Chapter 12 Lecture 3 Song Dynasty-1

1. Government organization of the Song Dynasty Among the five dynasties we are going to talk about, the Song Dynasty is the poorest and weakest link.From the point of view of the political system, it is also the least successful part.Now let’s talk about the central government of the Song Dynasty first, starting with Xiangquan.In terms of China's political system, the Qin and Han Dynasties were a major change.From Tang to Han, there was also a big change.However, it cannot be said that there have been any major changes between the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty.Everything is inherited.What has changed is only due to the times and all external situations, it has changed its appearance, and what has been added and altered is changing.Even if it is said to have changed, it cannot be said to have been established.The relationship between the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty can only be said to be like that of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, with affairs but no politics.There is a change of situation, but no establishment of a system.

The power of prime minister in the Song Dynasty was much lower than that in the Tang Dynasty.There were also three provinces in the Song Dynasty. In fact, only Zhongshu Sheng was in the imperial palace, and the two provinces under his sect were moved outside the imperial palace. Therefore, only Zhongshu Sheng took the decree and called it Zhengshitang.It is also called the two governments together with the Privy Council.The Privy Council is in charge of the military. It was originally a new institution handed down in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. Song people could not correct it, so they inherited it and became an important official position.Zhongshu is the prime minister with a unique status.The ministers under the door and the governors of the two provinces no longer foresaw the highest orders of the government.However, the Zhongshu and the privy are opposed, that is, the prime minister has no control over the military.

Talking about finance again: Finance in the Song Dynasty was in the hands of three divisions, and the division was originally the official name under the six departments of Shangshu in the Tang Dynasty.However, since the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, often due to financial difficulties, there were even prime ministers who served concurrently.In the Song Dynasty, it could not be reformed because of its disadvantages, but it became the government's financial power exclusively in the hands of the secretary.The so-called three departments-the first is the Department of Household Affairs, the second is the Department of Salt and Iron, and the third is the Department of Duzhi. Duzhi is in charge of the economic cashier.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a chancellor who was in charge of the ministers, such as Yantie and Duzhi, for the convenience of dealing with financial issues directly. Makes sense.In the Song Dynasty, the status of these three divisions was raised, and they independently controlled the country's finances, which is extremely unreasonable.Therefore, Wang Jinggong is the prime minister of Shenzong, and if he wants to carry out the new policy, the first measure is to set up the three divisions and regulations, reorganize the three yamen of the household department, Yantie, and Duzhi, and unify them into the new yamen (that is, The system is set up in the Division of the Three Divisions).This measure, Jinggong wanted to re-control the financial power in the hands of the prime minister, just as in the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister was in charge of the office.Sima Wengong expressed his opposition to this. He said that the finance should be managed by the third department.Here we can see a kind of disagreement between Jing Gong and Wen Gong on the system at that time.Jinggong's intention was to keep the financial power under the prime minister, which was a system issue, not a personnel issue, and had nothing to do with the competence or incompetence of the chief executives of the three divisions at that time.Mr. Jing wanted to redefine the powers of the three divisions, and to recombine the three divisions of the military and civilian finances that were then called Zhongshu to govern the people, privy secretaries, and the third division's financial management.Duke Wen, on the other hand, remained consistent, focusing only on personnel, not on the system.From the perspective of the system, it is unrealistic to divide the military and civilian finances into three parts.

Speaking of employing people again: the government has always employed people under the authority of the prime minister.Who should be hired and what officials should be promoted are the affairs of the ministerial department under the prime minister, but in the Song Dynasty, another examination institute was set up.Examinations are equivalent to civil service, and later changed its name to the Court of Appeals.The Court of Appeals was also divided into East and West Courts, the East Court was in charge of Wenxuan, and the West Court was in charge of Wuxuan.In addition, there are three classes of courtyards, where Quanheng's generation of inner court worship and palace officials come.In this way, the power of employing people does not lie with the prime minister.This was added by the royal family in the early Song Dynasty, under the selfishness of a sense of inferiority, deliberately reducing the power of the prime minister of Zhongshu.If this is the case, not only the prime minister is different from the Tang system, but also the system of Shangshu becoming the general administrative organ is also destroyed.

