Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1566, Liu Jin joins the cabinet

Cabinet ministers are extremely powerful and enjoy high honors. Naturally, everyone wants to be a cabinet minister, but this cabinet minister cannot be done by just one person.

First of all, in Ming Dynasty, there was a rule that everyone tacitly accepted. Non-Jinshi could not enter the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin could not enter the cabinet. That is to say, if you want to be a cabinet minister, you must first come out of the Imperial Academy.

The Hanlin Academy has always been the most important pool of talents in the Ming Dynasty. Only Jinshi can enter the Hanlin, and only top and second-tier Jinshi can enter the Hanlin. The third-tier Jinshi is not eligible to enter the Hanlin.

This means that in the imperial examination, you must at least pass the second-class exam before you can enter the Hanlin Academy. First, you can study there, work as the emperor's secretary, give lectures, etc., and after being appreciated by the emperor, you can immediately become a member of the Six Departments. Important ministers, after a few more years of work, they can become ministers and ministers of six departments, and when they have the right opportunity, they can enter the cabinet as a cabinet elder.

Now Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian in the imperial court, all three of them are in this way. The imperial examination high school, entered the Hanlin Academy, served as a scholar, editor, editor, Zuo Shuzi, Zhan Shifu Shao Zhanshi, Shijiaoshi, The six ministers, the six ministers, and the cabinet ministers all came out of the same path.

It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, if you can enter the Hanlin Academy, after you come out, basically a six ministers and ministers will never leave. If the emperor appreciates it, it is not difficult to enter the cabinet.

With a proper reserve pool of senior talents, if you enter the Imperial Academy, you don't have to worry about your future career.

Of course, there are differences among them. If you are among the first few in the imperial examination, especially if you are the number one scholar, as soon as you enter the Imperial Academy, you will start writing and writing, and you will rise very quickly.

For example, Xie Qian was born as the No. [-] scholar, and his grade is already quite high at a young age.

Xie Qian entered the cabinet in his fifties. Many ministers did not even have the third or fourth ranks when they were in their fifties, let alone entered the cabinet. They were the first in literature and the second in martial arts. They became the number one scholar in this scientific examination. , It can also convince many ministers, and they can be promoted quickly, and others have nothing to say.

Just like Liu Jin, who was the number one scholar at a young age, stayed in the Imperial Academy for a while, and was immediately promoted and reused by Emperor Hongzhi, and he was already the Minister of the Ministry of Officials at the age of thirty.

Although many ministers felt that Liu Jin was too young and the speed of promotion was too fast, they were quite critical, but because Liu Jin was the number one scholar, the promotion was faster and the promotion was faster, and everyone actually recognized and accepted it in their hearts.

After all, this ancient champion is really too difficult, too difficult. Thousands of people participate in the scientific examination every three years. Everyone knows how difficult it is to win the first place. , everyone is very clear.

The number one scholar, the number one scholar, that is the Wenqu star in the sky, the promotion is faster, and everyone agrees, if the promotion of the number one scholar is slow, then the others are even slower?

Although the requirements for joining the cabinet are very high, for the ministers of the DPRK and China, there are still a large number of people who meet the requirements. .

As for the six ministers, ministers, Zhan Shi of Zhan Shifu, and the emperor's servants and bachelors, they are all champions, and they are all eligible to be selected as cabinet ministers.

Now that Xie Qian has returned home for the elderly, the ministers in the court are all thinking about it. Some people want to compete for the cabinet, and some people want to wait for the position at the top to be vacated. Is there any hope for them? Move it up.

For a while, the ministers in the DPRK and China continued to discuss in private.

"Grand Xie returned to his hometown to take care of himself, who is most likely to join the cabinet?"

"I think the most likely is Liu Jin, Minister of the Ministry of Officials. He is deeply trusted by the emperor, and he is also a son of a high-ranking man with outstanding abilities. He is also expected to join the cabinet."

"Liu Gong is indeed the most likely to join the cabinet, but I think Liu Daxia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, is also very likely to join the cabinet."

"The Ministry of War no longer has any real power. It just assists the Governor's Mansion in recruiting troops and arranging veterans' affairs. The possibility of him joining the cabinet is relatively small."

"Where is Hubu Shangshu Zhong?"

"He's a pretty good candidate, but I don't think he can compare to Mr. Liu."

"That's true~"

From top to bottom, there was a lot of discussion about who would enter the cabinet, and at the same time, they were waiting for the meaning of Emperor Hongzhi.

There were two methods of selecting cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty, special briefing and court recommendation.

The so-called special briefing refers to the appointment of ministers as cabinet ministers directly by the emperor in the form of a decree, without going through the official department.

This method can be roughly manifested in three forms. One is that the emperor personally selects and appoints candidates; , and then selected by the emperor.

