Why did Chongzhen want to give up power?

There are many purposes.

Including testing the loyalty of those in the court, increasing administrative efficiency, weakening the impact of the autocratic system on society, etc.

The appearance of decentralization is to delegate power to the heads of various government departments and let them have the final say.

In reality, it is a departmental responsibility system.

The advantage of the departmental responsibility system is its high efficiency and obvious results.

Chongzhen had no experience in governing a country, but he had ideas about managing a business.

In fact, governing a country and managing a business are the same.

The emperor was the chairman and the ministers were the heads of various departments.

Centralization means taking all power back and letting the emperor have the final say.

Decentralization means giving power to ministers and allowing them to exercise it freely.

Let’s take the simplest example.

When a company's employees need the chairman's approval to ask for leave, the company is either very small or has low administrative efficiency.

The situation the Ming Dynasty is currently facing is the latter: low administrative efficiency.

So he thought of trying to delegate power and implement a departmental responsibility system.

At first he was worried that decentralization would widen party disputes, but after careful consideration he felt that he was overthinking it.

What the parties are fighting for is power!

Once he gives up power, those who want to engage in party struggles will fall into confusion.

Because the imperial power was decentralized, they had no idea where to start their fight for power.

at last.

There is a core element in managing a company and a country: focus on long-term interests, not immediate interests!

Countless practices have proved that any great scientific achievement comes from freedom of thought.

An authoritarian environment will only imprison thoughts and cause scientific progress to stagnate.

He wants to weaken the influence of the autocratic system on society as much as possible.

If the court can still function normally after this test.

He would delegate power from time to time and take it back from time to time.

This will not only allow officials to exercise their subjective initiative, but also ensure that imperial power does not fall into the hands of others.

Facing Li Banghua's three questions, Chongzhen smiled slightly: "Mr. Li has thought very carefully. I can tell you clearly that these questions are not problems."

"Take the six ministries as an example. During the period of decentralization, the affairs of each government office will be jointly discussed and decided by the Shangshu and Shilang, including exercising the right to appoint officials on my behalf. Of course, if you think that an official in a government office is passive or secretly doing bad things, you can suspend his/her duties and let me deal with it."

"The cabinet is responsible for coordinating and handling affairs among various government offices, and its power is above that of the minister," Chongzhen added.

With Chongzhen's words, Li Banghua finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the cabinet retains power, he has no objection.

Chongzhen's idea of delegating power was like a bomb exploding among the masses.

Some people agreed, some disagreed, and more remained silent.

They don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

After all, they couldn't understand what was going on in the mind of the Ming Emperor.

After discussing for a while, the ministers could not reach a consensus, so the matter had to be put on hold temporarily.

However, Chongzhen was not discouraged. He planned to bring up the matter again at the next morning court session.

The morning court ended quickly and the ministers left one after another.

Li Banghua and Fan Jingwen stood there without moving.

After the others had gone far away, Li Banghua bowed to Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to tell you."

Chongzhen didn't understand what was going on, so he could only say, "Mr. Li, please speak."

Li Banghua frowned and said, "Your Majesty, Li Xingzhong has recruited more soldiers than the quota in Baoding. I wonder if Your Majesty knows about this?"

Eh? Holy shit!

Chongzhen was stunned.

How did Li Banghua know that Li Xingzhong had over-recruited soldiers?

In order to prevent the matter from leaking out, Chongzhen secretly instructed the Minister of Personnel Qiu Yu to replace all the officials in Baoding with his own people.

They knew that this matter was of great importance and dared not reveal any information.

Li Banghua actually knew about it!

As the chief minister of the cabinet, his abilities are indeed extraordinary.

Chongzhen couldn't help but ask, "How did Lord Li know this?"

Li Banghua's expression was solemn: "A few days ago, Tianjin sent an official document saying that a large number of grain ships on the canal were transferred from Tianjin to the Daqing River and transported to Baoding."

"At first, Tianjin Governor Luo Yangxing thought that these grain merchants intended to transport the grain to Zhending Prefecture and then smuggle it from Zhending Prefecture to Shanxi."

“So he reported it to the cabinet.”

"The cabinet sent people to investigate and found that all the food was for Li Xingzhong. Based on the amount of food, it is estimated that Li Xingzhong recruited more than 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses."

"Your Majesty asked him to recruit 20,000 soldiers, but he actually exceeded the quota by recruiting 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers. Your Majesty, please investigate this strictly."

Chongzhen wiped his sweat secretly.

The cabinet was so capable that they were able to obtain this information from the grain ship.

Now that things have come to this, there is no need for Chongzhen to hide it anymore.

Recruiting soldiers requires money. How much money does Li Xingzhong have?

Even if they had money, they would not dare to recruit soldiers in excess of the quota privately.

There is only one reason for over-recruiting: there is a will.

Li Banghua was talking about Li Xingzhong on the surface, but secretly he was telling Chongzhen that what he had done could not be hidden from the cabinet.

Chongzhen said awkwardly, "Lord Li, you are worrying too much. The Yongwei Battalion was completely wiped out in the battle in the capital. In addition, there was a murder in the palace. For my own safety, I asked Li Xingzhong to recruit soldiers for the Yongwei Battalion in Baoding."

Li Banghua pretended to be stunned, "So that's how it is. This matter is the fault of this old minister. I shouldn't have investigated it privately."

Chongzhen smiled awkwardly.

Just when he was about to ask Fan Jingwen what he wanted to see him about, he suddenly remembered something else.

"Lord Li, I have an idea."

"Your Majesty, please give your instructions."

"When collecting taxes owed by the gentry, either the whole city surrendered or the government office caught fire. There are two reasons for this: one is that some officials are in collusion with the gentry; the other is that most local officials are controlled by the local gentry."

"This is not a solution. After careful consideration, I plan to delegate power to local officials."

"Delegate power?" Li Banghua became even more confused.

Your Majesty, what happened?

First, power was delegated to officials in Beijing, and then power was delegated to local officials.

Isn't he afraid that power will fall into the hands of others?

Chongzhen continued, "I intend to temporarily hand over some of the local military power to local officials, for example, the military power of the county town to the county magistrate, and the military power of the prefecture to the prefect."

"With the help of military power, those gentry will not be able to make trouble and can only cooperate obediently."

"Not appropriate," Li Banghua shook his head. "Local forces are intertwined, and most of those soldiers are local people with close ties to local gentry. Even if some military power is given to local officials, those soldiers will not follow the orders of local officials to arrest people."

Chongzhen sneered: "Who said we should use local soldiers?"

"Ah?" Li Banghua and Fan Jingwen were both stunned. "If we don't use local soldiers, where else can we use them? We can't let the war soldiers do this kind of thing, can we?"

Chongzhen laughed and said: "Draw some soldiers from County A to County B, and then draw some soldiers from County B to County A."

"There won't be so many worries when sending troops from other places. As long as the gentry dare to resist and refuse to pay the arrears, these soldiers from other places will rush forward without hesitation to teach them a lesson."