First Prince of Ming Dynasty Chapter 124

  Chapter 124 North and South Candidates

  Zhu Biao was walking on the road, and a group of people behind him followed him quietly, for fear of disturbing the thoughts of His Royal Highness. Liu Jin is also trembling now, and he knows a lot today.

  Zhu Biao is still weighing the pros and cons of the prime minister system and the cabinet system, but it is not so easy to change this one.

  The relationship between the imperial power and the prime minister can actually be described as a tug-of-war movement. The emperor and the ministers were at one end of the rope, pulling in their own direction. There was no referee and no winner in this competition, but there was an unwritten rule, that is, not to go too far.

  In the rules, the two sides compromise with each other, and both sides have a certain limit to advance and retreat, but it is undeniable that the power of the prime minister can indeed restrict the imperial power to a certain extent.

Zhu Biao is naturally unwilling to allow the prime minister to divide his power, but government affairs must be handled by someone. The cabinet system is a good mechanism, but his growth is inevitable. The cabinet cabinet, they are the emperor's ministers, and it is easy to get the emperor. The letter is heavy.

  With the trust of the emperor, let alone a cabinet minister, even a ninth-rank sesame official can shake his prestige in front of a first-rank official. Of course, such an idiot usually won't last long.

But compared to the prime minister, Zhu Biao is actually willing to have his own secretarial organization, so that he can hand over his official duties to them, let them come up with the best solution, and then all he has to do is make a decision Whether to use this method.

  Although after the mid-Ming Dynasty, the power of the cabinet became more and more powerful, gradually controlling the government, and the academicians became the de facto prime ministers.

  In general, the cabinet is only the emperor's attendant advisory body, and has no decision-making power itself. Although there are cabinet scholars who hold great power, their power does not come from the system and their positions, but from the personal support and trust of the supreme ruler. Once they fall out of favor, their status will plummet.

  Thus, although some people think that the chief assistant in the Ming Dynasty was the prime minister reset in disguise, his power is no longer comparable to that of the previous prime ministers, let alone restricting imperial power. After all, the most critical decision-making power is in the hands of the emperor.

What's more, the cabinet can be restricted by eunuchs and Jinyiwei and other secret service organizations, and then the Ministry of War can be separated from the six ministries to form an organization similar to the Military Aircraft Department with the military heroes. Only the emperor can be the leader of the Military Aircraft Department. The status of Wu Xun must not allow them to fall to the level of the Song Dynasty.

In the future, Zhu Biao will definitely promote the education of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism in the army. In this regard, Lao Jin's family next door is doing a good job. In fact, it is also simple. Military songs and other methods were not lacking in ancient times.

The only thing that makes Zhu Biao hesitate is that the relationship between prime minister and imperial power has been broken to a certain extent and the relationship of mutual restraint. Originally, if you encounter a foolish emperor, as long as it is not the end of the dynasty, it is not so easy to mess up if there is a prime minister in the world Get up, at least you can still wait for a ZTE master.

Fortunately, there is still time to think about this matter, and Zhu Biao can continue to think of ways to improve it during this period. All the way to Song Lian's official residence, there are guards from the pro-military Duwei's mansion nearby, and no outsiders are allowed to enter or enter. people come out.

   This prohibition naturally couldn't stop Zhu Biao, but in order to show his importance to the imperial examination, Zhu Biao only took Liu Jin in.

  Following Zhu Biao's pace, all the guards along the way bowed their heads and saluted. After hearing the movement, several court scholars and some officials from the official department came out to greet him. They thought it was the emperor who had come.

   But it is the same when seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, they all have to kneel down and salute. As Zhu Biao's teacher, Song Lian, Zhu Yuanzhang has long ordered that Song Lian is not allowed to salute Zhu Biao.

  Seeing that Song Lian was about to salute, Zhu Biao hurried forward to support his teacher: "Mr. Song, what are you doing?"

  Song Lian looked at the most proud disciple in his life and said: "How does the gift of teachers and students compare with the gift of the monarch and ministers? It is only natural for ministers to salute the prince and prince."

Zhu Biao asked other officials to get up: "I came here to see the preparations for the imperial examination. You are the most knowledgeable people in my Ming Dynasty, so the Holy One asked you to be responsible for the examination papers and select talents for my Ming Dynasty. Please The Qing family is dedicated."

  Everyone immediately bowed and replied: "I will do my best, Your Majesty, please rest assured, Your Majesty."

  Zhu Biao nodded, let them go down and continue to issue papers, and then followed Song Lian to his room, which was also full of various documents. Liu Jin stepped forward to sort it out, and then there was a place for two people to sit down.

  Song Lian looked at Zhu Biao and said, "I don't know what orders Your Highness has come here?"

  Zhu Biao said: "The disciple is here to ask about the examination papers. Are the examination questions for all regional candidates the same?"

  Song Lian nodded and said: "The examination papers for the general examination are all the same."

  Zhu Biao frowned. Although the origins of those scholars have not been clearly counted, it can be guessed that there are more scholars in the south than in the north. After all, compared with the south, the north has many wars and disasters, and its culture and education are far inferior to the south.

  Zhu Biao glanced at Song Lian and asked, "Master Song, how many people from the north do you think the new Jinshi can have this time?"

Song Lian glanced at Zhu Biao, stroked his beard and said, "The old minister has also discussed this matter with his colleagues in his spare time. The war in the north has just been quelled by His Highness, and it is far from recovering. What's more, since the Southern Song Dynasty, the cultural atmosphere in the south has been constant. It is much higher than that in the north, among the 300 Jinshi admitted by the ministers and others, I am afraid that the north will not even have a hundred."

Zhu Biao nodded. This is also expected. The north was the political, economic and cultural center of the country during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but after the Yongjia Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, and the Jingkang Rebellion in the Northern Song Dynasty, the South began to become the economic and cultural center. , when my father established Nanjing as his capital, the south became the political center again.

As a result, there will inevitably be more officials in the south than in the north in the future. This is actually not a good thing. The ancients had a strong sense of locality, as can be seen from the two major parties in the current court, the Huaixi Party and the Eastern Zhejiang Party. , These are the names of the two places.

  Although these two factions also accept some talents from other places, they mainly promote their own hometown children, and sometimes even reject and suppress a person who has no grievances based on the region alone.

  Balance is necessary, otherwise, after several decades, probably 80% of the officials above the court are from the south, and if they form a southern party, it will not be of any benefit to the Ming Dynasty.

  However, the imperial examination for scholars requires fairness, and there must be no favoritism and fraud. Otherwise, it is better to say that this imperial examination only recruits students from the north.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end