I watched Er Chuang’s short video, and everything went numb!

The Great Ming Taizu plane.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted in his heart, and a look of disdain flashed in his eyes.

What do you mean by sharing the world with the literati? Only those weak and incompetent emperors of the Song Dynasty would allow the ministers below to be so rampant.

In his Great Ming Dynasty, who among the ministers below dared to say to him "I want to share the world with him"?

……

[During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the three-province and six-department system was established and improved. ]

[While this system effectively helped the emperor to govern the country, it also made the prime minister who led the three provinces and six departments the ultimate dream position for a scholar who was qualified to share power with the emperor. ]

[In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the position of prime minister with the BUFF of the founding emperor and his innate enthusiasm for work. ]

……

"Abolish the prime minister?"

Many emperors were shocked in the many dynasties before the Great Ming plane.

The prime minister system originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was later formally established as a political system in the Qin Dynasty.

In ancient times, the prime minister was often called "under one person and above ten thousand people". This person refers to the emperor, because the prime minister is a general term for the highest administrative official second only to the emperor. It is not a specific official title.

The specific official title will vary according to different dynasties, such as Xiangguo, Chancellor, Dasitu, Shizhong, Zhongshu Ling, Shangshu Ling, Zhongshu Sheren, Tongpingzhangshi, etc.

Until the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister had existed for more than a thousand years.

It can be said that it is an extremely important part of the Chinese dynasty system.

Even in the minds of the ancients of various dynasties before the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister was an indispensable member of the ancient Chinese dynasties.

I didn't expect that the founding lord of the Ming Dynasty actually abolished the prime minister.

How could this not shock the ancients?

……

The plane of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin's eyes were filled with thought.

He could understand the practice of the later Ming rulers abolishing the prime minister.

After all, the existence of prime minister power would affect the concentration of imperial power.

But the problem is that abolishing the prime minister would lead to many problems.

For example, in the absence of a prime minister, the emperor would have to handle all matters alone, and all matters, big or small, would have to be decided by the emperor himself.

Not only would the emperor be overworked, but if the emperor was less capable, he would most likely bring down a country.

And.

Although as an emperor, he naturally did not like anyone to restrict the imperial power and naturally wanted to monopolize power.

But from a rational point of view, Li Shimin felt that the existence of the prime minister could prevent the emperor from abusing and abusing power to a certain extent.

When the emperor's personal ability was poor, this was of great significance.

Therefore.

Li Shimin did not fully agree with Zhu Yuanzhang's practice of abolishing the prime minister.

……

Many other dynasties before the Ming Dynasty.

Many emperors were shocked and had different opinions on this matter.

Some agree, some disagree.

……

[However, the power of the prime minister itself was not abolished in the Ming Dynasty. ]

[20 years later, Zhu Di, the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the cabinet as an office. ]

[Although Zhu Di also made many restrictions on the rank and authority of cabinet members, it is a pity that his ideas are rich, but his blood is very thin. ]

[Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there are Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty who had never seen the teacher of the East Palace at the age of 12, Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty who had not read for a few days at the age of 36, and Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Youxiao, an outstanding carpenter who was said to be illiterate at the age of 15. ]

[Of course, there is also Emperor Jiajing, the Leiyang Miaofei Xuanzhenjun of Lingxiao Shangqingtong, who has not attended court for more than 20 years. ]

……

The plane of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Zhanji looked at the giant screen in the sky, and their faces became slightly ugly.

Although they had learned about these strange emperors of the Ming Dynasty in the previous videos.

But seeing them again at this time, the three of them were still very angry.

"A bunch of bastards!"

Zhu Di snorted in his heart.

...

[The decline in the emperor's governing ability and working hours will inevitably lead to the rise of the power of the cabinet. ]

[Soon, this group of university scholars who used to be only fifth-rank began to work part-time as ministers of various ministries, and even got the top titles of first-rank officials such as Tai Shi, Tai Bao, and Tai Fu. ]

[The office location was also moved from Wenyuan Pavilion next to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to the Hanlin Academy outside the Forbidden City and next to the six ministries. 】

[The chief minister of the cabinet also changed from a secretary who drafted documents for the emperor to an actual prime minister who drafted documents "for" the emperor. 】

[Among them, the outstanding representative is Zhang Juzheng. If you say he is not a prime minister, Zhang Taiyue will raise his hand and slap you, and ask you to ask the emperor what he calls him. 】

The barrage flew out:

"Zhang Juzheng: What prime minister? You should think about it again"

"Zhang Juzheng's power is much greater than that of the prime minister. He is a powerful minister."

"Zhang Juzheng himself said that I am not a prime minister, but a regent!"

"..."

The plane of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.

He abolished the prime minister because he wanted to abolish the power of the prime minister and strengthen the imperial power.

I didn't expect that Zhu Di would set up a cabinet, and such a powerful minister would appear in later generations.

"I am not a prime minister, but a regent!" This sentence seemed to Zhu Yuanzhang to be extremely outrageous.

What does "regent" mean?

"The regent is the one who carries out the emperor's politics", which means handling state affairs on behalf of the monarch.

