Chapter 283 Zheng Guoben (8) The small system controls the big, and the big bullies the small
There is no doubt that Xiao Daheng is an official of the Practical School, and he is also a veteran of the Practical School - after all, he was born in the 11th year of Jiajing, and he is already sixty-eight years old this year. If nothing else happens, he will only have two or three years left.
years of career.
In later generations of official circles, there was often a saying that "the power should be used only when it has expired." This led to the so-called "May-Nine phenomenon", which means that some officials deteriorated in their thinking before retiring and gave up their originally good ethics to make a fortune.
Of course, there was a similar phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty, but what is interesting is that this situation is not so common at least compared to later generations. Why? It may be because the officials in this era are closer to their official career, and the more they care about their death.
Hence the name.
In later generations, the good reputation of the fathers and ancestors can only be said to be of some benefit to the younger generations, but it is generally not very obvious. However, it is different in an era like the Ming Dynasty. The good reputation of the fathers and ancestors is simply a huge wealth for the younger generations, and
Not to mention that the imperial court already had institutions such as favor and favor. Even if it did not, the social benefits would be difficult to measure.
This kind of social atmosphere has caused many officials to worry about the loss of their official reputation. The closer they get to their official career, the more cautious they become as officials, and they dare not make fun of their official reputation.
Xiao Daheng was also such an old minister. Originally, his background was not very good. He was only ranked as a Jinshi. He was similar to Shen Yiguan. Both of them were at the bottom of the rankings among senior officials in the imperial court.
Grades are determined after taking the exam, and there is nothing you can do to change them. Therefore, if you want to have a good reputation, you can only accumulate good reputation bit by bit during your official career. Xiao Daheng spent most of his life on this, and finally became an official from a poor background.
After reaching the General Constitution and becoming one of the seven ministers of the imperial court, he was not only proud of it, but also satisfied with it.
[Note: Qiqing is a term used to refer to the Zuodu Yushi of the Ducha Yuan and the Six Ministers of the Ministry of Finance. It can be regarded as the collective name of the top leaders of the seven functional departments with real power in the Ming Dynasty.]
As the dignified censor of Zuodu, Xiao Daheng was aware of the emperor's coughing up blood, and he also received some attention from the Nanning Marquis Mansion.
Therefore, the day after Zhao Zhigao returned home to discuss with Zhong Zhaodou, Xiao Daheng was not too surprised when he heard that Zhong Zhaodou suggested that the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dongchang should jointly supervise the investigation of Yikun Palace.
According to the information sent by Gao Pragmatic, Zhong Zhaodou's memorial is just a prelude, and there will be other performances later, and he does not need to express his position for the time being, just wait and see what happens.
Sure enough, Zhong Zhaodou's memorial was just the unveiling, and soon there were six or seven other Ke Dao officials who also raised the same issue. Xiao Daheng briefly looked at the names of these people and found that they were all officials from the Xinxue school, and almost all of them were from the Xinxue school.
It was related to Zhao Zhigao - either a disciple or a township party member, or at the worst, someone who had received favors from Zhao Zhigao.
Xiao Daheng just passively accepted some news sent to him from the Nanning Hou Mansion, but he did not know what other secrets were involved in this matter. However, since Zhao Zhigao's people began to suggest that the Metropolitan Procuratorate be involved in this matter more
It seems that he and Mr. Gao Ge have reached some kind of agreement, at least some kind of tacit understanding?
Xiao Daheng had some speculations in his mind, but he still stood still and did not express his opinion on this. Shortly afterwards, he received news from the cabinet, saying that the emperor sent a eunuch to ask the cabinet what it thought about this. The cabinet therefore held a meeting to discuss
Needless to say, the result was that the decision to support the proposal of Zhong Zhaodou and others was "unanimously adopted".
Tycoon Xiao didn't quite believe this news - it wasn't that he didn't believe in the resolution, but he felt that the "unanimous vote" was very suspicious.
Although Gao Pingshi's previous message was a bit vague, its general meaning was nothing more than a prediction that Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiguan might not be at odds with each other.
If Mr. Gao Ge's speculation comes true, then Shen Yiguan and Zhao Zhigao's group should oppose the proposal. How could it be "passed unanimously"? This makes no sense.
