"What the imperial brother said is naturally very reasonable, but what does this have to do with the establishment of the Five Cities Academy?" Yun Xuan said. He could understand it without Yun Xi's explanation later, but he didn't understand what it had to do with the establishment of this school.

Yun Xi glanced at everyone present again, and still said to Yun Xu: "Although I am also a gentleman in the lecture hall, I am also a gentleman, but it is only to let the students of the lecture hall know how I want to teach, not to re-manage the lecture hall. ”

"What the elder brother really wants to take charge of personally is the newly established Five Cities Academy and the Royal Academy. These things were originally what my brother was going to tell you when he personally taught a certain course in the Royal Academy after a while, so I will tell you in advance today. ”

"What my brother Shicai said is not a trivial matter, it involves centralization and decentralization."

"Centralization vs. decentralization?" Yun Xuan repeated these five words.

"It's centralization and decentralization."

Yun Xi said: "Daming was founded by my grandfather, and the throne was passed down from generation to generation by my grandfather's descendants; The elder brother has been crowned a vassal kingdom, and the throne of the vassal king will be passed down from generation to generation by your descendants. But there are always some people who want to be kings too. In order to prevent the usurpation of the throne by others, the people who are kings always want to hold the power of the court tightly in their hands. It was the grandfather who abolished the position of prime minister and personally dealt with the things that were originally handled by the prime minister. Radical centralization. ”

"But as my brother Shicai said, not all kings can be like grandpa. The elder brother has read history books all over the world, and from ancient times to the present, no matter how the name changes, the position of prime minister has always been there. It is enough to see that no emperor can be as diligent in state affairs as his grandfather. My brother himself cannot, and he doesn't think you can. When he said this, although he claimed to be still a brother, his eyes were on Wenyuan.

Wen Yuan was looking down in contemplation, not seeing his father's gaze. Yun Xi looked at him a few times, withdrew his eyes, and looked at Yun Xi again. Therefore, the kings of all dynasties had to set up the position of prime minister and hand over some government affairs to the prime minister. But in this dynasty, the grandfather abolished the position of prime minister, and established the ancestral precept that the position of prime minister should not be set up; The elder brother can only find another way, reset the four auxiliary officials, and assist the elder brother in handling the government. ”

"But this bureaucracy can't last. The four auxiliary officials have the right to draft votes, and all the recitals entered by the various yamen of the imperial court will be handed over to the four auxiliary officials for the final approval. But according to the rules set by my grandfather, the six departments of the imperial court and other yamen are directly subordinate to me, and there is no basis for handing over the tickets to the four auxiliary officials to be in the "Daming Huidian". The four auxiliary officials do not have a definite name, and if the name is not correct, it will not be good, and in the long run, it will inevitably lead to the cabinet and the six ministries competing for power and neglecting the government. In fact, at the beginning of his brother's accession to the throne, the six departments and the four auxiliary officials had fought over the length of the matter, especially the official department, which was the most powerful of the six departments, was very unfriendly with the four auxiliary officials, but was pressed down by the elder brother. The emperor may not be able to suppress the dispute between the cabinet and the six ministries like his brother. This is the reason why the elder brother directly set up the left and right princes in the vassal country, instead of the official position of the four auxiliary officials. ”

"Second, the four auxiliary officials have the right to vote but do not have the right to govern last, so they must have the right to govern. If the emperor does not let go, it will inevitably lead to conflicts between the emperor and the four auxiliary officials, which is not conducive to the governance of the imperial court. ”

"Thirdly, the four auxiliary officials and the six subordinates compete with each other for their strengths and weaknesses, and the adjutants within the four auxiliary officials will also crowd out each other because they do not have a very clear division of powers and responsibilities, which will inevitably lead to fierce party disputes in the long run, and the courtiers will be divided into factions, and all the suggestions put forward by the officials of the other faction will be vetoed regardless of whether they are right or wrong, and the court will suffer greatly from the disadvantages. In all dynasties, the disaster of the country's demise was related to party disputes. ”

These three reasons mentioned by Yun Xi are the crux of the cabinet system in the late Ming Dynasty in history. And Yun Xi did not say another important point: fourth, the powerful cabinet led to the emperor expanding the power of the celebrant in order to check and balance, resulting in the weight of eunuchs. From the original intention of all the eunuchs in power, of course, they hope for the court more than most civil officials, and they have no descendants, and the eunuchs who can be in power also have a good relationship with the emperor, so they are naturally closer to the emperor than civil officials.

After the establishment of the celebrant eunuch, because it was necessary to compete for power with the cabinet and foreign courts, and the emperor could not completely replace civil officials with eunuchs, the party struggle in the Ming Dynasty became more intense. When the civil officials counterattacked the eunuchs, because the power of the eunuchs came entirely from the emperor, the weakening of the eunuchs' power would inevitably lead to the weakening of the emperor's power.

The most typical example of this is the 'Five Tombstones' incident. Wei Zhongxian sent people to Suzhou to arrest Zhou Shunchang, and the 'citizens of Suzhou' were indignant, rose up to resist, and rioted. Afterwards, Wei Zhongxian did not dare to pursue the matter at first, and then waited until the situation calmed down before he tried to pursue the matter. 'Citizen leader Yan Peiwei and five others' voluntarily surrendered and were eventually executed.

