Hu Weiyong's suspicious case reveals the reasons for the abolition of the prime minister system
In Chinese history, the prime minister has always been the representative of the highest chief executive, "zai" has the meaning of control, "xiang" has the meaning of auxiliary, as early as the Shang Dynasty, but the official names and terms of authority of each dynasty are different.
However, the prime minister system lasted for more than a thousand years, until Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, abolished the system after the Hu Weiyong case. So, why did Zhu Yuanzhang abolish the prime minister system?
This needs to start with the case of Hu Weiyong, the first of the four major cases of Hongwu. Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang, a native of Dingyuan, Haozhou, were the first prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and they were both fellow villagers. With the help of Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong started from the county magistrate and struggled in the officialdom for more than ten years.
Although his career is thriving, he failed to be knighted because his qualifications are too shallow and he is not a celebrity around Zhu Yuanzhang. However, when Zhu Yuanzhang was a meritorious hero, he got the position of governor of the government.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set up the left and right prime ministers, Pingzhang political affairs, left and right ministers, and governors in Zhongshu Province, among which the governor was the prime minister's assistant, and Li Shanchang obviously wanted to cultivate him as his own ** person.
The history of Hu Weiyong and Zhu Yuanzhang tells the story of Zhu Yuanzhang's founding heroes who purged and threatened him, and Hu Weiyong was Li Shanchang's confidant and was able to stay safe and sound.
Before Li Shanchang stepped down, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Bowen for advice on the choice of prime minister, and Liu Bowen was opposed to this, but his words did not change the fact that Hu Weiyong became prime minister.
The reason is that although Li Shanchang is retired, his influence is still there. And Hu Weiyong's ascension also caused Liu Bowen's dissatisfaction, causing Liu Bowen to suddenly worsen and die when he was seriously ill.
During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Li Shanchang once recommended Hu Weiyong, so that he could be promoted to the right man. Wang Guangyang, who originally served as Prime Minister Zuo, was assigned to Guangdong by Zhu Yuanzhang because he had no achievements, and Hu Weiyong took over his position.
After Hu Weiyong gained power, he monopolized power, and any major decisions had to be reviewed by him, and if there was anything unfavorable to him, he would be detained. In the tenth year of Hongwu, Wang Guangyang returned to the capital and served as prime minister with Hu Weiyong, but he did not stop Hu Weiyong's arbitrariness.
Soon after, the tribute incident broke out in the Champa State, and Hu Weiyong and Wang Guangyang concealed the matter from the imperial court. This matter was finally exposed by Cheng Tujie in the imperial history, and Wang Guangyang could not explain clearly under Zhu Yuanzhang's questioning, and was reprimanded by Zhu Yuanzhang as a "corpse vegetarian meal" and relegated to Hainan.
On the way to Hainan, Zhu Yuanzhang added another crime to him and finally died. Although Hu Weiyong escaped for the time being, his fate was already sealed.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong's hometown old house suddenly gushed out of the well, and people regarded this as an auspicious omen. Hu Weiyong was overjoyed and invited Zhu Yuanzhang to watch.
However, when Zhu Yuanzhang walked to Xihua Gate, an accident happened. Yun Qi, the eunuch guarding the Xihua Gate, had long known about Hu Weiyong's conspiracy, and he stopped Zhu Yuanzhang's advance and pointed to Hu Weiyong's mansion.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that something was wrong and climbed the palace wall. I saw that the sky above Hu Weiyong's house was dusty, and there were soldiers hiding in the wall. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and immediately ordered Hu Weiyong to be arrested, and he was executed on the same day, without even having a chance to defend himself.
In the twenty-third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang released the "Record of the Traitorous Party" and executed Hu Weiyong's fellow party founders Li Shanchang and Lu Zhongheng. In more than 10 years, Hu Weiyong's case caused more than 30,000 deaths, becoming the first of the four major Hongwu cases.
What is the secret behind Zhu Yuanzhang's abolition of the prime minister system? What is the historical truth? The ins and outs of Hu Weiyong's case can't help but be reminiscent of "Zheng Boke Duan Yuyan" in "Spring and Autumn", in order to maintain the stability of the country, Zheng Zhuanggong deliberately indulged his younger brother Duan's wanton behavior, and only eradicated it in one fell swoop when he could not control it.
