As the founding monarch of the generation, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's strength and desire for power can be regarded as rare since ancient times. Even if he is the first person in the world, he is still very dissatisfied, and he is constantly trying to control more things, not only the present of the Ming Dynasty, but also the future of the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang went to great lengths to design a set of effective systems, covering all aspects of the Ming Dynasty. But even so, he is still not satisfied, because below him, there is a position that is enough to compete with him - prime minister.

Since the Qin unified the world, the prime minister system has always existed in the court, as a buffer and bond between the emperor and the courtiers below. Of course, sometimes people in this position will also do things that threaten the power of the Son of Heaven, and even replace them. But in general, the balance between the power of the monarch and the power of the prime minister is the key to the stability of a regime.

But Zhu Yuanzhang did not recognize this, his strong desire for power and suspicion, coupled with the fear that future generations would be controlled by people in this position, he made a brazen move and canceled the position of prime minister. And what can make him do such a big thing is Hu Weiyong's case.

It's just that after getting rid of the post of prime minister, the problem quickly became apparent. Originally, many trivial or non-trivial things that did not need to conflict with the courtiers were all faced with Zhu Yuanzhang at this time. No matter how diligent he is, he is busy with government affairs for twelve hours a day, and he can't take care of it at all. In order to cope with all this, Zhu Yuanzhang set up a cabinet.

In fact, the cabinet was just a secretarial agency around the Son of Heaven at the beginning of its creation, and it had almost no real power except to help with paperwork. And Zhu Yuanzhang, who is suspicious by nature, also knows that such an institution may become a big deal in the future, so he even made a stipulation that the rank of cabinet members is only five grades, and the rank of low grade but great power is an important means to check and balance them.

But even a character like Zhu Yuanzhang may be able to control everything during his lifetime, but after death, he can't say it. Not only were the various systems that he had worked so hard to establish before being destroyed one by one by later generations, but the cabinet system related to imperial power had also undergone a complete upside down.

Although the cabinet is more powerful in the hands of its self-established ancestor Zhu Di, the positions of its members are still not high. But when those descendants came up, it was not the case at all, and the cabinet chief assistant not only quickly replaced the prime minister, but even in a sense, their power was even higher than that of any prime minister since ancient times.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty has also become one of the dynasties with the most powerful ministers or virtuous ministers in history - Sanyang, Yang Tinghe, Li Dongyang, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng...... Each of these names illuminates future generations is enough to become a generation of virtuous faces in any historical dynasty.

In this regard, these civil officials are naturally honored, and many people are taking these sages as an example and constantly working hard, hoping that one day they can become cabinet assistants like them. But no one thinks about it, in fact, if you look at the ancestral system and rules of the Ming Dynasty, the existence of these people is completely unreasonable!

Yes, your cabinet assistant ministers have no real power, and they can only be five-grade petty officials, but what happened later? One by one, they controlled the government and became the only existence, that is, the six Shangshu were not as high as them in their positions, which can be seen from the position of the dynasty this morning.

If you want to say that you have violated the rules of your ancestors, I'm afraid there is nothing more serious than this!

Shen Shixing's mind was very flexible, Yang Zhen only raised his head, and he reacted quickly, his expression became very strange, and the momentum just now suddenly collapsed, and he didn't know what to say.

But Yang Zhen didn't intend to let the other party go like this, so he sneered and said, "Why, if you really mention the rules of the ancestors, Shen Ge Lao won't mention it?" You are talking about the rules of Taizu's time when you open your mouth and close your mouths, and now you yourself have violated the rules set by Taizu, you can't be ignored, right? ”

The officials below didn't understand, so they communicated with their colleagues around them for a while, and then their expressions also changed, and they couldn't argue for Shen Shixing about it, and they couldn't clearly set double standards as a person, while using the rules of the ancestors to suppress the Son of Heaven, and on the other hand, they spoke to the cabinet that broke the rules of the ancestors.

Wanli didn't expect Yang Zhen to have such a hand, and when he saw the helpless appearance of the ministers, he suddenly felt a burst of surprise in his heart: "Yang Qing is really prepared, this time the certainty should be not small." ”

After being silent for a long time, Shen Shixing couldn't say anything decent to refute after all. Seeing this, Yang Zhen was more confident, so he turned his attention to those officials again: "In addition, when it comes to the rules of the ancestors, especially the laws of the Taizu, I still remember that there is one thing that is closely related to your lords." ”

"But ...... But what is it? Someone dared to ask, but more people were worried, not knowing what strange rules this person would come up with.

