Later, when the emperors of later generations came, the cabinet members could only give the emperor ideas in private and approve the medals on behalf of the emperor. It was not until the reign of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty that he allowed the eunuch Wang Zhen to establish a celebrant to "approve red" on behalf of the emperor, and he handed over the power to approve and review the chapters to the cabinet members. That is to say, at that time, the cabinet members composed of literati and the celebrant eunuchs composed of eunuchs became the emperor's left and right people, one in charge of ideas, and the other in charge of approval or not. Except for some major matters to be reported, ordinary military affairs are handled by the cabinet and the celebrant of ceremonies. Since then, the cabinet has gradually stepped onto the political stage, gradually replacing the six ministries as the core yamen of the central government. Since then, the cabinet members have become prime ministers without a name, and they have become prime ministers who are not prime ministers.

By the middle and late Jiajing Emperors, the power of the cabinet reached its peak. Emperor Jiajing claimed not to have been in court for 20 years, and except for occasional meetings with a few cabinet members, ordinary ministers hardly knew Emperor Jiajing himself. All major state affairs are entrusted to the cabinet members and the celebrant to be responsible, not to mention, in fact, the power is in the hands of Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Lu Fang, the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant and the celebrant supervisor. Therefore, everyone calls Yan Song, the head of the cabinet, the foreign minister, and Lu Fang, the eunuch who holds the seal of the eunuch, is the internal minister. The civil and military officials took Yan Song as the leader, and the departments such as Jinyiwei, Dongchang and the celebrant only listened to Lu Fang's words. Hundreds of officials called Yan Song "Yan Xiang", and most of the officials were Yan Song's disciples or disciples' disciples, and they performed disciple salutes in front of Yan Song. Jin Yiwei and the people of Dongchang followed the eunuchs to call Lu Fang "old ancestor", and really respected Lu Fang as their own ancestor.

But Emperor Jiajing was not a fool, he was also on guard against Yan Song and Lu Fang. Although Yan Song controlled the situation, not all people were willing to submit to Yan Song. Emperor Jiajing protected Xu Jie and a few others who were not on the right path with Yan Song. intentionally or unintentionally strengthened Xu Jie's strength, and finally arranged Xu Jie's cabinet into the cabinet, so that Xu Jie's and Yan Song could not stop fighting. Only if there is no unity within these people, the position of the emperor will be peaceful. It's even simpler for Lu Fang, a minion, no matter how Lu Fang is, he is just a eunuch, and everything about the eunuch is given by the master. As the master of the eunuchs, the emperor can give everything to his minions, and he can also take everything back. Emperor Jiajing used Chen Hong to contain Lu Fang, and when necessary, he directly replaced Lu Fang, and his mentor Hu Lu Fang had nothing.

According to the tradition of the Cabinet, the Cabinet has three to four full members, collectively known as the Cabinet members. However, because of the division of labor and ranking, there is also a difference in rank and power. The first is the first assistant of the cabinet, the real "number one", the real prime minister, and the head of all hundred officials. He is responsible for the overall management of military affairs, is in charge of the Ministry of Officials, and is responsible for the transfer and promotion of officials. equivalent to the current ****** Prime Minister and head of the National Organization Department; In second place is the Cabinet Vice-Assistant, who is in charge of the military and military departments, and sometimes also the criminal department or the Ministry of Works. Quite the current ****** Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense and Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee; The third place is the third assistant of the cabinet, who is generally in charge of the household department and the national tax collection, and is in charge of the country's financial affairs. equivalent to the current ****** Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Director General of the National Taxation Service and Minister of Reserves; The last one is the fourth assistant of the cabinet, in charge of the Ministry of Rites and logistics. It is equivalent to the current ****** Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Culture, and Minister of Military Logistics.

When Yan Song was in charge, he took care of everything, not only in charge of the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of War, but also in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate that should not interfere. In addition to the Ministry of Rites, which has no oil and water, and the Criminal Department, which has a lot of trouble, even the Ministry of Industry does not let go. The Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, that is, the number one leader of the Ministry of Industry, is Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, and Yan Shifan dares to take any money for his own interests. Not only did he fill his pockets in the middle of several major projects, not to mention cutting corners, but he even dared to do some of Emperor Jiajing's private projects, and almost really killed Emperor Jiajing himself. In order to control the personnel and let his own people come to power, Yan Song domineeringly took the most oily scientific research right from the ceremonial department in charge of Xu Jie. That is to say, in the future, the scientific expeditions in various places will no longer belong to the scope of the Ministry of Rites, and will be directly in the hands of Yan Song. Xu Jie dared not speak out about this decision, so he had to let Yan Song control the overall situation alone.

The reason why Yan Song dominated the position of the first assistant of the cabinet and did not step down was firstly because he was unwilling to delegate power, and secondly, because of his son Yan Shifan. Yan Shifan is a successor that even Yan Song thinks is good, and Emperor Jiajing once acquiesced in letting Yan Shifan succeed him, becoming the first assistant of the father and son cabinets. But it is not easy to want the father and son to be in the cabinet together, and it is even more difficult to want the son to directly take over Lao Tzu's class. With so many people staring, so many people watching, Yan Song couldn't just leave the seat to his own day Yan Shifan. So Yan Song had no choice but to persevere, and it was only after Yan Shifan had the qualifications and ability to take over the cabinet that Yan Song decided to leave the cabinet. Yan Song dominated the position and did not let go, while working hard to cultivate his son Yan Shifan. Everyone knows about this, so whether it is their own people or outsiders, they like to call Yan Song "Yan Xiang" or "Yan Ge Lao", and Yan Shifan is "Xiao Ge Lao".

