"Hurt? Do you think the law I have established is to humiliate you?" Lao Zhu asked angrily when he heard Li Jie's words. The reason why he set up the law so harshly was mainly used to deter him. If those officials did not want to break the law, there was no need to care whether the criminal law was harsh.

"Of course I know Your Majesty's intention, but Your Majesty's shock has exceeded one degree. For example, as an official, I should have worked diligently for the court. Even if I really violate the law, I would have to let the court deal with myself according to the law. But now Your Majesty is involved in their family and has to be sent to the Jiaofangsi to be humiliated. This is an unbearable humiliation for anyone, and it will definitely have a great impact on the psychology of the officials."

Li Jie took a long breath and continued: "For officials, this law of the court has exceeded their bottom line, making it difficult for them to be united with the court, and even make officials extremely vigilant about the imperial power from the bottom of their hearts. In this case, does Your Majesty know what will happen?"

"What will happen? Will they still rebel?" Old Zhu snorted coldly and asked with great disdain. He was really not afraid of anyone who dared to rebel.

"Of course they dare not rebel, but they will unite intentionally or unintentionally to find ways to limit the imperial power. This may become a consensus among all officials. Maybe Your Majesty does not need to care about the ideas of these officials when he is in power, but have you ever thought that your children and grandchildren will have the same ability in the future?" Li Jie finally raised a very long-term question.

Lao Zhu was stunned. Indeed, he was not afraid of the officials below causing trouble, and he even deposed the prime minister so that he could monopolize his power. However, his children and grandchildren did not have the prestige and ability of him. Not to mention anything else, Zhu Biao's body would not be able to bear too heavy government affairs, and would inevitably need the assistance of ministers in the future. At that time, the ministers would have to delegate power. Once the ministers gained real power, they would have the capital to confront the imperial power.

"Your Majesty! In previous dynasties, imperial power and ministerial power complement each other and restrain each other. The ideal state is to achieve a balance. Although Your Majesty has abandoned the position of prime minister, the ministerial power has not disappeared, because the so-called ministerial power is to put it bluntly, the common power of officials in the world. Unless Your Majesty can govern the world with one person and does not need to rely on any official, the ministerial power will never disappear!" Li Jie gritted his teeth and said a psychological sentence.

Lao Zhu deposed the prime minister, but when his children and grandchildren ascended the throne, the Grand Secretary became the new prime minister. It is worth mentioning that the Ming Dynasty was the most fierce dynasty in history. In order to seize power from the ministers, the emperor had to rely on the eunuchs and secret agencies around him, which also led to the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, as well as the prosperity of institutions such as the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang.

However, even so, the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty was suppressed by ministers several times. There were three emperors who did not attend court all year round, especially the Wanli Emperor, who did not attend court for twenty-eight years, but the Ming Dynasty court still operated as usual, which was probably unimaginable for Lao Zhu.

Old Zhu was silent for a while, and finally looked up and said, "What do you mean is that because of my strict punishment and law, those officials may unite in the future to limit the power in the hands of the emperor?"

"It's not possible, but certain. Even if the emperor owns the world, he still needs to rely on officials to govern the world. After seeing the terribleness of imperial power, these officials must find ways to limit the imperial power bit by bit. This may even become a consensus in the hearts of scholars all over the world. And the longer the time, the greater the restrictions on the imperial power, and in the end it is likely that the emperor's government orders will not leave the imperial city!" Li Jie said with great affirmation.

What Li Jie said is also true in history. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the emperor's power was greatly restricted. The three emperors mentioned above who had not attended court for many years all appeared during this period. Not attending court was also a kind of resistance to the ministers.

Even when it was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen, he could not even collect taxes. A dignified emperor actually asked the officials to donate money, but the officials only donated 200,000 taels of silver. As a result, when Li Zicheng entered the capital, he found tens of millions of taels of silver from the homes of these officials. Although the demise of the Ming Dynasty was closely related to Emperor Chongzhen's chaos, it was an indisputable fact that the imperial power was suppressed at that time.

Hearing the six words "Political orders do not leave the imperial city", Lao Zhu also widened his eyes and aroused anger rushed to the gate. As the emperor, this situation was the most intolerable for him, and even in an instant he had the urge to kill all the officials in the world.

However, Lao Zhu soon calmed down. Even if he killed all the officials in the world, it would not be able to solve the problem at all. He still needed new officials to manage the world for him. At that time, these officials would still find ways to restrict the emperor, and they did not have to rush for a moment. They just needed a little bit to erode the power in the emperor's hands. Sooner or later, it would become the situation Li Jie said.

