Why did Shen Shixing insist that the new post of Prince's Attendant must go through the cabinet, and why did Long Qing insist on setting it up directly without going through the cabinet? The young prince Zhu Yijun definitely didn't understand the truth, and even Concubine Li Guifei didn't necessarily understand it completely, but Gao Pragmatic thought he could see one or two key points.
The reason why Shen Shixing's insistence was contrary to Long Qing's insistence was largely because both of them guessed that once the matter was reported to the cabinet, Gao Gong, as the cabinet's second assistant, would definitely oppose it and might act pragmatically on Gao's behalf. Spare refusal.
It's not that Gao Gong didn't want to see his nephew succeed. He was only a few years old and became an official without passing any serious scientific examinations. He was the most noble Hanlin official. But this is the custom of the Ming Dynasty. As Gao Gongjing's elder relative and third uncle, in that case, he had to resign modestly, and Gao Gongjing later had no choice but to resign.
You know, these days, even if a cabinet minister is inexplicably impeached by an official, he must submit a petition to resign, and when he submits the petition, he will "self-suspend" and wait at home for the emperor's next words. Although generally speaking, 9 out of 10 times, the emperor would issue an edict to retain him, and sometimes he would even issue an edict to scold the official at the same time. In some cases, he would be directly reprimanded, dismissed from office, or even exiled, given a stick, etc., but This gesture of the cabinet minister still needs to be made. Although this cannot be said to be a system, it is an unspoken rule that no one will violate.
The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were so obsessed with reputation that they even formed a rule that was accepted by civil servants all over the world.
Therefore, when Shen Shixing found that he could not persuade the emperor to give up this idea, he thought of this method of "saving the country through curves". However, Emperor Longqing was not a young king after all, and he could see Shen Shixing's idea, so he directly rejected this idea. Methods, on the contrary, find new ways and set up new ones for special purposes.
Gao pragmatic believes that this should be the most direct and main reason, but there is another possibility that cannot be ignored, that is, Long Qing may have complete trust in Gao Gong personally, but he may not be wary of the cabinet system itself.
This kind of vigilance is inevitable for a mature emperor, and the source of vigilance is whether the cabinet minister has really become the prime minister.
As we all know, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no prime minister since the Hu Weiyong case. Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, dismissed the Zhongshu Province in the 13th year of Hongwu on the grounds that the prime ministers of the previous dynasties had too much power. He also ordered the world: "In the future, the successor king will not be allowed to establish a prime minister. If any minister dares to petition for the appointment, the civil and military officials will immediately impeach him and impose severe punishment."
However, the prime minister does not need to be set up, but someone has to do what the prime minister does. Zhu Yuanzhang himself is a workaholic. He can take care of the prime minister's affairs by himself, but it is impossible for all subsequent emperors to do this. So at the beginning of Yongle, Emperor Zhu Dijian appointed seven people including Xie Jin and Huang Huai to serve in the Wenyuan Pavilion to prepare consultants and participate in aircraft maintenance. From this, the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty began to take shape.
After Renxuan, the development of the cabinet has continuously shown that it is inextricably linked to the prime minister system. This connection is not only reflected in the title of "prime minister" given to the cabinet's academicians, or the prime ministerial consciousness of cabinet ministers. , and more importantly, the power of the prime minister is an indispensable force in the Ming Dynasty's political system, and various manifestations of the resurrection of the dead can be vaguely seen in the cabinet.
In fact, in Gao Pragmatic's view, generally speaking, the so-called prime minister should have two requirements: he must have the power to discuss matters, and he must have the power to supervise the execution of officials. The former includes entering the palace to discuss national affairs with the emperor and make suggestions. The latter refers to the fact that after a decision is made, the prime minister supervises its execution by officials, as well as examinations, dismissals, rewards and punishments after execution.
In addition, the prime minister should also be responsible for opening a mansion and deploying subordinates. Under an autocratic monarchy, there is no office to collect and master materials. Not only is it impossible to supervise the execution of officials, but when discussing politics with the emperor, they can only talk empty words and it is impossible to put forward wise political opinions. Therefore, discussing political power, supervising the executive power of hundreds of officials, and opening the prime minister's government are the three basic prerequisites for discussing the prime ministerization of the cabinet system in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the cabinet during the Yongle period "not only relied on writing and calligraphy for merit," by the end of the Yongle era, the cabinet "had no official subordinates, could not arbitrarily control the departments, and the departments were not allowed to be responsible for their performance." The rank of cabinet ministers was no more than five ranks. Therefore, the Yongle Dynasty basically maintained the "six ministers and ministers" pattern since the 13th year of Hongwu in terms of the central auxiliary government system.
