In late July, the great funeral of Emperor Hongxi ended, and at the first court meeting presided over by Emperor Xuande, Yang Shiqi was promoted to Shaobao, and Yang Rong and Jin Youzi were appointed as crown princes.

A must-have for chasing books

This can be described as a historic change, not only has the Cabinet University Shitong Guò been upgraded again, but also the first assistant of the Cabinet, Yang Shiqi, has surpassed the six Shangshu with a rank lower than Shaobao due to the addition of Shaobao.

During the reign of Emperor Hongxi, in order to improve the status of the cabinet, the cabinet scholars of the Zhengwupin were given titles to improve their ranks.

As a result, Yang Shiqi was also the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, Yang Rong was also the Taichang Siqing, and Jin Youzi was also the right attendant of the Household Department, and the official rank jumped from the fifth grade to the third grade.

One thing that must be made clear is that the posts of scholars and scholars are vacant positions, and they are only used to improve their own ranks, and they do not deal with the affairs of the departments and institutes that are added.

This question is actually very simple, the cabinet is a set of institutions, and the cabinet members are on duty in the Wenyuan Pavilion, and they have the parliamentary power of the Ming Dynasty.

The six ministries of the government are another set of institutions, and the Shangshu, Shilang and the governor are on duty in the yamen of the major ministries and have the administrative power of the Ming Dynasty.

The two sides are two parallel systems, which are not subordinate to each other, and each performs its own duties.

Not to mention that if someone holds an important position in these two institutions at the same time, they will be inadequate, and if they can concurrently serve each other, then there is no need to set up a cabinet, and it is okay to directly let the six ministers act as cabinet members.

But in this way, the parliamentary power and administrative power still fell into the hands of the six ministries, which made the power of the six ministries too large, easy to breed yankuai, and the tail could not be lost, so the emperor wanted to divide power.

It must be noted at the outset that the situation of the Ministry of Rites is somewhat special, and it is a different matter.

Therefore, the relationship between the cabinet and the six ministries is well understood, as they complement each other and check each other.

As for why the cabinet often overrode the six ministries, if we want to understand the relationship between them, we have to start with the special nature of the cabinet.

At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, it was only the emperor's secretarial body, and the cabinet members did not have to have done things in the five governments and six ministries, such as Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi, who never held positions in the six ministries, but directly entered the cabinet as Hanlin.

Later, due to the growing power of the cabinet, as time passed, it was gradually stipulated that only the squires and scholars from Hanlin were eligible to enter the cabinet, which complicated the relationship between the cabinet and the six ministries.

And once the squires and shangshus of the six ministries are in the cabinet, then they will leave the six ministries and no longer hold positions in the six ministries, and there will be new shangshu or squires to replace them, but their positions in the six ministries usually become a kind of honorable officials.

For example, in the twenty-third year of Jiajing, after Xu Zan, the secretary of the ministry, entered the cabinet as a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, Xiong Hun took over the post of secretary of the ministry, which means that Xu Zan is no longer a member of the ministry.

After entering the cabinet, Xu Zan's identity was a scholar of the Ministry of Officials and a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion.

As a result, Daming seems to have two official books, but because Xu Zan is a university scholar, his official department is only a kind of additional official, and he cannot interfere with the affairs of the ministry, and the affairs of the ministry are supervised by Xiong Hu.

After entering the cabinet, Xu Zan's power in his hands was greatly reduced, which made him can't help but lament, "Why take away my ministry and make me look at others!" ”

Therefore, Xu Zan was transferred to his post in the twenty-fourth year of Jiajing, and disobeyed Emperor Jiajing's will to let him stay in office, and he was idle from his post, which shows the huge contrast between his power and treatment when he was a minister and a scholar.

Generally speaking, the official department is located at the head of the six books, known as the "heavenly official", so the secretary is generally not in the cabinet, so as not to form a tail that will not fall, and the second official department of the servant into the cabinet.

Therefore, it is actually a relatively rare phenomenon for Xu Zan to enter the cabinet from the position of the secretary of the ministry.

And those bachelors with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials basically have not served as Shangshu in the Ministry of Officials, but it is just a kind of honorary title.

