When the Ming Dynasty was founded, there was originally a Zhongshu Province, and the highest person in charge of the Zhongshu Province was the prime minister, and later Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system in order to eradicate Li Shanchang and other Huaiyou meritorious hero groups, and its fundamental purpose was to prevent the imperial power from being threatened after the power was too large.

When the Yongle Emperor came to power, the heavy government affairs, no matter how big or small, the emperor could not bear it, and came up with a cabinet system, this cabinet has a number of bachelors, and the grade is only five grades, mainly for the emperor to deal with government affairs equipped with secretaries or assistants, for the emperor to provide construction.

In this way, the emperor will be much easier and more convenient to deal with government affairs.

However, the power of the cabinet soon grew, and by the time of the Renxuan Dynasty, the cabinet had become the center of power in the imperial court and the organ of the civilian clique to control the power of the state.

Guo Nu's proposal is clearly to restore the cabinet to its original function, providing only policy advice.

The eyes of the officials immediately sharpened when they saw Guo Nu, and they were completely similar to class enemies.

Meng Yan also sweated, and the old man pushed himself to the fire to roast himself.

However, there are still people who are even more nervous than the civil official group, that is, the eunuch group, if Guo Nu's construction is finally successful.

Then the eunuch's goal of interfering in the government and even controlling the government will be completely in vain!

The cabinet and the inner court are opposites on the surface, but neither the cabinet nor the inner court can play without each other.

This is related to the cabinet "vote draft" designed by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the system of "approving red" on behalf of the celebrant supervisor.

Now, of course, at this time. The power of the cabinet was not as great as in the middle and late periods, but the weight of the cabinet was strengthened in the Renxuan Dynasty, and in the Orthodox Dynasty, because the emperor was young and the empress dowager was an auxiliary government, the importance of the cabinet was highlighted.

The Queen Mother relied on Sanyang in government affairs, and Sanyang was a member of the cabinet, which made the first assistant of the cabinet the de facto prime minister.

The power of Shoufu is getting heavier, and the power of the six Shangshu is naturally declining, but at this time. The position of the first assistant is not as authoritative as that in the middle and late stages.

But Shousuke is already the de facto prime minister. Many of the powers and functions have completely overlapped with those of the Prime Minister.

Originally, the cabinet was a university scholar, and the rank was no more than five grades, and they were all secretaries, even if they were outstanding. No qualifications. Nor can he command a hundred officials.

Since Sanyang served as Zaifu. They are also university scholars, and they are also scholars of the six departments, and they have qualifications, knowledge and prestige. This cabinet chief assistant naturally became the head of a hundred officials, the de facto prime minister.

The position of prime minister is fatal to civil officials, and being able to be prime minister is the highest rank of civil ministers, is there a civil official who is bigger than the prime minister?

The civil officials in this hall, one counts as one, who doesn't want to sit in that position?

The emperor tried to make it easy for himself to come up with a cabinet voting system, but he was afraid that the cabinet would be too powerful, and even the emperor would have to obey the cabinet at that time, so he came up with a system of "wearing red" for the celebrant and supervisor.

Let the ministers contain the foreign ministers, this is a good move, but unfortunately, the ministers are all eunuchs, most of them are uneducated, people are already terrible if they have no culture, if this eunuch has no culture, it will be even more terrible!

These people have no future, no fun of being a man, and the loss of freedom, their personalities naturally become a little different from normal people.

Letting these people hold the power of the government is not intended to be a child's play.

Lao Zhu's family believes in blood, Lao Tzu is a hero, and his son is also a hero, although this eunuch has shortcomings, but his advantages are also outstanding, obedient, obedient, and will not rebel.

The eunuch rebelled, that is, he became the emperor, can this country still be passed on?

Therefore, these people can use it with confidence, and if they are illiterate, they will open literacy classes in the palace, find someone to tell them to read, and don't learn any messy things, just learn how to be loyal to the emperor.

Power and money are inseparable, and when the eunuchs suddenly have power, their desire for money is released.

And some people are extremely greedy and selfish in this regard, such as Wang Zhen himself, before this, some people watched and managed, and he didn't dare to be too presumptuous, but after he got rid of the two Yangs of the three Yangs, and waited for the old Empress Dowager Zhang who was pressing him in the palace to die, it became unstoppable.

Only three years after the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang, he was crazy about accumulating money and building mansions and family temples.

Where did he, a eunuch, get so much money, and he didn't get it by accepting bribes and looting people's fat and ointment?

He dares to do this kind of thing, what else does he dare not do, the cabinet is in the hands of Yang Pu, although he has the power to supervise Wang Zhen, and the six departments also have the power to refute, but who will come forward?

Yang Pu saw that Er Yang was forced to resign when he died of illness, and if he insisted on confronting Wang Zhen, he was afraid that it would not end well, so he pretended not to see it and let Wang Zhen come.

Wang Zhen abused his power and eventually caused the disaster of "Civil Fort", which is inseparable from the connivance of Yang Pu, the head of the cabinet.

