As the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen is still relatively well-known in history, but people's impressions of him are either stuck in his suicide and hanging himself at Jingshan, or he defeated Wei Zhongxian. What few people know is that in the seventeen years he was emperor, he changed 50 cabinet ministers, you know, before Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty also produced more than 100 cabinet ministers for more than 200 years. What is even more amazing is that his first generation of cabinet members actually made a decision by casting lots.
According to historical records, after Chongzhen succeeded Emperor Tianqi to take charge of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian still controlled the government, and the cabinet ministers at that time were all Wei Zhongxian's people. It should be known that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the cabinet has become an important center of state operation, and it can be said that the decisions of major and minor matters of the state are transmitted from here. And such an important place was actually full of Wei Zhongxian's people, Chongzhen was naturally not happy, he also wanted to eradicate Wei Zhongxian's forces. As a result, the reorganization of the cabinet was put on the agenda.
According to past practice, there are two methods for the selection of cabinet ministers: "will push" and "special simplicity". The so-called "hui tui" is led by the officials, together with many ministers to jointly select candidates for the emperor to choose and appoint, while "special Jane" is the emperor's direct selection of candidates. However, at that time, the Manchu Dynasty's wenwu were basically Wei Zhongxian's forces, and Chongzhen naturally would not be stupid enough to use the method of "pushing". But what no one expected was that the Chongzhen Emperor actually came up with a method of "casting lots". Yes, he was the emperor, and he was willing to do it. As a result, the 6 "lucky ones" selected by the captured cast replaced Wei Zhongxian's men and horses to form the first cabinet of the Chongzhen Emperor. Soon after, Wei Zhongxian's forces were purged by the Chongzhen Emperor's quick slash.
However, after all, it was produced by casting lots, and the first cabinet ministers were quickly replaced. In the years that followed, because of the suspicion of the Chongzhen Emperor, his cabinet members were also changed again and again, so that by the end of the Ming Dynasty in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, his cabinet members added up to 50 before and after. You know, before Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty had more than 100 cabinet ministers in more than 200 years. I have to make people sigh: "The iron Chongzhen, the flowing cabinet na."
The frequently changed cabinet and cabinet members in order to cater to Chongzhen and infighting between each other naturally led to chaos in the government, but also revealed the Chongzhen Emperor's suspicious character and inability to govern the country, naturally, in the case of internal and external troubles at that time, Chongzhen was powerless to return to heaven and became the king of the country.