ps: Do not subscribe to this chapter for now! It is expected to return to normal in the next two to three days. I still break out in a cold sweat from time to time, my chest hurts when I cough, and I wake up coughing at night. My mouth is always dry, no matter how much water I drink. Is this just a common cold???
However, Tokugawa Ienari's joy did not last long. Watanabe Uemon, the leader of the shogunate's envoy to the Ming Dynasty, delivered bad news to the Shogun: "Your Excellency, although most of the good citizens and lowly people near Tottori Domain have been cleared out, the Ming merchants there have become a big problem. Many of the lowly people are hiding near the Ming merchants' residences, and it is now very difficult to drive them away."
Tokugawa Ienari's face immediately darkened.
The good citizens and lowly people of Japan itself were actually easy to deal with. They could be driven away normally, or those who disobeyed could be dealt with violently. A mere few low-ranking good citizens and lowly people could not cause any significant trouble.
However, it was different when Ming merchants were involved.
No matter how amiable or law-abiding the Ming merchants appeared on the surface, and no matter how well-behaved they were in business, they were still merchants of the Ming Dynasty, and the shogunate could not afford to offend them.
This was because Ming merchants were not subject to Japanese law. No matter how serious the offense they committed, they could only be handed over to the Ming Embassy in Japan or the Governor-General's Office of Kyushu for processing. The shogunate not only had no right to try them but even no right to arrest them.
Moreover, the Ming Emperor was known for being protective of his people. There were not one or two instances of the Ming Dynasty dispatching naval fleets because their people were bullied overseas. Even in Japan, there had been cases where ronin samurai provoked Ming merchants, leading to the Kyushu garrison arresting the ronin samurai and beheading them as a warning!
Now that the Japanese good citizens and lowly people were hiding around the Ming merchants, what could the shogunate do?
If they angered those Ming merchants and provoked them to draw their swords and resist the shogunate, the shogunate would be the one to suffer in the end!
As he thought about it, Tokugawa Ienari frowned and asked, "Have there been any negotiations with those Ming merchants? Aren't they afraid of contracting leprosy?"
Watanabe Uemon bowed his head and replied, "Reporting to Your Excellency, Matsushita Ichiban has already visited those Ming merchants, but... but judging from their reactions, they don't seem to care much about leprosy."
In an era where people with rolling and screaming patients ran rampant in later generations, the "dog sons" raised by the Eagle of the Foolish kept bringing up "What's wrong with this country? It's the system!"
The problem was that Emperor Zhu himself was caught in the dilemma of "the system."
What path should the Great Ming take?
Should it adopt the so-called liberal system of "separation of powers" from Europe?
In fact, such an idea could only be a fantasy. If this approach were implemented in the Central Plains, it would be suicidal.
A deep analysis of the specific reasons behind this would be too complex, but in the final analysis, it all came down to the word "interest."
You choose.
In fact, this was also why the barbarians of Europe and the Eagle of the Foolish were generally so bold.
This was because Europe had never had a truly unified dynasty, and the barbarians were accustomed to the mindset of small states and small populations, and also accustomed to the system of small courts.
Russia was similar—was Bolshevism good? Yes! The key was that human beings have desires!
This approach was usually fine, as even the people of the Central Plains seemed to be the same, and there appeared to be no difference.
However, once disasters like the Little Ice Age occurred frequently, or when the people truly could not survive, the difference between large and small courts became apparent.
The Europeans, accustomed to the system of small courts, relied on themselves for everything. They were also accustomed to incompetent courts. However, the people of the Central Plains, accustomed to the system of large courts, would demand that the government provide disaster relief and relief, and demand that the government find a way out for the people. The court could be incompetent once or twice, but if it continued to be incompetent, someone might stand up and shout, "Are kings and marquises born to be different from commoners?"
Of course, there was another more novel perspective to consider: the reason why the Europeans could play their game in the early stages was that the Great Qing continuously supplied them with blood, and the Eagle of the Foolish had two world wars to suck blood from. And when the Great Qing was gone and the world wars were no longer fought, what would happen to Europe and the Eagle of the Foolish then?
