My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 431 Divine Assist

The Ming Dynasty placed great restrictions on the power of the Grand Secretariat, fundamentally preventing it from becoming the prime minister.

No matter how big or small the matter, the cabinet needed the emperor's imperial edict to handle it.

The Ming Dynasty did have its share of powerful Grand Secretaries, but these Grand Secretaries required the cooperation of the emperor and the inner court.

Even someone as powerful as Yan Song, when the emperor wanted to deal with him, offered no resistance whatsoever.

The emperor could easily replace cabinet ministers with just one imperial edict.

There is also a special case where the emperor is young and the cabinet ministers assist in governing.

At this time, the cabinet ministers seemed to have a lot of power, but they still needed the cooperation of the Empress Dowager and the Directorate of Ceremonial.

For example, during the period when the Three Yangs assisted in governing, they seemed to have a lot of power, but after Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen grew up and Empress Dowager Zhang passed away, the Three Yangs quickly withdrew from the political stage.

The same applies to Zhang Juzheng in the original timeline; their so-called prime ministerial power was achieved through cooperation within the inner court.

This is very different from the prime minister system of the Tang and Song dynasties; the Ming Dynasty's cabinet did not have independent administrative power.

The most important aspect of the prime minister's administrative power is his independent power over personnel appointments.

The prime minister of the Han Dynasty was the most powerful, not only having independent personnel power and the ability to appoint officials in the outer court, but also having the power to build his own team.

The Prime Minister's Office in the Han Dynasty had a staff of several hundred officials who were specifically responsible to and served the Prime Minister.

During the Han Dynasty, prime ministers also held titles such as marquis or maternal relatives, and could even be above the emperor.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, prime ministers also had the power to appoint officials, a process known as "tangchu".

During the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister could appoint and dismiss officials in the name of the Council of State Affairs. This was even more true in the Song Dynasty. In fact, due to wars, the scope of the Council of State Affairs expanded, and the prime minister could appoint and dismiss mid- to high-ranking military officers.

Su Ze's memorial, taking advantage of the smallpox epidemic, aimed to secure for the cabinet "the appointment and removal of officials below the seventh rank, as well as the daily affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers."

In fact, during the Longqing era, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs directly approved these matters.

However, the procedure still had to go through the Directorate of Ceremonial, which required the emperor's authorization.

This means that the cabinet is still exercising royal power on behalf of the monarch.

Su Ze's memorial clearly assigned these two powers to the cabinet.

These two rights may seem insignificant, but they actually have profound implications!

The appointment and removal of officials below the seventh rank may seem like a small power, as their official positions are lowly. However, any bureaucratic system is a pyramid structure, with more officials at the bottom.

Moreover, the power to appoint officials is itself a very important power.

Even if it's just the personnel power of officials below the seventh rank, it's still highly symbolic.

Besides, he's currently below the seventh rank, but he could be below the fifth rank in the future, right?

Once you open a crack, you can open an even bigger one.

Secondly, there were the "daily affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers' offices".

In addition to the restrictions imposed by the imperial power, the power of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet was also limited by two other factors.

One was the Censorate and Remonstrance Officials, a system designed by Zhu Yuanzhang. To a certain extent, these officials were an extension of imperial power, designed by the emperor to supervise the bureaucratic system.

Although the censors and officials in charge of the imperial censorate sometimes served as tools to limit imperial power, their power generally originated from the emperor, and they frequently used imperial power to restrict the power of the cabinet.

However, Su Ze managed to control the Confucian system through the performance evaluation system.

The remaining limitation is departmental authority.

The Six Ministries and Nine Ministers were established when the Ming Dynasty was founded, and their powers were clearly defined.

The "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty" clearly defined the powers and responsibilities of each government office, and their powers were based on legal principles!
However, apart from the early Ming Dynasty, the status of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers plummeted, and they were firmly suppressed under the Grand Secretariat.

The Six Ministries and Nine Ministers were also indignant, arguing that the cabinet was clearly a makeshift organization and therefore had no right to control them.
When our Great Ming Dynasty established the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, your Grand Secretariat didn't even have a single official position!
The power struggle within the cabinet and its departments has been a hidden thread in political struggles throughout history, continuing to this day.

"The daily affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers' offices" effectively strengthened the cabinet's control over the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers' offices and clarified the cabinet's leading position over the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers' offices!
This would inevitably provoke opposition from the "power faction".

In addition, there was the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Thinking about this, Li Yiyuan felt even more numb.

But after he finished cursing, Li Yiyuan started to think again.

Was this memorial commissioned by the cabinet, or was it Su Ze's own idea?
It couldn't have been at the behest of the cabinet.

Li Yiyuan began his analysis.

