Chapter 16 Lecture 4 Ming Dynasty-1
1. Government Organizations in the Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty was the beginning of modern Chinese history, and it was also the beginning of modern world history.From the Ming Dynasty to the present, in the six centuries and more than 500 years, Western Europe has embarked on a new stage of modern history, and so is China.After the Ming Dynasty came the Qing Dynasty. If we want to understand the Qing Dynasty, we should first understand the Ming Dynasty. Modern China generally started from the Ming Dynasty.It is a pity that this stage of Western history is progressing, while China is regressing at this stage, at least as far as the political system is concerned, it has regressed greatly.
If we say that traditional Chinese politics is autocratic, and the government is ruled by an emperor, this statement can be used to explain the Ming and Qing dynasties.If we talk about the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, the organization of the central government, the division of imperial power and ministerial power, although the proportions are different, it cannot be said that everything is autocratic by the emperor.In the thirteenth year of Ming Taizu Hongwu, according to official history records, because of the rebellion of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong, Ming Taizu learned this lesson, and since then the prime minister was abolished and no longer established.He also said that his descendants will never be allowed to be prime ministers again.Therefore, the government of the Ming Dynasty did not have a prime minister, nor did the government of the Qing Dynasty.So we say that there was a major change in traditional Chinese politics in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the abolition of prime ministers.
What should I do if there is no prime minister?In the Tang Dynasty, there was a division of labor in three provinces.A Zhongshu Province, a Menxia Province, and a Shangshu Province.In the Song Dynasty, the subordinates had no right to retreat, and they generally acted like admonishing officials in affairs. They became opposed to the prime minister, and they rarely exercised the right to refute imperial admonitions.At that time, the prime minister was only one secretary.From Yuan to Ming, Zhongshu Sheng was still the official prime minister.Until Ming Taizu abolished the Zhongshu Province, leaving only Zhongshu Sheren, only a small Beijing official of the seventh rank, whose duties were equivalent to a secretary.In the Tang Dynasty, Zhongshu Sheren was responsible for drafting edicts, but now he is only assigned to manage documents and copy.In the Ming Dynasty, it was also the Seventh Grade, but it still had the right to refute.The two provinces under the Zhongshu School were abolished, and only the Shangshu Province was left, but the Shangshu Ling and the left and right servants were not set up, so the Shangshu Province had no chief executive, and the head of the six departments was in charge instead, which is called the Six Departments. This is a kind of bald head Shangshu, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the first department of each of the six departments was called the department. For example, the Ministry of Households had the Department of the Department of Households, the Ministry of Officials had the Department of the Ministry of Officials, and the rest of the departments of rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers were the same.And Shangshu Province has a Shangshuling, who is the chief officer.The left and right servants shoot as the deputy chief.Now in the Ming Dynasty, it is equivalent to promoting the department to the minister, and the six departments are just six ministers, turning into a multi-headed yamen.The heads of the six ministries do not belong to each other.These Shangshu were all second-rank officials, which was already the highest official rank at that time.
In addition, there is a Metropolitan Procuratorate, which was transformed from Yushitai, and is in charge of impeachment and picketing.All affairs in the country are under the supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.Combine the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Ministries, and call it Qiqing.
In addition to the Qiqing, there is also a Secretary of General Administration and a Dali Yuan, which are called Jiuqing.The Secretary of General Administration manages the chapters, and all the memorials sent to the emperor at home and abroad in the country belong to the Secretary of General Administration.The Dali Court presides over redress, and all criminal law cases cannot be judged in the end. If there is any injustice, you can go to the Dali Court to seek redress.The Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Daliyuan are also called the Sanfa Division.
Of the nine ministers mentioned above, in fact, only the first seven ministers are more important, and the latter two ministers are not important.Above the nine ministers, there is no head, so the Ming system has ministers but no public, and it has become a multi-headed government.The Ministry of Punishment cannot manage the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Officials cannot manage the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The military officer has the chief governor, and there are five chief governor's mansions in the whole country (there were sixteen guards in the Tang Dynasty), and they all only take soldiers when they go out to fight.As for the recruitment and deployment of troops, all mobilization work is a matter for the Ministry of War and is not within the purview of the governor.
In the Ming Dynasty government, after such a change, all power was concentrated in the emperor.If we compare an organization like the government of the Ming Dynasty with the traditional governments of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, we can see how important the power of the prime minister was in the government in the past.However, although the Ming Dynasty said that all powers were concentrated in the emperor, there was still an old tradition in history, and it was not all dictatorship by the emperor.There are many things that must be pushed, discussed, and discussed by the court.At that time, small officials were appointed by the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, while high officials were publicly elected by the seven ministers, the nine ministers, or the governors and governors from outside.If there is a major event, each ministry cannot decide independently, and it is often decided by the seven ministers and the nine ministers. This is called court discussion.If there is a big prison lawsuit that cannot be resolved by the three justices, the Qiqing and Jiuqing will hold a meeting to fix the prison. This is called Tingju.This system originally existed in the Han Dynasty. The imperial court gathered to discuss major issues, and it is often recorded in official history. It can be seen that everything is not completely dictatorized by the emperor.
