Newcomers beat oldcomers

Author: Beicheng 2,000

Newcomers beat oldcomers

The capital city, the outer court, the Wenhua Hall...

When these three place names appeared, the ministers of the 23rd year of the Apocalypse had gathered together, and today was September 17th, and there were still fifty-three days left before the day when the King of Qi was in the vassal state.

There were six ministers sitting around the long table, and the atmosphere was silent. It was not until Hong Chengchou walked into the hall and sat in the main seat that the solidified atmosphere was relieved.

The reason why they did this was because on the first day of September, Zhu Ciran once again reorganized the Ming Dynasty according to his needs.

This restructuring involves many characters, and the content of the restructuring is the complete separation of the cabinet and the six ministries.

When talking about the cabinet system, it is necessary to mention the relationship between ministerial power and monarchy, which is very important to the political system.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in the early Ming Dynasty, he believed that: "Since ancient times, the three ministers discussed the Tao and the six ministers divided their posts, they did not establish a prime minister. Since the Qin Dynasty, they were appointed as prime ministers and died suddenly. The Han, Tang and Song dynasties followed, although there were virtuous prime ministers,

However, there are many villains during this period, and they are autocratic and chaotic...”

In the 13th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang took the case of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong as an opportunity to order the abolition of the prime minister system established since the Qin Dynasty, and since then, "all governments are arbitrary."

This approach strengthens the imperial power and facilitates centralized handling of things, but it is easy to cause conflicts in which the emperor is unable to do so.

In order to resolve this new contradiction, in the 15th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang set up Grand Secretary of the Halls and Pavilions to receive memorials and wholesale manuscripts, and assist the emperor in handling government affairs, but did not participate in decision-making.

In the early years of Yongle, Zhu Di inherited his father's aspirations, selected Hanlin Academy to compile, lecture and study in Wenyuan Pavilion, and participated in the maintenance service, which was called the cabinet, and the cabinet system was formed.

At this time, the cabinet was only the emperor's personal secretary, and the cabinet's national non-commissioned officer was also low, and it was only a fifth rank. Its status in the court was not too high, and the cabinet was only equivalent to the emperor's consultant.

However, as the dynasty gradually stabilized, it almost exhausted most of the emperor's energy by handling more than 200 memorials every day.

In addition, the emperor had to attend court three times a day in the early Ming Dynasty. Therefore, except for Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di had good physical fitness, as long as the physical fitness of other descendants was slightly worse and related to diligence, it would be difficult to live long.

A diligent emperor cannot live long, but he does not live long and does not go to court for a long time.

In this case, the direct result was that there were a lot of young emperors in the Ming Dynasty.

Such is true for Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Yijun, Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youjian and others.

The king was young and the country was suspicious, so when the emperor was young, the cabinet often represented the emperor in handling state affairs, and they took greater power step by step under such a background.

However, the Grand Secretary of the Palace during the Zhu Yuanzhang period was only a consultant.

As for Zhu Di, although he restored the Grand Secretary of the Palace during the Hongwu period after ascending the throne, none of the first batch of cabinet ministers entered the cabinet as Grand Secretary of the Palace. After entering the cabinet, only a few of them were promoted to a certain

Grand Secretary of the Palace or a certain pavilion.

At first, they only participated in the security affairs of Wenyuan Pavilion as editors, and they were called cabinets. They gradually became positions such as bachelor's and Zhanshifu, and their power was not very high.

The power of the cabinet was to provide guidance from the first year of Hongxi, and was promoted to Shibao, Shangshu, Minister, Minister, and Envoy, and was also a bachelor and a grandson.

However, since Zhu Di established a cabinet, not all cabinet ministers were able to obtain the title of Grand Secretary of a certain palace or a certain cabinet.

During this period, such as Xie Jin, Hu Yan, Ma Yu, Cao Nai, Miao Zhong, Yin Zhi, etc., did not receive the title of Grand Secretary of the Palace for life.

This situation lasted until the end of Chenghua, basically one-third of the Ming Dynasty, and it was also the time when the imperial power was greater.

Such a cabinet system is both good and bad, and the advantage is that it shares the administrative pressure of the emperor and performs some of the functions of the Secretariat Prime Minister.

