Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 930
There are many different titles for Dao officials in Ming Dynasty, and each title has its origin.

Ke Dao refers to the internal division, which is the six divisions and the thirteen censors. The two are also called Feng Xianguan.

Going back further, Gishizhonghe Yushi can be traced back to the pre-Qin period.

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, three provinces and six ministries were established, and Gishizhong was assigned to the subordinate provinces, and began to take charge of the power of refuting, responsible for deliberating and refuting imperial edicts, and refuting Zhengbaisi's memorials. The right to supervise the six departments and one hundred divisions was derived.

The difference from Gishizhong is that the official of the censor has been the supervisor since the beginning of Qin Dynasty.

In the pre-Qin period, there was a historian who served the historian and was responsible for recording the words of the monarch and his ministers. Because he was familiar with the government for a long time and was good at collecting information, he gradually became the official position of the monarch to supervise his ministers. source of power.

In the original official system, supervisors and admonishers were set up, and the supervisor was the censor, who belonged to the censor platform, and was in charge of impeachment and picketing officials' negligence.

As for the position of admonisher, it is said that it originated from the time of Emperor Shun in ancient times. He had Naiyan and was responsible for presenting his feelings to the emperor, pointing out the faults of the emperor, and rectifying them. Discuss government affairs.

In Tang Dynasty, admonishing officials and giving affairs belonged to the same province. In Song Dynasty, a special admonishment court was set up, and its powers were further strengthened.

However, with the gradual improvement of the system, the powers of supervisors and admonishers began to invade each other. Although the admonishment court was set up in the Song Dynasty, it could prevent the prime minister from controlling the admonishment court. The admonition officers were all selected by the emperor himself, and then became a means for the emperor to check and balance the prime minister. .

As a result, supervisors and admonishers gradually merged, and there was a tendency for Taiwan and admonishers to become one.

This trend was finally established after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

When Emperor Taizu established the country, he did not distinguish between admonishers and supervisors, but set up six departments and thirteen departments, one inspected the six departments of the imperial court, and controlled the affairs of the world. To rectify and impeach all officials, to remonstrate with the emperor's power.

So this matter is difficult here.

Originally, in the Song Dynasty, the censor supervised all officials, but because it was under the jurisdiction of the prime minister, the scope of supervision included the prime minister.

In order to deal with this situation, the admonisher became independent. Although he still belonged to the prime minister, because of his power of admonition, he could control the superiors.

This kind of power, under the deliberate guidance of the emperor, was gradually used on the prime minister who was the head of a hundred officials, and became a sharp weapon in the struggle between imperial power and prime minister power.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the censor was set up to control the big with the small, and this was also the intention.

However, who would have expected that because of Hu Weiyong's case, His Majesty the Taizu withdrew the book and abolished the prime minister, making the prime minister system since Qin completely disappear.

In this way, the admonishing officer lost his goal, and the power of admonishment was naturally re-used by the emperor.

In all fairness, admonishing officials have been established since the pre-Qin period and have continued to this day. Although the names and official positions have changed a lot, the power of admonishing has always existed, which naturally has its reasons.

The emperor is not a saint, and there must be times when he makes mistakes. Therefore, the emperor also needs people who can not flatter and dare to speak the truth in front of him.

The meaning and purpose of Yushi's existence is to be able to speak out.

Even Emperor Taizu recognized this point, otherwise, his old man would not be so eloquent, always emphasizing the need to speak freely.

In this sense, it is not wrong to remonstrate with the emperor, it is wrong to only remonstrate with the emperor.

Come to think of it, this is also what the emperor said just now.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Yi spoke.

"Your Majesty, admonishing your majesty, listening to rumors, and supervising all officials is the duty of officials of science and Taoism. According to my opinion, the problem of officials now, as your majesty said, is that the supervision of all officials is not strict. The dignitaries are afraid and pay too much attention to the affairs of the Tian family, and a few people, in the name of rumors and rumors, do not know the truth and impeach them indiscriminately."

"Therefore, I think that to solve the problem, we should boost the confidence of the speech officer, maintain the power of supervision of all divisions, and not be interfered by external forces. The speech officer will exercise his power without retaliation from the powerful."

"At the same time, strengthen the assessment of the officials, allow rumors to play a role, but don't jump to conclusions based on a few words, and don't invite names to buy straight. If the affairs in the palace do not involve the court and do not violate the rules, the officials Don't use this to intentionally offend your majesty in order to get a straight name."

"Such a multi-pronged approach should be effective!"

As the head of Feng Xianguan, Chen Yi's words can only be regarded as quite satisfactory.

Even if you listen carefully, you will find that his core meaning is actually to strengthen the authority of the speaker and maintain independence. On top of this, is the restriction on the speaker.

