Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 662
Zhu Youjian smiled slightly, as he expected, officials representing the interests of the bureaucratic group still supported the cabinet to take power.

After all, no matter whether an official wants to do good or bad things, it is much easier to deal with a cabinet minister than a hundred officials.

Just like when Zhang Juzheng wanted to reform, he had to give himself a lot of power first.

In essence, as the emperor, Zhu Youjian also hoped that the chief assistant of the cabinet would be in power. He was not Zhu Yuanzhang, nor did he want to be a hard worker like Zhu Yuanzhang.

As a descendant of the bourgeoisie, he has a lazy gene in his bones. He is more willing to control a cabinet minister than to control hundreds of officials.

After all, it is easy to control one person, but it is not easy to control countless people.

But he couldn't let the cabinet have too much power, even to the point of killing the lord, and the centralization of the cabinet didn't make the government's exploitation of business people disappear.

The bureaucratic group has always had a deterrent effect on the capital group.

From the perspective of the interests of China as a whole, the bureaucratic group must be controlled, and the bourgeoisie and handicraftsmen cannot be exploited unscrupulously, otherwise Ming Dynasty will not be able to completely walk at the forefront of world civilization.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian finally made up his mind and said: "The two courts still have to be established."

"His Majesty!"

Zhang Huangyan was about to say that I quit, but Zhu Youjian yelled before he could speak: "Listen to me!"

Zhang Huangyan kept his mouth shut, and the senior officials who were about to come forward to speak also retreated.

At this moment, they realized that the Ming emperor in front of them was the supreme person who could kill them at any time.

Officials such as Wang Jiaqin and Song Mingquan were a little delighted. They found a way to set up two houses to control the cabinet from the sacred science. With the emergence of a wave of thoughts advocating democracy and freedom among the people, they were also deeply affected by it. They hoped that the court could also It can implement the contract system like a company, changing from the rule of man to the rule of law.

And their confidence is that although Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty holds the highest power in the empire, he has been implementing the rule of law intentionally or unintentionally. They feel that His Majesty supports them.

Zhu Youjian did support them, but Zhu Youjian was also unwilling to let all the wealth accumulated by the empire through industry and commerce be used by the bourgeoisie as extravagant enjoyment.

The extravagant life of the wealthy businessmen has been clearly understood by Zhu Youjian through Dongchang's report.

In just a few years, Dongying has already had tens of thousands of Dongying women engaged in the profession of Fengyue, and the tax revenue brought to Daming has exceeded three times that of Le Lang, which is enough to show how much money the new nobles of Ming's capital spent to have fun.

Zhu Youjian hoped that more of the wealth accumulated by the empire would be used for the expansion of the empire and the improvement of the living conditions of the grassroots people, so he added:
"However, considering that the main tax revenue of Ming Dynasty now comes from the industrial and commercial tax, and the agricultural tax has to be exempted. In the event of war and economic turmoil in the future, the empire's central government must ensure that it has strong financial resources. There is a veto power and final decision power, and the chief minister of the cabinet and the ministers of the subordinate executive departments have the right to submit proposals to both houses."

After Zhu Youjian said this, the officials were still a little confused, but after careful analysis, they realized that this is not much different from not having two courts. At most, it just gives businessmen more rights to know. Zhu Youjian cupped his hands: "Your Majesty is wise."

And Wang Jiaqin, director of the Imperial Economic Reform Committee, had to smile wryly: "Your Majesty, you, you mean that you have not set up two houses. The chief minister of the cabinet still has the highest administrative decision-making power. His proposal can only be passed by the two houses. If not If he passes it, he can directly decide to pass it, so it doesn't mean that his work is in vain."

"Why, aren't you satisfied? Imagine how easily the cabinet ministers could be forced to step down like when the Donglin Party was in power? Playing like that, it's really exciting to watch as a drama, but the entire Ming Dynasty can't stand such a toss. I will let them pay taxes The merchants and the people involved in the construction of the empire set up two chambers to discuss the political affairs of the central government of the empire, which is unprecedented;

If you have to proceed step by step, I have already said that the empire is not completely dominated by your merchants. There are still farmers who occupy most of the land. , once they are forced to turn against them, they will become the next Li Zicheng. When they come to Jiangnan, what do you use to fight against them? Even if you win, the damage will be the entire Daming, and you will lose a lot! "

When Zhu Youjian said this, Wang Jiaqin, who had the background of the No. [-] banker in the empire, didn't speak anymore, but smiled awkwardly.

Zhang Huangyan took over the words at this time: "What your majesty said is that my ministers now agree to set up two houses according to your majesty's wishes, but they can only be given the power to discuss affairs of state, but not the power to make decisions, so that you businessmen can speak in court This sentence is indeed already the biggest concession of the empire, and this should be put in the past, when you are outside the Confucianism and inside the law, you are just lambs waiting to be slaughtered!"

"My minister also thinks what His Majesty said is right. Merchants have always valued profits too much. If they are very profitable, they dare to offend the king's law and even betray the country. Shanxi merchants are an example. Back then, the imperial court treated Shanxi merchants kindly, but in the end He has been traitorous to the enemy for decades, and letting him set up two chambers to participate in the government affairs is already an act of the court, if he is allowed to control the government, why not sell out Daming and even His Majesty!"

Wen Chushi, Minister of the Organization Department, also helped Zhang Huangyan speak at this time.

And Song Mingquan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, immediately yelled at him excitedly: "Mr. Wen Ge, discussing politics is discussing politics, but you can't humiliate the people who are engaged in business. They are also first-class citizens of Ming Dynasty, and they are also loyal to Ming Dynasty. Back then, Shanxi merchants and other thieves were compared, and they also contributed to the imperial court's northern expedition and conquest of the barbarians, otherwise the imperial court's army would go on an expedition for thousands of miles, and the imperial court alone would be able to maintain logistics!"

"I didn't say that you are all traitorous merchants like Shanxi merchants. I said that if you are not under the control of the court, there is no guarantee that none of you will do evil things for profit, such as selling opium to the domestic people. Forcing girls to be prostitutes and selling girls to Dongying, 0% of the major cases handled by the Ministry of Criminal Justice this year are cases of businessmen making illegal profits!"

When Wen Chushi said this, Song Mingquan had no choice but to shut up. His own family also owned a mining company, and a mine collapsed and killed several white pigs. I'm sorry, it's hard to say anything after Wen Chushi's rant, it's a tacit consent to Wen Chushi's meaning, the world's businessmen do dare to endanger the world for profit.

"Your Majesty, I have agreed to set up two chambers, retaining the final decision-making power of the cabinet chief and assistant, the one-vote veto power and the right to file a case. Now Ming Dynasty still has a lot of important things to do, and it should be like this."

At this time, Wang Jiaqin expressed his position first, and took the initiative to stand up: "Your servant will respectfully receive the oracle!"

"Your servants respectfully receive the oracle!" All the important court officials present stood up.

Zhu Youjian smiled slightly and said in his heart: "In any case, this is the result of a compromise between the bureaucratic group and the capital group. It is a good phenomenon to improve politics without going through civil war."

(End of this chapter)