Besides, in Shizhong, although his official rank is only seventh rank, he was also a very important official in the Ming Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, things were divided into subjects, according to the six parts and six subjects in the Shangshu.For example, the Ministry of Households gives Shizhong, the Ministry of War gives Shizhong, and the Ministry of Rites gives Shizhong, so it is also called Liuke Gishizhong.Probably, this person was proficient in finance, so he was assigned to be the account department to Shizhong.That person knew the military, so he was sent to Shizhong as the Ministry of War.The emperor's imperial edict must go through the Shangshu, and the branch will go down to the whole country.These six subjects still have the right to deny and refute the matter.For example, with regard to financial issues, the higher-level orders go to the Ministry of Accounts, and the Ministry of Accounts can participate in the review and express opinions when the matter is in progress. This is like an expert think tank in Western governments.As long as they do not agree, the original purpose can still be returned.Moreover, there are no high-ranking officials in the matter, so they can express their opinions independently.They can also attend Ting Tui, Ting Yi and Ting Ju.Generally speaking, their opinions are highly respected.If they objected, they were called Keshen at that time.Often the six ministers are helpless because of scientific references, so they have to put the original proposal aside.This was still one of the limitations of the monarchy at that time.
However, in the Ming Dynasty, everything was done by the emperor in the end.But of course the emperor alone can't manage all these things, so we have to talk about the emperor's secretariat.The secretariat of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, known as the cabinet at that time.The secretary is the cabinet bachelor.Because the emperor works in the palace, he needs a few secretaries to help him. These people's offices are located in the four halls of Zhongji, Jianji, Wenhua, and Wuying, as well as Wenyuan Pavilion and Dong Pavilion.These offices are all in the inner court, so these people are called cabinet bachelors or cabinet bachelors.The original official rank of the cabinet bachelor was only the fifth rank, while the six ministers were the second rank. It can be seen that the status of the cabinet bachelor is not high in the court.The upper court is arranged in shifts, and the ranks of the Grand Scholars are also under the Shangshu.Now let's talk about what these great scholars do?During Taizu's time, the cabinet scholars were just like the emperor's advisors. When the emperor had any unclear matters, he could ask them at any time, listen to their opinions, and serve as the emperor's reference.Memorials and answers, it used to be the business of the prime minister, but now it is the business of the emperor.The emperor could not write one by one himself, so he dictated to the bachelor to write, this is the so-called "passing the decree as the pen".According to the emperor's orders, how to do this matter and how to criticize that matter, they only wrote down according to the emperor's opinion.So it stands to reason that the Grand Scholars are just the emperor's private secretary, and the political power still rests with the Emperor, not the Grand Scholars.
According to statistics at that time, from September 14th to 21st in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, there were a total of 1,160 memorials sent to the palace by internal and external divisions in eight days.In each memorial, some talked about one thing, and some talked about two or three things, a total of 3,291 things.Because of the large size of China, all affairs are concentrated in the central government, and of course the central government has to predict many things.As far back as the first emperor of Qin, he had already weighed the balance with the official document, and he kept seeing it late at night every day, let alone the Ming Dynasty?At that time, the West did not have modern decent English and French countries.Small countries such as Spain and Portugal, no matter how small their territory, have a pitifully simple political scale.Of course, this cannot be compared with China.Let me ask, in such a huge country at that time, it was of course very difficult for every matter to be approved by the emperor.Let's take a look at the Forbidden City in Beiping. The three main halls in the front are the meeting place, and the back is like the Qianqing Palace, etc., where the emperor stayed.He has to go to the front to work every day. Since the distance is quite far, the weather in Peiping freezes in September and only thaws in February and March of the following year. It is especially cold in the morning.However, the Chinese government has a traditional habit of going to court before sunrise. The emperor also has to get up at dawn and end the meeting when the sun comes out.Generally, if you are an official, most of them live outside the palace city, as far away as Luomashi Street outside Qianmen.There is a long way to run into the palace in the morning, riding a horse, leading a servant, holding a lantern, and going there at four o'clock and five o'clock.When they arrived at the Forbidden City, they had to dismount, and only a few people were still allowed to ride.All must go to the court room first and wait for the emperor to go to court.When the emperor came out, it was not yet bright, and the weather was cold, and there were no modern cold-proof equipment at that time.The stove is very simple, and some charcoal fires are lit, but it's just for show.In the Ming Dynasty, there were three dynasties a day, which were called early dynasties, afternoon dynasties, and late dynasties. In fact, the emperor had to meet his officials and people three times.There are two kinds of Chang Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty: one is called Yudian and the other is called Yumen.The Royal Palace, also known as the Neichao, is a court meeting in the main hall.Yumen is to Fengtianmen, on the balcony, so that ordinary people can also meet and talk.Now there are big gatherings in western countries, and there is also the ethos of speaking on balconies. We call this a spirit of democratic politics. In fact, the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City in the Qing Dynasty was a balcony where the emperor and the people met. However, this system in the Qing Dynasty There is no line, but the Ming Dynasty does.The emperor has to go to court three times a day, so much trouble.Ming Taizu was the founding emperor, and he brought the world under his command. He used to be a monk in Huangjue Temple, and he also did sweeping and carrying water. He has such energy that he can be a dictatorial emperor.Ming Chengzu still fought the world with his own hands. He was the king who was sealed out. He fought from Beijing to Nanjing to usurp the throne. He also had the energy to personally manage the general affairs.The children and grandchildren who go on down will not be able to do this because they grow up in the deep palace and their energy shrinks from generation to generation.He couldn't even come out to court every day to meet the officials.If you don't go to court today, you won't be able to get things done tomorrow.Things can't be answered, the civil and military officials can't be kept waiting there, and the emperor can't answer when the ministers talk.Later, the emperor could only be lazy and handed over the power to the cabinet, and the power of the cabinet was slowly restored.
