Fourth, the military service system of the Tang Dynasty

Before the Tang Dynasty, China's military service system, which spread throughout the whole people, could be said to be a kind of integrated military and peasant system. According to modern people, this is a close link between the social economy and the national defense armament. The military service system in the Tang Dynasty changed, and it can be said that it was another kind of integrated military and peasant system. We might as well say that there are two ways to integrate soldiers and farmers: one is the way of the Han Dynasty, and the other is the way of the Tang Dynasty. The integration of soldiers and peasants in the Han Dynasty was to educate soldiers in agriculture, that is, all peasants were soldiers, and the national defense armed forces were entrusted to the peasants' production groups, and the production groups were also armed groups. The integration of soldiers and peasants in the Tang Dynasty was to combine agriculture with soldiers, and to entrust production in the armed group, not to entrust the armed group with the armament. Therefore, it can only be said that all soldiers are farmers, not all farmers. Turning an armed group into a production group at the same time, every soldier wants him to farm, but it is not that every farmer wants to be a soldier. This system was founded by Su Sui in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the people of the Tang Dynasty did not follow its rules. Historically, the Tang system seems to be better than the Han system. Because China is a large country with a large number of hukou, there is no need for all peasants to be soldiers. All the peasants are soldiers, but they have become nominal and poorly trained. As long as all the soldiers are farmers, not soldiers, they sit on food and food, and have nothing to do, it is enough. This kind of all-soldier agricultural system was called a government soldier at that time.

Why are they called government soldiers? As mentioned above, local governments at that time were divided into two levels, the lower level was the county, and the upper level was the state, which was in charge of local administration. The Mansion of the Soldiers is the name of another military region outside the prefecture or county of the administrative region. The province refers to the place where the army is stationed. For example, in Taipei City, Taipei County, another military area is demarcated, and this area is called the prefecture. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Zhichong Mansion, and Zhichong Mansion was divided into three classes, with 1,200 people in the upper house, 1,000 people in the middle house, and 800 people in the lower house. Where did these soldiers come from? At that time, the household registration book was divided into nine classes, which were all determined according to each wealth industry. From this section alone, we can see that the scale of politics at that time is still worthy of our attention. You think that more than 1,000 years ago, the national household registration was very clearly investigated, and it was divided into nine rankings according to the economic situation of each family, what a meticulous intention! According to the decree at that time, the lower third-class households were not qualified to serve as soldiers, but only in the upper and middle classes, and those who were willing to serve as soldiers were selected by the government and officially served as soldiers. The rents of the soldiers' families were exempted. This is the preferential treatment given to them by the state. In addition, there is no pay, everything is armed, maybe the soldiers do it themselves. If there are 1,200 such families, they will become a government, and the government will be equal to the current military region. If a place is a military location, a government is set up in that place. Recruit strong men from medium-sized families as government soldiers. The number of such houses is sometimes large and sometimes small. There were probably 600 to 800 prefectures in the country during the Tang Dynasty. If it is assumed that these 800 prefectures are all central prefectures, then there were 800,000 troops in the whole country in the Tang Dynasty, and there were probably at least 400,000. And these 400,000 or even 800,000 troops do not want the state to provide them with a penny or a grain of rice, because they have their own fields and land. On the one hand, they defend the country, and on the other hand, they also produce on their own. One-third of these 800 prefectures (nearly 300) were distributed in the vicinity of the central government, the so-called Guannai in the Tang Dynasty, that is, the area around Chang'an west of Hangu Pass in Shanxi. The remaining two-thirds, 400 to 600 prefectures, are distributed throughout the country, while Shanxi and other frontiers are more numerous. There are fewer other regions, with one state having only one province or one state having no government. The government soldiers also began to serve at the age of 20, and each government soldier had to stay in the central capital for one year. In addition, they are all in the main house, ploughing the fields for a living, and practicing in the agricultural gaps. When the guards are called, they are called Shangfan, and Fan means more, and the vendors are just like the so-called practice of the Han people. Only the Han people practiced the change, and they served in the local area, and the Tang people served in the central government. If the land is 500 miles away from the center, the guards will get 5 times at a time, 7 times 1,000 miles, 8 times 1,500 miles, 10 times 2,000 miles, and 12 times beyond 2,000 miles. According to the number of fans, those who are 500 miles go back and forth twice, and those who are suitable for 2000 miles go back and forth once. Those who are 1,500 miles go back and forth three times, and those who are 2,000 miles away are two round trips. Counting the number of fans, you can take turns to the center, and the average work and rest of the lodging. If there is something in the country, all the provinces in the country can be transferred, and it has nothing to do with the number of guards. This is the troop that is being said. As for the officers? There are sixteen guards under the central government, each of which has a name, and each guard has a general. If there is something to fight, the general will lead the battle. When the war is over, the soldiers will return to the government and will return to the guard. When the army returned to his hometown, there was a lieutenant in his mansion, who was trained by the lord in peacetime. Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, raising soldiers did not cost a penny, did not cost a grain of rice, and raised generals, nor did they ask about political affairs in advance. In addition to war, he did not lead the army. Military attachés are rewarded with meritorious service and meritorious service. The rank of civil officer, the rank of military attaché. Therefore, the military attache is also called the commander, and the commander has a knighthood but no real position. After making meritorious contributions, the highest became a general in the DPRK, and most of them went home to farm. However, he was given a knighthood, and the state and society had some kind of preferential treatment for him. Sometimes it's economic, sometimes it's honorary. The so-called twelve turns of "Mulan Ci", and the rank is also promoted one level at a time, this is not a promotion, but a promotion. Military attachés have honors and no duties, so they do not interfere in politics, but have their own honor. The Tang Dynasty ruled the whole country according to this government soldier system, and at the same time developed outward, becoming the first powerful country in the world at that time.