This is even more excessive than being a prime minister.

And the emergence of this situation also means that the system he had painstakingly built has been broken.

You must know that after he abolished the prime minister and delegated the prime minister's power to the six ministries, he also established six departments of the six ministries to specifically supervise the six ministries.

Although the six departments of the six departments were only small sevenHe was a low-ranking official, but he had great power.

If he felt that the decrees of the six ministers were wrong, he could just return them and change them until he was satisfied.

Therefore, the six ministers were very cautious every time they dealt with these officials, fearing that they would catch them.

It was through such a system that Zhu Yuanzhang built a complete power supervision system while concentrating the imperial power.

However.

Zhang Juzheng's words "I am not a prime minister, but a regent!" undoubtedly represented that Zhu Yuanzhang's designs had failed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally very angry about this.

……

[The Qing Dynasty was a regime established by ethnic minorities. Due to practical needs, the Manchus retained almost all Ming Dynasty official positions after entering the pass. ]

[The cabinet system was inherited by the Qing Dynasty. ]

[Under the cabinet framework, the government's official documents were called "Tizou Benzhang". 】

【Officials want to report something to the emperor, and they have to write it and pass it up level by level, and finally receive it by the cabinet. 】

【That's right, the address of the official documents submitted to the emperor must be the cabinet duty room. 】

【After the cabinet signs and receives it, it will not be forwarded directly to the emperor, but will give its own preliminary opinions before handing it over to the emperor. This is called a draft. 】

【Faced with the cabinet's handling plan, the emperor has the power to nod, shake his head, or neither nod nor shake his head, corresponding to the fixed options of approval, opposition, and retention, but cannot speak up and propose specific revisions. 】

【Those who know this are the emperor's approval of the cabinet's draft, and those who don't know it may think that the emperor is playing "Fallout". 】

【This way of playing may be suitable for those dead emperors in the Ming Dynasty, but it is a disaster for an emperor like Kangxi who is energetic and power-hungry. 】

The barrage flew out:

"This is not quite right. When the emperor objects, he can write down his own opinions and ask the cabinet to change its original opinions."

"Reply - But if the cabinet disagrees with the emperor's plan, it can also seal it back and indicate that it will not change it."

"Reply - If the cabinet does this, what else can the emperor do?"

"Reply - Return it to the cabinet for further discussion. If the cabinet continues to disagree, it will easily lead to a stalemate."

"Reply - In fact, according to the system design, the cabinet only has the right to make suggestions on state affairs, and the decision-making power is still in the hands of the emperor. The cabinet cannot force The emperor agreed with his own opinion, but he could force the cabinet to accept his own opinion. "

"Reply - It's not that simple. Cabinet members can use retirement to resist, and everyone resigns together, leaving a mess for the emperor to clean up. The radical ones may even die in the court, making the emperor a tyrant and infamous in history books and word of mouth. "

"Reply - Yes, the emperor also had concerns. The dispute over the great ceremony during the Jiajing period lasted for more than three years, and finally Jiajing achieved his goal. "

"Reply - So later, in order to fight against the cabinet, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty introduced eunuchs,Let the eunuchs review memorials and drafts on his behalf."

"..."

The plane of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

He hated the eunuchs' interference in politics even more. (To read the novels of Baoshuang, go to Feilu Novel Network!)

Skipping this matter, Zhu Yuanzhang began to think about the cabinet system created by Zhu Di.

From the perspective of system design, if the emperor has enough ability and can work hard, the problem is not big.

But if the emperor does not have enough ability, or is unwilling to spend so much energy to deal with the suggestions of the cabinet, most of the time the suggestions of the cabinet will be approved.

In this case, the suggestions of the cabinet actually become decisions in disguise, and the power of the cabinet will become greater and greater.

But unfortunately, many strange emperors appeared in the Ming Dynasty in later generations.[]

Zhu Yuanzhang He shook his head and sighed in his heart.

…

[In addition to the cabinet, the Qing Dynasty also had a group of ministers who had no legal status but had a high status in the Eight Banners system. ]

[These ministers directly managed many affairs of the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners. ]

[In the early Qing Dynasty, the Council of Ministers was the actual highest decision-making body of the Qing court. ]

[Faced with the problems of limited information channels and many relatives and important ministers who could discuss politics, Kangxi made many groundbreaking measures. ]

[For example, he invented the memorial and authorized several of his trusted officials, such as Cao Yin, the legendary grandfather of Cao Xueqin, the Jiangning Weaving Factory, so that they could directly report to the emperor. ]

The barrage flew out:

"Isn't the memorial claimed to have been made in the thirteenth year of Shunzhi?"

"Reply-No real objects from the Shunzhi period have been found, so the historical community has doubts about this. ”

“Reply - The earliest memorial discovered so far is the "Memorial to Thank the Emperor for His Grace and Asking for Peace" by Grand Secretary Yisan'a on February 27, the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, so it is generally believed to have appeared during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. ”

“It should be said that the invention of memorials is beneficial to the emperor.”

