dynasty will be in the hands of the Jinyiwei.

Gao Gong, who had been acting and managing the affairs according to Zhang Juzheng's model these days, could no longer suppress his temper. He slammed the table and said, "A mere hawk and dog actually climbed over my head!"

After decades of official career as a cabinet minister and a minister of the six ministries and nine government departments, it is difficult to regard this Jinyiwei, who had been oppressed by eunuchs and the Imperial Household Department for hundreds of years, as a human being.

In Gao Gong's inherent concept, the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot were the running dogs of the royal family, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were also the running dogs of the royal family.

A mere lackey can decide a person's fate. Isn't this going against the will of Heaven?
Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, Hai Rui and Zhu Heng were all horrified. Such words were too harsh to hear.

At this moment, Zhu Qi's voice came from afar, saying: "It is true that the Jinyiwei are running dogs, but what is the Yuanfu?"

Before I saw the person, I heard his voice first.

After asking the question, Zhu Qi appeared in the sight of the five elders and slowly walked into the Government Affairs Hall.

This time.

Gao Gong's face suddenly darkened.

King, father, and subjects.

Even if he is the chief minister of the cabinet, he is also a subject of the emperor, but "hawks and dogs" was the name for the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot in the past, while the civil and military officials of the court were previously called enemies, and the cabinet was called... house slaves!
If he wants to beat you, he will beat you. If he wants to kill you, he will kill you.

Hawkdogs and house slaves. Who is more noble?
Although Zhu Qi did not attack the entire cabinet, but only Gao Gong, the four cabinet ministers Hu, Li, Hai and Zhu all looked unhappy when they recalled the past days.

Taking the 40th year of Jiajing as the dividing line, the lives of ordinary people have undergone earth-shaking changes, but the lives of officials all over the world have always been in dire straits.

An enemy is still an enemy, and a servant is still a servant.

In the present Ming Dynasty, the status of the four classes of people, namely scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, has undergone earth-shaking changes. Farmers and workers have come to the fore, merchants have gradually risen, but scholars have fallen into the dust.

The emperor is afraid of and hates him.

However, the Shishi class holds the power.

The people in the Government Affairs Hall are not hypocritical. To put it bluntly, power is similar to "opium".

You can't touch it, otherwise you might get addicted. Once you have power, you may be unable to live without it for the rest of your life.

The feeling of being lifted up high by the people is unforgettable.

In particular, for thousands of years, the Central Plains has been under an autocratic system, and there have been almost no dignitaries who have automatically and voluntarily given up power.

On the contrary, there are many examples of people who would rather die than give up power when faced with disaster.

Take Gao Gong as an example. As long as he lived one more day, he would not voluntarily give up the power of the cabinet's chief minister, even to his fellow cabinet ministers.

Zhu Qi's rhetorical question was like an invisible sharp blade, stabbing steadily, accurately and fiercely into the hearts of the five elders and stirring them violently a few times.

Hai Rui was not a person who clung to power, but the scene of peace and prosperity in this prosperous era was equally fascinating and he was unwilling to leave.

"Commander Zhu, has your Jinyiwei gained power and come to my cabinet to show off their might?" Gao Gong was obviously furious and spoke without thinking.

As soon as these words were spoken, the other four ministers knew that they were in trouble.

"High phase."

Zhu Qi's address was so loud that the entire government hall was shaken. It was full of flattery. He said in a cold tone, "The Jinyiwei is the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, not 'my' Jinyiwei. The cabinet is also the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, not your cabinet. If the cabinet you are in charge of thinks that the Jinyiwei should fawn on others and accept being beaten and scolded, then you should take on the job of Jinyiwei as well."

Being caught with a grammatical error, or being looked down upon without being caught with a grammatical error, Gao Gong was stunned at first, but he quickly reacted and became even more angry, saying: "You are the acting commander of the Jinyiwei. What's wrong with calling yourself the Jinyiwei while you are in this position? The cabinet is certainly not my office, Gao Gong, but as the head of the civil and military forces, the people and affairs of the court should be decided by the cabinet. What are the Jinyiwei?"

In Gao Gong's opinion.

The Jinyiwei only made a comeback in the 40th year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing due to various problems in the imperial court and the Eastern Depot.

The Jinyiwei in turn suppressed the Dongchang, it was a "dog-eat-dog" situation, and the imperial court could not do anything about it, but these bastards were still thinking about climbing up and climbing over everyone else's heads.