However, it didn’t take long for Xiao Daheng to think about it and realize it again. Yes, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Dongchang Supervision are at the same time, which means that the outer court has more say at this time, so the cabinet, as the representative of the outer court, It should be supported innately.
That is to say, Wang Jiaping, as the first assistant, must agree. In this way, Zhao Zhigao proposed, Wang Jiaping agreed, and Gao Pragmatic must also agree, so Liang Menglong and Zhou Yong naturally agreed, and the six cabinet elders already had five votes At this moment, Shen Guangyang knew that it was useless to object, so he might as well just express his approval - after all, this was the political correctness of the foreign court.
When the matter reached this point, Xiao Daheng had to express his position. However, the time for the investigation was already past, so he could only write a note and submit it to the cabinet, expressing that he was very happy to play an active role in this investigation.
The report was sent to the cabinet, and a reply came soon after. The cabinet arranged for Qian Menggao, the deputy director of the criminal department, and Zhong Zhaodou, the deputy director of the engineering department, to come to visit, saying they were here to discuss with Mr. Xiao the relationship between the Procuratorate and the East The factory jointly supervised the investigation into the Yikun Palace matter.
Xiao Daheng was a little surprised that these two people came at the same time. The key is that Gao Pragmatic said before that Zhao Zhigao and Shen always had a disagreement. Since their respective teachers and masters had disagreements, why did the two section chiefs join forces to come together? Coming?
Of course, Xiao Daheng also knew that the two section chiefs had always had a good relationship in the past. At the beginning, whether it was to show the unity of the Xin School or for other reasons, the two had always been very close in the previous one or two years. It even means that the focus is never out of focus, and the focus is never out of focus.
However, that was then, and now is now. At first, Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiyi were just new members of the cabinet, and their status was very unstable, and they needed to show that they could work together; now, it is Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiyi who have failed to judge the overall situation. If there is no conflict, then how can their disciples appear together?
It was in this doubt that Xiao Daheng ordered his staff to welcome the two of them into the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
At this point, let’s turn back the time and talk about how Qian Menggao and Zhong Zhaodou came together. It turned out that Shen Guanyi had already sensed that something was wrong when he found himself isolated at the meeting. After a little thought, he knew that Zhao Zhigao had beaten him. What an idea.
Shen Yiguan naturally refused to sit still and wait for death. At the same time, he was very angry about Zhao Zhigao's sudden defection. However, after all, he was not an ignorant person. He would not jump out in front of his face and say stupid things that would only make his relatives angry and his enemies happy. .
Shen Yiguan immediately said that the branch and the Dao family should not be separated. Since the cabinet has decided that the matter should be intervened by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and jointly supervised by the Dongchang, and everyone had discussed before that Qian Menggao, the criminal section chief, should be allowed to play his role. For some functions, since the person who proposed the intervention of the Metropolitan Procuratorate today is also another section chief, it would be better for both of them to go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate together, or for the Department of Science and Technology to join hands in the grand event.
In fact, Shen Yiguan's statement is both reasonable and unreasonable. Especially when he said that "science and Tao are integrated," this is actually very problematic. Although science and Tao officials are collectively called Yan officials, science and Tao are not actually "one body."
Of course, both the Ke and Dao are supervisory agencies, but how did the six Kes and the Thirteen Tao of the Ming Dynasty exercise their supervisory power? From an institutional perspective, the Ming Dynasty used "the censor as the platform and the six Kes as the wall."
This is a bit abstract, so I need to explain it. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the central government established the "three major mansions" of Zhongshu Sheng, Dadu Dufu, and Yushitai. This was not only the old system of the Yuan Dynasty, but also directly inherited from the Qin Dynasty's prime minister, Taiwei, The "Three Dukes" of the Yushi doctor stand side by side.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang summarized the relationship between the "three major offices": "When the country is newly established, the three major offices are responsible for the government of the world. The foundation of Zhongshu government is that the governor's office is in charge of the military, and the Yushitai inspects hundreds of departments. The imperial court discipline is all tied to this."
But as we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister shortly thereafter, and the national system also underwent major adjustments: officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, the six ministers of industry and the censor of the Duchayuan were collectively called the "Seven Qings" , directly responsible to the emperor, six departments were in charge of national administrative affairs, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate replaced the Yushitai and became the highest supervisory organ of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is not a simple central agency. It is actually a huge system that can compete with the six ministries.
