What is the difference between a prime minister and a prime minister?Did Zhu Yuanzhang abolish the prime minister or prime minister system?
Prime Minister"with"Prime Minister"These two words are easy to be confused, because they are both important ministers who assist **, which can be said to be under one person and above ten thousand, but in fact they have essential differences. The prime minister is the general term for the highest administrative ** that assists the king in managing the country, and the prime minister is a specific official position, that is, the prime minister also includes the prime minister. Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the single-phase system, especially in the Ming Dynasty, but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, cabinet ministers could still be called prime ministers.
The prime minister should not be confused with **, there is an essential difference between the two.
Zai"That is, the ** who presides over government affairs"phase"That is, the assistant, which was"Assistant"with"Assistants", which was later expanded to assist the monarch in handling government affairs. As a general term for the senior ** who assists the monarch,"Prime minister"Actually than"Prime minister"much earlier, and with the reform of the bureaucratic system of the later dynasties,"Prime Minister"He also began to represent various official positions. With the reform of the official system in successive dynasties,"Prime Minister"The term has also come to mean various official positions.
Prime Minister"It can be traced back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, when the royal power was **, the hierarchy was strict, the nobles ruled together, and the nobles such as warriors and princes acted as advisers to the monarch, participated in decision-making, and assisted in the management of state affairs, which was a very common phenomenon. For example, Yin of the Shang Dynasty"Yi Yin"and the Duke of Zhou of the Western Zhou Dynasty"Dazai"can be called the prime minister"。For example, the Shang Dynasty's"Yi Yin"Yin and Western Zhou's"Dazai"Duke Zhou can be called the prime minister.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, after the collapse of the Shiqing Shilu System, the rulers of some countries began to use lower-status courtiers or scholars to manage state affairs in order to prevent the usurpation of the nobles, so various countries appeared one after another"Prime Minister"but due to the different bureaucratic systems of different countries, the names are also different. For example, Chu"phase", Song"phase", Wu"phase", Qi"phase", Han, Zhao, Wei"phase", Qin"phase"。Qi phase", Han Xiang", Zhao Xiang", Wei Xiang"and Qin's"Chief of Staff"、"Legion Commander"can be called prime ministers.
The prime minister system really arose after Qin Shi Huang unified the world, and Qin Shi Huang was established"Three Princes and Nine Secretaries"The new system implements centralized management and formally establishes the post of prime minister.
As mentioned above,"Prime Minister"It is the general name of the highest administrative ** who assists the king in supervising the affairs of the state. At the end of the Han Dynasty, it originally referred to the Ministry of Officials, Prime Ministers, and Servants, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties referred to the most advanced members of the Three Kingdoms Shu Han, and the Tang Dynasty referred to the Ministry of Officials, Yilang, Zhenzong Prime Minister, Zhenzong Criminal Department Shangshu, Military Department Shangshu, Ming Cabinet First Assistant, etc., and the Three Kingdoms Shu Han Dynasty referred to the Prime Minister. In the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty could appoint Zhongshu Shilang, the Minister of Parliament, the Left and Right Ministers, the Right Prime Minister, the Left Prime Minister, the Minister of Parliament, the Yuan Dynasty Cabinet Chief, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty (early Qing Dynasty) Prime Minister, the Military Department Shangshu, and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet as Prime Ministers.
In conclusion, from the early years of the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the prime minister system ran through most of ancient Chinese history. Unlike prime ministers, prime ministers, as a special official position, actually existed only for a short time in the Qin, Western Han, Yuan, and Ming dynasties (early period), as well as the Three Kingdoms, Eastern Jin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, and Southern Song Dynasty.
Since ancient times, imperial power and post power have been in contention. Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system.
As the saying goes:"The prime minister was the emperor's deputy"。Since there is a prime minister, the prime minister must assist the emperor in managing all military affairs, and all the ** who deal with state affairs must pass the prime minister, so the prime minister is actually the head of all **. The emperor must be in power and does not want someone strong enough to contend with him, so the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister are always in conflict with each other.
Emperors who did not want to participate in political affairs, but only wanted to have fun, did not object to the centralization of power by the prime minister and the full responsibility of the political affairs of the country. However, for the wise and martial emperors, what they needed was a prime minister who obeyed the emperor and acted according to the emperor's orders, not a prime minister who made his own decisions. Thus, although the prime minister system existed throughout the early Han Dynasty, the position of prime minister not only changed frequently, but also had very limited powers. For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty not only established Shangshutai to abolish the power of prime ministers, but also appointed 13 prime ministers during his reign, most of whom were not of high status.
