Chapter 247: The Discipline Inspection Bureau

Zhu Youxiao was very satisfied. It hadn't been long since he established the Hundred Crafts Institute, yet they had given him a very pleasant surprise. Whether in results or efficiency, they had done exceptionally well.

Zhu Youxiao said happily, "You have done well."

"We thank Your Majesty." Bi Maokang hurriedly bowed and said.

What followed was much easier to handle. With the goods in hand and the moving words already spoken, the next step was naturally to give rewards and bestowments. Zhu Youxiao left this matter to Xu Guangqi.

At noon, he stayed there to share a working meal with Bi Maokang and the others, then returned to the Western Park.

After returning to the Western Park, Zhu Youxiao was in a very good mood. He had indeed not misjudged Bi Maokang and the others — they truly had not let him down. This was an excellent beginning.

Returning to his favorite pavilion, he sat in the rocking chair and took a sip of tea. Zhu Youxiao's spirits soared.

"Your Majesty, Zhao Bingzhong, Lord Zhao, requests an audience." Chen Hong came to Zhu Youxiao's side and said respectfully.

Hearing Chen Hong mention Zhao Bingzhong, Zhu Youxiao was momentarily stunned.

Come to think of it, he really had forgotten about Zhao Bingzhong these past days.

But now that Chen Hong brought him up, Zhu Youxiao remembered — he had sent Zhao Bingzhong to the Office of Transmission to manage secret memorials.

Now that he was requesting an audience, he probably had a plan.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Then let him come in."

In truth, Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood at this moment, which was also the reason he was willing to see Zhao Bingzhong.

Barring any surprises, Zhao Bingzhong was probably here to cause him trouble. He didn't expect Zhao Bingzhong to be all that obedient to him.

This was a capable man, and likewise a man with his own ideas.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong quickly acknowledged, then turned and walked out.

Before long, Chen Hong led Zhao Bingzhong in from outside, then withdrew to one side.

Coming before Zhu Youxiao, Zhao Bingzhong bowed and said, "Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Enough, no need for ceremony." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

After Zhao Bingzhong straightened up, Zhu Youxiao asked, "Has my minister come today because he has some ideas?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, your subject does indeed have ideas." Zhao Bingzhong said.

"Then let's hear them." Zhu Youxiao replied with a smile.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhao Bingzhong acknowledged, then continued: "This is a routine memorial your subject has written. Please honor it with Your Majesty's perusal."

As he spoke, Zhao Bingzhong respectfully raised the memorial with both hands.

Zhu Youxiao nodded.

Chen Hong then walked over, took the memorial with both hands, walked back respectfully, and presented it to his master.

Taking the memorial, Zhu Youxiao unfolded it and quickly began reading.

After more than half a year of experience, Zhu Youxiao could now read and understand most memorials clearly. But some that used deeper classical allusions still escaped him.

Fortunately, Zhao Bingzhong was not that sort of person — the memorial was written very plainly:

"Among later generations famed for shrewd governance, none surpass Emperor Xuan of Han. His officials were competent and his people at peace — a model worth emulating! Yet if one focuses solely on inspection, then what inspection fails to reach will surely be omitted, and thus false claims of merit and fraudulent rewards come to be."

The opening line praised Emperor Xuan of Han, arguing that he achieved such renown because he could make his officials serve the people's peace, and that his methods could be followed; it also emphasized that the reason Emperor Xuan could accomplish this was supervision.

The following sections discussed the shortcomings of the current supervisory system, and then at the end made a summary:

"When the spirit races yet is cowed by authority, the people are confined within our heaven and submit obediently. Wherever arrangements and plans are left unestablished, the superior rules by spirit and the inferior by substance; superior and inferior mutually admonish each other, without the name of comprehensive scrutiny yet with the benefit of honest investigation. That Emperor Xuan of Han was not the equal of Emperor Wen of Han is precisely for this reason."

After analyzing the pros and cons, Zhao Bingzhong's tone took a turn.

"I reverently recall our Grand Progenitor, the Eminent Emperor, whose wisdom was divinely bestowed and whose fortitude was innate. In the age of chaos at the founding, he established institutions and devised strategies, settling the supreme plan for ten thousand generations; after the realm was pacified, he further set forth laws and regulations, bequeathing a grand charter to a hundred ages."

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled. One could say that Zhao Bingzhong spared no praise in flattering the Grand Progenitor Emperor.

That he revered the Grand Progenitor Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang — Zhu Youxiao had known this long ago. He hadn't expected it to appear here. It seemed Zhao Bingzhong really was a devoted fan of the Grand Progenitor Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and a die-hard one at that.

Setting down the memorial in his hands, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "Tell me, what do you plan to do?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhao Bingzhong bowed and said: "The secret memorial system has remedied many deficiencies in the supervision of past dynasties. Though there may be the concern of officials suspecting one another, your subject believes that is to mistake the branch for the root."

