What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In the Ming Dynasty, from the Yongle period when the cabinet was first established, until the Hongzhi period, there was no formal transfer between the six Shangshu and it. This opposition was already evident in the early days of the Cabinet.
In the second year of Yongle (1404), when the spring of December was established, Chengzu Zhu Di gave feasts to the courtiers at the Fengtian Temple, and as usual rewarded the six Shangshu and the attendants with a golden weaving of Wenqi, and at the same time " specially gave the Hanlin scholar Xie Jin, served Huang Huai and Hu (Guang), and served Yang Rong, Yang Shiqi, and Jin Youziyi, the same as the Shangshu", and pointed out very clearly: "Yu Qing and other non-partial thickness, endorsement division, confidential residence, the six Qing people are around the corner, industrious and beneficial, not under the Shang Shu." Therefore, yu Zhi must ask for his merits, and he must be judged by his rank. He also stressed: "In the preliminary system of the Imperial Examination, the rank of the Chief Hanlin is the same as that of Shangshu, and the Secretary of State is the same, but he is dedicated to his duties." Although the cabinet was still under the jurisdiction of the Hanlin Yuan in the early days of its establishment, and the cabinet ministers at that time also respected the official positions of the Hanlin Yuan, Zhu Di rewarded the cabinet ministers equally with the six Shangshu at this banquet, and clearly emphasized that although his official rank was only five products, his functions were not under the six Shangshu. This basically shows that Zhu Di's original intention in establishing the Imperial Pavilion University had the intention of weakening the status and office of the Six Shangshu, and laid the foundation for the relationship of mutual checks and balances between the two.
Of course, this serious mismatch between the position and power of the cabinet did not last long, and with the improvement of the cabinet's status, the Renxuan period began to form the practice of adding six false titles such as Shangshu or Shilang after the cabinet was added. For example, in the first month of Hong Xi's first year (1425), he was crowned "Huang Huai was a shaobao, Hubu Shangshu was still a scholar of Wuyingdian University, Jia Shaofu and Huagaidian University scholar Yang Shiqi Bingbu Shangshu, Prince Shaobao and Wuyingdian University scholar Jin Youzi Libu Shangshu, Jusan Feng and supported, still in charge of the internal system." Although this kind of canonization is "not an advance promotion", to a certain extent, it is also a violation of the authority of the six ministries. The Ming people also clearly pointed out that it was contrary to the will of the ancestors, "If you want to add to the six secretaries, why not respect its rank." Although this increase in title undermined the restrictions on the Cabinet, it obviously gave it the convenience of interfering in the affairs of the Six Ministries to a certain extent, and further strengthened the Cabinet's checks and balances on the Six Shangshu.
At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, the selection method was also obviously different from that of the officials of the six ministries, basically selected directly from the officials of the Hanlin Academy, and even some of the new sections and officials of the Hanlin Academy were selected to watch the government in the Cabinet as the preparatory for the cabinet ministers. There are two more explicit records in the "Ming Shilu", the first time was around the second year of Yongle (1404), when 28 of the new kejinshi and 28 of the Shujishi "entered the Wenyuan Pavilion to study", and finally when the three-year examination was completed, Peng Ruqi, Wang Zhi, Yu Ding, Yuying, Luo Rujing and others were able to stay in office. The second time was in August of the ninth year of Xuande (1434), "Ordered to write Ma Yu, Chen Yuan, Lin Zhen, and Cao Nai at the Hanlin Academy, lin Wengong, Zhongfu, Zhao Hui, Zhang Yi, the left commentator of Dali Temple, Tongshu Jisaqi, He Xuan, Zheng Jian, Jiang Yuan, Li Shao, Jiang Hong, Xu Juan, Lin Shu, Lai Shilong, Pan Hong, Yin Chang, Huang Zhen, Fang Xi, Xu Nanjie, Wu Jie, Ye Xi, Wang Yu, Liu Shi, Yu Ying, Zhao Zhi, Chen Jin, Wang Zhen, Jia Duan, Huang Huizu, Fu Gang, Xiao Wei, Chen Hui, Chen Rui, And 37 people, and studied at Wenyuan Pavilion." Wenyuan Pavilion is the place where cabinet ministers enter the cabinet