Shang Yi smiled and said, "Then were there no capable ministers in Chongzhen dynasty? In Chongzhen dynasty, there were Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan, and in the middle were Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, and Wu Yan. They may not be as good as Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng, But it will never be worse than Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing. Although the Ming Dynasty's national strength in the early years of Chongzhen was indeed not as good as Jiajing and Wanli, it was not at the point of destruction. There were famous officials in the court, and Emperor Chongzhen was far away. Compared to Jiajing and Wanli's diligence, he could still maintain his hard work, but why did he get worse and worse until his country was destroyed?”

Zi Longling was stunned because Shang Yi's question was sure to be difficult to answer. In fact, this is also a topic that has been debated continuously in later generations: the wasteland can be maintained, and the diligent work has turned the country to the point of destruction, so Zi Linglong also wanted to After a while, he replied: "That's because Chongzhen did not use these people well. Although the officials you mentioned in the Chongzhen Dynasty had not low positions, they were all foreign ministers and had limited influence on the government affairs. The Chongzhen Dynasty The chief minister was controlled by incompetent people like Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru for a long time. Although Chongzhen himself was diligent, he did not have the talent to save the times, so he naturally could not achieve anything."

Shang Yi said: "This is also a reason. In fact, the biggest problem of Chongzhen is that he is stubborn and thinks he is the smartest, and his ministers are not as good as him. As a result, many things are handled incorrectly, but on the contrary, the ministers are also incorrectly I have some concerns and dare not let go of it. Therefore, the most important thing to be an emperor is to use it to others, not how diligent you are, because the emperor is also an ordinary person. Except for a few founding kings, the vast majority of emperors All the talents are average, so instead of holding on to the power of the people, it is better to let the ministers govern the country simply. Although the talents of the ministers may not be higher than those of the emperor, they are not like the emperor living in the deep palace and familiar with civil affairs. , and it is also a group of people's wisdom. The wisdom of a group of people is always better than that of one person. Therefore, as long as the emperor does a good job of checks and balances of power, he should not let one party grow bigger."

Zi Linglong was also silent for a while, but he had to admit that what Shang Yi said was indeed reasonable. In fact, this is also the way to be a king recognized by all dynasties. However, when the emperors of all dynasties realized the importance of employing people, they still firmly grasped it. He was stubbornly releasing his power. Now Shang Yi has never given up all kinds of powers like this. Therefore, he smiled bitterly and said, "But I always feel that I have no idea what you do now. If there is no power, is it still an emperor, or is it still firm in the throne?"

Shang Yi gently clicked on her nose and said, "Who said that the emperor has no power now, he has veto power over the Congress, nomination power over the cabinet and the judiciary, and there are other preparations, and the three powers After the separation, there were checks and balances in all aspects of power, and after the constitution was formulated, the current system was established from a legal perspective, and the throne was actually more stable."

If I had married Shang Yi, I had a little bit of forced meaning, but now Zi Linglong has lived in the palace with great peace of mind, and Zi Linglong is actually a small move to express his love for Shang Yi. It was very happy. After all, this was the nature of my daughter, so I moved my body to Shang Yi and said, "I didn't want to interfere in the government affairs, but I just entered the palace and always have to think about you. Maybe In your generation, you can balance the government's situation, but future generations do not have the means like you. If someone has a bad intention and controls the Congress and the cabinet, wouldn't it be dangerous?"

Shang Yi said: "First of all, it is almost impossible to control the Congress and the cabinet at the same time. And to be honest, I can't control the affairs of my descendants. The founding lords of all generations have no wish to be in their own way. The descendants of my grandson can always protect the country, but there is another dynasty that can last forever. Therefore, I can only do my own thing well and create a good situation for my descendants as much as possible. But what happens a hundred years later is indeed It’s not something I can control. Children and grandchildren have their own blessings, so let them go.”

Zi Linglong was also stunned for a long time, smiled bitterly, and said, "You are really open-minded."

Shang Yi smiled and pulled her into his arms, saying, "If you are intriguing and fighting for power all day long, what's the point of this emperor? How good is it like now? What's the troublesome thing If you have a minister to worry about it, you don’t have to worry about the fall of power. You just need to enjoy a wonderful life in the palace every day, so you don’t have to think too much.”

Zi Linglong sighed leisurely, rested her head on his shoulder, and said, "Maybe you are right. I'm really much happier than before if I don't have to fight around during this period." She turned to Ye Yaoqiu again. He said: "Yao Wang, I really want to thank you. If you hadn't designed me at that time, there would be such relaxed and pleasant things as you are now."

Ye Yaoying also came over, hugged Zi Linglong's shoulder, and said, "Sister Linglong, what are you talking about now? We are like sisters, so let's take care of the baby in the palace."