However, although the cabinet power is heavy, their official rank is still low, still only five ranks, so usually the cabinet bachelors are concurrently appointed by ministers. In this way, although the status of cabinet bachelors is not high, the status of ministers is high.At the same time, like the Song Dynasty, they all had Jingyan lecturers.Jingyan lectures on officials are to teach the emperor or prince to read, that is the teacher of the royal family.It is natural that the relationship between the emperor and the emperor is both respectful and close.Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, the great scholars (private secretaries of the emperor) served concurrently as the six ministers (the chief executive of the government) and the lecturers of Jingyan (the emperor's teachers), and their status was dignified.However, the official title of a scholar in the Ming Dynasty was always a minister of a certain department and a scholar of a certain palace (ge), such as a minister of the Ministry of War and a scholar of the Hall of Martial Arts.Until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, a bachelor was still a fifth-rank official.However, when he went to court, he was already a senior scholar as a minister, and he was already standing in front of other ministers.However, according to the orthodox theory of the system, the reason why he respects is his own official, not his part-time job.Therefore, in terms of the official system, the cabinet scholars in the Ming Dynasty must not be compared with the status of the prime ministers in the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties.
However, although the academician of the Ming Dynasty had a low official position, his authority in the government was very high.Because all memorials, political affairs, detailed comments and answers must go through their hands.In the era of Taizu and Chengzu, the emperor executed things by himself, and verbally ordered the senior scholars to write for them. Naturally, the senior scholars were just like a secretary.Later, the emperor was young and ignorant, and he had to consult the opinions of the great scholars in everything.Moreover, because the emperor was ignorant, he was also afraid of meeting with the great scholars from time to time. The inside and outside should be played. In the palace, the emperor carefully read and decided. This was called "tiaozhi" at the time, which meant to contribute opinions to the emperor.Also known as "piao draft", it means to use a small note (that is, a ticket) to draft an opinion and send it to the emperor for consideration.After the emperor had read it himself, he tore it up and wrote it with a red pen. It was called "Pi Hong", also known as "Zhu Pian".Once approved and taken out, this is the official decree.In the Tang Dynasty, all government orders were drawn up by the prime minister and sent to the emperor for drawing.In the Song Dynasty, it was the prime minister who submitted the reconciliation to the emperor, who first got the emperor's approval or correction, and then formally drafted the decree.Now in the Ming Dynasty, all edicts come from the emperor's own orders, and the academicians only help the emperor personally, and the emperor is fully responsible.As for the emperor's dereliction of duty, he had no choice but to refute it sometimes.After all, it is too small an official position in the matter, how can it beat the emperor.Therefore, the Ming Dynasty system can be said to be dictatorship by the emperor.However, when encountering major issues, the emperor still had to go to the Wenhua Hall and the Wuying Hall to discuss with the group of academicians face to face. For minor matters, the cabinet wrote a note and sent it to the palace for the emperor to slowly approve.
But we should know that in the Ming Dynasty, for nearly three hundred years, the emperor himself was in the cabinet at first. Later, some emperors did not often visit the cabinet, and the cabinet drafts were proposed to be sent in for approval.There were even a few emperors who didn't care about things for a long time, and because they didn't care about things, they couldn't manage things even more, so they became afraid of seeing ministers.So after many years, he no longer went to the cabinet, and all official affairs had to be sent to the palace.The most famous one is Ming Shenzong, Emperor Wanli. He has been emperor for decades, but he has not been to court for more than 20 years, and none of the ministers in the government have seen him.At that time, it was rumored that he smoked opium. It is not known whether it is true or false, but this is also very possible.From Chenghua of Emperor Xianzong to Tianqi of Emperor Xizong, the emperor did not summon any ministers for one hundred and sixty-seven years.But we can't blame these emperors for their faults, because their energy and intelligence are limited, they are trapped in the deep palace every day, and it is not easy to execute all major national affairs.No wonder they are afraid of things and being lazy, so they can't avoid going to court.We should only blame Ming Taizu for setting up that system.That is to abolish the prime minister and let the emperor dictatorship over political affairs, that system is really undesirable.
Now let's say that the emperor and the cabinet don't meet each other on a daily basis, so the contact between the emperor and the cabinet provides an extra opportunity for the eunuchs to intervene.The emperor's affairs were handed over to the eunuchs, and then the eunuchs handed them over to the cabinet.If the cabinet has something to do, it will also be sent to the eunuch, and then the eunuch will submit it to the emperor.In this way, the eunuch slowly gained power.Even the emperor thought it was troublesome, so he didn't approve official affairs, but asked the eunuch to approve in private.The real power of approving reds fell into the hands of the eunuchs, who became the real emperors, holding all the highest and final decision-making power of the government.When the eunuch was lazy to approve it, he used it as waste paper for wrapping fish and meat.This kind of darkness and corruption, in history, only existed in the Ming Dynasty.The leader of the eunuchs was called the Si Li Jian. When the political system of the Ming Dynasty was at its worst, the private Yi Jian was the real prime minister and the real emperor.At the beginning, the Taizu made the order, while abolishing the prime minister, it also prevented the eunuch from knowing the possibility of political affairs.Therefore, in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, an iron plate was cast and hung in the palace gate, saying "the ministers must not interfere in political affairs".It can be seen that Taizu knew in his heart that the prime minister was abolished and the emperor would be the dictator. The eunuchs were close to the emperor, so it was easy to gain power.Just as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty held the power of prime minister in the palace, he also foresaw that the heir emperor was young and would easily lead to the empress dowager's pre-government, so he had to give the mother to death first.They also thought of these possible harms, but Ming Taizu stipulated that no prime minister should be appointed, this was followed by his descendants, and they never dared to violate it.As for not allowing eunuchs to interfere in political affairs, his descendants did not abide by it.The eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty intervened more than any other dynasty.Where did Taizu expect this?
