Troubled Times
"This servant kowtows to Your Majesty. Long live our Emperor…" Wei Zongxian was holding a large stack of memorials in his hands. As soon as he entered the royal study, he kowtowed three times and nine times to Zhu Honghuan.
This servant had served the late emperor for many years and could be considered an old servant entrusted by the late emperor.
Therefore, even though he was not Zhu Honghuan's trusted aide, Zhu Honghuan still trusted him.
Otherwise, Zhu Honghuan wouldn't have let an old dog from the previous dynasty hold such an important position for so many years.
What was the saying?
Every day, the emperor will have a courtier.
Wei Zongxian was very respectful to Zhu Honghuan and never put on airs as an old minister of the previous dynasty.
Zhu Honghuan raised his hand and said," Get up. Why aren't you on duty at the ceremony supervisor's office? What are you doing in the royal study?"!”
Wei Zongxian quickly got up and said with a flattering look,"Your Majesty, these memorials were sent to the Minister of Rites after the cabinet voted. This servant had taken the liberty to put on red for some small matters, but this servant did not dare to act arbitrarily for these major matters, so this servant quickly sent them to the royal study for Your Majesty's ruling.”
The political system of the Great Ming Dynasty was similar to the Ming Dynasty in history.
The outer court established a cabinet system of six departments.
The cabinet is in charge of the government, and the chief assistant is equivalent to the prime minister, below one person and above ten thousand people. Moreover, the cabinet had the power to vote and could replace the emperor to comment on the memorials of the officials. It could even seal back the emperor's imperial edict. Its authority was not small.
In order to check and balance the cabinet, the Ming emperor created the internal court system.
The so-called internal court was to use eunuchs to participate in court politics.
Among them, the Chief of Rites was the head of the internal court.
The cabinet had the power to vote, while the director of ceremonies had the power to approve.
What was red? It was when the eunuch holding the pen of the ceremonial supervisor corrected the memorial for the emperor, and the eunuch with the seal would stamp the memorial to take effect.
Therefore, the Scribe Eunuch was also below one person and above ten thousand people. His status could not be low.
In fact, the political system of the Great Ming Empire was very perfect. The internal and external courts were completely symmetrical.
There was the Cabinet outside, the Bureau of Rites inside, the Three Law Departments outside, the East Chamber and the Royal Guards inside, the governors and governors sent by the outer court, and the eunuchs sent by the inner court to the local areas.
In this way, the internal court and the external court would restrict each other to ensure the emperor's decision-making position.
However, all the power was still in the hands of the Emperor alone.
This was especially true for a diligent emperor like Zhu Honghuan, who did not dare to monopolize many important matters in the court. Although the ceremonial director had supreme authority, it all came from the imperial power.
Sometimes, the Emperor only needed to say a word to make a high and mighty ceremonial eunuch fall to the bottom of the valley.
But the outer court and the inner court were different.
The emperor did not have the right to kill a minister of the outer court, even if that minister was just a ninth-grade official.
To put it simply, the eunuchs and serving girls in the internal court or the Imperial Palace were actually the servants of the Imperial Family. The Imperial Family or the Emperor could decide their life and death with a word.
However, the external ministers were the workers of the royal family.
They could work for you and sell their lives for you, but you had to give them enough dignity.
After Wei Zongxian finished speaking, he immediately went forward with the memorial.
However, he had only taken a few steps when he seemed to stumble and accidentally pounced towards Zhu Honghuan.
Zhu Honghuan's eyes and hands were quick. He grabbed the old dog's collar and lifted him up.
After taking the memorial from Wei Zongxian's hand, he threw him over and said with dissatisfaction,"You old dog, do you have eyes on the top of your head?!”
Only then did Wei Zongxian react. He immediately prostrated on the ground and cried with snot and tears on his face,"This old servant deserves to die. This old servant deserves to die. This old servant has offended His Majesty. This old servant deserves to die ten thousand times…" As he spoke, he kowtowed.
With just one or two hits, his forehead was already bleeding.
"What are you doing?" Zhu Honghuan frowned.! Am I the kind of person who kills? It's just a small matter, why am I so scared? Hurry up and get up…"
Wei Zongxian felt like he had been pardoned. He got up in fear and carefully wiped the cold sweat on his face with his sleeve.
Zhu Honghuan ignored him and casually flipped through the memorial.
The first memorial was that the Suzhou Imperial Censor impeached Prince Ning of Suzhou for bullying the people and making friends with Jianghu people. He was afraid that he would rebel.
The second book was a memorial from an envoy stationed in Lin 'an, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty. It said that the Great Yuan Dynasty had joined forces with the Khitans, Xixia, and other small countries to attack the Great Song Dynasty. The Great Song Dynasty was not strong enough and might send an envoy to the Great Ming Dynasty to ask for help in the near future.
The third book was about the governor of the Yellow River reporting that the autumn rain was continuous and that the Yellow River was afraid of bursting its banks. He hoped that the imperial court would allocate funds to repair the river banks as soon as possible…
Zhu Honghuan felt a headache coming on.
Each and every one of them was not a small matter!!!
Especially since the Yellow River was in danger of flooding and bursting its banks. This was a major event that concerned the deaths and injuries of tens of millions of people.
F * ck!
What an eventful time!
After a moment of silence, he said to Wei Zongxian,""Go and invite the chief assistant and the other ministers of the cabinet to the royal study to discuss how to deal with these matters!!!”
"Yes, sir!" Wei Zongxian quickly received the decree and said," Your Majesty, this old servant went to Cining Palace today to serve the Empress Dowager and Prince Yong. Princess Lin 'an, I heard from the Empress Dowager that Your Majesty hasn't visited Cining Palace for a long time."”
As he spoke, he carefully looked at Zhu Honghuan.
Seeing that Zhu Honghuan was expressionless, he continued,"If you have nothing to do later, why don't Your Majesty return to the Cining Palace with this old servant?!”
Zhu Honghuan nodded.”
mmp!!!
Every day, he was either practicing his swordsmanship, approving memorials, or hanging out with Jiang Yuyan. He had even forgotten about his mother and younger siblings.
It shouldn't be!
"We'll go after we're done discussing official matters. Let's have dinner at Ci Ning Palace tonight.”Zhu Honghuan added.
Wei Zongxian bowed to receive the decree.
However, the moment he lowered his head, a bright light flashed across his eyes!!!
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