In the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing inspections were divided into northern and southern inspections, and were divided into two types: self-examination for those with four grades and above, and court inspection for those below five grades. In other words, the inspection methods for officials of different grades were also different. Therefore, they were called:
"Ministers are different from junior ministers, and they have their own rules for advancement and retreat."
And this rule is that "the fourth rank and above and the Hanlin Academy bachelor's degree should be reported by themselves; the other officials of the fifth rank and the subordinate fifth rank of the other yamen halls, according to the annual events, the headquarters, together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the officials of the yamen hall
Investigate and report separately to make a decision."
Officials of the fourth rank and above and Hanlin bachelors completed the Beijing inspection process by submitting their reports to the emperor and waiting for the emperor's decision; while officials of the fifth rank and below were jointly held by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
be inspected.
Yang Wei was in charge of the Northern Inspection, and Hai Rui was in charge of the Southern Inspection. In essence, they were conducting "departure inspections" of officials below the fifth rank of the chief secretaries (provinces) under the control of the northern and southern capitals. The reason why Wang Xijue was worried about Hai Rui was not
They were worried about Hai Rui directly doing something to him, but worried about being implicated.
I have said many times before that the characteristics of the officialdom in the Ming Dynasty included both teacher-student relationships, township party relationships, and even factional relationships today. As one of the pillars of the Xin School, Wang Xijue had many of his disciples assigned to the yamen in Nanjing.
Nothing could be more normal.
If a large number of Wang Xijue's disciples are deposed during the Beijing inspection, it will inevitably attract the attention of the government and the public. At this point, the real school will most likely strike while the iron is hot and start violently impeaching Wang Xijue himself, and then things will get out of hand.
However, the inspection of officials below the fifth rank is always more complicated, and there are still many procedures to go through, so I will not go into details at this time. Let's talk about the most convenient "minister" self-report, especially the Dinghai Jingchadi caused by the self-report of the Beicha.
A "battle".
The so-called self-reporting means that "officials from the two capitals meet for inspection every six years, and all officials with grades four or above are ordered to self-report (dismissal of their posts). Those who are promoted to professional positions will be retained, and those who are not employed will be dismissed."
All officials' self-reports were submitted "instead of being reviewed by the subordinates, but submitted to the superiors for judgment." That is, the officials submitted their self-reports directly to the emperor.
There is a certain order for self-reporting. The in-charge officials should present themselves before the court hearing. They should proceed in the order of "headquarters first, then the main hall of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, then the left hall, and then the right hall." Most other officials will make their own statements after the court hearing is over.
, which is the so-called "report after inspection, first the cabinet, then the second-rank official of each yamen, then the third-rank, and then the fourth-rank."
But it must be said here that the regulations are regulations. In fact, starting from the Wanli period, some cabinet ministers and other ministers in the Ming Dynasty did not strictly follow the rule of "self-reporting after the inspection", but submitted their own reports before the inspection.
For example, in the original historical inspection of Beijing in February of the 21st year of Wanli, as early as the 23rd of the first lunar month, Wang Xijue, the assistant minister of the cabinet, submitted a self-reported report. Another example is the inspection of Beijing in February of the third year of Tianqi, and the assistant minister of the cabinet Ye Xianggao
As early as the eighth day of the first lunar month, he submitted his personal statement.
This year is particularly different. The inspections in Beijing, which usually take place in February, have been postponed until near the Mid-Autumn Festival due to the rebellion in the northwest. Many things have to be done early, so senior officials' self-reports are all brought forward in advance.
The reason why the Ming dynasty ordered officials of fourth rank and above and bachelors of the Hanlin Academy to submit their own reports and obtain the judgment from the superior officials in the Imperial Palace was because officials of fourth rank and above were almost all officials of the nine ministers, big and small, and could be established in the court in normal times.
The emperor met with the emperor to discuss government affairs, so the emperor had a preliminary understanding of each official.
In addition, in order to show respect for high-ranking officials, officials of the fourth rank and above who are already respected by the body cannot be tried in the same court as middle- and lower-ranking officials below the fifth rank. And the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy are themselves "selected by Tsinghua University" and "
"Officials are bachelors, and their duties are to discuss thoughts" and do not need to be too involved in the handling of government affairs; in addition, bachelors have a close relationship with the emperor, and their performance must be known to the emperor, so they do not need to be inspected by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
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Of course, in fact, the self-statements of officials above the fourth rank and Hanlin bachelors have not always been the same, but have been customized after a period of repetition.