"If officials act with integrity and handle matters without partiality, they naturally have nothing to fear. Our dynasty's laws punish false accusations severely, and will naturally mete out harsh penalties to those officials who lodge false reports."

"But at court, one must distinguish right from wrong, investigate thoroughly, and ensure evidence is solid — one must never convict recklessly. Therefore your subject believes the court still lacks a bureau, one specifically responsible for investigating matters of secret memorials."

"If a local official impeaches another and reports it to court by secret memorial, the court will surely send someone to investigate in detail. If the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review are still used to investigate, or imperial envoys are dispatched, word can easily leak."

"Moreover, court officials are entangled in webs of connection and collusion, making it very easy for favoritism and cover-ups to arise. So your subject believes the court should have a bureau that can investigate anytime and anywhere, that can investigate secretly and quietly, and that can make contact with those officials who submit secret memorials."

"In this way, first, the facts can be verified; second, word can be guaranteed not to leak."

Zhu Youxiao nodded. This bureau would be similar to a discipline inspection commission — whenever someone submitted a secret impeachment, the commission would send people down to investigate, and in secret at that.

Indeed, such a bureau was needed.

After thinking it over, Zhu Youxiao said, "Could the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard be of use?"

Hearing these words from Zhu Youxiao, Zhao Bingzhong's face immediately turned stern.

If the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard got a hand in the secret memorial affairs, things would certainly become very bad. That was not the original intention behind establishing this bureau.

So Zhao Bingzhong said with a grave expression, "Your subject believes it cannot be done."

"If the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are used to investigate, your subject believes it would be better to dispatch imperial envoys instead. The Embroidered Uniform Guard are crude soldiers, unfit for important tasks; the Eastern Depot eunuchs are greedy and timid — they are not good servants."

Zhao Bingzhong's words were extremely blunt, and the meaning was clear: the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot were all merely the Emperor's talons and fangs, and these people had no sense of fairness — on one hand they craved power and wealth, on the other they were petty-minded, utterly incapable of accomplishing great things.

In a word, Zhao Bingzhong simply looked down on the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhao Bingzhong's words made even Chen Hong, standing to one side, somewhat embarrassed — after all, what Zhao Bingzhong said didn't just cover the Eastern Depot; he had directly lumped all eunuchs into it.

How could one not be embarrassed hearing that?

Zhu Youxiao, however, was not angry — it was actually within his expectations. Zhao Bingzhong was just that sort of man. If he hadn't spoken the truth so bluntly, Zhu Youxiao truly wouldn't have dared to use him.

So Zhu Youxiao asked, "Then in my minister's view, how should this be done?"

"Your subject believes a bureau should be established under the Office of Transmission. If any local official secretly memorializes about corruption, this bureau would send people to investigate; after verification is complete, they would return to the capital to report, while also arresting the offenders and bringing them to the capital for interrogation."

"Who does the interrogating?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhao Bingzhong and asked.

"I believe it should be handed over to the Court of Judicial Review," Zhao Bingzhong said expressionlessly.

This was not him flattering Zhu Youxiao, nor did he have any other motives—it was truly what he thought in his heart.

Zhao Bingzhong continued: "The Office of Transmission handles the investigation; the Court of Judicial Review handles the interrogation. As for the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, they are responsible for oversight and for interpreting the laws of the Great Ming."

"I believe that only in this way can we achieve checks and balances among multiple parties and reduce wrongful convictions. After all, oversight is meant to make the clean even cleaner and to severely punish corrupt officials."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhao Bingzhong, feeling some admiration in his heart.

Who says the Great Ming has no talent? This man is talent!

How forward-thinking is this idea?

How fitting is this approach?

"Once this measure is enacted, I fear you, my beloved minister, will become a target for everyone's arrows," Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

First, this would throw the officials into panic—no one knows when they might be reported, and the investigation of you is done in secret, in an independent office where you cannot even reach in to pull strings.

In such circumstances, how could officials not be afraid? How could they not be anxious?

After the fear and anxiety, they would naturally want to get rid of this system, and attacking its leader would be the most fitting approach.

Getting rid of Zhao Bingzhong would solve a great many problems.

If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person who raised the problem. This works in any era.

Moreover, Zhao Bingzhong's approach is also seizing power from many people. First of all, the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate certainly would not like this behavior of Zhao Bingzhong's—isn't this blatantly grabbing power into one's own hands?

And the power he is intercepting happens to be precisely the power of the Court of Judicial Review, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Justice—this too would make him a target for everyone's arrows.

Even after this policy is passed, the Office of Transmission would become a place that other offices cannot interfere with—even the Grand Secretariat would have no way to intervene.

After all, secret memorials are not sent to the Grand Secretariat but directly to the throne, so the Office of Transmission would also be indirectly seizing power from the Grand Secretariat.