As mentioned above, the three powers of military, finance, and employment in the Song Dynasty were all constrained and divided. This is obviously the decline of the power of the prime minister.The opposite of the decline in the power of the prime minister is the increase in the power of the monarch.That is to say, according to the words of Chao Yi, when the officials of the Tang Dynasty met in court, the prime minister had a seat and gave him tea.The ancient so-called "Three Dukes sit and discuss the Tao", this is still the case in the Tang system.In the Song Dynasty, when the prime ministers went to court, they also stood together instead of sitting.Such a change is a pity to say the least.However, the historical evolution cannot only be attributed to the dark forces, or the selfish intentions of a certain person.When Song Taizu was in the Later Zhou Dynasty, he used to be a checkpoint in front of the palace, just like the head of the emperor's bodyguard.By chance, he became emperor overnight, and Song Taizu was not the first one who became emperor with a yellow robe and body like him, and he was already the fourth.For decades, whoever the army wanted to be emperor had to be.Zhao Kuangyin was still in front of the first hall yesterday, but today he is the emperor, which is the darkest sign of the troubled times of the Five Dynasties.If you compare the emperor at that time to the prime minister, the prime minister has been in office for ten or twenty years.In contrast, the emperor is not decent.Just look at the Five Dynasties, how many emperors obtained the objective status and respected by others like Feng Dao?However, the emperor should be an emperor after all, he is the head of a country, the emperor is too unseemly, and all other officials will also be undignified.Now to bring chaos back to order, honoring the king is the first step.Moreover, the emperor's dignity is not as good as that of the prime minister, and it is easy to arouse the suspicion between the emperor and the prime minister.It is said that in order to avoid suspicion and show loyalty to support the new emperor, the prime minister was too self-effacing and did not sit down. Only in this way did he gradually raise the dignity of the government and restore the dignity of the emperor.As things stand, this should also be desirable.Of course, this is because the ministers at the time did not know the general situation, and combined with a psychological inferiority complex, it was like this.If in the Tang Dynasty, people with a traditional family background were in this situation, they would never do this.It is also not like the simple and uneducated people who came from the fields in the early Western Han Dynasty.That's what a generation of scholars with modest backgrounds handed down frivolously from Jinshi in the late Tang and Five Dynasties did so.But their intentions at the time are still forgivable in the end.However, after a long time, the original meaning of this evolution has been forgotten, and future generations will only see the dignity of the emperor and the humbleness of the prime minister.

Next, we talk about the emperor's edict, which is the highest order of the government.In the Tang Dynasty, it was drafted by Prime Minister Zhongshu Sheng. This kind of draft is called Shubi, also known as Shubi.Cooking drafting means drafting in detail.The book was prepared and submitted to the emperor. The emperor only took it personally and wrote a few sentences at the end of the paper, which can be played with the emperor's imperial seal. This is called printing.After this procedure, you can drop out and execute.This procedure is actually an order issued by the prime minister, and only the emperor's consent is required.In modern terms, the emperor has the right to agree to all the highest orders issued by the government.At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, in order to avoid suspicion, respect the emperor, and increase the prestige of the emperor, when the government issued an order, the prime minister first wrote a letter. This is a summary of opinions. Opinions were drafted into several measures and sent to the emperor for decision.Then the prime minister formally drafted the decree according to the emperor's opinion.Therefore, the imperial edict issued by the prime minister is only a draft or a statement, and is no longer the final draft of the decree, which is quite different from the familiarity of the prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty.The final decision of the highest government decree in the Song Dynasty rested with the emperor, not the prime minister. At least the emperor not only had the right to agree, but also had the right to participate in opinions.The prime minister is just following orders, so the power of the monarch is heavy, and the power of the prime minister is light.Besides, all the important instructions of the government were not originally required to be carried out by the emperor's edict.In the Tang Dynasty, the Zhengshitang ordered the Quartet, and the books it wrote were called Tangtie, and this system still existed in the early Song Dynasty. At that time, it was said that the power of the Tangtie was more important than the order.But later there was an imperial edict prohibiting Zhongshu from going down to the hall, so Zhazi was used to direct.In fact, Zhazi is also like a post.Later, a local official refused to accept the punishment of Zhongshu and sealed the original letter. Taizong was furious and ordered that official affairs should be sanctioned, even if the letter was used, it should also be judged.Isn't this the decision-making power of all government orders in the Song Dynasty belonged to the emperor?This system was abolished by the time of Shenzong, and Zhazi was still allowed.According to these points, the dereliction of duty of the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty can be proved.

However, we should not think that traditional Chinese politics, as we say in modern times, is just dictatorship and autocracy.There is a story in the early Song Dynasty. When Song Taizu was vacant, a certain official was vacant. He asked the prime minister Zhao Pu to propose a name, and Zhao Pu gave it to Taizu. It happened that this person was the person Taizu hated the most. He said angrily: "How can this person be used?" ", tore up the name paper and threw it on the ground.Zhao Pu kept silent, picked up the waste paper on the ground and hid it.A day or two later, the Taizu asked Zhao Pu to draw again. Zhao Pu had already pasted the torn paper picked up the day before yesterday to his side, and immediately sent the paper to him.Taizu asked in amazement: "Why is this person still?" Zhao Pu replied that according to a certain opinion, there is no one else suitable for the time being.Taizu also realized, nodded and said, "Since that's the case, let's use it according to your opinion!"