Subsequently, the Sui and Tang dynasties directly divided the power of the prime minister into three and established it"Three provinces and six ministries"；The Song Dynasty further directly divided power"Officer"with"quotient", distinguish between the high and low official positions, and the Song Dynasty even directly willed"Officer"with"bits"Divided; Although the official position is noble, it is not the same as real power, and those who have real power are not always high-powered. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that power was centralized again, and the post of prime minister was established, and power was centralized.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was still in charge of hundreds of officials, set up left and right Cheng to be in charge of the government, Hu Weiyong served as prime minister, and installed a henchman to fight the opposition, and soon recalled Zhu Yuanzhang, plus Zhu Yuanzhang violated the law and discipline many times during his tenure, Hongwu 13 years (1380), Zhongshu Province was directly ordered by the emperor to abolish the six departments of Shangshu, and the court did not set up a prime minister, which further strengthened the imperial power.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the first assistant of the cabinet was the prime minister, and his power was even greater than that of the prime minister.
Although there has always been a conflict between the power of the prime minister and the emperor, the prime minister has shared a considerable amount of work while sharing the power of the emperor. After Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the prime minister system, although he further strengthened the emperor's power, it also greatly increased the emperor's workload, even a workaholic like Zhu Yuanzhang could not do everything well.
Due to the heavy work, shortly after the resignation of the prime minister in September of that year, Zhu Yuanzhang added four assistants, with Confucian Wang Ben, Du You, and Gong Yi as spring officials, Du Jiaozhi, Zhao Minwang, and Wu Yuan as summer officials, and autumn officials and winter officials as spring officials and summer officials. Later, in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), the Siqing was abolished and replaced by the Huagai Palace, the Wuying Palace, the Wenyuan Pavilion and the University East Pavilion to help them handle government affairs, which was actually the prototype of the cabinet.
After Ming Chengzu Zhu Di ascended the throne, the cabinet was formally established, and Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and others became the strategy of Wenyuan Pavilion. Under the cabinet system, cabinet ministers only have the right to debate, and the decision-making power is firmly in the hands of the emperor, and the administrative power is delegated to the six ministries, and the three local departments are also directly responsible to the six ministries. The so-called"Cabinet Minister"Busy with work from the beginning. Only in this way can the cabinet have rules to follow and rules to restrict, and the officials who should read and adjust the officials who should be transferred will not be arbitrarily divided powers"。That's what it's called"Cabinet ministers have had their own roles in their roles from the outset"。I don't even talk about things'White'At present, the cabinet only exists as the emperor's secretarial department, which is heavy but not light, and its power is greatly weakened compared to that of the prime minister of the previous dynasty.
The establishment of the cabinet system in the Ming Dynasty also contributed to a special kind of"Voting system"to ensure the smooth operation of the **. This means that whenever there is a major military or state event, the cabinet will first draw up some opinions according to the actual situation, write them on the draft ticket, and then submit them to the emperor for approval together with the cantata, a process called "The Cabinet"."Proposed Ticket"。The Emperor only had to choose one of the opinions formulated by the Cabinet as the final opinion and approve the scarlet letter answer, called"Batch red"or"Zhu Pi"。
As a result, the head of the cabinet is really only responsible for making suggestions, and the size of his power and status is ultimately only the same"Recommendations"level is recognized. However, in the period of Ming Renzong, Yang Shiqi won the trust of important ministers, because Yang Rong was the minister of the East Palace, and the two not only entered the cabinet, but also served as Shangshu, which made the cabinet also have the right to negotiate, won the trust of the emperor, and even began to have administrative power, and also had a certain decision-making power.
This situation was short-lived during the Ming Yingzong period and the Ming Xianzong period, but the general trend of the rise of the civil official group could not be reversed, until the time of the Ming Xiaozong, the ruling cabinet was revitalized, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others were not only able to enter the cabinet but also became the head of the hundred officials, enough to resist the imperial power embodied in the Zhengde period.
In the Jiajing period, Ming Shizong Zhu Houxi changed the Huagai Hall to the Zhongji Palace, and the Hongren Hall to the Jianji Palace, and the list of scholars in the palace preceded the six Shangshu, and the status of the cabinet scholars began to rise rapidly. Like Yan Song's minister Wu Yingdian in the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1542), in the more than 20 years of the ** dynasty, Yan Song finally had the decision-making power of the cabinet, and his power was completely different from that of the previous prime ministers.
Thinking that the emperor's teacher Zhang Juzheng is not only enough to influence the emperor's decision-making process, but also has a good relationship with the eunuch Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, in order to confirm, so Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, authorizes others to put forward his opinions in the game, and then uses his own"Ballot papers"It was accepted, and finally accepted the two generations of Emperor Jiajing to the Longqing Holy Festival in the early years of Wanli. In the end, the emperor accepted. That's all,"Shangshu"Ministers, Cabinet Ministers"Ballot papers", the Emperor's"Red batch"-- All this was manipulated by Zhang Juzheng, and the power of the cabinet reached its peak.
In fact, in the early days of Wanli's administration, the reform of Zhang Juzheng's cabinet made the cabinet the center of the first activity, and Zhang Juzheng, as the first assistant to the cabinet, not only had much more power than the prime minister, but also actually approached the status of the modern prime minister.
As mentioned earlier, the head of the Council of Ministers in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was actually the prime minister, who was in charge of hundreds of officials and presided over the meeting. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang actually only abolished the post of prime minister, not the entire prime minister system.