According to the rules, even if the empress dowager was ruling the country from behind the scenes, Jing Jun had to be present when handling government affairs.
It was better at the beginning, but as Fang Yun's drafts became more and more numerous and more professional, many things needed the officials of the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet to come forward to explain them so that the Queen Mother could understand. After all, even the officials of the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet needed Fang Yun's explanations before they could understand.
This explanation took even longer. Jingjun was young and could not hold it for long. He often became more and more impatient and even fell asleep while listening.
Finally, the Left Prime Minister suggested that if Jing Jun was not feeling well, he did not need to accompany him.
So the Queen Mother began to deal with the draft and government affairs alone with the officials.
The monarch has too many things to do. He usually has to deal with various government affairs, and now there are intensive drafts. Even a strong man may not be able to handle it, let alone the queen mother.
The empress dowager's mind was always tense. She had to be on guard against Fang Yun and the officials. She had to avoid suspicion and be branded as a troublemaker. She also had to take care of government affairs and understand policies and laws that were difficult for ordinary scholars to understand. In addition, she had to review draft memorials for a long time, which meant a double overload on her body and mind.
So, a month later, the Queen Mother finally fell ill due to overwork.
Even if a great doctor were to take action personally, he could not solve the problem. Only a magical object could restore her health.
However, the royal family would never allow the Queen Mother to take the sacred object.
Sacred objects are rare and can only be reserved for monarchs.
The Empress Dowager fell ill, and memorials and documents piled up in the Imperial Study like a mountain, and the piles continued to increase.
As a result, the royal family members began to lobby the Queen Mother to appoint a regent to handle government affairs on their behalf.
As a result, when this incident happened, the Queen Mother suddenly became very energetic and forced herself to handle government affairs despite her sick body.
Everyone knows that once a regent is appointed, the queen mother will no longer have real power, and Jing Jun will most likely be sidelined by the regent in the future. The queen mother would rather see Fang Yun in power than appoint a regent.
A few days later, the Queen Mother asked the cabinet to send several officials to help her handle government affairs, but was met with opposition from all the officials.
The Queen Mother lived in the palace, and only a few educated eunuchs were really useful to her. However, the officials of Jing State had always been strictly guarding against eunuchs, and would rather watch the Queen Mother die of exhaustion than agree to eunuchs interfering in politics.
If the Queen Mother called in new officials to help her, it would be almost like setting up a small cabinet again, which would have emptied the original cabinet. Therefore, not only would the cabinet officials oppose it, but officials from various ministries and states would also be unlikely to agree.
The Empress Dowager had to continue to hold on, so the Imperial Medical Bureau arranged two doctors to accompany her for long-term care, which ensured that the Empress Dowager's condition would not worsen. But if she continued, she would never be able to recover.
The bureaucracy of Jing State was too large and the government affairs were extremely complicated. It was difficult for the Queen Mother to handle all the government affairs when she was healthy, let alone when she was sick.
As a result, government affairs accumulated more and more, and officials' memorials were delayed in being approved. Officials became more and more resentful, and many officials in various places began to openly criticize the Empress Dowager because the lack of approval affected their political achievements and even promotions.
Some officials even wrote directly to the Empress Dowager asking her to hand over power, but Fang Yun suppressed the petition and did nothing about it.
At first, everyone was trying to hide the dissatisfaction of the officials, but in the end it could no longer be concealed. When the Queen Mother found out, she became so angry that she vomited blood and fainted.
The news of the Queen Mother's coma immediately attracted national attention, and there were even rumors that Fang Yun poisoned the Queen Mother.
Finally, the Holy Academy had to send a great doctor to diagnose the patient. The final diagnosis was that he had overworked himself. If he did not rest well, his life might be in danger.
Although the rumor that Fang Yun poisoned the Queen Mother was debunked, many people on the discussion board who opposed Fang Yun began to stir up trouble, believing that this was Fang Yun's conspiracy to first exhaust the Queen Mother to death and then seize power as the Left Prime Minister.
