In Gao Pragmatism's view, there are many kinds of strength.

Like Yan Song, relying on speculating on the emperor's mind at any time, thinking about what the emperor thinks in everything, being anxious about what the emperor is anxious about, doing everything properly, and not being afraid of people's words, this is strength.

Like Xu Jie, relying on forbearance for many years, enveloping the party henchmen, and speaking widely, it is clear that he has also been in the same stream, but in the end he was able to pick up all the whitewashing, but he has no prestige for a while, and he is good at home, which is strength.

Like a high arch, relying on the unparalleled saintly favor of the emperor's students to him, even if he does not be the first assistant, he is actually the first assistant, and the protégé disciple would rather die than rebel, this is strength.

Like Zhang Juzheng, relying on internal and external collusion and the queen mother's dependence, the emperor was deeply afraid of the sentence "Let Mr. Zhang hear it, what can I do?" This is strength.

Like a leaf to the high, leaning against the ...... Well, relying on the reason of what nonsense you don't care, anyway, if you can be alone for seven years, then it can be regarded as strength.

But are these strengths really considered strength? In other words, are these strengths considered hard power?

No, none of that.

What is hard power? Except for you, whoever is on this Shoufu is in vain, that's called hard power!

It stands to reason that this situation is simply a desolate talk in the Ming Dynasty - without you Zhang Butcher, Emperor Lao Tzu would have to eat hairy pigs? If you change the first assistant, the world will not be able to operate normally, and the sun will rise and the moon will stop?

This situation has actually happened at some times, such as Zhou Gongdan back then, which was expected by everyone, the world returned to the heart, and there was no substitute; For example, Cao Cao back then, it was a soldier in the world, overwhelming the crowd, and there was no substitute.

However, those are all anomalous phenomena that only appear under special circumstances in a special era, and they don't seem to be something that can happen to Da Ming right now. After all, the system designed by Zhu Yuanzhang back then, it seemed impossible for someone in the court to threaten the imperial power.

Unless the world is in turmoil, to the point where Chongzhen has no way to take Zuo Liangyu - but after all, Zuo Liangyu is only a Ming minister, and he is actually a separation, and he does not take advantage of the situation to mix with the first assistant, and the book is criticized all over the world, and I will break it!

Therefore, Gao Pragmatic wants to have this kind of strength, but it is really unreliable.

But he's really working toward that goal.

Because he knew that otherwise, he would not be able to change the deep-rooted power structure of the Ming Dynasty and achieve the best system under his ideal imperial system.

At the beginning, Gao pragmatic looked at the history of the Ming Dynasty and saw that some people said that the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty was already the predecessor of cooking politics.

He didn't care about his previous height and pragmatism, and he didn't want to delve into it, because he was an extremely pragmatic person, anyway, in his opinion, he didn't see any cooking in the end - even when he died.

The cabinet system means that the dish is cooked?

As long as the celebrant representing the imperial power does not approve the red, the vote of your cabinet is just a piece of straw paper, can it be regarded as half a word of executive decree implementation?

In history, the Wanli Emperor played a stalemate with the civil official group because of the dispute over the country, after many official positions were vacant, the cabinet and the Ministry of Officials and other departments recommended the successor, and the vote was proposed to the emperor. As a result, these positions have been empty for many years.

Why is this happening? Because from the institutional point of view, the final and only decision on the appointment and dismissal of these officials is in the hands of the emperor. Whether it is the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of War, or even the Cabinet, they only have the right to recommend, not the right to appoint and dismiss. If a former official in this position dies of illness, and the emperor does not approve the recommendation of the cabinet or the ministry of officials or the military department, he can only be empty until he is in the mood to approve it.

When a courtier enters the cabinet, he needs to push the court, is the dish cooked?

Naive! If the emperor does not agree, you will push him a hundred times, and he will not be able to enter the cabinet. What's more, there is also a way called "special order" to enter the cabinet. This is as if later generations wrote code, and Zhu Yuanzhang had already left such a "bottom loophole".

The cabinet ministers promoted by the court can be vetoed by the emperor; The ministers appointed by the emperor cannot be vetoed by the court.

