Chapter 187: Who Should Be the Imperial Household Department Minister?

Ministers are extremely, extremely vigilant when it comes to preventing the emperor from plundering the realm, so Zhu Youxiao also understood what Sun Chengzong was thinking — it was a fairly normal phenomenon among officials.

But Zhu Youxiao had never intended to turn the Imperial Household Department into a tool for his own enrichment, nor did he plan to make it into an office like the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the Eastern Depot.

He already had the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so Zhu Youxiao would not establish another such office — he could simply reform what already existed.

As for being a tool for enrichment — although the Imperial Household Department would indeed earn some money for him as emperor, if one merely viewed it as the imperial family's money-making instrument, that would be far too low-class a purpose.

Enrichment was only one of the Imperial Household Department's auxiliary functions; the main point was that he wanted to use it to control the economic lifeline, thereby achieving the goal of controlling all under heaven through economics.

If he truly achieved what Zhu Youxiao wanted, the Imperial Household Department would become the state-owned enterprises of later generations — even the central state-owned enterprises.

Because the nature of the state was the emperor, state-owned enterprises and such things should belong to the emperor; they could also be controlled through supplementary means or the court, but that was not possible right now.

Zhu Youxiao had never believed in any kind of liberalism; he believed that only with strong administrative force guaranteeing execution could things truly be carried out properly.

Handing state-owned (central) enterprises to ministers or merchants was absolutely unacceptable — in their hearts, aside from money, they probably had nothing at all.

So there must be strong administrative force to guarantee execution, and the Imperial Household Department was the root of that administrative force.

Only those within a system fear the system; those outside it do not, and the key was that those people were also hard to control.

If problems really arose internally, wouldn't solving them still be a matter of a single word from him?

Glancing at Sun Chengzong, Zhu Youxiao said mildly: "I intend to establish three leading ministers in the Imperial Household Department — one will be a eunuch from the palace; one will be transferred from the Censorate to serve as oversight; the last will manage affairs. The three will be of equal rank."

When it came to mutual checks and balances, Zhu Youxiao never relaxed his guard.

Because without oversight, without checks and balances, no matter who it was, problems would inevitably arise.

Absolute power leads to absolute corruption — Zhu Youxiao agreed with that saying, so he would absolutely never relax oversight.

Hearing these words from Zhu Youxiao, a smile appeared on Sun Chengzong's face — clearly Zhu Youxiao's answer had pleased him greatly.

Sun Chengzong withdrew, satisfied.

"Then does Your Majesty have suitable candidates in mind?" This question came from Xu Guangqi — clearly he was very concerned about this matter and intended to get involved.

Xu Guangqi had evidently also realized that managing the Imperial Household Department was deeply entangled with the Ministry of Revenue.

"In the palace, I want Wang An to do it." Zhu Youxiao looked at the four men before him and said in a clear voice: "Wang An is mature and steady, handles affairs in the palace with propriety, and has a good reputation. I intend to have him manage this matter. As for another person, I intend to have the Earl of Taikang do it."

Zhu Youxiao took a sip of clear tea, his slender fingers tapping twice on the tabletop, then continued: "As for the remaining person, I have not yet decided. Do my ministers have suitable candidates to recommend?"

To be honest, the two candidates Zhu Youxiao had put forward did take Sun Chengzong and the others somewhat by surprise.

Wang An — this Companion was known to all of them, and they also knew that Wang An's situation recently had not been particularly good. No one had expected that His Majesty would bring Wang An out at this time.

After all, everyone had assumed that within a while Wang An would be done away with; even if he weren't killed, he could no longer remain in the palace.

Who would have thought that this time Wang An would turn things around?

At the same time, they also realized one thing — this might well be deliberate on His Majesty's part.

While His Majesty was dealing with the Donglin Faction, he had sidelined Wang An. Now that the Donglin Faction had been disposed of, His Majesty was bringing Wang An back out — clearly this was purposeful.

Still, as for Wang An as a candidate, they felt quite good about it and had no reason to object.

As for the Earl of Taikang, Zhang Guoji — this man was the Empress's father, but his abilities were questionable at best, perhaps even poor.

After all, the Earl of Taikang had never held any official post — he was merely a Directorate student, and his family had no major holdings to speak of. It could be said he had no ability whatsoever to manage the Imperial Household Department.

The Earl of Taikang was the most unsuitable candidate of all, yet His Majesty had chosen him anyway. Could His Majesty possibly not know that the Earl of Taikang lacked the ability?

That was impossible.

The several men present considered themselves to have some understanding of His Majesty.

This was absolutely not a simple emperor. He could not possibly be unaware that the Earl of Taikang could not handle this — yet His Majesty had still put the Earl of Taikang forward. So there had to be something behind this.

Could it be merely because he doted on the Empress?

After all, there had been no shortage of rumors lately about the deep affection between His Majesty and the Empress. Once emotion was involved — especially with a young Son of Heaven — it made Han Kuang, Sun Chengzong, and the others uncertain.

"Your servant feels that Your Majesty's decision is best." Xu Guangqi spoke up first.

