Forbidden Palace, left side of Fengtian Palace Square, Wuying Palace.
After Zhu Yihai officially settled in the Forbidden City Palace in Nanjing, he made simple renovations to the palace. Among the three main halls in the palace, Fengtian Hall is the place where grand ceremonies are held and where hundreds of officials worship, which is also the Jinluan Hall.
Behind is the Huagai Hall, which is five rooms wide and five rooms deep. During the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, Zhu Yihai would receive worship here from cabinet ministers and palace deacons before going to Fengtian Hall to receive congratulations from hundreds of officials.
Behind it is the Jinshen Hall, where Zhu Yihai changed his court uniform.
There are Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall on both sides of the square in front of Fengtian Hall. Wenhua Hall was originally the daily office of Zhu Yuanzhang, and later became the daily office of the crown prince. The examination papers were also held in Wenhua Hall.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang moved to Wuying Palace for daily office work.
From the three main halls to the north, past Qianqing Gate, you will find the Inner Palace.
Qianqing Palace is Zhu Yihai's dormitory, with nine rooms in width and five rooms in depth, totaling the number of ninety-five supreme emperors. The Kunning Palace behind is the palace of Queen Zhang.
Then there are the East Sixth Palace, the West Sixth Palace, Rouyi Palace, etc. This is where the five concubines and four concubines currently live. The princess is also here. In the future, the princes and princesses will live here again when they are born.
There is also a library at the back.
However, Zhu Yihai did not usually live in the Qianqing Palace. He mainly stayed in the former dynasty, working in the Wuying Palace every day, and sometimes summoned ministers and other ministers to hold court meetings in the Wenhua Palace.
Sometimes he listens to politics at the imperial gate of Qianqingmen Square.
The cabinet is located in Wenyuan Pavilion in front of Wenhua Hall.
Generally speaking, the palace cities in Nanjing and Beijing in the Ming Dynasty were both called the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City in Beijing was basically a replica of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, with a basically similar layout.
After reviewing memorials in the Wuying Hall until the afternoon, Zhu Yihai went to the Wenhua Hall again, where he summoned the bachelors and eunuchs of the Cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Following the ancestral system, it is still the Secretary of Ceremony of the Cabinet who drafts votes and approves Hong. However, The difference is that the emperor governs the government personally and cannot bypass the emperor in everything.
This summons from the Wenhua Hall was just a routine briefing by the cabinet supervisor, reporting on some important matters, and then Zhu Yihai also informed them of some important matters he had handled and asked them to handle them accordingly.
After giving some snacks to the ministers, Zhu Yihai returned to Qianqing Palace.
Song Zhipu sent him all the way to the Qianqing Gate Square. It was not that Yuan Cong had a particularly good relationship with the emperor and insisted on sending him to the entrance of the harem, but Zhu Yihai also set up a prime minister's office in the square outside the Qianqing Palace Gate.
The Prime Minister's Office is actually the former Imperial Council. It was earlier called the General Affairs Office, and now it is called the Prime Minister's Office or the Prime Minister's Office. It is an informal organization and has no formal officials, but it still has the central authority in charge of the military and political affairs. The highest decision-making organ.
Of course, this decision-making power actually assists the emperor in making decisions. It is equivalent to the emperor's secretariat, but it is not an ordinary secretariat.
Because the official title of the officials in the Prime Minister's Office is Prime Minister's Office Duty or Royal Study Assistant.
In name, the cabinet is still the highest government agency in the Ming Dynasty, and the ceremonial supervisor is still an important member of the inner court and the emperor's secretarial team. Zhu Yihai was on the Northern Expedition before, and neither the cabinet nor the ceremonial supervisor could all accompany him, so important decisions were made between the emperor and the emperor. The accompanying ministers discuss it, and the participants are the members of the Imperial Council.
Now that Nanjing is in power, Zhu Yihai has not given up on this, and has not returned power to the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, restoring the power structure formed by the Ming Dynasty over many years.
To put it bluntly, the Prime Minister's Office is actually similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's cabinet.
Just like when Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister and established a cabinet, the imperial power usurped the power of the prime minister and the power of the foreign court. The same is true for Zhu Yihai today. After many years in the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet also formed a new center of the foreign court, and he was the de facto prime minister. Later, the Chief of Ceremonies approved the red affairs and became a powerful assistant to the emperor, becoming the prime minister of the internal and external dynasties.
