Zhang he

Our history textbooks show that Qing dynasty is the peak of imperial autocracy, but it is actually biased. There is no doubt that the Qing Dynasty was an absolute imperial autocratic regime.

However, the emperors in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, did not keep their promises like the Qing Dynasty, although Ming Taizu designed a completely idealized absolute imperial power system.

However, the quality of this system is too high for the emperor. At the end of Ming Dynasty, the emperor didn't have Zhu Yuanzhang's super ability, especially in the middle and late period, the civil service group began to rise, and the Ming Dynasty moved from imperial power politics to civil service politics.

By the Chenghua Dynasty, a political and cultural atmosphere with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty and a dual-track central system headed by a cabinet and a ceremonial supervisor were basically formed, and the existence of imperial power gradually stepped up and began to move away from the government center.

However, under the strong influence of civil servants, they insisted on the idea of "Tao" instead of "Jun", which formed a strong constraint on Jun. Especially in the late Ming dynasty, local scholars even took pride in opposing the central authorities, and they opposed everything approved by the state.

Therefore, in the face of the crisis within the ruling class, it is difficult for the imperial center to play its role. Therefore, strengthening the center has become a temporary trend, and imperial power also hopes to revive.

Everyone has studied Zhang's reform, but I don't know that Zhang's reform is also an act of imitating and summarizing predecessors. In fact, after entering the middle of the Ming Dynasty, a reform era was formed.

Wave after wave of reforms finally reached a climax in Zhangda, but then turned into a trough.

In view of these reforms, if we deeply analyze them, we will find that no matter how many aspects these reforms involve, their deep purpose is to change the weakness of the central power, and both the cabinet and Li Si supervisors are eager to rebuild the central authority.

Tracing back to the source, before Zhang, there were Gao Gong, Zhang Qi, Yang Tinghe and others. The core of these cabinet ministers' political reform measures is basically to restore the central authority.

But few people pay attention to it, and it is also the easiest to be ignored and erased. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the general root of the central political reform was initiated by the eunuch group headed by Si, and the initiator was Liu Jin, a notorious eunuch in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

The famous Zhang Reform in history is in the same strain as the infamous Liu Jin. This estimate will not reach many people's glasses.

In fact, from the so-called Hongzhi revival, the imperial power began to be increasingly depressed, the political style was slack, and the politics of the elderly prevailed politically, especially in Hongzhi's later years.

The reason why Hongzhi Dynasty was talked about by civilian groups was only because Hongzhi was weak and obeyed by literati. This also led to the growing influence of the civil service group, but its inefficiency, conformism and political conservatism made the Ming Dynasty riddled with diseases.

The phenomenon of land annexation and household registration concealment in some areas is very serious, which has seriously endangered the rule of the Ming government.

At this time, Liu Jin stepped onto the stage of history, exerting her hands and feet and ambitions in an attempt to sweep away the exhausted atmosphere since the last years of Hongzhi.

As early as the beginning of Zheng De's accession to the throne, Liu Jin, who had not yet taken power, talked about the disadvantages between Hongzhi and Hongzhi:

It can be seen that Liu Jin is still a knowledgeable and courageous eunuch, and the idea of political reform has long existed, just because Liu Jin's idea of political reform is extremely immature and improper.

Without the support of civil servants or even eunuchs, Liu Jin himself was executed by Ling Chi, and his reform was called "anti-gold".

It is precisely because Liu Jin's political reform took a very short time and eventually failed that most of his political reform measures were completely erased by the civil service groups who had the right to write history. We can only look for the clues of Liu Jin's political reform from the fragmented historical materials.

In the palace coup that broke out in October of Zheng Deyuan, Liu Jin and his followers, together with the civil servant Jiao Fang, defeated the cabinet forces of Hongzhi Dynasty represented by Liu Jian, Xie Qian and Li Dongyang.

Li Si prison king Yue was overthrown, and with the support of Zheng De, Li Si prison was controlled, and Liu Jin's ruling era began.

Consolidating the authority of the central system is the core of Liu Jin's political reform. First of all, he tried to strengthen the central position of the prison in the operation of state affairs, and tried to put the prison above the cabinet in terms of system and become the only central institution that inherited the emperor and subordinate officials.

According to historical records, all officials' memorials have to be approved by Li Jian, and the Cabinet has actually become an administrative body. Liu Jin's opinion must be sought first in all military affairs.

At this time, Liu Jin was serving as the court's assistant. In order to further strengthen the central power, crack down on the increasingly conservative civil service groups, and clean up the problem of redundant staff brought about by Hongzhi's old politics, Liu Jin ordered the veteran to retire as an official.