Under such circumstances, the outside world has no way to do it. If the cabinet bachelor really wants to do something, he must first collude with the eunuch.Because the cabinet can't see the emperor, without joining the eunuchs, all political affairs will not be able to reach the highest level.Zhang Juzheng, a famous cabinet scholar in the Ming Dynasty, is one of the great statesmen in Chinese history, but he can only seize real power by combining eunuchs.Before Shenzong Wanli became emperor, Zhang Juzheng was Shenzong's master.Shenzong became the emperor, and Zhang Juzheng was the emperor's teacher, and he was also a cabinet scholar.However, the master can't see the students, and the bachelor can't preside over the government according to the theory of the political system.Therefore, Zhang Juzheng can only stretch his ambitions and instigate political affairs at that time only by colluding with the supervisor of ceremonies.But at that time, all the courtiers opposed Zhang Juzheng, saying that he was not like the former prime minister, he was not the official executive head of the government, and he should not exercise power and dictatorship.This criticism is really good.At that time, the Sixth Ministry of Fashion Books was the highest executive of the government, and they only had to obey the emperor, not the cabinet.If there is a disagreement between the cabinet and the six ministries, the six ministries can say: You are not the prime minister, you are not a minister, and you should not meddle in our affairs.Take care of things that shouldn't be in charge, and take over power that shouldn't be taken care of. This is a minister of power, not a minister.There is a big difference in traditional Chinese political views between powerful ministers exercising power and ministers holding power.The minister had his legitimate status in the system at that time.Under the traditional Chinese system, the prime minister should not ask about anything, and should have no power.He doesn't ask questions, is not in power, is dereliction of duty, and is incompetent.Not the prime minister, but asking questions and seizing power, is a traitor and a powerful minister.It is against the law of the state and against the traditional morality of politics for powerful ministers to exercise power.However, in the system of the Ming Dynasty, there was no official prime minister at all.The six ministers and the seven qings and nine qings were ministers who were justified.Those who opposed Zhang Juzheng at that time thought in their hearts: the chief of the Ministry (six ministries) (the Metropolitan Procuratorate) is in charge of state affairs and is only controlled by the emperor. As a cabinet scholar, you are just the emperor's personal adviser. "Thinking" is your responsibility, you should not take advantage of this relationship to formally come forward to interfere with the department, that is your ultra vires.Because Zhang Juzheng was going to be in charge of affairs, he asked each yamen to prepare two copies of each official memorial, one for the cabinet and one for the six departments.This is his fault again.Although the official rank is low, in terms of the political system and legal principles at that time, it is good for him to have a look at all the documents.The cabinet does not have the power to predict, only the emperor wants him to predict in private.So people opposed Zhang Juzheng at that time, and Zhang Juzheng had no reason to reply.So he had no choice but to resign to the emperor. He said that he "was in a dangerous situation, dealt with the emperor's affairs, and represented the emperor's words." These few words were not wrong at all.However, at that time, why was there an official order for Zhang Juzheng to act as the emperor?According to Chinese political tradition, the emperor should not interfere with the affairs of the prime minister. This has been mentioned in detail when talking about the political systems of the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties.Now that the cabinet is not allowed to interfere with the emperor's power, it is good to justify it, and Zhang Juzheng can't justify himself.Now we don’t understand the situation at that time, and we always think that Zhang Ju was a great politician who advocated the rule of law, but in fact he himself broke the law, and violated the country’s great law at that time.If he takes care of the things that the emperor should take care of, isn't that illegal?If Zhang Juzheng was in the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, he would be a good prime minister.According to the institutional theory of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng was a cabinet bachelor, not the highest leader of the government, and he was not allowed to be a prime minister with a cabinet bachelor.Zhang Juzheng wanted to claim himself as a good figure, and when he died, his house was ransacked.Although he made great achievements in the Ming Dynasty, Qing Yi did not speak well of him at that time, because he was regarded as a powerful minister, not a minister.This is not a statement based on his merits, but a statement of justice from his position in the government.Now we want to advocate the rule of law, but we come to respect Zhang Juzheng. This is because we don't understand the political system of the Ming Dynasty.It should be known that the political system of the Ming Dynasty had undergone great changes from the traditions of the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties.Zhang Juzheng failed to correct the system at that time, but sought meritorious service under the system at that time. At least he did not use any means for the purpose, and the advantages and disadvantages did not balance out the political influence!What we have said above is only about the system and legal theory, not about career and intention.At least that was the opinion of those who opposed it at the time.We describe this level in detail to clarify how the system restrains personnel, and this is the reason why this system was so important in the Ming Dynasty.
