In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), it was revoked again, imitating the system of Song Dynasty, and four college students were set up, including Gaihuatang, Wuyingtang, Wenyuange and Dongge, among which Shao Zhi, Wu Bozong, Hanlin Song Ne and Wu Shen, ministers of rites, were four college students respectively.
Later, he set up a college student in Wenhua Hall, and recruited Confucian scholars such as Bao Xun, You Quan and Zhang Changnian to tutor the Prince. His rank was just five, and his main power was only consultant. This is the prototype of the cabinet. During the Wen Jian period, college students were changed to bachelor students, and all college students were expelled, one for each bachelor. Since then, I have changed the Temple of God into the Temple of Zheng Xin, and set up a bachelor's degree in the Temple of Zheng Xin. Although Judy, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was as brilliant as Zhu Yuanzhang in monopolizing power, his repeated personal expedition made him unable to really take charge of political affairs, so the cabinet, an "auxiliary" institution to help the emperor, came into being. After Ming Chengzu ascended the throne, Jie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and others were sent to the Wumen to participate in the maintenance, which was called the Cabinet. The cabinet system was established.
In the past, the Prime Minister had decision-making power, deliberation power and administrative power. After Ming Chengzu established the cabinet, he firmly held the decision-making power owned by the prime minister in his own hands, delegated the deliberation power to the cabinet, and delegated the administrative power to six ministries. There are judicial, military and administrative departments at the local level, which are directly responsible to the six departments.
Under the control of Cheng Zu, the Cabinet and the six ministries performed their respective duties. The highest administrative order of the state was issued from the Forbidden City, passing through 1936 stations nationwide, with a total length of 143700 km, and distributed to all corners of the country at different levels.
However, "the former post of cabinet minister also began at that time, but at that time, all the officials who entered the cabinet were editors, inspectors and readers, not officials, and were not allowed to arrogate authority." Division should not be related to things. " In other words, the cabinet is still only the private secretary of the emperor, not the authority. After the mid-Yongle period, the authority of the cabinet became heavier and heavier, and it was in charge of six ministers and became the highest staff and decision-making body of the emperor. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Zhu Zhanji in the late Ming Dynasty, the power began to rise (Sanyang assisted the government), forming a more perfect government process: the memorials of the whole country, large and small, and even the suggestions made by the people to the emperor were summarized by the General Political Department, submitted to the emperor by the Minister of Ritual Supervision, and then submitted to the cabinet, which was responsible for drafting and handling opinions, then submitted to the emperor for examination and approval, and finally signed and proofread by six departments.
1425, when Injong was in Zhu Gaochi, Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong were the old ministers of the East Palace, Yang Shiqi was promoted to assistant minister of rites and college students of Huagai Hall, and Yang Rong was a college student of Taichangqing and Excalibur Hall. Later, Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong both held the positions of ministers. Although they were both in the Cabinet, their titles were respected by ministers. Since then, the power of the cabinet has become more and more powerful and has been gradually valued.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Ming Dynasty in Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu, Wang Wen entered the cabinet with Zuodu as the suggestion and later entered the official department. Since then, both the Patent Office and the Manufacturing Bureau have set up China Books, and six departments have accepted the will, so the power of the cabinet is even greater. Although the orthodoxy of Ming Yingzong and Zhu Qizhen was repeated in the last years, by the time of Chenghua and Hongzhi, the cabinet had become the representative of the civilian government that could resist the imperial power.
During the period of Zheng De, what Zhu Houzhao did in Mingwuzong was considered absurd. But there are also some pavilions such as Yang Tinghe who are sticking to it, and there is no chaos. During the Jiajing period of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Hougui changed the Gaihua Hall to Zhongji Hall, and the Shenshen Hall to Jianji Hall. The number of college students ranked before the six ministers, and their status was greatly improved. Although the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty did not have the name of prime minister, it had the power of prime minister. In the twenty-first year of Jiajing, Yan Song, the powerful minister, became a university student in Wuyingdian, and he was good at state affairs for more than twenty years. The power of the cabinet is exactly the same as that of the former prime minister. After the development of Jiajing and Qin Long, the early years of Wanli should be a period of extremely prosperous cabinet power. Zhang's reform made the cabinet the center of government operation, and Zhang's position was actually close to that of modern prime minister.