But Zhu Yihai was not satisfied with this. He set up the Prime Minister's Office outside the Qianqing Gate, which was closer to the cabinet than the cabinet. The reason was that the emperor's palace was inside the Qianqing Gate, in the harem, and the cabinet was too far away from the outer court. Once something happened, especially If something happens at night, it may be too late to report to the emperor and make timely decisions.
Therefore, the emperor set up such a Prime Minister's Office outside Qianqing Gate, and arranged for ministers to be on duty here day and night, so that they could discuss matters in a timely manner.
In fact, through this method, the monarch's power was further weakened and the power of the foreign dynasty was usurped, especially the power of the cabinet ministers who are now the first rank.
Throughout the dynasties, the central power structure has always been constantly changing and changing. In essence, it remains unchanged. It is still a competition for the highest central power.
The Han Dynasty had the outer dynasty and the inner dynasty. The outer dynasty had the Prime Minister and the Three Dukes, and the inner dynasty also had the Shangshu Province. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the original inner dynasties such as the ministers under the sect and the middle school had completely become the center of the imperial court and the outer dynasty. So the Tang Dynasty later With the Hanlin Academy, the Privy Council and other new internal dynasties, these new internal dynasties came to check and balance the external dynasties.
The Ming Dynasty first had prime ministers, but later the prime minister system was abolished, and the outer dynasties were directly divided into six ministries. Later, the emperor was too busy and set up a cabinet to assist.
The cabinet gradually re-evolved into the center of the external dynasty, so the emperors of the great emperor created the ceremonial supervisor to approve the emperor's favor on behalf of the emperor, becoming the new internal dynasty.
However, although the cabinet supervisors have achieved balance, some of their powers are out of control.
Zhu Yihai didn't like that.
It is imperative that the Prime Minister's Office is not only retained, but its power is once again strengthened.
Although there is no prime minister in the Prime Minister's Office, they are only in the name of being on duty in the Prime Minister's Office or walking in the imperial study room, but the members are personally appointed by the emperor. Today, the several ministers on duty in the Prime Minister's Office are Song Zhipu, the first assistant, and Zhang Guowei, the bachelor. , Wang Zhiren, the governor of the capital, Yu Dafu, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, Da Zongling, King Deng Zhu Yujian, the eunuch Liu Chao, the eunuch Bingbi, and Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Zuodu.
In addition, officials of the fifth and sixth grades were selected from the Cabinet, Zhongshu, Hanlin, Sixth Ministries and other departments to serve as cadres and clear the door. They were divided into two shifts, the left and right, working day and night. There were four shifts in total, with eight people in each shift, each with a foreman and assistant foreman.
The walking officers are the fifth and sixth grade officials, the foreman, and the assistants are the third and fourth grade officials. They are all part-time officials in the capital just like those on duty in the Prime Minister's Office. They work in shifts at the Prime Minister's Office. Their specific job is to assist these prime ministers who are on duty in the Prime Minister's Office. They carry out their daily work while on duty, processing documents of the Prime Minister's Office, keeping registers, writing manuscripts, etc.
When not on duty, you should still do your job well.
In the final analysis, the entire service process of the Prime Minister's Office, an informal office like this, is very simple. It is to carry out errands according to orders. They assist Zhu Yihai in making decisions. Then when the emperor has an edict, they are responsible for conveying the edict and supervising the execution of errands.
Unlike the cabinet, as the official highest government agency legally mandated by the imperial court, there is a set of standard procedures, such as the submission of memorials, drafting of votes and yellowing, submitting them to the emperor and then being approved by the Chief of Ceremonies, and then transferred back to the cabinet. Dispose of according to the approved regulations.
But the Prime Minister's Office is different. Zhu Yihai has the final say.
At this stage, the Prime Minister's Office seems to be just the emperor's personal adviser, but it is obvious that Zhu Yihai has plans to develop him beyond the cabinet.
As the chief assistant of the cabinet, Song Zhipu is also on duty at the Prime Minister's Office. The cabinet also includes Zhang Guowei, who is also on duty at the Prime Minister's Office. He has always been completely obedient to the emperor's orders. This was the case before and it is still the case now.
The monarch and his ministers came all the way to Qianqing Gate, chatting as they walked.
