Jieying is a time-honored tradition in the officialdom. It is not a rule, but it has been passed down silently in the "official history" for more than two thousand years. It was still very popular until later generations came to the Ming Dynasty with their high pragmatism. market.
The so-called boundary greeting means that local officials lead their subordinates to the border of their jurisdiction to greet them.
As for who to greet, it's hard to say. Generally speaking, it must be to greet Shangguan. Moreover, Jieying is the highest standard for welcoming Shangguan. At the same time, there is no doubt that if you want to welcome the emperor, you must welcome him.
Of course, the great chariot of Gao Shidu is far less noble than the royal chariot. What a huge difference there is? However, this may not be the case for Mr. Liang Xianzun. For him, Gao Shidu's great master may be more important than his royal master.
Not to mention that in the Ming Dynasty, it was almost impossible for local officials to meet the imperial chariot. Even if they could really receive the imperial chariot, His Majesty the Emperor would not pay attention to him as a mere county magistrate. It is impossible for heaven to send him good luck to Liang County. Lord, let him rise to the top, be promoted and move to the right.
The situation is different for Gao Shidu. Liang Xianzun feels that if Gao Shidu can be satisfied, after he returns to Beijing in the future, as long as he can praise himself in front of Mr. Gao Ge, his evaluation will not necessarily be "excellent". "?
You know, Mr. Gao Ge is also the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and all the affairs of the world are in his hands! For a mere seventh-grade county magistrate, if he asks you to be promoted, you will definitely be promoted; if he asks you to be demoted, you will be demoted... Who dares to offend this? Anyway, Magistrate Liang didn’t dare.
In the officialdom of ancient China, there were the so-called three provinces and six bureaus very early on. Among them, the "three provinces" were abolished and replaced at different times, but the six bureaus have been stably maintained to this day, and the most special one among the six bureaus is the Ministry of Personnel.
According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty at this time, officials in the capital did not need to kneel down to greet their superiors, but if they met a cabinet bachelor or a minister of the Ministry of Personnel, they must kneel down to greet them.
There is a question here, why do you not need to kneel down when meeting other ministers, but you have to kneel down when meeting the official minister? Why can the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel be as special as the cabinet scholar who "does not have the name of prime minister, but has the actual status of prime minister"?
Without him, there is power.
Because of the Ministry of Personnel, it determines the future of most officials.
As mentioned earlier in this book, since the formation of the cabinet system, the cabinet began to gradually erode the power originally belonging to the six ministries (Wufeng's note: this refers to the strengthened power of the six ministries after Zhu Yuanzhang deposed the prime minister). By the Jiajing Dynasty, especially after Yan Song came to power, So far, the authority of the chief minister is at its peak. Except that he does not have the "open government", he is almost the same as the prime minister. Of course Li Chunfang may be an exception...
How serious is this erosion? Take the Ministry of War, for example. Without the consent of the cabinet, the dignified Minister of War cannot even mobilize troops. If a border army general receives an order to mobilize troops from the Ministry of War, he will not immediately execute it. Instead, he will first ask: Is there a cabinet document?
If not, then I'm really sorry, "I'm sorry that I don't dare to accept the transfer."
All in all, in short, except for the Ministry of Personnel, the power of the remaining five ministers has been greatly reduced. In the Ming Dynasty, some officials and ministers were not even willing to join the cabinet. Because if you enter the cabinet yourself, if you are ranked low, you may be promoted openly and secretly, and your actual power is not as good as the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Beijing officials face various big bosses every day, and they are not interested in senior officials. But if they are the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the officials in the capital call them Master Tianguan. This is far beyond what other ministers can achieve. Even though in name, the Ministry of Rites is number one, in terms of actual power, the Ministry of Rites is not even as good as the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The only advantage of being a minister of the Ministry of Rites is that it is relatively easy to enter the cabinet. Before joining the cabinet, many cabinet ministers will first name themselves as ministers of the Ministry of Rites, and then hold court nominations to join the cabinet - for example, Gao Gong did the same back then.
Why are the officials so powerful? Because its most important function is to assess, approve and appoint and remove officials at all levels.
According to the rules of the imperial court, the appointment and dismissal of officials below the fourth rank are decided by the Ministry of Personnel. Only officials of fourth grade or above need to consult with the Ministry of Personnel - note that they are negotiating with the Ministry of Personnel, who still have a large say.
Generally speaking, officials above the fourth rank are middle- and senior-level officials. According to the official system of the Ming Dynasty, local chief officials only had military preparations and important prefects as fourth-rank officials. In other words, those officials such as county magistrates and state magistrates are just numbers in the Ministry of Personnel. If an official offends the official, the official can retaliate reasonably within the normal scope of work.
For example, if an official is transferred to Yunnan this year and immediately transferred to Liaodong the next year - how about that? Does it feel good? Half of your one-year term has been wasted on the road! Can’t I kill you? Do you still dare to disobey? If you don't obey me, you will continue to return to Yunnan next year.
The reason why Gao Gong resigned from the Ministry of Civil Affairs several times in succession was because he had too much power: he was originally the second assistant, and Li Chunfang did not dare to take charge of affairs. He was actually in charge of the cabinet, and he was also an official. Once a minister wants to decide on the promotion or demotion of an official, even if he is above the fourth rank, it is equivalent to discussing it with himself - before, Hai Rui was the governor of Yingtian, didn't Gao Gong just transfer him after Gao Gong said he should be transferred?
That’s okay! In the eyes of outsiders who don't know the truth, isn't this just "stealing the power and blessings of others to serve oneself"? If this accusation is true, he is a traitor!
Therefore, in the past six months, Gao Gong had resigned from the post of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs three times in a row. However, the emperor refused, so there was nothing he could do. At this time, Gao Gong himself did not know that in history, in just over two years, he formally resigned from the Ministry of Civil Affairs eight times, but the emperor remained unmoved at all.
This is evident from the depth of Longqing's faith in Gao Gong.
As the so-called "prophet of spring river water warms ducks", Gao Pragmatic was in Gyeonggi, but he did not understand Gao Gong's power enough. However, Liang Wuliang, the county magistrate, was in the local area, but he had a deeper understanding of the power of his benevolent prime minister.
So, at noon that day, Gao Pangshi had just followed the Xuanhua Horse Post and crossed the border of Dingxing County when he saw a scene that surprised him.
Originally, he thought that he was "returning to his hometown to prepare for the exam" with a full two hundred cavalry, which was already a huge ostentation. Who would have expected that in terms of ostentation, it was the local officials who were even more impressive-Liang County Zun was dressed in official uniform and led Hexian County. Officials, government servants, gentry and elders, as well as extras hired from unknown sources, a total of five or six hundred people, lined up on both sides of the post road to welcome him.
Gao Pragmatic was stunned and dumbfounded.
"What the hell are you doing... I'm really just passing by!" In a voice that could not be heard by outsiders, Gao Shidu, who was well-known among the scholars in the capital for his literary reputation, cursed without grace while sitting in the carriage.
