After Zhu Zaiyi ascended the throne, he worshiped his biological mother, Xia, as the empress dowager, with the emblem of Gong'an; he worshiped his biological mother, Gu, as the empress dowager of the Holy Mother, with the emblem of Ci'an.
At the end of the first month of the first year of Shaofeng, Zhu Zaiyi dressed in mourning clothes and held a Buddhist feast. He was diligent and studious, and all the ministers were pleased.
On February 3, Zhu Zaiyi came to the court to inquire about the government.
The emperor, who was only fifteen years old in four months, was sitting in the Fengtian Hall, still wearing mourning robes, which he had to wear for a full three months.
Yan Song, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, read out the new emperor's edict on the spot and rewarded ministers and soldiers with silver to show the emperor's kindness. This kind of reward was mainly aimed at Beijing officials and border soldiers, and was nothing more than using money to win people's hearts.
Then, Liao Ji, the Minister of Civil Affairs, announced the transfer of court officials.
The cabinet ministers, ranked according to their titles, are: Yang Tinghe, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, Wang Qiong, and Wang Yuan.
Hanlin bachelor and the person in charge of the Imperial Palace: Wang Jun (Yang Dang).
Minister of the Ministry of Personnel: Liao Ji; Minister of the Left: He Tang (Wang Dang)
Minister of the Ministry of War: Wang Xian; Minister of the Left: Ling Xiang (Wang Dang)
Secretary of the Household Department: Wang Hong; Minister of the Left: Zhan Ruoshui (the royal party); Minister of Cangchang: Tian Qiu (the royal party)
Minister of Rites: Yan Song (Wang Dang); Minister of the Left: Luo Qinshun
Secretary of the Ministry of Justice: Yan Yishou (Yang Dang); Zuo Shilang: Liang Cai (Yang Dang)
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Minister of the Ministry of Industry: Zhao Huang (Wang Dang), Zuo Shilang: Song Cang (Yang Dang)
The censor of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate: Li Chengxun (the royal party); the censor of the right capital: Chen Yong (the royal party)
After hearing these appointments, all the civil and military officials knew clearly that Wang Erlang had become extremely powerful!
Yang Tinghe's power was isolated in the cabinet, Hanlin Academy and imperial office, and the six ministries could only control one criminal ministry. Although Song Cang, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, belonged to Yang's party, in fact, he was promoted by Wang Yuan all the way.
Because this person has both ability and political integrity and is willing to do things.
All the officials and officials gave Xia a statement about the matter, and suddenly he came out to the public: "I impeached Wang Chang, the censor of etiquette, and Zhang Cong, the eunuch who held the pen. These two people worked together to isolate the internal and external memorials, causing your majesty to have trouble speaking!"
After Xia Yan took refuge with Wang Yuan, he was quickly promoted to the rank of Du Ge Shi Zhong, which represented Wang Yuan's attack on the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
"I also impeach Wang Chang and Zhang Cong. They were forced to accept bribes from the Mongolian envoys and overstepped their bounds in approving the vote for Mongolia to proclaim itself a minister!"
"I am impeaching Zhang Cong's brother Shen Wei, who is exploiting the common people in the suburbs of Beijing and occupying countless fertile fields!"
"I impeached Wang Chang's nephew Wang Lu. Because of the fight for the Xishan Coal Mine, he used his slaves to kill eight miners."
"I impeach..."
It's started, it's started.
Xia Yan was just the beginning. Whether it was the Yang Party, the Wang Party, or the centrists, they opened fire on the two eunuchs who were in charge of the ceremony.
Zhu Zaiyi was originally unhappy with these two people, but in the face of the turbulent public opinion, he still seemed a little at a loss.
The companions who grew up with Zhu Zaijun were all carefully selected by Zhu Houzhao. Although their conduct was not bad, the oldest one was only seventeen years old. If eunuchs such as Wang Chang and Zhang Cong were removed, Zhu Zai
I don’t even know who should take the lead... maybe I can go back and ask the Queen Mother (the late emperor’s noble concubine).
Zhu Zaiyi said: "Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and the Sanfa Division jointly investigated the case."
"Your Majesty is wise!" the ministers shouted.
Zhu Zaiyi also said: "The choice of the eunuch for the ceremony is decided by the Queen Mother. As for the eunuch Bingbi, there will be nine eunuchs in the future. Bingbi cannot serve as the admiral at the same time!"
All the officials were shocked and immediately shouted for the Holy Spirit.
Although there was no official name for Bingbi eunuchs before, there were already Bingbi eunuchs as early as the Zhengtong period. Because there were too many cabinet votes, the emperor could not handle it alone, so he had to have at least ten eunuchs to help him.
Approval of red.
If you just help approve red papers, it's equivalent to being a secretary in the inner court, which is nothing at all.
The real problem is that the chief eunuch Bingbi also supervises the East Factory and the prison, and the other eunuchs Bingbi also supervise various institutions. To put it more bluntly, the secretaries have real power.
