Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 8 Zhongzhi and Tingtui

"What will be the result if the imperial edict is sent to civilian officials?"

Wanting to know the boundaries of his power, Zhu Youjian continued to ask.

Hou Baoshan was a little hesitant. Seeing this, Zhu Youjian said:

"You can just say it if I ask you to, and I will forgive you!"

The opportunity to gain the emperor's appreciation was right in front of him. Hou Baoshan thought of the power of Wei Zhongxian and others and bravely said:

"Officials promoted by Zhongzhi are not recognized by civilian officials."

"They say that officials must be promoted through court recommendation. If they are promoted without being promoted through court recommendation, it is better to dismiss them from office."

"A minister seems to have once said: When a minister comes to serve, he should be recommended by the court. If he comes through other ways, please dismiss him."

Another example:

"When Mr. Wanli was alive, he decreed that Concubine Zheng should be made empress. Sun Ruyou, the Minister of Rites, fought hard and the matter was stopped. Because this decree did not go through the cabinet, in their view it was not a formal imperial edict."

"Later, Master Taichang rewarded his merits and appointed Sun Ruyou as a bachelor without being recommended by the court. Many courtiers slandered him, and Sun Ruyou, a bachelor, could not sit firmly in his seat, so he had to go to Shu for help."

"When Emperor Daxing arrived, Sun Ruyou went to the Fourteenth Shu to beg. The late emperor had no choice but to let him go."

"Most of the great bachelors in Tianqi's reign were recommended by the court. Even if the late emperor was not satisfied, he could only let them be in front of them first, and then find a way to replace them. So in just seven years, there were twenty great bachelors."

Zhu Youjian was shocked in his heart. He really didn't expect that there would be twenty bachelors in just seven years after Tianqi. This frequency of replacement is no less than that of Chongzhen in history.

Thinking back to the history, in just seventeen years during the Chongzhen period, there were fifty bachelors, who were ridiculed as the "Fifty Prime Ministers of Chongzhen", Zhu Youjian couldn't help but sigh:

Who knows which of the great scholars of the Chongzhen Dynasty were appointed by the emperor? Emperor Chongzhen could only find suitable talents through replacement.

But even if fifty were replaced, there were still few great bachelors who made meritorious deeds during the Chongzhen period. The only people who left an impression were Xu Guangqi, Wen Tiren, and Zhou Yanru——

The matter of Ting recommending a bachelor is really unreliable!
Zhu Youjian can figure it out just by thinking about it. What would those civil servants do in order to become bachelors? What is recommended in this way is often not talented people, but people who are considerate and considerate. This kind of person may be able to maintain the government's situation in normal times, but when it comes to internal and external troubles, he is completely unable to change the situation.

What's more troublesome is that the civil servants in the court will form cliques and elect people from their own party to be bachelors through the exchange of interests. What's more, the parties are united and opposed, so that the bachelors recommended in the future will still be from their own faction——

No wonder the political atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty became worse and worse and developed into party strife.

That's not all. Zhu Youjian heard Hou Baoshan say:

"The cabinet's academicians need to be recommended by the court, as well as the ministers, ministers, and governors. Taichang Qing recommends the ministers below, and the general staff below selects them."

"Third-grade or above, Jiuqing and Qiandu are censors and winemakers, and two or three people are recommended by the court. There are bachelors in the cabinet, ministers of the two ministries of official affairs and military affairs, and two people are recommended by the court. The list is drawn up by the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

"Gu Xiancheng of the Donglin Party was deprived of his official status and dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown because he offended Master Wanli by pushing a cabinet minister when he was a doctor in the literary selection department."

"When Yang Lian of the Donglin Party impeached Eunuch Wei, one of the charges was that he used support to accuse Eunuch Wei of subverting the government and manipulating power."

Xiao Xiao said a few bad words about the Donglin Party, but Hou Baoshan understood that the content of this conversation would definitely be known to the palace people. Saying a few bad words about the Donglin Party can avoid the jealousy of Wei Zhongxian's people.

Ignoring his little thoughts, Zhu Youjian already felt in trouble:

Officials of the third rank and above such as cabinet bachelors, ministers, ministers, governors, etc. must be recommended by the court, and those below the rank of general secretary must be selected by the Ministry of Personnel. If he, the emperor, directly issued the appointment, it would be said to be a decree and resisted by outside civil servants.

It can be said that he now only has the power to remove external civil servants, but not to appoint them. Not to say completely out of control, but not far off.

This also made him understand why Emperor Chongzhen in history had no patience at all with regard to some erring academicians and governors who had to be withdrawn or killed whenever necessary, and did not care at all that it was not easy to train senior officials -

It turns out that many of those people were not appointed according to his wishes at all, and may even have replaced the suitable candidates in his mind.

These people had no ability but insisted on occupying positions. It is no wonder that Emperor Chongzhen would not defend it after making mistakes.

In addition, after they made a mistake, they were impeached by officials from the Department of Science and Technology, and the charges were clear. No one can say that Emperor Chongzhen killed brutally and indiscriminately. They can only say that he "used the law more harshly" and enforced the law too strictly.

Thinking about this matter in his heart, Zhu Youjian continued to ask:

"In addition to these officials, how are other officials appointed?" "Can we directly use the imperial edict?"

Giving a negative answer, Hou Baoshan said:
"The Central Supervisor and Divisional Officers of the DPRK are promoted in order, and the members of the Nine Ministers are selected and awarded by the Ministry of Personnel."

"Local envoys and envoys are elected by officials of third rank or above. Officials in prefectures and counties are selected and removed by the Ministry of Personnel."

