Diqin Designer

Chapter 77 What official system should the Qin Dynasty adopt?
Ying Zheng was very curious about the Hongwu Emperor, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He wanted to know how he rose to power and how he went from being a beggar to becoming the ruler of the world.

"The Hongwu Emperor was a very powerful emperor. He did something that almost no emperor in previous dynasties had done. He abolished the prime minister system, no longer set up the three provinces, and directly controlled the six ministries."

Abolishing the prime minister system and directly controlling the six ministries will indeed concentrate all power in the emperor's hands, but is this really good?

After a little thought, Ying Zheng saw the problem with this method. Without a prime minister to share government affairs, it would be very tiring for the emperor to be a centralized emperor, as too many government affairs required the emperor's decisions.

He asked with a strange look on his face: "Will Emperor Hongwu die of exhaustion?"

As expected of the First Emperor, he saw at a glance the disadvantages of Emperor Hongwu abolishing the prime minister system. Li Nian said, "Emperor Hongwu was not exhausted to death. After abolishing the prime minister system, he diligently governed for 18 years."

Hearing this, Boss Zheng couldn't help but give a thumbs up to Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. He was a ruthless man. No wonder he could rise from a beggar and ascend to the throne.

Ying Zheng continued to ask with great interest: "What happened later? What about the Ming emperors after Emperor Hongwu? Did they reinstate the prime minister system?"

Li Nian said: "Emperor Hongwu had much more energy than ordinary people. After abolishing the prime minister system, he could get up early and go to bed late every day, and handle government affairs tirelessly, but he never thought about whether his descendants could do the same."

"After the death of Emperor Hongwu, the emperors after the Ming Dynasty found that their energy was limited and they could not be as diligent as their ancestors, so they set up a cabinet and promoted cabinet ministers to assist them in handling government affairs."

Assisting in handling government affairs, I am afraid that he will become the new prime minister, going around in circles and eventually coming back to the same place.

"In the beginning, the cabinet ministers were also called assistant ministers. They were advisors to the emperor and were responsible for giving advice on matters that were difficult for the emperor to decide. They did not have much real power."

"But as time went on, the cabinet gradually gained real power. It was no longer limited to making suggestions, but could also make decisions. The chief minister in the cabinet was called the 'first assistant'. Some of the first assistants in the Ming Dynasty had power no less than the prime minister before."

Just as he expected, Emperor Hongwu abolished the prime minister system, but his descendants restored it to a certain extent.

"Of course, the Prime Minister is different from the Prime Minister. He is not the real Prime Minister. Most of the time, the Prime Minister's power is far less than that of the Prime Minister. From this point of view, Emperor Hongwu succeeded in abolishing the Prime Minister system!"

After talking about the three-province and six-department system of the Ming Dynasty, Li Nian talked about the Qing Dynasty: "By the time of the Qing Dynasty, although it was a barbarian country, we have to admit that it reached a peak in terms of the official system of the dynasty."

"The Qing dynasty used the Ming system, still had six ministries and a cabinet, but Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing dynasty created an institution called the 'Military Affairs Council'."

Ying Zheng asked: "Is the Grand Council the new cabinet?"

Li Nian thought about it and shook his head, "Not really. Compared to the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, the scope of authority of the Military Affairs Office is very broad, but the actual power of the Minister of Military Affairs is very small."

Ying Zheng was somewhat puzzled, and only listened to Li Nian continue: "The Grand Council has neither an office nor a dedicated official, nor subordinates, nor a fixed number of staff. The emperor selects ministers of the third or fourth rank or above to serve."

"The military ministers are all part-time. They can participate in decision-making, but they do not have the power to make decisions. They are by the emperor's side, take orders directly from the emperor, draft documents, and handle government affairs."

"For example, the seal of the Grand Council was returned immediately after use. To maintain strict confidentiality, the errand boys under the age of fifteen were selected to serve as the errand boys. In addition, there were specially appointed imperial censors to inspect the Grand Council's duty stations, and no one was allowed to peek in."

