At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, there was no clear division of labor and positioning, which was the means left by the clever emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that even if the prime minister system was abolished, there would still be other officials to replace him, so he resolutely set up the so-called cabinet. At that time, the cabinet was regarded as the emperor's personal secretary, also known as the imperial secretary, who helped the emperor to deal with state affairs and help the emperor sort out past documents. Since the prime minister system had just been abolished at that time, both the cabinet officials and the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang were quite sensitive to their powers. In order not to irritate Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to prevent the strong Zhu Yuanzhang from breaking out, the cabinet officials chose to obey Zhu Yuanzhang. willingly be a good secretary to Zhu Yuanzhang, and he dare not and will not deliberately work against Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, the first cabinet positioned itself as an official who obeyed the emperor's arrangement and assisted the emperor in handling official affairs.

The prime minister has always been not only the most important minister who assists the emperor, but also the person who restricts and restrains the emperor. The nobles were worried that the emperor's personal desires were overly inflated, forgetting everyone's interests, and even ruining the entire country. Although it is the emperor's family who suffers the most from this, it will also affect some nobles to a greater or lesser extent. For example, Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, knew that his personal eating, drinking and entertainment eventually led to the destruction of the country, affecting his family and some nobles. In order to prevent this kind of lose-lose thing, the aristocracy will let the prime minister restrain the emperor's absurd behavior to a certain extent. Therefore, the prime minister has always been not only a good assistant to the emperors of the past dynasties, but also the supervisor and containment of the emperors. The emperors love and hate the prime minister, and they are not separated from them but are also worried about being set aside by the prime minister. In order to make the prime minister and ministers more obedient, the emperor came up with a way to restrain the prime minister with fame. Ministers of the past generations were all scholars, and they paid the most attention to personal integrity and honor, so they were worried about their reputation. Therefore, the emperor used this to threaten the prime minister, once the prime minister targeted the emperor excessively, the emperor would not only re-elect the prime minister, but also make the prime minister discredited, and even implicate the family. For the sake of their families, for their reputations, and for their own futures, some ministers chose to compromise. Those ministers who are unwilling to compromise with the emperor will be charged with corruption, punishment, and so on, and will either be beheaded or their homes will be raided, and blood will flow like rivers every time.

After the establishment of the cabinet, the power was divided to a certain extent, which also led to the emperor missing a restraint. There are pros and cons to doing this, and it is definitely a good thing for the emperor who has the supremacy of imperial power. Later, everyone summed up a certain experience, when the emperor was strong, the cabinet was reduced to the emperor's imperial secretary, which was nothing more than the emperor's mouthpiece. When the emperor is young or weak, the power of the cabinet increases, and even the emperor can be overthrown to a certain extent. During the period of Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Hongwu of Ming Taizu and Zhu Di of Ming Chengzu, due to the strength of the emperor, the cabinet became a dispensable temporary office, and cabinet officials did not dare to have any opinions of their own. Once you want to make a suggestion, you must get the emperor's consent in private before you dare to say it in public, otherwise the consequences are quite serious. The most famous example is the famous minister Xie Jin, a minister who has been a prodigy since he was a child, not only a capable minister but also a loyal minister. But his shortcomings are that he is young and vigorous, and he is a little arrogant. This is the least favorite thing for a grassroots emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang grew up with a hard snack, and the pain he suffered when he was a child was unbearable for ordinary readers. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang hates two kinds of people the most, the first is the corrupt officials who oppress the people, and the second kind of people are the scholars who look down on ordinary people. Corrupt officials not only harm the people, but also affect the foundation of the country, so Zhu Yuanzhang used thunderbolt means to deal with these officials, and even invented the peeling system, hanging the skins of corrupt officials and corrupt officials at the palace gate to warn. Zhu Yuanzhang is also known for not liking readers, and often sneers at readers. If it weren't for the fact that some scholars have the ability and have certain talents, Zhu Yuanzhang would have killed the scholars a long time ago. Zhu Di not only inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's courage and decisiveness, but also inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's dislike of readers. Although Xie Jin helped Zhu Di deal with a lot of things in the cabinet and had a certain credit for Zhu Di, Zhu Di obviously didn't like this cabinet official. Xie Jin's final result was that Zhu Di secretly sent Jin Yiwei to deal with it, and Jin Yiwei kidnapped Xie Jin to a suburb and beat him to death. This is the result of daring to argue with the emperor, and it is also to deter other officials. In fact, most of Xie Jin's death was to deter everyone, so that officials did not dare to openly oppose Zhu Di's opinions. It's just a pity to do this, and it also caused a capable minister to die like this. Although this incident consolidated Zhu Di's position and shocked the ministers at the time, it actually broke the way of speech, causing some loyal ministers to dare not express their benign suggestions, in fact, doing more harm than good, and it was a loss for the country.

