Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 588: The Consensus of the Imperial Teacher Party
One of the basic elements of legal texts is clarity and not to cause ambiguity. Therefore, the "Huang Ming Constitution" naturally cannot be written in classical Chinese, nor can it be subtle and profound, so its length is naturally very long.
As he read the whole text one by one, even Xiong Tingbi, who was known for his "full of energy", took several breaks in the middle. By the time he finished reading the whole text, the whole morning was almost over.
Looking at the ministers below who were in varying degrees of surprise and daze, Zhu Youdong smiled slightly and said, "My Lords, I propose that we adjourn this meeting. You can go back and have a good rest, and continue tomorrow morning."
"We thank the emperor for his understanding."
They said that everyone should go back and rest, but none of the important officials attending the meeting wanted to rest: There is no other way, the bomb dropped by the Ministry of Justice today is too shocking.
There is no way, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the previous dynasties. Their laws include criminal law, civil law, commercial law, tax law, and litigation law... but there is no constitution.
However , everyone who could sit at the table of the State Council was a top figure in the Ming Dynasty at that time. Even if they had no idea about the constitution before, after listening for a whole morning, everyone understood: this is the fundamental law of the country, the "laws of ancestors". And the emperor's move was to establish the so-called "laws of ancestors" in a written form.
Who benefits the most from this? The royal family, of course!
For many years, civil officials have relied on misinterpreting the "laws of ancestors" to limit the imperial power and sacrifice their own interests. Just as Confucius' words were later completely distorted by his disciples, Zhu Laosi's words at that time became the best weapon for civil officials: the emperor only has one mouth anyway, and since Emperor Xuanzong Zhang, the emperors after the Ming Dynasty were mostly mediocre people, and they could not beat the civil officials in verbal battles. So gradually, the words that the ancestors of the Zhu family originally left to protect their descendants became the biggest clamp on the imperial power.
Now, if the Imperial Ming Constitution is passed, there will be almost no room for civil officials to play: it is written in black and white, and you want to misinterpret the meaning of the text to deceive the emperor? Unless the emperor at that time is mentally retarded, it is impossible. Instead of doing that, you might as well think about how to get enough votes to amend the constitution.
But it is not easy to amend the constitution: the emperor clearly defined the status of soldiers, eunuchs and even the Imperial Guards in this charter. For these people, they absolutely urgently hope that this charter can be passed and implemented.
Needless to say , the soldiers had been suppressed for too long, and only in the last ten years or so did they rise again. Although the eunuchs and the Imperial Guards had considerable power for more than two hundred years, they were always discriminated against. And you have to know that the eunuchs and the Imperial Guards had considerable power as a group, but in the past two hundred years, only a handful of the leading eunuchs and commanders were able to have a good ending.
These three groups are living a very comfortable life now, but they are also afraid: what if the current emperor suddenly passes away and the court changes again?
If the Charter can be passed, there will be no problem: it will affirm the status of the three groups in the form of the country's fundamental law. As long as the constitution is not amended, the civil officials will not be able to ride on their heads or retaliate against them as before. This is the eternal benefit that the emperor has sought for our three groups. How can we not support it?
As for the emperor's intention to use this charter to further centralize power and clarify his dictatorship in the form of law? Hey! What's the big deal? Shouldn't the emperor centralize power?
Therefore, if this charter is really passed, the emperor will be the biggest beneficiary, followed by the military, eunuchs, Jinyiwei, and then ordinary merchants, farmers, and craftsmen. Even princes and overseas vassals will have the constitutional approval.
The only ones whose interests were harmed were the civil officials, the scholars behind them, and the traditional landlord class who valued farming and studying to pass on their family traditions.
This is the essence of the Charter after a detailed reading.
Now, the ruling party of the Ming Dynasty is the Imperial Teacher Party. They are the emperor's teachers and have great common interests with the emperor. But they are also civil officials, the general representatives of nearly 30,000 current civil officials in the Ming Dynasty. Although they are now at the top of the civil officials, if this matter is not handled well and this "Charter" is passed smoothly, the civil officials and scholars below will probably have their brains fried to pieces.
Therefore, by the afternoon of that day, a large number of Beijing officials gathered around Xiong Tingbi's house. Wen Tiren, Sun Chengzong, Zhang Yicheng, and Xu Guangqi were also trapped in Xiong's house.
Standing on the attic in the yard, looking at the dark crowd of people outside, the five bosses were not too panicked. Instead, they drank their wine leisurely.
"Alas, 25 years ago, when I became the Emperor's teacher, I thought that if the Crown Prince could ascend the throne in 30 years, I would be satisfied if I could be the Minister of State. Who would have thought that I would be put on the spot today?"
"Hey, Prime Minister, what you said is not sincere. The emperor had eight teachers back then, except for the three who have passed away, there are five sitting here today. The four of us are only ministers, but you are the Prime Minister. Are you going too far by saying this in front of us?"
"Hahaha, alright, alright, Feibai, I know your temper. You are the toughest. Tell me, how did you hand over such a Charter?"
"What is the Prime Minister dissatisfied with?"
