Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 565: The Law of Eternity
Ever since Jia Cong left Beijing last autumn, the Crown Prince felt that there was less fun in the palace.

Not only is the fun gone, but there are also a lot of troubles.

The biggest trouble was the one his father threw at him, the kind he couldn't avoid even if he wanted to.

"Your Highness, the Dengzhou Navy urgently reported that on the Lantern Festival, Zhao Baozhen, the commander of the Dengzhou Navy, led 21 large and small ships under his command and encountered a Western barbarian fleet off the coast of Jiaozhou. In the spirit of good neighborliness and friendship, and to celebrate the Lantern Festival together, Zhao Baozhen ordered our ship to fire three cannon shots to show congratulations. Unfortunately, the gunner's skills were poor and the shot missed..."

Lin Ruhai, the cabinet assistant who was on duty today, looked strange as he read on. When did these rough guys in the army learn to report victory in a roundabout way?

"Master Lin, what's next?"

Originally Liu Hong was having a headache because his father was claiming to be sick and avoiding work, which caused him a lot of trouble. Suddenly he saw Lin Ruhai pick up a red envelope and start reading it quickly. Halfway through, he had a look as if he had seen a ghost. Liu Hong couldn't help but become curious.

Hearing the prince's question, Lin Ruhai had to clear his throat and continued reading: "The gunner's skills were poor, and one shot missed the target, hitting the Western Yi flagship that was blocking our army's advance. Unexpectedly, the Western Yi ship was loaded with a large amount of gunpowder, and the shell ignited and exploded."

"The blast from their explosion was so strong that it overturned one of our boats. The Western barbarians not only refused to apologize, but also dared to fight back... Therefore, our soldiers took legitimate defensive measures and sank them all!"

"During this defense, our soldiers sank a total of 28 ships of the Western Barbarians and killed countless enemies. Three hundred of our warriors were slightly injured, two were seriously injured, and zero were sacrificed. Six small boats were lost, and no large ships were damaged..."

Liu Hong was stunned. He had never seen such a shameless person.

But he admired this kind of shamelessness very much.

But this matter is a bit troublesome. Daxia is now conducting large-scale maritime trade with the Western Barbarians, and the silver that comes in every year is pulled back one ship at a time.

The Celestial Empire's navy accidentally sank an enemy fleet. If the other party knew the news, how would they be able to do business?
Alas, it’s not easy to manage a large family and business!

"Your Highness, there is another line of small words below..."

Lin Ruhai naturally saw Liu Hong's dilemma, but Zhao Baozhen was a clean man...

He spread out the last page of the urgent memorial in front of Liu Hong, and saw a line of small words at the end of the page: Your Majesty, I have followed the order of Yongfeng Hou and will not accept surrender or leave anyone alive in this battle. After the battle, I led my troops to search the sea area within a radius of ten miles, but all the birds were gone, and there was no possibility of any news coming out.

This method... could indeed be done by that kid Jia Cong.

Liu Hong finally felt relieved. There had been enough troubles recently. Although the country was not afraid of the Western barbarians, the matter of making money could not be delayed.

Not to mention anything else, the imperial court now wants money everywhere, and the Ministry of Revenue has been almost annoyed to death these days.

The new Minister of Revenue, Wen Lian, completely inherited the mischievous character of the previous finance ministers of Great Xia. He complained to him about being poor every day and kept an eye on the silver in the treasury all the time.

Thinking of the trouble behind this matter, Liu Hong could only ask his trusted eunuch to keep the secret report for the time being.

"The merits of the Dengzhou Navy this time should be recorded secretly, and don't report it to the Ministry of War. Master Lin will personally commend the officers and soldiers. When the war in Japan is over, we can find a reason to make up the reward."

It is a tyrant who does not reward meritorious service. The soldiers of Daxia can fight for their country fearlessly and fearlessly because the Liu family is never stingy with rewards.

Upon hearing this, Lin Ruhai agreed and opened the merit book that came with it, intending to commend and reward the soldiers.

Unexpectedly, after opening it, he saw that the person with the greatest military achievements was actually his son-in-law, Jia Cong, who was far away in Wa Island.

"What is this kid doing here?"

Swish, Master Lin unceremoniously crossed out Jia Cong's name and replaced the first place in military merit with Zhao Baozhen, the commander of the Dengzhou Navy who commanded the naval battle.

After seeing this, Liu Hong asked in confusion: "In this battle, Jia Cong not only anticipated the enemy's moves, but also considered everything very comprehensively, saving the country from a lot of trouble. He deserves the first place in the list of meritorious service. Why did Master Lin cross him out?"

Lin Ruhai quickly put Jia Cong's name in third place, and the second place was the observation post that sank the Xiyi flagship with one shot.