When we tell this story, we can imagine that Zhao Pu still has some traditional demeanor of a prime minister.But in fact, Zhao Pu was not an authentic scholar. He became prime minister only because Song Taizu trusted him and there were no other decent people.After he became a prime minister, Taizu also warned him from time to time, saying that you should take time to study when you are a prime minister, so he read it.Later people said that Zhao Pu ruled the world with half of the book, probably he read it, but he didn't read it carefully.However, Zhao Pu was already a good prime minister in the founding of the Song Dynasty, that is, it can be seen from the previous storytelling.This is not how outstanding Zhao Pu is personally, it is just a traditional historical habit that should be so, and Zhao Pu is also like this.Although the power of prime ministers was low at that time, we should still rely on historical facts instead of just relying on our own imaginations to criticize traditional Chinese politics as imperial autocracy and dictatorship.Moreover, the family precepts of the Song royal family have been passed down, trying to favor fake scholars as much as possible, and prohibiting the killing of court officials.The emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were also relatively free from tyranny and specialization.The shortcomings of the system of the Song Dynasty are scattered and weak, not authoritarian and violent.Until Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the country was on the verge of subjugation, and the emperor made handouts from time to time, which was called Yuzha at that time, and it aroused the indignation of the courtiers, saying that nothing happened in the Zhongshu, which was a disorder of government.It can be seen that Xiangquan in the Song Dynasty still has its traditional and objective status.At this moment, we only say that the Song Dynasty is not as good as the Tang Dynasty based on history. The so-called dereliction of duty by the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty is still a problem of the system.It is not only the autocracy of the emperor, let alone the system.

Now let's talk about the inspectors in the Song Dynasty: first in the Han Dynasty, the supervisory power was exercised by the deputy prime minister, Yushi Dafu.At that time, the censor's supervision scope was outside the central government's internal and external officials, and the inside was the royal family and court, all of which belonged to the censor's supervision power.Yushi Zhongcheng is a deputy censor doctor, who specializes in monitoring the royal family and the court, and can also be said to monitor the emperor.The other censor Cheng supervises the government, regardless of the central government.Therefore, in terms of the distribution of powers, the Yushi doctor is the prime minister's eyes and ears or deputy.The prime minister issued orders, and the deputy prime minister supervised for him.At that time, since the palace and the imperial court were under the control of the prime minister, the power of supervision naturally extended to the court.Later, the censor withdrew from the palace and became the censor platform alone. His powers were limited to supervising the government, but not the emperor and the court.But among government officials, there are still supervisors of the emperor, which are called admonishers.Admonishing officials have existed since the Han Dynasty, such as the genus of admonishing doctors, who belonged to Guang Luxun in the Han Dynasty.In the name of his official position, he was specially asked to follow the emperor, and to be near the emperor, to remonstrate and satirize the emperor's words and deeds.Guang Luxun is one of the nine ministers and is subordinate to the prime minister, so the admonishing doctor is of course a subordinate of the prime minister.In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of admonishing officials belonged to the provincial government, and belonged to the same agency as the above-mentioned giving affairs, such as admonishing the doctor, picking up relics, and making up the gap.The great poet Du Fu did Supplements.These officials are not high in rank and have no power, but they are very respected by the government.Most of them choose young people who are young, knowledgeable, and have integrity, but not deep political qualifications.Although their officials are small, they can speak to the emperor. "Picking up lost things" is like picking up something after dropping it. This refers to what the emperor has forgotten, and he can remind him. "Buque" means that the emperor has made some mistakes and should make up for him.In addition, there are remonstrance, righteousness, etc., in short, the definition of rectification, they are all dedicated to admonishing the emperor for his mistakes.In the Tang Dynasty, after the emperor had an audience with civil and military officials, he usually had no special affairs and the court would soon dissipate.After the dynasty disbanded, the emperor discussed with the prime minister calmly. At this time, others were not allowed to participate, except for the admonishers of the lower provinces. They often had to attend the meeting with the prime minister.This is because it is sometimes inconvenient for the prime minister to speak directly to the emperor, but these small officials can speak from their mouths.If the emperor is angry, he cannot directly confront the prime minister.What they say is right, of course it is good, and what they say is wrong, it doesn't matter.Because their names are admonishers, they were supposed to speak up.They are soft-spoken, and their rank is not high, so they are willing to speak bad words.The so-called speaker is innocent, but the listener is not guilty.With them accompanying the prime minister, the prime minister can avoid direct conflict with the emperor, but what the prime minister wants to say is spoken by them. This is a technical problem in politics.These technologies, of course, also arise from an ideal need.The so-called ideal needs are the adjustment between the monarchy and the relative power.This relationship is as follows:

The emperor uses the prime minister, and the prime minister uses the admonisher, and the duty of the admonisher is to specifically remonstrate the emperor's faults.This is different from Doctor Yushi.The imperial censor supervises the officials of the government, and the admonisher does not supervise the government, he only corrects the emperor.If so, if the admonisher is also regarded as a censor, then the censor in Chinese history should be divided into two types.Tai refers to Yushitai.Although the Taiwan officials in the Tang Dynasty were the eyes and ears of the emperor, the admonishing officials in the Tang Dynasty were the lips and tongues of the prime minister.In the Tang Dynasty, the supervisory power of the censor was independent from the power of the prime minister, but the power of admonition and admonition was still in the hands of the prime minister.This system changed again in the Song Dynasty.Jianguan originally belonged to Menxia Province, but in Song Dynasty, Jianyuan was independent and had no chief.In other words, these admonishing officials no longer directly belong to the prime minister.Moreover, in the Song Dynasty, admonishing officials were not allowed to be appointed by the prime minister, so Taiwan officials and admonishing officials had to be promoted by the emperor himself.Originally, the purpose of admonishing officials was to correct the emperor, not to correct the prime minister. They were only called admonitions to the emperor, and the admonishing officer was obviously a subordinate official of the prime minister.Now that the admonisher is separated from the province, he becomes bald, independent, and not subordinate to the prime minister.Moreover, it was promoted by the emperor himself, and not recommended by the prime minister, so the admonishing officer turned into not being the emperor, but the prime minister.As a result, Isagaki formed a situation of confrontation with the government.An admonisher's job is to speak, no matter what, he can speak anywhere. If he doesn't speak, he is not doing his duty. It doesn't matter if he says the wrong word.Moreover, these admonishing officials are low-ranking and have little power, and they are only officials of high reputation.Originally, young, educated, famous, insightful, courageous and able to speak were selected as admonishers.If they made a mistake, they would of course be dismissed, but if they were dismissed, their prestige would be higher and they would have a better chance of promotion.So when the prime minister said east, they said west, and when the prime minister said west, they said east again.Always disapproving, always expressing dissent to the government.Otherwise, how can it be called an admonisher, and how can it be considered due diligence?In this way, an opposition agency was set up for the government that only issued empty talk and did not take real responsibility.They love to express their opinions against the government, and they have no discipline. As long as they are admonishers, everyone can express their opinions independently.The government cannot keep ignoring their opinions.This trend began in the Song Dynasty, which can be regarded as a clear discussion.Qing Yi is always the enemy of the government.Clear discussions may not necessarily be all bad, but the government always has obstacles.Advising officials and Taiwan officials gradually became irrelevant.The object of Taiwan officials' supervision is the government, and the object of admonition officials is still the government, and the emperor is put aside, and no one cares.As a prime minister, he has to deal with both the emperor and Taiwan's admonitions, so how can he use it?