However, upon hearing this, Wang Ao on the side frowned and shook his head, saying.

"The President's statement is a little too conservative."

"Boosting the confidence of the speech officer is of course necessary, but this is easy to say, but it will encounter many difficulties in doing it."

"How to maintain the power to monitor the [-] divisions without interference from external forces?"

"How can we guarantee that the power of the speaker will not be retaliated by the powerful?"

"Also, how to judge whether it is rumors and rumors and jumping to conclusions based on just a few words, and how to judge whether officials say things for the sake of fame or not?"

"If there are officials who still only report on the affairs of the palace, how should they be punished?"

"If these problems are not resolved, the words of the General Constitution will be empty talk!"

Zhu Qiyu sat on the throne, watching Wang Ao ask one question after another, with a smile in his eyes.

It seems that Chen Xun's impeachment of Wang Ao is not without effect.

At least, the current chief assistant has improved compared to before.

So, sometimes, bumping into a wall is not a bad thing, but it can make people more sober.

The cabinet was set up to reconcile the internal and external, and ease the direct conflict between the emperor and the foreign court, which meant that the cabinet had to face the foreign court and the emperor at the same time.

This sounds like nonsense, but the simpler the truth, the easier it is to be forgotten.

The so-called great road to simplicity is this principle.

Since it is necessary to face the foreign court and the emperor at the same time, then the cabinet should consider the responses from both sides.

When dealing with foreign courts, it is correct to try to improve one's prestige and establish one's position in the court.

But what about the emperor?

Is it just relying on a three-inch tongue?
The emperor is not a child, he can be obedient just by coaxing him.

The emperor is the emperor, the son of heaven, and the lord of the people. Whether it is the cabinet or the outer court, they are all ministers in front of the emperor.

Since you are a courtier, you should share your worries for the king.

Cabinet, especially!

Even, to put it bluntly, it is not an exaggeration to say that grace is the foundation of the cabinet.

However, what Zhu Qiyu has to say is that up to now, among the cabinet ministers, no one has really realized this.

If there is one, it may be that Chen Xun, who once served as the cabinet secretary, has a profound experience.

Perhaps, it is precisely because of this that he can most accurately hit the sore spots of the cabinet.

Many people regard Zhu Qiyu's promotion of ministers with practical experience to the cabinet as a means to suppress Qingliu.

It can only be said that it is indeed, but it is more than that!
As an emperor, Zhu Qiyu must focus on the overall situation of the court. What he does is for the sake of the court, and he will not harm other people's interests simply to suppress someone.

For the officials of the central court, the ability to reconcile internal and external can be cultivated in long-term governance, but some traits and ideas cannot be cultivated.

The reason why Zhu Qiyu has officials with local experience is because they generally have problem-solving thinking and highly operable suggestions down to the details.

This is what he asked of the cabinet.

In addition to reconciling internal and external, as a buffer zone between the emperor and the external court, the more important role of the cabinet is to prepare for consultation.

In other words, to give advice to the emperor.

The Hanlin Qingliu has plenty of talents and learning, but most of the time it is generalized, and it sounds good on paper, but in practice, it will encounter many problems.

This is the root cause.

The cabinet essentially serves the emperor, whether it is to reconcile internal and external affairs, or to draft memorials, it is essentially centered on the emperor.

However, Wang Ao has been running in the opposite direction since this period of time, thinking of expanding the status of the cabinet by wooing Qingliu officials.

This method cannot be wrong, but it violated Zhu Qiyu's original intention of promoting him.

If what Zhu Qiyu needed was a cabinet minister who could reconcile internal and external affairs by waving the flag and shouting in the Qingliu, he could just let Chen Xun come to be the chief minister. Why bother to promote Wang Ao?
The reason why he asked Wang Ao to be the chief assistant was that he had a clean background and outstanding abilities.

Therefore, it is not wrong for him to control the cabinet through cabinet meetings and voting rights, and it is not wrong to want to strengthen the cabinet's voice.

However, he failed to do what Zhu Qiyu wanted him to do. Naturally, it was inevitable that the cabinet would be left out, and even he himself would be impeached.

In the final analysis, unlike the yamen with inherent powers of the Six Ministries of the Outer Dynasty, the cabinet was promoted by the emperor Zhu Qiyu. Therefore, the cabinet must first be able to put forward its own unique opinions and help the emperor reduce the pressure on government affairs. In various complex political struggles, balance the contradictions between the inner court and the outer court.

Only when both of these are done well can the cabinet be truly stable.

Wang Ao's current performance is very good. Chen Yi's point of view just now cannot be wrong, but it is still unavoidable, a little false, and has not been implemented.

