Liu Ji himself is not the prime minister, nor does he agree with others, what is his intention?
Liu Ji, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, was once loyal to the Yuan Dynasty. He became a member of Zhu Yuanzhang's group, which was originally a last resort. After assisting Zhu Yuanzhang in seizing the world, Liu Ji always had political differences with Zhu Yuanzhang on how to govern the country. Regarding Liu Jizhi's death, Li Shi believed that he was "too straight" and "too rigid", unlike Zhang Liang in the Western Han Dynasty, who "hid with the light and qu himself", so he was hated and was not tolerated by Zhu Yuanzhang.
The political differences between Liu Ji and Zhu Yuanjing are fully manifested in his opposition to Zhu Yuanmei's power to weaken the character form. Li Shanchang, the left chancellor, has always been a figure that Zhu Yuanzhang relied on. In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanjing began to show dissatisfaction with Li Shanchang and wanted to remove Li Shanchang from his post. Liu Ji told Zhu Yuanjing that Li Shanchang was the "old man" of the country, with great merit and deep seniority, who could balance the relationship between the generals, and was a suitable candidate to be a chancellor. Zhu Yuanzhang said to Liu Ji, "This person has wanted to harm you several times. Are you saying this to leave a way back for yourself? I'll let you be the prime minister next!" With your loyalty and merit, you can also be a beggar! Liu Ji hurriedly kowtowed, saying that the transfiguration was like changing the pillars of the house, and it was necessary to use large wood; if a few small pieces of wood were tied together to make pillars, the house would fall down immediately.
At that time, zhu Yuanzhang's choice of chancellor was a person named Yang Xian. The relationship between Yang Xian and Liu Ji has always been very good, but Liu Ji said to Zhu Yuanzhang that Yang Xian, a person who can be a minister in terms of talent, lacks the amount of equipment to be a minister; people who are ministers should be like water, take righteousness as the standard in everything, and cannot harbor selfish intentions, but Yang Xian is not such a person. Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Ji how Wang Guangyang was. Liu Ji said that Jiang Guangyang's narrow-mindedness and shallowness are even worse. Zhu Yuanjing asked Hu Weiyong how he was. Liu Ji said that he was like an inferior horse, and if he let him pull the car, it would break the rim. Hearing Liu Ji say this, Zhu Yuanqiong was very unhappy. He ridiculed Liu Ji, saying that there was no more suitable candidate than him. Liu Ji hastened to explain that he was a person who was too sick and impatient, and that being a chancellor would fail to live up to the grace of the saints; there were still people in the world who could take on great responsibilities, as long as the emperor was wise and sincere in his search, he could always find it.
Ever since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty institutionalized the politics of the court, the power of the emperor was greatly weakened. However, the imperial court did not have a power center, which not only made the bureaucracy dysfunctional, but also brought about the problem of the dictatorship of foreign relatives and eunuchs. Therefore, during the Tang and Song dynasties, the phase power was restored to a certain extent. However, the general trend is to separate the powers of the system. However, due to the emperor's favor, it is not uncommon for the minister of power and the situation of one person alone. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Li Shanchang was appointed as the Left Zhongshu And Wang Guangyang was the Right Zhongshu. Li Shanchang ruled zhongshu, Zhu Yuanzhang "did not have any big details, and entrusted Li Shanchang to discuss and act with the Confucian ministers."
Liu Ji Zhu Yuanzhang deposed Li Shanchang, believing that Li Shanchang had the ability and ability to balance the relationship between the generals, which was actually one aspect. On the other hand, Liu Ji believes that the power of the prime minister should be centralized, not decentralized. He believed that even if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to depose Li Shanchang, he would have to find a pillar like Li Shanchang who was capable of taking on a big responsibility, rather than finding a few people with average ability to take charge of his work. Obviously, Liu Ji's real idea in his heart is to restore the historical system of prime ministers and make Xiang Quan the center of government power.
All in all, in Liu Ji's view, the power of the fortunate minister should be complete, not dismantled and scattered, and let a few people who do not have the talent of the minister jointly perform the post of the minister. This kind of suggestion of his has obviously violated Zhu Yuanjing, who is deliberately trying to cut off the power of xiang. Liu Ji once said that if he was put in charge, within a year or two, he could sweep away the accumulated shortcomings and restore leniency. Such remarks show that he actually wants to be a single prime minister. And Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts about him are, of course, also like a fire.