to do things, and the essence of these two entrances was carried out by the cabinet to select successors, of which it is more clear that Wang Zhi had written edicts in the cabinet for a long time, and Ma Yu and Cao Nai entered the cabinet after Yang Shiqi and Yang Rongzhishi, which shows that the practice of the cabinet at that time was mainly based on the official position of the Hanlin Academy, which continued to be followed after the orthodoxy, "So during the orthodox years, Chen Xun, Gao Gu, Miao Zhen, Ma Yu, and Cao Nai entered as bachelors, and Zhang Yi, Peng Shi, and Shang Nai entered the cabinet as a scholar, and the old meaning can still be examined." This way of directly selecting from the "word minister" to enter the cabinet obviously attaches importance to the secretarial duties, "the people who enter the cabinet of the gai imperial court are all out of Hanlin, and the choice of hanlin is only a text, not a taste of its deeds." This is completely different from the selection of the six Shangshu to focus on administrative ability, and the six Shangshu in this period, such as He Wenyuan, Wang Ao, Li Bing, etc., have all been promoted to the post of Shangshu after being promoted from local officials such as prefects and push officials to the central government through local and central administrative experience.
One of the most typical representative figures is Wang Zhi, who once served as an official Shangshu, and his eunuch experience fully reflects the checks and balances between the cabinet and the six Shangshu. Wang Zhi (王直), a native of Taihe, Jiangxi, was a jinshi in the second year of Yongle (1404), and was awarded the title of Shu Jishi (庶吉士) and the "Shiwen Yuange(事文元阁)". 3 (P643) He should also be one of the first new recruits to be selected to study in the Cabinet since the establishment of the Cabinet. In the end, when the three-year examination was completed, Wang Zhi was able to continue to stay in the cabinet and "belong to the grass". Of course, strictly speaking, Wang Zhi was not a true cabinet minister, and without the name and reality of a scholar of the imperial court, he could only be regarded as an alternate for the cabinet minister. Wang Zhi's cabinet career lasted until about five years of orthodoxy (1440), and he entered the cabinet for more than 30 years, and he was highly respected in both literary style and ability. Moreover, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and other cabinet ministers were old in the orthodox era and were about to become a minister, and Wang Zhi had a hometown friendship with Yang Shiqi, and it was a matter of course to become a formal cabinet minister. However, Wang Zhi had a disagreement with Yang Shiqi at this time, Yang Shiqi's son Yang Ji was "violent at home, and the villagers were very bitter", Wang Zhi had reminded Yang Shiqi, but Yang Shiqi was deceived by his son, believing that "Wang Zhi (Wang Zhi) was jealous of his meritorious name and vainly said this", so he hated Wang Zhi and immediately expelled him from the cabinet.
After Wang Zhi left the cabinet, he served as a rebbe attendant, and was subsequently promoted to the post of official Shangshu in the eighth year of orthodoxy (1443), and served until the first year of Tianshun (1458). During his tenure, Yang Shiqi died of illness in the ninth year of orthodoxy (1444), and the status and prestige of the cabinet Ma Yu, Cao Nai, Chen Xun, Miao Zhen, Gao Gu and others could not be matched, and from the second year of Jingtai (1451), due to Wang Zhi's old age and physical decline, he Wenyuan and Wang Ao were successively appointed as officials Shangshu to assist in the management department. It can be said that all obstacles to Wang's direct entry into the cabinet have been basically removed. However, the actual situation is that Wang Zhi was still holding the post of shangshu at this time, which was roughly the same as the official Shangshu Jianyi of the Xuande period and the Hubu Shangshu Xia Yuanji to prepare for the ministry, that is, if the Ming officials "promoted Shangshu first, they would not have the order to enter the cabinet." In his later years, Wang Zhi also lamented this: "Xi Yang does not want to give to his colleagues' cabinet and give him the affairs of the ministry, and he cannot be without regrets when he is." Combined with Wang Zhi's eunuch experience, this regret is obviously related to the fact that the political system at that time blocked his way back to the cabinet while targeting Yang Shiqi.
