Chapter 37 The evolution of the cabinet system! When Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao heard this, they began to think about it in their hearts.
Since there will be eunuchs interfering in politics.
Since the civil servants will have too much power in the cabinet, is there a way?
Even if the power of civil servants cannot be expanded, what method can be found to prevent eunuchs from participating in politics?
Zhu Biao also thought to himself, in fact, this is a process of slow expansion.
Even if a series of systems can be formulated in the early stage to prevent eunuchs from intervening in politics.
But later on, when the power of the bachelors in the cabinet became more and more powerful and the emperor could no longer control it, he had to seek help from some people.
Talented and resourceful people like Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and even Zhu Biao could solve everything by themselves without any helpers.
But the later emperors grew up in deep palaces and had little knowledge.
They know very little about the situation below and are unable to make correct decisions on their own. Civil servants often bully such emperors.
This will force these emperors to find all kinds of help.
And around them, the only ones they can trust are eunuchs.
At the same time, they also think that eunuchs can only rely entirely on themselves, and they feel that such people will not betray them.
But often things backfire.
Eunuchs do have to rely on you, but when their power expands, they not only rely on you, but also want to use you as a puppet.
So after thinking for a long time, Zhu Biao could only think of one thing.
That is, cabinet ministers must not come from the six ministerial books.
Some ministers with rich experience in local governance and outstanding abilities must be selected from the local level to serve.
They come from the local area and understand the bottom level.
At the same time, because he had just arrived and had no foundation in the capital, he could only rely on the emperor.
This can not only satisfy the requirements of these individual officials for their low status and weight, but also satisfy the requirements of officials who have no backers.
This is the best way Zhu Biao can think of.
However, he still wanted to hear how Chen Han would give a solution in the future.
Ling Han was also shocked after hearing this.
He really didn't expect that in future generations, the eunuchs he looked down upon at all would be able to do that, be able to control the government, and suppress high-ranking officials like the Six Ministers.
The world is full of wonders.
Those who are missing something have a dark heart, and have been on guard against it throughout the ages.
Unexpectedly, in the Ming Dynasty, these forces would revive again.
And it seems that this knot has been firmly tied together from the very beginning of the cabinet's establishment.
Chen Han continued: "The eunuchs interfering in politics, and the internal strife between the eunuchs and the cabinet became more and more intense in the later stages.
The Tumu Fort Incident was an extreme case, but later on, the negative impact still existed.
After Zhu Qizhen, it went through Chenghua, Hongzhi, and Zhengde years.
The emperor was young, but he was still accomplished.
Zhu Houzhao has a bad reputation in history. It is possible that he was framed and fabricated by later civil servants. Anyway, he won the Battle of Hetao by fighting on his own and at the same time suppressed King Ning's rebellion internally. He can be regarded as a relatively accomplished person. emperor.
Even the teacher once praised him.
However, due to the struggle between the cabinet and the eunuchs, the Eight Tigers eunuch group headed by Liu Jin and Gu Dayong also appeared in his groups of eunuchs sold their officials and exploited the people, and fought with civil servants, leading to a sharp rise in conflicts.
Zhengde passed away at a young age. Due to his excessive dissoluteness, he left no heirs, so he elected Emperor Jiajing from his close relatives.
As emperor, Zhu Houcong definitely had the highest IQ in the entire Ming Dynasty. He was extremely smart, but he was also one of the emperors who was least engaged in his work.
After Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, the first major event that happened was the great etiquette debate.
Since he was the vassal king who entered the court, the cabinet ministers all wanted to use the power of the cabinet to suppress the young emperor.
Their method was to force Zhu Houcong to change his father and recognize Emperor Hongzhi as his father.
For this reason, Zhu Houcong had a ceremonial dispute with his ministers that lasted for several years.
It ended with Zhu Houcong's victory.
But after this incident, the emperor's mind also took a huge turn.
He realized that cabinet ministers, especially these civil servants and bureaucrats, were obsessed with fighting over such trivial matters. Why? In order to demonstrate their authority, they wanted the emperor to submit to them.
Therefore, Zhu Houcong worked hard in the past ten years to govern the whole world very well, just to tell these ministers that I can do it if you can't do it.
But it was precisely because of the battles with these ministers that he was exhausted, so that later on, he did not go to court for more than ten or twenty years, practicing Taoism and alchemy in the palace, hoping to become an immortal.
In the court, under his control behind the scenes, a very special pattern emerged during his time.
Yan Song, the academician of the external cabinet, had a huge increase in power, and there were also many eunuchs in control of the imperial palace. The mutual involvement and internal friction between them ensured his purpose of wielding power in the deep palace.
But it also brought the entire Ming Empire to the point where military discipline was lax, bribery was common, people were superfluous, and even collapsed.
If it weren't for his children and grandchildren, including super powerful ministers such as Gao Gong, Xu Jie, and Zhang Juzheng, it would be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to continue.
However, super powerful ministers like Zhang Juzheng could only save the Ming Dynasty for a while, but not for the whole world.
As for after Wanli, Taichang was short-lived and Tianqi ascended the throne. The struggle between the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian and the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and Donglin parties of civil servants led to the decline of the world.
At this time, the scholar-bureaucrat class had completely become the spokesperson of the gentry in the struggle. They only cared about immediate interests and did not take the interests of the family and country at heart. As a result, Chongzhen came to power and hurriedly cut off the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian, resulting in an imbalance of power. , the civilian clique completely controls the government.
Chongzhen was diligent but lacked ability. In addition, with the advent of the Little Ice Age, natural disasters continued, food dropped sharply, uprisings continued in various places, and internal strife among civil servants was serious. In the end, the great country was sacrificed by Li Zicheng's uprising and fell into the hands of the Jurchen aliens.
Emperor Chongzhen also ended up committing suicide on a coal mountain. How sad! In later generations' theories, the Wanli Dynasty has always been praised. Even if Emperor Wanli did not go to court for decades, the cabinet could still ensure the operation of the court.
But isn't this a kind of sadness? The entire court itself should be dominated by the emperor, but it became a battlefield between civil servants and eunuchs.
Either there are super powerful ministers, such as Zhang Juzheng, Yan Song, etc., or there are super powerful eunuchs, such as Liu Jin, Wang Zhen, Wei Zhongxian, etc.
The two forces are fighting against each other. You come and I fight, and the two sides are like enemies, and it is completely impossible to be compatible.
Except for the brief alliance between the chief minister Zhang Juzheng and the eunuch Feng Bao, the chief minister of rites, it is sad that such a huge dynasty fell to such an end. "
Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were all extremely sad after hearing this.
The majestic Ming Dynasty had been reduced to such a state, making them clench their fists and gnash their teeth.
Ling Han hurriedly asked: "Then the cabinet system will undergo such changes, isn't there a better mechanism to contain it?"
Chen Han thought for a while, carefully considering the vocabulary explanation, "There is a type of mechanism that is more extreme than the cabinet, and to a certain extent, it will force the emperor to be diligent.
However, this mechanism can easily lead the entire dynasty to extremes. "
……
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(End of this chapter)