But then the government military system also failed, how did it fail? This is not because people did not want this system at that time, but in fact, due to the gradual decadence of personnel, it eventually became out of control. First, the government soldiers from all over the country have to go to the government to take turns to guard the country, and these government soldiers who serve as guards are very solid in terms of their family economy, and they all live a good life, because the children of poor families are not allowed to serve as soldiers at all. During the time of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, this kind of soldier went to the central guard, and the emperor himself practiced shooting with them in the palace from time to time. The government looks up to them, and they feel honored. Later, the world was peaceful, and tens of thousands of people often took turns to go to the central government, and there was nothing to do. Of course, the emperor no longer noticed them, so today a certain minister wants to build a garden, and tomorrow a certain prince wants to build a mansion, and they all consult with the army about how many people to borrow to help. Soldiers have become drudgery and are despised. The next time I encounter the last duty, I will flee to avoid it. Second, at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, when a government soldier died in battle, the army immediately submitted the roster to the central government, and the central government would immediately issue an order to the local government, and the local government would immediately send people to the home of the deceased soldier to offer condolences, send him a lord, and give him a reward. The coffins of the fallen soldiers have not yet been returned, and the government has completed the work of compensating and rewarding them. This is a matter of great importance, especially in the spirit of the army, and there is indescribable encouragement. When we look at modern Western countries, they are doing the same. But the Tang Dynasty of China did so a long time ago. Later, the army and the government still committed a disease of laxity and negligence. The death of a non-commissioned soldier in the army may not be reported to the central government immediately, and the central government may not necessarily be transferred to the local government separately, and the local government may not necessarily go to his home for this matter, and the war is over and the army has been demobilized, but the family of the deceased has not yet been sent by the government. The dead seem to have died in vain, and the hearts of men are gradually lost. In addition, there is already a soldier with a considerable rank, precisely because the medal is only an honor, and not the same as a real officer, in other words, he is still a soldier. And then the government dignitaries, sometimes send him to serve in forced labor, to send calls. Therefore, the honor is in the body, and it is not for the sake of honor but to turn into disgrace. If others call you a lieutenant, colonel, or the like, it is no longer a form of respect, but a kind of ridicule. The name of the military attache was looked down upon, and the status of the military degenerated. Later, it became worse and worse, and the government deliberately opened the border, and the opening of the border required the army to defend the frontier. Originally, the government soldiers were demobilized after the battle, but now they have not been demobilized, and you are required to stay on the border for a long time. Those who first went to the border could also alternate in turn, but later the rear was not tightened, the second batch of new ones was not sent out, and the first batch of old ones could not be restored if they wanted to be demobilized. So it continued for two or three years, and these soldiers were all children of the Yin Shi family, and their clothes, horses, and weapons were all prepared and manufactured by themselves and brought with them. Because they don't want to rent their fields, and they don't want to serve in the country, they have the strength to prepare their own arms, of course, they are long and short, fat and thin, and they can match his physical strength, and the horse's character also understands that his life depends on these, and his future meritorious service also depends on these, so all the clothes, weapons, and horses are very good, very exquisite, and very sophisticated, which is also beyond the reach of the government soldiers. Moreover, those government soldiers are still afraid that the country's salary will not be enough, and they have to bring some pocket money with them. In the Tang Dynasty, silk was used as coins, and everyone carried silk horses, and when they arrived at the frontier, the battalion officer of the frontier said: Your silk horses should be handed over to me, stored in the storeroom, and collected when needed. So he deliberately told the soldiers to do hard labor, at eight o'clock a day, and asked them to do ten o'clock, and they could not eat or sleep well, and tortured him everywhere, hoping that if he died, he could confiscate his stored property. There are many things that are not contained in the official history, and they can only be seen in many fragmentary documents. However, because of these many things, the government and military system of the Tang Dynasty collapsed. That is, such as the poem of Du Gongbu: "From the fifteenth north of the river, then to the forty west camp, when you go to the head is wrapped with the head, and when you return, the head is white and the border is still on the side." "This means that the army is not demobilized, there is no rest. So the government soldiers were afraid to go to the frontier, so they fled first in this house. Those who went out and did not return were all ruined and had no offspring. The rear soldiers are exhausted, the government is rich and powerful, does not care, and temporarily buys foreigners to serve as soldiers. The frontiers gradually became foreign soldiers. An Lushan and Shi Siming, judging by their Chinese names, and they are Chinese border officials, and those who are entrusted with national defense tasks are actually foreigners. Li Guangbi, who fought the Ping'an History Rebellion, is as famous as Guo Ziyi, but in fact, Li Guangbi is also a foreigner. This was a special phenomenon in the Tang Dynasty. This is because the Tang Dynasty's martial arts are too big, all around it has become China's subordinates, Tang Taizong has been called the Heavenly Khan, this is like the emperor of the emperor, the Tang Dynasty is too rich and too strong, they forget the national boundaries, they don't know how to be afraid of foreigners, don't know how to beware of foreigners, a large number of foreigners as soldiers, the result is out of control. As a result, the government soldiers of the Tang Dynasty changed into a feudal town, the warlords were divided, and the Hu people were under control. It was really an earth-shattering change, but how could it just be a change in the political system? Therefore, if we want to study the political system, we should also enlarge our vision, and not just look at the system to get it!