Emperor Longqing was willing to delegate power. It can be said that the "appointment and removal of officials below the seventh rank, as well as the daily affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers" proposed by Su Ze were always in the hands of the Grand Secretariat, and the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs never objected to these official matters.

The cabinet of the Longqing Emperor and the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs cooperated well, and there were no conflicts between the inner and outer courts.

With the emperor currently in poor health and having even relinquished greater power, the cabinet has no reason to instruct Su Ze to take such unnecessary action.

Even if the emperor were to pass away and the crown prince were still young, the power to govern would remain in the hands of the cabinet.

The only person with the motivation to expand cabinet power is Suze, who will be joining the cabinet in the future.

But will it work?

Li Yiyuan was unaware of this.

However, in his opinion, Su Ze's choice of timing was still very clever.

With smallpox rampant, Su Ze used epidemic prevention as a pretext to reduce official correspondence between the inner and outer courts, which was perfectly legitimate.

As for whether this policy should continue after the smallpox epidemic ends, that depends on whether the emperor will abolish it.

Based on Li Yiyuan's understanding of this emperor, once the decree is passed, the emperor probably won't abolish it.

After all, not all emperors are power-hungry like Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If all emperors valued imperial power so much, there would be no cabinet.

Su Ze's decision to submit his memorial at this time was also opportune.

Reforms to the cabinet system can only be proposed by people outside the cabinet.

This is a common political practice; you can't very well write a letter asking for a promotion, can you?
However, there was a bug in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

Those who can propose reforms to the cabinet system are all high-ranking officials at the cabinet level. Because they are cabinet members themselves, they cannot propose reforms to the cabinet.

Ministers outside the cabinet, lacking sufficient authority, were also unable to petition for reform of the cabinet system.

As a result, the cabinet, originally intended as an "irregular" secretariat, became the political core of the Ming Dynasty.

Entering the cabinet became the ultimate goal for those who excelled in the imperial examinations.

It's not that no one wants to reform the cabinet.

The mismatch between the power and actual function of the cabinet, and the excessive constraints on the cabinet ministers' governance, can be considered a historical problem of the Ming Dynasty.

Many ministers have also proposed reforming the cabinet, institutionalizing and standardizing its powers, instead of just going through the motions.

However, for various reasons, all of these reform measures failed.

Su Ze seems to be stuck in this delicate position. He is not a cabinet minister, so he can freely propose reforms to the cabinet.

His prestige was so great that the reform measures he proposed would be taken seriously and discussed by the emperor and officials.

As for whether this matter can be accomplished?
Li Yiyuan was also unsure.

Reforming the cabinet's power required overcoming four major hurdles: the censors, the six ministries and nine ministers, the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the imperial power itself.

This is one of the most fundamental systems of the Ming Dynasty.

Never mind, let's submit it first.

Li Yiyuan submitted the memorial, then summoned Xu Shuli and ordered him to recall all the officials of the Office of Transmission who had requested leave to stay home and avoid the epidemic, and to have them all stand by in the Office of Transmission.

Xu Shuli didn't understand why Li Yiyuan was making such a fuss, but he still obediently did as he was told.

In the office of the Ministry of Justice, Su Ze took out the "Portable Ming Dynasty Imperial Court" device.

"Memorial Requesting the Establishment of a Bureau for the Prevention of Vaccination of Smallpox"

——[Simulation Start]——

The memorial requesting the establishment of a Bureau of Medical Care to promote smallpox vaccination was sent to the Cabinet.

The cabinet ministers supported the first half of your memorial, but they dared not draft a resolution for the second half and sent it directly to the palace.

Upon receiving this memorial, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs immediately delivered it to the Longqing Emperor.

The Longqing Emperor also intended to delegate power to the cabinet, but he did not have the courage to break the old system, so he ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send your memorial to the court.

Your memorial was met with opposition from the Censorate and some officials of the Six Ministries. The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs also secretly exerted influence on the emperor to oppose the passage of the memorial.

Under pressure from various sides, the Longqing Emperor had no choice but to accept your memorial and implement the first part of it, ordering the establishment of the Bureau of Preservation of Life and the trial implementation of the smallpox vaccination method.

——[Simulation End]——

[Remaining Prestige: 3550.]

To fully approve your memorial proposal, you will need to pay 800 prestige points. Do you wish to pay?

Faced with this simulation result, Su Ze chose "yes" without hesitation.

With just 800 prestige points, I can complete the reform to expand the cabinet's power. How could I miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
After paying 800 reputation points.

[Ding! Prestige has been deducted. Please submit a memorial in real life. The simulated settlement will be carried out after the memorial is executed!]

[Remaining Prestige: 2750.]

cabinet.

