Chapter Sixty: The Tiger Emerges from Its Cage

  The words that the Chongzhen Emperor had been holding in his heart for so long finally burst out: "It's because someone has taken control of the imperial guards, isolating the emperor and manipulating things within the palace to make my brother lose his heir!"

  Upon hearing Chongzhen Emperor say this, Zhong Xianwei vaguely had some impression.

  "Not only that, but also brought in several pregnant women from outside the palace to pretend to be the emperor's descendants, in order to achieve his goal of usurping the throne of the Ming Dynasty!" The Chongzhen Emperor poured out the fear and anger that had been pent up in his heart for a long time.

  "Moreover, when I first entered the palace and ascended to the throne, there were crises all around, my life was hanging by a thread. Luckily, my imperial sister reminded me not to eat the food in the palace, but instead ate the buns she had secretly brought into the palace."

  "Master Zhong, tell me, dare I let the Imperial Guard out again?" Chongzhen Emperor stared at Zhong Xue and asked.

  Zhong Jingwei lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up at Emperor Chongzhen with a calm expression: "Your Majesty, we can't just stop eating because we choked once, can we?"

  Chongzhen Emperor originally thought that Zhong Xian would agree with his approach after listening to his words. Unexpectedly, Zhong Xian said that he was unable to eat due to a sore throat and was taken aback.

  "Your Majesty, you just mentioned two main issues. Do you think I'm right or wrong?" Zhong Jinwei said sincerely.

  After the Chongzhen Emperor expressed his hidden thoughts, he felt a little relieved. He nodded to Zhong Xian and wanted to see what Zhong had to say.

  "Firstly, Guan Yu is indeed formidable and can detect even the slightest details. It's no exaggeration to say that he can see through everything, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Secondly, whoever controls the Imperial Guard will have enormous power and may even affect the Emperor's authority, isn't that so?" Modern people don't have that kind of deeply ingrained fear, plus Zhong Wen's personality and his relationship with Emperor Chongzhen, he spoke without any restraint.

  "This is exactly what I was worried about!" Emperor Chongzhen said calmly.

  "Your Majesty, we can't abandon a sharp knife just because it's too sharp. We can think of ways to prevent the knife from harming ourselves, and then use its sharpness against our enemies, wouldn't that be useful?"

  Chongzhen Emperor was actually also because of his own growth experience, being really scared by the Imperial Guards, and then after being persuaded by civil officials, he banned the Imperial Guards and didn't dare to use them.

  Having been an emperor for more than two years, his courage and mentality have changed from the beginning. Zhong Jinwei analyzed it carefully again, thinking that he might be a bit too cautious.

  Zhong Jingwei saw the expression on Chongzhen Emperor's face ease up, knowing that his words had an effect, and continued to say: "Your Majesty, let's be frank. What you're actually referring to is Wei Zhongxian, right?"

  The Chongzhen Emperor nodded.

  "Wei Zhongxian was able to become such a powerful minister, known as the 'Nine Thousand Year Old', because Emperor Tianqi trusted him too much and gave him too much power. He controlled the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guard, and as the head eunuch in the palace, no one could restrain him. It's not that the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guard themselves had problems."

  The Chongzhen Emperor neither nodded nor shook his head, but simply looked at Zhong Xue.

  Wei Zhongxian's power came from the Tianqi Emperor. When Wei had misdeeds, there must have been people loyal to the emperor who wanted to report him, or his rivals who wanted to replace him and also report him. However, the Tianqi Emperor did not investigate, but only trusted Wei, dealing with those people or later being retaliated against by Wei. Over time, he became the second most powerful person in the palace after the emperor. Therefore, he was able to deceive the emperor and do whatever he wanted in the palace.

  However, unlike the Tianqi Emperor, I believe that Your Majesty is diligent in governance and cannot be easily fooled by eunuchs. This was the truth, although it seemed to imply that his brother was not, but Chongzhen Emperor listened with pleasure.

  "Furthermore, Your Majesty can take certain measures to prevent the concentration of great power in one person within the palace."

  This balance of means is generally achieved as long as the emperor's intelligence and emotional quotient are normal, so Emperor Chongzhen nodded in agreement.

  "Your Majesty, based on the above reasons, I have a few suggestions." Zhong Jingwei said, looking at Emperor Chongzhen.

  Chongzhen Emperor nodded: "Master Zhong, speak your mind."

  "First, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard cannot be controlled by the same person. I know that one of the functions of the Eastern Depot is to supervise the Embroidered Uniform Guard. In this way, the status of the Eastern Depot's head will be higher than that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's commander, which is not conducive to balance. Therefore, it is necessary for the heads of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to be equally important and directly report to Your Majesty.

  Zhong Jinwei later learned from online materials that because the emperor trusted eunuchs more, the status of the Eastern Depot was higher than that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

  "Secondly, the head of the Eastern Depot and the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards should be replaced every few years, for example, every five or ten years. This can prevent them from becoming too powerful, and it has nothing to do with whether the emperor trusts them or not. I know that some emperors will also proactively replace the head of the Eastern Depot or the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards, but this is usually done when their trust in them has decreased or when imperial power is threatened. What I am saying is that setting a fixed term for replacement is beneficial to both the emperor and the head of the Eastern Depot or the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards themselves. This can avoid suspicion between the ruler and his ministers, as well as prevent the rise of powerful ministers."

