Chapter 26 Chapter 23 Political Institutions Under the New Unification and Prosperity: Government Organizations in the Tang Dynasty

After four hundred years of long-term division in China, a unified government reappeared in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.However, the unified government at that time had a different organization from that of four hundred years ago. To put it simply, the first is the reconstruction of the authority of the central prime minister, and the second is the rectification of local politics. The prime ministers and censors in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty were gradually transferred to become the ministers in the later Han Dynasty. In Wei Shi, Zhongshu Supervisor began to participate in the great politics.

The Shangshu of the Han Dynasty was a scholar, while the Zhongshu was an eunuch.Wei Zuohan, who first established the Wei State, set up a secretary order, which was still played by Dian Shangshu.Xun changed to Zhongshu, there were orders and supervisors, and Shangshu was not abolished.However, Zhongshu is close, but Shangshu is far away. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the servants were the best. Shi Zhongben and Zhong Chang Shi are in the same body, and they are also lowly in the inner court.After the Eastern Jin Dynasty.The emperor used his servants to always be around, discussing political affairs with him more often, and did not serve as Zhongshu full-time.So there was another sect, and the power of Zhongshu began to be divided.

Under the arrest of Song and Qi, Shangshu, Zhongshu and Shizhong are all assistant ministers. The secrets are in Zhongshu, Shizhong, and Shangshu perform government affairs.So Shangshu turned to the outer dynasty, while Zhongshu and his subordinates were the only private people of the emperor. This is a very significant transformation of the central government organization since the Qin and Han Dynasties.The power of the monarchy and the power of the prime minister are originally the two sides of the complementary governance of the cultural and political regimes of the Han Dynasty.Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, political consciousness has degenerated, and the government has become a field of contention for private power, so the monarch and the prime minister do not complement each other but control each other.Power ministers usurp the power, that is, deprive the power of the prime minister and return it to private property.

However, monarchs and ministers are jealous, and private households live in, taming is an important position, and they have to use private households as a defense.As far as the royal family at that time was concerned, the aspect was cut off, which seemed to be convenient for autocracy; as far as the noble clan was concerned at that time, each of them formed a family, and they also returned to feudalism.As a result, the royal family only waited for a private family, the government was disintegrated, and neither the monarchy nor the prime minister existed. Until the political consciousness turns clear again, and the government gradually gets on track, the attitude of the monarch and his ministers will also change.The monarch and the prime minister are still complementary to each other, rather than mutually restraining and forming enemies.At that time, the private agencies since the Wei and Jin dynasties were transformed into the official leaders of the government, which completely replaced the prime ministers in the Qin and Han dynasties, and together formed a decent government with the support of the monarchy.This is the reappearance of the unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

This change is tantamount to telling us that although Chinese history has experienced four hundred years of long-term chaos, there is still vitality behind it, and there is still a spiritual force that still makes Chinese history go on a bright road again. The highest authority of the central government in the Tang Dynasty was still the Shangshu, Zhongshu, and Menxia provinces since the Wei and Jin Dynasties.But they are now official prime ministers, not private members of the emperor.For the distribution of powers, the Zhongshu Zhang will make a decree, and the disciples will seal and refute the matter, and the Shangshu will accept it; the ancient prime minister's power is now divided into three.

In the third year of Zhenguan, "Taizong said to the ministers: "Zhongshu, under the door, secret department, and those who are inconvenient in the imperial edict, all have to discuss it. Recently, I have only seen obedience, and I have not heard of violations. But who can't do it when writing documents? For!' Fang Xuanling and others all thanked him. Story: For all important military and state affairs, what Zhongshu Sheren saw in each book, Zhongshu Shilang and Zhongshu Ling provincially reviewed it, and gave Shizhong and Huangmen Shilang refuted and corrected it, and then affirmed it Old things." This system also started in the Zhou and Sui, and it was not a new creation in the Tang Dynasty.

