Chapter 37 Aircraft Department

Regarding the origin of the Military Aircraft Department, we have to start with Emperor Yongzheng's attack on Junggar, a disobedient vassal state in the northwest. At that time, the combat plan and personnel arrangement of the war had to be approved by Yongzheng, and Yongzheng had to find a few reliable ministers to discuss the feasibility before making a final decision. For the sake of confidentiality, Yongzheng thought of an idea At that time, he selected some reliable people to be on duty in a room on the north side of Longzong Gate, that is, next to the emperor's palace, to assist him in handling government affairs.When he was discussing things with these people in the room, the idlers could not wait to approach the room.Therefore, it is unlikely that the enemy will bring "Infernal Affairs" here, and the secrecy is very high!

Yongzheng named this duty room "Military Aircraft Handling Department", referred to as Military Aircraft Department.The person on duty at the Military Aircraft Department is the Minister of Military Aircraft. There are very few people, at least three, and at most eleven. These people are actually the emperor's senior decision-making advisers. This temporary institution made Yongzheng very comfortable to use. It was simply the best tool for dictatorship, and it was much more efficient than arguing in court.As a result, the Military Aircraft Department has been retained and has become the country's highest military and political decision-making body.

After the "Xinyou Coup" mentioned above, Yixin became the chief minister of military affairs, and the chief minister of military affairs was the leader of these ministers of military affairs. To make an inappropriate analogy, if the Prime Minister's Office is compared to the State Council, then the Military Aircraft Department is equivalent to today's Political Bureau of the Central Committee.In fact, there is another institution that is more appropriate than the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and that is the attendant's room of Chairman Jiang, which has a very similar function to the Military Aircraft Department. This mysterious attendant's room will be mentioned later.

Since the establishment of the Military Aircraft Office in the Yongzheng era, imperial power has reached its peak.Therefore, from this perspective, Yongzheng and his descendants—Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng—had more power than any dynasty and were the most powerful emperors in Chinese history. Let's talk about the Westernization Movement. To clarify the Westernization Movement, we have to start with a case related to missionaries.