Local politics has always been the biggest problem in Chinese political history.Because China is a big country, the quality of local administration is the most important relationship.After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, two great historians at that time came to discuss the political system of the Ming Dynasty and the way out for Chinese politics.One is Huang Lizhou, who wrote a book "Mingyi Waiting for Interviews", and he paid most attention to the abolition of the prime minister in the Ming Dynasty.He believes that in the future, there must be another prime minister, correct the name and definition, and make the prime minister the leader of the government, instead of letting the emperor take over the power himself.Another Gu Tinglin wrote a book. He once said: When the world is peaceful, there will be more small officials and fewer high officials; if the world is in chaos, there must be more high officials and fewer small officials.He cited many examples in history.All in all, if local politics are done well, the world will be peaceful.If local politics are not done well, the world will be in chaos.The focus of the two of them is different from each other.Huang Lizhou paid attention to the top, and Gu Tinglin paid attention to the bottom.But if we take a closer look at the entire political history of China, we can see that what the two of them said is also an irrefutable lesson.
From the point of view of traditional Chinese history, the best local government system is the Han Dynasty, but the local government system in the Tang Dynasty is also good.Let us give an example: China is such a big place, and now there are planes, trains, and telegraphs, and it is not difficult to communicate government orders.In the past, the transportation was completely dependent on the post and horses, which was not easy.Post roads can lead to the whole country, and there are stations everywhere, which were called kiosks at that time.The capital of the Tang Dynasty was Chang'an, so it was very difficult to send an official document to Panyu (Guangzhou) or to Hangzhou and Fuzhou, as we can imagine.But at that time, there were no political mistakes due to the remoteness of the transportation and the difficulty of sending messages.At that time, official documents were divided into urgent and urgent orders, just like sending urgent telegrams and ordinary telegrams now.At that time, there were certain regulations on how many miles a horse should run in one hour to deliver some kind of official document.From one station to that station, how much faster or slower is stipulated.There are guards at each station. When the official arrives, the guard has already prepared all the food and drink. The man eats and drinks enough, rests a little, and then changes to a pre-fed horse and continues. run.There are restrictions on where to rest on the first day and where to rest on the second day.Therefore, within a few days, it is no problem to arrive as soon as possible.Now telegraphing uses science, but in the past it all relied on human horsepower.Every day, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Shangshu send official documents to various places. One horse comes and one horse goes.Today's trains and ships are sometimes delayed. In ancient times, it was even more common for post riders to be delayed.But it still has to arrive more or less according to the stipulated time limit.Otherwise, political affairs will be chaotic and the country will collapse.Taking this example, we can see that the saying that Chinese people have never had the concept of time is not entirely correct.According to theory, the bigger the space, the more important the time. If the Chinese do not have the concept of time, they should not be able to rule and manage such a huge space.
Besides those stations, the architecture is also very particular.Rockery, pools, pavilions, halls, bathrooms, and stables are all well-equipped.The businessman has arrived, and he will always give you a good rest, so that you can go on the road in good spirits tomorrow.Even if you don't sleep or stay overnight, resting for an hour or two is enough to recover from your fatigue.At the same time, prepare a new horse for you, and let you continue on the road.Horsepower is also divided into grades. Those who carry first-class emergency documents will give you the first-class fast horse to ride.These guards in the barren mountains and valleys will never miss you.From this example, it can be seen that the administrative efficiency at that time was high.But this kind of achievement cannot be attributed to the central government. This is not the matter of the prime minister and the minister of the Ministry of Industry, but the matter of the local government.Gu Tinglin personally walked through many places. According to him, as long as you see a road with a solid and flat roadbed, if you ask about it, it is probably left over from the Tang Dynasty.As long as you see a big city, it is strong and majestic, and if you ask about it, it is likely to be left over from the Tang Dynasty.Mr. Gu has also seen a lot of the architectural ruins of the post pavilion, so he recalled the scale of the Tang Dynasty.According to him, it is as if modern Europeans cherish and admire Roman monuments.But Rome was conquered by imperialists, and everything was done by force.The Tang Dynasty was completely the perfection of local politics.The intentions of the two are different, and Mr. Gu did not mean to praise the Tang Dynasty like an archaeologist.His intentions are targeting the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty.Let us continue to talk about the local administration of the Ming Dynasty!
To talk about local administration in the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing to mention is the current so-called provincial system.We still use the term province today.The provincial system did not start in the Ming Dynasty, but in the Yuan Dynasty.It can also be said that there were already provinces in the Jin Dynasty.But it was the Yuan Dynasty that officially became the system.We are commonly known as Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province today, and provinces are like geographical names.But in history, the provincial character was originally the name of the yamen, not the name of the place.In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, there began to be Xingzhong Shusheng.Zhongshu Province was the prime minister's office of the central government at that time, and it was generally called the capital province.Xingzhongshusheng is a department separated from the central prime minister's office (capital province) and stationed outside.This is because the Mongols conquered China and did not dare to disperse their power, but wanted to completely centralize it.When something goes wrong in a certain place, the central prime minister's office will send one or two people to suppress it, and the provincial government is an acting Zhongshu province.In the past, Yushitai sent people to inspect the local administration. They were here today and there tomorrow, so there was a Xingtai.Zhongshu Province is the highest organ of the central government. How can it be divided into Jiangsu and Guangdong?This is an extremely unreasonable system in the Yuan Dynasty.This is because aliens have conquered us and straddled us.The first to use this system was "gold".However, whether it is gold or yuan, foreigners use this system to rule China, and they are worried about handing over power to local governments or decentralizing power.Therefore, even local political affairs are personally ruled by the supreme leader of the central government.So now Britain has a governor in Hong Kong and India in the past, and the colonial governors are directly under the emperor.In name, the colonial governor is appointed by the British emperor, not by the cabinet.Therefore, the cabinet represents the Congress, and the Congress represents public opinion.There is no public opinion at all in the colonies.The British mainland can have democracy and self-government, but colonies like Hong Kong and India cannot have democracy and self-government. Therefore, there should be no local officials, and the emperor will send a governor to manage them.It can be seen that any system has meaning behind it.The Xingzhong Secretary of the Yuan Dynasty was an active central government, and the police station of the prime minister's office was stationed in this place to manage affairs.If this is the case, the local government has absolutely no power, and the power only rests with the central government.In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a central government but no locality, and China was only the land it conquered, like Hong Kong in the United Kingdom.