There are no relevant records of the officials' self-reports in the capital inspection before the fourth year of Chenghua. It was only in the fourth year of Chenghua that there was a record of "the ministers of the two capitals promised to report themselves to Xiuzhi". However, this was not a custom made by self-reports.
It was only done occasionally at the suggestion of the official, and there was no clear indication of who the so-called "minister" was.
"In February of the tenth year of Hongzhi, the Ministry of Personnel inspected the officials in the capital, and asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate to inspect the officials below the fifth rank in Beijing as usual... The superiors followed it. The imperial censor Zheng Weiheng and others also reported that if you want to examine the ministers at the same time, please visit the two capitals.
For officials of the fourth rank or above, they are ordered to present themselves. The emperor said: "The superior officials of the two capital halls do not need to present themselves."
It can be seen that until the tenth year of Hongzhi, ministers were still outside the capital inspection, and self-reporting was still not a fixed procedure for the capital inspection. Even if officials petitioned, the emperor would not accept it. In the fourth year of Zhengde, the emperor did not go to the capital inspection.
There is a clear stipulation in the imperial edict: "Officials of fourth rank and above order to present themselves." Since then, officials of fourth rank and above have made self-reports in the capital inspection.
Unlike the officials above the fourth rank who went from not reporting themselves to reporting themselves according to the rules, the Hanlin Academy bachelors went through a process of changing from an officer under inspection to an official reporting themselves. As early as the fourth year of Chenghua’s imperial inspection, the then-official
Ke Qian, the bachelor in charge of the Hanlin Academy, requested that only the officials and ministers of the Hanlin Academy be inspected together with the cabinet on the grounds that the officials of the Hanlin Academy "had no performance records to examine", and was approved by Xianzong. However, during the inspection this year, there were no official records of the Hanlin Academy.
One step down.
In the 13th year of Chenghua, the old practice of the 4th year of Chenghua was followed. However, perhaps because the effectiveness of the Beijing inspection hosted by the Hanlin Academy in conjunction with the cabinet was not very obvious, in the first year of Hongzhi, the Ministry of Civil Affairs began to participate in the inspection of Hanlin Academy officials. However, this move caused a stir
In response to the objections of the Hanlin Academy scholars, during the imperial inspection in the tenth year of Hongzhi, Yang Shouzi, the Hanlin Academy scholar in charge, wrote to Xiaozong:
Both the minister and Wang Kuo, the scholar in charge of the Zhanshi Mansion, should listen to the ministry's inspection. However, each of the ministers and others has subordinates. When they go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to take the examination, they will sit in the hall.
, Qingcheng served a banquet, the fourth rank of the class, the chariot came to Yong, sat in the Yilun Hall, and inspected the third rank, this story is also. If the fourth rank is not involved in the inspection, then the bachelor should not talk to the ministers and other officials about reading and writing, which is called
Whether it is in the holy book or not remains to be investigated.
Xiaozong felt that what he said was true, so he followed Yang Shouzi's advice. Therefore, from then on, "every official to a scholar will report it when he encounters an inspection." "History of the Ming Dynasty" also said: "A scholar does not
and investigation, starting from keeping one’s shame (site).”
Since the senior officials are the first to present themselves this year, then according to the remaining rules, the order of "the cabinet first, the second rank of each yamen, the third rank, and the fourth rank", the cabinet elders will be the first to explain the routine.
They are all the same: self-declaration of incompetence. The emperor's approval is also very routine, all "gentle words of comfort, no words".
When "the second-ranking official of each yamen" came to report himself, Gao Pingshi also reported that he was not responsible for his duties.
"The Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs is pragmatic and sincere in writing:
For self-declaration of non-responsibility, he begged to be dismissed to inspect the official affairs. The Ministry of Civil Affairs consults, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs consults. This department strictly inspects the official affairs in accordance with the old regulations to encourage common officials, and the internal officials who inspect the fourth rank and above should report themselves.
The official headquarters of each government office will conduct inspections together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Nanjing will still carry out unified inspections and implementation.