Of course, you can't put all the blame on Yang Pu, Yang Pu is just Mingzhe to protect himself, he can see the emperor's trust in Wang Zhen, and no one in the inner court can check and balance Wang Zhen, and the relationship between Queen Sun and Wang Zhen is very close, although Queen Qian is respectful, but there is also a Queen Mother Sun above, she herself has a generous temperament, and abides by the ancestral precept that the harem cannot interfere in politics, which makes Wang Zhen grow rapidly in the inner court, so that the royal family and nobles have stammered, calling it "Weng Father".

Wang Zhen also knew that his power came from the emperor's trust, and if the emperor didn't trust him one day, he might fall into the abyss.

And in order to keep his power from losing, the first thing is to continue to consolidate the emperor's trust in him, which he is familiar with, after all, he has served the emperor since he was a child, and the emperor's temperament and temperament are clear to him.

As long as he follows the emperor's thoughts, he is not worried about falling out of favor.

This second is a bit dangerous to do, there is a provision in the Ming law, the eunuch is not allowed to make friends with foreign ministers, once found, the light will be killed with a cane, and the heavy will be Ling Chi to death.

However, in the position of the celebrant and the celebrant of ceremonies, he did not wait to interact with foreign ministers, and the cabinet scholars were the people who had the most contact and the deepest friendship.

According to the rules, there are three ways to select cabinet scholars, first, the emperor is specially promoted, under normal circumstances, the second is the list of six recommended subjects, which is circled by the emperor, and the last one is recommended by hundreds of officials.

But there is one rule, the person who enters the cabinet must be Hanlin, which is the hardest threshold for the major bachelors in the country.

If you haven't been a Hanlin, I'm sorry, even if you do Shangshu and Shilang, don't want to enter the cabinet.

This is because the Cabinet and the Hallym Yuan were originally one, and it was not until the sixth year of orthodoxy that the Hallym Yuan was officially separated from the Cabinet and became an independent body.

Therefore, there is an unwritten rule that non-Hanlin does not enter the cabinet, but it is faithfully implemented.

This unwritten rule sometimes even the emperor could not break.

Wang Zhen also wants to install his own people in the cabinet, which can make it easier to understand the movements of the cabinet, and can also control the cabinet and use it for its use.

Internal and external collusion can completely blind the emperor, and at that time, whether it is manipulating the government or cracking down on dissidents, it will be very advantageous.

The cabinet's power to hold the "votes" can only be combined with the power of the celebrant to "approve the red" in order to control the government.

The number of cabinet members is generally five or six, just like the current cabinet has a total of six people, except for Yang Pu, who resigned, among the remaining five people, all of them hold important positions in various ministries of the DPRK and the central government, so if you become the first assistant of the cabinet, you are already the prime minister.

Guo Nu's mention was approved by the emperor, and the ministers were also secretly thinking about what kind of impact this change would have on the government and themselves.

Of course, before it is implemented, there are all kinds of variables in this qiē, and even if you want to oppose it, you have to find a reason to talk about it first.

Moreover, Guo Nu's mention is also a disguised increase in the number of years spent in the court, which is still good for some people.

If according to Guo Nu's mention, this Yang Pu can still stay in the court, and the power in his hands is not as good as before, but the emperor has just crowned him as a prince, which is the first among the civil ministers, and his status has risen instead of falling.

This is not good news for the new cabinet chief, if Yang Pu does not interfere in the operation of the cabinet at all, it will be fine, if Yang Pu interferes in cabinet affairs, this will make the new cabinet chief assistant sit on wax.

Meng Yan is also thinking about the gains and losses of this construction, obviously, Guo Nu and Hu Hu and others have discussed, Yang Pu retired like this, it is not necessarily a good thing for the imperial court, Wang Zhen has many henchmen in the court, if he is allowed to push his own people into the cabinet, it will be a big trouble, so it is better to let Yang Pu retreat without retreating, help the new cabinet chief assistant control the situation, and then retire.

However, the person chosen by this heart must have a certain ability to control it, and if it is Adou who can't be helped, it will be miserable.

Guo Nu didn't dare to say more, he was a military attache and interfered in cabinet affairs, which was a taboo in officialdom, and it was enough to point to the end, not to mention that it depended on the emperor's intentions.

"For the candidate for the first assistant, Ge Lao, what do you think?" Zhu Qizhen did not directly accept Guo Nu's appointment to Yang Pu, but asked him about the next cabinet chief assistant candidate.

"Your Majesty, since the old minister has retired, it is inconvenient to talk about things in the court." Yang Pu became a shrunken turtle, no matter who he recommended, the people who were not recommended by him would hate him in their hearts.

He is retired, and he is not in his position or in his government, which is also in the past.

"Old slippery head!"

It is estimated that many of the courtiers present will slander in their hearts, but none of them dare to say it to their faces.

Yang Pu has also been in the dynasty for more than 40 years, and after four dynasties, his prestige is very high, but after the two of the three Yangs go, he became a little weak.

This can't be blamed on him, he can still be in the court for many years, and he wants to get out of the country, which is also human nature.

The corners of Zhu Qizhen's mouth also showed a slight dissatisfaction, but this is no longer important, this person is already old and decrepit, it is not important.

If he really recommended someone and it didn't match the candidate in his heart, wouldn't this make it difficult for him, the emperor?

Thinking about it this way, this old man is not so ignorant of current affairs. (To be continued......)