In fact, strictly speaking, the highest authority of the Ming Dynasty was neither the cabinet nor the celebrant supervisor. In the era of Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the political system of the Ming Dynasty had neither a cabinet nor a celebrant supervisor. This energetic, low-level working emperor, single-handedly holds all the power of the Ming Dynasty and makes integrated decisions on the affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the political system is a process of continuous improvement. Moreover, the energy and physical strength of any emperor of the Ming Dynasty could not be compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been a cattle herder, a beggar and a monk because of his poverty. Since Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was keen on military affairs and had carried out five northern expeditions to Mongolia, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty began to rely on two bureaucratic institutions, one external and one internal, namely the civilian cabinet and the eunuch and the ceremonial supervisor.

Ming Chengzu set up a cabinet. Ming Xuanzong set up a celebrant supervisor. In essence, these two institutions were actually secretarial bodies that assisted the emperor in handling government affairs. This is just like the magistrate who relies on the staff master to govern the place, and the emperor also needs a large number of staff to help him deal with state affairs.

However, in China's unique feudal society, because the source of all power is the emperor who legally owns all the land and subjects, so in China's feudal society, the closer to the emperor means that the higher the status and the greater the power.

The civil servants and eunuchs of the cabinet and the celebrant had to come into constant contact with the emperor because of their work. In this way, with the passage of time and the reform of the political system, the cabinet and the celebrant supervisor, who were originally just staff secretaries, became the two highest power organs in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the civil officials of foreign dynasties who could only get in touch with the emperor for work reasons, the eunuchs often had a closer relationship with the emperor because they lived with the emperor day and night. And because eunuchs do not have a family as their own interests, the emperor also trusts the eunuchs more.

In this way, the status of the celebrant eunuch, who was also the emperor's secretarial body, was higher than that of the civil cabinet.

In fact, because of the dependence of the eunuch status on the emperor, the eunuchs' every move is more directly or indirectly representing the emperor's will. The political struggle between the eunuchs and the civil officials was in fact a struggle between the imperial power and the civil officials.

Eunuchs could never exist without the emperor. The power of the eunuchs came from the emperor. However, it is not that the relationship between the emperor and the eunuch is also a simple one-sided relationship. Eunuchs, especially the eunuchs of the celebrant eunuchs, could directly or indirectly influence the emperor by virtue of their close relationship with the emperor.

For example, every day it has to be handed over to the emperor to pass the eyes of the red side. In just one position, the eunuchs of the celebrant can make countless articles from it.

Let's take Wei Zhongxian as an example. When Wei Zhongxian presented the Emperor of the Apocalypse with the folds that had been sorted out by the celebrant supervisor, he would usually put on them the folds that he didn't care much about and that he didn't value much. And those things that he values more and wants to carry out his will very much, he will generally put it to the bottom.

On this issue, Wei Zhongxian, who knows the Emperor of the Apocalypse very well, sees it this way. The Emperor of the Apocalypse himself does not like the government and politics, but like the Emperor Jiajing who liked alchemy and drugs back then, he is also very concerned about the government and politics. However, this kind of care is only three minutes of heat.

There are so many things in the Ming Dynasty, that is, after the selection of the cabinet and the celebrant supervisor, the remaining more important pieces are also full of big stacks every day. The Emperor of the Apocalypse often looked at the dozen or so folds placed on it, and after caring about the twists and turns related to taxes and side affairs, he left everything to himself.

Wei Zhongxian knew the temperament of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, so he often adopted such a method in the placement of the folds.

However, on April 1626, Wei Zhongxian did not put the recital on Huguang at the bottom, as usual. A large stack of recitals about the impeachment of Wang Shuhui was placed at the top of today's stack by Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian did this with deep intentions.

Five days ago, the celebrant received three copies of the recitals. The first chapter is the emergency report of Mu Nan, the eunuch of the Chengtian Mansion Xingdu Left-behind Division. The content of this piece is not a big deal. It is nothing more than that the military households of Chengtianwei are restless, and some of the military guards are making trouble because of the problem of salary and treatment.

The second piece was written by Yao Zongwen, the governor of Huguang. The content of this recital and Mu Nan's recital respond to each other. It is said that Yao Zongwen, the governor of Huguang, has ordered the chief soldier Wang Shuhui to lead the elite soldiers and strong generals to Chengtianfu to quell the rebellion.

The first two pieces didn't make Wei Zhongxian feel that there was anything wrong. The Ming Dynasty is such a big country, not to mention the bad years when there are disasters and turmoil everywhere, even in the early days of the founding of the country, there were never fewer civil unrest and military rebellions in various places. Therefore, in today's unfortunate era, it is not a big deal to have a dozen or even dozens of military rebellions every year.

In the Ming Dynasty, the governor was originally a central expatriate official in charge of the local military. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the governor had changed from an expatriate official from the central government to a feudal official in charge of one or several provinces or some key areas.

Not to mention that something happens in a place like Chengtianfu, the local governor has the right to deal with it directly. Even in important areas like Fengyang and Nanzhili, once something happens in the local area, the governor who has jurisdiction over the local area also has the power to directly deal with the incident.

Therefore, Yao Zongwen meddled in the affairs of Chengtianfu, how normal it was to be.

The point is that the third piece from Huguang made Wei Zhongxian a little muttered. This third part of the recital was made by Wang Shuhui, the general soldier of Huguang. The content of the twist and turn is that there was a rebellion in Chengtianwei, and the governor Yao Zongwen ordered Wang Shuhui to lead troops to pacify it. Now it's over. However, in the process of suppressing the rebellion, Mu Nan, the eunuch of Chengtianfu, and the prefect of Chengtianfu were unfortunately killed.

Wei Zhongxian is really very sensitive to politics. There was only half a month between the three movements. Because of some doubts about Yao Zongwen, the governor of Huguang, Wei Zhongxian pondered over and over again for several days about Huguang's performances.

The local army was in turmoil, and a town guard eunuch and a prefect died, which was actually a very big thing. However, Wei Zhongxian found that neither Yao Zongwen nor Mu Nan took this major incident in Chengtian Mansion too seriously. Space-Time Gate 1619

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Chapter 278: Wei Zhongxian's Doubts 4