The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, because they were the last two feudal dynasties in China, and because they were relatively close to us, they were often compared, and since there was a comparison, there would naturally be controversy.
There is a clear difference between the two dynasties, that is, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty can't feel anything except the first two, and there are only a few particularly absurd ones.
And the emperors of the Qing Dynasty seem to be very powerful, except for the last one or two, I feel that the overall quality of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty is higher than that of the Ming Dynasty, so why is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty so peaceful, but the Ming Dynasty can exist for nearly three hundred years?
To understand this problem, it is necessary to understand what role the emperor played in ancient politics, and two concepts are introduced here, one is called the emperor's personal power, and the other is called the imperial power as a system, these two powers are not the same, and the Ming Dynasty belongs to the era of very strong institutional imperial power.
The root of all this can be traced back to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang was a bitter origin, and after he became emperor, he thought about how to firmly grasp the power in his own hands.
For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to abolish the beggar system, but in the end, Zhu Yuanzhang was also a mortal, not a god, and it was impossible to handle all things, so as an emperor, there must be obedient people working under his hands, and these people are bureaucratic groups.
The bureaucracy and the emperor together constituted the governance model of the empire, and in Zhu Yuanzhang, the responsibility and power as the emperor's individual and the institutional power as the imperial power were perfectly combined, making the Ming Dynasty quickly move towards strength.
But many of the later powers, in fact, these two powers are essentially separate, as the emperor's personal power is greatly limited, but as an institutional imperial power, it has always been firmly in control of the empire.
What is personal power, refers to the degree of your arbitrariness, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty seems to be powerful, but it is not completely arbitrary, such as the Zhengde Emperor to come up with a Beijing city is difficult, the Wanli Emperor wants to set up his favorite son can not.
The bureaucracy is limiting the power of the emperor personally, but the institutional imperial power has reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty, for example, the Ming Dynasty has eunuchs, no matter how arrogant you are, as long as the two-foot-wide strip in the palace comes out, you can declare your death.
This is incomparable with the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty dared to depose the emperor, this is where the Ming Dynasty system is stronger than the imperial power, even if the emperor himself does nothing, as long as he is still the emperor, he can decide.
It is said that the first auxiliary of the Ming Dynasty has great power, but in essence, the first auxiliary is only a secretary, there is no power, the power of the first auxiliary is still from the imperial power, want Jiajing and Wanli, who are not in the dynasty for many years, the operation of the bureaucracy itself is enough to ensure the operation of the country, but the holy will is still not less, all the orders are issued by the emperor, no matter who is behind the writing, but everyone recognizes that this is the emperor's order.
The Ming Dynasty did produce many very lazy emperors, but the imperial court was still able to operate, because of this system itself, there was no need for the emperor himself to do anything, and the emperor did nothing, which was the most ideal mode of rule for Confucianism.
But the imperial power must be, and it must be strong, otherwise there will be usurpation of the throne by powerful subjects or even chaos in the world, and the System of the Ming Dynasty guarantees that the institutional imperial power is incomparably strong, on this basis, even if the emperor does nothing, the state still operates, because there is a bureaucratic group behind it to deal with affairs.
The bureaucracy is very suitable for daily administration, the first two generations of monarchs before the founding of the country were brilliant, set up a platform to set up a system, and wait until the emperors in the back are in step, even if the emperor likes to hide and do nothing, after the Ming Dynasty has no chancellor, it is impossible to appear Cao Cao.
Although it may seem mediocre, a good institutional design is enough to allow the Ming Dynasty to function well without an emperor, not to mention that there is no emperor, not no imperial power.