Old Zhu laughed and said, "That's true. Our Yin'er eats and drinks well, and he's good at riding horses and shooting arrows. Even the children of ordinary military generals are not as good as him."
Looking at his grandfather, Zhu Yunying also became serious. "Grandfather, you know that the emperor has endless memorials to read every day. Although you beat Ru Taisu a few years ago, those civil and military officials still flattered you a lot, so some of the memorials were not of much use."
If anyone else had dared to say such things, Emperor Zhu would certainly have been angry, because he was a diligent emperor who personally attended to every matter.
However, Zhu Yunying knew that what he said was true. The reason he had beaten Ru Taisu was because Ru Taisu had written a memorial, and after reading 16,500 characters, he still couldn't understand it. This man's memorials were always seven or eight thousand characters long, and the language was difficult to understand.
Although after Ru Taisu, many civil and military officials became more restrained and dared not submit lengthy memorials, there were still quite a few who did so.
For example, Ru Taisu, who is still the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, occasionally submits a memorial that is several thousand words long. Zhu Yunying only refrained from beating Ru Taisu severely because he was old and considered responsible, principled, and unyielding.
Zhu Yunying said, "We're thinking of having those Grand Secretaries participate in state affairs. What does Your Majesty think?"
Old Zhu thought about it carefully and said, "This is probably not a good idea. You mean to let them see the memorials. You're fine now, but in the future, I'm afraid some people will have their own ideas and make decisions on their own."
Zhu Yunying said, “We are also worried about these things. However, we thought that all the memorials, big and small, and even the suggestions made by the people, should be collected by the Office of Transmission, reported by the Directorate of Ceremonial, and then submitted to the Grand Secretariat. The Grand Secretariat would be responsible for drafting the handling opinions, and then the Directorate of Ceremonial would submit the opinions to the Emperor for approval. Finally, the Six Ministries would proofread and issue them.”
Old Zhu pointed out a series of hidden dangers: "In this way, if we encounter an emperor who is lazy in his duties, or some powerful eunuchs, we will inevitably have to deceive the emperor. Furthermore, if the cabinet can handle memorials, then the six ministries, civil officials, and even military officials will all be suppressed."
Although the cabinet appears to have some power, it still has to contend with the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs when dealing with matters of state. This could increase the power of the eunuchs, or, if the cabinet is strong, it could even suppress the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.
This is Zhu Yuanzhang. He came from humble beginnings, but he was able to build the Ming Dynasty, which shows that he had a long-term vision.
It seems that persuading Zhu Yuanzhang (the Yongle Emperor) will not be an easy task, or perhaps the cabinet system itself needs further improvement. There needs to be some restriction on the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and also on the cabinet itself.
After all, the cabinet system may seem to make things easier for the emperor, but this system may also have many hidden dangers.
Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (the first or second emperor of the Ming Dynasty) may have had the ability to completely suppress these hidden dangers. However, other emperors might not have been able to resolve these issues on their own, and this is something to be aware of.
Zhu Yunying was well aware that he had to perfect these matters and handle them better. After all, the cabinets of the past had indeed had many hidden dangers, and Zhu Yunying did not want to repeat the same mistakes or have internal strife and factional struggles.
Zhu Yunying did not rest after returning to the capital. Although it was a day off, he still had to deal with the matters that needed to be handled, especially some important or urgent matters, which he would not delay if possible.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not immediately return to the Qianqing Palace; he was by nature restless. Even now that he had abdicated, he still frequently reviewed numerous memorials, or, as before, would take the memorials reviewed by Zhu Yunying for a look and then offer his opinions.
"Ying'er, you need to be careful in the next few years." Old Zhu said to Zhu Yunying with some concern, "We know you have a lot to do, but none of those things are easy to accomplish."
Zhu Yunying nodded. He understood some things very well. "I know, but I'm not afraid. As long as we can govern the country well, the Ming Dynasty will surely last forever!"
Difficulties and obstacles were nothing to him, because Zhu Yunying was also a combative person. As long as he could govern the country well, that was enough; that was his pursuit and ideal.
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