Chapter 382: I Am Absolute Authority

The Emperor's idea was simple, but how was this matter to be carried out?

For the moment, no one in the room had any particularly good ideas.

The Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat merely all turned their heads to look at Sun Chengzong.

During yesterday's deliberations, Sun Chengzong had put forward this idea—to bring the matters of money and grain under the Ministry of War, so that the new army would fall under the Ministry of War's jurisdiction. That way, everything would be just as it had been before.

At the time, the several men of the Grand Secretariat had considered that His Majesty might not agree.

But no one had expected that His Majesty would not only disagree, but would instead want to re-establish the Regional Military Commissioner's Office for the Imperial Guard, and even rename it the Imperial Guard Corps Command Office.

Once the Imperial Guard Corps Command Office was established, the Emperor would have an army of his own. Although all the armies under heaven belonged to the Emperor, the Imperial Guard was different from other armies—it was an army that accepted orders only from the Emperor and was not subject to anyone else's jurisdiction.

One had to understand that all the armies across the realm were currently governed by civil officials over military affairs—to put it plainly, civil officials had the authority to deploy troops and the right to command them; this had always been a privilege that civil officials had fought to obtain. Now this privilege was about to disappear.

Seeing everyone turn to look at him, Sun Chengzong did not speak either, standing in place without a word.

Sun Chengzong's attitude was obvious—on this matter he did not wish to speak, and they should not count on him any further; if anyone had something to say, they should say it quickly.

In truth, the others also wanted to speak, but none dared.

This matter was enormous; anything that touched upon military authority had always been extremely, extremely difficult.

Back then, when the Emperor's Imperial Guard had been cut down, it was because of the Tumu Crisis—all the Imperial Guard troops had been lost to the last man, and with the Emperor taken captive, the court had been in chaos for a while. In the end, though things had stabilized, there had been no heart to re-establish a new army.

After Emperor Yingzong's restoration, there was even less inclination to do such a thing. So no one ever brought up the Imperial Guard again.

Yu Qian had completed the reorganization of the Imperial Guard, and no Emperor had wanted to change it back. Later, although the Zhengde Emperor did change it, he had lived too short a time and never managed to complete his vision.

When the Jiajing Emperor ascended the throne, in order to demonstrate his difference from the previous emperor, he changed everything the Zhengde Emperor had changed back to the way it was before.

Now His Majesty wanted to establish the Imperial Guard Corps Command Office—whoever opposed it would be standing on the opposite side of His Majesty.

The key issue was that there was currently no force at court capable of contending with His Majesty, and the several Grand Secretaries in the court were not of one mind themselves. Even if some opposed it, others would support it.

Han Kuang and Huang Kezuan were fence-sitters; the two of them now enjoyed His Majesty's trust, so having them step forward to oppose this matter was impossible.

As for Xu Guangqi, it would be good enough if he did not oppose it, let alone speak against it.

Sun Chengzong harbored thoughts of opposition in his heart, but he would not stick his neck out—sticking his neck out now would yield no good fruit. Moreover, as for drilling and training the new army, Sun Chengzong was very much in favor.

As for who would command this Imperial Guard Corps, Sun Chengzong did not care much either. Even if it were under civil official jurisdiction, in the end His Majesty would still have to issue an imperial edict.

Moreover, there was now the Staff Office; those people would certainly support it. The other officials among the Six Ministries would probably also agree quite generously.

This was the benefit of the work Zhu Youxiao had done in the early period—what he was learning from was the Chenghua Emperor of old.

At a time when civil officials were so powerful, the Chenghua Emperor had still managed to establish the Emperor's authority. Back then, the "paper-pasted Three Grand Secretaries and clay-molded Six Ministers" had been cursed by everyone.

When the Chenghua Emperor saw that the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot were colluding with each other and entangled with civil officials, he created a Western Depot. But once he had taken the power back, the Western Depot was abolished, and Wang Zhi ended up with a good outcome.

Our current Majesty keeps Cui Chengxiu and his lot in the Censorate, there is a Wei Zhongxian over at the Eastern Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard is a mad dog; moreover, there are now the Office of Transmission and the Patrol Office, and none of those people are easy to deal with either.

Power struggles at court were nothing more than the east wind overwhelming the west wind.

Now the Emperor was strong, had people under his command, and was not afraid at all. If you wanted to oppose him, he could simply replace you—this was also Zhu Youxiao's confidence.

Seeing that no one stepped forward to speak, Zhu Youxiao said directly: "Since all my beloved ministers agree, then this matter is settled as such. As for how to go about it—we can discuss that later."

"Now let's continue. The Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of War have all spoken; next, let the Ministry of Revenue speak."

After hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Xu Guangqi stepped forward and said: "To answer Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue does not need too much silver—it only needs more granaries to be built in various localities."

"Your Majesty mentioned this matter before. Although some were built, because no one attended to it before the new year, they were delayed. Now this should be continued. Your servant has calculated that, if the initial completion proceeds according to plan, roughly five hundred thousand taels of silver will be needed. This figure includes the cost of purchasing grain; this amount should be sufficient."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xu Guangqi and nodded.

