The feudal imperial system existed in Chinese history for more than two thousand years. For feudal monarchs, maintaining the supremacy of imperial power was the key to ensuring the stability of their rule. However, too much strengthening of imperial power may trigger rebellion, and for long-term peace and stability, it is necessary to find a balance between ** and harmony between the monarch and the minister.
Therefore, a series of administrative systems and political systems came into being, among which the cabinet system created by Yongle in the Ming Dynasty has attracted much attention in recent years for the administrative system of the feudal dynasty.
Most scholars of Ming history believe that the establishment of the cabinet system skillfully relieved the dilemma of the emperor's daily management, not only strengthened the exclusive respect of imperial power, but also eased the tension between the monarch and the minister to a certain extent.
The cabinet system, as a unique institutional framework in the political system of the Ming Dynasty, appeared to meet the political needs of the prime minister, such as dividing powers, assisting the monarch in handling government affairs, and consolidating imperial power.
However, its formation and development have not been smooth sailing, but have evolved gradually over the course of a long history. So, how did the cabinet system go through vicissitudes and gradually take shape?
As a unique political system, can it be called a model of success?
Although the Ming Dynasty cabinet system originated in the Yongle period and was established by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, its formation was closely related to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. To reveal the connection, we must first look back at the last prime minister in China's feudal history, Hu Weiyong.
When Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to revolt in his early years, Hu Weiyong had already followed him and was deeply appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he was also good at handling various relationships, and these experiences also paved the way for his later promotion.
When the Ming Dynasty was first established, the administrative system of the previous dynasty was basically followed, and the administrative systems such as the prime minister system and the Zhongshu province were also retained. Zhongshu Province was the core authority of the feudal dynasty, which directly transmitted instructions to the emperor and had decision-making power, and its highest governor was the prime minister with actual power.
In the three years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Hu Weiyong became a counselor of Zhongshu Province. In the tenth year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong, who was trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang, was promoted to the prime minister of Zhongshu Zuo, and almost grasped the power of the entire country.
However, the corrosion of power made Hu Weiyong gradually deviate from his original intention. In the twelfth year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong's antipathy was exposed, and he was finally executed by Zhu Yuanzhang. This incident made Zhu Yuanzhang deeply realize that the existence of the prime minister system and Zhongshu Province may lead to the problem of one person dominating.
Therefore, he abolished the prime minister system and the Zhongshu Province, and replaced it with six parts of power. At the same time, he also decreed that future monarchs were forbidden to establish the position of prime minister. With the decomposition of the original prime minister's functions into six ministries, Zhu Yuanzhang's most fearful situation of one minister's dominance was brought under control.
In order to be in charge of the affairs of the court, Zhu Yuanzhang set up six ministries, but also set up five departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple and other departments, these institutions are equal in status, only administrative power, no decision-making power, all actions must be ordered by the monarch.
Although this design dispersed the functions of the prime minister, the power of the emperor was not significantly diverted, but rather strengthened, which was in line with the emperor's expectations. However, there are significant drawbacks to this system.
Since the emperor had monopoly on military, political, legislative, and economic power, it was impossible to guarantee that all decisions would be correct. After the abolition of the prime minister, the decision-making of the court was changed from the original monarch and the prime minister to the monarch alone, which had certain political risks.
Zhu Yuanzhang's abolition of the prime minister seemed to eliminate the communication barriers between the monarch and the minister, but in fact, it only transferred the contradiction in other forms, leading to the formation of the monarch **, and also triggered a fierce conflict between the monarch and the minister.
Even in order to strengthen the centralization of power, Zhu Yuanzhang also carried out large-scale **, such as the Lanyu case, which is a typical embodiment of the contradiction between the monarch and the minister in the early Ming Dynasty.
In"The Battle of Jingjing"Zhu Di, who rose to prominence and eventually took power, inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's political system, but did not set up Zhongshu Province and Prime Minister. Although the contradictions between the monarch and the courtiers were still acute, and there were often cases of killing meritorious officials, the courtiers were also dissatisfied with the monarch.
The aggravation of the contradiction between the monarch and the minister is not unrelated to the abolition of the prime minister. Originally, the monarch only needed to command behind the scenes, and exercised power through the prime minister, and the presence of the prime minister effectively eased the tension between the monarch and the minister.
However, after the disappearance of the prime minister, there was no buffer zone between the monarch and the courtiers, which led to the outbreak of conflicts.
