Chapter 7 Section 2 Transformation from the two-level system of prefectures and counties to the three-level system of states, counties and counties

In the Qin Dynasty, the grassroots administrative districts were counties, and counties in ethnic minority areas were praised.Counties are established above the county level, which is a pure two-level system of counties and counties.In the 26th year of Qin Shihuang, the world was divided into 36 counties, plus the internal history-the special zones around the capital, a total of 37 county-level administrative districts.Later, the number of counties increased. On the one hand, the land of Huyue was opened, the territory was expanded, and new counties were established; on the other hand, some counties in the interior were divided into two. history).The number of Qin counties is not documented, and the total number is estimated to be around 1,000.On average, each county controls about 20 counties.Such a level and management range are more reasonable.

After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, the county-level administrative districts increased a lot. There are three reasons for this: First, Qin County was divided into two, or one into three.For example, Qin internal history is divided into three parts: Jing Zhaoyin, Zuo Fengyi (ping yi ping yi), and You Fufeng.The second is to divide and reduce the realm of the kingdom. For example, Emperor Jing divided Liang Guo (approximately the eastern part of Henan, the western part of Shandong and the northwest corner of Anhui) into five parts.The third is to expand the territory after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, adding more than 20 new counties.Therefore, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the total number of prefectures increased to 103, governing a total of 1,587 county-level administrative districts, and the average management range of each prefecture was 15 counties, which was considered appropriate.

But for the central government, it is too big to directly manage hundreds of counties.Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established 14 departments above the county-level administrative districts as supervisory districts.The counties near the capital are under the jurisdiction of the Sili Xiaowei Department, while the other counties belong to 13 assassination departments.Each department has a governor who procures the behavior of the local governor according to the six regulations, but does not manage local administrative affairs.The rank of the governor is only 600 shi, while the rank of the prefect of the county is 2000 shi. This system of supervising the big officials by small officials is quite effective. Issued "Those who share this (referring to the world) with me are only two thousand stones good!" ("Hanshu·Xunli Biography")

Scholars who study ancient history often praise the official administration of the Western Han Dynasty, believing that the relationship between centralization and decentralization was handled properly at this time.But this system also has its flaws from the ruler's point of view.In the autumn of local troubles, because the county is too small, it is impossible to govern with the power and ability of one county. For example, if a peasant uprising occurs across counties, the prefect of the county is helpless.Therefore, the need to set up a first-level administrative district above the county level has always existed implicitly.

Of the 13 governors' departments in the Western Han Dynasty, 11 were named after the adjustment of Kyushu in "Shangshu Yugong" and "Zhouli", so they are commonly called Thirteen Prefectures.At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the prefect of the state changed its name twice to the state animal husbandry, which was borrowed from the old names of the twelve state animal husbandry in the "Shangshu·Yao Dian" to show respect, and the rank was also raised to two thousand stones.But this approach was obviously out of necessity, so it was repeated twice.In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after the situation stabilized, the governor of the state was changed to the governor, and his rank was reduced to six hundred stones.

Therefore, it is obviously the wish of the central rulers to insist on the two-tier system.For most of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the state had always existed in the form of a surveillance region.It was not until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty that the huge Yellow Turban Uprising swept across the entire northern part of China, and was no longer able to be suppressed by a group of small prefects. The imperial court had no choice but to send a senior official from the central government—Jiuqing—as the governor of the state, granting him military power and financial power. and regime to suppress the peasant uprising army.In this way, the state has become a first-level administrative division above the county level.The two-level administrative districts were thus transformed into a three-level system (Figure 3).

Although the Yellow Turban Uprising failed, it completely shook the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty.The prefectures and herdsmen in various places who suppressed the peasant uprising army gradually became independent. The Eastern Han Dynasty was finally overthrown in the melee of warlords. Originally, the status of the prefect of the county in the Han Dynasty was very high, and he could be the Jiuqing after entering the court, but the governor had to serve at least nine years before he could be promoted to the prefect or prime minister.The prefect can not only freely preside over local political affairs, control local finances, and govern local military affairs, but also can set up his own staff and have considerable power.However, the county-level administrative districts will not form separate regimes for a simple reason: the territory is too small.A small territory means a small population, weak financial resources, and a single power, making it difficult to form a separatist regime.On the contrary, the division of the state is very large, with an average of seven or eight counties, and there is enough material basis to dominate one side.Therefore, when a state becomes a first-level administrative division, it is easy to cause division.Centralized rulers have foreseen this, so try not to let the state become a first-level administrative region.But the contradiction lies precisely in the fact that when suppressing a large-scale peasant uprising, there is an urgent need to have a larger administrative area. This is a dilemma.In order to avoid being overthrown by the Yellow Turban Uprising, the Eastern Han Dynasty had to change the supervisory area into an administrative area, but in the end it was inevitable that it would be overthrown under the circumstances that the large administrative areas were independent.

