Chapter 652: Cabinet and Prime Ministerial Power! When the Three Powers of the Cabinet Are Combined Into One!

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cabinet!

Since its establishment, this institution has become a symbol of the Ming Dynasty!

The auxiliary organization specially established by Emperor Yongle for the Northern Expedition developed into a behemoth in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

In fact, starting from the middle period of Yongle, the power of the cabinet began to become more and more important. It also took charge of the six ministers and became the emperor's top staff and decision-making body.

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong and Zhu Zhanji of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the cabinet increased unprecedentedly, thanks to the three virtuous prime ministers San Yang.

Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath and fell into deep thought.

During the reign of Sanyang, the civil servants and gentry gradually overpowered the nobles and military ministers and began to have the right to speak in the court.

Memorials of all sizes across the country, and even suggestions put forward by ordinary people to the emperor, are compiled by the General Affairs Envoy, and the Chief of Ceremonies submits them to the emperor for review, and then to the cabinet. The cabinet is responsible for drafting opinions, and then the Chief of Ceremonies submits the opinions to the emperor. After approval, it will be finally reviewed and issued by the Sixth Section.

Since then, the cabinet has tended to override the six ministries.

By the time of Chenghua and Hongzhi, the cabinet had become a representative of the civil service group that could resist imperial power.

Until the Jiajing period, Zhu Houcong, the "Taoist Emperor", was devoted to cultivating immortality. He controlled the government through the cabinet and gave the cabinet supreme authority.

The chief ministers of the cabinet, such as Xia Yan and Yan Song, held power that did not belong to the former prime ministers at all. They became powerful and lucky ministers with less than one person and more than ten thousand people. Then they began to dominate the government and the opposition, and the same party and the other party were completely defeated. Ruined the last bit of strength of the Ming Dynasty!

For example, in the 21st year of Jiajing, the notorious powerful minister Yan Song was appointed as the bachelor of Wuying Palace and specialized in government affairs for more than 20 years. The power of the cabinet was completely the same as that of the former prime minister.

Of course, the cabinet's power reached its peak because of that person's appearance.

The savior prime minister, Zhang Juzheng!

After the development of Jiajing and Longqing, the early Wanli period became a period of peak cabinet power. Zhang Juzheng's reforms made the cabinet the center of government operations. Zhang Juzheng also monopolized power and ruled the government and the public. In fact, he was close to the status of the prime minister of a certain country in later generations. Much stronger than the prime minister.

After all, since the establishment of the cabinet, once a civil servant enters the cabinet as the ninth minister of the court, the power of the cabinet will gradually expand and increase.

Especially the six ministers who dominated one department. After they entered the cabinet, their status was far beyond ordinary.

On the one hand, he was regarded as a top civil servant, and on the other hand, entering the cabinet meant that he became the emperor's confidant. With the combination of these two identities, his status was naturally more respected and special.

But the increasing power of the cabinet means the expansion of the power of civil servants and gentry!

After all, the cabinet established by Zhu Di is an advisory body for civil servants and gentry, and has nothing to do with ordinary people like nobles and military ministers!

It is precisely because of this that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the noble military officials were declining day by day. Even in fighting a war, they had to obey the orders of civil servants. I wanted to kneel on the ground and lick their boots!

There is no doubt that this system is deformed and ridiculous.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu felt that it was necessary to beat the cabinet to death with a stick before it started to raise its head!

Moreover, the reason why Zhu Di caused trouble for him many times was not because there were too many government affairs, which made him, the Ming Emperor, extremely annoying!

The war madman Zhu Di is not the workaholic Zhu Yuanzhang!

You asked Zhu Di to go fight in the Northern Expedition, and he took the army and went out to fight without saying a word. He would definitely not be happy to come back if he didn't fight for three to five years.

But if you let him sit in this palace honestly, handle government affairs for three to five years, and perform his duties as emperor, it would be even more uncomfortable than killing him!