"At the time of Taizu, there was a fixed number of officials, and there was an edict, which cannot be changed at will in future generations, I don't know if you remember?" Yang Zhen's eyes were full of ridicule.

Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this. There are not many Ming officials, but this is still increasing year by year, only enough for ordinary officials to eat and wear, if they really go back to Taizu, then they can only go to drink the northwest wind.

At this point, those officials who have no real power, let alone no foreign income, are even more frightened. However, the officials who hold power in their hands and have obtained many benefits because of this do not take it very seriously, they do not expect to live on money, as long as they have the power in hand, even if they do not have money, it will not affect their wealth.

But as if he had seen through their thoughts, Yang Zhen laughed again: "In addition, in the early years, Taizu had even more strict orders, and anyone who embezzled and accepted bribes of more than thirty taels of silver by officials would be executed and peeled off the skin of daylily!" Ladies and gentlemen, what about this ancestral law? ”

This time, everyone panicked. Everyone knew very well in their hearts that the things they did in private were stared at by the Jinyi guards, and they had enough evidence to prove that they had embezzled no less than thirty taels of silver. No matter how honest an official is, unless you are like Hai Rui, this capital crime will have to fall on your own head.

"You open your mouth to the ancestral system and close your mouth to the rules, I don't know what you think of such an ancestral method? You can't just mention the law of your own mind to oppose the Son of Heaven, and you can't see these rules against you, right? Yang Zhen's voice was not loud this time, but in the square where everyone was silent, it could still clearly reach everyone's ears, making their faces red and white, and they couldn't react much for a while.

This time, they finally knew how well prepared Yang Zhen was. And when they were caught off guard, they couldn't even come up with a reason to refute, so they could only keep their heads down and remain silent.

Wanli is not the ignorant son of heaven before, and he already knows it in his heart when he sees this. After seeing the frightened appearance of the ministers, he knew that it was time for him to come forward, so he glanced at Yang Zhen complainingly: "Yang Qing, your words are too much. Now is different from the past, how can you use the strict laws of Taizu's time to criticize the courtiers? As for the cabinet, they are also worried about me, and the first emperors have treated them well, so how can I change them at will? ”

"Your Majesty is wise, but the minister is angry for a while, so he is so disrespectful!" Yang Zhen immediately admitted his mistake very shamefully.

The two of them sang red and white, so that all the officials under Shen Shi didn't know how to react. Under the mouth stammering, there can only be a sigh.

Having said that, they can no longer continue to insist on opposing the decision of the Son of Heaven to establish Zhu Changxun. Because the reason they can come up with to resist the monarchy is no longer tenable, and if they insist on it, they will only lift a stone and shoot themselves in the foot.

Even if it was Shen Shixing, he could only sigh secretly in his heart and didn't dare to make a sound. He has never been a tough person, and the reaction just now is already rare, and if he continues to entangle, the result will not be able to be imagined.

Of course, they can also use the trick of the other day to coerce the Son of Heaven to change his mind with a collective resignation. But the consequences of that are extremely serious, and the monarchs and ministers will turn against each other completely. And with Yang Zhen helping by the side, maybe the Son of Heaven will really use the various strict laws against his subordinates when Taizu was used to condemn them, and even the "Great Message" that makes people's scalps tingle when they think about it may come out again, and when it comes, they will really have a hard time.

For the sake of an illusory so-called rule, for the sake of an eldest son of the emperor who they may not even be able to recognize, there is really no need for these officials to risk losing their official positions and being killed.

Those who can occupy a high position in the court are absolutely no one who likes to be high-spirited. Their decisions, they are carefully considered, and they will only stick to what is best for them......

Therefore, when Yang Zhen spoke again and asked them what they thought about the Son of Heaven's desire to appoint Zhu Changxun, the third prince, as the crown prince, everyone was silent. No one dared to raise any objections, and they all bowed their heads, although the expressions on their faces were very complicated.

When he saw this scene, Wanli felt an indescribable excitement in his heart, and his face quickly turned ruddy: "Okay, since all of you Aiqing feel that there is no problem with establishing Chang Xun as the crown prince, then the cabinet should hurry up and draft the decree." Tomorrow, I will announce it to the world, so that I can stabilize the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Minister...... Obey! After a while, Shen Shixing agreed with difficulty.

And as he obeyed the order, other officials also agreed one after another, although everyone was helpless!

On October 21, the fifteenth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the Son of Heaven issued an edict to the world, and the third son of the emperor, Zhu Changluo, was appointed as the crown prince......

This time, Yang Zhen can confidently say that he has completely changed the historical trend of the Ming Dynasty!