In Xu Guangqi's words, this yamen could be managed by the Ministry of Revenue, which would be specifically responsible for dealing with merchants who cheat and defraud.
In this memorial, Xu Guangqi also explained why this yamen should be established.
Because many businessmen who commit fraud don't do so in their own hometowns. They're all good people in their own villages, but when they leave their villages and go abroad, they commit fraud and deception. Also, because the crimes occur across provinces, they're difficult to track down.
Therefore, it is necessary to set up such a government office in the court. Once there are cases of merchants cheating or deceiving others, this government office will be used to investigate.
As soon as this proposal came out, it caused an uproar.
The news of why this proposal was made soon spread, because someone opposed the Royal Trading Company of the Imperial Household Department.
They believed that if those merchants committed crimes, it would damage the reputation of His Majesty. In such a situation, such cooperation with merchants should not exist.
But Xu Guangqi didn't think so. He thought it was a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so he submitted a petition. He hoped that the court could set up such a government office to supervise merchants; once anyone committed a crime, they would be arrested and severely punished.
Since he was in charge of merchants, it was impossible for him to just focus on the Imperial Household Department, so Xu Guangqi simply expanded the matter to all merchants.
That's why this petition caused such a stir, because it included all the merchants in the Ming Dynasty.
Several cabinet elders looked unhappy, especially Sun Chengzong and others.
Originally, I thought that this incident would cause Xu Guangqi to suffer a loss, but I didn't expect that he would be so bold as to do such a thing directly, and even put this yamen under the Ministry of Revenue.
You have to know that Xu Guangqi was the Minister of Revenue, and this was a blatant expansion of the Ministry of Revenue's power.
Once this is accomplished, it will mean that the Ministry of Revenue will have another office, and it will be an office that manages all merchants.
Anyone who has worked in official circles knows how powerful this government office is. Under such circumstances, who would be willing to let Xu Guangqi do this?
You have to know that there is only so much power in officialdom. If you take away a part, others will lose a part. This is absolutely not allowed.
Of course, there were also people who supported the proposal to set up a new yamen, and they were people from Xu Guangqi's faction; at the same time, there were also people who wanted to be promoted in the Ministry of Revenue, and they wanted more power.
For a while, the court was in chaos and the arguments were endless.
Countless petitions were sent to the palace and placed directly in front of Zhu Youxiao.
When they could not reach a conclusion, they naturally thought of letting Emperor Zhu Youxiao make the decision.
Zhu Youxiao still likes this kind of referee role.
However, Xu Guangqi's actions this time shocked Zhu Youxiao a little.
I didn't expect Xu Guangqi to come up with such an idea. It was quite advanced. Zhu Youxiao thought it was a good idea.
Of course, this yamen could not be used to manage the Imperial Household Department, but that does not mean that it does not manage the Imperial Household Department.
Although the Imperial Household Department was Zhu Youxiao's government office, he didn't dare to say that he particularly trusted them. You know, the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty was notorious for corruption.
Absolute power leads to absolute corruption. Without supervision, it will definitely not work.
Although he had established a supervisory system within the Imperial Household Department, it was still not comprehensive enough. It was easy for problems to arise when one supervised oneself.
So Zhu Youxiao thought that Xu Guangqi's idea was a good one, one that would kill two birds with one stone.
In this case, the Imperial Household Department would be supervised by this government office, and this government office could also supervise other merchants. This is a very good idea.
Once this government office is established, it will be possible to formulate laws governing merchants, and then all merchants will be included. This will make it much easier for the court to get things done.
However, the debate outside was very intense, and Zhu Youxiao was not ready to step out for the time being. He wanted to see how far the two sides could fight.
However, Zhu Youxiao guessed that Xu Guangqi would suffer a loss, after all, he was weak. Although he was a cabinet elder and also the Minister of Revenue, he had been in office for too short a time and was unable to do anything about many things. His supporters had not yet been promoted, so he would suffer a loss.
However, Zhu Youxiao did not care. Such arguments could not change the outcome. In fact, as long as there were people supporting him and as long as there were people willing to work for him, then he, the emperor, had the final say.
In such a situation, you have absolute authority and can decide anything.
Zhu Youxiao is in this situation now. There are people in the court who are willing to work for him, so he can decide many things.
This is also the reason why Zhu Youxiao cleaned up the Donglin Party after he came to power; it is also the reason why Zhu Youxiao left so many parties in the court.
Because only in this way can the emperor balance all parties and let them do what he wants to do, rather than letting the ministers do what they want to do. This is crucial for an emperor.
Whether it was Xu Guangqi or anyone else, if they were given full power, they would plan and do things according to their own ideas. This is true for everyone.
Zhu Youxiao would not pin his hopes on others, he would make his own decisions.
However, the yamen proposed by Xu Guangqi did give Zhu Youxiao some ideas, but he didn't know what kind of person to find to do it, or what kind of regulations would be more appropriate.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
