The Ming Dynasty lasted 277 years from the establishment of 1368 to the demise of 1644. Although it can't be compared with the ancient Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, compared with the Jin and Song Dynasties, the Ming Dynasty is still very long-lived. Maybe you don't think it's strange. Isn't it normal for a dynasty to be hundreds of years? But if you carefully observe the Ming dynasty, you will find that it is a miracle that the Ming dynasty can live so long. Without the Little Ice Age, it could have lived for 300 years.

There were nearly 20 emperors in the Ming Dynasty, except a few emperors belonging to the Ming Dynasty, such as Zhu Yuanzhang, Judy and Zhu Youjian, and several short-lived emperors behind Judy. The rest basically belong to the bad king, especially several long-lived emperors, such as Wanli and Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing was addicted to alchemy. Although he is good at controlling, he doesn't care much about state affairs. Wanli did not go to court for 25 consecutive years, setting a record.

Another feature of the Ming Dynasty is the eunuch dictatorship, chaotic state affairs and rampant eunuch chaos. The central government is also chaotic. For the ancient feudal imperial power system, if the emperors were mostly fatuous, then they would not live long. The quality of the Ming emperor is also the lowest in history, not as good as that of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

But it is in this case that the Ming Dynasty still survived for 277 years, which is undoubtedly a very strange phenomenon. In contrast, in the Qing Dynasty, almost all the twelve emperors reached the standard of a wise monarch, but the Qing Dynasty only lasted for 267 years, which is undoubtedly a sharp contrast.

Behind any historical phenomenon, there must be its inherent laws, from which we can certainly find the truth behind it. The reason why the Ming Dynasty can last so long without a wise monarch has to mention the system designed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and directly promoted six ministers to the highest administrative department of the empire. After the abolition of the prime minister, the six ministries were directly responsible to the emperor, and all government affairs were examined and approved by the emperor himself. But there are so many government affairs in the country that it can be said that the emperor is extremely busy alone. When Zhu Yuanzhang was in office, yes. It is said that he only sleeps four hours a day, except for the princess who is lucky enough to handle government affairs.

But not all emperors were Zhu Yuanzhang. When he arrived in Judy, his energy could not keep up. So, the emperor began to put government affairs outside, and what to do if he didn't trust the minister, then he could only give it to the eunuchs around him. At that time, eunuchs had schools, and literate eunuchs were even more terrible. Because the emperor trusted them, he gave them power. It happened that most Ming emperors were lazy and groggy, and eunuch dictatorship was extremely common.

But generally speaking, eunuchs are eunuchs, not normal people. Their power is naturally unreasonable, so those literati who have received Confucian education despise eunuchs, so their contradiction shifts from the emperor to the eunuch. Eunuchs are in power by the emperor, and ministers can only get rid of eunuchs by the emperor. And there was no prime minister at that time, and it was almost impossible for someone to carry the tripod.

The most important thing in power is balance, managing the people below for the superior, letting them fight with each other and finally making their own decisions. Nature is the best. Maybe Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect it. At first, he should get rid of the prime minister. Since the emperor personally consolidated the imperial power, I didn't expect such a situation.