However, most of the above are personnel matters rather than systems.In terms of system, the Song Dynasty generally followed the old Tang Dynasty.It's just because Taizu Taizong didn't know the general situation in the early Song Dynasty, so he decided to take the power of the prime minister to himself.Their various measures have been opposed from the beginning.However, because the early Song Dynasty inherited the five dynasties' evils, there were few scholars in the society, and academics were in decline. Those who opposed it only knew that the Tang system was not like this, and failed to see the overall situation, so as to customize and create methods for the Song Dynasty.Later, the emperor read books, understood history, and understood politics. There were more scholars in the society, and academics flourished.Fan Zhongyan failed first, and Wang Anshi failed later.Song Shenzong wholeheartedly trusted Wang Anshi and asked him to reform the law, but the admonisher and the prime minister fought against each other, and they were in conflict with each other.And the admonishers at that time were not like the so-called opposition parties in the modern West.Advisers are scattered and isolated.Their position seems to be presiding over public discussions rather than opposing the government.On a moral standpoint, it is stronger than the opposition parties in the modern West.The prime minister didn't listen to them, so they begged to go, and the reputation was even bigger.Another person came up and continued to oppose according to the previous person's proposition.The government cannot do without these officials.This system, this atmosphere, is really difficult to deal with, and in the end, only the prime minister begged to go.Wang Jinggong's new policy failed, and Jian Yuan's non-cooperation was naturally one of the reasons.Although the emperor trusted the prime minister, he could not reverse the situation.Even the emperor and the prime minister are still helpless. This is a unique weakness of the Song Dynasty system.As long as in the end, the admonisher was too fierce, too angry, and too boring, the society and the people in the government hated the admonisher, ignored him, and ignored him. From here on out.A government without a system can neither do good deeds nor produce good results. The system of the Song Dynasty, on the one hand, was the decline of the power of the prime minister, and on the other hand, it was the centralization of power.When it comes to China's local administration, it can only be said that the Han Dynasty was good, the Tang Dynasty was relatively good, and the Song Dynasty was terrible. The local government in the Song Dynasty was divided into three levels.The highest level is called Road, which is equivalent to the Tao of the Tang Dynasty.The middle level is government, prefecture, army, and prison, which is equivalent to the state capital of the Tang Dynasty.The lowest level is still the county.At first, it was divided into 15 routes, and later it was divided into more than 20 routes.Since the Five Dynasties, local administrators have all been soldiers.Song Taizu released the military power with a cup of wine, and cut off the military power of the generals. The military officials no longer lead troops, and naturally they are not allowed to control local civil affairs.These honorable ministers and military officers were also tired of the long-term chaos, became aware, and stopped arguing.They only have an official title, and the central government provided them with a large house and a generous salary in the capital to let them settle down.For example, if you are the warlord of Jiangsu, the central government still retains your title of warlord of Jiangsu, but please live in the central government.For the matter of Jiangsu Province, another person was sent, and the person who was sent was a civil servant.This is called knowing the affairs of a certain state and knowing the affairs of a certain government.These prefects of prefectures originally had other official titles, and they were all central officials, with a temporary dispatch who knew about a certain prefecture in a certain state.His job is still a central official, and he is temporarily in charge of the affairs of a certain government in a certain state.Strictly speaking, these are personnel affairs, not institutions.But until the Qing Dynasty, the magistrate of the county became the official official name, which is really unreasonable.If the name is defined, then the Song Dynasty had no local officials at all, and only temporarily sent central officials to take care of local affairs. Wouldn't it be even more unreasonable in terms of the system?In the Tang Dynasty, the chiefs of various provinces were observers. According to the name, the observers were sent by Yushitai to inspect local administration, and they were not official local administrators.But then gradually became the head of the local.This has already been said in the Tang Dynasty.It changed again in the Song Dynasty.These officials were also called supervisors in the Song Dynasty. There were four supervisors in each route, generally called Shuai, Cao, Xian, and Cang. "Shuai" is the appeasement envoy, in charge of military and civil affairs along the way, leading the ban on military brigades, and clearing up rewards and punishments. "Cao" is a transshipment envoy, who is in charge of wealth and taxation, leading the consumption and offering, and accumulating funds. The "Constitution" is to mention punishments and judges, who are in charge of the judiciary, who lead the prison lawsuits, and the prisoners are given detailed answers. "Cang" is to promote Changping envoys, handle rescues, lead Changping righteous warehouses, and collect and disperse water conservancy.These four are equivalent to not being local governors, but the central government sent to the local area to supervise and command the local area.In the prefectures and counties of the Tang Dynasty, as long as they flattered one superior, they were the observers, while in the Song Dynasty they had to flatter four superiors, namely Shuai, Cao, Xian, and Cang.Among the four divisions, the cao envoy, that is, the transshipment envoy, is the most important.Local finances are all in his hands, and he must transfer all local wealth to the central government.In the Tang Dynasty, part of the local income was distributed to the central government, while the other part was kept in the local government.In the Song Dynasty, the central government was completely dismantled, and the local government had no storage.Usually it is very difficult, and it is even more unimaginable when something happens temporarily.The so-called centralization of power in the Song Dynasty was the concentration of military power and financial power, while the localities became increasingly poor and weak.As for the centralization of employment, it had already been practiced in the Tang Dynasty.However, the place was poor and weak, so the Jin army invaded, and only the central capital (Bianjing) was lost, and the whole country collapsed, making it even more difficult to resist.During the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, its military power was not weaker than that of the Jin people. Both capitals of the Tang Dynasty were lost, but the wealth of the prefectures and counties was rich. There is a way.In the Song Dynasty, all the wealth and military strength were concentrated in the center, leaving nothing in the local areas. Therefore, when the central government failed, the whole country fell apart, and there was no other way.