Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1917 Return to Japan ([-]) Power of the Monarch and Minister
Gao Wushi pondered and didn't answer immediately, but Liu Ping knew that as long as he didn't refuse, there was no need to worry too much.Liu Ping had known Gao Yushi for more than twenty years, and he knew that Gao Ge's usual way of thinking must be trying to find a way at this time.

Liu Ping didn't dare to urge him, lest he interrupt Mr. Gao Ge's train of thought, so he could only wait with bated breath.

Gao Wushi is really trying to find a way here.As Liu Ping knew him, he also knew Zhu Yijun very well. His Majesty the emperor was also stubborn in nature. It might be easy to persuade him if he had not made a decision, but once he had made a decision, it would be more difficult to change it.

Gao Wuzhen's current judgment is that Zhu Yijun's greed for sea trade profits will not be a temporary idea, and it should have been a long time ago, so the Royal Fleet plan he proposed now should also have taken shape, basically it is difficult to directly veto it.

Why is it so hard to veto?It's not because Gao Wushi believed that Emperor Ming's monarchy was as supreme and undeniable as some later generations believed, but whether he wanted to use "subject power" to overpower the monarchy.

Later generations often stated that the dictatorship of the monarchy in the Ming Dynasty was the highest in all dynasties. If we want to talk about this issue, we have to discuss the importance of imperial power in the Ming Dynasty compared with previous dynasties.To compare the importance of imperial power with the past, we have to discuss the relationship between imperial power and various political forces.

In the Ming Dynasty, due to Taizu’s purge of heroes and guards against foreign relatives, the political power of the Ming Dynasty was nothing more than three: imperial power, eunuch power, and ministerial power. right.

Compared with the Han and Tang Dynasties, eunuch power in the Ming Dynasty was always only a product of the extension of imperial power.What is extension?That is to say, the eunuch's power comes only from the monarch, and it changes with the monarch's replacement and likes and dislikes, and is not affected by the monarch's mediocrity and weakness.And the reason for his power is that he is only the agent that the monarch seeks to check and balance the civil servants.Therefore, once the monarch is replaced, the official power attached to the imperial power will also fall apart.

If Tianqi passed away, Wei Zhongxian and his party members who were attached to Tianqi's imperial power also collapsed.Since eunuch power is an extension of imperial power, eunuch power can never affect imperial power.As for the eunuchs abolishing the monarch that appeared in the Han and Tang Dynasties, it was impossible to happen in the Ming Dynasty.Therefore, eunuch power has no influence on the size of imperial power.

Thus, the relationship between official power and imperial power in the Ming Dynasty is not opposite, the former is only an extension of the latter, so it is not tenable to use the great power of the eunuch to demonstrate the weakness of the imperial power, or to use the weak power of the eunuch to prove the great power of the imperial power.

Among the main political forces in the Ming Dynasty, there were only imperial power, eunuch power, and minister power.Since eunuch power cannot affect the strength of imperial power, to discuss the size of the monarchy in the Ming Dynasty, we only need to look at the growth and decline between imperial power and minister power.

Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu abolished the system of assisting the prime minister for more than a thousand years.However, the abolishment of the phase does not mean that the Ming Dynasty has embarked on the road of dictatorship than the previous generation.Why?Nothing but the relationship between the power of the prime minister and the power of the emperor has never been an opposing relationship between the ebb and flow.

As Mr. Liu Zijian stated in the book "China's Turning to the Inner", the expansion of the power of the prime minister to discuss the weakness of the monarchy, or the shrinking of the power of the prime minister to discuss the tyranny of the monarchy are all based on one premise: that is, the relationship between imperial power and imperial power. The sum of the power of the imperial court is an eternal quantity, so the power of the prime minister and the monarchy are in a hostile relationship for this purpose, and the theory of dividing the imperial power by the power of the prime minister, and even checking and balancing the imperial power came into being accordingly.

However, the power of the imperial court is not eternal.The premise of using the power of the prime minister to contain the imperial power is self-defeating.Moreover, the imperial power can often increase the total court power of the prime minister and the imperial power by giving the prime minister more power, or even cultivating the prime minister himself. , Improve imperial power.

In the book "China's Turning to the Inner", there are two cases of Lv Yihao and Qin Hui to demonstrate the above point of view.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, the military power was in the hands of the generals, who were unwilling to listen to the imperial court, and Gaozong's army was only about a few thousand.Faced with such a dilemma, Emperor Gaozong's solution was to give Lu Yihao the power to intervene in the personnel and finances of the generals.