5. Overview of the Tang Dynasty system

Now let's briefly summarize the system of the Tang Dynasty. On the organization of the central government, the system of three princes and nine secretaries in the first half of history was ended, and the six-part system of Shangshu in the second half was created. On the selection of merit and ability, the first half of the township examination system was ended, and the second half of the imperial examination system was created. As for the tax system, the first half of the land rent forced labor and soil tribute collection system was ended, and the second half of the unitary tax system was created. As far as the military is concerned, the universal military service system in the first half was ended, and the free military service system in the second half was introduced. To sum up, we can say that the Tang Dynasty was one of the greatest turning points in the political system in Chinese history. Whether the historical evolution of China after the Tang Dynasty was good or bad is another matter, but the Roman Empire fell, and there was no more Rome after that. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, there was still China, there was the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the modern era, and it was still China, just like the Tang Dynasty. This is one of the most valuable and researched topics in Chinese history. This is where the Tang Dynasty is far greater than Rome, and it is where it far surpasses all other great countries in the world. However, in terms of China, there was a Tang dynasty after the Han Dynasty, but there was no dynasty or period after the Tang Dynasty that was as vocal as the Han and Tang dynasties, and that was worthy of our admiration and admiration, and that is also worthy of our vigilance.

Lecture 3: Song Dynasty

1. Song Dynasty government organization

A. The central government of the Song Dynasty

Among the five dynasties of the Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties that we are going to talk about, the Song is the poorest and weakest link. From the perspective of the political system, it is also the most unsuccessful link. At this moment, let's talk about the central government of the Song Dynasty first, or start with Xiangquan. On China's political system, the Qin and Han dynasties were a major change. Tang Zhi Han is also a big change. But Song Zhi and Tang can't say that there are any major changes. Everything is inherited. There are changes, but they are forced by the times and all the external situations, and the changes are changing. Even though it has changed, it cannot be said that it has been established. Song Zhi to Tang has to say that it is like the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, there is something but no government. There is a situation to move forward, but there is no system to establish.

