novelhk Chapter 933: Abandoning the Prime Minister and Adopting the Cabinet System
Chapter 933: Abandoning the Prime Minister and Adopting the Cabinet System
Even veteran officials who had previously objected to the reduction in the size of the palace were forced to acknowledge its merits after experiencing the new palace firsthand. Court meetings were no longer endlessly standing; discussions now had more flexible venues. Even meals were more timely and delicious thanks to the improved location of the kitchen. These seemingly trivial improvements were actually subtly transforming the ecosystem of government operations.
Guangming Palace lacked the austere, alienating splendor of the old palaces, but instead shone with a warm, vibrant light. The clatter of patrolling soldiers intertwined with the chatter in the civil servants' study, while the melody of the harem echoed with the orders from the guards in the front hall. All of this combined to compose the music of a new era.
At this profoundly significant court meeting, Gao Yao's gaze swept across the faces of each minister, finally resting on the clear sky outside the palace. He knew that the palace could be rebuilt, the attire could be changed, and the rituals could be reformed, but the true transformation had only just begun. This scaled-down Guangming Palace embodied his ideal state—not seeking the largest, but the best; not pursuing fame, but focusing on practical results.
As the first rays of sunlight streamed into the main hall through the purposefully widened windows, illuminating the solemn figures of the officials, they also illuminated this new era that was redefining power and responsibility. Xianyang Palace was a thing of the past, while Guangming Palace was writing the future. And this future, as its name promised, was destined to be bright and brilliant.
Gao Yao sat upright on the throne, his gaze calmly scanning the distinctly divided ranks of officials below. Civil officials on the left, military officials on the right, the order in place. Xiao He and Cao Shen, each at the head, symbolized the equal emphasis placed on civil and military officials in this nascent regime. However, Gao Yao knew that a stable court structure could not be achieved through personnel arrangements alone; it required a sophisticated and robust system as its foundation. Today, amidst this moment of renewal, he would lay the foundation for this crucial institutional foundation: the cabinet system, replacing the millennia-old system of prime ministers.
Gao Yao's determination to abolish the prime minister system wasn't a whim, nor was it a wholesale denial of the achievements of past virtuous ministers. Rather, it was a profound insight into and a thorough reckoning with the core ills of China's power structure. In his view, while the position of prime minister had served throughout dynasties as an aid to the monarch and the leader of the government, the institution itself contained several fatal flaws that could destabilize the nation.
First, the prime minister's power was excessive, almost like a "deputy ruler." Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the prime minister "served the emperor and assisted him in all matters of state," his authority encompassing nearly every aspect of imperial governance. Government affairs, of course, encompassed everything from the selection of officials to taxation, criminal law, and more importantly, their involvement in military decision-making, including recommending generals and participating in strategic planning, and even directly controlling some military power in certain periods.
This transformed the prime minister into a "super-manager" with immense influence across both the military and political systems. This position, "second only to the emperor and above everyone else," created a precarious and blurred boundary for power. If the person in this position showed even the slightest bias or lacked the ability to wield such immense power, it could easily lead to a situation where "political influence" was mediated by private actors. The monarch, in his exalted position, received much of the information filtered and processed by the prime minister's office, creating an artificial information barrier between the monarch and the true state of the nation. Historically, examples of powerful prime ministers obstructing the emperor's hearing and even undermining imperial authority are numerous.
Second, when a prime minister becomes too powerful to be easily eliminated, he or she easily becomes a powerful aristocratic family. Due to his or her high position and power, the prime minister naturally becomes the core of the court's reliance. Through recommendations, promotions, and connections with former students and officials, a complex political power group can easily form around him or her. Once such a group is formed, it becomes extremely exclusive and persistent, and its primary goal often shifts from national interests to the maintenance and expansion of the group's own interests.
Once the ethos of "following the prime minister's lead" developed within the court, imperial power itself would be subject to invisible challenges and erosion. Emperors throughout history were not unaware of this danger, and therefore often excelled at employing the art of balancing power, cultivating censors and close ministers to provide checks and balances, or intentionally fostering other political forces to counter the prime minister's power.
This kind of political maneuvering based on personnel manipulation is essentially a helpless measure that only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. It relies on the monarch's personal skills and energy. Once the monarch becomes weak or lazy, the balance of power is instantly overturned. Moreover, this internally draining power struggle itself consumes the country's administrative efficiency and political clarity.
Gao Yao had a clear understanding of this. He knew that relying on personal loyalty and moral restraint to maintain the balance of power was extremely fragile. To hinge national stability on the "unwavering loyalty" of a single position or individual was tantamount to a gamble. He needed to address the risks of excessive power concentration from the very root of institutional design, not by relying on capable officials or manipulating power. Therefore, he decided not to continue with the old system, but to look to the other side of history and draw on the crystallization of later political wisdom: the cabinet system.
The cabinet system envisioned by Gao Yao was largely based on the early Ming Dynasty. Established in the fourth year of the Jianwen reign, the Ming cabinet served as a secretariat and advisory body established by the emperor to share government responsibilities and provide consultation. Its ingenuity lay in its unprecedented decentralization of power.
Under the traditional prime minister system, the three powers of decision-making, deliberation, and administration were often concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. However, after Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di established the cabinet system, he firmly restored the decision-making power previously held by the prime minister to the emperor, vested deliberation power in the cabinet, and assigned executive authority to the six ministries of Personnel, Revenue, Rites, Military Affairs, Justice, and Works. At the local level, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and the Ministry of Military Affairs were established. These three ministries were independent of each other and reported directly to the six central ministries.
Ideally, this design formed a sophisticated system of checks and balances: The emperor held the ultimate power, making the final decision. The cabinet served as a think tank, providing policy advice and drafting imperial decrees. It had the power to discuss politics but not to execute them. The six ministries were responsible for carrying out specific government affairs and had administrative power, but major decisions required cabinet approval and the emperor's approval. The three local offices shared power and acted as checks and balances, preventing local officials from gaining excessive power.
This established a vertical management system of "Emperor - Cabinet - Six Ministries - Local Authorities," as well as a horizontal control relationship between the Cabinet and the Six Ministries. While Grand Secretaries in the Cabinet might not have held the highest rank, their proximity to the core of power and involvement in confidential matters accorded them an increasingly respected position. By the mid-Ming Dynasty, when powerful officials like Xia Yan, Yan Song, and Zhang Juzheng took charge of the Cabinet, their power surpassed that of the Six Ministries and they were considered true prime ministers.