In a sense, the history of the succession of ancient Chinese dynasties is a history of the centralization of feudal imperial society. Beginning with the Qin Dynasty, the emperors of ancient China were tirelessly thinking about how to centralize power. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, China's centralization had reached a point of nearing its peak.
However, with the continuous strengthening of centralized power, the demands on the emperor were also increasing. Even a generation of male lords like Zhu Yuanzhang could not bear this burden in the end, and had to establish a cabinet to assist the government.
In addition to the cabinet, the auxiliary political system of the Ming Dynasty also had the celebrant of ceremonies. Both systems were only used to assist the emperor in handling the government at the beginning of their birth, but in the subsequent development, they were completely off the track, which greatly accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
First, the cabinet was a remedy after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the beggar system, and in Zhu Yuanzhang's vision, the cabinet was only an administrative adviser. But after Zhu Yuanzhang, the cabinet was already very similar to the chancellor
In 1380 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang brazenly abolished the beggar system in spite of the opposition of his subjects, an ancient system that had been coiled on the stage of China's history for two thousand years, and finally passed away.
Portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang
However, just as the so-called "existence is reasonable", the system of beggars can last for two thousand years, which is enough to prove its superiority and necessity under the feudal system. Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the beggar system, which not only confused the courtiers, but also made himself cocooned.
Since the abolition of the chancellor system, the six ministries have been directly responsible to Zhu Yuanzhang, and the entire affairs of the world must be decided by Zhu Yuanzhang alone. The daily presentation of the chapter is enough for Zhu Yuanzhang to see from the early morning to the evening, and such a huge work intensity is unbearable even for the political strongman Zhu Yuanzhang, let alone the future emperor.
After Zhu Yuanzhang saw this defect, he had to make adjustments to his own centralization of power, selecting young scholars with outstanding knowledge to form a department as a special administrative advisory body, which was the prototype of the cabinet. Frankly speaking, although this will have an impact on the centralization of power, it is not a decentralization at all. Therefore, during Zhu Yuanzhang's period, the cabinet had no power to speak of.
Unfortunately, however, Zhu Yuanzhang had a son who liked to oppose him, Zhu Di. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted Zhu Di to obediently become the king of the domain, and he rebelled. Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that the descendants would not use eunuchs, he did. Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that the king of the clan would retain power and defend the central government, and he abolished the king of the clan. Naturally, on the issue of the cabinet, he was "rebellious" again.
Cabinet of the Ming Dynasty
In the middle of Yongle, in order to cope with the repeated imperial conquests, Zhu Di no longer had enough energy to deal with complicated state affairs. In the end, after some deliberation, Zhu Di had to delegate some of the executive power and let a group of close civil officials participate in the administration and discussion of politics to reduce his burden. Since then, the Cabinet has been formally established.
Unlike the Hongwu dynasty, the cabinet of the Yongle dynasty was not only an advisor, but also a deliberative power, which could greatly influence the emperor's decision-making. Moreover, because Zhu Di loved war and was often active in the forefront, the government mainly dealt with the cabinet, which naturally increased the influence of the cabinet invisibly.
However, this is not the peak of the cabinet. The peak of the cabinet in the Ming Dynasty was the famous "reign of Renxuan". The "Reign of Ren Xuan" was created by Emperor Akihito and Emperor Ming Xuanzong, but the greatest contributor to it was the "Three Yangs". "Three Yangs", that is, Yang Pu, Yang Shiqi, and Yang Rong.
"Sanyang Cabinet" and "Rule of Renxuan"
These three people had a strong relationship with the Second Emperor renxuan and were highly valued in the second dynasty of Renxuan. After Akihito ascended the throne, he successively enshrined the "Three Yangs" into the cabinet and became the first assistant minister. After that, the important tasks of the military aircraft will almost always be discussed with the "Three Yangs", and the opinions of the "Three Yangs" will be used as the basis for the administration.
Emperor Renzong did not reign long and died very early. However, his attitude of believing in the "Three Yangs" infected Xuanzong, who agreed to rely heavily on the "Three Yangs" after he ascended the throne, and all matters were discussed with him. As a result, the two dynasties of the Final Ren Xuan, the "Three Yangs" were famous and praised by the world.
Along with the power of the "Three Yangs", the power of the cabinet has also been greatly improved. After that, the cabinet actually exercised the power of the chancellor, and "entering the cabinet" also became the highest pursuit of the Ming Dynasty literati.
Second, the Celebrant was a special institution created by the Ming Emperor in order to restrain the Cabinet, but because of its own characteristics, the Si Li Supervisor has always influenced the situation of the Ming Dynasty since its birth
Throughout ancient and modern times, the most commonly used means of imperial subordinates did not overly divide power and checks and balances, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also understood this truth.
In the Ming Xuanzong dynasty, with the increasing expansion of the power of the cabinet, even the emperor who had a good relationship with the cabinet slowly could not sit still. In order to balance the power of the cabinet and to improve administrative efficiency, Xuanzong began to train eunuchs in the palace to read and write, and selected the highly talented governors, which was the second auxiliary administrative organ of the Ming Dynasty, the Si Li Supervisor.
