Wei Zhongxian's personal eunuch agreed loudly and went down.

"I want to see if these people's necks are hard, or our knives are hard!" Wei Zhongxian sneered.

Wang Tiqian didn't dare to talk, secretly wondering if you dare to use a knife against tens of thousands of people?

Also, many people in the Donglin Party are not afraid of knives! If you don't use your sword, they will die in front of the emperor at every turn.

Wait for the urgency, there are really officials who commit suicide in front of the palace gate, see what you do?

Wei Zhongxian and the others from Dongchang and the Imperial Forest Army arrived and were enough to use force to deter before they appeared.

Outside the palace gate, tens of thousands of officials were full of voices.

In fact, these people are not all Donglin Party officials, and a considerable number of them are neutral officials.

All of them, one counts as one, and they are all from Jinshi.

Wei Bao's promotion of Guo Wenliang, in the final analysis, still moved their interests.

Once Guo Wenliang's matter is implemented, then the value of all of them will drop a lot.

Wei Zhongxian didn't show up and just shouted and screamed, as soon as Wei Zhongxian appeared, the scene suddenly got out of control, everyone pushed forward, and it meant that they wanted to break through the palace gate.

In fact, they don't have such courage, but it seems that they are not so, and they cannot express their emotions of excitement and indignation.

"Let everyone retreat to the other end of the bridge, and if you don't retreat, you will fight!" Wei Zhongxian whispered to the personal eunuch beside him.

Wei Zhongxian's personal eunuch agreed, and hurriedly went down to give the order.

Outside the palace gate, there is another moat, a small river, and there are arched bridges on it.

The people of the Imperial Forest Army and the Dongchang Army got the order, and immediately picked up the old fist and started it, and some powerful officials were not afraid of death, and they also fought against the people of the Dongchang and the Royal Forest Army.

Most of the people who dare to fight in this category are members of the Donglin Party, and the neutral ministers do not have this kind of courage.

Although the number of officials is tens of thousands, less than 200 dare to make a move, where are the five or six thousand wolf-like royal forest army and the opponent of the Dongchang campaign?

Soon the situation was brought under control, and the officials were driven back out of the moat.

"Don't hit, don't fight, why do it?" At this time, Wei Zhongxian pretended to come over and scold.

The officials had a chill, secretly thinking that if you don't order your subordinates to do it, who would dare to beat the officials of the imperial court? The Ming Dynasty has less and less law to speak of, and the officials are like ants by your group of eunuchs.

However, Wei Zhongxian's pretending also appropriately raised his weight.

Everyone stopped and looked at Wei Zhongxian together.

"Let's talk about the adults? What are you doing here? This is the Forbidden City, do you want to break through the palace gate and force the palace? Wei Zhongxian asked loudly.

Zhu Yanxi, Zhou Rupan, Ding Shaoshi, and other Donglin Party cabinet ministers, as well as Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and other major ministers of the Donglin Party were pushed to the front to confront Wei Zhongxian.

The heaviest weight here is Zhu Yanxi, Zhu Yanxi hugged his fists and said: "Father-in-law Wei!" How dare we force the palace? It's just that we asked for a face, but no one paid attention to it, so everyone was a little anxious. ”

"Feeling anxious? So many of you rushed to the gate of the palace and insisted on breaking in, and you were a little anxious? Wei Zhongxian kept a straight face, but he didn't say anything more decisive, he also knew that the people who accounted for more than half of the officialdom in the capital here were all stiffened, and the entire Ming dynasty collapsed.

In fact, both the ministers and the eunuchs have been throwing rats for a long time, otherwise they would have collapsed a long time ago, and they really collapsed in the end, and no one had this kind of bargaining chip.

"Father-in-law Wei, don't say anything else, what should you do if you talk about Wei Bao's promotion of Guo Wenliang?" Zhu Yanxi didn't want to talk around the bend with Wei Zhongxian, at night, people were old and sleepy early.

"What can I do? Wait for Your Majesty's Holy Judgment! Wei Zhongxian said coldly: "Everyone is scattered, let's talk about it when there is something to do early!" What are so many people doing here? Who brought you all in? Wei Zhongxian said.

Zhu Yanxi can see that Wei Zhongxian's intention is already very obvious, that is, to support Wei Bao! I don't know if Wei Bao did this directly.

You can't let Wei Zhongxian talk about the old ways and shift the focus to everyone, what he is talking about now is Wei Bao's matter.

