My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 432 Four Memorials in Succession (Sorry, wrong timing)

With his illness dragging on for so long, Emperor Longqing inevitably had to consider the worst-case scenario.

As emperor, ensuring the succession of power was something he had been thinking about all this time.

Once she passes away, her son Zhu Yijun will ascend the throne, and Consort Li will inevitably become Empress Dowager.

Is having an empress dowager interfering in national policy a blessing or a curse?
Consort Li had her merits.

Soft-hearted, easily influenced, knows when to advance and retreat, and frugal.

However, these qualities are not all virtues when applied to a ruler.

If you're soft-hearted, you lose your deterrent power.

They are easily influenced and easily swayed by others.

As a concubine, knowing when to advance and when to retreat is an advantage, but as the Empress Dowager, one is easily deceived.

Finally, there's the matter of saving money.

Saving money is certainly an advantage.

However, for the ruler of an empire, some expenses cannot be spared, such as the cost of cooks and guards.

Consort Li doesn't understand these principles. She can't even manage her personal guards properly, so how can she govern the country well?

The Longqing Emperor sighed again.

The Li family is a very good in-law family. The Earl of Wuqing is low-key and unassuming, and his greatest hobby is farming.

Li Wenquan was skilled in financial management, bringing massive amounts of silver to the empire, and he also knew his limits, never getting involved in politics.

However, her weakness was that she was too cautious; Consort Li lacked any political wisdom.

Things in this world are rarely perfect; even emperors cannot find the perfect partner.

Just then, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs sent Su Ze's memorial.

After reading the memorial, Emperor Longqing fell into deep thought.

The matter concerning the Bureau of Health is urgent. Whether the smallpox vaccination method is effective or not, let's get vaccinated first.

If it really works, then it should be rolled out nationwide immediately.

These contents were beyond question, and the Longqing Emperor picked up his vermilion pen to approve them.

But what happens next?

The appointment and removal of officials below the seventh rank, and the general affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers were all handed over to the Cabinet.
Although it was temporary, the emperor was well aware that once some powers were given out, they were very difficult to take back.

Many of the systems in the Ming Dynasty started as temporary measures and eventually became long-term policies.

That's exactly what a cabinet is like.

The intention behind this trick was obvious to the Longqing Emperor.

But should we delegate authority?
In fact, whether or not the Longqing Emperor relinquished power had no impact on his current situation.

Originally, Emperor Longqing entrusted these tasks to the Grand Secretariat, and the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs generally did not object.

The Longqing Emperor himself also supported strengthening the power of the cabinet.

When Gao Gong entered the cabinet, Emperor Longqing broke with convention by appointing him concurrently as the powerful Minister of Personnel, in order to elevate the cabinet's authority.

In fact, apart from workaholics like Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, no emperor would have had the leisure to manage the appointment and removal of officials below the seventh rank and the general affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers.

The Longqing Emperor looked at Feng Bao and wrote in his hand: "Si?"

Feng Bao was extremely unwilling.

The power to approve imperial edicts could be large or small. Although it seems like a simple stamping power now, that's because the Jiajing and Longqing emperors greatly restricted the power of eunuchs, so it only resembled a stamping power.

In dynasties where the emperor trusted the Directorate of Ceremonial, some eunuchs could still find ways to cause trouble.

However, Emperor Longqing had become very sensitive since falling ill, and Feng Bao was unwilling to arouse the emperor's suspicion over such a small matter.

He said:
"The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs dares not have any ideas; we beseech Your Majesty for your wise decision."

Since you have no ideas, it means you have no opinions.

The Longqing Emperor nodded, and this time he simply made a decision and approved Su Ze's memorial.
-
On October 14th, the imperial court established the Bureau of Preserving Life, with Imperial Physician Li Shizhen serving as its director.

The Bureau of Health Preservation selected a group of imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy and recruited a group of famous doctors from the common people. Together with students from Jinling Medical College, the Bureau of Health Preservation in the capital was quickly established.