However, the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty should have no right to interfere in military, financial, and personnel affairs, and Lu Yihao gained more power than ordinary prime ministers. From the perspective of the theory that the power of the prime minister restrains the monarchy, Gaozong's power should have shrunk due to the expansion of Lu Yihao's power. .

But in fact, it was Gaozong who was able to take back the power of the generals, strengthen his control over the local area, and strengthen his own monarchy.At the beginning of Gaozong's establishment in the Southern Song Dynasty, the dilemma of only a few thousand guards was also resolved.Therefore, the so-called theory that the power of the prime minister restrains the power of the monarchy is self-defeating.It can even be said that the prime minister is just a means for the monarch to centralize power.

Take Qin Hui again as an example.Jurchen made the return of Gaozong's father's coffin and the release of her mother to the Henan region as the conditions for the Song Dynasty to contribute new coins and recognize itself as a vassal of the Jin Kingdom.Gaozong himself was willing to accept.

However, the fierce opposition from the DPRK and China, coupled with the main battle between the generals holding military power, made it difficult for Gaozong to carry out the peace talks.Gaozong's solution was to support Qin Hui as the prime minister, that is, the only prime minister.Qin Hui was then given the right to be in charge of the peace talks, so that the rest of the bureaucrats would not be able to intervene.

In addition, Qin Hui recalled the three main battle generals to the court to isolate them from the army. In addition to putting the army under the control of the court, it also erased the influence of the voice of the main battle.

All of these enabled Gaozong's wish for peace talks to be implemented, and resolved the issue of the power of generals that Gaozong was worried about Suye, so that the power of the court could be consolidated.After Qin Hui's death, these increased powers were transferred to Gaozong.

Gaozong even used the attack on the Qin family as a means of "eliminating the poisonous power of Qin Hui" to improve his image and status.However, what Qin Hui did was actually Gaozong's will.

It can be seen from this that the so-called minister of power is nothing more than an agent in the process of centralizing imperial power and a scapegoat after the consolidation of monarchy.

Furthermore, the power of the prime minister still needs to be supported by the imperial power. Although it cannot be said that the power of the prime minister is the same as the power of the eunuch, they are both extensions of the imperial power, but they still need the support of the monarchy. Therefore, it is difficult to say that the power of the prime minister restricts the power of the emperor. .

To give an example: In 1134, Gaozong asked Zhang Jun bluntly because he was puzzled: "When I discuss issues with the prime minister, as long as there is a slight disagreement, they will so easily ask for resignation. Why is that?"

Zhang Jun replied: "As long as your Majesty reveals a little bit of disagreement with the prime minister, commentators will smell which side you agree with, so they write articles to support it and attack those prime ministers who have different opinions." Under the attack of the crowd, the prime minister has no other choice but to ask to resign."

It can be seen that if the prime minister's power is not supported by the monarchy, or even if the prime minister's opinion is at odds with the monarch's, he can only resign.

To sum up, the relationship between monarchs can draw three generalizations:

First, the power of the imperial court is not a variable, so the two are not in an opposing relationship that ebbs and flows.

Second, the expansion of the prime minister's power can be a means for the monarch to centralize power, but the expansion of the prime minister's power cannot restrict the monarch's power.

Third, the power of the prime minister needs the support of the power of the monarch, so it is nonsense to say that the power of the prime minister checks and balances the power of the monarch.Therefore, it is not advisable to say that the monarchy of the Ming Dynasty was unprecedentedly expanded for more than 270 years based on the abolition of Taizu.

But at the same time, it must be admitted that after Taizu abolished his prime minister, and even during the period of Chengzu, the imperial power was indeed strengthened, and it can even be said that within a period of time, it reached the peak of monarchy in all dynasties.

However, the reason for this is not that the monarchy has lost the check and balance of the power of the prime minister, but that the emperor himself paid for his hard work day and night, which is a manifestation of his direct centralization without the need for a prime minister.This seems to give the monarch unlimited power, but in essence it is extremely dependent on the ability of the emperor himself.

Therefore, when the later emperors were lazy and lived in the deep palace for a long time, and could not be as diligent and wise as the Taizu, their control over power would naturally be greatly reduced.This explains why later generations of monarchs, especially the powers of slack monarchs such as Wanli in the original history, have never been able to restore the peak of imperial power in the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties.