Faced with Su Ze's memorial, the four cabinet ministers remained silent.

Gao Gong had always wanted to increase the power of the cabinet. As a former Minister of Personnel, he naturally understood the importance of personnel power.

His main political disagreement with Xu Jie stemmed from his staunch support for cabinet power, advocating for the expansion of cabinet authority.

Xu Jie's political program was to "return government affairs to the various departments," which advocated weakening the power of the cabinet and handing over government affairs to the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers.

Zhang Juzheng's thoughts were equally complex.

As a disciple of Xu Jie, his political views were actually similar to Gao Gong's, and he also wanted to strengthen the power of the cabinet.

In the original timeline, Zhang Juzheng's performance evaluation system was designed to reclaim supervisory power from the cabinet and control the censorate, ultimately leading to the completion of the reforms.

During Zhang Juzheng's concurrent tenure as Minister of Revenue, the position of Minister of Revenue was rendered virtually invisible.

Zhao Zhenji and Yin Shidan also had mixed feelings.

Expanding the cabinet's power is a matter of their own interest, so of course they would support it.

However, Yin Shidan felt that Su Ze was weakening the imperial power, and as a supporter of the emperor, he felt conflicted.

Zhao Zhenji's thoughts were somewhat similar.

Finally, Gao Gong stepped forward and said:

"Su Zilin's memorial concerns the division of power within the cabinet, which is beyond our ability to comment on. We should send it to the palace for His Majesty's decision!"

Zhang Juzheng nodded quickly.

The cabinet ministers abandoned their draft proposals and sent their memorials to the palace.
-
In the palace.

Consort Li helped Emperor Longqing get up to wash up. After he finished washing up, Consort Li helped him relax his stiff back. Without Emperor Longqing having to tell her, Consort Li could always help him relax.

After all, they had been married for many years. Although Consort Li was a Noble Consort, she served the Emperor personally and with great care, which was completely different from the way eunuchs and palace maids served him.

People who are sick are more likely to cherish the bond between their spouse and their partner, because spouses are the people who understand them best and are the ones who can take good care of them. No matter how useful other people are, they cannot be as caring as spouses.

Moreover, as an emperor, he was unwilling to show his vulnerable side to the palace maids and eunuchs. It was only when facing Consort Li, who had been by his side for many years, that Emperor Longqing revealed his true feelings.

Consort Li chatted idly about what was happening in the palace:
"I have also sent people to serve the Empress. Her Majesty will also come to visit in a few days."

The emperor nodded.

After Empress Chen was released from the Cold Palace, her health was not good. She was also a quiet person, so she was content to stay in the palace as a mascot.

This time, at the same time the emperor fell ill, Empress Chen also fell ill.

With both the Emperor and Empress ill, the management of palace affairs had to be entrusted to Consort Li.

In fact, in any dynasty, the affairs of the imperial harem were personally managed by the emperor.

The scenario depicted in palace dramas, where an empress or imperial concubine manages the harem, only occurs in very rare cases.

This is a special case, which is why the Longqing Emperor granted Consort Li the power to assist in managing the inner palace.

Consort Li was quite pleased to have gained power, and she said:
“These days, with the need to guard against the epidemic, the palace’s expenses have increased considerably. After careful consideration, I have decided to cut some unnecessary expenses.”

The Longqing Emperor's expression changed. He walked to his desk and wrote down the question:
"What should I reduce?"

Consort Li said triumphantly:

"Your Majesty is recuperating, and these days you have been eating meals from the small kitchen. I saw that the expenses of the Imperial Kitchen were too high, so I reduced the food allowance for the Imperial Kitchen."

"In addition, there are too many eunuchs guarding the palaces. I have arranged for them to stand guard at the palace gates at night."

Upon hearing this, the Longqing Emperor nearly fainted!

The Imperial Kitchen is responsible for the Emperor's meals and state banquets. If you cut the Imperial Kitchen's meal budget right off the bat, will the Emperor still be able to eat in the future?

Throughout the history of the Ming Dynasty, which emperor did not treat the imperial kitchen with utmost courtesy?

What were the consequences of beating or scolding cooks throughout history?
The eunuchs guarding each palace are the people who know the palace structure best. In order to save expenses, you make them do the most arduous task of guarding the palace gates at night. Aren't you afraid that this will cause chaos in the palace?
If Emperor Longqing hadn't been speechless, he would have cursed Consort Li to death!
Seeing the emperor's grim expression, Consort Li quickly said:

"Your Majesty, have I done something wrong?"

Emperor Longqing was utterly despondent and didn't bother to explain. After Consort Li served him his meal, Emperor Longqing felt even more distressed when he thought that if he were to pass away, the empire would have such an empress dowager.
(End of this chapter)