preface:
In the sixteenth year of Zhengde, that is, in 1521 AD, the then 15-year-old "Zhu Houxi" ascended the throne as the king of the domain as emperor, which was for Ming Shizong, but at this time, the Ming court, with the continuous maturity of the cabinet system, the "cabinet" and "si li supervisor" under the imperial power were also more and more powerful, and even had implicitly restricted the imperial power. Obviously, this is not good news. However, Emperor Ming shizong did not take the usual path, and after rectifying the power of eunuchs, he still chose to continue to improve the cabinet and enhance the power of the cabinet, and as a result, whoever thought it, instead realized the control of the "cabinet" and satisfied the purpose of consolidating the imperial power.
Portrait of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang
And the source of all this must start from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor of the Ming Dynasty, "abolished Zhongshu Province and abolished officials such as The Minister of Finance" during the Ming Hongwu period. - "Ming Shi Honki 2, Taizu II"
Previously, due to the gradual power and arrogance of the chancellor Hu Weiyong, which seriously threatened the process of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's implementation of the absolute monarchical centralized system, in 1380 AD, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu Weiyong and his henchmen in the name of arbitrariness and misconduct, and abolished the institutions and official positions of Zhongshu Province and Xiang Xiang.
The "cabinet" that assisted the emperor in handling political affairs was born, but the original cabinet, at best, could only be regarded as a writer responsible for writing, responsible for sorting the emperor's wishes into documents and then delegating them to various organs, and there was no real power, and the core of power was still firmly controlled in the hands of the emperor.
Portrait illustration of Yang Shiqi
<h1>The gradual expansion of the cabinet and the power of the superintendent</h1>
However, with the passage of time, after the Xuande period, due to the heavy use of "Yang Shiqi" and other cabinet ministers by Emperor Xuanzong, the cabinet was also able to participate in the approval of the song chapter. Although the officials Jianyi and Hubu Natsuhara were summoned to see each other, they had to advance the affairs of each ministry, but Xikuo was no match for Shiqi and other relatives. Since the cabinet's power has become heavier and heavier," the power of the cabinet has gradually expanded. - "Ming Shi Zhi 48 Gong Guan I"
The "right to draft votes" of the Ming Cabinet also emerged, that is, the Cabinet scholars read the chapter, and then formulated their solutions into documents, and then submitted to the emperor for "approval of Zhu" decisions.
At the same time, in order to further reduce the emperor's burden, the "Si Li Supervisor Bingbi Eunuch" who "played the documents with the palm of the pen and the hall with the hall and approved the gong ticket" also came into being, except for some particularly important chapters handed over to the emperor for personal approval, the rest were basically "approved" by the eunuch Bingbi of the si li supervisor Bingbi. - "Ming Shi Zhi 50th Official III"
In this way, a process of "approving the recital" was gradually formed in which the cabinet drew up a vote and then submitted it to the "Si Li Supervisor" for screening, and then the Si Li Supervisor eunuch chose its weight and submitted it to the emperor, in other words, by this time, the imperial power of the Ming Court had gradually begun to differentiate.
Illustration of ming dynasty eunuch stills
<h1>The Cabinet and the Superintendent of Ceremonies exercised checks on imperial power</h1>
After all, as far as the political situation at that time was concerned, although the pressure on the emperor was reduced, didn't it mean that most of the political instructions issued by the emperor were actually from the hands of the eunuch Bingbi, the superintendent of ceremonies? And the solution to the sonata is also from the cabinet?
The expansion of cabinet power is far more than that, and its subtle impact on the will of the imperial power is the greatest.
It's like "Jian Zhizhi will not work in the end, the first chapter begs the skeleton, Li Dongyang and Xie Qianzhi succeed, and the emperor will not allow it." In terms of deliberations, as Jian et al., the emperor was subordinate", which means that during the reign of Emperor Mingwuzong, the power of these cabinet scholars had reached a level that could affect the will of the imperial power. - "Ming Shi Vol. 181 Liu Jian Biography"
Illustration of a portrait of Emperor Ming Shizong Zhu Houxi
This also means that by the time Emperor Ming ascended the throne and became emperor, the power and status of the Ming cabinet and eunuchs had been unprecedentedly improved, and the cabinet's "voting power" was even enough to affect the will of the imperial power, and the eunuch Bingbi, the superintendent of ceremonies, was also able to take the opportunity to divide the power of the emperor.
Moreover, because the celebrant also has the right to submit the votes to the emperor "choose their weight", as the name suggests, if the emperor does not take the initiative to pay attention, then the eunuch bingbi has every opportunity to secretly withhold those important bills and then dispose of them according to his own wishes, and its impact on the imperial power can be seen.
