Taking a step forward, Luo Sigong said, "Your Majesty, I believe the personnel selected by the Censorate are of mixed quality. This approach may not necessarily achieve any good results, but may even cause chaos in the local area. After all, they are not familiar with local affairs, and rashly going there may lead to some inappropriate behavior."

Seeing Luo Sigong's righteous words, Wei Zhongxian wanted to slap him in the face.

Why didn’t you say it just now?

Now that you come out and say all this, are you still mentioning your Jinyiwei?

You can’t use up all the reasons for this, right?

Before Wei Zhongxian could speak, Luo Sigong continued, "I believe that local officials should be allowed to submit secret reports to the capital. The Jinyiwei can confiscate their secret reports and secretly send them to the capital."

"By not going through the cabinet, but directly before the emperor, local officials can present the truth, eliminating the practice of deceiving their superiors and concealing the truth from their subordinates. Anything can be reported to the capital as quickly as possible. By then, the affairs of the world will naturally be revealed to His Majesty."

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled.

As expected, they were right. They could actually think of this.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "My dear minister, what you said makes sense. Perhaps this is a good idea."

In fact, it was not uncommon to make secret reports in the Ming Dynasty. However, there were not many people who had the authority to make secret reports. Basically, there were only the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as well as some important officials in the court.

When they met Zhu Youxiao, they could submit their written memorials directly to him without going through the cabinet.

However, this practice is against the rules and is usually not chosen. The ministers still have to go through the cabinet after submitting their memorials, but the news cannot be concealed.

Whether it was the Cabinet, the Ministry of Public Security, or even the Imperial Household Department, they were like a dilapidated house with leaks on all sides, and nothing could be hidden.

Zhu Youxiao had long been dissatisfied with this, and this was something he wanted to change.

It is not difficult to change this because we can learn from the experience of later generations.

During the Qing Dynasty, in order to change this system and reduce the power of the cabinet, a very important invention was made, called memorials.

Memorials were first used during the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty and were widely adopted thereafter. They became a fixed system during the Kangxi reign and lasted for over two hundred years until their abolition at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Officials' reports to the emperor were written on folded paper, hence the name "zouzhe." They were also called "zhezi." They had a fixed format for the number of pages, lines, and words per line.

Officials inside and outside the capital, regardless of their rank, could submit memorials and express gratitude as long as they received the emperor's favor and special permission, even if they were lowly officials or even the abbots of temples.

The most important thing about memorials is confidentiality. In order to ensure that the contents of memorials would not be leaked, the Qing court established a complete confidentiality system to make the memorial system more perfect.

First, the author must write it personally, and generally no one else is allowed to write it for him. Once it is written, it cannot be circulated to others, otherwise he will be punished.

Second, the palace made a leather box equipped with a lock and key and issued it to officials who submitted memorials, specifically for the purpose of storing and delivering memorials.

Third, memorials from officials above the rank of governor-general were sent by special messengers to the Qianqing Gate of the Imperial Palace, where they were handed over to the Internal Memorial Office and presented directly to the Emperor, rather than being forwarded to the Jiaotong Zhengshisi. Memorials from ordinary officials were also sent by special messengers to trusted ministers designated by Yongzheng, who would submit them on his behalf. Of course, the messengers had no right to know the contents of the memorials. After reading them, the Emperor would make his mark in red, and the memorials would be returned through the original channel.

Fourth, take back the memorials with imperial approval.

Fifth, strengthen the confidentiality of the Grand Council.

Since memorials eliminated the need for intermediate links and were sent by imperial mail, they could not only be delivered to the emperor quickly, but also be directly returned to the officials who submitted the memorials after the emperor's approval of the imperial edict, so that they could be implemented immediately. This greatly improved administrative efficiency and had a positive impact on the politics of the Qing Dynasty.

At the same time, since memorials were submitted in secret, in addition to the normal relationship of leadership and being led, a relationship of mutual restraint was formed between the governors of the provinces and the officials, between the local and central governments, and between the inner court and the outer court.

Ministers informed on each other, and the emperor's spies were everywhere, both inside and outside the capital. No one knew who had reported what to the emperor, and the emperor could directly learn about all public and private affairs and interpersonal relationships, no matter how big or small, in the central government and local governments through memorials.

The emperor then used memorials to rectify the administration of officials, monitor public sentiment, issue orders, and exclude dissidents. All affairs in the world were handled by one person, thus bringing feudal imperial power to an unprecedented level.

Zhu Youxiao naturally wanted to use such a good thing.

At the same time, a new government office could be established to specifically handle memorials. This would weaken the power of the cabinet to some extent and lay the foundation for the establishment of a new government office in the future.

However, if this matter is brought up, it will inevitably make countless people dissatisfied. Especially cabinet officials, there will be a lot of people attacking them.

It was impossible for Zhu Youxiao to take action personally, so he used the dream to find Han Li, and now he has also found Wei Zhongxian and Luo Sigong.

Originally, Zhu Youxiao wanted to put the blame on Wei Zhongxian, but he didn't expect Luo Sigong to be so proactive.

It doesn't matter who you give it to, so it's up to him.

As for Luo Sigong's suggestion to have the Embroidered Uniform Guard transport these memorials, Zhu Youxiao was not prepared to listen.

Because it is of no great use, the civil officials will not trust the Jinyiwei. Even if they do, many things are internal affairs of the civil officials, so they will not go to the Jinyiwei.

There is a saying in later generations that Zhu Youxiao remembers very clearly. That is:

Things in the underworld belong to the underworld. Anyone who reports it to the authorities is a traitor.

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