The development of the secret service agencies in the Ming Dynasty showed an intensifying trend.
From the royal guards to the factory guard system in the middle and later periods, various spy agencies continued to emerge, which reflected the emperor's control of power and his distrust of his ministers.
In the later stages of Jin Yiwei's development, the organization became bloated and the number of personnel was large. It became a breeding ground for the children of powerful people to provide for their retirement, and it spawned countless corruptions. In the later stages of Jin Yiwei's development, without connections, he would always be just a spy, and he could not even do Xiaoqi.
But things are different now. The Jinyi Guards have not been established for a long time. There are no relatives of the emperor who are lying down inside. They are all healthy soldiers in the army who are innocent. Anyone with a little stain in life will not be able to enter the Jinyi Guards.
Jiang Wei was born in a poor family and was not very lucky. He was not in time to conquer the country. Later he joined the army as a soldier and did not have many opportunities to fight, so he accumulated military achievements very slowly.
Later, the superior set up the Jinyiwei and selected able-bodied soldiers from the army to enter. Jiang Yu was selected because of his innocence and became a young warrior under the Jinyiwei. After three years of hard work, he climbed to the seventh rank of Xiaoqi.
At this rate, without the help of noble people or great opportunities, Jiang Yu's life trajectory can be imagined to be poor. If he could reach a thousand households, it would be smoke from his ancestral graves.
Jiang Wei was not willing to do this. He had a deep fascination with power and status. When he received the task of monitoring the residence of Duke Liang, he realized that the opportunity to change his destiny had arrived.
Who is Duke Liang? He is one of the top few people in the court. Normally, when Jin Yiwei sees Duke Liang, they have to kneel down and salute to show their respect. Such a big fish is currently included in the key surveillance group. What does it mean?
Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, except for the current emperor, who would dare to issue such an order to monitor a duke? Even Mao Xiang would not dare to make the decision without authorization.
Jiang Wei realized that this was an opportunity to make a comeback. If he missed it, he would probably never have the opportunity to rise to prominence in the future, so he made a lot of preparations. In the end, his hard work paid off and he successfully entered Mao Xiang's field of vision.
In this era, entering the leader's field of vision is more important than working hard. Jiang Wei is convinced that as long as his name is remembered by Mao Xiang, there will be a time when he will stand out.
Now, the opportunity has come!
When Jiang Wei learned that he had been summoned, he understood that the time to change his destiny had arrived. As long as he grasped it, his future status would definitely be extraordinary.
With excitement and nervousness, he walked into Mao Xiang's hall. When he walked out again, his face was already more solemn.
This task is not easy. If you do it well, you will rise to great heights. If you don't do it well, you will most likely come back without having to worry about it.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yu suppressed his nervous and gradually excited mood, smiled sarcastically, and rode out of the city.
…
In the wide courtyard in front of Fengtian Hall, to the east, you can see a building covered with green glazed tiles, called Wenhua Hall.
The Wenhua Hall is generally used as an office for the Crown Prince to handle government affairs. There are 72 door nails on the door.
After Zhu Di took charge of the East Palace, Wenhua Hall became the place where he handled government affairs. Now it is natural that officials from the six ministries are summoned here.
The handling of government affairs has always been a troublesome matter. The handling of every matter is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, so we cannot be careless.
But since the prime minister system was abolished, matters that should have been handled by the courtiers are now backlogged on the emperor and the prince. There are many government affairs, which is tiring.
Zhu Di had been dealing with it here for a long time, which took him an entire afternoon. When he saw it, there were still piles of memorials next to him. He complained endlessly and felt depressed, so he went out for a walk, and then he met Mao Xiang.
Now His Majesty asked him to work with the six ministries to find a way to avoid slapping his father in the face and reduce the pressure of handling government affairs. This matter is not very simple, but Zhu Di is also in urgent need of help at this moment.