Among the three, Shizhong and Zhongshuling are the real prime ministers. For all major military and state affairs, Zhongshusheren must first present what they see, which is called "five flowers judge the matter", and Zhongshu Shilang and Zhongshu Ling will judge it. Since Gaozong's late festival, the world's articles have flourished, and Zhongshusheren has become the ultimate literati. After the decree was issued, the Minister of Huangmen had to refute it.This is the beginning of the Kaiming Dynasty's copying and sealing of ginseng. The general code: "Hundreds of divisions play a copy, and the waiter has tried it, and it will be refuted and violated. If the imperial edict is inconvenient, it will be returned. This is the so-called 'Tu Gui'." In practice, "Tu Gui" can be exercised power.For example, in Zhenyuan of Dezong, during the incident, Yuan Gao refused to call Lu Qi again, sealed and returned the title of the word, and exposed Qi's crimes.At the beginning of Wenzong's founding, he gave the edict to Lu Zaifeng and Guo Rengu (gu) as the governor of the assassination, which was called "refuting and being competent".Also press: Three years after the sky was arched, Liu Yi (hui), the servant of Fengge, said: "If it is not announced by the Luantai of Fengge, what is the name of Chi!" Liu Jing died with this.However, it can be seen that the imperial edict of the emperor must be proclaimed by Zhongshu, and it must be countersigned by the sect.To control the monarchy with the power of the prime minister means to control the royal family with the government.Tang Zhishi originated from the significance of the cultural government of the Han Dynasty and was performed.

Therefore, the prime minister often discusses affairs under his door, which is called "political affairs hall". Later, the Zhengshitang was moved to Zhongshu Province. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Pei Yan used the Zhongshu order to govern the affairs of the hall, so he did this.During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the Zhengshitang was renamed "Zhongshumenxia", and its political seal was also changed to "Zhongshumenxia". The prime minister is directly in charge of the political affairs hall. During the reign of Emperor Suzong, each person was responsible for ten days; during the reign of Emperor Dezong, one person wrote every day.

Shangshu Pushe added "Tongzhongshumenxia Sanpin", and later called "Tongping Zhangshi" and "Shenzhi Jiwu" before he could attend the political affairs hall and be the real prime minister. Since the end of Zhenguan, there have been no exceptions, but it has been rare since Kaiyuan. There are no quotas for the rest of the officials. Xuanzong Xiantian had a lot of members before, but since Kaiyuan, he has been limited to two people, and at most three people.Add "Sanpin under Tongzhongshu", "Pingzhang Shi", "Zhizheng Shi", "Participate in Zhijiu", "Participate in Political Affairs", "Pingzhang Military and State Important Affairs" and so on.

Shangshu Province has Dutang and Hall.Take the left and right servants as leaders.It is divided into six departments: the east is the three departments of officials, households, and rites, and the left is the master.In the west are the three departments of Bing, Punishment, and Gong, and the right minister is the master.Its twenty-four divisions are divided into Cao Gongli, and the government affairs of the whole country are excellent. All the officials who are also knowledgeable about political affairs discuss politics in the court in the morning and manage affairs in the department in the afternoon.