Among the six Shangshu, the most leisurely Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry are the easiest to enter the cabinet, and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites usually becomes the first assistant.

If an official of the Sixth Ministry still "concurrently" holds the post of the Sixth Ministry after joining the Cabinet, and his position in the Sixth Ministry is not replaced by a new official, then the word "concurrently" cannot be used between official titles, but the words "palm" or "judge" are used.

Taking Gao Gong and Fang Xianzhi as examples, the two are the only two people in the history of the Ming Dynasty who entered the cabinet with the official department, and still served as the secretary of the ministry, named the "palm" ministry.

However, Fang Xianzhi soon ceased to be the secretary of the ministry, and Gao Gong belonged to the special care of Emperor Longqing.

As for Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng and others, although they all had the title of secretary of the ministry when they were university scholars, they were just adding officials and were not responsible for the affairs of the ministry of officials, and there was a real secretary of the ministry who was handling daily affairs.

It is worth mentioning that due to the idle affairs of the Ministry of Rites and the limited powers, the Scholars of the Ministry of Rites often retain their positions as Secretaries of the Ministry of Rites after entering the Cabinet, and they are both the Cabinet Scholars and the Scholars of the Ministry of Rites, which is a special case.

During the reign of Emperor Hongxi, the official ranks of Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and Jin Youzi were still under the six Shangshu, which were on a par with the six squires.

Taking Yang Shiqi as an example, his position as a university scholar was only the official rank of the fifth grade, and after he was added to the official department of the Zuo Shilang, he became the official rank of the third grade.

Of course, Yang Shiqi's Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites is an additional official, not a substantive position, so he does not manage the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, and the affairs of the Ministry of Rites are handled by a substantive Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites.

It is precisely because of this system of increasing officials that there will be several people with the same position in the same period in the history of the Ming Dynasty, but only one of them has a real position, and the others are all fictitious and belong to the addition of officials.

Shao Bao belongs to the three orphans, that is, the young master, the young master and the young bao, and is an honorary official position from the first grade, which is only used to promote the official rank, and has no actual position.

Therefore, with the title of Shaobao, Yang Shiqi's official rank has been promoted to the first rank, surpassing the official rank of the second rank of the six Shangshu.

Throughout the Ming generation, the second grade is already the top official rank of officials, and there are very few people who can obtain it from the first grade and the first grade, usually posthumously, or enjoy the supreme emperor**.

Therefore, there are only two people in the six departments whose official rank is above Yang Shiqi, that is, the official department Shangshu Jianyi with the title of young master, and the household department Shangshu Xia Yuanji, who has the title of young master and prince and young master.

Even if Lu Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites who has the title of Prince Taibao, has an official rank below Yang Shiqi, because although Shao Bao and Prince Tai Bao are both honorary official positions from the first grade, Shao Bao belongs to the three orphans and is located before the third division of the prince Taibao.

When it comes to the three orphans and the three princes and three divisions, it is necessary to clarify the honorary official system of the first product, the first product and the second product in the Ming Dynasty.

There are three princes in Zhengyipin: Taishi, Taifu and Taibao, except for a very few people, only posthumously.

There are two from the first product: the three orphans and the three divisions of the prince.

The three orphans are the young master, the young master and the young guard, and the three princes are the prince and the prince, the prince and the prince, of which the three orphans are respected and are located before the three princes.

There are three princes and three young princes in the second grade: that is, the prince and the young master, the prince and the prince and the prince.

In these honorary official positions, in the same level, "division" is respected, "fu" is second, and "bao" is the last, so that officials are ranked.

Emperor Xuande's move undoubtedly raised the level of the cabinet again, clearly showing his support for the cabinet, hoping to break the deadlock between the cabinet and the five governments and six ministries.

Like Emperor Hongxi, the reason why Emperor Xuande wanted to support the cabinet was not that he wanted the cabinet to override the five governments and six ministries, but that he wanted to divide the power of the five governments and six ministries, so that the cabinet and the five governments and six ministries could restrain each other.

In turn, the emperor has decision-making power, the cabinet has the parliamentary power, and the five governments and six ministries have administrative power, which indirectly dilutes the power of ministers and restricts the cabinet and the five governments and six ministries.