“Reply - Of course, memorials cannot be sent directly to the emperor. They must first be sent to the cabinet for review and approval before being presented to the emperor for decision. This is time-consuming and prone to leaks, which is not conducive to the strengthening of imperial power. Memorials are different. They are sent to the palace by special people and directly to the emperor. ”

“…”

The plane of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Che’s eyes were full of thought.

He thought this memorial system was quite good.

It was sent directly to the palace without going through any organization or individual, which was fast and confidential.

It also allowed the emperor to obtain a lot of information alone, which was conducive to the emperor making better decisions and controlling the officials below.

Liu Che felt that the Han Dynasty could learn from this system.

What Liu Che didn’t know was that a similar system had already existed in the Han Dynasty.

In the time of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, in order to fight against Huo Guang, who monopolized power, Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty recruited officials and people from the early Han Dynasty.On the basis of the memorial system, the system of memorializing was created.

The so-called "sealed memorial" means secret memorial, that is, the memorial submitted to the emperor is sealed to achieve the purpose of secret memorialization.

No one knows the content except the drafter and the emperor who reviews it.

In addition, the submitted memorial must be written by the person submitting the memorial himself, and no one else can write it on his behalf. If violated, the person submitting the memorial will be severely punished.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Ai of Han, Shi Dan, who was the Grand Marshal, was impeached for disrespect and removed from his title and official position because of violating this rule.

Therefore.

If we really want to trace the origin, then the "memorial system" created by the Qing Dynasty is actually not original.

……

[If it is said that in the past, the memorials had to be submitted step by step, with copies left at each level and turned into public reports, similar to mass emails, then starting from the Kangxi Dynasty, the emperor could send WeChat to his confidants. 】

[The reason why there are so many funny memorials received by the Qing emperors and the funny replies given by the emperors on the Internet is that memorials are not official documents, but private chats between the emperors and their close subordinates. 】

……

Accompanied by white subtitles.

A group of funny memorial replies by Yongzheng appeared on the giant screen in the sky.

[Intimate and mushy: "You are really tired. Not only me, but also Prince Yi feels sorry for you and cries. Amitabha, what a dangerous situation!"]

[Full of gay love: "I have witnessed your true feelings. I miss you very much!" (Replying to Nian Gengyao)]

[Overjoyed: "Good, good! Only a stupid emperor would be unhappy to see such things!"]

[Mean and sarcastic: "Give you more rewards so that you can get close to the powerful."]

[Threatening and abusive: "Tu Lichen is the one who arrested your brother in Guangdong. Ask him to come and catch him!"]

[True nature: "I am such a man! Such a character! Such an emperor! If you ministers don't let me down, I won't let you down either. Try your best!"]

[True character: "Li Zhiying is not a human being, what a joke! What a joke! I laughed so hard when I heard the oral instructions, what a warrior!"]

[Qiong Yao love words: "I can be happy with you, laugh with you, get angry with you, feel ashamed with you, feel grateful with you, and get angry with you. I never say one thing and mean another."]

[……]

……

In many dynasties before the Yongzheng plane of the Qing Dynasty, many ancient people were stunned when they saw these replies to the memorials.

(Well done) They felt that these replies were too down-to-earth, and they really didn't look like the replies of an emperor approving his ministers' memorials.

Especially many ancient common people, it was even more unbelievable.

In their hearts, the emperor was a true dragon emperor who was high above and extremely sacred.

But the memorials and replies on the giant screen directly shattered the filter that these ancient people had for the emperor.

If it were not said in advance that these contents were a criticism of the emperor,The contents of the memorials, they would never associate them in this direction.

……

The plane of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin said with a smile:

"This person is really true to his nature."

Hearing this, Changsun Wuji and other officials of the Tang Dynasty also laughed and agreed.

These memorial replies are indeed interesting.

……

[Memorials not only improve the speed and confidentiality of officials' reporting to their superiors, but also greatly broaden the emperor's sources of information, making it difficult for officials to know what information the emperor actually has? ]

[Yongzheng went through more than ten years of nine dragons fighting for the throne before he succeeded to the throne with difficulty. At the same time, he also faced the constraints of the princes of the Council of State. ]

[Therefore, except for his thirteenth brother, Prince Yi Yinxiang, who later became the executive vice emperor of the Yongzheng Dynasty, he did not trust any of the clan ministers. ]

[In order to ensure control of the government, Yongzheng approved the right to submit memorials in large quantities after he ascended the throne. 】

【In addition, he also required that memorials must be written by the officials themselves, not to mention the staff, even his son could not replace him. 】

【Then, a new or old problem came. 】

【Kangxi received about 8,000 or 9,000 memorials submitted by more than 100 people every year. Both numbers increased 10 times during the Yongzheng period. 】

【Yongzheng had to review hundreds of memorials every day. 】

【He was a workaholic, but model workers also had to eat and sleep. 】

……

See here.

Many ancient people in all dynasties realized what the real problem was.

That is, the number of memorials is too large, and manpower is limited.

With so many memorials, Yongzheng could not handle them all even if he worked all night.

So, either reduce the efficiency of reviewing and replying to memorials, or find someone to help. .