Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 60 He Closed the Post Station

After knowing that he had abolished the prime minister, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyelids could not help but twitch when he realized that the power of the cabinet in the late Ming Dynasty was so great.

The whole person laughed and said:
"Hey! We worked so hard and planned for many years, and finally let our emperor control all officials. Which idiot invented the cabinet to take away our power?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's desire for power forced him to make many surprising moves.

Eradicating the position of prime minister would mean that many people would have to die behind the scenes.

At the same time, in his opinion, this is also for the future generations to be able to better grasp power.

But he didn't expect that his descendants not only did not do as he wished, but instead took a strange approach and built a cabinet!
Yang Chen, however, had a different opinion and expressed it.

"Your Majesty is wrong. History has recorded that Your Majesty is one of the best emperors in terms of diligence.

The reason why you let the crown prince serve as regent so early was, to a large extent, because you hoped that the father and son could work together to handle the government affairs of all officials.

At the same time, he also wanted to make his power more unified.

But Your Majesty, you should understand that not all emperors of the Ming Dynasty have your energy.

Every day he would get up before the cock crowed to attend the morning court. He regarded dealing with state affairs as a kind of enjoyment and devoted himself to it.

Without a prime minister, the emperor alone needs to coordinate the affairs of the six ministries and other military generals.

You know, if a person's brain is under high-intensity pressure all day long, it will not only age faster, but also cause certain damage to his physical and mental health.

It's like a large-scale military operation. Your Majesty has fought in wars before, and he must know that a battle requires the simultaneous command of hundreds of thousands of people, and once the war begins.

You need to work day and night to make forward-looking decisions because the information you get is outdated.

Ordinary people would feel extremely uncomfortable if they don't sleep for even one day and one night, let alone three days and three nights.

Only talented people can support it.

Just fighting a war is so tiring, not to mention the messy affairs in the domestic court that require the emperor to make accurate judgments alone.

For an emperor who was not good at governing his country diligently, this was a project that could cost lives.

Therefore, the cabinet was formed among the emperors after you.

As the cabinet was passed down, a group of powerful members gradually emerged, among which the chief minister of the cabinet was a position that all officials wanted to compete for.

There are even signs that the emperor is young and the chief minister of the cabinet is acting on behalf of the emperor and handling state affairs, but your majesty, don't worry.

This cabinet chief minister was an absolutely good minister. Not only did he not cause chaos in the court, he even helped to revive the Ming Dynasty and prolonged the country's prosperity, which should have perished long ago."

At first, when Zhu Yuanzhang heard about the role of the cabinet, he was almost furious.

He had finally taken back the imperial power, but his descendants actually dispersed it again.

However, when he thought of the reasons Yang Chen mentioned later, he suddenly remembered that his eldest son seemed to have become weak because he had put too much pressure on the other party.

So, it seems that I am really wrong?
The moment this idea came to his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang began to seriously consider whether this cabinet was suitable to replace the prime minister?
According to Yang Chen, the power held by the cabinet is to a certain extent dependent on the emperor, which is completely different from the prime minister who can have a team in private.

The reason why he wanted to destroy the prime minister was that he couldn't stand the prime minister's power.

Especially in recent times, Hu Weiyong has been a little unclear about the big king and the small king. He can turn a blind eye to those who are close to the civil officials, but he wants both civil officials and military generals.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, this was an act of usurping imperial power, and he would not allow anyone other than him to have such a powerful figure in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, abolishing the prime minister and killing Hu Weiyong were inevitable in his eyes. However, he still felt a little unhappy with the cabinet system, after all, Yang Chen had just said so.

The emperor was young, so the chief minister of the cabinet exercised the emperor's powers and handled government affairs.

This shows that the chief minister of the cabinet in the later period still had great power, and could even make the young emperor unable to fight back.

If you meet a good minister as the other party calls him, then maybe it won’t be a big deal, but what if he turns out to be a treacherous minister?

After thinking about it, Zhu Yuanzhang found that he still disliked this kind of existence that could touch the imperial power, so he didn't think much about it.

He looked up at Yang Chen and asked.

"You just said that the Donglin Party secretly colluded with the evildoers to oppress the people. With the treasury empty, didn't Chongzhen realize something and make changes?"

By now, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer blamed Chongzhen.

It's because this kid has never learned how to handle state affairs.

He was forced to become emperor, and as the times were turbulent, it would be extremely difficult for him to aspire to become the leader of a revival.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to know what kind of troubles his Ming Dynasty had encountered in the future that caused it to be despised by the people and even the border troops did not help his court.

It is really difficult to evaluate such a Ming Dynasty.

Yang Chen pondered for a moment, then said:
"He did realize the problem. The Donglin Party passed the tax burden on to the common people, causing all the land in the hands of the common people to be annexed by the aristocracy.

Without land, there would be no food, and without food, there would be no taxes to pay, which eventually led to their uprising.

After realizing this problem, Emperor Chongzhen thought that since collecting taxes from the people would lead to uprising, he should reduce the court's expenditures as much as possible.

He eliminated all the institutions that he thought were unnecessary. For example, at the official post stations set up in various places, except for the main members, all the remaining postmen were basically laid off by him.

His action added fuel to the demise of the already precarious Ming Dynasty.

A large number of local personnel originally wanted to rely on the iron rice bowl of the court to have a hot meal.

Even if there is no salary, it is enough for me to feed myself and my family, but the trend of unemployment spread throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Those who were laid off took the initiative to join the rebel army.

You have to know that these people used to work for the imperial court, and their skills are much better than those bandits.

Before long, many people relied on their own abilities to stand out among the rebels, either becoming small leaders or generals.

Among the rebels, there is a leader who is very powerful and knows how to win over the people. He was once a person who was laid off. "

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he felt his scalp tingling. Although he knew that Chongzhen was not capable, he still couldn't help but curse him.

"Stupid!"

"Biao'er, tell me, why are these descendants so stupid? What is the purpose of the post station?

This is an important institution for transmitting official documents and military intelligence, and is the eyes of the court outside.

Without the post station, it means that the Ming central government has completely lost its eyes to observe the outside world. No wonder the Ming Dynasty fell. With his reckless behavior, the Ming Dynasty will inevitably fall."

(End of this chapter)