Prime Minister Zhu Di's function is not limited to mediating the relationship between the monarch and the courtier, but another important part of his duty is to share the workload of the monarch. Most prime ministers have some degree of decision-making power and are more proactive in helping the monarch to free himself from the heavy day-to-day tasks in order to deal with more important political events.
After the abolition of the prime minister, the monarch increased his power, but he was also overwhelmed by the busy government affairs. Although the six ministries can help the monarch to deal with government affairs, their administrative decisions need to be directly approved by the monarch, and the efficiency of decision-making is not to mention for the time being, and tasks that can be completed by one person now need to spend more time to be completed by six departments, which will undoubtedly increase the burden of the monarch's work.
According to historical records, in the early Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, more than 600 pieces of music needed to be processed every day. Especially at the beginning of the abolition of the phase system,"Within eight days, there were thousands of internal and external recitals, and three thousand large and small affairs"The dilemma is even more severe.
This workload made Zhu Yuanzhang feel pressured, not only did he have to deal with some matters that he did not have to deal with personally, but even major decisions such as reform and relocation of the capital were put aside.
In the early days of Zhu Di's succession, the situation did not improve significantly. Zhu Yuanzhang realized that he could not cope with such a heavy work without auxiliary ministers, so he used four auxiliary ministers from the people, all of whom were talented and widely respected old Confucian scholars, but they had no political roots and would not pose a threat to imperial power.
Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Imperial Court Scholars, although they could provide some help, but in essence they were only advisers and staff officers to the monarch, and their positions were not high, and their main responsibilities were to provide strategies and answer doubts for the monarch.
In 1402, Zhu Di was inspired by the scholars of the palace and set up a cabinet. Originally, most of the cabinet members were scholars of the Imperial Court, and they were stationed in the Wenyuan Pavilion and Wuying Palace, and were responsible for handling various complex government affairs.
Zhu Yuanzhang's ruling scope was wide-ranging, including sacrifices, clan culture, talent selection and other fields. When the emperor issued an order, the cabinet would express its views with the emperor's permission and make comments and recommendations on the emperor's actions.
The Cabinet also had the power to reject or reject the draft if the Emperor's order was found to be inappropriate. Although the power of the cabinet may seem great, they can only play a role in the implementation of decisions and cannot directly participate in decision-making.
This allowed the emperor's power to still handle a large number of government affairs without being diverted, reducing the burden on the emperor. As a result, the cabinet was essentially a secretarial body, which was mainly responsible for handling the recitals throughout the country, and proposing opinions on how to deal with them, which were then handed over to the emperor for decision.
In this way, the cabinet system is indeed quite successful, but is it really the case?
Although the Ming cabinet had enormous power, it was largely not involved in decision-making, so it did not divert imperial power. However, this stability was based on the strength of the imperial power, and once the emperor became weak and the cabinet used its great power, it was possible to create a dangerous situation in which the power of the prime minister was not nominally the prime minister, but in fact exercised the power of the prime minister, at certain times.
Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, is a typical example, during his tenure as the first assistant of the cabinet, he controlled all the affairs of the court, large and small, and monopolized the military and political power, so that the imperial power was almost useless.
In addition to Zhang Juzheng, such as Yan Song and Xu Jie, there are also a number of cabinet chiefs and assistants with transcendent power, although they do not have the name of the prime minister, but in many periods their power even exceeds that of the prime minister of the previous dynasty.
The expansion of cabinet power posed a threat to the monarchy's rule, and the contradiction between the imperial power and the cabinet intensified until the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The monarch's dependence on the cabinet led to an expansion of the power of the cabinet, which allowed the monarch to avoid the red tape of government affairs and sit back and relax.
In order to maintain power, monarchs often choose to delegate power to the cabinet, which in turn can lead to excessive cabinet power. If the monarch excessively represses the cabinet, it may lead to the tyranny of the eunuchs.
The Hanlin scholars served as cabinet members, and although they were familiar with the Confucian classics, they lacked practical political skills, were good at political struggle, and were conservative. This phenomenon has led to the growth of civilian power, intensified party strife in the court, made it difficult for military attaches to participate in decision-making, influenced the decision-making of the monarch, and aggravated the consequences of emphasizing civil affairs and suppressing military force.
Eventually, the military was neglected, the court struggled, the country fell into internal strife, and the country faced the threat of external invasion due to the lack of military support.
Although there were some problems with the cabinet system in the Ming Dynasty, its continued existence throughout the Ming Dynasty shows that it was quite reasonable. It not only strengthened the imperial power, but also effectively shared the affairs of the monarch, which made the Ming Dynasty achieve economic and national strength in the later period.
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons.