Chapter 560 Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were actually strictly restricted.
Zhu Yuanzhang put up an iron sign in the palace, saying, 'Ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and offenders will be killed.' In Zhu Yuanzhang's era, there were no twelve eunuchs, four divisions, and eight bureaus, and there were no eunuchs to command or supervise the army. Eunuchs were not even allowed to study.
The important use of eunuchs started from Zhu Di, who was in jail. He not only lifted the restriction that eunuchs were not allowed to participate in politics, but also established an inner library to select smart young eunuchs to study and study.
Starting from Zhu Di, the power of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty became more and more powerful. They were in charge of Dongchang, Si Lijian, Yuma Jian, Tengxiang Siwei, admiral of Jingying camp, Nanjing garrison, Jiubian garrison, and even levied taxes, etc.
It was their shadow, and in the end they had the power to criticize the Red Army, and were even able to override the cabinet for a time.
Cabinet votes must be handled by them.
So there were so many great eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, some nine thousand years old and so on.
Zhu Yihai was naturally well aware of the chaos of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, but when he first started his army, he still reused Liu Chao and others. In the final analysis, these people were his private servants and the most trustworthy. Therefore, he reused them at the critical moment.
But now everything is on the right track. Zhu Yihai has not only won the support of the civil servants group, but also established a brand-new martial arts military group, which can balance each other, so there is no need to delegate too much power to the eunuchs, and there is no need to use
The eunuchs came to balance the cabinet and the civil service group.
There are some things that should be done, so as not to harm future generations.
"With immediate effect, the twelve supervisors, four departments and eight bureaus will be abolished."
"There are three new offices: the Palace Supervisor, the Internal Affairs Supervisor, and the Shaofu Supervisor. The Palace Supervisor is in charge of all affairs of the emperor's life, and the six departments are the Food Bureau, the Medicine Bureau, the Clothing Bureau, the House Bureau, the Shancheng Bureau, and the Chariot Bureau.
The internal servant supervisor is responsible for conveying imperial edicts, guarding the palace gates, cleaning the inner court, cashing the inner treasury, and taking care of the palace's food and daily life and other affairs. It belongs to the six bureaus, namely Yeting, Gongwei, Xiguan, Neifu, Neifu, and Neifang.
The Shaofu Supervisor is responsible for purchasing and manufacturing, royal handicrafts, Huangzhuanghuangdian, Emperorli Sanku, Neishiku, etc. It consists of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, the Weaving Bureau, the Ordnance Industry Bureau, etc. "
Zhu Yihai directly abolished the twelve supervisors, four divisions and eight bureaus, and replaced them with three supervisors in the palace, chamberlain, and Shaofu, each with their own division of labor and clear division of labor.
Obviously, just by looking at the official signatures, we can tell that the emperor was a fan of the Han and Tang Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, there were three provinces: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Palace Affairs, and the Ministry of Secretaries, as well as the Ministry of Young Masters.
Judging from these duties, the eunuchs should also be allowed to resume their ordinary duties as servants, rather than making them become internal dynasties and not allowing them to participate in the political power of the court.
The Palace Supervisor was in charge of the emperor's daily life and was mainly responsible for the affairs of the palace. In addition to the six bureaus, there would also be an internal affairs office.
In the future, eunuchs will not be allowed to have direct contact with foreign dynasties, nor will they be allowed to interact directly with ministers and generals.
Even for external memorials, etc., an external memorial office must be set up outside, subordinate to the General Affairs Department. After all the title books are drafted by the cabinet, they will be handed over by the external memorial office to the eunuchs of the internal memorial office at the palace gate.
Point-to-point handover.
After Emperor Zhu Pi dealt with it, it was also handed over from the Internal Affairs Office to the External Affairs Office.
The eunuchs in the palace were confined to the front court in the palace.
The eunuchs in the inner chamber have even weaker powers. They are only responsible for cleaning the harem, guarding the palace gates, etc., and are mainly responsible for the daily life of the concubines, etc. The harem is restricted.
The Shaofu Jian was actually the newly established Ministry of Internal Affairs previously established by Zhu Yihai. It was now renamed the Shaofu Jian. They were in charge of extra-palace affairs, royal handicrafts, internal treasury, and procurement.
There will no longer be an internal affairs office in the palace, with only the East Factory remaining. The Royal Horse Supervisor previously supervised the Beijing camp, served as the garrison eunuch of Nanjing, the eunuch guarding the border gates, and the military supervisors of various towns.
Not to mention that they no longer have the right to approve red robes. Now they are not even qualified to wear purple robes, let alone casually wear python robes like before, and they are not qualified to sit down and discuss politics with the cabinet bachelors.
The number will be greatly reduced. In the past, there were tens of thousands of people. From now on, the number of eunuchs in the palace will be limited to a few hundred people. The number of eunuchs in the palace will also be used as both eunuchs and scholars, reducing the number of eunuchs.
If you can do without eunuchs, don't.
In the past, eunuchs exercised the power of the emperor and acted on behalf of the emperor. Whether they were criticizing the emperor, supervising the imperial camp, etc., the rise of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was actually intentional by the emperor to limit the expansion of power of the civil service group.
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But for Zhu Yihai, he no longer needs to use eunuchs to balance the civil servants, because he has both decision-making ability and an emerging martial arts group.
They can achieve a very good balance, so there is no need to use eunuchs.
Although eunuchs are loyal, they have many natural flaws after all. The various shortcomings produced by the eunuch system in the Ming Dynasty are also very obvious. Since this path is wrong, it must be changed, rather than going to the dark side.
"Your Majesty is wise and far-sighted, and I will firmly support you!"
Liu Chao, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, knelt down and loudly supported it. Zhu Yihai had already communicated with him about this matter before. He was a loyal slave and had no power ambitions, so he fully supported it.