After the Three Kingdoms era, the three-level administrative system of state, county, and county has become a formal system.At the beginning of the implementation of the three-level system, it was quite normal. A dozen prefectures governed hundreds of counties and more than a thousand counties.Taking the early Western Jin Dynasty as an example, 19 prefectures governed 172 prefectures and 1,232 counties.On average, each state governs eight or nine counties, and each counties governs seven or eight counties, which is basically reasonable. The unification time of the Western Jin Dynasty was very short, only more than 20 years later, it fell into the chaos of the Eight Kings, and then overturned in the long-term turmoil.So the split situation reappeared.Therefore, it can be said that when the centralization of power was not yet highly developed, the implementation of the three-level system and the excessive size of the first-level administrative regions were all factors that led to division.

After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the confrontation between the North and the South lasted for more than 270 years.Splits often lead to wars, and the government will reward military men who have made meritorious service in wars and generals who surrendered from the enemy.The rewards are state governors, county prefects and other positions.In order to cope with more and more job distribution requirements, the government had to divide the state and county divisions into smaller and smaller divisions. Divided into two or three", resulting in a general situation of "false names and false names".But until the early Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, the problem had not yet reached a very serious level.In the first year of Liang Tianjian (502 A.D.), there were 23 prefectures, 326 prefectures, and 1,300 counties.However, in less than half a century, the situation changed drastically, and the increase in the number of states and counties reached the point of vicious expansion.In the first year of Datong in Liangzhong (AD 546), there were 104 states and 586 counties.In this year, there were 116 prefectures and 413 counties in the Eastern Wei and Western Wei confrontation regimes in the Northern Dynasties.In this way, the total of the Southern and Northern Dynasties totaled 220 states and 999 counties, which was 11 times more prefectures and 10 times more counties than the Western Jin Dynasty two and a half centuries ago.

This state of extreme chaos was also a sign of the decline of central power in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.The central government has lost control of local power, and local power has almost disintegrated.During this period, although there were also emperors who planned to reform, such as Emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi Dynasty who was established on behalf of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, he said in response to the chaotic situation at that time: "Master Mu Shou, the number is inflated...a city with a hundred houses will establish a state." The name; the people of the three households, empty Zhang Junmu." ("Northern Qi Shu·Wen Xuan Di Ji") reveals that due to the large increase in the positions of state herdsmen, county prefects, and county magistrates, the abnormal phenomenon of having to expand the state, county, and county administrative districts, so Do it and save part of the state, less than half of the counties and half of the counties.

But the problems at that time were already very serious, and what needed to be reformed was the entire system, rather than simply reducing states and counties.The actions of Emperor Qi Wenxuan could not completely curb the further deterioration of the political chaos. In the second year of Daxiang (580 AD) after the Northern Zhou Dynasty that replaced the Western Wei Dynasty unified the north, there were 211 prefectures, 508 prefectures, and counties. 1124.At this time, not only the number of prefectures was close to the sum of the prefectures of both the Northern and Southern Dynasties more than 30 years ago, but also the ratio of the number of three-level administrative districts had dropped to the lowest level of 1:2:6.In other words, on average, each state governs only two counties, and each county governs only three counties.This is in terms of the average situation. If we look at the special phenomenon, there are even strange things where two counties co-administer one county or two states co-administer one county. This phenomenon is called double-headed counties or double-headed states. The level and scope of management of the administrative districts have reached such an uncoordinated level, which shows that the three-level system has come to an end so far and must be changed.The reform method is also very simple, it only needs to abolish the administrative district at the middle county level.In fact, after a large number of state governors increased, county prefects in many places no longer took care of their affairs, and only had staff receiving salaries.However, the abolition of county-level administrative districts was not implemented until the eve of national reunification.After the Zhou Dynasty in the Sui Dynasty, Minister Yang Shangxi made a statement to Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, stating that "today's counties are twice as many as in ancient times, or there are no hundreds of miles of land, and several counties are juxtaposed, or the households are less than 1,000, and the two counties are separated". , it is suggested to "keep out the idle time, and make the small one big", and carry out some rectification of the administrative divisions.Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty accepted this suggestion, but instead of taking the simple measure of merging provinces, prefectures and counties, he "dismissed all counties in the world" ("Sui Shu · Yang Shangxi Biography"). Back to the secondary system.When the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen and reunified China from north to south, the two-level system of prefecture, one county, and one county was implemented throughout the country.