Since Kaiyuan, there have been few prime ministers, noble land, and soldiers and officials. The power and position are especially beautiful, and many prime ministers also lead them.But balance the axis calmly, not self-assessment.The selection and examination tasks are all assigned by the minister, and it is only the official office of the minister. The six officials in Shangshu have their own duties. If there is no compromise, they are afraid of avoiding each other and hiding each other, so they are always taken by the prime minister.The prime minister was also concerned about the future, and saw that he was biased, so he first made a mixed judgment of neutrality, so that the common people could make the best of their opinions and uphold public opinion.Then follow up with the refutation and correction of things, and then get rid of them and make mistakes (qian).Such systems can be described as grand and sophisticated. Compared with the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty with Zhongshu and Menxia, ​​and compared with the Jiuqing of the Han Dynasty with the six books of Shangshu, it can be said that it is a great progress in terms of political system. There are six books in one book, which are government officials, while Jiuqing is a private member of the royal family.The transition from Jiuqing to Liubu is a proof that the government is gradually becoming independent from the royal family. Emperor Wenkai of the Sui Dynasty ordered Guozi Temple not to be under the rule of Taichang.These changes can reflect the progress of the times and the changes in people's political consciousness at that time. The second is the feudalism in the early Han Dynasty, the counties and counties were miscellaneous, and the central government was limited. Although it was gradually unified later, the power of the county and the country was still great, and the king of thousands of miles was just like a province.In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Kyushu was in one hand, and the exams, prison lawsuits, military wealth and other issues are too numerous to remember.There are always six ministers, divided into Lang's office, and the expansion of the central government is forced by the evolution of the situation.Therefore, above the six ministers, there must be someone who assists the emperor and serves as the prime minister. One person dislikes specialization, and also refuses to give too many things; multiple parties appoint each other, without special responsibility, it is easy to have similarities and differences, and even fail.The Shangshu set up left and right servants to shoot, divided into six divisions, and each governed the three officials, which can avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages.The Shangshu is only in the implementation of government affairs. As for the order to overthrow, there are still Zhongshu and his disciples.Therefore, it is said that the three provinces are to the prime minister, and the six departments are to the nine ministers, which has to be said to be an improvement in the political system. Such a grand and sophisticated political organization just symbolized the grand occasion of the unified government at that time. As for the government without a legislature, it is because of Chinese politics, from the Qin and Han Dynasties, there is a kind of rational guidance, the laws and regulations are roughly constructed, there is no merger of powerful and powerful, and there is no dictatorship of the world and monks; education, elections, examinations, and governance. There is often a close relationship, constantly absorbing outstanding members of the society, openly participating in politics, and making them new. The government and the people are linked together.The old dynasty was overthrown due to long-standing corruption, and the new dynasty will be reformed, and it will be overthrown, and it will start with the people.History often progresses in peace; while civil turmoil often only regresses, nothing grows. The gradual transformation from Confucianism in the Northern Dynasties, and the scale of the government of the Tang Dynasty, this is a clear example of the peaceful development of Chinese history.As for the chaos of the heroes at the end of the Sui Dynasty, it only added an indelible scar to the times. The origin of the representative system is that the power of the prime minister is not heavy, there is no system of participating in the office, and there is no one in charge of the government, so the monarch is easy to do evil. The tax law is not fixed in advance, and it is a rule that light corvee and thin taxes are not suspended, and the art of restraint is easy to implement. Monks don't do meditation and do politics. Aristocrats are good at power, and they are separated by inferiority. Examination rights are not independent, 阘 (ta) redundant in power, Xian Jun dies of old age. If there are no officials for trial, refutation, supervision, and impeachment, the general government will be violated and there will be no correction. If there are no officials who pick up relics, make up queries, record annotations, and scriptures, the monarch will lose his virtue and be unable to correct. If the transmission of culture is shallow, there will be no good laws and good intentions to follow the style, and there will be no good words and deeds for examination. China can become a large country with a vast land and many people, and it is here that it will become prosperous in the long run.When there is a failure in the government, the subordinates think that it is human abuse and illegal abuse, so the relationship between the upper and lower is always connected, and it will not become an enemy.Therefore, there is no democratically elected representative in the Chinese political system, and the deficiency is the disease of the Chinese political system. The difference between the Sui and Tang governments and the Qin and Han Dynasties is secondly in terms of local government. The local government in the Han Dynasty was no different from the ancient princes, and they were not governed by the central government one by one. As a result, they fell apart at the end of the Han Dynasty. After the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the central government was neither decent, but the local politics were even worse. (1) There is no distinction between military administration and civil administration, and state and county officials are all served by military officials and soldiers. At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, the captains of various tribes