The officials of the five governments and six ministries will not sit idly by, so they have resisted en masse, making the current situation of the cabinet quite embarrassing.

In fact, the cabinet and the five government and six ministries are two parallel institutions, in the Ming Dynasty was not as people think, the cabinet commanded the five government and six departments, the cabinet only has the power of the parliament, the two sides are in a situation of eliminating the other's strengths, mutual constraints.

Since the decline of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, there have only been six ministries competing with the cabinet, and it has gradually evolved into an open and secret struggle between the cabinet and the six ministries.

It is worth mentioning that in the court, the head of the hundred officials is not the first assistant of the cabinet, but the secretary of the ministry.

The official department is the same as the cabinet chief assistant in terms of etiquette, regardless of dignity and inferiority, and the six departments are under his leadership to oppose the cabinet, which is also an important reason why the official department does not enter the cabinet.

Later, as the cabinet members were all selected by the six ministers and squires, the relationship between the cabinet members and the six ministries was very close, and the policies implemented in the six ministries would be much less resistant.

Therefore, in people's eyes, the cabinet often overrides the six ministries, and there will also be powerful ministers like Zhang Juzheng.

However, under the leadership of the official Shangshu, the six ministries were not willing to be subject to the cabinet, and the struggle between the two sides never subsided.

Take Zhang Juzheng as an example, although he became a powerful minister during the Mingshenzong period, but he did not die well, not only was the Mingshenzong raided, but also was in danger of being opened and whipped.

At the root of the base, the reason why Zhang Juzheng was so jealous of the Mingshenzong was because he integrated the emperor's decision-making power, the cabinet's legislative power vote, and the administrative power of the six ministries.

Although the order was forbidden and the implementation of the new policy was implemented, it undoubtedly violated the emperor's taboo, which was a great power that only the emperor could have.

Jianyi, the secretary of the ministry, and Xia Yuanji, the secretary of the household department, can be said to be the mainstay of the six departments, but the two of them know the thoughts of Emperor Hongxi and Emperor Xuande, so they naturally will not suppress the cabinet.

To put it bluntly, the cabinet is now fighting for the power of the Ming government, but the executive power is firmly in the hands of the six ministers, as long as the cabinet does not do something that makes the six ministers "angry and resentful", the two are not easy to intervene in this matter, and let the two sides fight there.

In addition to Yang Shiqi, several important ministers were also awarded honorary official positions from Yipin, including Zhou Zheng and Lu Zhongqian.

Zhou Zheng was promoted to the crown prince and prince, which can be described as infinite glory and deserved.

And Lu Zhongqian's promotion to the crown prince Taibao is more or less ironic in the eyes of outsiders, but it also shows that Emperor Xuande appeases him, hoping that he can change his mind and serve the country.

As for Li Yuntian, who has made great achievements, he has been ignored again, he is already the sixth grade plus the imperial history, and he is also a Shujishi, which can be said to be far ahead among the jinshi of the same department, so Emperor Xuande did not know how to promote him for a while.

Besides, Li Yuntian didn't want to be in the limelight at this time, so he chose Taoguang to raise obscurity, so Emperor Xuande gave up and prepared to find an opportunity to promote him in the future.

In addition to the important ministers mentioned at the court, there were also some people who were subsequently promoted, such as Li Manshan, Song Dashan, and Wang Zhen.

The three of them had returned to the capital at this time, and Li Manshan was promoted by one level and became the deputy thousand households of the five thousand households under the jurisdiction of the Fusi of Jinyi Weibei Town, and he was majestic.

Song Dashan and Wang Zhen entered the second-ranked imperial horse supervisor among the twenty-four yamen, serving as the left and right eunuchs of the five grades, and often accompanied the driver, which can be described as a step to the sky.

If the chamberlain wants to get ahead, it depends on the background, and all those powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were born in the celebrant and the imperial horse eunuch.

To put it in layman's terms, the celebrant is in charge, and the imperial horse supervisor is in charge of the soldiers, and the dragon and tiger guards in the personal guards are dispatched by the imperial horse supervisor, and they also take care of the Huangzhuang Huangdian and so on, which is very powerful. One