Ming Dynasty Celebrant of Ceremonies
In fact, the department of the Celebrant of Ceremonies existed as early as the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, but at that time, the Superintendent of Ceremonies was only a miscellaneous management agency, specifically responsible for cleaning, serving tea and delivering water. Moreover, because Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely disgusted with eunuchs for interfering in politics and power, eunuchs had no status at all during the Hongwu Dynasty, and the celebrant of ceremonies could not talk about any power.
The rise of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty began during the Yongle period. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the young Jianwen Emperor inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's antipathy toward eunuchs. Therefore, during the Jianwen years, the eunuchs had a very unpleasant life. However, Zhu Di in the same period was in stark contrast to Emperor Jianwen, who not only did not suppress eunuchs, but entrusted talented eunuchs with heavy responsibilities.
Under his banner, eunuch talents such as the leading eunuch Dog, the diplomat eunuch Hou Xian, and the famous Zheng He have emerged.
The so-called "world affairs do not suffer from widowhood but suffer from unevenness", compared with the treatment of the two sides, the eunuchs on Emperor Jianwen's side were naturally fascinated by Zhu Di. As a result, as soon as the Battle of Jingnan began, There were a large number of eunuchs on Emperor Jianwen's side who contributed money and power to Zhu Di, which brought great help to the victory of the war.
In this way, Zhu Di naturally trusted the eunuch more. After he ascended the throne, he set up a special secret service composed of eunuchs, the East Factory. Giving the relevant eunuchs great power, the eunuch forces that have been suppressed have risen strongly and become the nightmare of the ministers of the DPRK and China.
Although during the Zhu Di period, the authority of the celebrant did not actually change. However, the elevation of the eunuch's status during this period laid the foundation for the future Si Li Jian to become an auxiliary political institution, and was an important source of the rise of Si Li Jian.
The first peak of the Celebrant was during the reign of Emperor Ming Yingzong, when the grand eunuch Wang Zhen monopolized power, wantonly excluded dissidents, suppressed courtiers, and even the cabinet of the head of the civil officials had to temporarily avoid qifeng.
A ridiculous fiasco: the civil change
However, as Wang Zhen caused the catastrophe of the "Civil Change", the Celebrant was suppressed by everyone, quickly weakened, and remained dormant for a long time afterwards.
However, after all, the Celebrant was a close associate of the emperor, and although they were suppressed by all sides, as long as the emperor was willing to help them, they could immediately rise again. Since then, history has also interpreted this truth over and over again, and during the Ming Dynasty, the great eunuchs Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian both rose up with the Celebrant of Ceremonies and suppressed the courtiers, and the power of the world was tilted.
It can be said that although the Si Li Supervisor occasionally weakened, in most cases, it was in control of the Ming Dynasty's situation.
Third, the struggle between the cabinet and the celebrant brought huge internal friction to the entire administrative system of the Ming Dynasty, and directly laid the groundwork for the demise of the Ming Dynasty
The struggle between the Cabinet and the Superintendent of Ceremonies was predestined from the moment of their birth, after all, the Purpose of the Prinzinglor was to balance the Cabinet, and as long as one of the two did not completely fall, the struggle would never cease. But perhaps even the Ming emperors themselves did not expect that the struggle between the two institutions would eventually turn into a disaster for the entire Ming Dynasty.
The battle between the Cabinet and the Si Li Supervisor is too long to be described at all, but the connotation of this kind of struggle can be understood through the confrontation between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty.
The confrontation between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party actually originated from the Donglin Party, which began to rise as early as the Wanli Period, and by the end of the Wanli Dynasty, the Donglin Party had become a force. However, the Donglin Party is a group that is different from the general political group. They are extremely religious that "if they are not of our race, their hearts will be different", and they treat all non-Donglin Party members, even neutral people, with all their might.
East Forest Party
Logically, this completely unpolitical attitude should have caused them to fall apart, but in that special era, the Donglin Party, which held the weapon of public opinion, had always firmly occupied the dominant position and suppressed other political parties. The cabinet at that time also became a representative of the Donglin Party to a large extent.
However, the Donglin Party's style of behavior was too obedient after all, so that the Emperor of the Apocalypse, as the ruler, could not look at it anymore. As a result, the Si Li Supervisor, represented by Wei Zhongxian, rose again and became the vanguard of the resistance to the Donglin Party.
Although this struggle was clearly a confrontation between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party, at the political level, it was actually a confrontation between the cabinet and the celebrant.
In this confrontation, the two sides participating in the war have one thing in common, that is, to strike at each other at all costs, no matter what means, no matter what the consequences, as long as they can hit each other, it is worth advocating. By the end of the struggle, the two sides had gone to great lengths, taking the overall situation of the world as a chessboard, disregarding the interests of the country, and acting arbitrarily, bringing huge losses to the entire Ming Dynasty.
However, such vicious confrontations continued to occur for more than a hundred years before the Ming Dynasty, and the consequences were extremely bad, and many of them even stood shoulder to shoulder with this confrontation.
Objectively speaking, although the parallel administrative system of the cabinet and the superintendent of ceremonies has effectively consolidated the centralization of power. But the Ming emperors failed to properly understand the harm caused by their confrontation. In this regard, it is not only the cabinet and the superintendent of ceremonies, but also the emperor who bears the main responsibility.
bibliography:
History of the Ming Dynasty
The History of Rulin
"Imperial Ancestral Training"
Records of Ming Taizu