During the Renxuan period, the cabinet ministers were promoted to Sangu, with a rank from the first rank, and the official rank exceeded the Liuqing; Renzong first promoted Yang Rong, a great scholar, to be the minister of the Ministry of Industry. From then on, everyone who entered the cabinet was promoted to minister one after another, so "the cabinet position gradually became more respected".
Next, in the Yingzong Dynasty, "all the great scholars came from the Jin Dynasty, including Shangshu, Bao, and Fu. They had respected tastes and lived close to each other. They were able to express opinions and comments, and the decision-making mechanism was all drawn up by vote. The importance of cabinet power was determined by the Han and Tang Dynasty prime ministers. He is not particularly famous among the prime ministers."
The voting plan began with Renzong, but the system had not yet been formed at that time, and ministers were still ordered to discuss important political issues. Yingzong was only nine years old when he succeeded to the throne. The Empress Dowager, who was actually in charge, was unable to meet with ministers to discuss the matter, so the cabinet voting system was basically formed. "For all Chinese and foreign memorials, the (cabinet) is allowed to write in ink on a small note (to draw up opinions on how to deal with it), and paste it on each side for further review, which is called an edict." For the monarch's reference, whether to agree or disagree, it is approved with a red pen, which becomes decision making. As the saying goes, "The positions of the cabinet are the same as those of the ancient prime ministers, and they are based on the chief vote."
At the same time, the emperor continued to promote officials and titles to his close ministers. "In the days of Tianshun, Xian was the chief assistant, with Lu Yuan and Peng Shi assisting him. However, Xian was appointed the most professional." During the Hongzhi period, Qiu Jun entered the cabinet as the Minister of Rites. In the imperial succession, Xiaozong ranked Qiu Jun above Wang Shu, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. At this time, the cabinet began to surpass the six ministries in status.
In the history of Gao Pragmatic's previous life, from Jiajing to the beginning of Wanli, it was a period of cabinet status consolidation and comprehensive development. Not only did the cabinet ministers "rank above the six ministries in the court rankings", but there also appeared a number of powerful chief ministers such as Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, Yan Song, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, etc., who can all say that "although they have no The name of the prime minister actually has the position of prime minister."
For example, it is said that Zhang Cong "is in the cabinet and ranks among the six ministers to become the prime minister." Before Jiajing, the chief assistant of the cabinet presided over the vote, and all government affairs were discussed by the cabinet ministers. The chief assistant only wrote the draft. However, since Zhang Cong, the chief assistant not only presided over the vote, but also "pointed at all the officials in the cabinet and dared not resist". By".
Yan Song served in the cabinet for twenty-one years, "stealing the joy and anger of the master for the sake of power", "all the ministers inside were trapped in his cage, and they knew that Song was there but did not know that your majesty was there. The ministers outside were restrained by him, and they also knew that there was a majesty." Song didn't know that there was Your Majesty."
The above are all things that have happened in the Ming Dynasty where Gao Jingshi is currently located. In the original history, it was even more exaggerated in the early years of Wanli: Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, served as a cabinet minister for sixteen years. "The Lord", "The six ministers are waiting to explore the purpose. If the six officials are judged inferior, they will also be wary and hold their breath, and dare not make any similarities or differences." Such as it is." At this time, the cabinet had completely surpassed the six ministries in terms of power and status, just like the ancient prime minister system.
Gao Jingshi used to think that the history books underestimated Emperor Long Qing, but after these two simple contacts, especially Long Qing's performance today, Gao Jingshi suddenly felt: maybe even I have underestimated Long Qing! He was so insistent and refused to hand over the small matter of setting up new princes to accompany the princes to the cabinet. Not to mention that it could not be because he valued my high and pragmatic talents. It was probably not just because he wanted to win face for the princes, but also because he wanted to win face for the princes. Yes...he refuses to allow the power of the cabinet to be further expanded in his hands!