Since the repeal of the prime minister Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor also served as the prime minister. The heavy task in this is unimaginable.

The highly centralized rule required the emperor to devote a lot of energy to it, and the cabinet used the power of signing and edicts to command various departments and courts by using the power of the imperial power. In fact, it was fulfilling the responsibilities of some of the Prime Ministers of the Secretariat and the Prime Minister, so that the government could operate.

At the same time, it did not violate the "Instructions of the Emperor Ming Ancestor".

When the "article and order" system appeared in the late Xuanzong period, the cabinet played the role of "subsidizing the military affairs" and helped the emperor handle administrative affairs.

After Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne, all Chinese and foreign memorials were signed by the cabinet, and the decision on affairs was fully put into the cabinet, which helped the emperor to reduce pressure on government management.

The existence of the cabinet system can be said to have strengthened the monarchy in the Ming Dynasty. After all, after the abolition of the prime minister, six parts of the court affairs were decided by the Shangshu.

However, after the formation of the cabinet system, the chief minister relied on the emperor to command the six ministries, and the rights of the six ministries were gradually eroded.

Since the cabinet can only rely on the emperor, expanding the cabinet's rights is also expanding the emperor's rights.

Politics is actually a cycle. After the abolition of the prime minister, the political struggle continued to be intertwined between the Chinese and foreign dynasties, the emperor and the cabinet, the cabinet and the six ministries, the emperor and the Chinese and Korean dynasties, etc.

However, as the core of the centralized system, the emperors are mostly in the role of the controller.

It was not until the Hongzhi period that a new situation suddenly appeared in the temple and this situation was broken.

During the Hongzhi period, no matter what position the cabinet ministers were in, they were finally able to obtain the title of Grand Secretary of the Palace, and gradually formed a situation where officials at all levels first added the title of Grand Secretary of the Palace and then entered the cabinet.

After the beginning of this, if you cannot take the title of Grand Secretary of the Palace and Pavilion, you will be regarded as an abnormality by all officials.

This head seemed nothing at that time, but it reached its peak from the power and responsibilities of cabinet ministers. Finally, in the eighth year of Hongzhi, there was a phenomenon that candidates for cabinet ministers were also recommended.

Tingtui was the main way to select ministers in the Ming Dynasty. Before the eighth year of Hongzhi, Tingtui was not suitable for cabinet ministers.

The cause of this incident was because the cabinet was short of staff, so Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youzhe ordered the court to promote the cabinet ministers in the way the court recommended other ministers. So the Ministry of Personnel, together with the six ministries, the Censorate, the Tongzheng Department, the Dali Temple and the Department of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Public Security

Six ministers were elected, and the emperor finally chose Li Dongyang and Xie Qian to join the cabinet.

Since the Tingtui was jointly elected by the Ministry of Personnel, together with the Nine Ministers and Kedao, the elected ministers often expressed their prestige, so the literati of the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to Tingtui and believed that only the positions obtained through Tingtui were reasonable and legal.

.

In their opinion, the special method of directly assigned cabinet ministers by the emperor was all disadvantages and had no advantages.

Therefore, since this beginning in the eighth year of Hongzhi, the appointment of the emperor's order or the recommendation of the cabinet will lead to a lot of discussion. Often, officials assigned by the emperor are not assigned to take office. Many people say that they are not allowed to go to office without the Ministry of Personnel and the Emperor.

It is shameful to be assigned to get a position.

After a long time, the emperor lost the power to directly assign cabinet ministers and be trusted by all officials. Officials directly assigned are often discriminated against and excluded by their colleagues, and the emperor directly lost a card that can be played directly.

Although such a cabinet system avoids the chance of a dictatorial minister and the election system is relatively open, the imperial power is not as large as before.

In addition, the existence of Tingtui requires canvassing votes, so such a system gradually evolved into the cradle of the party's struggle.

If the cabinet ministers want to hold power, they must hand over to the internal supervisor on the one hand, and on the other hand, they must fight against the Grand Secretary of the same ranking, which will lead to a disaster for the party.

For example, Yan Song was appointed as the chief minister and was highly authoritarian, but he was fascinated by his cabinet minister Xu Jie.

