The struggle for power was also one of the main contradictions in the ancient imperial court, and often the cause of the demise of a dynasty. Among the many historical dynasties in ancient times, the measures taken by the Ming Dynasty really emphatically empties the right of the Prime Minister. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, also adopted the system of xiangxiang after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yuanzhang was sensitive in his mind and always felt that the rights of the chancellor were too great and threatened his rights. After the situation in the capital of the Ming Dynasty gradually stabilized, he began to take action to stop the growth of the chancellor.
One of the most important measures was that he gave the death of Hu Weiyong, the minister of the prime minister, which involved too many people, and Zhu Yuanzhang also used this to abolish the system of the minister. However, once the system of ministers was abolished, the administrative handling of major state affairs required Zhu Yuanzhang to govern alone, which greatly increased the intensity of Zhu Yuanzhang's work. After that, Zhu Yuanzhang began to select talents to approve the palm book for himself, and gradually formed the prototype of the cabinet.
The original cabinet was to serve as the emperor's secretary to share the emperor's worries, and after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, after Emperor Jianwen and Ming Chengzu ascended the throne one after another, the cabinet was established as a system. However, at that time, the power of the cabinet was still relatively small, it was only for the emperor to advise, there was no specific real power, and the chapter was still directly in the hands of the emperor, and there was no need for cabinet members to look at it.
After Akihito ascended the throne, although he reigned for only one year, he raised the status of the cabinet as never before, and the cabinet has held real power ever since. However, the cabinet's administrative handling still needs the approval of the emperor, and can only be implemented after the emperor agrees. After the power of the cabinet gradually increased, some people were happy and some were worried, and there was no shortage of people who hated the cabinet system in later emperors. However, the cabinet system also restrained the imperial power, did not let the emperor alone dominate, and was deeply supported by hundreds of officials, who believed that the cabinet was the future of the Ming Dynasty.
The reason for this view is mainly based on a series of practices and non-compliance after Emperor Ming Yingzong ascended the throne, which almost led to the Ming Dynasty moving south. This provoked the anger of the hundred officials, who supported the cabinet in power, at least they would not let the capital move. Gradually, the prestige of the cabinet was greater than that of the emperor, but there was an emperor in the Ming Dynasty who wiped out the cabinet and let them crawl at his feet, and he was the Jiajing Emperor.
In history, the Jiajing Emperor is recorded as obsessed with cultivating immortals and refining dan and not doing the right thing, but such a person controlled the cabinet in his own hands. During the Jiajing period, the first assistants of the cabinet changed one after another, and one of the first assistants who had been a great ming all his life was executed by the Jiajing Emperor, and he was Xia Yan.
Most of the first assistants of the cabinet were good deaths, only he was brutally killed, and before he was executed, he was executed with a wooden stick through the end, and then he tied his hands and feet and was carried to the execution ground. Xia Yan was one of the few people who dared to speak out, and he was deeply loved by the Jiajing Emperor above the court, and his position had always been promoted, but it was precisely because of his integrity that he made too many enemies above the court.
After he became the head of the cabinet, officials verbally attacked him and slandered him in front of the emperor, causing him to be ousted three times and reinstated to his original post, and in this struggle for power, Xia Yan's first fierce enemy was Yan Song. Yan Song should be known to everyone, and he is also the first assistant of the cabinet, and the official power is a great threat to the imperial power.
Before he ascended the throne, he had to pull Xia Yan down from power, and he had been swallowing Xia Yan's oppression of him, and finally ushered in the opportunity, he told the emperor that Xia Yan was favored by the emperor and oppressed the officials. When Emperor Jiajing heard that this was feasible, even though Xia Yan kept explaining, Emperor Jiajing did not intend to forgive him and ordered him to be executed, and Xia Yan was also the first cabinet chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty to be executed.
Conclusion: The Jiajing Emperor could not control the cabinet by these means, the first assistant of the cabinet had to become an assistant before becoming the first assistant, and the advice of the cabinet and the way to solve the matter had to be decided by the two of them first, and then transmitted to the emperor. The person who held power among these two men was naturally the first assistant, but the Jiajing Emperor did not do this.
He not only gave the first auxiliary silver medal, but also gave the auxiliary minister silver medallion, the two people held each other back, and the beneficiary could only be the emperor, and it had to be said that the Jiajing Emperor was smart. During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, a total of seven first assistant ministers were replaced, which also shows that the Jiajing Emperor has always held the imperial power in his own hands and controlled the entire cabinet.
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