Because the title is given by the emperor, and the ministers are prepared for consultation, except for the officials in Beijing who should inspect the officials, and the emperor should report the inspection documents together, the minister's regulations should be reported by himself.
He was an official in Xinzheng, Henan, and was admitted as a Jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli. He first edited and compiled for the Hanlin Academy, and was the main author of the ceremony. Because he was not careful at first, he was sent to Guangxi to patrol. He was responsible for pacifying the chieftain rebellion and pacifying Pingnan.
He returned to his post as envoy; he was sent to Tumote as an envoy, and Emperor Lai Hongfu attacked Tumen, captured Xin Ai, and improved the military preparedness in southern Liaoning; with the great victory in southern Liaoning, he was promoted to governor of eastern Liaoning; he returned to Beijing after the year and served as Minister of Rongzheng; at the beginning of this year, he fought in the northwest war
In the event of an accident, he was appointed as the manager of the seven towns and the military governor. When the chaos was over, he returned to the court and was reassigned to this position.
I've been hit by a traitor like this before and now. I don't know what I'll get in such a high place. I've been attached to you for many years and want to kill Weichen. I have a lot of ambitions, but I only have simple loyalty.
As a result, faith is not as great as receiving.
Chen Li can't do it, so the banquet should be stopped. The minister is only twenty-five years old, and he is in charge of the country's wealth, and the world is suspicious. People in the past sighed and didn't know what to do. The general's responsibility is getting deeper and deeper, so he needs to be very vigilant.
I am young and of poor moral character, with little talent and little experience, so I was impeached when I first took office. What Kuang Chen is thinking about is that today's wealth is all tied to farmers. This is not the original intention of the two ancestors, but to pay business taxes widely to lighten the situation.
Farmers should pay attention to agriculture. This heart and thought cannot be easily changed, so it is difficult to be united with colleagues.
If the superiors cannot resolve the concerns of the saints and the superiors, and if the subordinates cannot gain the forgiveness of their colleagues, then the person who pays attention to them today will no longer be called him, so he plans to depose him.
The Fuqi Chen is cut off, so that China and foreign countries can know that the Ming Dynasty's laws and regulations are ignored, and the punishments are ignored. The work done to temper the ministers should not be superficial. The ministers have no responsibility and will wait for the crime to come. To this end, I have a special official, He Chenlian.
Hold the memorial and hear it, Fuhou’s edict."
Gao Pragmatic's "Self-statement of Inadequacy" is very typical in terms of format.
In the first sentence of "Zi Chen Shu", he first reports his name and official title, which is not much different from the general memorial, so I won't go into details. From the second sentence, the characteristics of Beijing Chao begin to show.
Take Gao Pingshi's article as an example. The second sentence is "To show that I have failed in my duty, I beg for dismissal so that I can observe the affairs of the officials." This sentence begins to show differences depending on the official's status.
Because Gao Jingshi himself is already a senior official in the Hubu Hall and has the right to fill in the testimonials for the department in the censorship, so his memorial is called "Begging for Dismissal" in order to review the censorship code - because if even the censorship official is
Yidu was demoted for self-reporting, which obviously can play the role of re-inspecting the code system.
This is different from the previous self-declarations of incompetence by cabinet ministers. The reasons why cabinet ministers "begged for dismissal" were usually written as "Qing Zhengben".
For example, yesterday Shen Shixing, the chief minister of the cabinet, said in his statement: "In order to follow the rules, I begged to be dismissed and to be able to clean up the government." Wang Xijue also said in his statement, "To follow the rules, I begged to be dismissed and to be able to clean up the government." Zhang Xueyan, Wu Dui,
Wang Jiaping and others are also in the same situation.
The reason for this is that the cabinet is the "base of politics", and cabinet members must mention in their self-reports that they are begging to be deposed because of their incompetence in their duties. Therefore, once they are really reprimanded, it will naturally play a "
The role of "the foundation of Qing government".
The reasons why ministers, ministers and other officials like Gao Jingshi were "retired" were "strict inspection", "strict planning", "public inspection", etc. Because such officials themselves are high-ranking officials of the imperial court, such as
When a senior official is deposed, he can naturally achieve the purpose of inspiring the junior ministers and setting an example to others. In this way, he will be self-respecting and self-disciplined.
The above is the normal pattern starting from Chen Shu, but if there is a capital inspection held due to the new emperor's accession to the throne, it will start with "begging for removal to light new political affairs", "to strictly enforce new political affairs", etc., to highlight the reason.