  The superiority of this system was something Chongzhen Emperor had never heard before and found it quite refreshing.

  "Thirdly, the eunuchs of the Eastern Depot cannot concurrently hold major positions in the palace, to prevent them from dominating both inside and outside the palace."

  Chongzhen Emperor thought to himself: The positions of the Director of the Eastern Depot, the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Staff, and the Seal-keeper of the Imperial Stables cannot be held by the same person.

  Zhong Jingwei said this and then quietly looked at Emperor Chongzhen, meaning to let Emperor Chongzhen comment on what he had just said.

  "Master Zhong's words are reasonable, I understand how to use the factory guards now!" The Chongzhen Emperor gave a big affirmative. However, he immediately continued: "But Master Zhong, what about the situation where the factory guards arrest people indiscriminately and frame others? I have heard of such cases before."

  "It's not a big problem for people nowadays," Zhong Jingwei replied, "Your Majesty, if the power of the Imperial Guard is reduced a bit, and they are not allowed to arrest, interrogate, and sentence people on their own, it will reduce many wrongful convictions."

  This, Chongzhen Emperor did not quite understand, was a bit bewildered.

  Because for the people of ancient times, arresting, interrogating and sentencing were a normal situation all in one. To put it another way, the county magistrates of ancient times also held several powers in one person.

  So Emperor Chongzhen said: "Master Zhong, please speak in detail."

  "Arrest, trial and sentencing are all decided by the factory guard. Whether or not the accused is wrongly convicted depends entirely on them. If the factory guard uses inhumane methods, it often leads to miscarriages of justice. But if these powers were separated, other departments could get involved and the accused would have another way to appeal."

  "So what should be done?" The Chongzhen Emperor let Zhong Xing put his words into action.

  "To illustrate, the Embroidered Uniform Guard can be sent to investigate illegal matters, and once evidence is obtained, they can arrest the offender and then hand over the evidence and the offender to the Ministry of Justice for trial. The Eastern Depot can send someone to attend the trial as an observer. If the evidence is insufficient, the Embroidered Uniform Guard can be allowed to supplement the evidence within a specified time limit. If no evidence is found after the time limit has expired, the accused can be released on bail. In this way, the capabilities of both the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot can be demonstrated without easily leading to wrongful convictions."

  "Hmm, this... let me think." The Chongzhen Emperor hesitated a bit.

  "Your Majesty, if you release the factory guards now, they can be used immediately." Zhong Jinwei continued to tempt Emperor Chongzhen.

  "Where is it used?"

  "For example, this time the capital's disaster relief, Your Majesty can secretly send out the Imperial Guards to observe which officials are wealthy but do not donate a single penny, and which ones are enthusiastic about disaster relief. Report back to Your Majesty, then you will know their character, and when using people in the future, there will be a reference. Also, how the common people of the capital react to this disaster relief, and what the final effect of the disaster relief is, can all be known without just listening to the words of the civil officials."

  "Your Majesty, now is the time of great turmoil. The sharp knife of the Imperial Guard must be used, as long as Your Majesty can firmly grasp the hilt and not let it fall into the hands of others." Gong Jingwei concluded.

  The Chongzhen Emperor did not answer immediately, sat down on the throne, closed his eyes and meditated for a while.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes fiercely and said to Zhong Jingwei: "I was haunted by my past experiences, fortunately, Master Zhong reminded me. I understand now."

  Zhong Jingwei couldn't help but laugh sincerely when he heard Emperor Chongzhen's words.

  The Chongzhen Emperor glanced at the time and then said to Zhong Xian with a hint of embarrassment: "It's getting late, Master Zhong, go back and write that memorial about the paper currency first."

  "Very well, Your Majesty, I bid you farewell."

  Chongzhen Emperor sat quietly alone in the Wenhua Hall, thinking about things.

  After a while, Emperor Chongzhen called an imperial attendant to go and summon Wang Cheng'en.

  In the dead of night, Emperor Chongzhen finally settled everything and went back to rest.

  Tonight was Empress Zhou's turn to share the emperor's bed, and what surprised her was that Emperor Chongzhen was exceptionally vigorous tonight. After a round of passionate love-making, they both lay down satisfied.

  Empress Zhou was naked, curled up in Emperor Chongzhen's arms. She felt a little curious, lifted her head to look at Emperor Chongzhen's face, and said softly: "Your Majesty, is there any good news today? I feel that your mood is better than before."

  Chongzhen Emperor smiled under the dim candlelight, saying: "Master Zhong gave me several good ideas today, which greatly reduced the pressure on me."

  Empress Zhou listened and thought for a moment, saying: "Your Majesty, it's really not bad to say that I feel that Your Majesty has been smiling more often since Master Zhong woke up. I also like seeing it."

  "Oh, Emperor Chongzhen thought about it and felt that there was indeed such a thing. He couldn't help but sigh: "Yes, Master Zhong has given me many good ideas and painted a picture of my future goals, far surpassing those of Qin Shi Huang and Han Wu!"

  Far surpassing Qin Huang and Han Wu? Empress Zhou imagined in her mind, would her husband really be that formidable?

  It's another top-notch affirmation, no need to express gratitude, I'll ask my wife for more time to code, and the two updates must be kept.