"Your Majesty!" Xu Jie couldn't stand still, "Are the seven ministers in the cabinet a bit too much?"
The high arch behind him suddenly became alert like a furry cat.
"You think you have too few people!"
Zhu Zaijing cursed in his heart, but still said kindly, "There is strength in numbers! I want to be a promising king, but I have little virtue and few talents, so I need more efforts from the cabinet!"
If you look closely, you will see that Zhang Juzheng is the only member of the cabinet lineup who is from Xu Jie. It’s not that he dislikes the large number of people in the cabinet, he just feels that there are too many others.
Li Chunfang is a centrist and has never been involved in any party disputes in history.
Zhao Zhenji and Guo Pu were both hard-working and upright people who never formed factions. These two people had conflicts with Yan Song back then and Xu Jie after him.
But it's all business, not personal grudges.
As for Yang Bo, his prestige, qualifications, and even age are similar to those of Xu Jie. They may form an alliance, but they will never be monolithic.
Gao Gong was eager for Xu Jie to step down immediately.
Therefore, Xu Jie is worried that he cannot control the cabinet. He currently has too few people on the list.
"But... Your Majesty, I am worried that if there are too many people in the cabinet, the affairs will be complicated and too bloated. I think it is okay..."
"Then pick out a few people!"
Zhu Zaijing no longer gave Xu Jie a chance to speak and took over the right to speak, "Let's take out the youngest and most junior Zhang Juzheng. Mr. Xu Ge, can you please?"
Zhang Juzheng raised his head suddenly, looked at the emperor, and then looked at Xu Jie as if asking for help.
Zhu Zaijing walked up to Xu Jie and looked at him teasingly.
Xu Jie gritted his teeth and said reluctantly, "I think it's not necessary."
"Aren't you aggrieved?"
"I am not aggrieved!"
"Aren't you really aggrieved?"
"I'm really not wronged, Your Majesty."
Xu Jie felt what the emperor meant: Either you can only have one person, or you don't want this person anymore, you have to decide on your own.
Xu Jie's previous question was also in a roundabout way. He obviously wanted to arrange a few more of his own people, but because the cabinet was too bloated, he kicked some people out, and then arranged for his own people to join the cabinet after a while.
But Zhu Zaijing would not spoil him.
You, the largest landowner in Jiangnan, don’t do this to me.
Your role is to temporarily stabilize the cabinet until the day I want to open your big gift package.
Rumor has it that Mr. Xu Ge has 400,000 acres of land.
Hehehe, if I don’t make this little money, I’ll be sorry for myself...
Xu Jie was embarrassed to directly say that so and so should not be in the cabinet in front of the audience in the hall. Your Majesty cannot do this.
In this way, I am breaking up even before I start working.
Wouldn’t the official who was rejected by Xu Jie have to turn against him in the future and cause trouble for him everywhere?
This is the drawback of the cabinet system.
The advantage of the cabinet is that it can help the emperor share the pressure, pool his wisdom and make the most reasonable decision.
The disadvantage is that it is very easy to breed party disputes.
When the cabinet was first established, it was just a staff body with only two or three people.
Later, the power of the cabinet became more and more powerful, and the number of people also fluctuated, basically hovering between three and six people.
Moreover, cabinet members are temporary. They can come in as the emperor lets them in and take them out as they wish.
To put it bluntly, if you join the cabinet, you can discuss the memorials written below with the emperor, and you can have a say in various national affairs. If you are not in the cabinet, you can only do your own thing.
For example, if you are the Minister of Hubu, your responsibilities determine that you can only do the things of the Hubu.
And if you enter the cabinet, you can express your opinions on the matters of the other five ministries and other military and national affairs.
Moreover, the on-call nature of the cabinet means that you can see the emperor every day, and you are closer to the emperor than ordinary ministers, so it is naturally easier to obtain favors.
Therefore, entering the cabinet represents your rights, the political resources you control, your right to speak, your connections, and your prestige is almost second only to the emperor.
That's really fucking awesome.
The reason why there are so few cabinet members is that the cabinet can easily lead to party disputes.
