Li Banghua straightened up and said to Chongzhen: "I think we should neither oppress the people blindly nor indulge them all the time. We should be firm and flexible at the same time."
"The Ministry of Revenue sent an official document to the local government to collect grain. After receiving the document, the local government should be gentle at first and then tough."
"First, reason with the people. If they don't sell their grain, the border troops will have nothing to eat, and without food, they won't be able to defend their country. Once the Jiannu army marches south again, no matter how much grain they store, it will become the Jiannu army's rations. It's different if it's silver. We can just find a place to hide it."
"If the people still don't sell their grain, let the county government assign grain collection tasks to each village and town. Villages and towns that fail to complete the task will be treated differently when taxes are collected next year."
"Lord Li, what if we still can't collect the grain?" someone asked.
Li Banghua was silent for a moment and then said, "Let the government send people to collect the grain by force! The price of the grain will be calculated according to the silver converted from the tax. The people will only be wronged, not at a disadvantage."
Although some officials in the court disagreed with this approach in their hearts, they did not say it out loud in the end.
Your Majesty needs solutions to the problems now, not different voices.
Everyone discussed for a while and decided on the details.
Afterwards, each government office presented the problems that needed to be solved one by one in the court.
Chongzhen stood up after listening for a while.
"Stop for a moment." He said to Shi Bangyao, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate who was reporting.
Shi Bangyao was stunned, thinking he had said something wrong, and stood there at a loss.
"I have an idea."
"Your Majesty, please give your instructions." Li Banghua took the lead.
"I plan not to attend court for the next month..."
Before Chongzhen finished speaking, everyone in the court knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, this is not possible. The Ming Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles. All state affairs urgently need Your Majesty to handle them personally. I hope Your Majesty will retract this idea."
"I second the motion."
"I second this motion."
Looking at the ministers kneeling on the ground, Chongzhen smiled with relief. With these diligent ministers around, there would be no chaos in the court.
He smiled at the ministers again, then put away his smile and said seriously: "I am not attending court, not because I am not governing, but because I am governing in a different way."
"It is now mid-May. In the next month, I intend to delegate power to your various government offices."
Decentralization?
All the civil and military officials in the court stood there quietly, not knowing what Chongzhen was going to do.
You must know that emperors of all dynasties were eager to concentrate power in themselves so that they could have the final say in the country.
Now, the Ming Emperor wants to delegate power.
It's really incredible.
"Your Majesty, please tell me clearly." Li Banghua, the head of the civil officials, didn't know what Chongzhen was up to, so he asked cautiously.
"I have two points to make," Chongzhen paused, "First, all matters concerning the government offices will be decided by the government offices themselves in the next month, and the results will be reported to higher authorities step by step, and finally the cabinet will summarize and report to me."
"Second, if the government cannot make a decision, it should consult its superiors. If its superiors cannot make a decision, it should consult its superiors' superiors. If the cabinet cannot make a decision, it should consult me."
"There are only these two points at the moment. Think about them first. If possible, implement them temporarily for one month."
After Chongzhen finished speaking, the entire court fell silent, a silence that was eerie.
Everyone was shocked by this statement.
Isn't this too much decentralization?
Li Banghua thought for a while and stood up and asked, "Your Majesty, please clarify which areas the government can decide on its own and to what extent?"
Others secretly gave Li Banghua a thumbs up.
As expected of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, he is meticulous and has clear ideas.
Chongzhen thought for a moment and said: "The Ministry of Revenue has the most complicated affairs, so let's take the Ministry of Revenue as an example."
Everyone looked at the Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong.
"There is no need to talk about collecting money. The Ministry of Revenue can make the decision on its own. Next, let's talk about spending money."
When Chongzhen got to the point, all the civil and military officials immediately became excited.
"Although Lu Daqi won a battle a few days ago, there were also some casualties. According to the court regulations, pensions and rewards must be issued."
"Under normal circumstances, the Ministry of Revenue would report the amount of silver to be spent to the Cabinet, which would review it and then pass it on to me for decision. Is this the process?" Chongzhen looked at Fang Yuegong.
The Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong is a well-known old fox.
He was afraid that Chongzhen was plotting against him, so he did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned around and exchanged glances with the other ministers before slowly saying, "Your Majesty, this is the procedure."
"Okay," Chongzhen stood up, "Decentralization means that the Ministry of War will provide the figures, the Ministry of Revenue will prepare the silver, and finally the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War will send someone to hand over the silver to Lu Daqi."
"I no longer review the process, but look directly at the results."
After hearing this, all the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.
Isn’t this too much power?
It was unheard of to directly use money from the national treasury without the emperor's consent.
If the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War joined forces to embezzle the national treasury, the treasury would have been empty by the time the emperor found out.
Fang Yuegong asked first: "Your Majesty, there is one thing I don't understand."
"speak."
"If, I mean if!" Fang Yuegong emphasized the word "if". "If someone in the Ministry of Revenue takes this opportunity to engage in corruption and causes losses to the court, wouldn't this be a mistake for the country and the emperor?"
The others nodded to express their similar concerns. After all, this matter was no joke.
Chongzhen stared into Fang Yuegong's eyes and smiled: "So, you ministers of each ministry have to manage this family for me. The Minister of Revenue should manage the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue. If there is any problem, I will find you, Fang Yuegong. If there is a problem with the Ministry of War, I will find trouble with you, Li Banghua."
The officials kept their heads down and said nothing.
They were thinking about the purpose of Chongzhen's doing this and the possible risks it might bring.
"Please feel free to say whatever you want to say. You can speak freely today." After saying this, Chongzhen sat back on the dragon throne.
"Your Majesty, I have three questions." Li Banghua stood up again and asked: "First, I am the Minister of War. If an official in the Ministry of War wants to dethrone me and takes the opportunity to engage in corruption during this period, how should I respond?"
"Second, although I am the Minister of War, I am not the only one who has the final say. Your Majesty's move may seem like a delegation of power, but the actual power does not fall to me."
"Third," Li Banghua paused and looked back at the three cabinet ministers, Fan Jingwen, Fang Yuegong, and Qiu Yu, "After Your Majesty delegates power, what role will the cabinet assume?"
Looking at Li Banghua with a serious face, Chongzhen knew that among these questions, Li Banghua should be most concerned about the third one.
After all, he had worked so hard to get the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet. If the cabinet did not delegate power, there would be no meaning for him to exist.
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