Is Wei Zhongxian a bad guy? Of course, he is a bad person and has done a lot of bad things, and it is also a bastard for him to send people to arrest Zhou Shunchang. The rebellion of the citizens of Suzhou is also a good thing. But the subsequent effects of this incident were extremely bad for Da Ming.

For the local big families, through this matter, they suddenly realized that the court did not dare to seriously investigate the original rebellion against the will of the imperial court and kill the officials sent by the imperial court, or it was no longer possible to seriously investigate it, and it could be ended by randomly finding five people to take the blame. Then whenever they see the decree issued by the imperial court that is unfavorable to them, they can follow this example to confront it, and if the imperial court sends officials to urge and instruct the 'ordinary citizens' to kill and maim these officials! Anyway, just send a few people to take the blame after that. And at this time, public opinion has been completely controlled by them, and it is possible to launch public opinion in the court to smear the officials who were beaten to death, and to discredit the issued will, and even the person who bears the guilt is not needed.

To put it simply, after the 'Five Tombstones' incident, the Ming court has actually lost control of the Jiangnan region, similar to Jiangnan after the Eight-Nation Coalition entered Beiping in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The imperial court can still appoint officials in this area, and it can collect normal taxes, but if you want to do other things, I'm sorry, you can't do it.

In Chinese history, only in the Ming and Qing dynasties did there be such a thing that there was no formal rebellion and no blockage of traffic, and even officials could be appointed by the imperial court, but the imperial court lost control. The Manchu Qing Dynasty was because of foreign invasions, and the Ming Dynasty was born because of the eunuch system. And the eunuch system was born to check and balance the cabinet. This is also one of the drawbacks of the cabinet system.

Fundamentally speaking, the fundamental reason why the cabinet system has so many drawbacks is that the prime minister was abolished, and the successive emperors could not fully assume the power of the prime minister, resulting in a power vacuum, and the emperor was unwilling to formally appoint an official position to fill this vacuum, resulting in all the yamen competing for the power that originally belonged to the prime minister.

It is precisely because of so many drawbacks in the implementation of the cabinet system that Yun Xi will never implement the cabinet system, and the system of four auxiliary officials that is currently in place must also be reformed in the future.

Yun Xi hadn't figured it out when he first succeeded to the throne, so he set up four auxiliary officials. But as he became emperor for more years and read more history books, he finally figured out this truth.

However, Yun Xi did not say the root cause. Whether it is Yun Zhi, Yun Yun, Yun Xi or Wen Yao, they are still young, and they may not be able to understand even if they throw out the root cause. As for the younger Wenyuan and Wenqi, not to mention.

And the three reasons he said were sufficient. Although Yun Xi is not serious about reading, although Yun Yun and Yun Zhi are girls, they have both read history books, and they have read at least "Zizhi Tongjian" several times under Yun Xi's compulsion. Shi Cai Yunxi's explanation is also very easy to understand, and he can understand the three reasons he said.

However, "Brother Huang, what does this have to do with you setting up the Five Cities Academy and sending some brothers and nephews to study in this school?" Yun Zhi asked again. Not only that, but she also had another question in her mind that she wanted to ask: 'My sister is just a girl, what are you doing talking to my sister about this?' ’

"Don't be in a hurry. The elder brother said it right away. Yun Xi smiled and continued: "Since the system of four auxiliary officials cannot last, the elder brother can only re-establish the official position that can share the worries of the monarch. Really hand over part of the government to them at their disposal. ”

"All in all, the elder brother must hand over some of the power in his hands, and divide the power. In that case, why didn't the elder brother personally raise people who thought like the elder brother from an early age? Cultivating people who think like me from an early age will ensure that when they grow up, they will be able to take on the functions of court officials and handle things according to my ideas, and ensure that my decrees will not be distorted when they are passed down below. ”

"And since they have been taught by their elder brother since childhood, they must be closer to their elder brother than the students who have been examined by the national eunuch or the imperial examination, and they will be more loyal."

"That's why my brother set up this Five Cities Academy."

The people present did not speak for a moment after listening. Yun Xi Shicai didn't just talk about the reason for setting up this school, but told them a big truth. They need some time to digest.

At this time, a small eunuch at the door said softly: "Official, the maiden imperial dining room has brought the food." ”

"Let them in." Yun Xi commanded, and then said to Yun Xi and the others: "Use the rice first, and think while using the rice." ”

When the people heard him say this, they came to their senses and found that they were hungry, so they took up their rice bowls and began to eat. Hurriedly picked up the rice, and waited for Yun Xi to move the chopsticks and ate it in a big gulp.

Xi Yao said a few jokes to ease the atmosphere, and everyone laughed, and slowly the atmosphere became less serious.

But at this time, Wen Yao suddenly asked: "Father, there is another matter that the son does not know, why do you send several uncles or brothers to study in the Wucheng Academy, instead of continuing to stay in the Royal Academy?" ”

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Thank you for the reward of Yijian 68.

The idea of the 'Five Tombstones' incident is my original one, and if there are similarities, it is really pure coincidence.