Of course, this is not because Chen Yi is not pragmatic enough, but the pragmatic means are not in line with the results he wants, so it is inconvenient to say in his capacity.

So at this time, if Zhu Qiyu came forward to raise these issues, it would be regarded as a reprimand from the emperor to his subjects, and if there was a bad quarrel, it would trigger conflicts between the monarch and his subjects.

Therefore, someone needs to be the mouthpiece to say what the emperor Zhu Qiyu is inconvenient to say.

The cabinet should be tough when it should be tough, and soft when it should be soft. If it is only between the emperor and the foreign court, it would be too disappointing for the name of the cabinet.

Facing Wang Ao's questioning, Chen Yi said calmly.

"Since it's a discussion, naturally everyone has their own opinions. If Mr. Shoufu has a different opinion, he can naturally bring it up and we can discuss it together."

What he said just now was to throw bricks and attract jade, and wanted to test the emperor's attitude.

At the court meeting before, he and Wang Wen were scrambling to admit their mistakes. In fact, they were fighting for the dominance in rectifying the officialdom.

That's right, since Chen Xun raised this point, the two of them were actually keenly aware of the hidden opportunity behind it.

It is obvious that in the end, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which is responsible for supervising all officials, has a slight advantage in this point. Specifically, it is the extra three-month salary of Chen Zongxian...

However, what Chen Yi should have expected a long time ago is that the benefits of the emperor are not so easy to get.

In particular, Ke Dao Yushi, who has not been very popular with the emperor, wants to seize this power. If he does not want to be used up and thrown away, then he must pay a certain price.

The question is, the Son of Heaven, what price does he want Ke Dao to pay?
Admonish the king?Gossip?
Before knowing the real intention of the emperor, Chen Yi can only give such vague and general answers.

Moreover, even if he figured it out, in his capacity, it was not suitable for him to give up these powers directly, otherwise, he would be the first to be impeached by the officials.

Therefore, at this time, Wang Ao stepped forward to take over the conversation, and Chen Yi was actually happy to see it succeed.

Sure enough, following closely behind, the emperor also said.

"The general constitution is right. Everyone expresses their opinions and discusses together. This is a difficult matter, so it's okay to say something wrong. Chief Assistant, you think the general constitution is too conservative. What can you do?"

Following these words, the gazes of several ministers below turned to Wang Ao.

Taking a light breath, Wang Ao bowed slightly and cupped his hands.

Undoubtedly, this is both an opportunity and a test for him. Whether it is right or wrong, he will have a better understanding of the role of the cabinet from then on.

Of course, since Wang Ao speaks out, then he will not be completely clueless. After pondering for a moment, he opened his mouth and said.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the general idea mentioned by the Chief Constitution is not a problem, but it still needs to be refined."

"Nowadays, the Daoists are paying too much attention to the Tian family. They are often admonishing and admonishing things based on rumors. It is because of His Majesty's kindness that they can't bear to speak sinners. As a result, the Daoism is rampant, and they refuse to concentrate on their work."

"Master Zongxian said that the assessment of science and ethics should be strengthened. He also said that if the affairs in the palace do not involve the court and do not violate the rules, the officials should not use this to intentionally offend the emperor. I think it is too vague and not clear enough. Being taken advantage of."

"In my opinion, if you want to solve the problem, you can start from these points."

"One thing, as the Chief Constitutional Lord said, limit the right to hear rumors and make decisions based on science and technology. Don't jump to conclusions based on just a few words."

"Secondly, if there are few remonstrances on the scientific road, you need to have something to say, and you can't just talk about righteousness and reason, and talk about military affairs on paper in order to gain fame."

"Three rules, six disciplines and thirteen ways, you should stick to your duty, take care of the court and all the officials, the affairs of the world, and the important affairs of the court, unless the lower court orders the officials to discuss them together, you should not make rash reports."

"Four things, six divisions and thirteen censors, don't use the power of remonstrance, make false comments on the emperor, and criticize the heavenly family."

"If there is something wrong with the king, and there is a mistake in the Tian family, you can report to the superior officials in Shizhong and the thirteen imperial censors, and you can play together with the names of officials such as the imperial censor of the capital, the imperial censor of the capital, and the censor of the capital. If none of the superior officials are willing to perform, only Ke Dao can perform solo."

"If it is a solo performance, it will be discussed in the court. If it is found to be false, the solo speaker must not use the rumor to play the matter as an excuse to avoid punishment. If it is found to be a real admonition to Kuang Zhengjun, the superior will be blamed for shirking his duties and dereliction of duty. .”

"This minister has a shallow view, please correct me, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)