If Zhu Ci truly had the ability, he wouldn't be limited to merely stationed in Suzhou, even being stationed in Suzhou had him overwhelmed with work.
Zhu Ci looked up, smiled, finally said, "Alright."
Fu Chunsheng put his veiled hat back on and said, "It will be hard on Your Majesty to observe the mourning period these next few days."
Regardless of how one puts it, Zhu Ci inherited the throne from Zhu Yousong, so he must still observe the period of mourning now that Zhu Yousong is dead.
Alright," Zhu Ci asked. "Setting those aside for now, what is the Marquis of Huating seeking?
Fu stood up and said, "Peace throughout the world."
Zhu Ci blinked, surprised that he did not feel the other party was speaking empty words.
After all, if Fu truly gave up the chance to declare himself king, the reasons he spoke of would not be enough to stop an ambitious man.
Just as Fu said, their mutual infighting and exhaustion would only allow the Qing Army to reap the benefits.
After Fu left, Jiang Xueyan and Jiang Quan entered. They were extremely curious about what the two had discussed, but they also knew their limits and did not ask further.
Zhu Ci rubbed his temples and said, "What is the current situation?"
Jiang Quan said, "It seems the Marquis of Huating's men have yielded, everything is being handled according to the Young Master's previous instructions."
Zhu Ci asked, "Are there any other problems?"
Jiang Xueyan hesitated for a moment. "Aside from this matter, there are no other issues. The Marquis of Huating.. is extremely well-prepared."
She said there were no problems, but she was filled with worry.
The more thoroughly the Marquis of Huating prepared, the fewer opportunities they would have to interfere.
She couldn't help but ask, "Young Master, will we be stripped of our power by the Marquis of Huating?"
Zhu Ci looked at her with a smile: "Indeed, you even know what it means to be stripped of power?"
Jiang Xueyan said helplessly, "Teacher Qiu taught us."
Hmm, Qiu Jingfu really did teach us quite a lot. It's a bit of a waste to have this man serve as a teacher at Xialiang; I'll have to arrange for him to teach the soldiers how to read later.
Zhu Ci thought about these things and said casually, "Whether he is sidelined or not is not something you need to worry about."
With so many people under Fu's command, they could occupy many positions, making it difficult not to be sidelined.
Zhu Ci did not have that many thoughts; he only had two requirements: first, the land distribution and tax policies must remain unchanged; second, he must hold military power, at the very least, no one else could interfere with the troops he raised himself—anyone who interfered would die.
Aside from this, he could not care about anything else.
Jiang Quan and Jiang Xueyan exchanged a glance, wondering how their Young Master could remain so composed. They didn't dare say much, however, since the Young Master was still injured and was currently forcing himself to handle various affairs. If they couldn't help share the burden, they certainly couldn't make things more difficult for him.
However, when they learned that the Marquis of Huating intended to support their Young Master to become Emperor, they were both somewhat stunned.
No one could have imagined how the two people, who had just been at each other's throats, would suddenly turn to this subject.
The matter of succession could be said to be both difficult and simple.
It was simple in that Zhu Ci settled it with just a few words to Fu Chunsheng, but it was difficult because they were currently neither prosperous nor even doing particularly well.
Ascending the throne before the funeral altar—it sounds as if Zhu Ci inherited Zhu Yousong's political legacy, yet all this tyrant left him were nothing but a mess. He was lucky if he didn't have trouble; what political legacy could there possibly be?
Setting aside everything else, they couldn't even maintain the existing system; never mind the Grand Secretariat, they couldn't even assemble enough people for the Six Ministries.
Originally, those.. had all been mostly killed by Fu.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ci could not help but look at Fu and say, "How about.. postponing the succession for a while? Right now, I have nothing under my command; what use is a mere title?
Fu said decisively, "No, Your Majesty must not only ascend the throne, but do so as quickly as possible, even if the ceremony is somewhat simple."
