As the number one hero appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Ximeng didn't have many surprises, as it seemed like it should be like this.
But now that he has thought of creating a country, Zhang Ximeng cannot rest easy. There are really a lot of things that need to be done at the moment... A country cannot be like water in Liangshan. A group of heroes and heroes have arranged their seats, and then the big brother, the second brother, and the big bowl
Drink wine and eat big chunks of meat.
It is not an easy task to build a complete national system.
How to design official positions and formulate rules for the operation of the country is a test of the wisdom of those in power.
Frankly speaking, there were many loopholes in the official system of the Ming Dynasty in history... But what is very interesting is that during the operation process, continuous patches were added, which can be regarded as plugging many loopholes.
This is related to Zhu Yuanzhang's abolition of Zhongshu Province.
Lao Zhu allowed loopholes to appear in the operation of the imperial court, and it was this loophole that gave future generations room to play and made the entire Ming Dynasty's official system unique.
I have to say, this is a beautiful mistake.
Zhang Ximeng sat in the study room, pondering for a long time in front of the vast sea of books. Then he began to spread out a piece of rice paper, and then began to outline the structure of the future country.
Zhang Ximeng adopted a tree diagram structure to present what he was thinking.
First of all, the core of the country must be the emperor. The emperor is the king of a country, speaks the constitution of heaven, and has supreme authority, decision-making, supervision, personnel, military affairs, etiquette... all belong to the emperor alone.
In order to assist the emperor, it was necessary to establish a Zhongshu Province, appoint a prime minister, assist the emperor, and command the officials.
In the Han Dynasty, the Prime Minister and the Three Dukes were established. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, three provinces were established to divide the power of the prime ministers.
Which one is more appropriate?
Here Zhang Ximeng drew a branch next to the emperor and wrote the word cabinet in the box.
The power of Zhongshu remains unchanged, but the cabinet serves as the advisor to the emperor, overseeing the affairs of the inner court, responsible for daily affairs, drafting edicts, etc. In this way, under the cabinet, it must govern the Hanlin Academy, Honglu Temple and other yamen.
These yamen must also be subordinate to the Zhongshu Provincial Department, which roughly means that personnel arrangements are under the Zhongshu Provincial Department, and specific work is under the jurisdiction of the cabinet.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhang Ximeng set up this cabinet, which was naturally not a cabinet with hundreds of officials in charge in history. It was more to serve the emperor. In fact, it was to steal the job of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Arranging it this way from the beginning can greatly limit the expansion of eunuch power.
It’s not that Zhang Ximeng had any prejudice against the eunuchs. After all, for a considerable period of time, the presence of eunuchs in the inner court made up for the loopholes in the Ming Dynasty’s system and supplemented the imperial power.
But after all, one hundred thousand eunuchs and countless children suffered from that knife early on, which is really sad.
Eunuchs should be suppressed as much as possible. Even if they cannot be completely abolished, they should be limited to the inner court of the palace!
Zhang Ximeng looked at the picture in front of him again. Starting from the emperor, there were two branches. One was the Zhongshu Province, which governed six ministries and nine ministers. The other was the cabinet, which governed the Hanlin Academy and Honglu Temple...
It doesn't seem so appropriate. Will these two yamen also fight? After all, there was a similar secretarial agency in the Han Dynasty, the Shangshutai, which was also used to check and balance the three public officials.
But in the end, the chancellor usurped the power of the prime minister and became the prime minister again. The dragon slayer finally became the evil dragon.
Zhang Ximeng thought over and over again and transferred an yamen under the cabinet. This yamen was the Imperial College!
The future Imperial College will have Imperial College under its jurisdiction. As the highest institution of higher education in the country, it must retain a considerable number of industry experts. This group of people must take on economic responsibilities and provide professional endorsement for various policies.
In other words, in the future, the opinions provided by the cabinet to the emperor will be more professional and academic, and the cabinet will accommodate these professional talents and become flatter. In this way, the cabinet will be prevented from directly invading the power of the prime minister.
And with the collection of these professional talents, we can also resist the pressure of Zhongshu Province.
Again, there is no big tile-roofed house that is perfect for thousands of years. Zhang Ximeng just did the work more carefully and tried his best to avoid the mistakes that had already occurred.
Suggestion, decision-making, execution... After these three core powers are determined, the rest will be easy to handle. It is nothing more than filling in according to history!
First, parallel to the Zhongshu Province, the Yushitai was established to supervise the Zhongshu Province, and then the Gongwei Department was upgraded to Jinyiwei, which was nominally subordinate to the cabinet, but in fact was directly under the control of the emperor.
Under the Zhongshu Provincial Department, fill in the branch office responsible for the general affairs, and then outside the six departments, set up six departments to supervise the six departments.
In addition, regarding military affairs, such as the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army, it would be fine to leave it to Zhu Yuanzhang to make his own decisions. As long as the level was guaranteed, there would be no problem.
In fact, as long as they didn't bully others, who would dare to bully these heroes in the early days of the Republic of China?
It's just blind worry.
Faced with the big web he had woven, Zhang Ximeng was generally satisfied. The Ministry of Secretariat would still be retained, and even a few more ministers would be added in the future. However, it was up to Zhu Yuanzhang to decide whether it was a single prime minister or a group of prime ministers.
Already.
