Chapter 137: State Council

Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "Elder Hou speaks most excellently. The court's methods of deliberation and governance have been in practice for many years; to change them abruptly would indeed easily cause disorder. But now, not changing them is no longer an option.

First, the court is in disarray. Not many officials followed us to Dagukou; most stayed in Beijing and surrendered to the Roving Bandit, and now they are being put to the press. Relying only on the court officials who made it to Dagukou, we simply cannot sustain the original vast structure no matter what. So we can only reform governance, striving for a leaner scale, while at the same time making the responsibilities and authority of each ministry and office clear.

Second, this is an age of great contention. The realm is split in four, and our Great Ming is only one of them. The court's first priority is no longer governing the realm, but contending for the realm! Governing the realm calls for benevolent rule, but contending for the realm demands hegemony, cunning, and stratagem. The bandits and caitiffs are treacherous and ruthless; if we are to defeat them, we must be even more cunning and more ruthless!"

Good! The fox's tail is showing at last! the Chongzhen Emperor thought. We knew all along that you are more cunning and more ruthless than the roving bandits and the Tartars. If the realm fell into your hands, how could it possibly turn out well?

Zhu Cilang's tone turned grave. "If we are not cunning enough and not ruthless enough, the state will perish! We and Imperial Father would naturally die for the country, while all of you—heh heh—would be dragged off by Li Zicheng to be put to the press and tortured!"

"Thousand Years is truly a wise and brilliant sovereign!" Hou Xun, the Donglin grandee, said loudly. "These are already chaotic times. The court indeed can no longer practice the benevolence of peaceful days; it must practice the hegemony of great contention! This is not a violation of the ancestral system, but a defense of the ancestral patrimony. Surely our ancestors, when contending for hegemony in the chaos of the late Yuan, did not practice only benevolent and righteous governance either!

It seems that abolishing abuses and renewing governance is truly essential to the Great Ming's restoration! It is a policy of great goodness!"

What? It's already a policy of great goodness? The traitorous son hasn't even said how he plans to reform! The Chongzhen Emperor was stunned for a moment, and only then did he understand: Hou Xun had been in collusion with Zhu Cilang all along! He was a treacherous minister who formed cliques for private gain. Throwing him into the Imperial Prison back then had not been the least bit unjust!

"Your Highness the Crown Prince," Wei Zaode, Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, now stepped forward from the ranks to ask, "may this subject ask how Your Highness intends to alter the methods of deliberation and governance?"

Zhu Cilang smiled, his gaze slowly sweeping over the officials crowded into the great hall—there were still quite a lot of them!

He smiled and raised his voice. "These are extraordinary times, so the rules of the morning audience must be changed. There is no need for so many people to attend. It will suffice for the five Grand Secretaries, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, the Left and Right Chief Censors, the four Guard Commanders of the Grand Marshal's Office, and the officials personally designated by Us to attend court. Nor does the hour need to be so early; holding court promptly at the hour of the Snake will do."

What? Only that many people? Not even the Nine Ministers need come? And court is held that late? The Chongzhen Emperor's spirit stirred again. This Crown Prince is far too lazy! And with so few ministers at court, how can one listen broadly and judge clearly? This is the path to becoming a fatuous ruler!

Moreover, the rules of the court audience are a vital part of the ancestral house law! How can they be altered so lightly? And to alter them here at Dagukou—is that not far too rash?

What the Chongzhen Emperor did not know was that Zhu Cilang's reduction of the number of officials attending court, and his postponement of the morning audience, had been carefully thought through.

At the Great Ming court, there were certainly more treacherous ministers who did no proper work than honest ones!

If Zhu Cilang were as diligent as the Chongzhen Emperor, then fine—every day before dawn he would have to receive more than a thousand treacherous ministers, seeing them all morning, sometimes even busy into the afternoon. A wise sovereign facing more than a thousand treacherous ministers—if they did not anger him to death or annoy him to death, he would simply work himself to death. Did he really think he was his own August Progenitor, the Exalted Emperor, able to take on more than a thousand by himself?

And what could a grand assembly of more than a thousand people possibly discuss? They were not allowed to vote or raise their hands to decide anything. Was it not still Zhu Cilang who made the decisions? With everyone jabbering at once, it was vexing enough to drive one to death.