As a royal physician, Li Shizhen could not leave the palace. Therefore, Gong Tingxian, another royal physician from the Imperial Medical Academy, led Li Shizhen's disciples to administer smallpox vaccinations near the capital.

Gong Tingxian also came from a family of imperial physicians. He studied Confucianism in his early years and later learned medicine from his father. He became famous for curing the ascites of Princess Zhang of Lu and was awarded the plaque of "Top Scholar in the Medical Field".

This Imperial Physician Gong also agreed with Li Shizhen's approach to empirical medicine, advocating for the categorization of symptoms, the search for common causes, and the study of appropriate treatment methods by observing the effects of drug therapy.

In addition, major newspapers in the capital began to publicize the efficacy of the smallpox vaccination method, repeatedly emphasizing that it would not harm the body and urging people to get vaccinated.

Police patrols outside the capital city were also mobilized, and these patrols escorted the medical officers of the Baosheng Medical Bureau to begin vaccinations village by village.

This time, something surprising happened to the courtiers.

Vaccination against smallpox actually stopped the spread of the disease!

In several villages in the Gyeonggi region where smallpox had broken out, mandatory vaccination with cowpox quickly cut off the spread of the epidemic, and no new cases of smallpox were reported in the nearby villages!

At first, the cabinet was somewhat skeptical, but after sending officials to investigate, smallpox was indeed kept out of the capital!
Vaccination with cowpox indeed prevents the disease from recurring, and cowpox does not cause any harm to the body!

Ordinary people in the capital city also began to voluntarily go to the Baosheng Medical Bureau to vaccinate their children against smallpox.

Smallpox was a major cause of childhood death in those days. The effectiveness of vaccination against smallpox had already been seen, so people naturally did not hesitate at all.

Seeing that there were no problems with large numbers of ordinary people getting vaccinated, the powerful and wealthy in the capital also began to demand that they be vaccinated.

Immediately afterwards, the Baosheng Medical Bureau decisively stopped the vaccination work in the capital city and instead took the cowpox vaccine to Zhigu!

Gong Tingxian personally led the team, and the Baosheng Medical Bureau started from the periphery, forcibly vaccinating the people against smallpox.

Less than half a month later, on October 27th, good news came from Zhigu: the smallpox outbreak in Zhigu had been completely brought under control!

The successful control of this epidemic has been widely praised by the court and the public, and the Longqing Emperor was overjoyed, issuing an edict to reward the Imperial Medical Academy and the Bureau of Medical Preservation with great honor.

At this very moment, Su Ze submitted another memorial!
"Petition to Relocate the Royal Medical College"

Su Ze's memorial praised the Jinling Medical College established by Li Shizhen in Yingtian Prefecture, believing that it was the talents trained by Li Shizhen at the medical college who played a key role in the fight against smallpox.

Su Ze also believed that medical care and health preservation were major national affairs and related to the well-being of all people. Therefore, he petitioned the emperor to establish health preservation clinics in major cities and promote smallpox vaccination.

These medical officers of the Baosheng Medical Bureau could be trained from medical schools.

In this way, Jinling Medical College would not be suitable as a private school. Su Ze proposed that Jinling Medical College be moved to the capital and renamed the Royal Medical College.

Su Ze's memorial also received the approval of Hai Rui, a close friend of Li Shizhen and head of the Censorate. Emperor Longqing naturally did not object, as improving medical care was urgently needed for the ailing emperor. Li Shizhen had even developed a method to combat smallpox, so if this research could continue, perhaps his aphasia could also be cured.

Emperor Longqing was generous enough to allocate a large sum of money from the imperial treasury to build the Royal Medical Academy.

Su Ze then submitted another memorial.

Memorial Requesting the Minister of Education to concurrently assume responsibility for health and welfare affairs

Su Ze cited the Huimin Pharmacy system of the early Ming Dynasty to criticize the current state of the welfare system in the Ming Dynasty.

