Chapter 427 This is the life of an emperor

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu slowly found a place to sit under Xu Huizu. Looking at Xu Huizu's defeated face, he continued: "When my father started the army, I was only a teenager, so naturally I followed my father."

"Am I wrong?"

"Uncle, what do you mean, is it right for me to go against my father?"

"Master of the Lord of Heaven and Earth," Xu Huizu gritted his teeth and said, "You are a human minister first, and then a son of man. Of course, you should respect His Majesty Xiaozhong."

"If your Xu family ancestors knew about it, they would be ashamed of you and kick you out of the Xu family ancestral hall." Zhu Gaoxu sneered.

Xu Huizu's face turned pale with anger, but he didn't dare to scold him. He was about to refute.

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "As wise men say, the people are the most valuable, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important. My uncle calls himself a scholar. Have you ever learned anything?"

"Both parents and brothers serve the people, and family ties are supreme. This is unquestionable. If you put the emperor above your biological parents, Xu Da will kill you while he is alive."

Zhu Gaoxu openly called his father's name.

"You." Xu Huizu suddenly stood up and stared at Zhu Gaoxu. After a few breaths, he sat back bitterly.

He then smiled: "You may sound nice, but for the sake of the emperor's position, you still don't even recognize your biological parents. Do you believe what you say?"

Because they are not my biological parents, Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself, but of course he would not say this: "After Zhu Di came to the throne, he killed everyone everywhere. I really regret helping Zhou to do evil. The reason why I raised the army is for the people of the world."

Hahaha, Xu Huizu seems to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He raised an army to rebel, causing wars and disasters all over the world. The people were in dire straits, but he did it for the sake of the people.

"Uncle, if you think I will kill someone randomly after I become emperor?" Zhu Gaoxu said: "Whether you admit it or not, Gao Xu is more suitable to be the Ming emperor than Zhu Di, and he will definitely do better."

"My uncle is not old yet. He can still sit in the mansion and watch how the Ming Dynasty became prosperous and prosperous at home and abroad under the rule of Gao Xu."

"I will stare at it." Xu Huizu was unconvinced.

Zhu Gaoxu walked away with a flick of his sleeves, and Wang Zhenliang quickly followed.

After leaving the Xu Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu stood at the door, looked at it, and said to Zhou Hu: "Leave one hundred acres of land for Xu Hui's family, and all other properties will be confiscated. He will no longer be imprisoned and will be allowed to go free."

"His mansion was also confiscated, and he was replaced with a two-bedroom hut, so that he could have a better understanding of himself. If he hadn't been born with meritorious deeds, Xu Huizu was nothing, and would he have been able to survive in the Ming Dynasty."

"According to the decree."

Zhu Gaoxu dismissed all the lords of the Xu family. The Xu family has lost its source of income. Now they are left with a hundred acres of land to see how capable Xu Huizu is.

Doesn't he want to see what Zhu Gaoxu did to Ming Dynasty? Let him watch carefully.

Liu Jun looked on with emotion.

He knew about Xu Huizu's pursuit of Zhu Gaoxu back then. The two uncles and nephews should have had a blood feud, but the emperor was so kind and kind, which was really a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Jun couldn't help but said again: "Your Majesty is kind and kind enough to be passed down through the ages."

Zhu Gaoxu was very happy with this flattery. He turned around and patted his shoulder with a smile: "Liu Butang, please stop flattering and do more."

"It's Your Majesty." Liu Jun smiled.

After returning to the imperial city, Zhu Gaoxu came to Huagai Hall (Zhongji Hall).

The Huagai Hall is behind the Fengtian Hall. In the past, whether it was Jianwen or Yongle, the emperor usually received his ministers in two places after the dissolution of the dynasty.

One is Wuying Hall and the other is Dongnuan Pavilion.

Dongnuan Pavilion is behind the Qianqing Palace. Qianqing Palace is where the emperor lived, so when the emperor summoned ministers at night, he would usually be in the Dongnuan Pavilion.

After Zhu Gaoxu became the emperor, he felt that it was too far from His Highness Fengtian to the Wuying Hall, and even further to the Dongnuan Pavilion. Behind the Fengtian Hall was the Huagai Hall, so he decided to change the place where the Fengtian Palace was used for discussions and official business to the Huagai Hall.

The Wuying Palace is mostly used as an important conference room, with a huge world map sand table and other items inside, which can be used during conferences.

In the past, the emperor used to do business in Wuying Hall, and there were other reasons, because the lower right corner of Wuying Hall was the Six Section Corridor, which was close to the emperor and could work together with the emperor.

There are a lot of government affairs in a dynasty. Sometimes the emperor is too busy, and even trivial matters can be punished by memorials.

So the process of the memorial in the Ming Dynasty is like this.

When officials submit memorials, they always make two copies, one called the original and the other called a copy. They are submitted to the General Affairs Department first. After the General Affairs Department gets it, the original is handed over to the emperor.

After Zhu Di came to power, he formed the first batch of cabinets. Then Zhu Di would select a batch of unimportant ones and hand them over to the cabinet, while he would approve some important ones himself.

After Zhu Di's death, in the Xuande era, the order changed. Everything was handed over to the cabinet first, and the cabinet drafted it (written down the handling opinions), and then handed it over to the emperor. After the emperor approved it, it was handed over to the ceremonial supervisor, and then to the subsequent emperors. , if you don’t want to take charge of things, just ask the Supervisor of Ceremonies to approve directly. Official documents will only circulate between the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies will be greatly promoted in power.

The copy will be handed over to the Sixth Section first, and matters belonging to that department will be handed over to that department from the Sixth Section.

For example, military matters are handled by the Military Affairs Department and handed over to the Ministry of War.