"Thus, although the Grand Council had a wide range of powers, the Grand Council's powers were limited. In fact, it was the cabinet that the Ming emperors had originally wanted to establish."

After this talk, Ying Zheng roughly understood the role and limitations of the Grand Council.

The officials of the Grand Council were selected by the emperor, not full-time, and could be dismissed and appointed at any time. They had no decision-making power and could only make suggestions, so they could not issue actual orders. The Grand Council was the team that Emperor Hongwu and Zhu Di wanted. They only needed to give them advice, but they were not allowed to make any decisions. The decision still had to be made by us, father and son.

Ying Zheng immediately thought of the benefits of the Grand Council, which basically avoided the possibility of the emergence of powerful ministers and greatly strengthened the power of the king.

As for the downside…

The king has too much power and there are no checks and balances. If he is a wise ruler, the Grand Council will be the most effective tool in his hands. If he is a foolish ruler, the Grand Council will be useless.

Moreover, once there is no emperor to control and command, the Grand Council will be like a group of headless flies, unlike the Ming Dynasty Cabinet, which can operate for decades even if the emperor does not do his job.

But it must be said that for an emperor who wanted to centralize power, the Grand Council was indeed very tempting. Ying Zheng suddenly asked: "From the time Emperor Yongzheng established the Grand Council to the demise of the Qing Dynasty, did the Grand Council always exist?"

Li Nian said: "It has always existed!"

Ying Zheng originally wanted to ask how the Qing Dynasty avoided incompetent rulers and tyrants with the existence of the Grand Council, but when he thought of the Qing Dynasty's "secret system of appointing the crown prince" and the fact that the Qing emperors had few descendants, he decided not to ask.

He changed the question and asked, "What kind of official system do you think our Great Qin should implement?"

I heard Li Nian say that the purpose of taking future dynasties as a reference is to modify the current official system of the Qin Dynasty to make it more beneficial to himself and the Qin Dynasty.

Li Nian also knew that Ying Zheng would ask for his opinion, so he considered it for a while and said, "I think we can take the three-province and six-department system as the basis and make appropriate modifications based on the situation of the Qin Dynasty."

Ying Zheng asked: "How to modify it?"

Li Nian shook his head and said, "I don't know how to modify it specifically!"

Although he searched for information from later generations, Li Nian could not figure out how to modify the three-province and six-bureau system in the Qin Dynasty and create a perfect official system that was in line with both the First Emperor and the Qin Dynasty.

"I only have a few humble opinions for your Majesty. If our Great Qin adopts the system of three provinces and six ministries, we should focus on restricting the Ministry of Shangshu and the six ministries. The powers of both are too great and the scope of their authority is too complex."

"Too much authority will make the chief official too powerful, and too many authorities will make it difficult to clarify affairs, which will easily lead to confusion and mistakes. I think some of the six ministries can be separated from the Shangshu Province and directly managed by the king, such as the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Revenue."

"The Ministry of Personnel is responsible for the assessment and appointment of officials. Your Majesty should hold this important power in your hands."

"The next is the Ministry of War. An Zhongrong, the governor of the Later Jin Dynasty, once said, 'The emperor should be served by those with strong soldiers and horses.' This shows the importance of military power. The Ministry of War is related to military power. I think it is not appropriate to put it directly under the Ministry of Shangshu."

Meng Yi's eyelids twitched when he heard this. Only this person dared to say such things in front of the king.

"The Ministry of Justice is in charge of law and prisons. The Shangshu Province will use the Ministry of Justice when implementing administrative orders. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice's powers cannot be completely separated from the Shangshu Province. Some of them should be retained."

"For example, when the Shangshu Province is implementing an order, if someone deliberately obstructs or sabotages it, the Shangshu Province should have the power to order the arrest, but should not have the power to interrogate and convict."

(End of this chapter)