"The Huimin Pharmacy in 37 prefectures lacks doctors, and the Almshouse occupies 90,000 mu of land while widows and orphans starve to death."

In the early Ming Dynasty, the government system established by Zhu Yuanzhang included the Yangji Academy, which was responsible for taking in orphans, and the Huimin Pharmacy, which provided inexpensive medicines. Both departments had dedicated government land to support their operation.

However, since the mid-Ming Dynasty, a trend of "cost-cutting" emerged in the imperial court, and the government began to sell off official land on a large scale.

The result was that although it alleviated the financial strain, this short-sighted approach nearly bankrupted local governments in later generations.

When local governments go bankrupt, the first institutions to be cut off are those like almshouses and pharmacies.

These two institutions, personally established by Emperor Taizu, had already become mere formalities by the Jiajing era.

The entire court naturally understood what was going on.

Although Su Ze criticized this phenomenon, he understood that it was a fact that local officials were short of money.

Su Ze proposed that in areas where commercial taxes are levied, almshouses and public pharmacies should be re-established so that the commercial taxes collected from the people can be used for the people.

Then Su Ze wrote:
"The Rites of Zhou established physicians to manage the diseases of all people, and the Han dynasty dispatched great physicians to tour the prefectures and kingdoms. Yet today, in the Ming dynasty, there are hundreds of millions of people without any dedicated physicians to care for them!"

The local governments are not paying attention to people's livelihoods, and there are still problems with the central government's top-level design!
The mighty Ming Dynasty had no government office specifically responsible for the well-being of its people.

For example, the Huimin Pharmacy had no superior government office to coordinate with, and the imperial court did not have a special department to assess and manage it. If it was merely re-established, the pharmacy would lack management and would ultimately waste the imperial court's tax revenue.

Therefore, Su Ze suggested that Education Minister Yin Shidan should take on the additional responsibility of overseeing health and welfare affairs.

The emperor and the cabinet naturally did not obstruct this memorial.

Su Ze submitted several memorials, all of which discussed matters concerning people's livelihood.

The controversial memorial that elevated the power of the cabinet was directly approved by the emperor.

The Six Ministries were constrained by the performance evaluation system of the Cabinet, and the Censorate was overseen by Hai Rui. Before the censors could even react, the memorials had already been approved.

Since the emperor did not object, the outer court was unable to stir up any trouble.

Then, the Baosheng Medical Bureau successfully contained the epidemic, and the capital was filled with jubilation. Everyone forgot about this incident.

Miraculously, the Office of General Affairs was not bombarded with memorials!
Li Yiyuan, the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, was in a great mood, but then felt that he had been too superstitious, so he ordered that the torn-up "Nothing happened today" sign be reframed.

Just as Li Yiyuan, the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, was admiring his calligraphy, Xu Shuli, the Registrar, brought some more memorials.

"Is there any important memorial to the throne?"

"Today we have received a memorial from Grand Secretary Yin declining the offer."

"Oh, then let's just go through the motions and send it directly to the palace."

Su Ze requested that Yin Shidan, the Minister in charge of education, be given more responsibilities, but Yin Shidan declined by submitting a letter of resignation, which was also a common practice in the political world of the Ming Dynasty.

When the emperor bestowed a title upon a high-ranking official, the official would decline the offer; this was part of the official procedure.

Yin Shidan submitted a memorial explaining that he was "incompetent and too busy with affairs," and requested the emperor to "find a more capable person."

The emperor offered some words of comfort, issuing an edict praising Yin Shidan and instructing him to "add more responsibilities to his beloved minister."

Li Yiyuan had seen this process many times before.

Just then, Xu Shuli saw the words "Nothing to do today" on Li Yiyuan's desk. His heart skipped a beat, and he opened his mouth but quickly closed it again.