It seems that there is a hidden restriction on the imperial power, resulting in the fall of the imperial power, which seriously threatens the stability of the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, since Emperor Ming ascended the throne and became emperor, the first thing he thought about was of course how to rectify the excessive power of eunuchs and cabinets.
Illustrations of eunuchs and cabinet officials in ming court halls
<h1>Emperor Mingshizong reorganized the eunuchs</h1>
However, the eunuchs are still good to say, after all, the power they have is given by the emperor, and their responsibility can only be a process between the cabinet and the imperial power, if their power is withdrawn, the impact on the ruling system will not be very large, it is nothing more than the emperor is tired and needs to personally deal with more political affairs.
Ming Shizong obviously understood this, "after taking the throne, the imperial attendants were very strict, and they were guilty of tarts to death, or chen corpses were warned", and soon after he ascended the throne, he began to rectify the eunuch forces, which dealt a great blow to the "eunuchs" forces, so that "Zhang Zuo, Bao Zhong, Mai Fu, and Huang Jinjie, although the old people of Xingdi were in charge of the ceremonial supervision and supervising the East Factory, they all did not dare to make a big fuss." ---Ming Shi Liechuan 192 Eunuch I
Yes, not only the "Si Li Supervisor", including the "East Factory" and other eunuch forces, were also included in the scope of Ming Shizong's rectification, but as long as he was a eunuch, then he had to obediently keep to himself, scrupulously abide by his duties, and do his own things well, and once he crossed the line, he would be severely punished.
And the eunuch himself has no roots and no queen, it can be said that almost all power and even the life of the family belong to the emperor, if there is no support from the emperor, the end is self-evident. Therefore, Ming Shizong's "strict control of officials" rectification method is actually a more appropriate approach.
First, it can deter eunuchs so that they dare not bend the law for personal gain.
Second, it can also further reduce the phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in the government.
Subsequently, "the emperor also withdrew the eunuchs who guarded the inner ministers and the dianjing camp warehouses in the world, and did not set them up for more than forty years", and Emperor Mingshizong also withdrew the eunuchs who guarded the towns in various regions before he ascended the throne, further weakening the eunuchs' power. - "Ming Shi Liechuan 192 Eunuch I"
"Therefore, the power of internal subjects, only sejong dynasty killed less clouds", thus making the eunuchs who frequently appeared before Emperor Ming's ascension to the throne have almost no power during the reign of Emperor Ming. - "Ming Shi Liechuan 192 Eunuch I"
Portrait of a Cabinet Official of the Ming Dynasty
<h1>Emperor Mingshizong promoted the "cabinet" powers</h1>
But the cabinet is different, after all, in the feudal period, if a feudal ruler wants to govern the country well, it is bound to use the bureaucratic class as a medium for governing the people; and the feedback of the people needs to be reported step by step through the bureaucratic class, and finally submitted to the ruling class.
At this time, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly equivalent to the last layer of the Ming Dynasty's political system that gathers feedback from the people, and then through the votes drawn up by the cabinet, it can finally be handed over to the hands of the ruler.
Therefore, if we really cut off the functions of the cabinet in a hurry, or even abolish the cabinet, in the face of a large number of political affairs that urgently need to be handled, everyone shows that Sejong can be busy? Not to mention that the reign of Emperor Ming was also a period of many wars, such as the "Wokou Rebellion" in the southern coastal areas, and the invasion of the "Tatar tribes" in the northern frontier areas.
Therefore, the rectification of the "cabinet" is bound to not be rectified like the rectification of the "eunuchs", otherwise it will be no different from "killing chickens and taking eggs", which is very likely to lead to the contradiction between the imperial power and the bureaucratic class intensifying in an instant, which will lead to the collapse of the entire ruling system.
Myeongsejong also knew that the rectification of the "cabinet" could not play cards according to the usual routine, so after some consideration, he did not directly weaken the power of the cabinet, but chose to further improve the cabinet and gradually strengthen the power of the cabinet.
Illustration of the portrait of the Cabinet University Scholar "Zhang Xuan"
For example, in the sixth year of Jiajing, that is, in 1527 AD, the cabinet scholar "Zhang Xuan" appealed to Emperor Mingshizong: "If the emperor wants to declare morality, he will start from the near future." ...... The current cabinet chooses its own people, and it is the responsibility to choose the nine secretaries...", as the name suggests, is to let the "cabinet" have the authority to select the "nine secretaries" officials, which is obviously very different from the original intention of the establishment, isn't it? After all, the cabinet was originally only an institution responsible for assisting the emperor in handling political affairs. - "Ming Shilu, Ming Shizong Shilu, Volume 81"
And these "nine secretaries" also represent not ordinary officials, but the main responsible persons of the six ministries of officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, criminals, and workers, as well as the "core political institutions" such as the Imperial History, the Secretary of The Dali Temple, and the Department of Communications and Politics.
