The cabinet is located in the southeast corner of the palace city, entering from Donghua Gate. To the north is the Wenhua Hall, and to the south is a row of verandas where the cabinet is located.
The cabinet of the Ming Dynasty was first established during the reign of Emperor Taizong Wen.
Emperor Taizu abolished the prime minister, dismissed the Zhongshu Province, weakened the General Administration Department, and formed a political system in which the emperor directly controlled six ministries. This certainly strengthened the imperial power unprecedentedly, but the price was that all government affairs of the court were placed on the emperor alone.
on people.
Emperor Taizu conquered the world in the south and north, and he was full of energy, so he could naturally cope with it.
But by the time of Emperor Taizong, this was no longer possible.
This is not to say that Emperor Taizong was not as energetic as Emperor Taizu, but because Emperor Taizong obtained the throne due to a difficult situation. Although the government and the public did not dare to say anything, in the end, he was not in the right position. He needed to prove to the world with his great achievements that he
An old man is the most suitable person to sit on this throne.
This resulted in Emperor Taizong not being able to spend all his energy on handling government affairs. He needed to allocate a considerable part of his energy to managing the borders.
It was against this background that the Cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies were born.
According to the convention of the court, the six ministries and various temple supervisors and other administrative agencies are called the outer court, and the twenty-four supervisors, including the ceremonial supervisors in charge of the eunuchs, are called the inner court.
The cabinet is located between the outer court and the inner court, and plays the role of coordinating the internal and external affairs and handling all matters confidential.
But that was the power that the cabinet in the late Ming Dynasty only had.
Emperor Taizong was also an emperor with a strong desire for control. Although he established a cabinet, it was mostly for consultation purposes. At the same time, he also gave Hanlin Academy students an opportunity to observe and participate in politics.
It sounds incredible, but one of the original purposes of the cabinet was to allow Hanlin Academy students to participate in political affairs.
This is also the key to the inseparability of the cabinet and the Hanlin Academy in the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Taizu was very strict with officials, but he treated scholars very favorably. As the highest institution for scholars, the Hanlin Academy, since its inception, has been a place for civil servants to raise their reputations. To put it more bluntly, it is the reserve army of civil servants.
You must know that the Ming Dynasty selected scholars through the imperial examination. All the scholars who passed the examination were those who had studied hard for ten years. They had sufficient mental perseverance, but the biggest shortcoming was that they had not really participated in political affairs.
The Hanlin Academy was the place where these new scholars used to observe government affairs, but after all, the Hanlin Academy was a place of purity, and the authority it held was limited to compiling history, writing and writing, and making imperial edicts. It was difficult to truly participate in the affairs of the government.
So Emperor Taizong set up a cabinet, selecting outstanding people from the Hanlin Academy and appointing them to the direct cabinet, where they could foresee the affairs of the government, reduce the pressure on the emperor, and at the same time exercise his ability to participate in government affairs.
Therefore, the tradition of the cabinet is that cabinet ministers come from the Imperial Academy. This is also the prototype of the late Ming Dynasty in which non-Hanlin officials were not allowed to enter the cabinet.
By the time of the late emperor, the world had been at peace for a long time. Although the late emperor was wise and decisive, he did not live a hard life like Emperor Taizu, nor did he conquer the world through hundreds of battles like Emperor Taizong, so his temperament inevitably tended to be easy-going.
Therefore, in order to reduce the pressure on himself in handling government affairs and further enhance the status of the cabinet, the late emperor first incorporated the Zhongshu Department, which was responsible for copying memorials and cataloging ancient books, into the cabinet and made it a subordinate agency of the cabinet. He also established imperial offices and offices around the cabinet.
The imperial edict room assigned the power of the Hanlin Academy to record imperial edicts to the cabinet. At the same time, whenever there was a major policy, the cabinet bachelors must be summoned to discuss it, so that the cabinet's status in the court gradually increased.
What really brought the cabinet to the limelight was the "Three Yang" period.
After the death of the late emperor, because he was young and weak, he ordered the Empress Dowager Zhang to listen to the government from behind the curtain. At the same time, he ordered five cabinet ministers, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, British Duke Zhang Fu, and Minister of Rites Hu Yi, to assist in the government.
As the most trusted figure by the late emperor, San Yang, with the support of the Empress Dowager Zhang, became the entire core of the government at that time.
Not only did he exercise the right to vote in the name of the cabinet, but he also basically fixed the cabinet system.