Tingtui is also called Huitui. As the name suggests, everyone recommends together at a meeting. Usually, the Ministry of Officials takes the lead and recommends several lists together with Jiuqing and Kedao, and then the emperor selects them.

Tejian and Tingtui were the two methods of selecting cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty. Before Wanli, most of the cabinet ministers were selected by the emperor through the special slips. After Wanli, most of them were selected by Tingtui.

Before the eighth year of Hongzhi, all the cabinet ministers were selected by Tejian. To put it simply, they were all appointed by the emperor himself. Recommend ministers and cabinet ministers.

So at that time, the Ministry of Officials, together with the Six Ministries, Inspectorate, Tongzheng Yuan, Dali Temple and Kedao, recommended "Geng Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Ni Yue, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Li Dongyang, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of the Imperial Academy, and Zhou Zuo, the Minister of Rites. The list of several people came out, including Xie Qian, Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu, and Xie Qian, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy.

In the end, Emperor Hongzhi appointed Li Dongyang and Xie Qian to join the cabinet, which also created a precedent for cabinet ministers to be recommended by the court.

Of course, this is also where the later emperor Hongzhi made people criticize him. He trusted civil officials too much and decentralized power too seriously, which led to the serious expansion of civil official groups, which laid hidden dangers for party struggles in the middle and late Ming. Several major court cases involving the death of the emperor, some people speculate that they are also inextricably linked to the ever-expanding civil service group.

These are all things for later. At this moment, the courtiers are waiting for the order of Emperor Hongzhi.

Did Emperor Hongzhi directly appoint ministers to the cabinet as before, or did he ask everyone to recommend a list through the court's push like last time, and then the emperor would use it.

The difference is huge.

The cabinet ministers selected by Tejian are generally ministers who are deeply trusted by the emperor, and of course, relatively speaking, they will listen to the emperor's words more.

Tingtui's words are different. To be honest, Tingtui is based on the fact that on the one hand, it depends on which minister is more respected, and on the other hand, it depends on who has more classmates, fellow villagers, etc.

The more people who support you, the more likely you are to be selected. If no one recommends you or supports you, and you can't even make it to the list, you will never be able to become a cabinet veteran.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the cabinet ministers were often promoted by the court, especially after Wanli, they were all ministers promoted by the court. This is one of the important reasons why the Donglin party members were able to control the power in the court.

Because the members of the Donglin party are officials from Jiangnan. Since ancient times, there have been many scholars in Jiangnan, and they have produced the most officials. If Ting Tui, who can compare to them, after a long time, they will naturally be dominated by them.

And the officials promoted by the court can be the cabinet. The first thing to thank is the person who recommended him. For the emperor, there are often no officials who are specially briefed to be obedient, especially when the emperor is young, ignorant, and playful. It is easy to form parties.

Tejian is different, it is appointed by the emperor, and basically they are the confidantes and trusted ministers of the emperor. They should be more emperor in doing things, and at the same time, they don't need to thank anyone for recommending themselves.

Even if you don't have the support of a large number of fellow villagers and fellowmen, you can still become a cabinet elder, and it is relatively difficult to form a party.

Of course, this still involves the issue of imperial power.

Tejian is the embodiment of imperial power, while Tingtui is the delegation of power to courtiers.

If the court push becomes a custom, the special letter will be replaced slowly. In the late Ming Dynasty, if the cabinet minister has not passed the court push, if it is a cabinet minister appointed by the emperor's special letter, other ministers will even look down on you. If you don't cooperate with your work and embarrass you, this will weaken the imperial power, and the power will be transferred from the emperor to the courtiers.

Once this point is reached, even if the emperor keeps dealing with the cabinet ministers, it will be useless to change batches after batches, because the list of recommendations is always in the hands of those people.

Like the Emperor Chongzhen in history, he changed dozens of cabinet ministers, but they still had no effect. After changing, they were still the same group of people, because the list pushed up by the court was all their people.

This power is completely transferred from the emperor to the hands of the courtiers. The officials are all theirs.

Everyone is waiting, waiting for what Emperor Hongzhi will do.

Everyone didn't wait for too long. A few days later, Emperor Hongzhi directly issued a special letter to appoint Liu Jin, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, as the new cabinet minister. Liu Jin was also appointed Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

Of course, this concurrent post is only the title of Minister of the Ministry of Officials. The real minister of the Ministry of Officials is replaced by the former Minister of the Ministry of Households, Zhong Zhong. Generally, cabinet ministers will concurrently serve as a minister of the six ministries, but it is different if they concurrently serve as Minister of the Ministry of Officials. , The Ministry of Officials is known as the official of heaven, and it is in charge of the appointment, assessment, and promotion of officials all over the world.

This operation by Emperor Hongzhi obviously had great trust in Liu Jin. Now that he is a cabinet minister, Liu Jin is still the official in the Ministry of Officials, and Liu Jin is the main target of Zhong Zhong's reporting work.

(End of this chapter)