"It's a rare occasion for the five of us to sit together today, so let's not talk about official positions. As for what you are not satisfied with, I'll tell you directly. Article 12 of Chapter 1 states that all private lands have the obligation to pay taxes. Feibai, what do you think, if this charter is passed, does the emperor want officials and gentry to pay taxes together?"
"Humph, that's just how it should be!" It was Xu Guangqi who took over the conversation. "Once the land tax is distributed according to the land area, there will be no more hidden households among the people. However, if the government and gentry do not pay taxes together, the trend of tax contributions among the people cannot be stopped, and we will never know exactly how much arable land the country has. Ladies and gentlemen, the land tax of the court is very low now, and the rapid development of industry has absorbed a lot of labor in the countryside. However, in the central and western regions of our Ming Dynasty, agriculture is still the mainstream, and tax contributions are still popular. As long as the trend of tax contributions continues to exist, there is no way to talk about tax fairness!"
"Haha." Wen Tiren slurped a cup of rice wine and smiled, "Since you are in charge of the Ministry of Works, you must have long been dissatisfied with the constraints on rural labor, right?" After saying this, he said seriously, "I have about 3,000 acres of land in my hometown. If the officials and gentry really pay taxes together, I will lose about 100 taels of silver this year. This amount of money can be easily made up as long as I am still the prime minister. But once this is announced, I am afraid it will cause unrest among the people."
"Not only that." Zhang Yicheng also spoke up: "In the third chapter, the succession to the throne, the emperor's intention is very clear. He doesn't want to abide by the system of whether the eldest son is the heir or the eldest son is the heir. He only wants to appoint the virtuous! Alas, the emperor is really patient enough. When we treated the eldest son and the second son so differently, he didn't say anything..."
"Everyone, do you have any big questions?"
"What else can we say?" Wen Tiren spread his hands. "Throughout the entire charter, the emperor is concentrating power. But the problem is that the emperor already has most of these powers in his hands. Now it is just explicitly confirmed through legislation. If we disagree, does that mean the emperor has no power left? As for the ancestral laws that those crows outside are shouting about, humph, they are just waiting for the current emperor to do something unspeakable so that they can suppress the next emperor. But..."
When Old Wen said this, he set up a telescope and carefully admired the expressions of the officials gathered outside the courtyard. He smiled sarcastically, "I have experienced the reign of the Grand Emperor. The Grand Emperor wanted to make the country better at that time, but he was forced by the censors to not want to attend court for decades. The entire country was declining day by day, and the court was crying out for money all day long. How can it compare to the prosperity of the country after the current emperor came to power? Besides, is the current emperor easy to mess with? Why should I bet my life and property to fight for the interests of future civil officials?"
This statement was so clear that everyone was at a loss for words.
After a long while, Xiong Tingbi coughed twice: "It seems that the biggest questions you have about the charter are the unified tax payment by officials and gentry and the succession to the throne. Brother Zhisheng will explain the former later. I agree with the latter. Ladies and gentlemen, our Ming Dynasty is not a barbarian after all, and we cannot learn the Ottoman Canon inheritance law. But as the emperor said in his private letter to me, since this charter gives the emperor such great power, we must not rely on God to make good use of such power! Ladies and gentlemen, we have been colleagues for 25 years, and we can talk openly about some things. To be disrespectful, if Prince Huiren had not died early, but ascended the throne smoothly, how do you think Prince Huiren would govern the country compared to today's Prince Fu?"
As soon as these words came out, the other four nodded: If someone like Zhu Changluo were allowed to ascend the throne, not only would their careers be ruined, but they would also have to suffer political persecution from the Donglin Party, and their wives and daughters would have to be sent to the Jiaofangsi! Because Zhu Changluo blindly believed in the Donglin Party and did not understand the emperor's balancing act at all. On the contrary, Prince Fu, who now went to Korea, governed Fuguo in an orderly manner: To be honest, if they were asked to choose between Zhu Changluo and Zhu Changxun now, they would choose Zhu Changxun without hesitation!
"The emperor also said in the letter, if an heir to the throne can't even defeat his own brothers, how can he claim to be alone in the future? As for whether the internal fighting among the princes will cause division among the ministers? Hehe, the emperor didn't say that. But everyone, let me say something disrespectful. Which monarch can tolerate the unity of his ministers? For example, today, it's okay for the five of us to get together, but if the second and third assistants were also gathered here, do you think Tian Ergeng or Wei Zhongxian would be nervous?"
After seeing everyone nodding silently, Xiong Tingbi let out a long sigh: "It seems that everyone has no objection to this one. Then let's talk about the last one. Officials and gentry pay taxes together. Brother Zhisheng?"
"Haha." Sun Chengzong, who was already 66 years old this year, looked very energetic despite his completely white hair. "The emperor has already informed me of this matter. The Ministry of Personnel is currently working on a plan to overhaul the functions of the court. After this overhaul, the number of civil servant positions that the court can provide, from the central government to the local governments, will increase from the current nearly 30,000 to more than 300,000."
"Hahaha, this is the emperor's ultimate move. Once this news gets out, who among those idiots out there would dare to oppose the charter? Wouldn't those who dare to oppose be cursed to death by those scholars who haven't entered officialdom?"