At the same time, Liu Jin also demanded that Beijing officials be re-examined, that they be virtuous and foolish again, and that the phenomenon of overstaffing of civil servants be cracked down, especially since the last years of Hongzhi, the bureaucracy has been slack and has not been checked for six years.

For six years, officials have not been assessed, which has led to the prevalence of corruption and vulgarity in officialdom. Therefore, Liu Jin emphasized that the inspection of officials should form a fixed system and evaluate officials by their political achievements.

At the same time, in order to further muzzle the mouthpiece of the civil service group, control public opinion and guide the reform, Liu Jin also tried to strengthen the control of the department officials.

According to historical records, Liuke visited Liu Jin every time he went to court, reported everything on the spot, and strictly controlled the direction of public opinion.

At the same time, Liu Jin believes that the border is uneasy and the north has invaded for years because the responsible civil servants are corrupt, conservative and incompetent. In order to rectify the frontier defense, Liu Jin ordered to check the frontier fortress and arrange the grain and grass in the nine-change army. Anyone who has problems will be arrested immediately.

This makes the civil servants who used to be lax in discipline, inefficient and shirking each other complain. In the past, the salary allocated by the central government to the frontier was deducted by civil servants and frontier generals, which is a hidden rule that everyone knows well.

However, Liu Jin wanted to modify this unspoken rule, ordered to strengthen the power of guarding eunuchs in various places, gave them the power to inspect local military affairs, and cracked down on the administrative style of corruption and inaction of civil servants.

Moreover, once problems are found, they will be severely punished immediately, thus forming a situation in which eunuchs and governors check and balance each other and rule.

While cracking down on the civil service groups, Liu Jin also paid attention to cracking down on eunuch forces to strengthen his dominant position, but severely cracked down on corruption and bribery of eunuchs around him. At that time, people also said that "there are many rescues, but there are fewer disasters in dressing." "

However, Liu Jin's most famous attack on eunuch power was to set up an "inner factory". The main task of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is to supervise illegal eunuchs, especially to severely punish them.

Another focus of Liu Jin's political reform is the economy with financial management as the core to strengthen the government's strength.

First of all, Liu Jin ordered to measure the world. Restrain the dignitaries and eunuchs from occupying land outside the country and crack down on the annexation of the king's land by these tyrannical laws.

Liu Jin's farmland measures at the end of that year were effective, and the farmland and population controlled by the government had a great rebound, which undoubtedly increased the revenue of the state treasury.

However, Liu Jin's improper use of personnel and his own corruption and bribery in the process of measuring fields still made the specific implementation process full of drawbacks, but objectively played a role in restraining the powerful countries from annexing the king's land and protecting the interests of some farmers.

There is still something commendable. However, it was precisely because of the measurement of wasteland that the interests of the nobles, especially the frontier captives, were touched, which led to the rebellion of Anhua Wang and ignited the fuse of Liu Jin's failure in political reform.

First, punish civil servants, then crack down on eunuchs, and then clear the land. Everything that the ruling class of the country can offend is offended by Liu Jin, so it is not far from death.

So, taking the rebellion of King Anhua as an opportunity, the civil service group and eunuch group, who were also suppressed by Liu Jin, joined forces to completely bring Liu Jin down.

In the final analysis, Liu Jin's restructuring touched the interests of too many people. The emperor had to abandon Liu Jin in order to save himself and calm people's anger.

With the downfall of Liu Jin, almost all his reform measures were obliterated by the civil service group, leaving only a few words in the history books, so it is difficult for us to restore the whole picture of Liu Jin's reform.

However, Liu Jin's many measures can be seen in Zhang's reform in the future, such as strengthening the central power, strengthening the supervision of six departments, assessing officials, increasing income, and checking fields and acres.

Liu Jin's political reform lasted for a short time, Rainbow Anshi's political reform, improper employment, not supported by civil service groups or even eunuch groups, and his own misdeeds were numerous.

Liu Jin's political reform ended hastily, and his law was soon abolished, but the essence of his political reform was inherited. It was not until nearly a hundred years after the Zhang era that many measures were revoked.

History is always similar to today, so is Zhang's political reform, which is anticlimactic. After his death, his reform measures were abolished and his descendants were liquidated.

Although Zhang's reform ended in failure, Zhang still won his own reputation. Historically, he spoke highly of Zhang, calling him the Prime Minister of Salvation.

Liu Jin, the initiator of many measures in Zhang's political reform, another reformer who tried to strengthen the central control of the imperial court, was essentially the prelude to Ye's political reform from the middle of Ming Dynasty to the beginning of Wanli, but he was notorious.

In fact, both eunuchs and civil servants, as long as they have political ambitions, want to do things for the country and do good things for the country.

As a childless eunuch, Liu Jin lived a peaceful and prosperous life, but risked offending everyone to carry out reforms. Isn't it a passion to serve the country?