B. Division of Relative Rights

The power of the Song Dynasty was much lower than that of the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, there were also three provinces, in fact, only Zhongshu Province was in the palace, and the two provinces of Shangshu were moved outside the palace, so only Zhongshu Province took the decree separately and called the political affairs hall. It is also called the two houses with the Privy Council. The Privy Council was in charge of the military, and it was originally a new institution handed down from the late Tang Dynasty, but the Song people could not correct it, so it was inherited and became an important official position. Zhongshu is the prime minister and has a unique status. The governors of the two provinces no longer heard the supreme orders of the government. However, the Zhongshu and the Privy Council are opposed, that is, the prime minister is not in charge of the military.

On finance again: The finance of the Song Dynasty was in the hands of three divisions, and the division was the official name under the six departments of the Tang Dynasty. However, since the Tang Dynasty, after the Anshi Rebellion, there were often financial difficulties, and there were even prime ministers who served concurrently. The Song Dynasty could not be reformed because of its shortcomings, but it became the government's financial power in the hands of the division. The so-called three divisions - the first is the household department, the second is the salt and iron department, and the third is the degree branch division, which is in charge of the economic cashier. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a department of the prime minister who personally led the book, such as salt and iron, degree branch, etc., for the convenience of directly dealing with financial problems, although this can not be trained, it can be said that the prime minister will personally hold the financial power. In the Song Dynasty, the status of these three divisions was improved, and they independently controlled the country's finances, which was extremely unreasonable. Therefore, Wang Jinggong was the prime minister of the gods, and if he wanted to change the law to implement the new policy, the first measure was to set up the Department of Regulations of the Three Divisions, and reorganize the three yamen of the Ministry of Households, Salt and Iron, and Duzhi into the new yamen (that is, the Department of Regulations of the Three Divisions). This measure, in Jing Gong, wanted to regain the financial power in the hands of the prime minister, just as the prime minister in the Tang Dynasty took over the position. Sima Wengong expressed extreme opposition to this, saying that the finances should be managed by the three divisions, and the three divisions were derelict in their duties, and they could be replaced, and the two governments should not be allowed to invade their affairs. Here we see a disagreement between Jing Gong and Wen Gong on the system at that time. Jing Gong's intention was to subordinate the financial power to the prime minister, which was a system issue, not a personnel issue, and had nothing to do with the competence of the three directors at that time. Jing Gong wanted to redefine the authority of the three divisions, and to reunite the functions and powers of military and civilian finance, which were the so-called Zhongshu governing the people and privy counsel and the three divisions of financial management. Gong Wen is still the main one, focusing only on personnel, not on the system. If we talk about the system, it is unreasonable to think that the military, civil, and financial powers are divided into three parts.

Speaking of employment again: The government has always employed people, which should be under the authority of the prime minister. Who should be used, what officials should be promoted, this is the matter of the Ministry of Scribes under the Prime Minister, but the Song Dynasty set up another examination institute. The examination course was equivalent to Quanxu, and it was later renamed the Inquisitionist Yuan. He also divided the court of judges into two courts, the east court, the east court, and the west court. And don't set up three classes of courtyards to Quanheng a generation of inner court worship and palace officials. In this way, the right to employ people is not in the prime minister. This was added by the royal family in the early Song Dynasty under a sense of inferiority selfishness, deliberately wanting to reduce the power of the prime minister of Zhongshu. If so, not only the prime minister and the Tang system are different, but even the system of Shangshu becoming the general organ of the administration has also been destroyed.

C. The encroachment of the monarchy

The above refers to the fact that the three powers of the military, finance, and employment in the Song Dynasty were all constrained and divided, which is obviously the low power of the minister. The opposite of the decline in power is the promotion of monarchical power. And in the words of the court, the ministers of the Tang Dynasty met at the court, and the prime minister had to have a seat and give tea. In ancient times, the so-called "three princes sat down and talked about the Tao", and the Tang system was still like this. In the Song Dynasty, the prime minister went to the court, and he also stood together and did not sit. This kind of transformation is very regrettable. However, the evolution of history cannot be attributed only to the work of the dark forces, or the selfishness of one or two people. When Song Taizu was in the Later Zhou Dynasty, he was originally inspected in front of the palace, just like the chief of the emperor's guard. He became an emperor overnight due to fate, and Song Taizu was not the first to be an emperor in a yellow robe like him, but he was already the fourth. In the course of several decades, whoever the army wanted to be the emperor had to be. Zhao Kuangyin was still inspected in front of the palace yesterday, and today he is the emperor, which is the darkest sign of the five generations of troubled times. If you compare the emperor to the prime minister at that time, the prime minister has been in office for a decade or two. In contrast, the emperor is not presentable. When trying to look at the five dynasties, which emperors have achieved an objective status and respect like Feng Dao? However, the emperor should be an emperor in the end, he is the head of a country, the emperor is too unpresentable, and all other officials will be unpresentable. Now to get rid of the chaos and return to order, respecting 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 the prime minister at that time was to avoid suspicion and to show loyalty to the new emperor, so he was too humble and did not sit down, so that the dignity of the government and the dignity of the emperor were gradually raised and gradually restored. As far as the facts are concerned, this should also be desirable. Of course, this was also because the minister did not know the general situation at that time, and he also had a psychological inferiority complex, which was so. If in the Tang Dynasty, people from the traditions of the family were in this situation, they would never have done so. is like the early generation of the Western Han Dynasty, Pu Newuwen came from the field, and it will not be like this. It was a generation of small family-like scholars who were passed down by the five generations of Jinshi in the late Tang Dynasty, so they did this. But their intentions at that time were forgivable in the end. However, after a long time, the original meaning of the evolution of this matter has been forgotten, and future generations will only see the dignity of the emperor and the humility of the prime minister.