Building new granaries in various localities and storing grain was a strategy Zhu Youxiao had set down. On the one hand, it was to cope with the coming natural disasters, so that the court would have grain to deploy; on the other hand, it was so that there would be military grain available for war.

Zhu Youxiao said: "Then let this matter be settled as such."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi acknowledged, bowed, and withdrew to one side.

Having gotten to this point in the discussion, Zhu Youxiao actually no longer wished to speak much. Because all the important matters had already been discussed. As for the rest, aside from its normal expenditures, the Ministry of Justice would not have any other expenses.

Apart from that, only the Ministry of Works would need to spend some more silver. The expenditures required were nothing more than repairing river channels and building water conservancy works. How much money could be thrown into these things without end?

If the Ministry of Works' budget were to be carried out across the entire country all at once, even selling Zhu Youxiao would not be enough—it could only be a matter of attending to the most urgent needs, disbursing funds wherever they were most needed.

Although these matters were also important, he truly had no energy for them right now. So Zhu Youxiao said: "Let the Ministry of Works' matters be drafted first, and submitted for discussion later. If there is nothing else, let us end here for today."

Hearing this, the assembled men did not take it too much to heart—after all, the Ministry of Works had always been the one that got pushed around among the Six Ministries. Even if the Ministry of Works wanted to do something, it was usually placed last; such a situation was quite common.

"Your servant still has one matter to discuss."

Sun Chengzong stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, regarding the matter of the Duke Yansheng, might we discuss it a bit more?"

"What the Kong family did was indeed treasonous, and stripping them of their title was indeed only proper, but the line of the Duke Yansheng cannot be allowed to break!"

Upon hearing these words, the expressions of all the officials turned grave.

The earlier matters they felt could be set aside for the moment—such as the establishment of the Imperial Guard Corps Command Office—but the latter matter could not be.

In their view, ritual law was greater than heaven. This matter of the Kong family was the matter of all scholars.

"The plaque of Confucius the Sage cannot fall." So after Sun Chengzong finished speaking these words, quite a few people began to step forward and voice their agreement.

Even Xu Guangqi followed suit and stepped forward to agree: "Your servant concurs!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xu Guangqi, his eyes indifferent, but his heart was somewhat complicated.

This Xu Guangqi had previously been pushing Catholicism toward this Emperor. And now he had switched to championing the Kong family—clearly he had his own ideas.

Or perhaps Xu Guangqi's ideas had never changed at all. This actually made Zhu Youxiao rather gratified.

However, this matter could not be agreed to too hastily by Zhu Youxiao. He had many things to do next, and it was precisely fitting to keep this matter to bargain with the ministers, and it could also be used to soothe people's hearts.

Otherwise, if they were given the energy to apply it elsewhere, that would not be good.

So Zhu Youxiao said with a dark face: "I am tired. Let this matter be discussed another time!"

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao directly stood up and, with a dark face, walked out toward the back.

Everyone exchanged helpless glances with one another.

Clearly, everyone could see that His Majesty was angry. As for the reason for His Majesty's anger, of course it was the matter of the Duke Yansheng's title.

It seemed His Majesty's resentment was still quite great.

After everyone had respectfully seen off Zhu Youxiao, they turned and walked out.

"It seems this matter will still take some time." Han Kuang looked at Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi, sighed helplessly, and said, "Who knows what the Kong family is thinking. It's been so many years, and they dare to do anything without restraint."

"Take it slowly." Xu Guangqi sighed and said, "In the end, we must give the scholars an explanation."

As for the others gathered around, they had no ability to interject in such a conversation. But everyone understood in their hearts that getting this matter done would be no small feat.

"Keep your subordinates in check recently." Han Kuang slowly admonished again, "Don't incur His Majesty's displeasure. Have those below cooperate as much as possible with what His Majesty wants to do now. Also, send someone to keep an eye on Cui Chengxiu—don't let him run wild, or the gains won't be worth the losses."

Everyone fell silent and nodded, all understanding the meaning behind Han Kuang's words.

Unlike the atmosphere here, Cui Chengxiu was overjoyed.

He had been promoted for so long and done so much work—finally it was his turn to take charge.

Holding an official post as Bureau Secretary represented power, and this matter wasn't just about power alone—it represented His Majesty's regard for him.

Under such circumstances, it was hard for Cui Chengxiu not to be excited.

Cui Chengxiu strode quickly toward a man who was writing, smiled, and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Lord Zhu, this time I'm afraid I'll need your cooperation."

This Lord Zhu was naturally Zhu Tongmeng, Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. His position was higher than Cui Chengxiu's.

It was just that Cui Chengxiu had risen so quickly that he would soon be on equal footing with Zhu Tongmeng.

The reason Cui Chengxiu sought out Zhu Tongmeng was simple—when Zhu Tongmeng had impeached the Academy over that matter before, Cui Chengxiu had not yet risen to his current position.

But Cui Chengxiu had not forgotten the matter.