Zhu Ci was somewhat confused, but Fu explained very patiently, "Only by establishing your status early can the people's hearts be settled. Not to mention, what Your Majesty faces next are not only the Tartars but also the Prince of Tang. The Prince of Tang has already proclaimed himself Emperor; does Your Majesty intend to continue calling himself the Crown Prince?"
Zhu Ci frowned. "Can we not just ignore them?"
Fu shook his head. "Your Majesty might not wish to deal with the Prince of Tang, but if the Prince of Tang wants to ascend the throne, he must first eliminate Your Majesty, or at least take back Nanjing."
And now that Nanjing was in Fu's hands, Fu had already pledged his allegiance to Zhu Ci, it was essentially no different from Nanjing being in Zhu Ci's hands.
Zhu Ci clicked his tongue and said, "What he should be doing now is occupying the south and developing properly."
The issue for Zhu Yujian was no longer about how many people or how much money he had under his command, but rather the need to first cultivate his own people.
Zheng Zhilong supported him, but later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and sold him out. Regardless of whether he was a wise ruler or not, without his own people at his command, he was nothing more than prey for others.
Fu said with a hint of disdain, "Not everyone has a clear head."
Zhu Ci sighed and said, "Fine, if you're going to ascend the throne, then ascend it. Don't bother with any ceremonies; just issue an imperial edict.."
He originally wanted to say that just issuing an imperial edict so everyone would know would be enough.
As a result, halfway through his sentence, he looked at Fu Chunsheng and asked, "Where is the Imperial Seal? I don't have the Imperial Seal in my hands."
At most, all he has in his hands right now is a single Crown Prince Seal.
Fu Wei smiled slightly. "Your servant is, of course, fully prepared."
Fine, have it your way.
At this moment, he also somewhat understood Fu's meaning. Regardless of whether the ascension to the throne was rushed, he had to first establish his own position, much like how one needs to find a righteous slogan before going to war.
If he ascends the throne, then the Prince of Tang's court will be a pretender dynasty.
After reaching an agreement on this matter, Fu spoke again, "Your Majesty, the most urgent priority is to first recall the former officials."
“Old officials? What am I supposed to do with them?” Zhu Ci nearly jumped up. “Are they coming here to cause me trouble?”
“Then how does Your Majesty intend to handle these matters currently? Your Majesty's control now extends far beyond just the three prefectures.”
Zhu Ci realized belatedly that after Fu Chunsheng defected, his territory became his own as well.
If he were a bit lazier, he would let Fu continue to handle those matters; after all, he had handled them quite well before.
But if it were like this, what would be the point of him being Emperor? Would he just be someone with a title?
Zhu Ci would never allow himself to be a puppet emperor, so he had to rebuild the imperial court.
He tapped the armrest of his armchair lightly, thinking seriously.
Fu, however, thought he was still reluctant and could not help but say, "May I ask, Your Majesty, why you are unwilling to recall your former officials?"
Fu was somewhat confused. Since Xialiang, the only scholar this young Emperor had ever used was an old scholar, while the rest relied on those who were half-illiterate.
This resulted in him needing to personally handle everything; it was manageable when his reach was limited, but now, it was no longer something he could handle by personally overseeing every single matter.
Especially since he was not particularly skilled in politics; although he had won the hearts of the people, such public sentiment was the easiest to change, he could not govern the world relying solely on it.
Zhu Ci said bluntly, "Factionalism—while it can't be said that Great Ming perished because of factionalism, it certainly caused delays during critical periods. If the two factions hadn't been fighting in the imperial court, the Tartars wouldn't have been able to advance southward so quickly, they wouldn't have surrendered directly along the way."
Zhu Ci became angrier as he spoke: "Setting aside the civil officials, take Liu Zeqing, for instance. He was previously stationed at Huaian with twenty thousand troops under his command. What did he do when the Tartars attacked? He simply fled to sea!"