This left the others somewhat stunned again, turning to look at Xu Guangqi in confusion.

This question had been raised by Xu Guangqi first, and he was also the first to voice approval. They all felt something was strange — there had to be something behind this.

But judging by Xu Guangqi's demeanor, he was not about to tell them what lay behind it, so there was no point in asking.

Still, since Xu Guangqi had already voiced his approval, the others also understood that before grasping the full inside story, rashly expressing opinions would be a very unwise choice.

So Sun Chengzong spoke up: "We have no objections either. However, regarding the establishment of the Imperial Household Department, we should still consult with the court officials."

Although Sun Chengzong said this, no one present took it seriously — including himself.

When the Grand Secretariat had reached a decision and the emperor had agreed, those below basically had no power to resist; all they could do was submit some routine memorials of impeachment.

But the Grand Secretariat could simply refuse to forward those memorials upward, and even if they were forwarded, Zhu Youxiao as emperor could leave them unanswered.

If large-scale conflict arose at court, it would inevitably be because of problems between the emperor and the Grand Secretariat. If not for that reason, no one else had any way to cause it.

For example, before the Jiajing Emperor clashed with his ministers over the Great Rites Controversy, his edicts were blocked and returned several times — the Grand Secretariat had refused to issue the emperor's edicts.

In the Great Ming, the emperor's edicts were divided into several types, of which two were more important: one was the direct palace edict, and the other was the formal imperial edict.

The direct palace edict was relatively simple — issued by the emperor, written by the Directorate of Ceremonial, not passing through the Grand Secretariat, and proclaimed by eunuchs. Civil officials could refuse to accept this type of direct palace edict.

Of course, it wasn't that the emperor permitted them to refuse — rather, they had created this convention themselves, playing at being special.

Aside from civil officials, others could not do this — especially military officers, who had no right to refuse a direct palace edict. If they refused, that was defying the imperial order, an extremely serious crime.

Apart from direct palace edicts, the remaining type was the formal imperial edict.

This one was more important, usually concerning matters of state. If the emperor had the Grand Secretariat draft the edict, then the Grand Secretariat's seal would be affixed, and when it was transmitted downward, it would become a formal imperial edict.

But if it did not pass through the Grand Secretariat, it could only be a direct palace edict. Here a problem arose: what if the Grand Secretariat disagreed?

Then there was the block-and-return. That is, when the emperor's directive reached the Grand Secretariat and was sent back, no one would honor it, and it could not become a formal imperial edict. If you issued a direct palace edict, those below would still refuse.

So if the emperor and the Grand Secretariat held differing opinions, or even broke into open conflict, that was a major matter.

But if the emperor and the Grand Secretariat were of the same mind, then those below had no room to resist.

In this matter now, the emperor had already finished consulting with the Grand Secretaries — meaning the Grand Secretariat and the emperor had reached consensus, and those below only needed to obey and execute.

If those below wanted to oppose, they could submit routine memorials to protest, but whether the court would pay them any attention was another matter.

So the so-called solicitation of opinions that remained was merely a formality—there was no room left for anyone else to have a say in this matter.

"Then let it be done as you ministers have proposed." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao was very willing to let them handle this matter. Because in doing so, he turned his own affair into everyone's affair. With more people involved, the scale was larger, and the difficulty became smaller.

Zhu Youxiao had seen this kind of thing in his previous life too—usually when a company ran into difficulties, the boss would do exactly this.

In one sentence: the boss's affairs are everyone's affairs; when the company is in trouble, everyone shares the hardship together.

But when the company is making money, and the boss is driving a sports car and visiting clubs with young models, that has nothing to do with you.

What Zhu Youxiao was doing now was the same thing—turning the matter of establishing his own Imperial Household Department into something the Grand Secretariat would handle.

Even if someone opposed or attacked it, the target would be the Grand Secretariat more than himself. He could extricate himself with ease, or even stand aside and act as the referee. The benefits of this approach were simply too numerous.

Han Kuang and the others listened to Zhu Youxiao's words, bowed, and said: "Yes, Your Majesty. Your ministers will handle it upon our return."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and nodded, then waved his hand.

After the four members of the Grand Secretariat had left, Zhu Youxiao stood up and walked outside to stretch his limbs.

Gazing into the distance, palace halls and pavilions stood in tight array all around, their golden eaves curving upward like soaring dragons, gleaming brilliantly under the spring sunlight.

A warm breeze brushed his face, and Zhu Youxiao was in excellent spirits. The benefits of what he had done before were already showing—at the very least, the Grand Secretaries before him would not jump out to oppose him at every turn.

There were also not as many people in the court clamoring all day long; things had become much more stable. The divisions between factions were fairly clear, and he could maintain a good balance, so it wasn't as if he wanted to do something and had no one to do it for him.

Glancing at Chen Hong standing not far away, Zhu Youxiao said gently: "Go fetch Wang An for me. I wish to have a talk with him."

Come to think of it, since he had transmigrated here, he truly hadn't had a proper conversation with Wang An yet.

This time, it was a good opportunity.