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In fact, Shang Yi will certainly not give up all power. After all, this era is still very different from later generations. The separation of powers and the democratic system has not yet been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. He can give up many emperors' privileges, but It does not mean that others will think like this. The throne is still very tempting, so there is no possibility of repetition. What he said to Zi Linglong is that the emperor's power has a veto power over the state, but it has nominated the cabinet and the judiciary. In addition to power, there are other preparations, which are not always empty talk. There are three departments that are specially established for the emperor and are directly responsible to the emperor.

The first department is the Department of Integrity, and its function is to fight corruption.

The anti-corruption problem is a common problem between ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. It is because it was in ancient China and because it was serious. Although the courts in all dynasties have taken some anti-corruption measures, they have not achieved much results. On the one hand, it is too much in anti-corruption. Pay attention to the means of punishment, rather than starting from the system and controlling from the source. The bigger reason is that the vast majority of emperors have not been upright in their attitude towards anti-corruption, and many emperors have encouraged ministers to embezzle because according to the emperor The thinking is that those who are greedy for money do not greed for power, and those who are greedy for power do not greed for money. As long as it does not threaten one's own throne, what is it that a few money is greedy for money? Therefore, Yue Fei said that civil officials do not love money and military generals are not afraid of When you die, the world will be peaceful, but you will suffer a tragic disaster.

But Shang Yi certainly knew the serious consequences of corruption and the necessity of anti-corruption. Therefore, from the time of the process of conduct, he formulated strict financial systems and procedures, as well as an audit system, which effectively controlled the phenomenon of corruption. Now Congress, cabinet, and judicial system have the power to supervise and investigate officials' embezzlement, but it is too general and lacks such a professional anti-corruption department.

So Shang Yi established the Department of Integrity. Of course, in the famous discussion, the Department of Integrity is an institutional department under the Ministry of Justice, but in fact this department directly blames the emperor.

Although the main responsibility of the Department of Integrity is the integrity, self-discipline of supervisory officials, cracking down on and preventing corruption, and promoting integrity. At the same time, it also has the power to investigate, arrest, and trial and training, but it does not have the right to judge, which belongs to the court. To a certain extent, it can indeed help the emperor, control the state and the situation of officials. If the emperor dislikes that minister, of course, he cannot directly dismiss him like in the past. Then you can first check whether he has any economic problems. Discovery, you can achieve your goal.

The second department is the Royal Security Investigation Department, an intelligence agency that directly pays responsibility to the emperor.

The Chinese Empire now has two intelligence agencies, one is the Ministry of State Security and the other is the Intelligence Bureau. The former's responsibilities are mainly to maintain national security, protect residents, combat crimes, terrorist acts, and foreign intelligence personnel; the latter's The responsibility is to collect and analyze foreign political, economic, cultural, military, scientific and other information, and report the information to various government departments as a reference for making decisions, including infiltration, organization and planning assassination activities. , Both intelligence agencies played a significant role in the battle to unify the world by the Chinese Empire.

After the establishment of the empire, all of these two intelligence agencies were retained, because the state is essentially a violent system and needs some people who are responsible for doing shameful things. Therefore, any country needs intelligence agencies to exist, and It is the same in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, but now the Ministry of State Security and the Intelligence Bureau are all under the management of the cabinet.

But Shang Yi also considered that at this time, it is necessary to establish an intelligence agency that directly pays responsibility to the emperor. On the one hand, it is to protect the security of the royal family, crack down on some ambitionists who conspire to undermine the royal family, and to overthrow the royal family, which can indeed help the royal family. Monitoring the movements of the ministers, on the other hand, is also analyzing information on various affairs at home and abroad, providing reference for the emperor to participate in national decision-making, and can also cooperate with the Ministry of State Security and the Intelligence Bureau, exchange information, etc. wait.

Although the Chinese Empire implemented a constitutional monarchy, the current environment is different from later generations. For a long time, it was impossible for the emperor to completely separate from national politics like the royal families in later generations to become a truly peaceful emperor. Instead, we will try our best to participate in national politics, participate in cabinet meetings, submit our own proposals in Congress, and publish our own political propositions. Therefore, we also need a department that specializes in collecting intelligence and information for ourselves.

However, Shang Yi did not criticize the Royal Security Investigation Department to turn the Royal Security Investigation Department into a change of the Jinyiwei or the East Factory, and the Western Factory similar organizations. Therefore, the biggest difference between the Royal Security Investigation Department and the Jinyiwei or the East Factory, is that, There is no right to arrest, no right to imprisonment, and cannot lead and direct the work of the Department of Security and the Intelligence Agency. From this point of view, the Royal Security Investigation Department is more like the American Central Intelligence in another time and space, and its main responsibility is to The emperor's national decision-making provides a basis for reference, which means he is equivalent to being an emperor's intelligence consultant. If he has sufficient evidence or needs to be arrested, he needs to submit or apply to the judicial department.

In fact, the three intelligence agencies of the empire maintained a considerable degree of independence and were not bound by other institutions.
Chapter completed!