Chapter 50, the unique imperial censor of the Ming Dynasty
Hearing Jiang Zijun's words, Emperor Hongzhi's eyebrows moved slightly, but he felt an extremely strong feeling of disgust towards the censor Jiang Zijun in his heart.
As an emperor, Emperor Hongzhi didn't deal with these censors for more than a day or two. He was very clear about the nature of these censors. Calling them mad dogs was a compliment. To be precise, these censors were often like mad dogs.
Not as good as.
The censorship of the Ming Dynasty was actually a very deformed supervision system. After the Ming Dynasty was established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in order to strengthen the management of the country, especially to supervise all officials, purge and rectify, he established an extremely complete supervision system.
Specifically, six new departments were added to the supervisory system, and thirteen supervisory censors were established in 13 provinces across the country, forming a unique Taiwan admonishment system in the Ming Dynasty.
Originally, the supervisory censor was not created by the Ming Dynasty. It first originated in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but it was really developed in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Supervisory Censor was subordinate to the Supervisory Yuan. The highest official was the Supervisory Censor, who was of the second rank and ranked among the Nine Great Ministers. However, the ordinary censor's official position was not high, only the seventh rank, but his power was unprecedentedly great.
Whether it is national affairs, such as foreign wars, imperial examinations, education, etc.
Even on trivial matters, such as the emperor marrying a daughter-in-law, the prince leaving the cabinet, etc., the supervisory censor can make suggestions and directly submit memorials to the emperor.
This is the most typical embodiment of the Ming Dynasty's small system and large system. The founder Zhu Yuanzhang tried to maintain the purity of government in this way, and at the same time, it also allowed the emperor to have more information channels.
This seems to be a very good system. It not only monitors the officials, but also allows the emperor to not be deceived by the ministers below, so as not to lose power and become a puppet emperor.
But contrary to expectations, the censors of the Ming Dynasty could still play some role at the beginning, but as time went by, these censors slowly became tools for others to use.
These civil servants in the Ming Dynasty used the power in the hands of the censor to constantly write to the emperor. Today they said that the emperor should not eat too much in one meal, and tomorrow they said that the emperor should not take a nap. He should be diligent in government affairs all day long, without rest.
The day after tomorrow, they will say that the emperor's walking posture is not majestic enough and does not have the appearance of an emperor.
In short, these censors are full of food and have nothing to do. They stare at the emperor every day. Even if it is a trivial matter, they can make a fuss about it. These people are all literary people, and they are all talented in literature. They don't use any curse words when swearing. If there is no point,
You can't even tell what the other person is saying about you.
They could make a big fuss over even the smallest of things, telling the emperor nonsense, and even dared to spit on the emperor's face in front of him.
But the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had nothing to do with these censors, because the power in the hands of the censors was given by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and they were doing their own thing.
Sometimes when he was really unhappy about being scolded, the emperor would also be angry, which just made it easier for these censors. Each of these censors was of very low rank. They were eager to become famous through this. It would be best if they could be killed by the emperor. In this way
It can also leave a name that dares to speak out.
It was originally meant to supervise the officials, but in the end it became an existence specifically designed to find trouble for the emperor. Historically, there were several emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty who were unwilling to go to court, and they were also affected by this aspect.
Anyone who goes to work every day will be told whether they are doing the right thing or not, but you have no way to deal with these mad dogs. In addition, the party struggle in the court is getting more and more intense. Everyone is forming cliques and criticizing each other.
, fighting for power and profit, no one is doing practical things at all.
Faced with this situation, these emperors in the middle and later periods had actually gradually lost control of the entire world. They could not collect taxes, the treasury was empty, nothing could be done, and nothing could be changed.
Even if there are a few powerful emperors who can temporarily take back part of their power with the help of eunuchs, these civil servants will soon be able to take the power back again. After all, those who grow up in the deep palace compound are better than the hands of women.
The emperor would lose to these ministers who were experienced in political struggles.
In the end, the power of the emperor was still in the hands of the emperor on the surface, but in fact the emperor could not do anything. He wanted money but no money, and he wanted no one. Emperor Chongzhen, who had lost his country, had dozens of cabinet chiefs and ministers, and he still couldn't avoid hanging the tree on his neck.
ending.
In addition to constantly criticizing the emperor, these censors, because of their low rank and high power, could easily become very sharp attacks.
Because the higher-ranking or even much higher-ranking officials had no way to deal with the censors, the phenomenon of these censors gradually attacking people indiscriminately developed.
As long as there is need, regardless of whether there is any, these censors can find all kinds of things to attack the high officials in the court. In many cases, these high officials in the court have not actually committed any faults and will be punished in the same way.
Attack because this is the need for power struggle.
Therefore, whether it was the emperor at the top or the courtiers below, everyone was tired of dealing with these censors, which was a great waste of the energy and time of the emperor and courtiers.
Sometimes the early court meetings, court meetings, etc. almost become a vegetable market and a place for these censors to scold them. The emperor has no way to deal with them, and the important ministers of the court who are many levels older than him have no way to do anything to them, and they are even beaten by them.
After being criticized, I still had to find ways to explain.
This seriously affected the efficiency of the emperor and the ministers in the court. Emperor Chongzhen was very diligent, very diligent. Facing the situation of internal and external troubles, he worked hard, but a large part of his time was spent dealing with the use of courtiers in the court.
The censors attacked each other.
Because the power of the censors is too great, the rank is small, and it is natural and peaceful. Everyone likes to use these censors to make fuss about what to do when encountering opponents, and let the censors under them attack the hostile people.
Many times, courtiers want to save face. If some ministers are involved in the censorship, they will often submit a letter of resignation to the emperor. If the emperor really approves without knowing the reason, he will definitely be deceived by others.
Therefore, the existence of these censors also intensified the party struggles in the Ming Dynasty. Especially in the middle and late periods, various party struggles intensified. One party after another on the left was constantly attacking each other, fighting for power and gain, but no one
Think about doing something practical for this court.
They formed cliques with each other and formed huge groups bound by regions. These groups all used the imperial censor to make a big fuss, not only attacking their competitors.
More often than not, they constantly attacked the emperor, causing the emperor to focus on these unimportant and trivial matters, and slowly forced the emperor to hand over the power in his hands to these ministers and expand the power of civil servants.
Of course, smart emperors will use another force to fight against them. This force is the eunuch force, and they will use these eunuch forces to compete with these civil servants.
As for some foolish emperors, such as Chongzhen, he foolishly believed the words of these literati, abolished his martial arts, and uprooted the power of the eunuchs. In the end, he could not escape and became a hanged ghost under the tree with a crooked neck. As for him
Those literati who believed him knelt on their knees, tied their hair into braids, and immediately went to welcome their new master.