"Maybe what you said makes sense, but even if I make the law loose, will those officials not be alert to the imperial power?" Old Zhu was silent for a long time and finally asked a more profound question again.

"Yes! But things are mutual. Your Majesty is equally kind and powerful, so it is naturally much stronger than just showing his power. Even if officials are vigilant about the imperial power, they dare not do too much, because they are also worried that the emperor will be vigilant against his ministers. As I said just now, the situation between emperors and ministers is always complementary but restrained by each other. It is best to achieve a dynamic balance. Only in this way can a country be more stable!"

Li Jie suddenly paused again when he said this, and then said a sentence adapted from later generations: "When an arrow is still on the string and has not been fired, its deterrence is the greatest, because no one knows where the arrow will shoot, but when the arrow leaves the string, its deterrence will decrease because its trajectory has been exposed!"

Li Jie's words also aroused Lao Zhu's contemplation again. The so-called arrow can actually be regarded as the imperial power in Lao Zhu's hands. He now uses the imperial power to implement severe punishments and laws, and everything is clearly stipulated in detail. This is equivalent to shooting an arrow out, which is not as powerful as attracting it but not firing it.

"Your Majesty, although it seems to be relieved by the family members of the criminals, it violates the bottom line of the officials. This is like an arrow you shot. Although it looks very sharp and aims directly at the critical point, it also loses its deterrence and will also arouse the vigilance of the officials. So in my opinion, this is simply a move that is not worth the loss!" Li Jie finally persuaded again.

In fact, Li Jie did not say something explicitly. Such as sending the criminal's wife to the Jiaofangsi as a prostitute seems a bit despicable. It would be normal if it was a bandit and bandit to do such things, but it would be a bit embarrassing to say it out loud. This even exposed the shortcomings of Lao Zhu's background and narrow-mindedness in some things.

Seeing Lao Zhu silent, Li Jie stood quietly aside and waited. He had finished what he should say, and it was time to see Lao Zhu's own decision.

It is worth mentioning that Lao Zhu just started this matter in Jiaofangsi. The one who really promoted it was his son Zhu Di. After Zhu Di seized the throne, he sent many officials who supported Zhu Yunwen's wife and daughter to Jiaofangsi. Moreover, the children they gave birth to were men as slaves and women as prostitutes, and they could never turn over.

But at this moment, Li Jie suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind. Without looking back, he knew that it must be Zhu Biao, because only Zhu Biao was qualified to enter the warm room without an eunuch reporting.

After Zhu Biao came in, he saw his father who was pondering and Li Jie standing next to him. This made him slow down immediately. Then he quietly came to Li Jie and asked in a low voice, "What's going on, what's the matter? What's the matter?"

"This... things are a bit complicated and I can't explain it clearly for a while." Li Jie wanted to explain, but he didn't know where to explain such a complicated thing.

"How complicated can it be? Is it more complicated than robbing people from the Jiaofangsi?" Zhu Biao looked at Li Jie with a smile and asked again.

"Well~, Your Highness knows about this, too?" Li Jie also showed an embarrassing look when he heard this. It was really a bad thing that spread to thousands of miles. Zhu Biao already knew what had just happened.

"Yunning just told me that she was worried about any more problems with you, so she asked me to take a look. But I don't care what your reason is. If you dare to be sorry to Yuning in the future, don't blame me for being rude!" Zhu Biao said sternly at the end.

"You don't have to worry about this. I am sincere to Yuning and will never let her down. However, His Majesty said just now that we will get married after the New Year. I think your highness is better than worrying about these things, it is better to spend some time preparing more dowry for Yuning, such as setting us a piece of land in Peiping to build a princess mansion or something!" Li Jie replied with a smile.

When the capital is about to be moved, the land prices in Peking will definitely soar, but the most valuable land must be in the hands of the court, because the plan for Beiping City has not yet been decided, even a piece of valuable land can make it valuable.

"You kid is really greedy. You have set your mind on Peking Mansion..."

Zhu Biao was speechless when he heard this, but when he just said this, Lao Zhu, behind the desk, finally woke up from his thoughts. When he saw Zhu Biao, he did not show any unexpected expressions, but instead asked Zhu Biao: "The prince is here just now. Li Jie gave me a suggestion, so come and help me find out!"

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