Besides, with so many treacherous ministers gathered together, they would also check and undercut one another—in fact, the very duty of many officials was to check and undercut, such as the "remonstrating and admonishing" officials, that is, the Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices and the Censors of the Censorate. These officials basically did exactly that. Moreover, the nature of their fault-finding was different from that of a parliament in the representative politics of later ages. A parliament governs legislation, not administration. The "remonstrators and admonishers" were court officials—that is, administrative officials of the government.

This practice of having government officials make trouble for the heads of government and the chiefs of each ministry was, in essence, a lack of confidence in imperial power—a distrust of the court ministers, a fear that they would form cliques for private gain and deceive the imperial hearing. Of course, for a fatuous ruler like Chongzhen, the "remonstrator and admonisher" system still had a reason to exist, because Chongzhen was a shut-in who had grown up deep within the palace and knew nothing of the outside world. His judgment was highly questionable, and he was easily deceived.

But Zhu Cilang was already so cunning himself that he had no need for "remonstrators and admonishers" to add to the trouble, so he decided to see a few fewer treacherous ministers every day.

For the ordinary court session, five Grand Secretaries (who were also Ministers), plus one Minister of War, Chen Rui, plus twelve Vice Ministers, four Guard Commanders, and two Chief Censors would be enough—twenty-four ministers in all. At most, a few more could be added temporarily as needed, thirty-some at the very limit. Even if all of them were treacherous, they would be easier to handle. A court session attended by thirty ministers would in fact be a true "State Council" capable of genuinely deliberating the great affairs of state.

This was a reform of the greatest importance! For in the future, all reforms would be discussed and implemented by this "State Council"!

As for the other capital officials, two grand audiences a month, just to meet with everyone, would suffice.

Because fewer people needed to be seen, there was also no need to hold court before dawn in the early morning. The hour of the Snake—that is, nine in the morning—would do. One double-hour of deliberating great policy would be enough, ending around noon, which would not delay lunch, and would also leave time for debauchery and dissipation. How fine!

Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "This is only the regular court. In addition, there will be the grand audience, held on the first and fifteenth of every month, which all capital officials may attend. Here at Dagukou, we will not hold it. The temporary palace is too cramped to contain so many of you!

If there are no objections, the Grand Secretaries, Ministers, Vice Ministers, Supervising Secretaries, Guard Commanders, Chief Censors, as well as the Duke of Ying, the Duke of Cheng, and the Earl of Xiangcheng—all officials other than these may disperse."

How could there possibly be no objections? the Chongzhen Emperor thought. Surely one or two loyal ministers would step forward.

"Your subjects have no objections."

The assembled ministers all rose and made obeisance, kowtowing to the Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang. Then the officials who did not need to remain for the small court session all turned and filed out in order—Wei Zaode and Hou Xun had long since given word to the various parties: whoever talked too much would be left at Dagukou to await Li Zicheng's torture! If you have no objections, the Crown Prince will arrange for you to leave as soon as possible, to go first to the safety of Dengzhou and stay there. How fine!

Now the Chongzhen Emperor was dumbfounded. How could you all just leave? How could not a single loyal minister step forward to argue on principle? Although here at Dagukou the traitorous son holds all power in his hand, and although the traitorous son will soon retake Beijing and become the lord of the restoration, you could still have stepped forward and argued on principle! Even at the cost of your lives, you should have defended the ancestral system!

When you were in Beijing, you were all so good at making trouble. Why are you all so obedient now?

Watching everyone leave like a receding tide, Chongzhen's heart went cold.

So the ministers truly were all ministers of a doomed state! He had originally thought that after reaching Nanjing he could rely on the help of loyal ministers in the secondary capital. Now that Beijing was about to be retaken, there would probably be no move south after all.

The realm of the Great Ming would soon fall into the hands of the traitorous son and his treacherous ministers!

Seeing that none of the assembled ministers had any objection, Zhu Cilang finally breathed a great sigh of relief. Fortunately, they were in the perilous straits of Dagukou, where everyone was eager to leave as soon as possible—only thus could such a momentous reform pass! If they had gone to Nanjing first and then tried to change things, the trouble would have been enormous.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhu Cilang glanced at Chongzhen, who sat sulking on the imperial seat. Seeing that he showed no intention of leaving, he did not open his mouth to send him away, but simply began deliberating with the ministers.

"Before today's small court session begins, We shall also announce a rule. From this day forward, at court sessions, no speaker shall be punished for his words! Censors and remonstrating officials, civil and military ministers alike, shall not impeach any inner or outer official for proposals made at court sessions, nor shall anyone be punished because the content of an official's memorial was deemed improper."

(End of Chapter)