The chosen spokesmen in Europe were getting younger, the promised benefits were getting higher, and their performance was becoming more unreliable. In the Three Islands, there was even a warrior spokesman who only blew up pipelines after taking office and then collected retirement pay, with a shelf life shorter than lettuce.
The Eagle of the Foolish was certainly no better than Europe, otherwise, Comrade Biden would not have ascended to the throne, nor would the ridiculous situation of internal conflict in the Eagle of the Foolish, starting with the second country, have occurred.
However, Bolshevism, which was also a system of large courts, might not work if directly copied.
Directly copying Bolshevism had a huge hidden danger, which was that the Great Ming did not have the environment for that set of theories to survive.
The reason why the Rabbit could adopt Bolshevism was that the Great Qing had completely collapsed at that time, and after the Tsarist regime took over the country, they proved through practical actions that their Western-style approach was also unreliable. Therefore, the Rabbit later learned from Russia and adopted Bolshevism for national salvation and survival.
Even before the Great Qing collapsed, they were desperately promoting the theory that the emperor was wise, loved his people like his children, and that only a small number of officials were at fault, and that everyone should look forward to the benevolent emperor.
Of course, this theory was not wrong, because all countries in the world promoted it.
However, the key point was that Emperor Qianlong and his banner men, when promoting this theory, Qianlong also boasted of his ten great achievements, and at this time, the Great Qing had not yet been beaten by the great powers, nor had it been humiliated by ceding Qingdao after compensating Britain and then ceding Lushun after Qingdao.
Therefore, when Emperor Zhu raised the banner of rebellion to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming, the people of the world were still willing to believe in the imperial system. As a result, there was no soil for that theory to grow at the time—if Emperor Zhu had not advocated for "overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming" but had directly advocated for "distribution according to need," the most likely outcome would not have been widespread support and rebellion against the Qing, but rather that everyone in the world would have gathered around Qianlong to help Qianlong fight Emperor Zhu.
Wasn't it better to gain merit by serving the dragon and destroying the traitors than to wholeheartedly serve those humble peasants?
At that time, the Central Plains had not yet experienced the pain of imminent national extinction.
Then, the Great Ming became what it is today—the Great Ming has an emperor, and Emperor Zhu is a founding ruler who cannot be constrained by anyone. However, the Great Ming also has a Grand Secretariat, and the Grand Secretariat's power is no less than the emperor's.
Especially as the emperor gradually delegated power, the Grand Secretariat could even directly replace the emperor.
This was because Emperor Zhu had directly clarified the "jianghu status" of the Grand Secretariat.
This was quite funny, because when Zhu Si created the Grand Secretariat, he treated the Grand Secretariat officials as secretaries. Later, after the reigns of Emperors Ren and Xuan, the power of the Grand Secretariat gradually grew.
However, regardless of the power, the Grand Secretariat officials who could lead the Six Ministries did not have high ranks. The so-called leadership of the Six Ministries was not legitimate, and there was also the restraint of the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Now, Emperor Zhu has clarified the rank and responsibilities of the Grand Secretariat, with the Grand Secretariat Grand Tutor being of the first rank, the other Grand Tutors being of the first rank below the first, and the Ministers of the Six Ministries being of the second rank.
Correspondingly, the original Six Ministries of the Great Ming and the later added Poor Ministry, the Ministry of Railways upgraded from the Railway Division, and many other ministries are clearly placed under the management of the Grand Secretariat. In addition to the Grand Tutor, the remaining six Grand Tutors are each responsible for a part of the work, with responsibility clearly assigned to individuals.
Parallel to the Grand Secretariat is the Grand Military Commission. The Grand Secretariat Grand Tutor can inquire about military affairs, but can only inquire—he can ask, but has no decision-making power. The decision-making power of the military command rests with the Grand Commander of the Military Commission.
There is not much to say about the Censorate. Their main responsibility is to criticize people. The emperor and all civil and military officials are targets they must monitor.
However, the Censorate is not under the Grand Secretariat. The only ones who can truly manage the Censorate are the Censorate Office and the Court of Judicial Review, which are parallel. These two departments are not under the Grand Secretariat, but are directly responsible to the emperor. Among the Censorate officials, those in the capital are responsible for criticism, while the rest are responsible for the duty of inspection. The Court of Judicial Review is responsible for trial and judgment.
