Chapter 12 Section 3 Southern Dynasties Official System

The Southern Dynasties refer to the four dynasties in Pian'an Jiangzuo after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, namely Song (AD 420-479), Qi (AD 479-502), Liang (AD 502-557), and Chen (AD 557-589).From a formal point of view, the official system of the Southern Dynasties basically followed the Wei and Jin system, so "Sui Shu Baiguan Zhi" said: "Wei and Jin successors are roughly the same (referring to the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty). Yuan and Song Qi have not been changed. Liang Wu In the end, follow the old. The Chen family inherited the Liang without losing the old things." However, from the perspective of the actual power operation of officials, there are obvious changes.The biggest change is Zhongshu Sheng.After the Liu Song Dynasty, although the supervisors and orders of Zhongshu were still held by officials from aristocratic families, the real power was gradually transferred to Zhongshu Sheren.This is because several emperors of the founding of the Southern Dynasties were military generals from humble backgrounds, and could not command dignified officials from gentry clans.Therefore, the Zhongshu Sheren of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties were named "Enxing" and had a high authority.Zhongshu Sheren often also served as the servant of Yuanwai Sanqi and Gishizhong. In this way, both Zhongshu and Menxia provinces were under the control of "Enxing".Therefore, Zhao Yi, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, summed up the characteristics of the official system in the Southern Dynasty as "cold people grasp the secrets" (Volume 8 of "Notes on the Twenty-two History").This feature reflects the trend of the decline of the noble clan and the rise of the Han clan in the society at that time.

Followed by the door province.The governor of Menxia Province is still a servant.In the early years of Yuanjia, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, the status of servants was "crowned for a while" ("Song Shu · Yin Jingren Biography"), and the power was very important.Later, he was gradually neglected and the power was left behind.In the Southern Dynasties, Jishu Province was separated from Menxia Province, with Sanqi Changshi as the chief officer, and under it were Tongzhi Sanqi Changshi, Yuanwai Sanqi Changshi, Sanqi Shilang, Gishizhong, and Fengchao, etc.The main task of the Menxia Province is to "seal the seal", that is, the downstream edict has been reviewed by the Menxia Province, and the painting can be paid to the relevant institutions for execution.The Jishu Province "provinces all memorial documents, and those who have different opinions will be refuted according to the situation" ("Sui Shu · Baiguan Zhi"), that is to say, the upstream documents must be reviewed and refuted by the Jishu Province.However, whether it is the province under the door or the province of collecting books, the emperors of the Southern Dynasties did not grant real power to the servants and Sanqi Changshi.The real power is held by Yuanwai Sanqi Shilang and Gishizhong.These two positions are often held concurrently by people from Zhongshushe, so the power of the province is also attributed to "Enxing".It was not until the Sui Dynasty that Jishu Province was merged into Menxia Province.

The institutional setting of Shangshu Province in the Southern Dynasties did not change much.The officials in the province are all members of the family, respected officials in the court.Under the situation that Zhongshu and Menxia provinces hold the decision-making and deliberation functions, the power of Shangshu province has been weakened. Generally, they no longer act face-to-face, nor participate in the deliberations of the decision-making center, but only handle daily administrative affairs as the leader of the Jiuqing.However, after all, Shangshu Province is the gathering place of internal and external administrative affairs. He returned to Shangshu Province.

The official system of the Southern Dynasties was also different from that of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.The following are described respectively: Liu Song set up officials, although roughly like the Jin Dynasty, but the names of the generals set up were much more complicated than those of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.The title of general does not necessarily lead to the army. Important positions in the central government and local military and political chiefs usually have various titles of generals, and the title of general becomes a symbol of higher status.The town generals sent by the central government do not use gentry, but the kings instead. The emperor assigns his own cronies to act as code signers.In terms of local construction, the Liu Song Dynasty saved many overseas Chinese counties and overseas Chinese counties.In ethnic minority areas, officials such as Zhonglang General and Xiaowei, such as Pingyue Zhonglang General, Xirong Xiaowei, Nanman Xiaowei, Ningman Xiaowei, etc., were set up.In terms of classifying officials, official rank (nine-rank system) and Luzhi (stone) are used together, but the high and low levels are often inconsistent and confusing.

The official system of the Qi Dynasty changed even less. "Book of Southern Qi·Baiguan Zhi" said: "Qi accepts Song Zen, respects the canons, and has both the existence and the unbiased." It's just that the establishment of officials is more dense than that of Liu Song.The official rank is made of nine grades, but the governor of the state still calls it two thousand stones. The official system of the Liang Dynasty changed more than that of Liu Song and Xiao Qi.In the selection of officials, Emperor Wu of Liang used the clan, gentry, and Han clans together, which greatly increased the number of officials.There are four notable changes.First, Emperor Wu of Liang, considering that Song and Qi used code-signing officials to supervise the kings, and although the power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor, they were fratricide and the political situation was unstable, so he abolished the system of code-signing officials supervising the kings. Wang became the town general with real power.Second, the Qings are divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with a total of twelve Qings.Chunqing is Taichangqing, Zongzhengqing, and Sinongqing.Xia Qing is Taifuqing, Shaofuqing, and Taipuqing.Qiuqing is Wei Weiqing, Ting Weiqing, and Da Jiangqing.Dongqing is Guangluqing, Hongluqing, and Dazhouqing (the original capital water messenger).Third, Da Changqiu, the palace official, is in charge of eunuchs.The Tai Palace added a regular attendant to the East Palace, for example, the regular attendant of Sanqi was also in charge.Fourth, the ranks of titles are complicated.In addition to the king, the Liang Dynasty implemented the five-rank system of Duke, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Nan.The rank of officials is in parallel with rank.In the seventh year of Tianjian (508 A.D.), the nine ranks of hundreds of officials were designated as eighteen classes.For example, there are 18 classes for prime ministers and Taiwei, 16 classes for Shang Shuling, 15 classes for Zhongshu Jian, 11 classes for Yushi Zhongcheng, 10 classes for county prefects, and 7 classes for county magistrates and chiefs.There are one hundred and twenty-five types of military general numbers, divided into ten ranks and twenty-four classes.Generals who do not enter the tenth rank are divided into eight classes, with a total of fourteen titles.In the third year of Ordinary (522 A.D.), one hundred general names were set up.In the third year of Datong (529 A.D.), it was revised and awarded as a custom, with 242 generals and 34 classes.This kind of class has little to do with salary and official position, but only as the order of officials' promotion and promotion.

The official system of the Chen Dynasty was inherited from the Liang Dynasty, with minimal changes, and the rank of Vippin was established as the Nine Ranks.For example, Shangshuling is the first rank, Zhongshujian is the second rank, Shizhong, Sanqi Changshi, and Yushi Zhongcheng are the third rank, county prefects are the fifth to seventh ranks, county magistrates and chiefs are the eighth to ninth ranks. In addition, officials in the Southern Dynasties were divided into clear and turbid.The so-called upright and dirty officials at that time are not the same thing as the upright and corrupt officials in later generations.Honest officials refer to official positions with clear and important positions; muddy officials refer to official positions with military positions or complicated duties.From turbidity to clearness is what officials are looking forward to.This phenomenon of clear and turbid officials also existed in the Northern Dynasties.