Like the Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty divided the localities into roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties. In fact, the local government in the Yuan Dynasty was not handed over to the localities, but was managed by the central government.The governor is the central official and descends to the place in person.At that time, it did not mean that the whole country was divided into several local administrative districts, but that each of these districts had a central prime minister stationed there, that is, it became the activity branch of the central prime minister's office.Therefore, the definition of Xingzhongshusheng is not a local government, but a mobile central government.In other words, the center has invaded the local.When the central government needs to send a high-level official to suppress a certain place, it sends a prime minister stationed abroad.In the Yuan Dynasty, there were a total of ten branch offices like this, not that the local administration of the whole country was divided into ten districts.This is the actual situation of the provincial system in jurisprudence.
To put it a little deeper.This provincial facility is actually not for administrative convenience, but for military control.This is true of the historical sources of the provincial system.So it has been followed to modern times, and there are still traces of it.Our modern division of provinces and regions is different from the roads and roads in the Tang and Song Dynasties.Such as Jiangsu: Xuzhou is an important military town, with Shandong on one side and Henan and Anhui on the other.Xuzhou belongs to Jiangsu Province, but Jiangsu has no control over its periphery. If so, the governor or governor of Jiangsu cannot control it.Nanjing is also an important military town, but if Guangde does not defend it, or if Wuhu gives up, Nanjing cannot be defended, and Guangde and Wuhu are not under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu.This is true of any province.Give you this half, and cut off your half.So that all the provinces of the country will be fragmented.It is impossible to resist in a unified way, and it is difficult for any region to resist alone.This is the inner spirit of the provincial system.
People in the Ming Dynasty naturally understood the purpose of this system in the Yuan Dynasty.People in the Ming Dynasty knew that this system did not make sense in name.Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also abolished the Ministry of Education, so how can the Ministry of Education be established?Therefore, the governor of the province was changed to a political envoy.The whole country is officially divided into thirteen ministers and ministers.Shi refers to the official, and the division refers to the yamen.If we correct the name, we should explain that the local administration of the present Dynasty was divided into thirteen chief ministers, not how many provinces it was divided into, or how many provinces it was divided into.In the Qing Dynasty, there were often governors and governors-general on top of the envoys.The governor-general was a non-established official in the Ming Dynasty, so the highest level of the local administrative head was the chief envoy.However, calling the chief envoy an administrative region is already a misnomer.As far as the official system is concerned, local areas should not be called divisions.In the Qing Dynasty, there was no proper title, so it still followed the name of the province.For example, there is the chief envoy of Jiangsu and the governor of Jiangsu, and the Jiangsu area is called Jiangsu Province or Jiangsu Province.This is what the Qing Dynasty Yitongzhi called it.In fact, the name of the province is even more unfair.In addition, the Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty further divided the provinces into comprehensive divisions, such as the three provinces of Guandong (east of Shanhaiguan), or the three provinces of Lingnan (Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian).This is even more meaningless.This is to confuse political geography with physical geography.Later, the Chinese really made a mistake.Regardless of other things, they are only called Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, not the three provinces of Lingnan, or the three provinces of the South, but the three provinces of Guandong and Guandong are often called the three provinces of Guandong because the Qing Dynasty restricted Chinese people from going out of the customs. The word is omitted, and it is only called the three eastern provinces.The customs are consistent, and it seems that the three eastern provinces are different from other provinces and regions. The whole country only knows that there is one three eastern provinces, but they don't read the unified annals of the Qing Dynasty. There are also three southern provinces in Lingnan.All other provinces and regions are collectively called in this way. The three northeastern provinces are not different from other regions, but we mistakenly believe that they are different.Later, some people mistakenly called the three eastern provinces Manchuria, which was even more wrong.Manchuria is just a small area near Changbai Mountain outside the Songhua River in Jilin Province. In the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to Jianzhouwei. It was called Fu in Tang Dynasty and Wei in Ming Dynasty. This is the name of a military region, not an administrative region in Northeast China.The three provinces of Kanto are the administrative regions of Northeast China, but not all of them are administrative regions.But ordinary people don’t pay attention to these things, or the Manchurians deliberately magnify the regional concept of the word Manchuria, so he reluctantly divides the provinces into Kanto provinces, Lingnan provinces and other unreasonable names to force and confuse them.Later, the Japanese added fuel to the flames, deliberately describing the three eastern provinces as another region, and the three eastern provinces were Manchuria.This is really a great confusion.Later, Puyi's pseudo-organization was created, calling itself Manchuria, and thinking that Manchurians ruled Manchuria. In fact, how can the three eastern provinces be compared with Manchuria?Confucius said that the name is not correct and the words are not in order. Among the scholars in the Qing Dynasty, some people advocated that the name should not be used for Xingxing or Xingxing, but should be called Buzhengshisi.But what is the name of the governor-general?So no one agreed at the time.However, it is inappropriate to call it a province, and it is even more absurd to add the eighteen provinces of the headquarters.In Chinese history, there is no such thing as the difference between the main part and the non-headquarters.The Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty has already reached the Datong River in the east, and the Liaohe River Basin is always within the historical circle of China. How can it be said that it is not the capital of China?This was originally an excuse created by foreigners to confuse right and wrong to invade.Now there are so-called names such as South China, Central China, and North China. May I ask whether there are these divisions in China's political regions?The Chinese don't pay attention, and everyone keeps calling it like this. It doesn't matter if there is nothing wrong now. Ten or twenty years later, there may be political and diplomatic problems again.Problems can even occur in our minds and concepts.If you think that we are South China and you are North China, these concepts will have a great effect.This is related to the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty.This should be worthy of our vigilance.The provincial character of the province is an ominous name at all. It is best to get rid of this character under the new division of local political regions in the future and not to follow it.