were mostly counties.Jin County guards are all generals, and no one is ashamed.Liang and Chen Taishou Jiadu, Jiadudu.According to the biography of Zhen Chen in Wei Shu, Chen Biao said: "In small counties outside the border, there are no more than a hundred households, and the orders and chiefs are all housed by generals." (2) The state and county are divided for the self-interest of the powerful. The seventh year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi Dynasty: "Since the season of Xiaochang in the Wei Dynasty, Lu went to the public office, and the government came out of many schools. The wealthy family, Jiu led the township, entrusted the king of Jiqin, and ordered it to be set up by himself. Or the princess of the outer family, the daughter paid homage to the inner success, Ignorant profit and wealth, opening up prefectures and counties.” Zhang Yi’s biography in the Northern History: “The Yi great-grandfather was lucky to attract people from Hedong to become a prefecture, and cut down more than a thousand families. He entered Jizhou after 30 years of accumulation, and there were tens of thousands of households. Xiaowen Said Yi and said: "In the end, you should be the governor, and reward the ancestors for your sincerity." It can be seen that the prefectures and counties at that time were like ancient feudalism. (3) Unlimited division of prefectures and counties, and even daily reduction of households, in name only. In the seventh year of Tianbao, the imperial edict: "A city with a hundred houses will establish the name of the state; the name of three families will be the name of the county." Zhou Shu Lu Bian Chuan, the county magistrate is divided into households of more than 7,000, more than 4,000, more than 2,000, and more than 500. , less than five hundred and five, etc.Therefore, the number of counties set up in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was more than a thousand or hundreds, which was higher than that in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The main point is that local politics during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties only evolved under the influence of centrifugal forces, gradually turning into feudal divisions, and as a result, the local power was weakened day by day.As soon as the Sui and Tang Dynasties came, looking back, the local government was formally governed by the central government again, but the local government at that time could no longer be relatively independent like the Han Dynasty.Comparing the Sui and Tang Dynasties with the Han Dynasty, the power of the central government to rule the local area was denser and larger, which is actually a further completion of the centralization of power.In this regard, the actual content of the unified government of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was far different from that of the Qin and Han Dynasties. The lowest level of local administration in the Tang Dynasty was counties, and there were 1,573 counties in the country. Compared with the Western Han Dynasty, there are more than 200 counties, an increase of less than one-sixth.At the beginning of Wude, there were more than 6,000 households in the upper county, more than 2,000 households in the middle county, and more than 1,000 households in the lower county.In Kaiyuan, the upper county was changed to have more than 6,000 households, and the middle county had more than 3,000 households, and the lower county was changed to less than 3,000 households.In the Han system, counties with more than 10,000 households are called "county magistrates", and counties with less than 10,000 households are called "county magistrates". Above the county is a state or county. The governor of the state is the governor, and the governor of the county is the prefect.Since the Han Dynasty, the governors of the prefectures have given power to the counties, just like the governors and governors of later generations.However, the governor of the Sui and Tang Dynasties is still the magistrate of the descendants and the magistrate of Zhili. He and the prefect are just mutual names, and there is no difference.This is an example of the reduction of local government in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.In the Tang Dynasty, more than 40,000 households were called Shangzhou, more than 20,000 households were called Zhongzhou, and less than 20,000 households were called Xiazhou.The prefects of the Western Han Dynasty had a household registration of more than two million in one county.In the Western Han Dynasty, there were more than 40,000 to 50,000 household registrations in a county.It can be seen that the power and position of the prefects in the Han and Tang Dynasties were very different. The state capital of the whole country is three hundred and fifty-eight. This is another example of the reduction of local government in the Tang Dynasty. The governors of Shangzhou only follow the third rank, while the governors of Zhongzhou and Xiazhou are the fourth rank. The status and power of the governor is far from that of Hanbi, and the power of the Yuan (yuan) bureaucracy has also been cut, and most of them belong to the central government. In the Wuping period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the late master lost power, and most of them were fortunate enough to sell their officials, occupying prefectures, counties, lower and township officials, and most of them surrendered the imperial decree.Since then, the power of the prefectures and prefectures has been transferred to the imperial court.In the second year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty, the establishment of the office was explicitly ordered to be dismissed, and the Ministry of Officials was ordered to remove the rank officials and become state and county assistant officials.Although there were establishments in the Tang Dynasty, the way to become an official was mostly based on subjects. As a result, the government affairs of the central government became more and more complicated, and the power of local affairs became lighter. Niu Hong asked Liu Xuan: "During the Wei and Qi Dynasties, history was made to be calm, but now it is not peaceful. What is the reason?" That’s all. It’s bureaucrats, but the chiefs are self-appointed. When they are ordered to take office, there are no more than a few dozen per prefecture. This is not the case today. Officials, big and small, are all assigned to the Ministry of Officials. This is another point where the unified government of the Sui and Tang Dynasties differed from that of the Qin and Han Dynasties.