Before Sanyang, there were two basic sources of cabinet members. One was a concurrent Hanlin bachelor, and the other was a minister with Hanlin experience, but they were all for consultation.
All cabinet ministers, including Hanlin bachelors, will not give up their duties and will still be in charge of their own yamen.
By the time of San Yang, San Yang held the title of Three Masters and Three Dukes in the name of Assistant Minister. Although he still served as a Hanlin bachelor, he had already focused on the cabinet.
As a result, in the seventh year of Zhengtong, the Hanlin Academy moved to a new residence. When it was completed, there was no place for Sanyang on the main throne. Qian Xili, the then head of the Hanlin Academy, even said confidently: "This is not the San Gong's Mansion."
Although in the end their seats were restored with Sanyang's insistence, this incident was enough to show that in the minds of the courtiers at that time, the cabinet was no longer just a subsidiary mission of the Hanlin Academy, but an independent institution.
It was the custom of the imperial court that one official could not hold two appointments, which meant that one official could not be in charge of two yamen at the same time. Since Sanyang was in charge of the cabinet, even if he was also a Hanlin bachelor, it could only be a false title rather than an actual position.
At that time, it should be regarded as the early Ming Dynasty, when the power of the cabinet was at its peak.
However, even within the civil servants, there will still be factional struggles. After all, the cabinet design is not specified in writing and relies more on the authority of Sanyang, the auxiliary minister.
Therefore, as soon as San Yang died, the Six Ministries regained the leadership of the government. At the same time, the young emperor gradually grew up, and with great ambition and hard work in governing, the voting power of the cabinet was also greatly weakened, and the power of consultation was restored.
The status and power of the cabinet have also fallen into low ebb again.
But even so, and the power of the cabinet to draft edicts, were still retained.
More importantly, although at this time, due to the lack of power in the cabinet, the tradition of concurrent Hanlin bachelors was restored, the cabinet was still regarded as an independent institution, and the cabinet minister who ranked first in the cabinet was still not allowed to take charge of other yamen.
Before the Civil War, there were five ministers in the cabinet, namely Cao Nai, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, Miao Zhong, the minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, Chen Xun, the minister of the Ministry of Hubu and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, Gao Gu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.
Study at Zhang Yi.
During the emperor's personal expedition, he took away Cao Nai, who ranked first, and Zhang Yi, who ranked last. Both of them died in the disaster.
Therefore, there are only three people left in the cabinet now. Cao Nai and second-ranked Miao Zhong naturally rank first in the cabinet. However, his old man is frail and sick. He has been raised in the palace for the past few months. It is estimated that he will be begging for his body soon.
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Therefore, the real decision-makers in the cabinet now are Chen Xun and Gao Gu.
The Cabinet and the Wenhua Hall are distantly opposite.
After the two had lunch, they stood in the corridor and looked at the court officials coming and going from the Jiyi Palace. They happened to see Yu Qian and Chen Yi coming out hand in hand.
After a while, Gao Gu said: "In this day, I must have met at least seven or eight of the ministers, civil and military officials, and Prince Tan..."
"It should be true. On the first day of the general administration, King Tan was so diligent in his work. It is a blessing to the country..."
Chen Xun spoke, but his tone was incomprehensible, and Gao Gu did not answer.
After a while, Chen Xun asked: "Shi Yong, according to your opinion, what is the meaning of King Tan's order today?"
Shi Yong was Gao Gu's surname. Chen Xun and Gao Gu were both Hanlin graduates. They were about the same age, so they called each other by their surnames in private.
Early this morning, the two of them were summoned to the palace, and under the order of the Queen Mother, they drafted an edict to establish the crown prince.
I thought that this matter would make King Xi dissatisfied, but they didn't expect that after waiting and waiting, Jin Ying came to deliver the order and resumed the power of voting in the cabinet.
Although King Yin made it clear that this was an expedient measure in a special period, neither Chen Xun nor Gao Gu were people who were well versed in the affairs of the dynasty, so how could they not understand the meaning of this.
Everything in the court begins with expedient measures. It was an expedient measure at the time of Sanyang, and it is an expedient measure now.
If you do this twice more, it may become a system...
Gao Gu shook his head, hesitating a little, and said: "I can't tell what Prince Tan is thinking. Eunuch Jin said that it was because the situation was critical and the affairs of the court were complicated. Prince Tan was planning for the overall situation, so..."
"Do you believe this?"
Before he finished speaking, Chen Xun sneered and said.
This chapter has been completed!