Zhang Juzheng was appointed as the chief minister, and he was able to succeed in forming a clique because of his internal ceremonies and ceremonies, and he was still attacked by censors and was accused of being arbitrary and powerful minister.

Even the disaster broke out and the house was confiscated.

The fierce infighting of the Ming Dynasty was closely related to the contradiction between the cabinet system and the name and reality, which forced the cabinet ministers to become a person who was good at dancing and wandered among various parties.

It is difficult to choose capable people in such a system. If it were not for Zhu Youjian's strong support, it would be difficult for Zhu Ciran to take the position of cabinet ministers in his entire life. Therefore, Zhu Ciran's reform of the cabinet was

Clear authority.

Since the first day of September, the cabinet and six ministries have been split, and the cabinet's Grand Secretary was determined to be seven, namely the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Hall, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall, the Grand Secretary of Jianji Hall.

Li Changgeng, Zhou Yanru, Grand Secretary of Dongge, Wen Tiren, Grand Secretary of Wenlou, and Yang Wenyue, Grand Secretary of Wulou.

The six ministers were re-appointed as the Minister of Personnel Fan Jingwen, the Minister of Rites Xu Xiake, the Minister of War Lu Xiangsheng, the Minister of Revenue Shen Tingyang, the Minister of Justice Chen Qiyu, and the Minister of Works Sun Yuanhua.

In other words, the six ministries and the cabinet were separated, and the traditional court promotion system was also changed.

Although the seven ministers were still elected by officials, the decision was with the emperor, and officials could only recommend the ministers, and the chief minister was appointed by the emperor.

In addition, the cabinet is divided into five years of assessment, with the capable being superior and the weak being inferior.

In terms of job rank, the cabinet controls six ministries and takes charge of national government affairs.

The Cabinet has the right to appoint most officials outside the six ministers and below the Censorate, responsible for formulating and implementing all major national policies and policies internally and externally.

At the same time, the cabinet was responsible to the emperor, reported work regularly to the emperor, and was subject to supervision by the six ministries, the Censorate and the emperor.

If the Censorate reports the cabinet and the emperor passes, the cabinet will suspend its power and remain in office and must undergo inspection by the three departments.

Generally speaking, under Zhu Ciran's new system, the cabinet did the same thing, but they no longer served as the Six Ministers of the Six Ministers, which made the emperor originally need to deal with the situation where the Six Ministers of the Six Ministers and the Pavilion Ministers became the Pavilion Minister and the Six Ministers of the League.

.

The triangular relationship is very politically stable, and the reason why Zhu Ciran made such an arrangement was because he wanted the eunuchs to withdraw from the stage and return to the political landscape in the early Ming Dynasty.

The same triangular relationship, the relationship between the emperor, the six ministries, and the cabinet is much better than that between the emperor, civil servants and eunuchs.

It can be seen that Zhu Ciran disliked eunuchs' interference in politics. After all, he had been through the people and had heard of the chaos caused by eunuchs' interference in politics during the Wanli period.

However, such changes have made the situation in the cabinet even more embarrassing.

Under the new system, although the cabinet can exercise the emperor's power.

But if the emperors were all working abusives like Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Ciran, then the cabinet would be basically useless.

As long as the emperor works harder, the power of the cabinet will be reduced a little. The more diligent the emperor works, the less power of the cabinet will be.

Although this strengthened the legitimacy of the cabinet, it also greatly restricted the cabinet that developed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

The cabinet can be tough on the six ministries, but not on the emperor. This is the cabinet that Zhu Ciran wants, and he also used Zhu Youjian's remaining power to complete the new cabinet system he wanted.

Under the new system, the cabinet mainly helps the emperor handle memorials, which can reduce Zhu Ciran's workload. Unlike before, the cabinet ministers had to work on six ministries.

However, this disadvantage is also obvious, that is, once the emperor is lazy in government affairs, the cabinet chief can always control the government affairs, so it also has certain binding force on the emperor.

This is good news for the cabinet, and for Hong Chengchou, the happiest news for him was that under the new cabinet system, he finally took up the position of prime minister of the cabinet that he had always dreamed of.

Without being excited or panic, Hong Chengchou quickly adapted to his power.
To be continued...