Daming Military Empire

Chapter 559: Cabinet Responsibility System

Only after reading the first paragraph of "Daming Chongzheng Law", all the civil and military officials in front of the Huangji Hall were stunned. The emperor actually formulated a code to stipulate his specific powers, and also stipulated his own obligations. This is unavoidable. It's a bit too exaggerated, who can control the emperor, what if he doesn't obey you!
With rights comes obligations, which is perfectly normal for Zhu Cijiong, who came from time travel. The purpose of setting these rules is to fear that some of his descendants will be lawless, messing around, and destroying the entire Ming Empire. It's broken.

As for who can control the emperor, it is naturally the emperor and his father.

Next, the second paragraph is about the regulations on the heir to the throne.

The first article of this paragraph shocked the civil and military officials below again, because this article stipulates that the heir to the throne is selected by the emperor, and there is no such thing as establishing a leader but not a virtuous one!
The question of the heir to the throne made Ming a miserable mess. At the beginning, Emperor Shenzong Wanli had a falling out with his officials because of this. It was a mess, and in the end he even expressed his dissatisfaction with negativity and negligence, so that the power of the Ming Dynasty declined day by day. It can be said that the demise of the Chongzhen Dynasty and Ming Dynasty began with the struggle for the foundation of the country.

The meaning of Zhu Cijiong's establishment of this rule is that in the future, there will be nothing to argue about. Who the emperor wants to establish is the emperor's business, and other people should not seek trouble for nothing.

Of course, it doesn't mean that he thinks that Fu Wang Zhu Changxun is better than Guangzong Zhu Changluo. In the case of similar intelligence, a person's ability mainly depends on acquired training.

Next, he stipulated the issue of the cultivation of the heir to the throne, which roughly meant that the emperor had to conduct a specified number of assessments on his heir to the throne. If he failed the assessment, not only the Zhan Shifu, but even the heir to the throne would be punished.

As for the specific punishment rules, "Daming Chongzheng Law" did not go into details. He will later formulate a detailed rule on the cultivation of heirs, specifying in detail the cultivation methods and assessment methods of the heir to the throne, and even stipulates that if the assessment finds that the The heir to the throne is really a dou who can't support the wall, so let's abolish and build another one!
There is only so much he can think about for future generations. If there are such detailed regulations, and some of his descendants insist on putting a fool on the throne, then he has no choice but to guarantee that he will not To make this kind of mistake, at least from the current point of view, the eldest prince Zhu Hegui is still very smart, and he is also confident in training his son to be a qualified emperor.

There are so many rules about the emperor in "Daming Chongzheng Law". The main purpose of his establishment of these rules is to prevent the appearance of a foolish king in his descendants. After all, there are still many examples of a dynasty that died because of a foolish king. Everyone has to talk about it. The rules don't mean that once you become an emperor, you can be lawless and do whatever you want, and it will be over sooner or later.

This is also the root of the constitutional monarchy. It is better to set rules for yourself and set an example to implement them than for others to set rules for yourself and force yourself to implement them.

After specifying the powers and obligations of the emperor, the next step is the rights and obligations of the common people.

Do common people still have rights?This was another thunderstorm, and the civil and military officials below were dumbfounded.

Of course the common people should have rights, if the common people are subconsciously enslaved as slaves, then the dynasty will almost come to an end.

The so-called officials force the people to rebel, and the people have to rebel. If the oppression and slavery are severe, they will naturally rebel. Zhu Cijiong stipulated the rights of the common people in "Da Ming Chongzheng Law" because they are afraid that someone will enslave the common people and force them to rebel.

For example, ordinary people have personal freedom, and as long as they have not committed any crime, no one shall restrict their personal freedom; another example is that ordinary people have the right to protect their own property, and no one shall forcibly seize the property of ordinary people, etc.

As for the obligations of the common people, Zhu Cijiong is being selfish here, because the first obligation of the common people he stipulated is that all the people of the Ming Empire have the obligation to protect the emperor and maintain the imperial power.Then there are other obligations. For example, all the people of the Ming Empire have the obligation to defend the Ming Dynasty, and for example, all the people of the Ming Empire have the obligation to pay taxes according to the law.

The powers and obligations of the emperor and the rights and obligations of the common people are stipulated, and the next step is the administrative system.

Zhu Cijiong released another shocking thunder here, because he has basically delegated administrative power. From now on, it will no longer be the emperor who grabs it, but the cabinet responsibility system!
It roughly means that in the future, the emperor will only take care of important affairs, and the cabinet will be responsible for all specific affairs.

For example, the future emperors in the early dynasties only dealt with major state affairs within the prescribed scope, and all other affairs were submitted to the cabinet for handling in official documents.

For another example, in the future, the emperor will only directly appoint and dismiss officials from the cabinet and ministers. Officials from the first to fifth ranks will be drafted by the cabinet and submitted to the emperor for approval.

That is to say, in the future, the administrative center of Ming Dynasty will no longer be the emperor's imperial study, but the cabinet!

Zhu Cijiong also adjusted the structure of the cabinet. He stipulated that the new cabinet is composed of a prime minister, two deputy prime ministers and various ministers. The term of office is ten years, and they can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

As for the local administrative system, he didn't make any adjustments this time, and still follow the original system, which is managed by the minister, state, prefecture, and county.

With such an adjustment, the delegation of authority will be greatly enlarged. It is equivalent to delegating most of the administrative power and personnel power to the cabinet. It saves trouble, but how can he guarantee the control of the entire Ming Dynasty?
First of all, of course, it depends on the system. He will gradually establish and improve the responsibility system at all levels. That is to say, in the future, all officials will have responsibilities related to power. If they exercise power but fail to do their own things well, they will be punished. If they are found guilty, they will be dismissed from office at the least, and sentenced to imprisonment at the worst.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate was originally a supervisory agency independent of the administrative system. He also specifically merged various departments into the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and expanded the number of supervisory censors, increasing the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. From now on, the Metropolitan Procuratorate can directly investigate and deal with officials below the fifth rank. If officials above the fifth rank commit crimes, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the right to report directly to the emperor. After the emperor sends Jin Yiwei and Dongchang to verify, they can also be authorized to investigate.

"Daming Chongzheng Law" also stipulates the revision rules at the end. In principle, "Daming Chongzheng Law" cannot be modified once it is implemented, unless the emperor of the Ming Empire and all cabinet members agree that certain clauses must be modified.

After the ceremonial official of Honghe Temple finished reading, Zhu Cijiong immediately announced that the "Daming Chongzheng Law" will be fully implemented from next year, which is the 16th year of Chongzheng!
(End of this chapter)