In addition, the power of "voting" obtained by the cabinet in the orthodox period and the administrative power of the six Shangshu also have a strong check and balance, and the most incisive explanation for this is the high arch of the cabinet chief assistant and official Shangshu in the Longqing period. He mentions in the "Three Beggars Heavenly Grace Resignation and Resignation":
The affairs of our country are all subject to the subject line of the ministers, and the cabinet ministers intend to vote. Or if it is not appropriate, it will be corrected; Or if it is not appropriate, it will be mediated. Don't be afraid of similarities and differences, it is better to join the army. Therefore, there are too many things to be reasonable, and people do not dare to commit adultery, but the cabinet and the ministry cannot be mixed and one ... Chun Fang was dismissed from his post, and the subject was in the first place of the second assistant, if he still received the service, then he would do what he asked, he would vote from what he proposed, and the rebuttal would eventually be unsuccessful, which was to say that the water was used to save the water, who could eat it... The current cabinet is a heavy matter, and the officials are in and out of hundreds of officials, and all the powers are also placed. If a minister is the first to be a cabinet minister, but still holds the position of chief official Cao, is it not too important to exercise power? The power is too heavy, it is difficult for non-subjects to live, and the national system is not appropriate.
Gao Gong very clearly pointed out that the cabinet and the six ministries in the central power structure of the Ming Dynasty were complementary and mutually restrictive, which was the operation and restriction mechanism of the foreign court carefully designed after the abolition of the beggar system in the Ming Dynasty, if the two were in one place, the exercise of power was too heavy, which seriously threatened the stability of the imperial power and the stability of the state system. In addition, Jiao Fang in the Zhengde period also had this similar experience. At that time, Jiao Fang was put into the cabinet by the official Shangshu, but he wanted to continue to concurrently hold the post of shangshu of the official, "the cabinet is in a secret place, although it is related to the affairs of the machine, it is not allowed to advance and retreat from the power of the hundred officials, and it is also in charge of the ministry seal, and Shi Fang wants it", but the university scholar Li Dongyang and others pointed out that this matter undermined the state political system, "for Fang's advice, so Fang Nai pleaded."
Whether it is the original intention of the establishment, the way of election, or the position of the cabinet, it has formed a check and balance mechanism with the six ministries, especially the experience of the official Shangshu Wang Zhi, which clearly reveals that the Ming Dynasty's "Shangshu does not enter the cabinet" is a practice in the operation of the political system at that time. However, it cannot be denied that since Jingtai, officials from the Hanlin Academy have begun to enter the cabinet more often after experiencing foreign official positions, among which "since Tianshun, Chenghua, and Hongzhi, those who have been promoted to Shangshu by Shilang have been promoted to Shangshu into the cabinet by Shilang for a long time, and cannot be changed" because of the attack, such as Jiang Yuan, Li Xian, Wan An, Liu Xue, Liu Ji, Yin Zhi, etc. all moved into the cabinet as Shilang, and even Wang Wen, who entered the cabinet with the left capital of the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan. This change is obviously aimed at adjusting the cabinet's criteria for selecting talents based on "literary words", paying more attention to the combination of literary style and ability, and trying to avoid the situation of "not being able to be mistaken for the world". Although "those who have not been promoted to Shangshu have been in charge of the ministry and re-entered the cabinet", but from the Direct Entry of Hanlin Officials to the Experience of Waiters and Other Officials, the gap between the Six Shangshu and the officials before entering the Cabinet began to narrow sharply, which laid the foundation for the direct entry of the Six Shangshu into the Cabinet, and after Hongzhi and Zhengde, the practice of Shangshu not entering the Cabinet was completely destroyed. But even so, through Jiao Fang's experience and gao gong's omission, it can be seen that the understanding of the checks and balances between the cabinet and the six ministries still existed during the Zhengde to Longqing period, when the cabinet power was rapidly expanding and suppressing the six ministries.
However, from the hongzhi and zhengde periods onwards, the practice of not entering the cabinet of the six shangshu began to loosen, and the Wanli to Chongzhen dynasties were successively changed.