So this regular court meeting ended hastily.
Even after the ministers exited the Meridian Gate, they still felt that their minds were a little hard to turn around.
Let’s sort out what happened to Chang Chao this time.
1. If Lord Tianguan has the title of Crown Prince and Taibao, he can receive an extra salary, yeah!
Second, the two elders in the cabinet have been promoted, two ranks at a time, and there may be a few more colleagues in the future, yeah!
Three, a certain pretty boy got promoted to six levels in a row... Bah!
Say it in a positive way.
When the new emperor went to court for the first time, he had a whim and wanted to overthrow the ancestral system.
In the end, under the desperate remonstrance of a group of righteous elders, Cong Ruliu gave up his original incorrect idea and was pulled back to the right path by the officials.
During this process, Xiang, a reliable official with outstanding appearance and equally outstanding abilities, was promoted beyond his level.
At the same time, this time the Chang Dynasty pointed out the important contributions the cabinet had made to the country, recognized the cabinet's important position in the court, and further clarified the cabinet's institutional status in the court.
During this regular dynasty, the rationality of the monarch-minister discussion system was once again put into practice, which enhanced the mutual understanding between the courtiers and the new emperor, and further strengthened the courtiers' determination to hope that the emperor would rule from the ground up.
This Chang Dynasty was a friendly, peaceful, win-win situation for all parties, of great significance to the court, and a successful Chang Dynasty... What a ghost!
Any official with a little bit of political vision will not fail to see that Chang Chao is not simply promoting a few people this time.
It seems that everyone is happy, but in fact, it is no exaggeration to say that it is thrilling.
The reason for this lies in the cabinet!
The cabinet's status in the imperial court has always been equivalent to being lower than the six ministries, and its number of positions is uncertain.
If I hadn't delegated voting power to the cabinet after I ascended the throne, I'm afraid my status would be even lower than that of other monasteries.
But the emperor's move immediately put the cabinet on the same level as the six ministries.
Cabinet ministers are all given the title of Minister of the Six Ministries, which means that at least in terms of rank, all ministers who join the cabinet must have the qualifications to serve as ministers of the Six Ministries.
In other words, the emperor's move set a hurdle for the cabinet.
If you want to join the cabinet, you must be at least an official with the rank of deputy minister or above.
The threshold for joining the cabinet has been raised, and the status of the cabinet has naturally increased.
What's more important is that although the emperor had his say and all the ministers in the cabinet were ministers, he appointed the so-called bachelor of Huagaidian as the chief minister.
This is a little complicated to understand. To put it simply, the status of the assistant ministers is the same. There is no distinction between superiors and subordinates, but they are divided into primary and secondary.
And with the distinction of priority, groups will naturally form.
The cabinet is limited to six people, that is, six senior officials who have been promoted from serving ministers.
Even if they only have the fictitious title of Minister and no actual duties, their combined influence can be astonishing.
As the first assistant, the Grand Bachelor of Huagaidian, if he can really integrate this force, I am afraid that the current structure of the Seven Ministers will become the Eight Ministers.
This is a major event that affects the entire court structure, and the bosses are naturally all affected by the news.
That night, business suddenly picked up in restaurants and brothels across the capital...
On the other end, in the Qianqing Palace.
Zhu Qiyu was also thinking about today's court meeting.
In fact, he originally did not want to put cabinet matters on the agenda at this time.
It's just that the opportunity and fate met, so I just followed the trend.
With the vision of the next hundred years, Zhu Qiyu has a clear understanding of the role and harm of the cabinet.
Emperor Taizu abolished Zhongshu, dismissed the prime minister, and returned power to the six ministries. In essence, he completely took back the decision-making power.
In the next hundred years, although civil servants often clamored that so-and-so was the real prime minister, in fact they were all exaggerations.
Including today's meeting, the same is true.
You must know that before the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister's most important, core, and iconic power was to make decisions on behalf of the emperor.
Except for military affairs, most affairs can be directly executed after the prime minister has agreed upon them.
Even in certain emergencies, the prime minister can directly make decisions on military and state affairs.
This is the essential difference between the cabinet and the prime minister.
In the Ming Dynasty, neither the cabinet nor the six ministries had decision-making power.
As the saying goes, there is no big or small thing, please listen to the Holy Spirit.
According to the Ming Dynasty's regulations, government affairs in the imperial court, ranging from major military affairs to minor review and judgment results in criminal cases, must be reported to the emperor and can only be implemented after approval.
The memorials in each department are only suggestions.
In other words, as long as the emperor neglects his duties, the court will fall into a state of complete paralysis.
This is also the reason why the Secretary of Ceremony came into being later, but even with the Secretary of Ceremony there, there were still many urgent matters that the Secretary of Ceremony could not decide.
For example, Emperor Wanli has not been in court for more than 20 years. Even though there is a cabinet and a ceremonial supervisor, the state institutions are almost in a state of semi-standstill.
Completely returning decision-making power to the emperor will inevitably cause all the pressure to fall on the emperor alone.
After all, all government affairs of the imperial court depend on him to decide.
That’s what the cabinet is for!
Prime ministers before the Ming Dynasty were particular about not counting prefectures and counties, and not planning Taiwan provinces.
Ming actually has this practice.
But what Ming Dynasty paid attention to was not to list states and counties, and not to draw up six divisions.
As for the cabinet, there is no such emphasis.
Without the experience of a local governor, it is absolutely impossible to become a minister among the six bureaus. The highest level can only be a minister, but you can join the cabinet.
The reason is.
The role of the cabinet is not to deal with specific government affairs. After all, voting is not decision-making.
The real purpose of the cabinet is to mediate the conflicts between the emperor and the foreign dynasties.
Specific government affairs handling plans are monitored step by step by the ministers who are down-to-earth and step-by-step from the local level, so no big mistakes can be made.
Therefore, the cabinet needs more politicians who are well-rounded and considerate in handling affairs. This is why the cabinet mostly selects officials from the Imperial Academy.
Since you want to reconcile the internal and external affairs, you must first get close to the emperor. Hanlin was born to be a servant, and he had an unparalleled advantage in this regard.
Secondly, the imperial court basically held a scientific examination every three years, and selected first-class and some second-class scholars, about ten to fifteen people, to enter the Hanlin Academy as common people.
After three years of observing politics, those who failed were directly transferred to the prefectures and counties, and those who passed the examination were taught as editors. After another three years, they were admitted to the ministries and colleges to manage politics, most of them starting as doctors or censors.
This time, he worked his way up step by step, and eventually became one of the six ministers. In this process, he usually would not be in one department, but would be transferred among multiple departments.
Only when each department performs relatively well will it be promoted to the cabinet and become a formal cabinet minister.
This is a brutal screening process.
Especially after being transferred to the ministry, they not only have to compete with their own Hanlin contemporaries, but also with officials who have been promoted from local areas.
Compared with these officials, they have no experience in local governance, so they can only keep learning and use their own strategies and techniques to make progress.
In this process, it is necessary to establish good relations with foreign countries, build up reputation, and win over influence.
Once you make one or two mistakes, you will be brutally eliminated and sent to the state or county to be a political official, and you will never have the chance to join the cabinet.
Only through such repeated screening can we select cabinet ministers who can truly reconcile internal and external affairs, and naturally all of them will stand out.
But there is a huge disadvantage in doing so: party strife!
This chapter has been completed!