blenderwars Chapter 350 The Emperor and Empress Reign in Court
Chapter 350 The Emperor and Empress Reign in Court
Two days after the banquet, Lady Jin sent her nameplate to the palace again.
Her son's name was Gao Zenong. He was born with rosy lips and white teeth. His father was originally a minor official of the seventh rank. After his father passed away, the family fell into decline. After his mother remarried, she lived with her grandparents. She was bullied by her second and third uncles and did not have a good life.
But this child is very well-mannered, speaks and acts with propriety, and has an extraordinary demeanor.
Shen Shixi had summoned the Second Prince beforehand.
The Second Prince was once again given an important position and was very proactive. He also became more adept at entertaining guests, taking Gao Zenong for a stroll in the small garden of Zhaoyang Palace.
While Shen Shixi was evaluating other people's children, Jin Shi was also scrutinizing the Second Prince. Seeing that the Second Prince did not have any arrogant or haughty air, she felt relieved.
Even if the second prince isn't all that great, she has no other choice now. She can't take care of the child, but she must earn a better path for him.
"You are the wife of Prime Minister Liang. Prime Minister Liang is a key minister whom the Emperor relies on highly. It would be bad if he were absent for even a day. However, Prime Minister Liang is indeed getting on in years. From now on, you must take good care of Prime Minister Liang's health and never fail the Emperor's grace."
If Liang Xiang is unable to perform his duties, his position will be in jeopardy.
Jin replied, "Your Majesty the Empress is right. As a wife, it is my duty to take care of my husband, and I will certainly do my best."
Your Majesty, rest assured, I will take good care of my husband until he is bedridden.
After talking for about the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, the Second Prince returned with Gao Zenong, and Madam Jin bid farewell to her son.
Shen Shixi asked the Second Prince what he thought of Gao Zenong. "You're not young anymore. According to the rules, you should have chosen a study companion long ago. However, your father and I have been very busy in the past and haven't had time to deal with this matter. Study companions are different from others. You'll be spending a lot of time with them, so we should choose one you like. What do you think of this child?"
The second prince was very clever. Knowing that the empress needed someone, he said, "I think he's quite good. He's clever, but not presumptuous. I think he's suitable."
"Alright, that's good! I'll send someone to deliver a decree that he should come to the Chongxian Academy tomorrow to study with you."
"Your Majesty, I thank you!"
Shen Shixi immediately sent someone to the Gao family to deliver the imperial decree. The son of a seventh-rank official was not qualified to enter the Chongxian Hall, yet he became the second prince's study companion. This was a meteoric rise to power.
Jin said it was thanks to the master's good fortune that she had prepared a table of food and wine, dressed herself up beautifully, and waited for the master to return so she could thank him.
The husband, with his beautiful wife and concubines, always wanted to do something after drinking, but in the end, he overdid it and strained his back.
Thank goodness I had a stroke and couldn't even get up. How could I possibly go to work and clock in?
The provincial administration department has a lot of work to do, including reviewing and rejecting proposals, but it's all just endless wrangling and bickering. Without Liang Ji, things definitely wouldn't work, especially since Vice Minister Yang Jiong is a "Mistake Vice Minister".
Shen Shixi summoned him and the Grand Council to discuss matters, along with several ministers from the Six Ministries. This man was not very literate and mispronounced "杕杜" as "杖杜," causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Shen Shixi had no choice but to dismiss this person. "The Chancellor Liang is seriously ill. Let alone someone of advanced age, even someone twenty or thirty years younger couldn't withstand such an ordeal. It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone. I heard from the imperial physician that the Chancellor Liang will need at least a year and a half to recover. The affairs of the court are complicated and concern the national economy and people's livelihood. How can we delay for so long?"
"My intention is that the affairs of the Secretariat shall also be entirely taken over by the Grand Council, whose future responsibilities will be to draft imperial edicts and to review and approve memorials submitted from various regions."
In response to the memorials submitted from various regions, Shen Shixi requested the establishment of a special department called the Tongzhengsi, which was mainly responsible for receiving memorials from both inside and outside the government, as well as sealed appeals from officials and commoners. The chief official, the Tongzhengshi, was a third-rank official.
