Chapter 1452: A Discussion Between Sovereign and Ministers

1452. Chapter 1452: A Discussion Between Sovereign and Ministers

After Zhao Song left the emperor's residence, he did not leave the military camp. Instead, he found another lodging within the camp to stay. His few trusted staff officers were also summoned over. Although they did not have the qualifications to have an audience with His Majesty, they were deliberately arranged to stay next to his lodging, so it would be convenient for them to formulate the corresponding plans.

After Zhao Song left, however, the emperor did not idle. His daily schedule was packed full every day. Arranging Zhao Song's audience was only a small matter in today's schedule; the matters to follow were even more important.

The emperor had been standing before the map on the platform, lost in thought. Sometimes he would gesture back and forth on the map with his hand. The attendants in the corners of the great hall still did not make a single sound, lest they disturb His Majesty's train of thought.

Only after a long while did a middle-aged attendant military officer tread with extremely light steps, slowly walking to the edge of the platform.

Then, he silently knelt down.

"Reporting to His Majesty, the Duke of Yong, the Duke of Cai, and the Marquis of Pingyuan have all arrived. They are now waiting for Your Majesty in the conference hall."

"They've all arrived?" The emperor finally withdrew his gaze from the map. "Very well, inform them to prepare. I will go over immediately."

"Yes!" This high-ranking attendant military officer immediately stood up, turned around crisply, and left the great hall, heading toward the conference hall in the side chamber.

The Duke of Yong is the current Prime Minister of the Great Han court, Wang Zhaojing, the highest-ranking minister who leads the Grand Secretariat and the apex of all civil officials in Huaxia; the Duke of Cai is Shi Manqiang. Like the Duke of Ji, Chen Sheng, and the Duke of Cao, Ji Xiang, he is also a Marshal of the Great Han army. He currently commands the Great Han armies in Shandong, Henan, as well as Huguang and Sichuan. Recently, because he had been commanding the main army to pacify Sichuan, he had been stationed in Chengdu. This time, he was specially recalled by the emperor. The Marquis of Pingyuan is Chen Hong, who currently serves as a Grand Secretary within the Grand Secretariat, responsible for finance and taxation, and is known as the Finance Minister.

Since the stabilization of the realm, under the emperor's sole design, the new dynasty has both followed some systems of the previous dynasty and carried out new reforms according to its own needs. The civil service system was naturally the top priority of the reforms.

One problem with the politics of the previous dynasty was that the Grand Secretariat, which controlled the actual power of the government, was disconnected from the Six Ministries, which handled practical affairs. This allowed the Chief Grand Secretary to easily monopolize power alone. Most Grand Secretaries could not find specific affairs to be responsible for and could only become figureheads, failing to play an assisting role. Meanwhile, the Six Ministries were often constrained in their actions because the ministers responsible for affairs had their status lowered. As a result, communication between the top and bottom was poor, and operations were sluggish.

Therefore, as soon as the new dynasty was established, while continuing the Grand Secretariat, the emperor also made the decision to integrate the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries into one. In this way, the Chief Grand Secretary (officially titled Prime Minister, also called the Premier by some) could oversee the overall situation, while other Grand Secretaries could also exercise their abilities within their respective scopes of authority, making the top and bottom function as one, like an arm directing a finger.

However, due to the multitude of state affairs, the Six Ministries were also split and had their authorities divided accordingly as needed. The Grand Secretariat now has as many as a dozen or so Grand Secretaries.

For example, the Ministry of Revenue had its functions split. Household registration and population management were divided into the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Grand Secretary in charge of it is called the "Civil Minister." The empire's financial accounting and taxation were divided into the Ministry of Finance, and the Grand Secretary in charge of it is called the "Finance Minister" (the Marquis of Pingyuan, Chen Hong, currently serves as Finance Minister). Commercial trade was divided into the Ministry of Commerce, and the Grand Secretary in charge of it is called the "Commerce Minister," currently held by the Marquis of Shangdang, Zhou Xuezhi.

As for the emperor's brother-in-law, Xu Housheng, who was enfeoffed as the Duke of Wei, he had been responsible for industrial affairs even before the realm was stabilized. After the new dynasty was established, he justifiably became the "Industry Minister" in charge of the Ministry of Industry, responsible for the nation's industrial, mining, and construction affairs.

Under this new government system, the status of Grand Secretaries began to be linked to their authority and responsibilities, no longer leading to the phenomenon of the previous Ming dynasty where the Chief Grand Secretary could cover the sky with one hand while the Six Ministries were overstaffed and inefficient.

The Prime Minister oversees the overall situation of the realm, and the Finance Minister holds the power over the empire's financial planning. These two can be said to be the most important and prestigious positions in the court. Now, these two middle-aged high ministers had both been summoned and were sitting calmly on one side of the long oval conference table in the side hall, occasionally whispering to each other. Meanwhile, Marshal and Duke of Cai, Shi Manqiang, sat on the other side of the round table, looking straight ahead without glancing sideways, not participating in the conversation between these two high ministers of the Grand Secretariat.