"History of the Ming Dynasty Official Records" records that the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the "department of the emperor's ears, eyes, and moral discipline." Anyone who is evil and disrupts the government, forms a clique for personal gain, is tyrannical, does nothing, is greedy and shameless, has academic misconduct, and seeks an official career will be punished. All are included in the list of impeachments.
That being said, if a high-ranking official of the second rank of the imperial censor, if he fully fulfills this series of "impeachments", he will inevitably be suspected of "fighting" and will lose his integrity as a minister. This is one of the reasons.
Secondly, due to his high position and power, if the imperial censor makes an impeachment error, there will be no room for maneuver, which will damage the prestige of the imperial censor. Thirdly, it is necessary to be able to be a second-ranked censor of the capital and a third-ranked deputy censor. History must have been in the officialdom for a long time and held various internal and external positions. It is inevitable that officials will protect each other due to human feelings.
Therefore, this series of "impeachments" should naturally be carried out by supervisory officials with lower status, less seniority, younger age, and less scruples. This is called "using the small to control the big, and the lower to control the higher." ”.
This is what Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used to supervise the governors of 2,000 shi with 600 shi of governors. Moreover, these officials also need to be relatively independent. If they act excessively and impeach improperly, there is no need for the chief inspector to come out. Just take responsibility.
Based on this principle, the Ming Dynasty gradually formed a set of supervisory systems called "Ke Dao". The so-called "Ke Dao" refers to the six departments of officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and engineering, which are assigned to Shizhong and Ducha. The thirteen supervisory censors of the hospital.
Although the two have different ownerships, their status and responsibilities are similar, so they are collectively called "Ke Dao", also known as "Tai Yuan". The censor is the platform and the six subjects are the wall. They formed the Ming Dynasty to correct the impeachment and prevent officials from being perfunctory. The two intersecting lines of defense are public affairs and violations of laws and disciplines. Since their duties include "making suggestions" and even "speaking about things based on rumors", they are collectively called "yanguan".
Having said that, it seems that science and Taoism are indeed one, so why do you say it is wrong? Don't worry, saying it is wrong is not just nonsense. Although they are similar, there are indeed differences, so we have to look at it in detail.
The name "Gi Shi Zhong" had already appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties. It was named after "Gi Shi Ban Zhong". It was set up in each subsequent generation, but the responsibilities changed frequently. From Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen to Cheng Zu Zhu Di, several times
After many twists and turns, the Ming Dynasty's government system became a relatively independent system, with sixty-five people, including fifty-eight from Beijing and seven from Nanjing, divided into six departments: officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and engineering.
Corresponds to the affairs of the six ministries of Supervision, Household Affairs, Rites, Military Affairs, Punishment, and Work.
The ministers of the six bureaus are the second rank, the ministers on the left and right are the third rank, the chief and deputy ministers of each of the six bureaus are the fifth rank, and the ministers are the fifth rank.
The seventh grade is the correct one, and the seventh grade is followed in the task, and the small one is used to make the big one complete.
The Wanli version of "Ming Huidian" edited by Gao Jingshi summarized the responsibilities in giving things into four words: "Seal, refute, correct and impeach".
The so-called "sealing and refuting" means sealing and refuting, and it has two contents:
First, edicts issued in the name of the emperor are classified according to the content and distributed to the relevant departments for review. Routine matters are signed and issued by each department; major matters are sealed and issued after confirmation.
.If the edict violates the "ancestral system" or has other problems, each department will seal it back and propose amendments - that is, "refutation".
These functions were the responsibilities of the Menxia Province in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. However, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the ministers of the Menxia Province were called prime ministers together with the Zhongshu Ling of the Zhongshu Province and the left and right servants of the Shangshu Province. In the Ming Dynasty, the Shizhong
, are all seventh-grade officials.
Secondly, the memorials and reports submitted by the central and local yamen were copied out by the six departments, errors in them were refuted respectively, suggestions for handling were put forward, and then distributed to various ministries for processing.
The so-called "rectification and impeachment" is explained in "Zhiguanzhi" as follows: "The main virtues are violated, the government fails, and hundreds of officials are good and fawning. Each subject may be single and sparse, or the public and sparse jointly sign a memorial."