However, "Zhang Xuan", a seemingly unreasonable and even suspected "cabinet unauthorized power" proposal, Ming Shizong not only agreed, but by the middle of Sejong, there was a situation in which "Xia Yan and Yan Song used things to make things happen, so they became the real prime minister and suppressed the six secretaries", which established the position of the cabinet in the political system of the Ming Dynasty. - "Ming Shi Zhi 48 Gong Guan I"
Let's go back to "Zhang Xuan", with the heavy use of "Zhang Xuan" by Ming Shizong, in the later days, there was even a phenomenon of "fu respecting the cabinet, taking dictatorship in matters, and not daring to comment on it", that is to say, "Zhang Xuan" also became the actual ruler of the Ming Cabinet like the later Xia Yan and Yan Song, and it is not an exaggeration to even say that he already has the ability to use power.
<h1>The mind of Myeongseong</h1>
However, I believe that it is not difficult for everyone to see from above that although Ming Shizong has enhanced the power of the cabinet, so that the cabinet has been further improved, the power has become more and more huge, and even has surpassed other political institutions, but in fact, in the end, these powers given by Ming Shizong are disguised in the hands of "Zhang Xuan", or the hands of the "first assistant to the cabinet" formally established during the Ming Dynasty.
Doesn't that mean that everything is back to square one? What is the difference between this cabinet chief and the official position of "minister of state" abolished by Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor?
Yes, it is indeed very similar, but in this way, it is equivalent to The Ming Dynasty ranking the "Cabinet University Scholars" who were originally of relatively equal status, so that he only needs to control the "Cabinet Chief" alone. And this is the ultimate goal of the Ming Dynasty.
After all, no matter what, it is easier to control one person than to control several people, right?
As for the selection of the first assistant officials of this cabinet, Ming Shizong is not randomly selected, and we also take "Zhang Xuan", in fact, as early as the first three years of Ming Shizong's ascension to the throne as the empress, he has secretly begun to evaluate which official is worthy of his trust and reuse.
"The Great Ceremonial Controversy" illustrates still illustrations
Just like the "Great Ceremonial Controversy" in the early days of Ming Shizong's ascension to the throne, which began in 1521 AD and ended until 1524 AD, on the surface it was Ming Shizong's rightful name for his parents, it was a dispute between the ceremonial form of "succession" and "succession", but in fact it also contained the mind of Ming Shizong to select officials from it.
The first assistant of the cabinet, "Zhang Xuan", was the lucky one that Ming Shizong finally chose, because in the process of this "great ceremonial dispute", "Zhang Xuan" has always been on the side of Ming Shizong, speaking completely according to Ming Shizong's ideas, "Is there a country without parents in the world!" When the courtiers established the Qing Dynasty, they were indignant and bitter, and had to discern things for the emperor", it was obvious that he supported Ming Shizong's "posthumous honoration of Emperor Xingxian as Emperor Gongmuxian of Bunsen". - "The First Estrangement of the Ceremony"
In this way, Myeongsejong's motivation for promoting cabinet power also makes sense.
That is to say, through the gradual improvement of the cabinet step by step, the power of the cabinet is enhanced, so that it gradually has the power to suppress other political organs, and then step by step, the cabinet gradually hands over all the power of the cabinet to the hands of the "Zhang Xuan" who is loyal to himself, and finally controls the "Zhang Xuan" himself, will he not indirectly take the cabinet power back to his own hands?
In fact, the ultimate goal of Ming Shizong to rectify the cabinet and consolidate the imperial power was achieved, but it only adopted a relatively mild method of "boiling frogs in warm water", although the process was troublesome and cumbersome, and the time was longer, but there was no doubt that it had a very positive significance in preventing the intensification of contradictions between the ruling class and the bureaucratic class.
Illustration of a portrait of Emperor Myeongseong
<h1>Conclusion</h1>
As the "History of Ming" commented on Ming Shizong, "At the beginning of Sejong's reign, he tried to eliminate all maladministrations, and the world was ruled by the emperor." ...... To be the Lord of medium materials is also the same. ”
It was also this reform of Emperor Ming Shizong that once again restored the vitality of the Ming Dynasty ruling class, which was already sidelined by imperial power, and laid a solid foundation for the emergence of the later "Jiajing Zhongxing" prosperous scene.
【end】