Secondly, we talk about the emperor's edict, which is the highest order of the government. In the Tang Dynasty, it was drafted by the Prime Minister Zhongshu Province, and this kind of draft is called familiar drafting, also known as familiar drafting. Familiarity is the meaning of detailed drafting. The Chinese book was intended to be sent to the emperor, and the emperor only took a few sentences at the end of the paper, and used the emperor's imperial seal to play, which is called the printing painting. After this procedure, you can lower your order. This procedure is actually an order issued by the prime minister, and it is only necessary to ask the emperor to express his consent. In modern parlance, the emperor has his right of consent to all the supreme orders given by the government. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, in order to avoid suspicion, in order to respect the emperor, in order to elevate the prestige and status of the emperor, when the government decided to send an order, he first wrote a sword, which is a kind of summary of opinions, put forward several opinions on something, and drafted a few methods, which were sent to the emperor for decision. Then the prime minister made a formal decree according to the emperor's opinion. Therefore, the edict of the prime minister is only a draft or article, and it is no longer the final draft of the decree, which is very different from the familiar draft of the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. The final decision on the supreme decree of the Song Dynasty rested with the emperor, not the prime minister, at least the emperor not only had the right to agree, but also the right to participate in opinions. The prime minister is just acting on 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 all carried out by the emperor's edict. In the Tang Dynasty, the political affairs hall ordered the Quartet, and the book under it was called the hall post, and there was this system in the early Song Dynasty, and it was said that the power of the hall post was heavier than the edict. But later, there was an edict prohibiting it, and the Chinese book was not allowed to go to court, so he changed to use a sword to command. In fact, the slash is also like a post. Later, a magistrate refused to accept the punishment of the Chinese book and sealed the original sword, Taizong was furious, and ordered the official affairs to be punished by the punishment, even if the sword was used, it should also be judged. Isn't this the right to decide all the decrees of the Song Dynasty to the emperor? This system, by the time of the Divine Sect, was still abolished, and it was still allowed to use slashers. According to these points, it can be proved that the prime minister of the Song Dynasty was derelict in his duties.

However, we can't think of this, as we say in modern times, traditional Chinese politics is just dictatorship and ****. There is a story in the early Song Dynasty, when Taizu of the Song Dynasty encountered a vacancy in an official, he called the prime minister Zhao Pu to propose a name, and Zhao Pu proposed to hand it over to Taizu, it happened that this person was the most hated by Taizu, he said angrily: "How can this person be useful", so he tore up the paper and threw it to the ground. Zhao Pu was silent, picked up the waste paper on the ground and hid it. After a day or two, Taizu asked Zhao Pu to prepare again, and Zhao Pu had already pasted the broken paper he picked up the day before yesterday with paste to carry it around, and then sent the paper again. Taizu asked in surprise: "How is this person", Zhao Pu replied, according to a certain opinion, there is no one else suitable for the time being. Taizu also understood, nodded and said, "In this case, let's use it according to your opinion!" ”