The great eunuchs such as Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu were not willing to delegate their power, but eunuchs were dependent on the imperial power. Even if they were nine thousand years old, such as Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian, they could be eliminated immediately if the emperor said so.
This is their natural weakness. They do not have any capital to compete with the emperor. This is also the reason why the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, although they have a good reputation, are actually far inferior to the eunuchs of the Han and Tang dynasties.
The eunuchs of the Han and Tang dynasties were the ones who could really abolish and establish things. The greatest asset of the eunuchs of the Han and Tang dynasties was the large number of imperial troops they controlled, especially the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty. In the late Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs were all the imperial troops that the court could really defeat.
in their hands.
Not to mention deposing or even killing the emperor, it was all a matter of a thought.
Song Zhipu was the first assistant and prime minister.
He not only had the power to vote, but also participated in important military affairs. He was the emperor's absolute confidant.
The cabinet has actually changed a long time ago. In fact, the cabinet now only deals with general government affairs. Major military and national affairs are usually decided by the emperor at the meeting of the Prime Minister's Office. However, the prime minister does not replace the cabinet. They
It's just a temporary part-time job, equivalent to the emperor's staff.
The power reduction of the cabinet is reflected in several aspects.
For example, the emperor stipulated that impeachment memorials from the Remonstration Yuan and the Metropolitan Procuratorate could be submitted directly to the palace gate without going through the cabinet. Later, another article was added that urgent military and national affairs did not need to go through the General Administration Department or the cabinet according to the procedures, but were delivered directly.
palace gate.
Later, the emperor abolished the memorials for officials to report private matters, and only retained the inscriptions for officials to report official matters. However, he also granted many officials the right to submit secret records, and the secret records of these officials were also directly sealed.
Presented to the emperor for personal viewing, no one can see it.
Even the person who secretly wrote it was only allowed to write it himself, and was not allowed to ask the master to write for him, let alone discuss with other officials.
From business matters to private matters, just say whatever you want.
In the past, regardless of whether it was public or private affairs, whether it was for officials in the capital or local officials, and even the inscriptions and memorials for officials, they all had to go through the cabinet.
But now many of them bypass the cabinet, and an important manifestation of the court's power is actually exerted through these official documents and reports.
In addition, the emperor is now personally responsible for decision-making. At the meetings of the Prime Minister's Office, he often directly asks the academicians of the Prime Minister's Office to draw up the votes. They are all drafting the votes according to the order. Naturally, they have lost a lot of autonomy and decision-making power.
Of course, the emperor has no intention of abolishing the cabinet, but the power has indeed declined. They are now mainly responsible for daily government affairs, and major decisions are already in the prime minister's office and in the hands of the emperor alone.
However, Song Zhipu, the first assistant, did not object to this, and even supported the emperor all the time. Fang Fengnian, Chen Meng, etc. who were trying to cause trouble in the cabinet were dealt with by Zhu Yihai.
So later on, no one had the courage or idea again.
Now that the emperor has officially abolished the ceremonial supervisors and other officials and taken back the right to criticize the red, he thinks there is no problem.
He was also the first to stand up and support.
"Then please ask the first assistant to vote!"
He directly asked Song Zhipu to start drafting the matter, and then the court issued an announcement for implementation.
The former eunuch who was the chief ceremonial officer and even the admiral of the East Factory was suddenly demoted to the rank of fourth-rank eunuch and could only wear scarlet robes, but Liu Chao didn't care at all.
He has no eggs, no matter what color he wears official robes, what rank of official he is, and he is still the emperor's slave, so why should he care about those external things?
"Liu Chao, you are also the eunuch of the internal affairs department, Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu are the eunuchs of the palace, and Li Guofu is also the eunuch of the East Factory."
It turns out that Pang Tianshou and Li Guofu both petitioned the emperor more than once, hoping to restore the Tengxiang Four Guards and rebuild a horse-breeding force of 20,000 people. In fact, they were the internal forbidden army directly commanded by the eunuchs.
Zhu Yihai never agreed.
Now, even their qualifications to supervise the capital camp and supervise the military towns have been stripped away.
Restore the original duties of the eunuchs and completely withdraw from the political center of the court.
This move received firm support from ministers such as Song Zhipu and Xu Shiqi. Even Liu Zongzhou and Liu Dapao excitedly gave the emperor some wise words of wisdom.
Hong Chengchou and Qian Qianyi flattered them again and again, and even Zheng Zhilong came up with a bunch of words to flatter them.
Zhu Yihai just laughed it off.
He has been planning this for a long time.
This matter is different from how Chongzhen overthrew Wei Zhongxian and then cleaned up the eunuchs when he took the throne. Chongzhen had no foundation at the time, so he attacked the eunuchs first, and then there was no successor to support him. So the result was that after the Wei party fell, the power of the Donglin party
What's more, the government became even more corrupt.
In the end, the eunuchs had to be reused again, over and over again.
Before Zhu Yihai took action, he had already made preparations and had sufficient conditions.
The 200,000 elite imperial camp in Beijing is the emperor's greatest support.
Of course, although Zhu Yihai took the initiative to abolish the Twelve Supervisors, Four Divisions and Eight Bureaus, the newly established Third Supervisors still retained a lot of power, especially the Young Mansion Supervisor, the Royal Handicrafts, the Huangzhuang Huangdian, and even the Royal Internal Treasury.
The library is still firmly in hand.
Even the emperor must have a small treasury, which must be replenished. He cannot rely on taking money from the treasury. This will not only disrupt order, but also be easily attacked by ministers.
How about cultivating some money trees yourself and setting up a small treasury?
If you have money, you don't need to ask for money from the court, and you can even often use the money from the internal treasury to reward ministers, soldiers, etc., then you have the confidence.