This leads to a conclusion that the abolition of the prime minister in one fell swoop will not have a major impact on whether the monarchy expands or not.Therefore, the so-called relationship between ministerial power and monarchy, and even the relationship between ministerial power and absolute monarchy, should exclude the element of phase power, and only discuss the relationship between ministerial power—that is, the relationship between the power of the civil official group and the imperial power.

So let's start with decision-making.Nominally, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had the highest decision-making power, and the main manifestation was the so-called redemption.However, the emperor's order in the Ming Dynasty had to go through six ministers, and the six departments under it had the right to deny and refute, and the emperor's order must be drafted by the cabinet, otherwise it would be illegal.

Qian Mu said in "New Theory of National History": "(in the Qing Dynasty) the important orders of the emperor were issued directly by the Nanshufang Military Aircraft Department, and could be sent directly to the central government and the administrative heads of various local agencies. This was impossible in the Ming Dynasty and was illegal. of.

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty ordered that the six ministers must be issued separately, which is equivalent to the ministers of the various departments of the Executive Yuan today, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be the head of the Executive Yuan himself.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were special consultants and consultants under each Shangshu. In the six books, they had the right to refute the emperor's order. As long as they disagreed, they could return the emperor's edict intact. "

Fang Zhiyuan also said in "National Power Structure and Operation Mechanism in the Ming Dynasty": "The drafting of the emperor's edict, and the approval of the various divisions, if they are not drafted by the cabinet, are called Zhongzhi, Shouzhi, or 'internal orders. Batch'... did not comply with normal procedures."

Zhu Yongjia's "Origin and Gains and Losses of the Political System of the Ming Dynasty" also said: "If the drafting of the emperor's edict is called 'Zhongzhi', 'Shouzhi', or 'Internal Approval' without a cabinet vote, it cannot be regarded as As a statutory formal document, the issuance of the ticket is intended to become a formal and indispensable procedure in the decision-making process."

Some commentators often bring up the fact that eunuchs approved redemption every time they see the proposals, to prove that the power of ministers has little influence on decision-making.The official power is an extension of the imperial power, so it is used to discuss the dictatorship of the monarch.However, this theory is not true, because the so-called eunuchs still need to follow the system when they approve redemption, and they cannot do anything arbitrarily.

Li Bozhong's "Research on the National Decision-Making Mechanism in the Late Ming Dynasty" said: "Under normal circumstances, every chapter is played, and the supervisor of ceremonies must send it to the emperor. batch'.

The eunuch's award is different from the holy award. One is that the eunuch's approval is a common matter; the second is that it must be adjusted by the cabinet before the approval; Red; Fifth, the approval document was written next to Zhang Shu, and it was only used as a reference for the emperor to make a decision.

Among them, the cabinet adjustment is the key, so the eunuch's approval of red is also called "adjustment approval".Without the cabinet's adjustment, the eunuch's unauthorized approval of the red is considered illegal, and the six subjects can be refuted. "

It can be seen that the cabinet, that is, a part of the minister's power, plays an important role in the decision-making of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in terms of system or custom, it cannot be said that the minister's power is always weak, but the monarchy is always strong.

In addition to the influence exerted by the cabinet in decision-making, in the Ming Dynasty, whenever major military and state affairs were encountered, they all followed the tradition of "major issues must be discussed", so decisions were made through court discussions.This point can be seen from the "Terial Discussions on Major Events" recorded in the "Six Sections" of Ming History Official Records.

The so-called "major events" actually include the following matters: [-]. discussing the establishment of a monarch; [-]. discussing suburban sacrifices; [-]. discussing ceremonies;

The court discussion system was established in the early Ming Dynasty. The monarch personally presided over and discussed with the officials when encountering major issues. At this time, the decision-making power was dominated by the monarch, but the authority of the officials could also play a certain role in the decision-making.

In the Yingzong period (especially in the early days), because the emperor lived in the deep palace for a long time, the imperial court meeting was presided over by ministers, and it has become a custom since then.Most of the major military and state affairs are decided by the court.

In "On the Restriction of the Monarchy by the Ancient Chinese Court Discussion System", the statistics of the court discussion:

"Ming Hui Yao, Volume 45, "Ji Yi" contains a total of 101 court discussions (except for the reconsideration of one matter and the content of the court discussion system), of which 13 were rejected by the monarch or not reported (not implemented by the next department) .