Yan Song is not a fool, and he also knows that it is not easy for Yan Shifan to enter the cabinet, and it is even more impossible to directly take over the first assistant of the cabinet. So Yan Song began to make his own little calculations, thinking of transferring power to his son Yan Shifan. For this reason, Yan Song once looked for Xu Jie in private, and for the sake of his son Yan Shifan's future, Yan Song also thought about making concessions. Yan Song promised to give up the position of the first assistant of the cabinet to Xu Jie, who was already the second assistant of the cabinet, on the condition that Xu Jie's approval of the promotion of Yan Shifan, who was already a "cabinet walker", to a cabinet member. As long as Xu Jie let Yan Shifan become a cabinet member and secretly take care of one or two, Yan Song immediately asked Emperor Jiajing to resign and recommended Xu Jie to be the next cabinet first assistant. Yan Song gave Xu Jie's coveted position as the first assistant of the cabinet, in exchange for his son Yan Shifan officially becoming a cabinet member. In a few years, Yan Shifan could use the resources left by Lao Tzu Yan Song to rise step by step, and finally squeeze out Xu Jie to become the first assistant of the cabinet. This is Yan Song's cleverness, and Xu Jie also knows it, but Xu Jie is really a little excited. Xu Jie, who has been the first assistant of the cabinet for a long time, if it weren't for Yan Song's dominance and refusal to give way, Xu Jie's would have become the first assistant of the cabinet. Although Xu Jie knew that even if he became the first assistant of the cabinet, everyone would not listen to him, but Xu Jie's fight was Yan Shifan, and it was impossible for him to replace him immediately. As long as Xu Jie's time is given, Xu Jie's way to win over some centrists, and when the time comes, no one can say whether Yan Shifan will squeeze himself out, or Yan Shifan himself. Although Yan Shifan is good at making small moves, he is not Yan Song after all. Whether it is inferior to Yan Song in terms of prestige and experience, Xu Jie's defeat against Yan Song does not mean that Xu Jie's opponent is not Yan Shifan's opponent. Another is Xu Jie's selfishness, Xu Jie really wants to take over the position of the first assistant of the cabinet safely, at least in a stable state from Yan Song. So Xu Jie finally agreed, and Yan Song finally felt relieved.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing made a move, and he was not ready to give Yan Song and Xu Jie a chance to join forces. No matter what the two cabinet members wanted to do, Emperor Jiajing was unwilling to let them be satisfied. Just when Yan Song was about to resign and recommend Xu Jie to take over as the first assistant of the cabinet, Emperor Jiajing finally found an opportunity. He took advantage of the fact that the Ministry of Industry had just been seized to cut corners and deal a good blow to Yan Song's father and son. When Yan Shifan was making a palace for Emperor Jiajing, he cut corners and almost crushed Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing, who was half really angry and half pretended to criticize the Ministry of Industry, finally blamed Yan Shifan, after all, Yan Shifan was the secretary of the Ministry of Industry and the person who was mainly responsible for the construction of the palace. For this reason, Emperor Jiajing dismissed Yan Shifan from his post of "cabinet walking", which was tantamount to canceling Yan Shifan's qualification to enter the cabinet. Xu Jie told Yan Song as soon as possible that Yan Shifan was not "cabinet walking", so he could not directly enter the cabinet as a formal cabinet member. Unless Emperor Jiajing specifically allowed it, Xu Jie would not dare to decide all this without authorization. For this reason, of course, Yan Song was unwilling to give Xu Jie's cabinet chief assistant for nothing, so Yan Song had to hang alive and wait for Yan Shifan to enter the cabinet.

Just when Yan Shifan was once again preparing to enter the cabinet and Yan Song decided to delegate power to Xu Jie, Qin Tai made Yan Shifan's actions public. Yan Shifan not only failed to be a cabinet member, but was also arrested by the imperial court. Due to the conclusive evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes, a large number of officials and ordinary people demanded that Emperor Jiajing deal with Yan Shifan seriously. Emperor Jiajing had no choice but to kill Yan Shifan, and since then Yan Song has broken off the last bit of friendship between Yan Song and Emperor Jiajing. Xu Jie didn't approve of killing Yan Shifan at first, and felt that Qin Tai had ruined his big thing. Later, after Xu Jie found out that Emperor Jiajing had killed Yan Shifan, a large number of officials began to take refuge in him, and Xu Jie felt that he didn't have to wait for Yan Song to give way, and Yan Song's position as the first assistant of the cabinet was decided by himself. Because Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet, neither gave up his position nor could he be on duty every day, Xu Jie, the second assistant of the cabinet, presided over the overall situation on his behalf and became the "number one" of the cabinet who was not the first assistant of the cabinet. This created an opportunity for Xu Jie to get familiar with and exercise, and provided a guarantee for Xu Jie's smooth takeover later.

When Yan Song officially resigned and let Xu Jie take over the position of first assistant to the cabinet, everyone thought that Xu Jie would be in a hurry for a while. Unexpectedly, Xu Jie was not nervous at all, and immediately adapted to the new position of the first assistant of the cabinet. The first is because Xu Jie has been preparing for more than ten years and has long learned how to be the first assistant of the cabinet. Second, these days, Xu Jie's handling of the daily affairs of the cabinet is actually fulfilling the duties of the first assistant of the cabinet, so there is not too much inconvenience after taking over. The third Xu Jie's age has arrived, and he has already passed the age of fuss. It's calm and unspoken, and it's absolutely solid. After Xu Jie took over the cabinet, the cabinet members were restored to four, the first was the first assistant of the cabinet, the second was Chen Yimian, the second was the second assistant of the cabinet, the third was Gao Gong, the third assistant of the cabinet, and the fourth was Li Chunfang, who was the new cabinet member.