When we talk about this story, we can also imagine that Zhao Pu still has some of the traditional demeanor of the prime minister. But in fact, Zhao Pu is not an authentic scholar, only because Song Taizu trusted him, and at the same time there were no other decent figures, he became the prime minister. After he became the prime minister, Taizu also warned him from time to time, saying that you have become the prime minister, you should take time to study, so he read the "Analects". Later, people said that Zhao Pu had ruled the world with half of the "Analects", probably he read the "Analects" and did not read it carefully. However, Zhao Pu was already a good prime minister of the founding of the Song Dynasty, and it can be seen that he told the story before. This is not how outstanding Zhao Pu is personally, this is just a traditional historical habit that should be so, and Zhao Pu is like this. At that time, although the prime minister's power was low, we should still rely on historical facts, not just rely on our own imagination and scold China's traditional politics for being all imperial **** and dictatorship. Moreover, the family motto of the Song royal family has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is necessary to try to be as good as possible, and it is not allowed to open the ring of killing court officials. And the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were relatively non-tyrannical and unspecialized. The shortcomings of the Song Dynasty system are scattered and weak, not in dictatorship and violence. Until the time of Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the country was about to die, and the emperor made notes from time to time, which was called the imperial record at that time, and also aroused the indignation of the courtiers, saying that the matter was not published in the book, and it was a chaotic government. It can be seen that the power of the Song Dynasty also has its traditional and objective status. At the moment, we only say that the Song Dynasty is inferior to the Tang Dynasty based on history, and the so-called Song Dynasty prime minister is derelict in his duties, and everything is still a system problem. It's not just the emperor ****, let alone the system.

D. The fire and water of the government and the government

Now let's talk about the supervision officials of the Song Dynasty: in the Han Dynasty, the supervision power was exercised by the deputy prime minister, Yu Shi Dafu. At that time, the scope of supervision of the imperial historian was the hundreds of officials inside and outside the central government, and the royal family and the court inside, all of which were within the supervision power of the imperial historian. Yu Shi Zhongcheng is a deputy imperial historian, which is dedicated to supervising the royal family and the court, and can also be said to supervise the emperor. The other is the Imperial Historian, who oversees the government, both at the central and local levels. Therefore, in terms of the distribution of powers, the imperial historian is the eyes and ears or deputy of the prime minister. The Prime Minister gave orders, and the Deputy Prime Minister supervised him. At that time, the court and the court were under the control of the prime minister, and the natural supervision power was also within the court. Later, the imperial history withdrew from the imperial palace and became the imperial history platform alone, and its functions and powers were limited to supervising the government, but did not have the right to supervise the emperor and the court. But in the official position of the government, there is still a supervisor of the emperor, which is called a counselor. Counselors have also existed since the Han Dynasty, such as the family of the counselor, and Guangluxun in the Han Dynasty. In the name of his official position, he was specially asked to follow the emperor, and near the emperor, he came to admonish and ridicule the emperor's words and deeds. Guangluxun is one of the nine kings and is subordinate to the prime minister, so the counselor is of course a subordinate of the prime minister. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of counselor belonged to the province of Menxia, and belonged to the same organ as the one mentioned above, such as counseling doctors, collecting relics, and filling the que. The great poet Du Fu has done a gleaning. These officials are not of high rank and have no great power, but they are very respected by the government. It is probably to select young and backward people, who are knowledgeable, have integrity, and are not deeply politically qualified. Although they were small officials, they could speak to the emperor. "Picking up" is like picking things up again after they have been dropped, which means that the emperor has forgotten something, and he can remind him. "Fill the gap" means that the emperor has made any mistakes and wants to make up for him. In addition, there are also admonitions, righteous words, etc., in short, the definition of correct names, they are all dedicated to admonishing the emperor for their mistakes. In the Tang system, after the emperor met with the civil and military officials, there was usually no special matter, and the dynasty was quickly dispersed. After the dispersal of the dynasty, the emperor and the prime minister calmly discussed, at this time no one was allowed to participate, but the officials of the province were the only exception, and they often had to attend with the prime minister. This is because the prime minister sometimes has the inconvenience to speak directly to the emperor, but he can let these petty officials speak it. If the emperor is angry, he cannot directly address the prime minister. It's good that they're right, but it's okay if they're wrong. Because they were in the name of counselors, they were supposed to speak. They are soft-spoken, their rank is not high, and they are willing to speak errands. The so-called speaker is not guilty, and the listener is full of caution. With their retinue by the prime minister's side, the prime minister could avoid direct conflict with the emperor, but what the prime minister wanted to say was said by their mouths, which was a technical problem in politics. These technologies, of course, were born out of an ideal need. The so-called ideal needs are the adjustment between the power of the monarchy. This relationship is as follows:

Emperor - Prime Minister - Counselor -

The emperor uses the prime minister, and the prime minister uses the counselor, and the duty of the counselor is to specifically admonish the emperor's mistakes. This is different from the Imperial Doctor. The imperial historian supervises the hundreds of government officials, and the officials do not supervise the government, he only corrects the emperor. If this is the case, if the admonitor is also regarded as the supervisor official, then the supervisor in Chinese history should be divided into two types. Tai refers to the Imperial Historical Tower. The Taiwan officials of the Tang Dynasty were the eyes and ears of the Son of Heaven, and the officials of the Tang Dynasty were the lips and tongues of the prime minister. In the Tang Dynasty, the power of imperial history supervision was separated from the power of the prime minister and became independent, but the power of admonishment was still in the hands of the prime minister. This system changed again in the Song Dynasty. The officials were originally subordinate to the Menxia Province, while the Song Dynasty was independent and had no governors. In other words, these advisers are now not directly under the prime minister. Moreover, in the Song system, officials were not allowed to be appointed by the prime minister, so the Taiwan officials and officials were also promoted by the emperor himself. Originally, the purpose of the counselor was to entangle the rope of the Son of Heaven, not to entangle the prime minister, and only the emperor was called the emperor, and the counselor was obviously a subordinate official of the prime minister. Now that the counselor has left the province of Menxia, he has become bald, independent, and not subordinate to the prime minister. And it was promoted by the emperor himself, and he was not allowed to use the recommendation of the prime minister, so the official turned into not the son of heaven, but the prime minister. As a result, the Imperial Wall formed a situation of confrontation with the government. The official is originally valued by his words, he can speak no matter what and where, if he does not speak, he does not fulfill his duties, and it does not matter if he says the wrong thing. Moreover, these officials have low rank and little authority, and they are just some officials who are clear and hopeful. Originally, only those who were young, learned, famous, insightful, and courageous and able to speak were selected to be appointed as counselors. They made a mistake in their speeches, and of course they should be dismissed, but if they are dismissed, their prestige will be higher, and they will have more opportunities for promotion. Therefore when the prime minister said east, they said west, and when the prime minister said west, they said east. Always do not agree, always love to express dissent to the government. Otherwise, how can you call it a counselor, and how can you count it as dutiful? In this way, it has set up an opposition organ for the government that only makes empty arguments and does not bear real responsibility. They are fond of speaking out against the government, and they are so undisciplined that everyone can speak out individually as long as they are officials. The government cannot afford to ignore their opinions. This trend began in the Song Dynasty, and this can be regarded as a Qing discussion. Qing Yi is always the opponent of the government. It is not necessarily bad to clean up the discussion, but the government always has a strong legacy. The officials and the Taiwanese officials gradually became indistinguishable. The object of supervision by Taiwan officials is the government, and the object of criticism by officials is still the government, and if the emperor is put aside, no one cares. As the prime minister, he has to deal with both the emperor and the Taiwan, how can he use it?

However, most of the above mentioned personnel are still personnel, not systems. In terms of system, the Song Dynasty generally followed the old Tang Dynasty. It's just that Taizu Taizong of the early Song Dynasty didn't know the general situation, and he was determined to take the power of the prime minister to himself, in other words, this is a minister who is not at ease with Xiaobing, and that's it. From the very beginning, there has been constant opposition to their various measures. However, due to the accumulation of shortcomings in the early Song Dynasty and the accumulation of five dynasties, there were few scholars in the society, and the academic decline was in decline, and those who opposed it only knew that the Tang system was not like this, and they could not see the overall situation to customize the creation method for the Song generation. Later, the emperor read books, understood history, understood politics, and there were many people reading in society, and academics were flourishing, until the three dynasties of Renying and God, he wanted to reform the disadvantages of his ancestors in the past, but the accumulation of momentum had been achieved, and he was eager to do so. Fan Zhongyan failed first, and Wang Anshi failed last. Song Shenzong insisted on trusting Wang Anshi and asked him to change the law, but the official and the ruler were opposed to each other and fought each other. At that time, the officials were not like the so-called opposition parties in the modern West. The counselors are scattered and isolated. Their position seems to be to preside over the public meeting, not to oppose the government. In terms of morality, it is more powerful than the opposition parties in the modern West. And when the prime minister did not listen to them, they begged to go, and went to a greater name. The other person came up, still according to the previous one's opinion, and continued to oppose it. The government cannot do without these officials. This system, this atmosphere, is really difficult to deal with, and as a result, the prime minister can only ask for it. The failure of Wang Jinggong's new policy and the lack of cooperation of Ji Yuan are naturally one of the reasons. The emperor, despite his trust in the prime minister, could not reverse the situation. Even the emperor and the prime minister still have no way, which is a unique weakness of the Song Dynasty system. As long as later, the official is too fierce, too angry, too boring, the society and the people in the government, they all hate the admonition, do not pay attention to it, ignore it, so the official loses power, but the power * minister has come out again. A government without a system can have good practices and good results.