The feeling of renewal brought about by the new emperor's accession to the throne.
The next few sentences are the reasons for telling the story.
Because the Ming Dynasty had relatively strict regulations on the self-presentation of the Beijing Inspection Bureau, officials had to wait until the emperor issued an imperial edict regarding the Beijing Inspection Bureau before they could present themselves. If they self-reported at will, it would be considered disrespectful and would inevitably be considered disrespectful. Therefore, the original history
When Ye Xianggao was the prime minister, he once said: "The officials, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the ministers all waited for this order before they dared to express themselves."
Therefore, after giving his official name, name, and description, Gao Pragmatic began to explain the background of his self-report.
Since this year is the year of routine inspections, Gao Pingshi quoted the official message and the emperor's imperial edict on holding inspections in full. Firstly, to highlight his respect for the emperor and avoid any etiquette offense; secondly, to show that he was a leader.
It is not presumptuous to report oneself only after receiving the edict.
If it is not the year of Jingcha, such as when the new emperor ascended the throne, another "template" will be used to explain the reasons. For example, in the first year of Longqing, the Jingcha was due to the new emperor's enthronement.
, the beginning of Gao Gong's "Chen Shu" at that time was: "There is a paragraph in the imperial edict, which was written by officials of the four and above grades in the two capitals, six departments, and other yamen. I took it from the superior. I admire this. I sincerely obey it."
Chen Zhe".
The third step in self-presentation is to introduce relevant information about yourself in detail. Because the high officials, especially those far away in Nanjing, are not well known to the emperor, and some old ministers of the previous dynasty have never even met the emperor, so the emperor
Little is known about the circumstances of the officials.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! And self-reporting does not require several months of preparation in advance like court hearings, so officials can only report their place of origin to the emperor in self-reporting, and log in
The time and official resume gave the emperor a preliminary understanding of himself. However, because the emperor was familiar with Gao Pragmatism, his "resume" was very simple. In just a few sentences, he described his legendary official career of seven or eight years.
It's over.
This is him. When someone else has gained so much credit, why should he write a big book about it, for fear that the emperor will forget it?
After reporting their resume, the preparations for the self-presentation have been completed. Officials can then enter the core content of the self-presentation based on their actual situation and their different political demands.
The core of self-reporting generally revolves around the sequence of "talking about favors - talking about responsibilities - complaining about incompetence - discussing meaning".
There is no exception to this pragmatic routine. It first explains the emperor's "great kindness to me, which I never know how to repay", and then talks about himself, "I am only twenty-five years old, and I am in charge of the national wealth";
Then he told that he was "young and of poor moral character, with little talent and little experience, so he was impeached when he first took office." Then he made a self-explanation and said that the significance of his dismissal was to "let China and foreign countries know about the Ming Dynasty's laws and regulations, the careless punishments, and the hard work."
The work of the minister should not be superficial and fresh." At this point, the core content of the self-report has been completed.
However, Gao Pragmatic's self-statement caused trouble.
The reason lies elsewhere. It lies in the fact that he clearly mentioned the current political situation in this autobiography:
"Kuang Chen's thoughts are that today's wealth and wealth are all tied to farmers. This is not the original intention of our ancestors. Only by paying commercial taxes to lighten farmers' taxes can we pay more attention to agriculture. With this heart and this thought,
It's not easy to break up, so it's hard to be of the same mind as your colleagues.
If you cannot resolve the concerns of your superiors, and if you cannot win the forgiveness of your colleagues, then the person who pays attention to you today will no longer be called him. If you plan to depose me, please ask me."
Good guy, you just claimed that you are not responsible for your duties, but you want to link this "disrespect" with your policy of insisting on collecting commercial taxes. You also said that you can't reach an agreement with your colleagues, so you asked the emperor to depose you.
?
What do you mean? Are you blackmailing the emperor to make a choice between you and your "colleagues"?
Therefore, as soon as Gao Pragmatic Chen Shu arrived at the General Administration Department, the officials of the Waitingxin School learned about it and immediately went into an uproar.
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PS: It was common in history at that time for civil servants’ political disputes to arise from articles, but I’m not sure whether being so “realistic” would be a bit “too deep”, so let’s give it a try.