Once you enter the cabinet, there will naturally be a large number of people who will support you, curry favor with you, and support you.
why?
Because those people in the cabinet are the spokespersons of the entire court officials.
It is impossible for the emperor to ask ministers for their opinions one by one, so the ministers in the cabinet need to speak to the emperor on behalf of the hundreds and thousands of officials below.
For example, you are an official in the south, but you can't see the emperor, and the emperor won't listen to your superiors because they are trivial.
So at this time, if there is a minister from the south in the cabinet, or even from the same province as you, should you follow his path?
Do you need to be his to gain more benefits and say?
Do you want to give him gifts, flatter him, and hope that he will say a few good things about you in front of the emperor, and maybe you will become famous?
That’s why there were so many regional parties in the late Ming Dynasty.
What about Donglin Party, Qi Party, Chu Party, Zhejiang Party, Kunming Party...
Therefore, the side effect of the cabinet is that it can easily trigger party disputes.
Because behind every cabinet member there is a force supporting him, allowing this person to eliminate dissidents and fight for power for their benefit.
The Military Aircraft Department solved this problem very well.
There are not only civilian officials in the Military Aircraft Department, but also senior military officials, clan members, nobles of the Eight Banners, and representatives of all forces.
The cabinet is all composed of civilian officials.
Then why aren't there various forces like the Military Aircraft Department?
This goes back to the beginning of the cabinet.
The cabinet at that time was just a advisory body, so its members were all erudite and knowledgeable Hanlin Academy scholars.
In the Hanlin Academy, you can hit a large number of top picks, second picks, and top picks with just one brick.
Therefore, the Hanlin Academy is full of civil servants who have been promoted through the imperial examination.
So the cabinet is all civilian officials.
Later, this became a rule, saying "non-Jinshi will not be admitted to the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin will not be admitted to the cabinet."
Didn't Emperor Zhu's family ever think about changing this situation?
Zhu Houzhao thought about it, and then he fell into the water...
He established an office outside the cabinet, from which all national affairs were given orders, directly bypassing the constraints of the cabinet, called the newspaper office.
Civil servants wrote the word "Leopard Fang" on it in the history books, and said that it was full of rare treasures, beauties and fierce beasts.
He established the Zhenguo Mansion and wanted to directly take over the military power of the northern defense line from civilian officials in order to improve the status of military personnel.
Then civil servants described the Zhenguo Mansion in history books as Zhu Houzhao's wine pool, meat forest, and a place for various eating, drinking and entertainment.
After that, Zhu Hou took care of the generals who could not help him up, so he began to train the eunuchs to fight with the civil officials.
Then Liu Jin was "rebelled".
He has no roots, wants to rebel and become emperor, and a dragon robe was found at home...
Even the drama of eunuch rebellion was used...
呲呲呲…
After that, Zhu Houzhao went directly to the battlefield in person, ran out of the capital despite being pursued by civilian officials, and went on a personal expedition, hoping to train his own generals and fight against the Mongols himself.
Then civil servants recorded in the history books that hundreds of thousands of people fought for a whole day, and more than 60 people died.
Zhu Houzhao also personally went to Jiangnan to train and promote his own people and continue to fight with them.
Then he fell into the water.
Do you feel the despair of Ming Wuzong?
Literati are the most shameless!
As long as their privileges are guaranteed, then Shiquan, who spent tens of millions of taels in Jiangnan, can be a wise king, and Zhu Houzhao, who spent hundreds of thousands of taels, can be a foolish king.
Therefore, Jiajing later disintegrated the civil servant group from within, let them fight among themselves, and acted as the referee themselves, in order to consolidate the imperial power.
And the source of all this is also to blame our Ming Dynasty God of War Zhu Qizhen.
The Tumu Fortress Incident wiped out all the prominent and influential generals and nobles in the Ming Dynasty.
The civil servant group quickly filled the power vacuum left by them, and since then they have suppressed the military generals and the noble group and never been able to rise again.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the power of the court composed of civil servants, military generals, and nobles was completely broken, and the civil servant family became dominant.