Whether it is the fault of the emperor or the shortcomings of the government, as well as the morality and performance of civil and military officials, they all fall within the scope of "correction and impeachment" among the six subjects. The method of "correction and impeachment" can be done by a certain person in a certain subject.
Each department was conducted separately, while major matters were led by the corresponding department, such as the Civil Affairs Department or the Household Affairs Department, and multiple departments were jointly "rectified" to create strong pressure on relevant officials and even the emperor.
Let’s look at the thirteen censorship censors. They are affiliated with the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The so-called “Thirteen Dao” correspond to the thirteen chief secretaries in the country, that is, provinces: Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shandong,
Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. After several adjustments, the maximum number of supervisory censors in the Thirteen Roads is 110 in Beijing and 30 in Nanjing, a total of 140 people, all of whom are in the seventh rank.
Thirteen censors supervise the officials and various affairs of the corresponding chief secretaries and yamen in Beijing (including civil yamen, military yamen and eunuch yamen), and participate in "court discussions" hosted by the Ministry of Rites.
The thirteen censors in Beijing and Nanjing worked in the yamen of the two capitals respectively. The patrol censors "toured on behalf of the emperor" to the provinces and the southern and northern Zhili. The evaluation of officials in each province and the reports to the central ministries were all
It must be approved by the censor of the governor and jointly signed by the censor of the governor (i.e. the governor) - this was already very clear during Gao Pingshi's tenure in Guangxi, so I will not describe it in detail.
Such a list is very clear and intuitive. If the six subjects are more focused on administrative supervision, then the supervisory censor is more like a "discipline inspection and supervision", whose main responsibility is to "detect official evil in hundreds of internal and external departments".
Specializes in supervising officials at all levels for violations of laws, disciplines, and violations in various matters.
From the cabinet bachelor and the six ministers, to the county magistrates, county magistrates and other inspection officials at all levels; from the formulation of national policies, decision-making on military and state affairs, to the small imperial examinations, school education, tax collection, salt administration and horse administration
, farming, warehousing, and various details of customs and sentiments are all under the supervision of the thirteen censors.
The impeachment of officials can be done behind closed doors or in person, and can reveal facts or "hear things". Sometimes the north and the south even respond, with joint impeachments between the state and the state, which is even more powerful -
- For example, Xu Jie launched the "Manchu Dynasty Reversal of Gong" back then. Although Gao Gong had Emperor Longqing's 360-degree protection at that time, he still had to write more than 20 remarks, saying that he was seriously ill.
To seek through persistence, this is the power of momentum.
In short, the six departments tend to inspect the administrative process, while the Metropolitan Procuratorate tends to inspect the main actors, and they belong to different agencies. We cannot force ourselves to say that they are "one and the same" just because they are all officials.
Gao Pragmatic is the main writer of the current edition of the "Da Ming Huidian". He is fully aware of the conceptual fallacies in Shen Yiguan's words. If he has to argue with Shen Yiguan, Shen Yiguan will have to admit his own mistakes.
However, when the other cabinet elders, including Zhao Zhigao, were waiting for Gao Pragmatic's objections, Gao Pragmatic did not object. Not only did he not object, he nodded in agreement and said: "Kedao joins forces to participate
Dongchang should be more cautious in supervising the handling of this case, and it is foolish to think it is a good thing."
As soon as he expressed his position, the matter had to be settled.
So here comes the question, why did Gao Pragmatic agree to Shen Yiguan's proposal? Couldn't he see that Shen Yiguan was unable to refuse the proposal, so he simply made such a move to add sand to it?
Zhao Zhigao also frowned at first, until Xiao Daheng's proposal was sent to the cabinet, and Gao Pragmatic dispelled his doubts with one word.
Gao pragmatically said: "Since the General Constitution is personally supervising the process, the Yuyi Cabinet can issue a written document and order the two section chiefs to act on the General Constitution's orders as a way to assist."
So that’s it, you want to use Xiao Daheng to keep Qian Menggao under control!
Zhao Zhigao suddenly understood and glanced at Shen Yiguan, whose face was so gloomy that he could shed tears.
——
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "klauszx", "malyvu", "SeamChe", and "Amateur Watch" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
Thanks to the book friend "The Late Night Supper Master at Three in the Morning" for your support with 7 monthly tickets, thank you!