Chapter 35 Talking about the cabinet system!
After hearing this, Chen Han thought for a moment, then tapped the back of his hand and said, "It cannot be said that the emergence of the cabinet at that time was actually formed as a last resort after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister."
Ling Han asked hurriedly: "How do you say this?"
Chen Han explained: "After Yongle Emperor Zhu Di ascended the throne, he took the throne through unfair means.
Therefore, he urgently needed to use his true talents to silence everyone in the world, so he went on many personal expeditions.
Since he was the leader of the army, he could not control the internal affairs of the court. Under this situation, he established a cabinet to assist him in handling government affairs.
In fact, to a certain extent, the cabinet is similar to the prime minister.
The prime minister has three major powers - deliberation, decision-making, and execution.
But Zhu Di was very smart. He firmly held the decision-making power that the prime minister should have in his own hands.
The power of discussion was given to the cabinet.
Executive power was divided among six ministries.
In name, the prime minister's rights are divided into three.
The most important decision-making power lies in his own hands. At the local level, there are three divisions in charge of justice, military, and administration, which are directly responsible to the six ministries.
To be honest, the cabinet can still play a considerable role during this period.
At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, most of the people chosen by Zhu Di had local administrative experience.
Among the first cabinet, such as Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong, etc. were all famous officials in the early Ming Dynasty, and they all made corresponding achievements. "
When it comes to this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao have been able to consider many things based on this logic.
Zhu Biao patted Ling Han's shoulder gently and pointed outside.
Ling Han understood, "Teacher Chen, please wait a moment. A villager is coming to see me. I'll go out for a while."
Chen Han smiled and said: "Village chief, go ahead and deal with important matters."
Ling Han and the other three went out and arrived outside the Farming Hall.
Zhu Biao said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Father, I heard that the formation of the cabinet seems to be pretty good. They can take the decision-making power in their hands, hand over the power of deliberation to the cabinet, and put the execution power in the six ministries. In fact, they have put the previous The power of the prime minister is divided into three and is even more dispersed, but there are obvious loopholes in this."
Zhu Yuanzhang also said, "The biggest loophole is the emperor himself."
Zhu Yuanzhang hit the nail on the head, “Although the emperor himself can hold the decision-making power in his hands, he must be able to make decisions in order to effectively play the role of the cabinet.
Otherwise, after the cabinet is established, those private officials will expand the power of the cabinet unlimitedly. "
What Zhu Yuanzhang said is right.
The reason why the power behind the cabinet gradually became so powerful that the emperor had to rely on the eunuchs to contain the cabinet was because it was impossible for those civil servants to limit the power of the cabinet to just the secretary level.
Once they seize a little opportunity, they will quickly expand their influence.
This is the biggest drawback.
Zhu Biao nodded: "That's true. Then let's go and listen to what will happen after his cabinet before we make a decision."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
So the three of them returned again.
Ling Han returned to the room and said with a smile: "After we've dealt with it, after we've dealt with it, let's continue talking.
Teacher Xiao Chen, according to what you just said, it seems that there will be a lot of troubles after the cabinet is established.
When I was dealing with things just now, I also thought about whether the power of the cabinet would become more and more powerful. "
Chen Han nodded: "Village Chief, you seem to be a sensible person, indeed.
The operation of the cabinet relies heavily on the authority of the emperor. The emperor must have a clear head, otherwise the civil servants will fool actually formed their own opinions on the final decision on a matter, and then handed it over to the emperor for the final decision.
If the emperor is unable to make decisions himself, these cabinet ministers may use their influence to influence the emperor's decisions.
Moreover, later on, the members of the cabinet were often high-ranking ministers such as the Six Ministers or the Imperial Censors.
They themselves are very influential, and they also hold legislative and administrative power.
Even though the decision-making power lies in the hands of the emperor, the civil servants who hold these two powers are actually capable of confronting the emperor.
After all, after you make a decision, I have to be the one to execute it.
This resulted in the fact that the chief minister of the cabinet behind him had two super powers: cabinet minister and minister of various ministries. After the emperor made a decision, he was easily restrained by them. "
After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at each other.
Everyone is saying it, and it’s true.
The power of the cabinet is actually related to the cabinet members themselves.
If they are already top-level officials like the Six Ministers in terms of administration, then it is equivalent to discussing politics by themselves, making decisions by the emperor, and executing them by themselves.
These people would not cut their own hands with a knife.
Therefore, the results of political discussions are often easy to implement by oneself.
The emperor's decision-making is very important, and different opinions will definitely be put forward, but not every emperor is an emperor who is well-informed like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di and can make his own correct decisions.
Just look at emperors like Zhu Yunwen and you will know that corrupt scholars led by Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru can turn him into that.
If Zhu Yunwen met the likes of Yang Rong, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Yan Song, Zhu Yunwen would be beaten to death by them.
An emperor who has little knowledge or experience will suffer a loss if he fights with a bunch of old fools.
Chen Han said, "Village chief, you said that the Ming Dynasty emperor is so authoritarian, how can they tolerate the cabinet, the left hand controls these powers instead of the right hand, which is no different from half a prime minister."
Ling Han nodded: "That's right, that's right. How will the emperors resist? They can't understand this. After all, ordinary people like us can understand it. Don't they want to abolish the cabinet? Really? Doesn’t all the power lie in your own hands?”
Chen Han laughed and said, "Village chief, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. If the cabinet is abolished, they will have to be like their ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, who forgets to eat and sleep.
Model emperors like Zhu Yuanzhang have been rare for thousands of years, but not everyone in the old Zhu family has inherited this gene.
During the Yongle period, the cabinet was able to share a large amount of work for the emperor, freeing the emperor to do other things. These emperors wanted to retain the advantage.
But they just want the cabinet to become their secretarial agency, but the civil servants will not fulfill their wishes. The civil servants who have tasted a little sweetness are not allowed to firmly control the cabinet like maggots attached to the bones.
This forced the emperors behind them to find ways to contain these cabinet ministers.
How do we do this?There was an emperor who was very smart, or rather clever.
Because of his cleverness, he truly laid the foundation for all kinds of evil consequences for the next 100 years or so of the Ming Dynasty.
But at that time, he probably only thought of this little cleverness, which was really useful, so he didn't think about these bad consequences at all.
This emperor not only broke the rule that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in politics.
Even Zhu Yuanzhang's rule that eunuchs in the palace were not allowed to read or write was completely broken.
It was precisely because of his behavior that many eunuchs behind him were lawless.
It also affected the Qing Dynasty's regulations on eunuchs in the inner court.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu emperors stipulated that eunuchs were not allowed to read. This was the lesson learned from this emperor. This lesson was too profound. "
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(End of this chapter)