Then explain that the acting local governor, alongside Cheng Xuan's political envoy, also has a procuratorial envoy for punishment.The chief envoy is in charge of administration, and the inspector is in charge of the judiciary.There is another commander who is in charge of the military.The three divisions are collectively referred to as the three divisions.Chengxuan's political envoy is also called the vassal, and the procuratorate is called the standard for punishment.In the Qing Dynasty, it was commonly known as Fantai and Standard Taiwan.It stands to reason that standard envoys can still be called Taiwan, such as the example of Yushi Xingtai.According to the inspection envoys, they were supposed to conduct inspections on a mobile basis, and did not stay in one place in Changchuan.However, both the Ming and Qing dynasties had fixed residences, and it is unreasonable to call Taiwan.As for Chengxuan's political commissioner, the administration of the whole province is under his control, let alone Taiwan.Under the chief envoy, there are officials such as participating in politics and counseling, and under the procuratorial envoy, there are officials such as deputy envoys and other officials. Such officials are sent out, called sub-divisions.In the Qing Dynasty, the branch office was commonly known as Daotai, and it was commonly called supervisor, just like the provincial government sent a few councilors to the local area to assist in handling affairs.In this way, the affairs of the local government will be even more difficult to handle.Ming system, the local administrative system, the lowest level is the county.Above the county is the prefecture and the state, which is the second level.The top is the province, which is the third level of the Minister of Political Affairs and Envoys.In addition to the third level, adding a division, it becomes a fourth level.元代是把中央政府分置到地方，就变成行中书省。明、清两代是把地方高级政府再派到低级去，这便是监司官。No wonder.因为省区大，事情多。不得已，才有分司分道之制。分司分道有分为两种。由布政使派出的叫分守道，由按察使派出的叫分巡道。明末大儒王船山，在其所著《黄书》里，曾有一统计，说：山东省有六个府，但有十六个分司。山西省有五个府，有十三个分司。陕西省八府，有二十四个分司。四川省九府，有十七个分司。这样一来，县上面有府，府上面有司（分司），司上面才是省（司），变成管官的官多，管民的官少。县官才是亲民官，府、州之上，都是管官之官。管民的官不仅少，而且又是小。所以中国地方政治，宋代已经不理想。宋制分路，诸路分设帅、漕、宪、仓四个监司官。明代更不行，一省分成三个司：一个布政使司，一个按察使司，一个都指挥使司。前两个藩臬二司，又再分许多分守分巡的司。这许多官下面，才是府、州和县。县官压得太低太可怜了。他服事奉承在他上面的长官还来不及，哪有功夫去亲民。汉代县上面是郡，郡上面没有了。汉代的郡太守，是二千石官，阶位俸禄，和九卿相似。一个县政府，也往往有属吏几百人的大规模。但汉郡多至一百以上。今天中国的一省，有比欧洲一国更大，而现在的官场习气，还是薄省长而不为。至于县长，那真微末不足道，这实在是政治上一个大问题。