So there are clues here. Some original copies are still in the hands of the cabinet, and copies have reached the six departments and six departments. Ordinary officials know these things earlier than the emperor.

Then the original copy approved by the emperor is called the red copy, and it must be handed over to the Sixth Section for archiving and copied to the relevant departments.

In addition, there is a department called "House Reporting" that will come to the Sixth Section to copy the relevant information, compile and publish the house report, and publish it publicly.

In the Ming Dynasty, political affairs were always handled in such an open manner, and the transfer procedures were also very strict and standardized, but it can be seen that the emperor was often the last to know the specific content.

And if it is a question book from a local official, it is often the final approval content that the parties concerned receive.

After Zhu Gaoxu became emperor, he felt that the process was too cumbersome and not confidential enough.

If it is important military intelligence, the original copy has not yet reached the emperor's hands, and the copy has already passed through the Sixth Section, and then to the relevant departments of the Sixth Section (and the Sixth Section's subordinates are all low-level officials of seventh or eighth grade), and then to the second God, I guess half of the officials in the capital know this news.

It is a good thing to handle government affairs openly and leave it to future generations, but this will definitely be too inefficient.

For example, if there was a big defeat ahead, the emperor didn't know about it yet, but the officials in the capital almost knew about it.

So Zhu Gaoxu wanted to reform the system.

Today he arrived at the Huagai Hall and saw several piles of memorials piled on the imperial desk and on the ground. He took a quick look at at least a hundred of them.

Damn it, he cursed in his mind, this emperor is really not easy to do.

How good the leaders of future generations are. They don’t have to do anything and just move their mouths. Why am I so busy now?

"Huang Huai, Hu Guang, Hu Yan, Jin Youzi—Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu—" Zhu Gaoxu thought about it, and it seemed that the first few batches of Yongle cabinets only had these few people.

Jie Jin was kicked out by him. Zhu Di had used it before, and Yang Pu was one of the three Yangs.

After his order was given, a eunuch immediately galloped away on horseback outside.

Now that Zhu Gaoxu has moved into the Forbidden City, horses are allowed to gallop in the imperial city, but the horses ridden by the eunuchs are covered with special yellow saddles, which represent the transmission of the emperor's will or oral instructions.

Because the distance from the Huagai Palace to the Meridian Gate is more than a mile, in the past, everything in the imperial city had to be walked, and it would take half a day to walk outside.

When the emperor summons someone, it will take half an hour to arrive, and it will take an hour at a later time.

Now Zhu Gaoxu wants to improve efficiency.

The eunuch who conveyed the order rode a horse with a special saddle and ran quickly to the Meridian Gate.

There are also horses prepared for the Jin Yiwei at the Meridian Gate. For example, if the emperor wants to summon five people, the Jin Yiwei will send out ten people, each with a horse, and they will be divided with the eunuchs to ride at the homes of five ministers. If there is a way, one or two people can be missing.

This way the efficiency comes out.

In the past, when the emperor delivered orders, the eunuchs would go out of the imperial city and go from house to house to notify them. It would sometimes take an hour to complete the process.

The messengers came to Huang Huai's house in groups of two, and the two royal guards came to Huang Huai's house. As soon as Huang Huai heard the emperor's greeting, he immediately left the house.

One of the Jinyi guards asked: "Can Master Huang ride a horse?"

Huang Huai nodded and said yes.

The Jin Yiwei gave up their horses. The two Jin Yiwei rode one horse together, and Huang Huai entered the palace first.

If Huang Huai said no, there would be a Jinyi guard riding a horse to take him.

The communication was carried back and forth by horses, and in less than half an hour, Huang Huai and the others arrived at the Huagai Hall one after another. The efficiency was unprecedentedly good.

Several people first paid homage to the emperor, and then looked at the Huagai Hall and felt that the layout inside had completely changed.

On the west wall is a new map of the Ming Dynasty, including Jiaozhi, Malaysia and other places, and on the east wall is a world map.

Such a map is also available in Wuying Hall, and it is larger and clearer, as well as a sand table.

There is a long table in the middle, three feet long and one foot wide. The emperor sits on the north side, with many stools on both sides.

The imperial record is behind the long table, and all the memorials are piled on the long table.

There was steaming tea on the long table, and even dried fruit desserts and fruits.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yang Pu first.

In the early years of Yongle, Yang Pu was appointed Prince Xi Ma and became a subordinate of the deposed Prince Zhu Gaochi in the East Palace. He was originally a close confidant of Zhu Gaochi, but he was lucky. When Zhu Gaoxu raised an army, his father died. According to the Ming Dynasty, he went home to observe filial piety.

When the filial piety period expired, Zhu Gaoxu happened to enter the capital, and he returned to the Hanlin Academy.

At that time, someone accused him of being a close associate of the deposed prince. Zhu Gaoxu noticed his name after seeing his name.

Yang Pu was also the first to see the new emperor, and his expression was a little nervous.

"Find your own place to sit." There were more than a dozen memorials piled in front of the emperor, and he must have approved them himself.

The ministers looked at each other in confusion, and then looked for their seats. Only then did they realize that there were wooden plaques on the table with their names written on them.

They sat down facing the names, quite far apart. It felt very strange, but I felt really happy.

"I want to reform the memorial. When officials present the memorial in the future, the original and duplicate copies will be sent to the Huagai Hall by the General Secretary first."

"The original and duplicate copies of each minister are put together, placed in a special wooden box for general administration, and sealed with wax. Except for urgent ones, they are delivered to the Meridian Gate before three quarters every day. After being inspected by the Meridian Gate, they are sent to the Huagai Palace."
To be continued...