Some officials of Jing State were so angry that they cursed those people on the discussion board, saying that officials in the capital were already too busy. Fang Yun had not returned to Quanyuan for a month and had been living in Zuo Xiangge. Moreover, Fang Yun's own injuries were more serious than the queen mother's. If he really wanted to tire the queen mother to death, it would be like killing one thousand enemies and injuring eight hundred of his own, which was not worth the loss.
Fang Yun was not affected by any remarks. After leading his ministers to visit the empress dowager, he continued to carry out intensive reforms.
At first, Fang Yun only made drafts, but later, he began to make proposals, which was equivalent to ordinary officials writing to the court to express their opinions. Most of the contents of these proposals were not directly managed by the Left Prime Minister, but mainly managed by the Right Prime Minister, the Assistant Prime Minister and the Minister of Literature.
After the Queen Mother fell into a coma, she spent most of her time in a coma, and was only partially conscious when she woke up occasionally.
Three days later, the Queen Mother finally woke up and sat on the bed, summoning many pro-royal officials one after another.
On this day, the Queen Mother approved the memorial submitted by the Right Prime Minister Cao De'an half a month ago. The memorial was a proposal, hoping that some government affairs could be decided by the cabinet itself without the need for the monarch's approval.
The proposal also lists specific matters that the cabinet can decide on its own, such as the appointment and removal of officials of the fifth rank or below, some laws and regulations with lesser impact, the reform of prefecture and county government offices, the promulgation of regional policies, and so on.
The cabinet officials were overjoyed.
This means that the bureaucrats have won another round in the battle against imperial power.
However, everyone understood that the Queen Mother and the Royal Family agreed not because of her serious illness, but because the memorial was supported by officials across the country.
Afterwards, the cabinet began to sort out its powers, determining which ones must be reported to the empress dowager and the king, and which ones could be handled by the cabinet itself. This was a huge project that required a complete list of items to be sorted out and stamped with the imperial seal before it could take effect.
After days of hard work, the cabinet officials finally formulated a complete decree that clearly defined the scope of cabinet self-determination.
After the new memorial was sent to the Empress Dowager, it took three full days before she formally approved it.
Afterwards, most of the documents and memorials piled up in the Imperial Study were removed, and the number of memorials sent to the Empress Dowager decreased significantly, even giving the eunuchs in the palace some free time.
When the news of the decentralization of the Jingguo cabinet spread to the discussion board, officials from many countries cursed the officials of Jingguo for being so cruel and insane that they were all traitors.
However, those real senior officials rarely participate in this topic.
Because monarchs are also human beings. Except for a few truly capable and energetic monarchs in history, the talents of most monarchs are very average. Instead of leaving government affairs to the monarch to decide, it is better to leave it to capable ministers who have climbed up from the bottom step by step.
Amidst a wave of opposition from officials in various countries, King Wu took the rare step of imitating the Kingdom of Jing and began to delegate power to the Kingdom of Wu’s cabinet and various ministries.
Many officials were surprised, but some people with lofty ideals came forward to support the policy.
In fact, the appointment and dismissal of many low-level officials were originally decided by the Ministry of Personnel Cabinet. After the memorial was submitted, the monarch would basically approve it immediately and rarely object. However, conventions are not laws, and the real power of appointment and dismissal is still in the hands of the monarch.
Therefore, self-determination by the cabinet and each ministry is the general trend, and Fang Yun is simply establishing the established facts as strict laws.
Fang Yun never thought that this decree would be obstructed, because it was nothing more than the court recommendation and tribal recommendation during the Ming Dynasty in ancient China, and it was a trend that no one, including himself, could stop.
Fang Yun just gave a slight push, speeding up this trend.
In fact, Fang Yun’s current reforms, to a large extent, are about transforming Jing State’s underlying rules into clear legal systems, and there are no truly earth-shaking changes.
But these are the foundation for great change.