以上还只讲的明代的布政使，按察使与都指挥使。而这几个长官上面还有官，还有更高一级的官，那就是总督与巡抚。总督巡抚在明代制度下还尚好，因其必有事才派出此等官，并且都带一个都御史的衔。这就是说，由中央政府都察院的都御史临时派到地方去办事，所办是巡抚、总督等事。譬如倭寇来了，沿海地方没有总其成的人，就派一个总督或巡抚去，这是临时的。过几年，事情平定了，这官仍旧回中央，机关也撤销了。但一到清代，总督巡抚又变成为永久的，在布政使（藩台）按察使（臬台）上面再加巡抚总督，地方行政就愈来愈坏了。我们现在再从历史演变源头上说来，汉时由刺史变成为牧，以及唐代之十道观察使，这些都是由监察官变成地方行政长官的。只有节度使才是军事长官变成行政长官，然而还是意在开边对外的。明清两代之总督巡抚，则是意在对内防乱，不在对外开边。由中央来临制地方已不好，何况派军官来常川镇压呢？若非地方政治失败，亦何来有此需要？这实在不能不说是中国政治史上一大失败。
上面所说，是地方政府一层一层的由上面加来的高压。而从下面讲，又出了毛病。最要是吏胥之制。中国传统政治有官与吏之分，最先吏是指的管理一般业务的，略等于今天之所谓事务官。在两汉时代，每一机关的长官独称官，属官皆称吏。官吏的出身，并无大区别。宰相由吏属出身，是件寻常事。所以汉代政治风气极敦厚，极笃实。唐代的吏和官，已分得远了，然而两者间还是没有判然的划分。判然划分的时期要从明代起。若再溯而上，弊病仍是先出在元代。因元代政府长官，都用的蒙古人。蒙古人不懂政事，而且不识中国字，于是便得仰赖于书记与文案。中国读书人没有了出路，便混进各衙门当书记与文案去。那便是官与吏流品泾渭之所分。但明太祖时，因人才不够用，推行荐举，任何长官都可荐举人才。所荐举的，不分进士、监生、吏员，朝廷尚是一律任用。进士等于如高等文官考试的及格人，监生等于是大学生，吏员则等于是公务员。这时尚不分高下，同样有出身。但那是一时济急。迨到明成祖时，便规定吏胥不能当御史，这就是规定曾任公务员的不能做监察官。又吏胥不准考进士，这样一来，便限制了吏胥的出身。官和吏就显然分开两途。于是在中国政治上的流品观念里，吏胥被人看不起。这一观念始于元，到明成祖时而确定。这事在中国政治史上，实有甚大的影响。西方社会有阶级，无流品。中国社会则有流品，无阶级。这也是双方社会一大区别。直到今天，流品观念在中国人脑里还很深。譬如教书人，是一种行业，衙门里办公文作师爷的也是一种行业，但行业与行业之间，却显分清浊高下，这便是流品观念在作祟。又譬如文官武官，一样是个官，官阶品位尽相等，但在流品观念下，则文官武官又显然有分别。这是中国社会独特的传统，西方人不易理解此分别的。若要把流品二字翻成西方名词也无法翻，只有中国人脑筋里才懂得。譬如唱戏也是一职业，然而在中国人脑筋里，唱戏的自成一流。这一流，那一流，各自有品，等级不同。种田的、读书的，也同样是职业，而在我们脑筋里，除开职业之外，却夹有另一观念，这就是所谓的流品。在明代政府的观念里，胥吏另成一流品，胥吏是没有出身的。先是不准做御史，后又不准考进士，结果只叫考生或秀才之中无出路的来当胥吏。胥吏流品虽低，但他们对当时政治影响却很大。近代政治界中最有名的所谓绍兴师爷，也不是清代才有，早在元明时代已有了。他们的势力，早已布满在全国。明代有一位理学先生陈几停，他有一位朋友到绍兴去当知县，他写一篇文章送行，大意说：天下治乱在六部，而六部的胥吏完全是绍兴人，这些绍兴人虽在中央政府办文案，但他们的父兄都还在绍兴。希望你到绍兴后，多能注意教化他们的家庭来。把胥吏的父兄教化好，将来他们就可以教化胥吏。胥吏变好了，天下就治。所以绍兴是天下治乱的根本。陈几亭这番话，实在不能说没有他道理。历史上的事情，有些摆在桌子面上，有些则隐藏在桌子底下。一般谈历史的，只注意桌子面上事，譬如宰相怎样，六部怎样，而没有注意到桌子底下一样有力量，一样有影响。直到晚清光绪年间，还有人这样说：一切事情到了胥吏手里，铨选则可疾可迟，处分则可轻可重，财赋则可侵可化，典礼则可举可废，人命则可出可入，讼狱则可大可小，工程则可增可减。大抵中国政治界里胥吏所经管的，不外此七项，即铨选、处分、财赋、典礼、人命、狱讼与工程。其实政事之大者，在当时也只此七项。吏胥则是此七项的专业人，传统的专门家。他们是职业政治家而擅有专门知识的。但当时官场又看不起这些人，这些人也自认流品卑污，因此不知自好，遂尽量地舞弊作恶。我们都知道，旧官场查复公事，有说事出有因，查无实据的，也有说查无实据，事出有因的。照前面报就轻，照后面报就重。这些都由吏胥上下其手。明清两代的地方行政官，大都是管官的，不是管事的，事都交给师爷，由吏胥去办。这种师爷，各衙门都有，上下相混，四面八方相勾结。而管官的官却从科举出身，哪里懂得这些事？一个真想做事的官，一到衙门，至少需三四个月或一年半载，才把衙门里详细情形弄懂了，而一辈吏胥就不免起来反对他，暗中作梗。这种情形，从明代起，以前是没有的。而直到清代，这种趋势，日甚一日，其误在于分出官吏流品之清浊。在上面流动的叫清流，在下面沉淀的是浊流。只要一行作吏，沉淀入浊流，再也不要想翻身，再也爬不上。
此种官场流品，深一层说，还是一种法，还是一种制度，而讲制度者不注意。当时的政治传统重法不重人。只要你在胥吏流品中，无论如何有才有德，也仍走不出胥吏之本流，仍还是一胥吏。所以胥吏不再要自爱，不再要向上。而一切文书簿籍，例案掌故，却全经他们手。他们便操纵这些来束缚他们的长官。长官虽贤明，无奈他们何。此乃法病，非人病。现代一般人，都说中国人不讲法，其实中国政治的传统毛病，就在太讲法，什么事都依法办。一条条文进出，一个字两个字，往往上下往复，把紧要公事都停顿了。吏胥政治之又一面，便是今天所谓的文书政治。这是中国传统政治里的尚文之弊。两汉政治的好处，便在其质实少文。而尚文政治之害处，则最易在政治的下层低层暴露。地方政治是政治之最低层，最下层。在两汉是一个长官（县令）之下有许多小官（掾属即吏），明清两代，是一个小官（知县）之下有许多永无出息的办事员（吏胥），而政治上许多花样（文与法）却尽付与他们，试问其影响与结果该如何？