"In order to be fair and just, the method of drawing lots was used at first, but in the 22nd year of Wanli, it was changed to the method of drawing lots, which was controlled by the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel."

Numb! Completely numb!
In the past, I had only heard that the civil service group was powerful in the late Ming Dynasty, but now I know that they were promoted and held positions, and they could completely bypass the emperor.

This system of selecting and appointing officials is related to the interests of all civil servants, and Zhu Youjian cannot abolish it even if he wants to. Unless he can rebel and bring the world down again.

At the same time, he also understood why Gu Xiancheng, a mere doctor from the Literary Selection Department, was able to gather the Donglin Party as a political group——

He draws up the list of Tingtui and selects local officials. With a few tricks, he can suppress everyone.

Gu Xiancheng really understood the game of court recommendation and official selection, and the entire court situation was affected by him.

A fifth-grade doctor dared to stir up trouble. It's no wonder that Emperor Wanli wanted to cut him off and drive him out of the court.

Remembering the position of doctor of the Literary Selection Department, Zhu Youjian decided to find a way to find someone he trusted to fill the position, so as to avoid what happened to Gu Xiancheng and the emergence of a second Donglin Party.

What he didn't know was that Wu Changshi, a member of Fushe who was known as the successor of Donglin in history, was in the position of the director of the Wenxuan Department and once again caused a storm, affecting the life and death of the two chief ministers. Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he personally interrogated him at the Zhongzuo Gate and tortured him until his legs were broken. He was said to be "treating people who have never been treated in three hundred years."

Continuing to inquire, he learned that Tingti's cabinet of bachelors was started by Emperor Xiaozong Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, Zhu Youjian really felt that some historians said that he had a "low IQ or relatively retarded", which was an objective evaluation.

I had only heard before that Emperor Hongzhi abolished the Kaifa Law and ruined the Ming Dynasty's salt administration and border affairs. He also indulged his relatives and doted on the queen, causing his lineage to be extinct.

Only now did Zhu Youjian know that Emperor Hongzhi also began his career as a scholar in Tingtui.

This made him really confused as to what Emperor Hongzhi was thinking of directly giving up the power to appoint cabinet bachelors.

It's really extraordinary that he can get the temple title of Xiaozong!

Thinking about the later death of Emperor Zhengde and the death of Emperor Hongzhi because he had no other sons, his lineage was directly extinct. Zhu Youjian felt that the temple title of Xiaozong was ironic no matter how he looked at it.

Cursing the emperor, Zhu Youjian lamented in his heart that the cabinet was in trouble. I am extremely envious of the Military Aircraft Department established by the Qing Dynasty——

The appointment of the military minister in the Qing Dynasty was entirely up to the emperor, and the military minister could only kneel down and receive the transcript, which would then be conveyed to the central and local departments for execution.

This is the ideal secretarial agency of the emperor and a symbol of the development of the feudal autocratic monarchy system to its peak.

Looking at Hou Baoshan and Xu Yingyuan in front of them, I thought of the Director of Ceremonies who could compete with the cabinet. Zhu Youjian was wary and said to them:
"Hou Baoshan said it very well, but it needs to be more detailed!"

"When you write something in the future, you need to add a specific time, and it's best to explain the source."

Let them pay more attention to the actual evidence when speaking, and not talk nonsense and affect their judgment.

　"History of Ming Dynasty":
　　When it comes to appointing officials, literature belongs to the Ministry of Personnel and military affairs belongs to the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Personnel has particularly important responsibilities.

　　If there is a vacancy in the staff and should be filled without waiting for it to be filled, it is said to be promoted. Cabinet bachelors and civil servants are recommended by the court or by special decree. For those below the rank of minister and those offering wine, the official department will work together with the third-rank and above court to recommend them.

　　Those below Taichang Qing are recommended by the Ministry. The following officials will be elected at the Hongzhengmen meeting. Zhan affairs are handled by the cabinet, and each government office is handled by its own palm.

　　Among the foreign officials, the governors and futingtui were all responsible for the nine ministers, and the officials were in charge. If there is a shortage of cloth and press officials, officials of the third rank and above will be promoted. The supervisors and supervisors were moved sequentially.

　　In the outer prefectures, prefectures, and counties, the chief ministers, as well as the subordinates of the nine ministers in the interior, are always responsible for the selection of officials. They are selected, appointed and removed, and everything is done by the Ministry of Personnel. At first, the method of casting lots was used, but during the Wanli period, it was changed to drawing lots. …

　　The central decree was to change the right minister of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing. (Xu Ke) Ke Shangshu said: "When a minister comes to use, he should be recommended by the court. I have never heard of anyone who has been promoted to the minister. I have not dared to enter through other ways in my life. Please give me permission to remove him."

　　In the winter of the twenty-fifth year, Dong Yiyuan, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, was dismissed. There were three people recommended by the court, and the special purpose was to use it like a pine tree. Zhang fought hard to regain his words, but the emperor refused to retaliate. (Li Rusong) If Rusong feels the emperor's knowledge, his Qi will be invigorated. Next year... Zhongfuli will die in battle.

　　Yang Lian participated in Wei Zhongxian's Twenty-Four Deadly Sins:
　　The country is as important as a divination. Zhongxian held it in one hand and tried his best to stop Sun Shenxing and Sheng Yihong, who were first recommended, and even used words to restrain them. Do you really want to be the prime minister? Five deadly sins.

　　When a person of noble rank is in the court, he should not attach great importance to court promotion. Last year, both the Southern Dazai and the Northern Shaozai were promoted as companions, causing the famous virtuous people to feel uneasy about their positions. Subverting the government and manipulating power are the six major sins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)