It is on par with the Six Ministries.
In this way, the possibility of the powerful ministers of the three provinces intercepting memorials was avoided. Those memorials intended for the emperor to see were presented, while those not intended for the emperor to see were not seen by the emperor.
This change caused a huge uproar.
This was expected.
Creating anything is easy; reforming it is difficult.
Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and killed a large number of people.
Shen Shixi wants to abolish the prime minister system, but he will obviously have to put up a good fight with these powerful figures.
The following day, during the grand court assembly, the emperor and empress attended court together, with two chairs, one with a dragon and the other with a phoenix, placed on the imperial platform.
Last night, the two kids woke up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep. They kept bothering each other until they finally got Li Yuanke to sleep. He played with the kids all night and couldn't get up at all this morning.
He was sitting on the throne, feeling drowsy.
Shen Shixi sat next to him, and he dozed off without any problem.
"Your Majesty, why are you sitting here today?" Prime Minister Cui asked mercilessly.
He believed that everyone in the court would stand behind him and support him, unless they were not afraid of future historical condemnation.
The crowing of a hen at dawn is an insult to all the men in this court.
Previously, it was the Emperor who personally led the expedition, and now that the Emperor has returned, it is truly unreasonable for the Empress to act this way.
Shen Shixi ignored him and announced, "The reform of the court system abolishes the Three Departments and decentralizes power to the Six Ministries. This means that from now on, whoever does the work will have the right to speak. Since the Six Ministries are in charge of all affairs in the court, their opinions on abolishing, promoting, and destroying will naturally be heard."
In the past, the emperor often failed to see the memorials submitted by counties, prefectures and counties. This was due to the monopolization of power by the three provinces. This problem should be corrected by establishing the Office of Transmission, where all memorials from all over the country would be submitted and transmitted by the Office of Transmission.
A supervisory body was established, with each of the six ministries contributing personnel to form six sections of censors. These censors were granted the position of Attendant Censor, and had the authority to investigate the affairs of the six ministries, review memorials, participate in court discussions, supervise the imperial examinations, and veto imperial edicts and impeach officials.
In this way, a closed loop is formed.
Before the officials could recover, Shen Shixi said, "In the court, there are always so many things to do, and power is just so much power. In the past, power was concentrated in the hands of individuals. Now, the Emperor and I agree that the power to make decisions, give opinions, and ultimately decide on matters is delegated to the Six Ministries."
Supervision will also be conducted by the people of your Six Ministries, and you will be responsible for your own actions; the former Grand Council will be reorganized into the Cabinet, selecting three to five people to be granted the title of Grand Secretary, assisting the Emperor, and possessing the power of deliberation and administration.
The decision-making power should naturally be in the hands of the emperor. Anyone with a brain would not argue for the decision-making power in this court meeting, as that would be a blatant provocation against imperial authority.
Even in the past, prime ministers had to take a roundabout approach if they wanted to gain decision-making power.
Prime Minister Cui was completely taken aback by the arrangement.
Li Yuanke hadn't expected that he would wake up from his drowsiness, looking like someone who had suddenly sat up in shock while dying, and looked straight up at Shen Shixi.
It has to be said that Shen Shixi's idea was absolutely perfect. While consolidating power, the emperor also managed to do less work.
With power delegated to the Six Ministries, which would no longer be under the command of the Three Provinces, they were naturally willing to accept it.
Some people in the Censorate were also getting restless. The Censors had a lot of power. Right now, they could only talk big in the court, but in the future, they would supervise the work of the Six Ministries. Not only would they have a veto power, but they would also have the power to participate in government affairs, reject proposals, and conduct disciplinary reviews. It couldn't be more awesome.
The entire court was in an uproar.
The more Cui Xiang listened, the more uncertain he became. He immediately objected, "Your Majesty, are such important matters of state decided by the Empress alone? The Three Departments and Six Ministries are an ancestral system; how can they be easily abolished?"