From this perspective, Zhao Bingzhong would naturally become the bird that sticks its head out. Under such circumstances, his days would not be easy.

Those in officialdom who find Zhao Bingzhong disagreeable would distance themselves from him and impeach him.

Beyond that, Zhao Bingzhong's reputation would also plummet—labels like "harsh official" and "treacherous minister" would be placed on his head one after another, and they would not be easy to shake off for quite some time. They might even be written into history and spun by countless people.

Upon hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Zhao Bingzhong's expression did not change in the slightest.

In fact, before Zhao Bingzhong did this, he had already thought through all these matters and had prepared himself mentally. If it were not so, he would never have come forward with this proposal.

Moreover, Zhao Bingzhong also knew that doing this would mean contending for power with the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

These two offices are not to be trifled with—especially those eunuchs of the Eastern Depot. If things went wrong, they might impeach him before His Majesty.

The reason Zhao Bingzhong did this was, on the one hand, because he was willing to do it—for the Great Ming, for the realm, and to fulfill the ambitions in his heart.

Even if he ended up with no good outcome in the end, Zhao Bingzhong was still willing to do it. An official has things he will do and things he will not do—he was willing to do this.

Another very important reason was that Zhao Bingzhong believed in His Majesty. He believed His Majesty was a sage ruler who understood the benefits of this approach and would help and protect him, so he was willing to give it a try.

"Your servant, for Your Majesty, for the Great Ming, fears neither death nor the loss of reputation!" Zhao Bingzhong said, bowing deeply.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhao Bingzhong and nodded gently, feeling a hint of pride in his heart as well.

See that?

See that?

After sweeping away those people of the Donglin Faction, the court now has people who dare to do things!

Starting with Zhao Bingzhong, these people would be the foundation for his future prosperity of the Great Ming!

Zhu Youxiao suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and said directly: "I approve. This office, I also permit you to establish. Go back and write up a charter—how should personnel be allocated? How much silver is needed? Report it all to me, and I will approve it then."

"Additionally, you may begin working on the matter of secret memorials. Arrange reliable hands at the postal relay stations throughout the realm—do not let any mistakes occur. Be sure to act with steadiness, and above all, do not rush."

Upon hearing that His Majesty had approved the matter, Zhao Bingzhong was overjoyed and quickly bowed, saying: "Rest assured, Your Majesty. Your servant understands."

"Additionally, your servant wishes to go to the Ministry of Personnel to see how many people are queued up awaiting appointment, and select some from among them to enter the new office."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhao Bingzhong and nodded in approval, saying: "I will have the Ministry of Personnel cooperate with you on this matter. Go ahead with confidence—I will instruct the Ministry of Personnel about it later."

"Your servant thanks Your Majesty," Zhao Bingzhong quickly said with a bow, while feeling quite comforted in his heart—he had indeed not misjudged the man; His Majesty was willing to support him.

Of course Zhu Youxiao was willing to support Zhao Bingzhong.

As for Zhao Bingzhong's approach of going to the Ministry of Personnel to select officials, Zhu Youxiao could understand it as well. To put it plainly, he did not want to use the officials already at court—he wanted to select new people.

As for queuing at the Ministry of Personnel for appointment, this was also a phenomenon of the Great Ming.

It was not the case that once you passed the juren or jinshi examinations you would truly have the opportunity to be directly appointed as an official—unless you scored quite well and ranked quite high.

If you placed in the third tier, then go queue at the Ministry of Personnel for appointment.

After all, the Great Ming only had so many official posts. Naturally, people fought over the good positions, but people also fought over the bad ones. From seventh-rank to first-rank official hats, whenever a vacancy appeared, people would swarm in like bees.

The current situation was that there were few official posts but many who wanted to be officials, so they could only queue up. One radish, one hole—those queuing for appointment could only wait for some radish to retire to their hometown or be thrown into prison.

At such times, those with money and connections would pull some strings—this was also why people said the Selection Bureau of the Ministry of Personnel was a very lucrative office. Because in this process, they would receive countless benefits.

Many people queued for years without getting a post. The ones Zhao Bingzhong was going to select this time were probably exactly such people.

They felt wronged in their hearts and were very dissatisfied with the current officials, so once they went to the Office of Transmission, they would certainly be full of passion when it came to investigating such matters.

Zhu Youxiao could not help but marvel—this Zhao Bingzhong truly was a talent. He could even think of such an idea; indeed, his way of looking at things was quite extraordinary.

"Alright, go back and do your work well!" Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said with a smile.

Zhao Bingzhong quickly bowed: "Your servant takes his leave."

After seeing Zhu Youxiao nod, Zhao Bingzhong retreated while keeping his body bowed.

After Zhao Bingzhong had left, Zhu Youxiao leaned back comfortably in his chair, a meaningful smile spreading across his face.

How anticipated this was—he truly wanted to see just how far Zhao Bingzhong could go.