How many cabinet members are there? What are the specific mandates? This question changed and changed according to the emperor's personal preferences. Generally speaking, there are four or six full cabinet members, and there is no upper limit on the number of temporary officials. During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the cabinet was six, respectively in charge of government affairs, military, and people's livelihood, and every two people worked in shifts. As long as the task is to provide information for Zhu Yuanzhang and assist Zhu Yuanzhang in issuing relevant orders. However, at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly controlled the authority of the cabinet, and cabinet officials were not allowed to interfere with each other while each was responsible for their own responsibilities, and was not allowed to issue orders on behalf of the direct representative of the exchange of land, and was not allowed to contact the officials of the six ministries without authorization. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang directly regarded the cabinet officials as subordinates, not only asking them to work in shifts 24 hours a day, but also not to leave the emperor's side. For this reason, the cabinet has a special duty room in the palace to ensure that it can be on hand with the summons. The thrifty Zhu Yuanzhang is very harsh on himself, and of course he will not treat internal officials well. For Zhu Yuanzhang, cabinet officials are not only officials but also his subordinates, and this cabinet duty room is their office, not for them to enjoy. Therefore, a rule was formulated that cabinet officials should usually work in the duty room, and the simpler the layout of the duty room, the better. This rule was later followed by Zhu Di, and after the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing, a duty room was set up for the cabinet near the former dynasty, a building that looked seriously out of harmony with the magnificent imperial architecture. Not only is this place cold in summer and winter, but also poorly lit, it is a purgatory on earth. It is also ashamed that these officials can bear it and insist on working for the emperor here. In this inconspicuous room, how many militaristic affairs were finalized, and how many orders were issued from here. When the people below are sitting in a big bright house to work, who would believe that their superiors and officials would work in such a place?

During the reign of Ming Chengzu and Zhu Di, the power of the cabinet was the most suppressed, and the role it played was only an entourage of followers. Therefore, Zhu Di is inseparable from cabinet officials, but he does not rely on cabinet officials. Because of the disposition, the cabinet once interrupted its daily work, and even was almost completely abolished. The number of formal members of the cabinet has been reduced from six to four, with one in charge and three officials in charge of government affairs, military affairs, and people's livelihood. Not only were the four officials not allowed to hold other positions concurrently, but they were also not allowed to leave the palace at will, and they were simply imprisoned in the palace by Zhu Di. Since then, the four members of the Cabinet have become customized, and the Cabinet has at least four members, but their positions and responsibilities are uncertain.

After Zhu Di was in his later years, he didn't have much energy to do everything himself, so he gradually delegated power to the cabinet. The cabinet is allowed to assist the prince in his daily affairs and help the prince become familiar with the handling of daily affairs as soon as possible. This is equivalent to establishing the status of the cabinet, and they are not only Zhu Di's right-hand man, but also an important assistant to the future emperor. The crown prince was loyal, and not only took the initiative to consult his father in everything, but also often asked the ministers around him for advice, and gradually cabinet officials became autonomous and assisted the prince in handling some less important decisions. At that time, the cabinet officials wrote their proposals in writing or directly to the prince, and after obtaining the prince's consent, they wrote the decision on the recital. And reported this series of decisions to Zhu Di every day, and Zhu Di generally acquiesced to the cabinet to do so.

In order to give the cabinet a certain amount of power and to restrict the power of the cabinet, Zhu Di made a series of decisions for his children and grandchildren. First of all, the cabinet is directly responsible to the emperor, and the emperor directly appoints and dismisses him, and only obeys the orders of the emperor alone. Second, the Cabinet does not have the right to directly substitute for the Emperor's decisions. All decisions must be approved by the emperor and issued by the celebrant of ceremonies, otherwise the cabinet decisions have no effect. Third, cabinet officials do not have the right to directly manage or meddle in the six ministries and local yamen at all levels. Cabinet officials are not only not superiors of the officials of the six ministries, but are also subject to the supervision of the speech officials and the officials of the six ministries. If a cabinet official is found to be corrupt, he can directly report it to the emperor and permanently remove the official from his or her duties. Fourth, because cabinet officials have been exposed to too many military affairs, they cannot privately make friends with officials in other places, especially military generals from various places. In the future, cabinet officials can be sent to six ministries and can serve as local officials, but not as military chiefs. Fifth, cabinet officials are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the emperor's family, marry members of the imperial family, or tell secrets that should not be told to their families. Sixth, although cabinet officials have the right to help the emperor review the recitals sent from various places, they cannot directly give instructions or manipulate them. In some matters where there is a direct conflict of interest with Cabinet officials, the Cabinet officials should implement a recusal system.