Joining the cabinet suppressed the power of eunuchs that might emerge in the future, and could provide advice to the emperor. At the same time, it could vaguely restrain the emperor and give up those unrealistic ideas.
It is a very safe move.
Zhang Ximeng does not dare to say that he is the master of all officials from past dynasties, but the most basic framework is in place, and the main issues that can be taken into consideration have also been taken into consideration.
There seems to be nothing more to add.
But Zhang Ximeng watched it again and again, frowning, always feeling that something was missing, a very, very important thing.
Something that will make the future Ming Dynasty transcend ordinary dynasties.
Zhang Ximeng thought about it again and again, and suddenly an idea flashed, and he added another Yamen in a place parallel to the Zhongshu Province, the Cabinet, and the Yushitai.
Save at home!
As one of the three provinces, he held the post of minister of the province under the clan, responsible for accepting the emperor's orders, overseeing the emperor's affairs, and being the general administrator. He was responsible for promoting etiquette, harmonizing all nations, and handling common people's affairs. He was also called a person who supported the emperor and unified the great government.
All military and state affairs are summarized together with the orders of Zhongshu, sitting down to discuss them, and taking action to implement them. This is a great comparison.
Menxiasheng has many powers and can discuss state affairs with Zhongshu, but in the final analysis, the most important one is to refute.
If the minister felt it was inappropriate, he could overrule the emperor's order. This was an extremely powerful power.
Therefore, since the establishment of the three provinces, the Shangshu Province, which was first in charge of administrative power, was emptied out... Then there was a competition between Zhongshu Sheng, who was responsible for drafting edicts, and Menxia Sheng, who was responsible for sealing refutations. The bosses of these two provinces competed with each other and took charge of each other alternately.
right.
In the end, the emperor couldn't get it right, so he simply didn't have Zhongshu Ling and Shizhong, and simply invented Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi to hold the power of the prime minister.
Zhang Ximeng added a subordinate, naturally not to restore the power of conflagration. He has no interest in these at all, because this kind of mutual checks and balances will eventually develop into vicious fighting, mutual denial, and restlessness. I don’t play tricks.
It doesn’t matter what the cards are, the key is not to let the other party cheat, then I will win!
Everyone has become the king of trouble, how can we still play this game?
Zhang Ximeng stared at the various responsibilities of the province under his command, crossing them out one by one, and finally left only four words: "General Officer Position".
There is no doubt that the position of chief official should be understood as the prime minister commanding hundreds of officials and holding the power of the prime minister... But isn't Zhang Ximeng the best at explaining it!
Not only can the classics explain it, but the official’s interpretation power is also in his hands!
Therefore, Zhang Ximeng filled in a few words after the official position of the general secretary, and was in charge of the evaluation of the officials' words and deeds.
After thinking about it for a while, I added that I am responsible for organizing examinations for officials at all levels.
At this point, Zhang Ximeng was worried about causing misunderstandings, and also added a special note that the selection and promotion of officials were still based on the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Menxia Province was only for reference.
After writing this, a smile finally appeared on Zhang Ximeng's face. He stretched involuntarily, looked up and saw that the sky was already bright. He had been busy all night!
Zhang Ximeng rubbed his eyes, wanting to eat something and then go to catch up on his sleep.
At this time, someone came in with a basin of water and a smile.
"Brother, don't you sleep four hours a day? Why do you stay up late now?"
Zhu Ying said as she put a basin of warm face wash water in front of Zhang Ximeng.
"I added some mugwort for you to refresh your mind."
Zhang Ximeng smiled, took the handkerchief, washed his face and washed his hands.
At this time, Zhu Ying came to the front of the paper and quickly browsed what Zhang Ximeng had written.
"Brother, you want to take charge of Menxia Province!"
Zhang Ximeng was wiping his face when he heard Zhu Ying's ghostly scream and was startled.
"How do you know?"
Zhu Ying squinted her eyes and said with a smile: "Brother, look at all these yamen, which one has a special note on the back that limits its powers? Tell me, is this department really so powerful?"
Zhang Ximeng only gave him a big eye roll, "You brat, I'm telling you, don't try to be clever with me. I'll kick you to Yunnan as soon as I can't stand it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind!"
Zhu Yinghun didn't care, "Brother, just go. I've studied the map. As long as I go south and east, I can easily reach the seaside. Yunnan is rich in products. When the time comes, I will pay tribute to my godfather.
, I can come to Yingtian at any time. If the godfather is not available, there is also the godmother and little Zhu Biao! I give gifts three times a year and stay for a month or two each time. What can you do to me? "
Zhang Ximeng looked at this boy's look of needing a beating and just wanted to slap them both!
"You run around Yingtian all day long. Others are ruling by doing nothing, but you are ruling by no one. You kid is destined to be a model of benevolence!"
Zhu Ying laughed loudly, "Then I'll borrow my elder brother's good words."
Zhang Ximeng was so angry that he had no choice but to grab what he had written and go to Zhu Yuanzhang's place to make a living.
I ate the same fish soup noodles as Zhu Yuanzhang's, plus two fried eggs. Apart from being a little greasy, there was nothing wrong with it and it was quite filling.
Zhang Ximeng finished eating, and Zhu Yuanzhang also finished reading.
"Lord, is there something wrong?"
Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and said, "Sir, we can see that you are thoughtful and have good intentions... But this arrangement is too unfair to you!"