Li Yiyuan looked at Xu Shuli and said:
"Is there anything else? Why are you hesitating?"

Xu Shuli quickly said:
"Your Excellency, when I came to deliver the memorial just now, Su Tongyi came to see me several times."

Upon hearing Su Ze's name, Li Yiyuan trembled and quickly said:
"Why does Su Tongyi want to see you?"

Xu Shuli said:
"Su Tongyi asked when Grand Secretary Yin's memorial would be delivered, and said that he would let Grand Secretary Yin review it once it arrived."

A sense of foreboding washed over Li Yiyuan, and he asked:

"And then? Did you give it to Su Tongyi?"

Xu Shuli said:
"It has been sent. Before it was sent to the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, it had already been reviewed by Councilor Su."

"How did he say?"

"Su Tongyi didn't say anything, he just read the memorial and handed it back to his subordinate, and asked his subordinate to send it to the Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs as soon as possible."

Li Yiyuan also began to think about what Su Ze was doing.
Why wait for Yin Shidan's memorial?
This is clearly just a formality in the memorial. Could it be that Su Ze and Yin Shidan have some secret agreement?
Li Yiyuan picked up Yin Shidan's memorial once again. It was a standard memorial of resignation, stating that he was not capable enough and was too busy with official duties to take on this important responsibility.

Is this memorial worthy of Su Ze's personal attention?

Li Yiyuan couldn't understand it, but he couldn't very well go and ask Su Ze, so he could only say:

"Then send this memorial to the palace quickly."

Xu Shuli agreed and led Yin Shidan into the palace.

Looking at the calligraphy he had just pasted up, Li Yiyuan felt a growing sense of unease. Was Su Ze up to something again?
Li Yiyuan's premonition was indeed correct.

The next day, just as Yin Shidan was submitting his letter of resignation, Su Ze submitted another memorial.

This is Su Ze's fourth memorial this month.

"Memorial Requesting the Re-establishment of the Five Offices of the Secretariat and Chancellery"

Upon seeing this memorial, Li Yiyuan trembled, realizing what it meant that "something big is coming!"
He also understood why Su Ze was concerned about when Yin Shidan's memorial would be submitted.

Su Ze wrote in his memorial:
"As I observe the current state of affairs, the nation's affairs are becoming increasingly complex. Your Majesty's wisdom has granted my request to temporarily delegate the selection of officials below the seventh rank and the general affairs of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers to the Grand Secretariat."

"This is indeed a wise move based on careful consideration of the situation. The cabinet members have worked tirelessly day and night to make it happen."

"Although the Cabinet oversees all affairs, it is not a dedicated agency and it is difficult to handle such detailed matters with expertise. For example, the previous smallpox vaccination, the establishment of the Bureau of Health Preservation, the relocation of the Royal Academy of Medicine, and even the proposals for the Huimin Pharmacy and the Almshouse, all involve people's welfare, the allocation of officials, and the accounting of finances, which are complicated and numerous."

“Even if the cabinet ministers are extremely diligent, there is still a risk that they may be unable to effectively manage the affairs of state and may neglect one aspect while attending to another. If this continues, not only will the cabinet ministers be exhausted, but the progress of government affairs will also be delayed, thus failing to live up to the Emperor’s trust.”

"According to the old system, during the Tang and Song dynasties, there was a Zhongshu Menxia (Secretariat and Secretariat), which had five departments: Kongmu Department, Li Department, Hu Department, Bingli Department, and Xing Department. These departments were responsible for various affairs and served as the arm of the prime minister. The system was well-organized and the efficiency was outstanding."

"This is not a power grab, but rather an effort to strengthen his support system so that he can take charge and focus on the planning and decision-making of major military and national policies."

"I humbly request Your Majesty to re-establish the five offices of the Secretariat and Chancellery, to share the burdens of the cabinet ministers, to facilitate communication between superiors and subordinates, and to cultivate practical talents!"

(End of this chapter)