"What if Your Majesty doesn't come to court sooner tomorrow?" Zhu Yanxi asked: "I, a person who is a secondary assistant, can't I see Your Majesty if I have something urgent?" ”

The reason why everyone is so anxious is because Zhu Youxiao went to the court from time to time, there was no stubble, and he didn't show up for ten days and half a month, which was a common thing.

If Wei Bao develops so strongly in the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple, and drags on for half a month, wouldn't Wei Bao have already arranged the personnel of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple? At that time, even if you see the emperor, it will be too late, and you can't change it back and forth, and don't let the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple do things, right?

When the time comes, Wei Zhongxian will definitely pretend to focus on the overall situation, and just do it, who will reason with him when the time comes?

"Master Zhu, what you asked is strange, Your Majesty will not be early tomorrow, there must be a reason why Your Majesty will not be early, can you still manage Your Majesty's head? Since you are the second assistant, you should share your majesty's worries and solve problems more, otherwise what do you want the cabinet to do? Moreover, Wei Bao's title of bachelor of Hanlin Academy was also declared by you, Lord Zhu, for Wei Bao, I am not wrong, right? Wei Zhongxian said with a smile.

Zhu Yanxi regretted it, he knew that Wei Bao was such a bastard, and the three fires of the new official were too powerful, and he should not have given Wei Bao an official rank through the emperor when he was killed, let alone add fuel to the fire, and let Wei Bao get the honorable title of a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy, with such a title, and the experience of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the official position of the Zuo Temple of Dali Temple, Wei Bao can really be said to be like a tiger with wings, the entire Beijing officialdom, and even the most outstanding newcomer in the entire Ming officialdom, such a newcomer, what should I do?

The most angry is the newcomer who has helped himself up, and now impeaching Wei Bao is actually impeaching himself.

Zhu Yanxi didn't speak, and Yang Lian couldn't help but speak: "Father-in-law Wei, Wei Bao is doing nonsense, you ceremonial supervisors can't be regarded as not seeing it, right?" Please immediately relay our request to see Your Majesty! 100,000 urgent! ”

"You said 100,000 is urgent? You can see Your Majesty if you want to? Who are you? Wei Zhongxian looked at Yang Lian coldly: "You seem to be a member of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, right?" This is the Metropolitan Procuratorate's own business, if it doesn't work, go to the cabinet, look to Your Majesty for everything, what do you want you to do, do you want Your Majesty to do all your things? Wei Zhongxian angrily scolded Yang Lian with a gun and a stick.

Power is only right if it can be exercised normally, and the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty is a tool to help the emperor exercise power normally.

The centralization of power and imperial power in the Ming Dynasty reached a fairly high level, and the local power was concentrated in the center as much as possible, and the power of the center was also divided into several systems, which meant that the Ming emperor had to deal with much more affairs than the emperors of the previous dynasty, in fact, most of the emperors could not deal with it, that is to say, the emperor had almost unlimited and unlimited power.

However, there is no way to exercise it normally, and there will be a cabinet to help the emperor exercise his power, so it is not the cabinet that restricts the emperor's power, but the contradiction between the infinite concentration of imperial power and the limited time and energy of the emperor, and the cabinet is precisely to alleviate this contradiction.

The cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty had obvious advantages, which could share the administrative pressure of the emperor and perform part of the functions of the prime minister; Since the abolition of the prime minister by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor has also taken care of the minister, and the task in the middle is unimaginable. The highly centralized rule required the emperor to devote a lot of energy to it.

The Cabinet used its power to draft votes and make edicts, and under the guise of imperial power to command various ministries and institutes, in fact, it fulfilled some of the responsibilities of the prime minister, so that the government could function.

At the same time, it did not violate the "Emperor Ming Zu Xun", the "Decree" system appeared in the late Xuanzong period, and the cabinet played the role of "participating in the affairs of the machine" to help the emperor deal with administrative affairs, and the role of the cabinet after the middle of the Ming Dynasty was actually in the role of auxiliary government.

After Yingzong ascended the throne, the Chinese and foreign concerts were signed by the cabinet, and the decisions of affairs were fully in the hands of the cabinet, which helped the emperor to relieve pressure and manage the government.

strengthened the absolute monarchy of the Ming Dynasty; After the abolition of the prime minister, six parts were in charge of general affairs, and major matters were decided by the court presided over by Shangshu. However, after the formation of the cabinet system, the first assistant relied on the emperor to command the six ministries, and the power of the six ministries was gradually eroded.

Since the cabinet can only be attached to the emperor, expanding the power of the cabinet is also expanding the power of the emperor.