"These adults are all the pillars of the Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, there are many government affairs. I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Zhu Di got straight to the point and was too lazy to talk around with these ministers. Everyone was a fox for thousands of years, and they were best at trying to figure out what was going on. Therefore, as soon as Zhu Di opened his mouth, they knew what to do, which was to find someone to help handle government affairs.
It's just that this title needs to be set up cleverly. His Majesty has already abolished the prime minister system before, and the six ministries are directly under the control of the emperor. If a system similar to the prime minister is introduced again, it will undoubtedly be a slap in the face of his majesty.
Zhan Hui thought deeply, assisting in handling government affairs is a good job, and it can make him look good in front of His Highness. In the future, after His Highness succeeds to the throne, he will follow the ministers who handle government affairs, and his status will naturally increase; in addition, he will do things in front of His Highness all the year round. , other courtiers will give him some face, and his status will be respected a lot invisibly.
But the troublesome thing now is how to bypass the Prime Minister's level, even if it is similar, otherwise the officials will know what they will think behind the scenes, which will definitely damage His Majesty's face.
Before he could think of a method, Yang Jing, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, took the lead in speaking: "Your Highness, I have heard that during the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Your Majesty appointed four auxiliary officers to assist in handling government affairs. At that time, he appointed Wang Ben, Gong Ji, and Du You. , Zhao Minwang, Wu Yuan and others made suggestions and negotiated political affairs, but these people were limited in ability and could not satisfy His Majesty, so they were dismissed."
The system of four auxiliary officials mentioned by Yang Jing was a position established by Zhu Yuanzhang to assist in handling government affairs after he dismissed the prime minister. The officials selected were basically elderly Confucian scholars, each in their seventies or eighties, with good character and kindness. He is dedicated to studying, but unfortunately he has no experience in handling government affairs and his ability is also flawed.
Just one year and ten months later, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the position of the Fourth Auxiliary Officer and instead used Hanlin Academy bachelors to assist in handling government affairs. Until now, there has been no specific regulations.
Listening to Yang Jing's old story mentioned again this time, others also understood that what His Majesty needs is probably something similar to the Fourth Auxiliary Officer. Although the two matters have something in common, they are still very troublesome to deal with. We can't set up another Fourth Auxiliary Officer. Officer, isn’t this repeating the same mistakes?
Zhan Hui, who had been in the officialdom for a long time, was inspired by Yang Jing, the fourth auxiliary officer. After thinking for a while, he said: "Your Highness, the position of the fourth auxiliary officer established by your majesty was an extremely great idea, but it was only limited by the suggestions of the courtiers at the time. As a result, the officials selected among the four auxiliary officials are all old and weak Confucian scholars in their octogenarian years. Although these Confucian scholars are upright and knowledgeable, they have no experience in handling government affairs, and their experience and energy are not enough to help handle it. Therefore, His Majesty had to abolish the fourth auxiliary officer.
In my humble opinion, similar positions may be set up, but the ministers who enter them can be selected from the Six Ministries or the Hanlin Academy to consult on state affairs. "
Yan Zhenzhi, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, has always disliked Zhan Hui's meandering temperament. Most of what he said was useless nonsense. Only the last sentence was of some use. Unfortunately, it was only superficial and there was nothing to adopt. specific method.
However, he could understand Zhan Hui's approach. The banning of the fourth auxiliary officer's position proved that it had great limitations. Some of the problems were still things that the ministers could not express clearly. Using the fourth auxiliary officer as the blueprint for the idea, If you modify it, you can create new methods.
But who should open this topic, how to open it, and how to satisfy His Majesty are not simple matters.
Thinking of this, Yan Zhenzhi decided to start from Zhan Hui's words, and slowly figured out that at least the pot that was spoken first could not be carried on his back. After thinking for a moment, he said: "Master Zhan's method does have merit. It’s just that it’s not advisable to only select from the Six Ministries and the Hanlin Academy, based on my humble opinion.”
…