"When does Your Majesty plan to take over Jiangning City?"
At the door, Song Zhipu couldn't help but ask.
It's already February in the blink of an eye. Now south of the Yangtze River, the Tatar soldiers and the Green Camp of the Qing court have been basically destroyed, but only half of Jiangning City is still flying the green flag.
This makes people feel uncomfortable.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, although he no longer has the monopoly power of Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng and other powerful ministers, he is still the chief minister, especially now that the academicians have reached the first rank of official position and are truly the head of the hundred officials in name.
Zhu Yihai stopped.
"Plans always fail to keep up with changes." The series of victories in Jiangnan were smoother and faster than expected. Six thousand and eight Tatars were wiped out immediately. Li Yuchun, Zheng Jiwu, Pan Yinglou, Zhu Gangzhou in Hangzhou, Zhu Guofan and others, Suzhou's Tu Guobao, and Songjiang's Mr. Yan successively raised their flags.
Brothers Zhang Tianlu and Zhang Tianfu from Anqing and Bu Congshan from Taiping also turned against each other, which lit up the red flag for the entire Jiangnan area.
This unexpected surprise came too suddenly, which was a good thing, but it made some of Zhu Yihai's original plans unworkable.
Especially Mr. Yan.
Originally, he planned to wait for reinforcements from the Qing army to be lured from thousands of miles away, and then he would ask Yan Wogong to find a way to "break out" and continue to lurk deep in the enemy camp to be used by me and play more roles.
But now Li Yuchun, Zheng Jiwu, Tu Guobao and other Yan Wo Gong people, and even his sons, brothers, nephews, etc. have turned against the law. The whole Jiangnan has returned to the Ming Dynasty, and Yan Wo Gong has been completely exposed.
No matter how stupid the Tatars are, they will never still believe him.
"Now that the matter has come to this, we can only accept it as soon as possible." Zhu Yihai still felt a little regretful that Mr. Yan was exposed like this.
Song Zhipu felt that it was enough that a strict man had already exerted such great value.
"Let's have a more lively surrender ceremony. I want to give Mr. Yan a big reward in front of all the soldiers and civilians of Nanjing.
I want to formally confer on him the title of Duke of Ji Kingdom, Young Master and Crown Prince Taifu, and then grant him the title of Associate Director of the Beijing Camp, Rong Zheng Shangshu, and Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and he will also be on duty at the Prime Minister's Office. You must personally prepare the imperial edict for me. You must do it well. Use words to commend his achievements."
Song Zhipu asked directly, "Do you want to write about the fact that Duke Yan sneaked into the prison camp according to the order?"
"Hahaha, write, of course you have to write, why not write, you have to write this paragraph carefully, how loyal and brave he recommended himself into the enemy camp alone, now include Li Yuchun, Bolo, Zhang Cunren, Duoduo, Dorgon and so on Write down all the wonderful things about how people are manipulated in the palm of your hand, how you trick them into turning around.
It can also be explained by the fact that Wu Kai and other generals, civil and military, who were strict with me and recruited peace for the Qing court, are actually just my ministers, and they are just a good show to deceive the Tatars.
I have to make them angry."
Now that Duke Yan has been exposed and Jiangnan has been recovered, there is nothing to hide. Finally, the public edict is announced to the world, in order to humiliate the Tatars and at the same time inspire the people.
It would be an unexpected surprise if the Tatars could be made angry for some reason.
Of course, Zhu Yihai revealed the secret so completely and publicly, saying that Mr. Yan was actually a lurker who pretended to surrender, and that people like Wu Kai, Li Yuchun, Tu Guobao, etc. had actually been secretly doing it for a long time.
Once this matter is announced, Dorgon will probably become suspicious. He may wonder, is Yan Wogong the lurker?
As for Li Yuchun, Tu Guobao, Zheng Jiwu had secretly surrendered a long time ago, but Wu Kai pretended to surrender?
Are the other Han people who were demoted from official positions to generals the same as Yan Wogong, Zheng Jiwu, Tu Guobao, and Wu Kai?
Which Han people in the world can be trusted?
Which general who surrendered was truly loyal to the Qing Dynasty?
As long as one seed of doubt is planted, it will take root and sprout uncontrollably!
Attacking the city is better than attacking the heart.
