大学士
The burden of the administrative details made it imperative for the emperor to seek secretarial assistance. In 1382, the Hongwu Emperor drew from the Hanlin Academy, an institution that provided literary and scholarly services to the court, several "Grand Secretaries" to process his administrative paperwork. These Grand Secretaries were assigned for duty to designated buildings within the imperial palace, and they were collectively known as the "Grand Secretariat" since the reign of the Yongle Emperor.