Lin Ruhai explained, "Your Highness, if he sits in the room and mobilizes the army to win a battle with a military order, then he is given the first place in merit. How can it be fair to the soldiers who fight desperately on the battlefield? He is given the third place in merit because he anticipated the enemy's moves and made meritorious command."

……

Being the prime minister of a dynasty is a very energy-consuming job. Mr. Zhou Jiong is already over 70 years old. He has taken many leave this winter to rest and recuperate at home.

Ci Fu Xia Lingxing was not young anymore, and after months of hard work, a lot of his gray hair had fallen out.

Among the remaining grand secretaries in the cabinet, Lin Ruhai was the youngest and a typical member of the young and vigorous generation.

After Zhou Jiong submitted his first resignation letter a year later, many people in the court had already speculated who would be the next prime minister.

Most people were saying that Xia Ling would succeed as Prime Minister, but there were also reports that the Emperor preferred Lin Ruhai, who ranked third in the cabinet.

Because Lin Ruhai is not only young and energetic, but also has sufficient qualifications. Most importantly, Lin Ruhai is now in charge of most of the new political affairs and is most in tune with the emperor and the prince.

As the situation in the court is about to change, many people are ready to take action.

They once again began to form "gentlemen's cliques", secretly colluding to push ministers who would be more beneficial to their own future to the position.

Suddenly, there were a lot of "dirty" gossips about the cabinet ministers in the capital. For example, Xia Ge Lao liked Buddhism and had affairs with Buddhists; Guo Peigui liked women and took a concubine someday, and the concubine was a widow...

The most outrageous thing is the story about Lin Ruhai. It is said that Lin Ruhai favored his concubine over his wife. His wife Jia Min was so angry that she died because Lin Ruhai wanted to bring his concubine (Jinse) into the house.

Anyway, Jia Min has been dead for more than ten years, and Jinse has married into the Lin family and become the only mistress of the Lin family, so they can throw dirty water on her as they please.

Lin Ruhai didn't care about it at all, and several old officials in the cabinet had a similar attitude.

Instead of trying to suppress the rumors, they joked about them to each other in the duty room.

The middle and low-level officials in the court couldn't understand it, but these old foxes had guessed the emperor's thoughts.

"Your Majesty's intention is for us to quickly perfect the Constitution Outline and promulgate it throughout the country as soon as possible. My Lords, the rest of the cabinet's intention is to implement it according to the law set by Zhang Zhengju, but the power of the monarch is sacred and cannot be moved lightly, otherwise there will be a danger of the country being overthrown."

Zhou Jiong spent nearly two months and finally studied thoroughly the "Outline of the Constitution of Daxia" drafted by Zhang Zhengju.

To be honest, he was very optimistic about this incredibly detailed new law.

But in some aspects, the old man always feels that it is too hasty to implement this method now.

For a super dynasty like the Guochao, with a vast territory and a population of tens of millions, using legal power to restrict imperial power and gradually evolving into a system of figurehead monarchy, isn't this just nonsense?

Believe it or not, if you put the royal power in a cage today, there will be war everywhere tomorrow.

"I have revised this place. Can you please take a look and see if it works?"

Mr. Zhou is not just trying to maintain the emperor's power. In fact, the biggest power struggle in the country has always been the struggle between the emperor's power and the prime minister's power.

However, Daxia had four generations of wise rulers, and they had a thorough understanding of the need for the prime minister's power to restrict the emperor's power.

Unrestrained royal power is the greatest danger to the country.

But as a prime minister, he also understood that excessive restrictions on royal power would be more harmful to the country.

The monarchy represents the power of the center. If the center is weak, the local areas will be strong. During the Warring States Period in the pre-Qin period, the Zhou emperor did not even dare to leave the gate of Luo City, which shows how great the harm was.

"I think the Prime Minister made good changes. He reformed the Grand Military Governor's Office and strengthened the emperor's control over the military power. At the same time, he weakened the influence of the cabinet on the army. The Ministry of War is only responsible for the recruitment of the army and logistics supply..."

"And here, I think we should add one more sentence. The emperor's edict must be signed by the cabinet before it can be disseminated to all directions. The cabinet's right to seal and reject the imperial edict must be written into the constitution."

"For daily government affairs, the cabinet can directly approve them without bothering the emperor. The cabinet can appoint and dismiss officials below the fifth rank according to the rules. Every five or seven days, the cabinet must submit a summary report to the emperor. This way, the emperor can also relax a little. Saints are fine, but your majesty is the only diligent monarch I have seen in recent years. Sometimes I am afraid that your majesty is tired... cough cough, what's on the dragon table?"

"It should be emphasized here that the newly established Supreme Court and the Supreme Supervisory Council should be on the same level as the Cabinet. No one dares to say that all cabinet ministers in the future will be loyal and honest."