The final interpretation of the Great Ming Law rests with the Ministry of Justice.
In short, there are all sorts of departments with clear responsibilities, and they must mutually support and restrain each other.
Basically, it can be said that having an emperor is not very useful, but not having an emperor is also not possible. Emperor Zhu, of course, can directly bypass the Grand Secretariat, the Six Ministries, and even the Grand Military Commission to do whatever he wants. However, future emperors after Emperor Zhu, besides supervising and having the right to change the Grand Tutor, will basically be unable to interfere in political affairs.
To regain power by changing the Grand Tutor?
First, the Embroidered Uniform Guard must find evidence of the Grand Tutor's crime, then the Censorate must initiate impeachment, and the Court of Judicial Review must convict him. Only after completing this procedure can the Grand Tutor be changed. If any part of this process fails, the Grand Tutor cannot be changed.
Furthermore, the tenure of the Grand Tutor and Grand Secretariat officials is fixed, calculated from the date of entry into the Grand Secretariat, with five years as one term, and a maximum of two terms. This is a strict law set by Emperor Zhu and cannot be changed.
In addition, the Great Ming Law emphasizes that whatever is not prohibited is permitted. Along with this, a series of policies were formulated to suppress clans and wealthy merchants. The protection of ordinary people is reflected not only in the law but also in the fact that farmers' associations bear some responsibility.
This puts the national system of the Great Ming in a delicate state: it appears to be very beautiful, almost a model of a nominal monarch. Apart from the existence of an emperor, everything else can be considered democratic and free, and it can even be said to be operating in a near-perfect manner.
However, Emperor Zhu knows in his heart that such perfection is basically nonsense.
Even the Rabbit's system is not flawless!
Whether it was cutting off two Ma Su with tears in his eyes, or later becoming rich but unwilling to help others become rich, and even wanting to extend his influence into the court, these are objective facts!
This is why Emperor Zhu has been delegating power to the court but has never relaxed the control of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Censorate—the officials of the Great Ming do not have such high awareness! If they relax even a little, they can cause immense trouble!
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu could not help but smile self-deprecatingly.
No matter how hard he tried, he was not a god, and how could he solve those ancient problems?
After a self-deprecating smile, Emperor Zhu directly said, "What I want to say today is very simple. First, get rid of those ruffians and wastrels. Since they are unwilling to live a good life, throw them to the construction sites to endure hardships for a few days, especially those who are rampant in the countryside and engage in illegal activities. Drag them out and shoot them."
"The second matter is those workshop owners who are unwilling to earn money honestly but want to oppress the common people. Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be exiled should be exiled. The longer they are allowed to be at ease, the more suffering the common people will endure."
"And what about those officials who are actively seeking death? I don't need to say how they should be dealt with, right?"
The Grand Secretaries present, including Zeng Cheng and Liu Heming, all knew that when Emperor Zhu referred to himself as "I," there were usually no major problems. However, except for the grand court sessions, once he used the word "朕" (zhen), it usually meant he had murderous intent.
After Zeng Cheng, Liu Heming, and the other Grand Secretaries bowed in agreement, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Zeng Cheng and said, "Minister Zeng, you have been Prime Minister for almost thirty years now, haven't you?"
This former prefect of the Great Qing, who voluntarily surrendered to Emperor Zhu during the Battle of Menglianggu, became the Prime Minister of the Great Ming in the first year of Emperor Zhu's enthronement due to his ability and his understanding and execution speed of Emperor Zhu's various instructions. It has been twenty-six years since then—the reason for this situation is not that Zeng Cheng was reluctant to resign, nor that Emperor Zhu insisted on keeping Zeng Cheng to break his own rules, but that Emperor Zhu had already set this rule when he was in his twentieth year of reign, according to common understanding.
This means that Zeng Cheng, as the Prime Minister, can continue to serve for another four years and then he must honestly step down from the position of Prime Minister, and he will not be allowed to hold any other positions of real power, but must honestly stay in the capital or return to his hometown to retire.
Of course, the Great Ming has always treated its meritorious officials well. Although he will no longer be the Prime Minister, all his treatment will still be the same as that of a Prime Minister, and he will even be granted a noble title.