After the abolition of the prime minister, the political struggle continued to be intertwined between the Chinese and foreign dynasties, the emperor and the cabinet, the cabinet and the six ministries, the emperor and the Chinese and the DPRK, and so on. But as the core of the centralized system, the emperor is mostly in the role of the controller.

In addition, whether the cabinet can be reused or added or removed depends on the emperor's personal wishes.

During the Yongle period, the cabinet ministers were special Jane, although the later court push affected the emperor's dictatorship, but the cabinet ministers could not get the emperor's satisfaction, and they would still be beaten back.

During the reign of Zhang Juzheng, he was almost alone, and after his death, the power of the cabinet immediately declined, which shows that this system indirectly strengthened the absolute monarchy, and the monarchy could not be controlled.

The Ming cabinet also avoided the chance of a dictator, with Zhang Ju being an exception.

Strictly speaking, Zhang Ju was a coordinator, and the Chinese Dynasty and its guardian, the Empress Dowager, performed some of the functions and powers of the young imperial monarch, so the cabinet had a lot of power at this time.

When the emperor came of age, he had the time to decide the administrative affairs of the vast empire on his own.

The shortcomings of the cabinet system in the Ming Dynasty are also obvious, the absolute cabinet system that boosted the monarch was established with the high degree of strengthening of the monarchy, and the source of power was granted by the monarch, and there was no moderation of the monarch's power at all.

The Ming Dynasty cabinet was formed because of the lack of legal status and power, and it was only a subsidy organ for government affairs.

At the time of Xuanzong, in addition to several copies approved by the emperor himself, the ministers were all approved by the eunuchs according to the votes of the cabinet scholars.

After Xuanzong, the lord of the people was sluggish, deep in the inner palace, Zhu Pi was handled by the eunuch of Bingbi, since then the eunuch through the position of the eunuch to formally communicate with the outer court, the power of the chief eunuch was usurped by the ministers, the eunuch has the name of the cabinet of the Taishang, resulting in the arbitrariness of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty.

The cabinet is only a secretarial organ, without the name of the prime minister, nor the position of the prime minister, let alone the responsibility of the prime minister, but when the emperor trusts him, he does have the right to be the prime minister.

Soon after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, the evolution of the facts produced the first assistant, whose power was comparable to that of the ancient Chinese prime minister.

However, this is only a common practice in the cabinet, not a law, so it is not recognized by the foreign court.

"The Chronicle of the History of the Ming Dynasty" said: "Yan Song does not have the name of the prime minister, but has the power of the prime minister; He has the power of the prime minister, but not the responsibility of the prime minister. "It is the shortcomings of the cabinet system that are being named.

The cabinet has the power of the prime minister but not the responsibility of the prime minister, and when it makes a mistake, it blames others, and the courtiers cannot be convinced if they have the power of the prime minister without the name of the prime minister.

Zhang Juzheng served as the first assistant, and he still had to combine with the lieutenant Feng Bao to take power and display his ambitions, which is an obvious example.

The disaster of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was serious, and the name of the cabinet system was not correct, and there was a close relationship.

The exercise of power by the cabinet, which has gradually evolved into a cradle of partisanship, is really unjustifiable and can easily cause friction between the cabinet and the bureaucrats of the foreign court.

Therefore, Wei Zhongxian has nothing to do, and when he encounters something, he likes to pass the buck, push it between the cabinet and the yamen who had an accident, let the cabinet and the yamen negotiate and solve it themselves, and don't let the matter come to the level of the celebrant at all, this is the most powerful, and the yamen and the cabinet will have no problem if something happens.

"Father-in-law Wei, we will write a book to impeach Wei Bao now, when will Your Majesty approve it? When will your celebrant be able to approve it," Yang Lian asked, "If you don't go to court, you can't fail to approve the book, right?" ”

"We can't give you a letter! Your tone is so loud, it seems that you are in charge of the whole Ming Dynasty? Then you should urge the cabinet more! Wei Zhongxian said with a smile.

"How does the Cabinet manage this? Lord Zhu is just a second assistant, can Wei Bao be removed without Gu Bingqian's consent? Moreover, Wei Bao is an official who has just been given by His Majesty, even if Gu Bingqian comes forward, it may not work. Yang Lian said angrily.