What the cabinet can do, the Jinyiwei can do too. What the cabinet cannot do, the Jinyiwei can also do too. They can execute first and report later, and grant special permission from the emperor. What else is the cabinet needed for?
"Zhu Qi!" Gao Gong raised his hand and slammed it on the table, shouting, "I should be the one to say this. You, the Jinyiwei, have already taken on the duties of the cabinet..."

"Prime Minister."

Before Gao Gong could finish his words, he was interrupted by the Second Prime Minister Hu Zongxian. He said that everything the Jinyiwei did was authorized by the emperor and they were only doing their job. If they were dissatisfied on this basis, they would be dissatisfied with the emperor.

There are countless powers in the world, but the power of life and death is the most important and cannot be challenged or questioned within the imperial power.

The Jinyiwei had the personnel power to appoint, dismiss, promote, demote, transfer or exile officials, but in the final analysis, they were exercising personnel power on behalf of the emperor, so they could not cause any trouble on this point.

Not being able to say anything was a great discomfort for someone with a hot temper. Gao Gong realized his mistake, swallowed the rest of his words with hatred, and groaned.

The atmosphere in the government hall was almost frozen. Li Chunfang sighed and said, "Commander Zhu, what is your business here? The cabinet will do its best to cooperate. State affairs are the most important thing."

If the Deputy Prime Minister had not stopped Gao Gong and Zhu Qi from arguing over their papers, the Cabinet and the Embroidered Uniform Guards might have gone to war with each other.

Although the Jinyiwei could not shake the cabinet due to its status as an imperial palace, all the ministers of the six ministries and nine departments had a number of students and old officials. Even if they did not have to make friends with them, there was no need to offend them.

The Yuanfu's insults to the Jinyiwei were indeed too much, and the cabinet was in the wrong, so it naturally had to lower its stance.

Zhu Qi was standing at the entrance of the government hall, with Gao, Hu, Li, Hai, and Zhu all in front of him. He said solemnly: "The Jinyiwei has no intention of interfering in the court's personnel affairs, nor does it intend to be an enemy of the cabinet and the court. On the contrary, the Jinyiwei has helped the cabinet and the court a lot..."

Having said this, Zhu Qi paused, and the momentum of the five elders in the cabinet immediately dropped.

Today, in addition to the five cabinet ministers in the Government Affairs Hall, there are two more cabinet ministers, Chen Yiqin and Wang Chonggu, bringing the total number to an unprecedented seven.

But every single person in the cabinet received help from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. When Hai Rui walked from Nanping, Fujian to Zhejiang, although he was holding the Emperor's Sword in his hand, he would have died hundreds of times if he had not been protected by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Hu Zongxian wanted to die for his country on the battlefield in the southeast in order to preserve his reputation as a filial son like his mentor Yan Song. If it weren't for the constant attention of the Jinyiwei, how could he have reached this day?

Chen Yiqin who implemented national policies, Wang Chonggu who fought overseas... the cabinet had to admit that the Jinyiwei helped them more or less.

Many of their former students and officials were also killed!

The sunlight shone into the government hall, but was blocked by Zhu Qi's huge figure. The shadow fell on the elders. He said coldly: "Perhaps, saying 'how can a sparrow understand the ambition of a swan' is a bit hurtful to you elders, but this is the fact."

Today's Jinyiwei are the people who understand the world best. Compared with the rules and regulations within the Ming Dynasty, countless secret envoys are more willing to go to the West.

There you can be free and unrestrained, display your abilities to the fullest, and don't have to worry about anything. If any problems arise, the Jinyiwei have enough power to cover them.

How can it be as fun to fight for power and profit at home as to be the king of a country in the West?
Gao Gong became angry again.

However, he was stopped by the gazes of Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, Hai Rui and Zhu Heng. All of them were shrewd people and they could tell that Zhu Qi was speaking the truth.

What exactly happened inside the Imperial Guard?
A solemn look gradually appeared in the eyes of the elders. It seemed that the Jinyiwei were no longer just chess pieces. In many cases, they might be chess players?
"The Royal Guard will complete the instructions of the emperor and give the officials fair and just performance evaluations. If, I mean if, the cabinet or the court believes that the Royal Guard is persecuting us and declares war on them and takes dangerous actions, the Royal Guard is willing to fight to the end and give it a go!"

Done.

Zhu Qi turned and left.

He was indifferent to the reactions of the elders, even though the war between the cabinet and the Jinyiwei would surely lead to a battle far greater than the previous dispute between Yan Song and the Qingliu. Anyway, if it drew the emperor's wrath, it would not only be the Jinyiwei who would be struck.

Come and fight!

The cabinet has been threatened!
Behind Zhu Qi, Gao Gong's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

(End of this chapter)