Hu Weiyong is brilliant and has served as prime minister for a long time, and the contradiction between him and Zhu Yuanzhang, who has a strong desire for power, has gradually escalated. In the end, Hu Weiyong was sentenced by Zhu Yuanzhang for treason.
However, regarding the record of Hu Weiyong's case, there are many conflicts in the historical books of the Ming Dynasty, and the historiography has always questioned this. Some people believe that Hu Weiyong's case is just an excuse made by Zhu Yuanzhang to settle the dispute between the monarchy and the relative power.
So, what exactly is the historical truth? Let's take a look at the "Yunqi Change". "Ming Taizu Record" records that Tu Jie had already denounced Hu Weiyong's rebellion four days before Zhu Yuanzhang was ready to visit Hu Weiyong's house.
However, there is no statement in the "History of the Ming Dynasty" that "Yunqi sued", it only said that the news of Hu Weiyong's rebellion was exposed by Tu Jie, and he was immediately questioned. This can't help but make people wonder whether the so-called "Yunqi Change" is real.
Looking back on the tribute incident in the city of Zhanguo, is Hu Weiyong really wrong? In fact, Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong both acted in strict accordance with the provisions of the "Daming Huidian", and the "Daming Huidian" clearly stipulated that the tribute of the Zhancheng State could not enter the court, which means that Hu Weiyong did not violate the rules.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was carried away in anger, no matter what rules were no longer important in his eyes, Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong had no choice but to bow their heads and confess. In fact, Hu Weiyong's case is a continuation of the partisan struggle in the early Ming Dynasty, and some scholars have conducted in-depth research on it.
Although the imperial examination system was implemented in the early Ming Dynasty, it was interrupted in the sixth year of Hongwu, and it was not restored until the seventeenth year of Hongwu, therefore, the main implementation was the recommendation system at that time, and the promotion of the first was based on the recommendation of the meritorious heroes, among which the most powerful was the prime minister, and his employment logic often led the following ** to form factions.
The Huaixi faction and the eastern Zhejiang faction were the two major political forces in the early Ming Dynasty. Li Shanchang, the leader of the Huaixi faction, was Zhu Yuanzhang's right-hand man in fighting the country and was the prime minister of Zuo. The eastern Zhejiang faction was represented by Song Lian and Liu Bowen, who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight in all directions, and although their power was weaker than that of the Huaixi faction, the leader Liu Bowen should not be underestimated.
Originally, the Huaixi faction and the eastern Zhejiang faction were at peace, but after Li Shanchang became prime minister, he was arrogant and arrogant, which made Liu Bowen intolerable. As a result, Liu Bowen killed Li Shanchang's confidant Li Bin, triggering a fight between the two factions.
In this contest, both factions are secretly fighting, trying to make their own side dominate by planting people in the court. Hu Weiyong, the second leader of the Huaixi faction, successfully defeated Yang Xian, the second leader of the Zhedong faction, and made the Huaixi faction achieve a great victory.
However, the situation of the Huaixi faction's dominance made Zhu Yuanzhang feel a crisis. Once the faction is strong, the emperor is in danger of being set aside, which is not what Zhu Yuanzhang wants to see.
Why did Zhu Yuanzhang elevate Hu Weiyong's case to a big case? In order to maintain imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang had to upgrade Hu Weiyong's case to a major case. He discovered Hu Weiyong's collusion with the Japanese and Mongols in the nineteenth and twenty-third years of Hongwu, and Hu Weiyong had been dead for ten years, so he had to use this opportunity to achieve his political goals.
Zhu Yuanzhang has always wanted to redefine the imperial power and take back the administrative power, so it is natural for him to take Hu Weiyong, the governor of Zhongshu Province. Zhongshu Province is the administrative center of the country, which is directly managed by the prime minister and governs six ministries, and has great power.
Due to the excessive number of recitals presented, the emperor could not read them all, so he had a direct reply from the prime minister and the province of Zhongshu. However, this also gave Hu Weiyong the opportunity to see the folds in advance and deduct the twists that were unfavorable to him.
In the 11th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "the whole world shall not close the province of Zhongshu", which was intended to weaken the power of the province and threaten the position of the prime minister. At this time, no matter who becomes the prime minister, he will face difficulties, and Hu Weiyong is the most unlucky one among them.
