Chapter 1261: Protective (2)

Mu Yangling rushed back to the capital that very afternoon, shocking the officials who were paying attention to King Rong’s estate. They couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

Right after they bullied the young one, the mother was back. Could it be that she was back to protect him?

Harboring this suspicion, these quick-witted officials obediently reported during the court meeting the next day. They no longer had to ask for Qi Wenjin’s opinion on everything like yesterday.

This disappointed Little Bear, who had been waiting for a long time. He was so excited that he didn’t sleep the entire night last night, but today, no one asked him anything.

Little Bear drooped his head, and the ministers who were secretly paying attention to him heaved a sigh of relief.

However, not everyone had such insight. Some officials had long disliked King Rong’s family’s arrogance.

The incident of everyone making things difficult for Qi Wenjin yesterday was still deeply engraved in their minds, so they thought that King Rong’s estate had angered everyone. Naturally, they were eager to continue the momentum today.

Hence, just as Little Bear was lowering his head in disappointment, an imperial censor standing in the middle back stepped forward solemnly and said, “Your Majesty, the saying that the prime minister’s power is too great to create chaos was suggested by Queen Consort Rong. Prince Rong was raised by Her Highness, so he should know this the best. What do you think about this, Your Highness?”

The Imperial Court instantly fell silent.

As the first few officials were really discussing whether to weaken the Prime Minister’s power and how to weaken it, it wasn’t inappropriate for this imperial censor to suddenly stand up and raise this question. Still, anyone with eyes could tell that his question was directed at Little Bear.

Seeing the young imperial censor standing in the middle of the hall with his head lowered smugly, everyone couldn’t help but look at him sympathetically. Only the Imperial Secretary glared at him.

Little Bear’s eyes lit up. This was the question he had been waiting for.

Little Bear coughed lightly and tried his best to stand out with a straight face. “Your Majesty, I think the Prime Minister’s authority should be reduced!”

Yan Du’s eyes darkened. Rong Xuan looked at him with a smile to encourage him.

Qi Xiuyuan nodded with interest and asked enthusiastically, “Then what do you think we should do? The Prime Minister is the head of the officials, and the Left and Right Ministers have their own powers. If we remove their authority and responsibility, who will take up that responsibility then?”

That’s right, this was the reason why everyone was arguing endlessly.

If you weakened the Prime Minister’s power, it meant that he had less to do. Then who would deal with the responsibilities that had been removed from him?

The authority and responsibilities of the subordinate officials had long been determined. If these additional responsibilities were handed over to them, the entire official system would have to change. If the aim was to weaken the Prime Minister’s authority and responsibilities, this huge move would not make up for the losses.

Previously, Little Bear hadn’t thought of this, but yesterday, Little Treasure had chased after him and reminded him of this point. Furthermore, his mother had taught him after she returned. At this moment, Little Bear understood it very well.

He raised his head proudly and said to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, the prime minister’s authority and responsibilities will not change. We just have to increase the number of prime ministers.”

The Imperial Court fell silent again. Then, they clamored, “Increase the number of prime ministers? Don’t tell me we have to add another prime minister between the left and right prime ministers?”

This was a blatant mockery.

Qi Xiuyuan coughed lightly. He felt that if the number of people increased, the way of addressing them would be a problem.

Little Bear acted as if he did not hear their mockery and continued according to his mother’s instructions. “We can set up a Cabinet. The four ministers can be the Cabinet Ministers and jointly manage the six ministries. The matters of the military and state must be decided jointly by the few Cabinet Ministers. The Prime Minister’s authority and responsibilities have not changed, but the number has changed from two to four. Naturally, the authority each person holds will decrease.”

Qi Xiuyuan fell deep in thought. After Ah Ling’s article was published, there was a commotion in the Imperial Court, but he had never expressed his displeasure with her. One of the reasons was that she had hit the nail on the head.

As the Prime Minister was in charge of all the officials, he indeed wielded a lot of power. Qi Xiuyuan wanted to weaken said power, but because he still had no clue how to go about doing it, he did not take action for a long time. Reason being, he was afraid that people would die if he acted rashly.

Of course, it was impossible for him to die considering his position.

However, at the moment, he was quite satisfied with his left and right prime ministers. Moreover, Rong Xuan being his good brother, he didn’t want Rong Xuan to get involved in a political battle and die or something.

However, he felt that Little Bear’s suggestion was very feasible. Why didn’t he think of it before?

The ministers also looked at Little Bear with mixed feelings. Why hadn’t they thought of such a brilliant idea before?

While the prime minister’s authority and responsibilities remained unchanged, now there would be four instead of two. Wouldn’t that mean that there was a higher chance of becoming a prime minister?

Although each Prime Minister only had half the power of the original Prime Minister, their chances would increase. This pleased them greatly.

Qi Xiuyuan asked, “Then tell me in detail how the Cabinet should operate. Are the four Cabinet Ministers only in charge of the Prime Minister’s responsibilities or will they also hold other official positions?”

Little Bear blinked. Mother didn’t seem to have mentioned this yesterday.

Little Bear replied righteously, “Your Majesty, the specifics should be discussed and decided by you and the ministers. I’m still young. Although I’m quick-witted, I’m still inexperienced and do not have what it takes to conclude this matter.”

Yan Du said calmly, “Since Your Highness has made this suggestion, you should have thought this through. You can’t have just thought of this point, right?”

Everyone looked at him suspiciously. That’s right. Everyone present was more experienced and talented than him. Why did Little Bear think of it when no one had thought of it?

Smiling, Little Bear said, “Of course it’s more than that.”

He raised his head solemnly and said to everyone, “Your Majesty, I think that not only does the Prime Minister’s authority need to be restrained and shared, but the other official positions also need to be shared.”

“There’s a common saying among the people, ‘Making the wrong appointments, regardless of how junior, is all it takes to devastate the grassroots.’ Is that true for all the provincial governors?” Little Bear said seriously, “Of course not! While there are many good officials in the world, there are also tyrannical officials who extort money and exterminate innocent families. We can’t just use morality to teach them, nor should we only react belatedly after something has happened. Or maybe we wouldn’t have the chance to investigate at all. I think that only by knowing before or right when the matter happens will we have a chance to stop it and rescue the innocent. A good governance system is one that prevents innocent lives from being killed due to tyrannical officials.”

Qi Xiuyuan said, “The Imperial Censorate supervises all the officials, and there already are censors everywhere. Are you going to hire more censors? That will inevitably be troublesome and waste the taxpayer dollars.”

“So I suggest that the people supervise it.”

Qi Xiuyuan’s eyebrows twitched, and he had an ominous feeling.

As expected, Little Bear continued excitedly, “The county magistrates and provincial governors are all government officials, some good, some bad. In the past, the commoners might not be able to judge because of the lack of information. But now that The Great Qi Times is being distributed to various regions of Great Qi, it’s not difficult for the commoners to know about the Imperial Court’s laws and policies. It’ll be difficult for them to use the Imperial Court’s laws to get away with corruption and disregard the law. The imperial censors might be negligent, but the commoners will definitely not be negligent because it concerns their own interests.”

Before Qi Xiuyuan could speak, Yan Du asked, “How do you plan to get the commoners to supervise the officials?”

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