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Gaoxu came up with a solution.

"Dad, that's what you said!"

"But as long as the cabinet exists, sooner or later the power will be greatly increased!"

Zhu Di was stunned when he heard this and asked subconsciously.

"Why?"

"The reason is very simple. Everyone has times when they slack off in government."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di with a smile, "For example, you, old man, have you been very irritable recently? After the emperor concurrently serves as prime minister, the government affairs that need to be handled are not as simple as one plus one equals two."

"Besides, you are indeed getting old and your energy is not as good as before, so do you also want to hand over government affairs to the cabinet?"

"But there is no one in the cabinet now, so let the ministers of the court take over. As long as the ministers of the court enter the cabinet, the power of the cabinet will continue to grow!"

Zhu Di's face gradually became serious. With his wisdom, it was not difficult to understand the profound meaning of Zhu Gaoxu's words.

I have to admit that this traitor's ability to see into people's hearts is indeed one of the best in the world.

Zhu Di has indeed been very irritable recently and is not willing to deal with these government affairs. There are a lot of big and small things that he can't finish sitting around all day long reviewing memorials.

Thinking about how carefree and relaxed he used to be, he went out to fight in the Northern Expedition for three to five years, patrolled Peking and then went out for a year or two. All government affairs were handled by the prince Zhu Gaochi. All he had to do was stamp and stamp the reports to him. , it’s simply not that exciting!

After such long-term cooperation, Zhu Di almost forgot that handling state affairs is the emperor's main business!

Now that Zhu Gaoxu has become the prince, he directly acts as the governor, gives some general directions for the government, and then hides in the East Palace to enjoy peace and quiet. All government affairs fall on Zhu Di.

How can Zhu Di adapt to this? He misses his boss so much and hates his second bastard!

But the emperor is the emperor after all. Now that the Ming Dynasty has flourished and prospered, Zhu Di has to deal with government affairs patiently and shoulder his responsibilities as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

On the issue of the cabinet, Zhu Di did have plans to delegate power to them, but he was afraid that the cabinet would gain power in the future and regroup the power of the prime minister. UU Reading www.uukanshu. net So I was a little hesitant and never made any move.

After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words at this moment, Zhu Di felt a little worried on his face.

I wanted to delegate power because I was slacking on government, and this treacherous son saw through it. It was not a happy thing at all.

"Then you just said that you would delegate power to civil servants?"

Zhu Di stared and said angrily.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't take it seriously and turned to another issue.

"In fact, the conflict between imperial power and prime minister power lies in the duplication of powers between the two parties!"

"The prime minister not only has legislative and administrative power, but also decision-making power. The problem lies in this decision-making power!"

"Emperors of all dynasties have claimed to be the emperor and the true master of the dynasty. How the dynasty develops should be decided by its master. Therefore, the decision-making power should be in the hands of the emperor and the emperor, not the prime minister. This is the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister. The source of the conflict!”

"You must also understand this, dad. After the establishment of the cabinet, the decision-making power originally owned by the prime minister was firmly held in his own hands. The legislative power was distributed to the cabinet, and the administrative power was divided to the six ministries. It was split like this, right?"

Zhu Di nodded and did not deny Zhu Gaoxu's statement.

"Then the question arises. The ministers themselves have administrative power. Once they enter the cabinet, they will also have the power to discuss matters. If future generations are unworthy and there is a weak king who neglects his administration, the decision-making power will naturally fall into the hands of the cabinet. Three When power is combined into one, power will naturally come back to life!"

When Zhu Di heard this, his pupils shrank suddenly.

He finally understood what this traitor meant.

As long as the cabinet exists, the chancellor's power will surely be revived one day!

After all, there have been faint kings in every dynasty, and Zhu Di asked himself that the old Zhu family would not be an exception.

And when the faint king appears, it is the opportunity for the power of the prime minister to be born in the cabinet!

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