The reform of the prime minister system in the Ming Dynasty and the realization of centralization In the early Ming Dynasty, there were four prime ministers: Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Wang Guangyang, and Hu Weiyong. Xu Da fought abroad all the year round, and although the other three performed dutifully, they could not avoid angering the emperor because of their different understanding of monarchy with Zhu Yuanzhang, Hu Weiyong and Wang Guangyang were either executed for incompetence or for doing too much, and Li Shanchang, who had returned to his hometown, also suffered the same fate.
These events reveal that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the prime minister's system and the centralization advocated by Zhu Yuanzhang. In order to solve this problem, in the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393), Jin Yiwei commanded Jiang Zhen to denounce the general Lan Yu for rebellion, and Lan Yu was also killed.
After that, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the province of Xingzhongshu and established the Department of Political Envoys, the Department of Procuratorial Envoys, and the Department of Command Envoys, which were respectively responsible for local administration, finance, supervision, justice, and military defense.
These changes show Zhu Yuanzhang's determination to strengthen the centralization of power. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang criticized the Yuan Dynasty's political college system in the "Records of Ming Taizu", arguing that this system led to the monarch's obscurity, the people's feelings, and eventually led to social unrest.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished Zhongshu Province in the early Ming Dynasty and established institutions more directly subordinate to the Six Ministries to strengthen the control of the local government. These changes show that the centralized system of the Ming Dynasty was gradually improved in continuous reform and practice.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), the abolition of Zhongshu Province and Prime Minister marked that Zhu Yuanzhang became the king and head of a country. In order to better handle government affairs, he appointed the fourth auxiliary officer as his think tank.
Zhu Yuanzhang made more reforms on this basis, abolishing the Dadu Governor's Office and setting up the Five Military Governor's Office to take charge of military operations in various places. The power of the Governor's Office was limited to the local military administration, and the military power was still in the hands of the emperor, so there was no situation where the army was out of control or the local warlords were above the emperor.
This system continued until the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, and although there were battles between the military department and the five major prefectures, the military power remained with the emperor in the end.
1.Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the four auxiliary officials in the fifteenth year of Hongwu and set up a palace university scholar. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di established a cabinet in Wenyuan Pavilion and allowed scholars to participate in military discussions.
It takes a lot of effort and experience to abolish the prime minister, otherwise it will lead to all kinds of problems. 2.The most important feature of the judicial system of the Ming Dynasty was the supervision system.
Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Yushitai as a special supervisory body. In the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Department of General Administration, which was responsible for receiving concerts from all over the country. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Chen Ning, the imperial historian, and Cheng Tujie, the imperial historian, were executed for being related to the Hu Weiyong case, and the imperial history platform was abolished.
The Ming Dynasty's ** centralized power system was further strengthened in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), and the Metropolitan Procuratorate was established as a supervisory body, and the Du Yushi was responsible for supervising the ** behavior of the whole country, and at the same time recommended excellent ** to the emperor.
The supervision of the imperial history under the capital is distributed in various places, and they are the "eyeline" of the local government, responsible for supervising and reporting the illegal acts and folk rumors of the local **. In the judicial system, Dali Temple is one of the most well-known institutions, and its function is to retry the judgments of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Criminal Department, and together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Criminal Department, the Three Law Divisions are formed, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Sixth Department and the General Administration Department are known as the "Seven Secretaries".
Portrait of Zhu Yunwen During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, although there was no obvious political and social crisis, the regime of the ** people appeared weak and powerless. Because of the lack of sufficiently capable **, this regime cannot function effectively.
In 1398, Zhu Yuanzhang died, and his grandson Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne. It is a pity that Zhu Yunwen did not get a talented virtuous minister to assist him when he ascended the throne.
In order to strengthen the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and educated future generations in the most severe way, warning them not to create the position of "prime minister" again.
However, history is always full of drama. Sooner or later, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants will invite back the prime minister in other ways, such as the palace scholar and the first assistant of the cabinet.
The reason is very simple, there are some things that the emperor can not solve alone, and those who were born in the deep palace are often unable to effectively handle complex government affairs. Although the power of the prime minister has long been lost, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng and others in later generations still found new ways to exercise power, thus opening a new era of prime ministers.