"Yes, I will now order the suspension of Wei Bao's examination of the Duchayuan and Dali Temple! He didn't have anyone's consent, and our cabinet had never heard of it, so who agreed to his election? What more power does he have to promote and appoint officials at will? What's more, Guo Wenliang heard that there is only one Xiucai's fame, and a Xiucai wants to be the imperial history of the Imperial Procuratorate, which is simply ridiculous! The imperial history of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, at least for many years as an official in the local area, has made achievements, is highly respected by the people, is deeply respected by colleagues, and is recognized by the imperial court, and he must be a Jinshi to be promoted, which point does he Guo Wenliang occupy? Isn't this nonsense? Zhu Yanxi rarely said toughly.

"Okay, that's your business, you can do it." Wei Zhongxian smiled: "Isn't this good?" Wouldn't it be appropriate for you to come up with an idea for yourselves? A little thing, do you have to make trouble to break into the palace gate? What kind of place do you all think the Forbidden City is? Wei Zhongxian continued the words of Zhu Yanxi and Yang Lian.

It's a pity that what Zhu Yanxi said was angry, he didn't have such a lot of power at all, not to mention that he was just a second assistant, he didn't have the power to remove Wei Bao even if he was the first assistant!

The cabinet of the Ming Dynasty was subject to the monarch's box system and the internal control of the eunuchs, and the cabinet ministers wanted to hold power, on the one hand, they had to hand over the internal supervisors, and on the other hand, they had to dump the same bachelors, so it became a disaster of friends.

For example, Yan Song served as the first assistant, and his authority was extremely high, but he was overwhelmed by the cabinet minister Xu Jie; Zhang Juzheng served as the first assistant, and because Feng Bao, the internal supervisor of ceremonies, was able to fulfill his wishes and form a friend party before he could exercise power.

However, when he was reforming and declining, he was still not immune from the attacks of the officials, and was accused of being an arbitrary minister who seized power, and even after the disaster, he was robbed of his lord and his family.

The fierce struggle between the friends of the Ming Dynasty is closely related to the contradiction of the cabinet system.

It is easy to lead to the political style of the Ming Dynasty, and the vast majority of cabinet ministers from the Jinshi to the Hanlin, and then into the cabinet, most lack of practical political experience, once into the cabinet, more conservative follow.

Moreover, the power of the cabinet was granted by the emperor, and the eunuchs were in the middle to steal the handle, and the cabinet ministers were to protect the official rank, so they could only be submissive to the monarch, and the eunuchs bowed down to the orders and did not dare to disobey, so the political style was corrupted.

For example, Zhang Juzheng's name is responsible, active and promising, and still criticized, so many descendants dare not do anything, and follow the customs, and the politics are even more unheard, which has a very bad impact on the politics of the Ming Dynasty.

After Hongzhi, the cabinet ministers were able to obtain the title of palace university scholar before leaving the cabinet, so later generations called all the cabinet ministers from Hongzhi to Chongzhen as palace university scholars or university scholars.

However, it cannot be said that the palace scholar or university scholar is the cabinet minister, the palace university scholar in the Hongwu period is not the cabinet minister, and the title of the palace university scholar after Yongle is not the only cabinet minister.

In addition to being used for the promotion of ministers, the scholars of the palace can also be used to praise loyalty and filial piety or to seal and posthumously present meritorious officials, which has a variety of purposes.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was only one criterion for determining the status of a cabinet minister, that is, to enter the Zhiwen Yuan Pavilion to participate in the preparatory service, rather than the title of a scholar of the Imperial Court.

In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the scholars of the palace who participated in the maintenance of the Zhiwen Yuan Pavilion, there were also revisions, attendants, lectures, bachelors, etc.

Wei Bao is now the emperor's attendant and has a respected status, where can he be deposed by Zhu Yanxi's angry words?

If you want to stop what Wei Bao is doing now, you have to have someone in your hands, but the military power in the capital is in the hands of Wei Zhongxian, and the Donglin Party has suffered repeated losses, and the most important thing is that there is no military support.

"Grandpa Wei, you can't sit back and watch like this! If that's the case, we'll go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate together tomorrow to find Wei Bao! It's really a fatal incident, and this account will be counted on your father-in-law Wei! Yang Lian said angrily: "When the time comes, don't say that we are good at killing the imperial court officials." ”

With Yang Lian's loud noise, the anger at the scene was ignited again, and the officials began to shout neatly: "Kill Wei Bao!" Kill Wei Bao! ”

Wei Zhongxian's eyes were cold, knowing that these people were definitely not shouting and playing, they couldn't move themselves, but it was not that difficult to deal with Wei Bao.

"That's your own business, you can do whatever you want!" Wei Zhongxian said impatiently: "Is there anything else?" If it's okay, go back quickly! ”