Although Zhu Ci had also thought about going to sea himself, at that time he was all alone with nothing, seeking only to save his life, while Liu Zeqing had so many people under his command and everything he needed, yet he didn't even offer any resistance.
What kind of person was he recruiting?
This was the first time Fu had seen the Young Emperor so agitated.
Zhu Ci had always been reserved and composed in front of him, but after saying this long string of words, it was clear he was quite furious.
Zhu Ci glanced at him, picked up his teacup, took a sip.
If one were to speak of being angry, he was indeed angry, but he was not so angry as to lose his reason; the reason he acted so agitated was to let Fu know his attitude.
Fu followed his lead and said, "Liu Zeqing is indeed hateful, but there are many men of vision in the world; one cannot stop eating for fear of choking."
Zhu Ci leaned back and said, "Then tell me, how many people in the imperial court are without factions? The Donglin Party is powerful and deeply rooted, the Grand Secretary's Party is not far behind them. If these people are recalled, wouldn't everything just return to square one?"
Fu Chunsheng thought that this was likely the young Emperor's psychological knot.
He said after some deliberation, "Factional strife also depends on the atmosphere of the imperial court. From ancient times to the present, factional strife has been impossible to avoid completely, yet there are still wise monarchs and virtuous ministers. Whether they remain in court depends entirely on Your Majesty's whim."
After hearing this, Zhu Ci immediately leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk, said earnestly, "The very idea that matters of state and military depend entirely on a single whim of the Emperor is wrong in itself. The Emperor's power cannot be elevated without limit; if one wants national stability, imperial power must be restricted, otherwise, the country will be doomed if a foolish ruler takes the throne."
When Fu heard the first part, he thought Zhu Ci was shirking responsibility, but he was stunned when he heard the rest.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: "A bunch of useless trash, what if the enemy attacks and they sell me out?" Meow gave a look of disdain and spat. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 97
Fu felt as if he was getting to know this young emperor before him all over again.
Based on his understanding of Zhu Ci, he should have held absolute power tightly in his hands after becoming Emperor, but unexpectedly, he actually said that imperial power should be restricted.
Fu also felt that imperial power should be restricted; otherwise, it would be just like Zhu Yousong, a foolish ruler who dragged down the entire Great Ming.
He asked with great interest, "How does Your Majesty intend to limit imperial power?"
Zhu Ci did not beat around the bush with him, saying directly, "In our history, there was once a term called monarch offline.. no, constitutional monarchy."
Under the serious gaze of those light blue eyes, Zhu Ci was forced to recall his middle school history.
Fortunately, many countries in later generations would still use the system of constitutional monarchy, so it wasn't entirely detached from history.
Sigh, the land of Great Ming truly lacks the soil for communism at this moment; it can only be done step by step, a constitutional monarchy is the best transition.
In fact, Great Ming was already moving in this direction; the Grand Secretariat was one such manifestation.
Unfortunately, the Qing Army's entry into the passes forcibly interrupted this process, later on, it led to a comprehensive regression of the entire civilization.
Never mind the systems; even science and technology were regressing.
After hearing this, Fu Cai couldn't help but strike the table and exclaim, "This system is excellent."
What he saw was not just the restriction of imperial power, but also the further restriction of factional struggles, or rather, that factional struggles could be balanced to the greatest extent possible.
However, under this system, it seemed as if the Emperor, even the entire imperial family, were nothing more than mascots being pushed to the front.
But how could the young Emperor before him be a mere mascot?
To put it simply, in this system, the Emperor's authority is somewhat greater because he can appoint the head of the Grand Secretariat, who in turn can nominate the members of the Grand Secretariat. However, the power of the Grand Secretariat is not unlimited, as there is also a council that acts as a check.
To put it simply, the Emperor reigns but does not rule; the actual power to govern the country has been delegated to the Grand Secretariat.
Fu said thoughtfully, "Is this parliament not simply the Censorate?"