"The Cabinet, the Grand Military Governor's Office, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Supervisory Council are directly responsible to the Emperor. However, the Cabinet has the power to seal and reject the Emperor's edicts and supervise the Emperor. This way, the Emperor can control the country to a greater extent, while also strengthening the power of the Cabinet, that is, strengthening the power of the central government."

The six university scholars in the duty room are among the smartest people in the country.

Moreover, they had either been in charge of the central government for many years or had outstanding achievements in local politics and had extremely high political literacy, so they could easily find the immature mistakes and omissions in the constitutional outline prepared by Zhang Zhengju.

The six people exchanged opinions with each other and continued to improve the new law.

By nightfall, the "Outline of the Constitution of Daxia" that the emperor had urged several times was finally drafted.

……

The emperor had been claiming to be ill for more than a month, and he had left even such important ceremonies as the New Year's Day court to be presided over by Crown Prince Liu Hong.

However, when the lights in the cabinet duty room were brightly on and the sound of arguments could be heard from time to time, the emperor pushed open the door and walked in.

"I, your Majesty, pay my respects to you..."

"Master Zhou, Master Xia, and all the gentlemen, please stand up quickly. I just came here to take a look..."

As the dynasty grew stronger, the emperor's character grew gentler.

Xia Shouzhong was waiting outside the duty room. The emperor helped the trembling old man Zhou up, and the emperor and his ministers took their seats.

"I was just wandering around to relax, but ended up here without realizing it. I saw the lights were on inside, so I came over to take a look..."

The emperor saw the pile of manuscripts on the table and picked up one to flip through it.

But then they saw the part about the power of the monarch, the power of the law, and the power of the ministers. Everyone looked at each other, and it would be a lie to say that they were not worried.

After all, as subjects, they have to use laws to limit imperial power. If it were a strong emperor, perhaps the entire cabinet would have to be cleared out.

However, the current emperor is indeed a remarkable and wise ruler as they thought.

"This is a good idea, it's worth a try. I thought you really listened to that fool Zhang Zhengju and were thinking about implementing a system of nominal monarchy."

The emperor is very satisfied with the draft constitutional outline. He is worthy of being the cabinet minister personally selected by my father and me, and he is deeply loved by me!

He continued to flip through the rest of the book, occasionally making a few comments.

Seeing the emperor's attitude, the six ministers in the cabinet finally put their uneasy hearts at ease.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Zhou Jiong began to explain several key points to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Zhengju is indeed a genius. But as Your Majesty said, many of his ideas are too immature and do not conform to the current national conditions. This old minister and the other elders have supplemented and revised most of them, and finally felt that if this method is implemented, it will not only strengthen the power of the central government, but also allow the Liu family to continue the world for a longer time."

This is the confidence that enables the old man to seek the power of the emperor as a subject.

Zhou Jiong was not doing this for the benefit of one person, but for the benefit of the world and for the long-term stability of the Liu family.

"The succession of dynasties rarely lasts more than three hundred years. Looking through the history books, it is unacceptable for a strong ruler to have weak ministers, and it is also unacceptable for a weak ruler to have strong ministers. Only balance is the right way."

The emperor nodded, and at this moment he remembered the various stories that Jia Cong had told him.

In that strange story, that country adopted democratic centralism, which not only strengthened the core, but also limited the power of the commander to a greater extent and prevented the dictator from doing foolish things.

He considered himself a wise ruler, and he also believed that his son would be a wise ruler.

But he didn't believe that all his descendants would be as wise as he was. He didn't even believe that his son would be as far-sighted as he was and able to see through the double-edged sword of power.

That's why he hid in the Dragon Head Palace and argued and discussed with his old father, who had controlled the dynasty for fifty years, for several months.

"Master Zhou, Master Xia, my dear ministers..."

The emperor suddenly put down the manuscript in his hand with a serious expression.

He stood up and bowed to the six university scholars present, scaring them so much that they all stood up in shock.

"Please accept this gift from me, my dear ministers. This gift is my thanks to you for risking your clan's execution to offer good advice and establish a law that will last forever for our Great Xia Dynasty!"

"I dare not wait..."

The emperor interrupted the second half of the six people's humble words and bowed again: "My dear ministers, please don't be humble and give in. This is what you deserve. This courtesy is what I ask of you, my dear ministers. I also ask you to complete this system passed down from generation to generation with me, and set rules for future monarchs and ministers..."

……

On February , the dragon looked up.

It turned out that the civil and military ministers were all busy in their respective duty rooms, when suddenly the sound of the Jingyang Bell ringing was heard in the palace.

"Your Majesty has issued an order to summon all civil and military officials above the seventh rank in the capital to come to the Fengtian Palace to see you!"

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　Thanks to Brother Pang, who is still so fat, for the reward!
　　I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)