Sure, but whether the Emperor is selected by accident of birth or by committee matters far less than how the bureaucracy is managed. A good example is how the authorities in Wuhan tried to cover up the coronavirus pandemic, but once the central government found out about the situation, Xi acted decisively (and effectively, it turns out) to stamp it out.

Every monarchy in history has had to deal with unreliable minions. Usually they deal with it using a secret police, and another secret police to watch over the first secret police, and so on.