这13项中，最多的是宗庙、典礼两项。廷议宗庙事有14次，其中5次被否决(含不报2次)；典礼共11事，其中2次被否决。君主否决廷议的件次占廷议总数的比例是12.00%左右。”

From this point of view, the court meeting did have a great influence on the decision-making of military affairs.And this influence, on the whole, is still in the hands of civil servants and ministers.Even if the monarch occasionally vetoes the court, it is mainly about the affairs of the ancestral temple, in other words, it is an internal matter of the royal family.In this way, how can it be explained that the acting monarch is dictatorial in decision-making?
Now that we are talking about the court discussion, we should go on to talk about the system of court recommendation, that is, the item of "discussing ministers" in the court meeting, so as to discuss the use of human rights by the monarchs in the Ming Dynasty.

What is Tingtui?That is to say, the system of briefing and selecting important officials in the Ming Dynasty, in which the courtiers jointly decided on the candidates for senior officials.

"History of the Ming Dynasty" explains the system of court promotion in this way: "Cabinet scholars and official ministers are promoted by the court or given special orders. Below the minister and sacrifice wine, the official department will cooperate with the court above the third rank. Taichangqing and below, the Ministry recommends. Officials under Tong and Shen are elected at the Hongzhengmen meeting. Zhan affairs are handled by the cabinet, and each yamen is in the palm of their hands. Among foreign officials, only the governor and the Futing are pushed, and the nine ministers are in charge, and the official department is in charge. There are no officials in the bureau, and the three grades and above The official will."

However, whenever this point is discussed, there will always be those who insist on the so-called dictatorship of the Ming Dynasty, claiming that the final decision-making power of Ting Tui is still in the hands of the emperor, so Ting Tui is only a reference for the emperor, a tool for the emperor's rule, and used by the monarch There is no violation of human rights.

However, if we look closely at the role of the monarch in the court push, even though the nominal decision-making power is still in the hands of the monarch, when we look at the actual operation, we will find that the emperor will still follow the result of the court push.

It is recorded in volume 101 of "Shizong Shilu": "The imperial edict has since been promoted by ministers, and only those who share the opinions can be heard. If the interviews are distorted for a while, Xu Ke Taoist officials will correct them."

Sometimes the emperor does not follow the results of the positive recommendation—that is, the official list of candidates listed in front of the roster according to their talents, qualifications, prestige, etc., but chooses to be accompanied by candidates, that is, the latter is listed on the roster, often It will also be condemned by the officials, and the person concerned will refuse to accept the official position, so as not to become a target of public criticism.

"History of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 233 "Wang Zongmu Biography Attached to Wang Shixing" records: "Henan is short of a governor, the court promoted the first kingdom, (king) Shixing is second, and the emperor specially uses Shixing. .”

Such a thing is not an exception in the Ariake generation.

Just as Liu Yulong said in "A Probe into the Ting Tui System of Civilian Ministers in the Ming Dynasty": "(Ting Tui) is a minister who is initially brewed by the Ministry of Officials, and then discussed at a meeting of court ministers. The members of the ministers are selected for the emperor's choice.

This objectively restricted the unprecedented expansion of imperial power at that time.Whenever the emperor violated the rules and appointed ministers, scholar-bureaucrats who took the maintenance of the feudal dynasty system as their own responsibility would stand up and resist with generous speeches.

At the beginning of Jiajing period, Emperor Shizong appointed Xi Shu, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, as Minister of Rites with a special decree, and the courtiers used Xi Shu not to be used by the court, and handed over rules to lure him, forcing him to resign his new order repeatedly.

On the eve of the 19th year of Wanli, Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei entered the cabinet under a special decree, and Lu Guangzu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, wrote a letter. .Due to the large number of opponents and the fierce resistance, Shenzong was forced to say that he was "not a follow-up example". "

Interestingly, it was this function of dividing the imperial power that caused the rulers of the Qing Dynasty to comment angrily: "Jian Guan was pushed by the court, which is actually a poor government in the Ming Dynasty." .

In this way, the so-called court recommendation is only a reference for the emperor to employ people, and does not affect the theory of dictatorship of the monarch, so it will be self-defeating.And the influence of ministers in national decision-making is also obvious.
-
Thanks to the book friend "Cao Mianzi" for the reward support and monthly ticket support, thank you!

PS: You can see today after reading this book, and you must have discovered that, from my writing style, once I start writing "theory", it will inevitably mean that the direction of the plot will change.This chapter and the next chapter will be the theoretical foreshadowing before the subtle changes in the relationship between Gao Yushi and Zhu Yijun.Some of the issues mentioned in these two chapters are also the follow-up test of high-level practical conduct and governance capabilities. You can wait and see.

(End of this chapter)