It was precisely with these real powers that the Chief Bingbi became more and more powerful, and finally even surpassed the Chief of Ceremony's Handprint.
Zhu Zaiyi also said: "The twelve eunuchs in the inner court each perform their own duties, and the eunuch who holds the seal cannot hold the same position at the same time! The nine eunuchs of Bingbi are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Ceremonies, but they are independent of the eunuch of the Secretary of Ceremonies!"
All the ministers were stunned, Wang Yuan and Yang Tinghe were also stunned. Before they had time to reform, the young emperor who had just ascended the throne was making changes on his own.
And it was a reform that Zhu Zaiyi took for granted. He thought it was feasible, but in actual practice, the power of criticizing red was still controlled by the palm of the ceremonial supervisor. However, the palm of the ceremonial supervisor was not allowed to hold concurrent posts. This was not bad. Take Zhang Yong as an example. He once held the post of several supervisors.
Big seal.
It's just that Zhu Zaiyi is still too young. He only sees the disadvantages of eunuchs and does not see the real role of eunuchs!
The ceremonial supervisor has half of the power of the prime minister, the cabinet has half of the power of the prime minister, and the emperor acts as a check and balance in the middle. This was the intention of the emperors in the Ming Dynasty.
Even later, eunuch Bingbi took over the power, which was probably intentional by the emperor.
Because since Zhang Juzheng, the six subjects were swallowed up by the cabinet, the cabinet has no constraints on the outer court. Since the authority of the cabinet has been improved, the authority of the Supervisor of Ceremonies must also be improved, otherwise it will be difficult to check and balance the cabinet.
Emperor Chongzhen lost his temper. He first got rid of the eunuchs and then toppled the cabinet.
At that time, the cabinet members were attacked as "treacherous assistants", so they all resigned and were replaced by new ones. Chongzhen didn't know much about the ministers, so the court recommended ten candidates for cabinet ministers, and the emperor selected four by divination and drawing lots.
The ministers also said that the four cabinet ministers were too few, so Chongzhen drew lots to choose two. The six cabinet ministers all opposed Wei Zhongxian.
This series of actions is politically naive and ridiculous.
The first cabinet of the Chongzhen Dynasty can be called the "anti-Wei cabinet", and the quality of cabinet members is uneven. The question is, Wei Zhongxian has fallen, what is the use of selecting an "anti-Wei cabinet"?
The only thing these cabinet ministers have in common is that they oppose Wei Zhongxian. Now that Wei Zhongxian is dead, they have nothing in common. In addition, Chongzhen suppressed the eunuch forces, not only do the cabinet ministers have no commonality, they even have no new common enemies, so there is only
Crazy internal strife and internal strife set the tone for the entire political situation of the Chongzhen Dynasty.
When the cabinet fights reached the late Chongzhen period, the emperor felt that these veteran ministers were useless, and they only wanted to quarrel all day long to impeach and blame others. Therefore, Chongzhen stopped conducting court nominations and let officials compete for cabinet appointments through examinations. However, a few good ministers were selected, but
Most of them are just talkative people!
This is an inevitable situation. Examinations are nothing more than policy papers and interviews. The louder you brag, the more recognized you will be by Chongzhen. Ministers who are truly capable will write more mature and steady articles, and will not brag carelessly.
Therefore, the wiser and more diligent Chongzhen was, the faster the situation in the late Ming Dynasty deteriorated, and he made the entire central government a mess!
At this time, Zhu Zaiyi was a bit like the young Chongzhen. He hated eunuchs and worked hard to govern. Without Yang Tinghe and Wang Yuan's guidance, I don't know what would have happened. The emperor wanted to govern the world too much and it was a headache.
Let's talk about Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty, which also has the flavor of Chongzhen. Cixi really returned to power at that time, at least during the reform period, Cixi did not intervene to stop it. But Kang Youwei was really too tossing, and offended all the conservatives and Westernizers, except the reformers.
Everyone here is rubbish. They even wanted to hire Ito Hirobumi as prime minister and create some kind of annexation of China and Japan. The Empress Dowager Cixi was so frightened that she quickly stepped on the brakes.
At this moment, Yang Tinghe and Wang Yuan looked at each other and both understood that they must not fight each other and must guide the little emperor well.
Impeachment of eunuchs is just the beginning.
Immediately afterwards, Party Yang began to campaign frantically, requesting the abolition of Jinyiwei and Dongchang. This did not mean directly abolishing the factory guards, but cleaning up redundancies and driving away the idlers.
Wang Yuan suddenly stood up and asked the emperor to set a rule. The heirs of civil servants were not allowed to be granted the title of Jin Yiwei, and all those who were granted the title had to be taken back. This was something Yang Tinghe did not dare to do because it would offend the civil servants, and Wang Yuan did not mind being a villain.
In this wave of clean-ups, more than 10,000 people were found working as idlers in Jinyiwei and Dongchang. According to Wang Yuan’s standard after increasing the salary for officials, it can save the court more than 400,000 shi in salary expenses every year!
Zhu Houzhao left a lot of messes, and we have just begun to clean them up.