"History of the Ming Dynasty: Xu Youzhen" recorded that "the Russian gates are all opened, and Youzhen is called out by the public, saying, 'The emperor is reinstated!'" 'Fun. On the same day, he was appointed to join the cabinet and participate in the maintenance of the aircraft." On the day of Ming Yingzong's reinstatement, he ordered Xu Youzhen to enter the cabinet, is this too late to push the court? It is obviously impossible, and it can only be specially entered into the cabinet.

The biography of "Ming History: Zhang Jun" records that "the court is angry and seeks revenge". Zhang Xuan, a person who faced the bull with the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty in the midst of the great discussion ceremony, and the prestige of the officialdom Shilin had already fallen into the eighteenth layer of hell, if he expected the court to push into the cabinet, it was obviously a dream. But he really entered the cabinet in the sixth year of Jiajing, how did he enter the cabinet? Jiajing was specially appointed.

Take a step back, what if you enter the cabinet? You are the head of the cabinet, if the emperor does not agree to something, can you still force the emperor to agree? The cabinet ministers, even if they are the first assistants, the means of "persecuting" the emperor to the extreme, are just threats to resign, do they have the slightest initiative? No. Not to mention far away, didn't Xu Jie just try to write a resignation note, but it was directly approved by Emperor Longqing, who had already seen him unpleasantly, and as a result, he could only pick up his burden and return to his hometown in Songjiang in a daze?

That's light, not to mention heavy. If the emperor really looks at you to the extreme, even if you are the head of the cabinet, the emperor can directly dismiss your official and let you leave. What's more, it's not a problem to raid the house and kill the head - you said that you were pushed into the cabinet by the court of important ministers? What's the use of that, my emperor is the supreme in the world, and I can't kill you?

In the final analysis, what civil officials can restrain the emperor is nothing more than the ethereal posthumous name, and there is no coercive binding force at all. If this emperor is ruthless, Lao Tzu doesn't want this bullshit reputation, and your civil official group will have nothing to do with him. This is like Longqing who wants to go back to Yudi to cherish the old can be pushed back, while Zhengde can go down to the south of the Yangtze River to travel to the dragon and phoenix, and lead the troops to kill the captives at the upper border.

What's the difference? It's just that Longqing has received a high-arched sacred education, and he still needs to save face; And the Zhengde boy ascended the throne and acted recklessly, and in his eyes, such a thing as face was not as important as "fun" at all.

Therefore, it can be said that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he can indeed ignore too many things, because the cabinet can indeed maintain the normal operation of the country, and the emperor only needs to explain to the celebrant that "where the cabinet votes, approve the red as usual", he can basically be a free and easy shopkeeper.

But the problem is that if the emperor wants to take care of things, no one can stop him from doing it, and he can do everything—as long as he has a good face. It's like the Chongzhen Dynasty, more than 50 first assistants have been changed in seventeen years, who can limit him?

However, ruthlessness is ruthless, although this lord is indeed an emperor who has the heart to work hard, it is also very rare to be able to do self-denial and conscientiousness, but the ability to govern is really a mess. Ming Ming Dynasty has a tendency to slowly turn back the situation, the wild boar skin is about to kill itself under the blockade, and the domestic rogue is becoming more and more weak, but unfortunately Chongzhen came to power, under his leadership, the wild boar skin and the rogue not only relieved their breath, but also worked together to press the Ming to death.

Therefore, if you want to cure the chronic disease brought by Da Ming from the mother's womb, Gao Pragmatic must master the power of Cao and Reckless. Without such power, even if you can "cure the symptoms" for a while, you can just be a strengthened version of Zhang Juzheng and give Daming a few more years of life, what's the use? But if there is another saint like Chongzhen, or even worse than a saint like Chongzhen, who is kind enough to do bad things, Da Ming will still burp.

Therefore, the strength in Gao Pragmatic's mind is, in the final analysis: even the emperor can't oppose my will!

As for having such a powerful strength, but in the end he didn't want to seek a dynasty to usurp the throne, whether this would end up killing himself and even his future descendants and protégés, of course, he also had a plan.