In the previous Ming dynasty era, after the Tumu Crisis, no matter how high a military officer's status was, he did not have the qualification to sit upright before the Chief Grand Secretary, not even the qualification to sit at all. So, such a scene would certainly not have occurred. However, since the establishment of the new dynasty, the emperor deeply felt the lesson of the previous Ming dynasty, where disdain for military men led to their low status and the army's combat effectiveness deteriorating day by day. Therefore, he deliberately elevated the status of military men, completely grasped the power of military command in his own hands, allowed the army to form its own system, and did not permit civil officials to suppress the status of military men by controlling promotions. Moreover, he repeatedly bestowed honorary titles upon high-ranking officers in the army to give them more confidence to uphold their status.

He was not afraid that giving military men high status would lead them to rebel, because he knew that as long as the people's hearts and the army's hearts were with the court, no one's rebellion could succeed, and very few would take such desperate risks—and if the people's hearts and the army's hearts were completely lost, even if military men did not rebel, how could the dynasty be preserved?

At the same time, precisely because Great Han deliberately maintained a balance between civil and military affairs, the two high ministers of the Grand Secretariat did not proactively converse with Marshal Shi in the conference hall.

It was not because their relationship was bad, but because they were deliberately avoiding suspicion.

After the attendant military officer notified them that the emperor was about to arrive, the two high ministers also stopped talking. The three top civil and military officials of the empire all sat upright and solemnly, waiting for the emperor's arrival.

The entire conference hall was silent. Only the faint trembling sound of the brass enamel Western clock's hands reminded people that time had not stopped flowing.

"His Majesty arrives!" Accompanied by a deep and resonant shout, the three high ministers simultaneously rose from their chairs and then walked to the open space on both sides.

When the emperor, dressed in a black military uniform, entered the conference hall, the three high ministers who wielded immense power and could silence ten thousand people knelt down in unison on both knees and then shouted out simultaneously.

"Long live His Majesty, long live, long, long live!"

The emperor merely waved his hand casually, gesturing for them to dispense with formalities, and then walked on his own to the main seat.

The seats at the oval conference table were originally all identical chairs made of yellow pear wood, but at the insistence of the high ministers, the main seat was deliberately raised one step higher, and the seat was also wrapped in gold and inlaid with jade to reflect the emperor's supreme status.

Apart from this seat, the other furnishings in the conference hall were relatively simple, even spartan. People who had not seen it would find it hard to believe that it was in this simple conference hall that countless major decisions concerning the national economy, people's livelihood, and the life and death of countless people were formulated and then executed by the bureaucratic and military machinery of the entire empire.

Because they frequently had audiences with the emperor, these high ministers were not as uneasy as Zhao Song, but they still held their breath and focused their gaze, deeply afraid of making the emperor unhappy.

They could all be said to be old brothers who had followed the emperor since his very beginnings, but by now, they all understood that they were sovereign and ministers, and the boundary between them had been clearly defined. They had to maintain this boundary and could no longer extend their past ways of interacting into the current environment.

Precisely because they had this awareness, after the emperor ascended the throne, no matter how much the emperor refused, they still used various methods to honor the emperor and highlight the supremacy of imperial power. They knew this was the best choice for both the emperor and themselves.

"I've kept you waiting." The emperor gently waved his hand, signaling for the attendants in the room to leave.

These attendant military officers did not hesitate at all and all walked out silently, then closed the door, leaving only a young secretary in the corner of the conference hall responsible for recording the conversation of the few people for future reference—these secretaries were all carefully selected, reliable young people who would also be promoted to positions in the Grand Secretariat office in the future, with very bright prospects, so they would absolutely never have any thought of leaking secrets.

After these people had all left, the emperor's originally stern expression immediately relaxed considerably. "Alright, now that they're gone, don't put on those tense faces. We're all brothers here; you can speak freely."

Seeing that the emperor was in a good mood, the three high ministers secretly exchanged glances and all breathed a sigh of relief.

However, even so, they still did not dare to truly treat themselves as brothers and act willfully and unrestrainedly before the emperor.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." The highest-ranking among the three was the Prime Minister of the current court and Duke of Yong, Wang Zhaojing. Therefore, according to the unwritten rule among the high ministers, he was responsible for replying. "As your subjects, we should wholeheartedly assist Your Majesty and dare not presumptuously overstep our bounds."

"What overstepping or not overstepping? I led you all to conquer this realm, and I must also lead you all to govern it with me!" The emperor frowned in dissatisfaction. "I now reside deep within the nine-fold palace. If you worry about this and that and don't speak properly, how am I to know whether things are good or not?"

These words, spoken with both warmth and a hint of trust, made the several high ministers both moved and delighted, and smiles appeared on their faces. Their respect for the emperor was not merely because he was the emperor and thus of supreme status; the more important reason was that it came from the heart. It was under the emperor's leadership that they formed a group, then walked out step by step from Xuzhou, gradually strengthening their power, and finally swept across the entire realm. In their hearts, the thought that "His Majesty sees ten thousand miles with absolute correctness; we only need to follow and execute" had, to some extent, become a subconscious thought. They almost never opposed any of the emperor's opinions, even if they did not particularly understand that opinion.