E. Local government of the Song Dynasty

The system of the Song Dynasty was the decline of power on the one hand, and the centralization of power on the other. When it comes to local administration in China, it can only be said that the Han Dynasty was good, the Tang Dynasty was relatively good, and the Song Dynasty was too bad.

The local government of the Song Dynasty was divided into three levels. The highest level is called the road, which is equivalent to the way of the Tang Dynasty. The middle level is the government, state, 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 fifteen roads, and later it was divided into more than twenty roads. Since the fifth generation, the magistrates have been all soldiers. Song Taizu released the military power with a cup of wine, cut the military power of the generals, and the military ministers no longer led the troops, so naturally they were no longer allowed to manage the local civil affairs. These lords and military attachés have also grown tired of the long-term chaos, and have come to their senses and no longer quarrel. They only had an official title, and the central government provided them with large mansions and rich salaries in the capital, so that they could settle down. For example, if you are the overseer of Jiangsu, the central government still retains your title of superintendent of Jiangsu, but please live in the central government. For the affairs 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 governors of the prefecture originally had other official titles, they were all central officials, and they were temporarily sent by a governor of a certain prefecture and a certain government. His own position is still a central official, and he is temporarily in charge of the affairs of a certain state and a certain government. Strictly speaking, these are still personnel, not systems. But it wasn't until the Qing Dynasty that the prefect of the county became an official name, which was really unreasonable. If the definition of the correct name is concerned, then the Song Dynasty did not have local officials at all, and only temporarily sent central officials to take charge of local affairs, wouldn't it be more unreasonable in terms of system? In the Tang Dynasty, the heads of the provinces were observers, and according to the name, the observer envoys were sent by the Yushitai to inspect the local administration, and they were not official local administrators. But then he gradually became a local chief. This was already said in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, it had changed again. These officials, also known as the supervisor in the Song Dynasty, had a total of four supervisors on each road, and they were usually called Shuai, Cao, Xian, and Cang. "Shuai" is a pacification envoy, in charge of the military industry and civil affairs all the way, leading the army brigade ban, rewards and punishments. "Cao" is a transshipment envoy, holding wealth, leading the consumption of supplies, and accumulating funds. The "constitution" is to raise the sentence according to the procurator, to be in charge of justice, to lead the prison lawsuit, and to reply to the prisoner in detail. "Cang" is to promote the Changping envoy, the palm rescue, the leader of the Changping Yicang, and the water conservancy is dispersed. These four are not local governors, but are sent by the central government to supervise and direct the localities. In the states and counties of the Tang Dynasty, as long as one boss was flattered, that is, the observer, while in the Song Dynasty, four bosses were flattered, namely Shuai, Cao, Xian, and Cang, which was difficult for the magistrate. Among the four divisions, the most important is the Cao envoy, that is, the transshipment envoy. The local finances are in his hands, and he must transfer all the local wealth to the central government. In the Tang Dynasty, part of the local income was dissolved from the central government, and the other part was retained at the local level. In the Song Dynasty, all the central government was dissolved, and there was no storage in the locality. Usually it is very difficult, and it is even more unimaginable that there is something to do in a temporary place. 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 concentration of employment, it had already been implemented in the Tang Dynasty. However, its place was poor and weak, so the Jin soldiers invaded internally, and only the central capital (Bianjing) was lost, and the whole country collapsed, making it even more difficult to resist. In the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty, its military strength was not weaker than that of the Jin people, and the Tang Dynasty and the capital were lost, but the wealth of the prefectures and counties was thick, and each city had a few years of rice, and military uniforms and weapons were stored, so everywhere you could fight separately, and there was still a way. In the Song Dynasty, all the wealth and troops were concentrated in the center, leaving no point in the localities, so as soon as the central government failed, the whole country collapsed, and there was no longer anything to do.

2. The examination system of the Song Dynasty

The examination system of the Song Dynasty generally followed the Tang Dynasty, although there are differences in the details, we can omit them. However, the influence of the imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty was different from that of the Tang Dynasty. The first is that the Tang Dynasty was in full swing, and at that time, the examination was implemented, and there were still many children of the family who took the exam. The children of the family have a family education, and they have already understood a lot of political affairs, once they enter politics, they have more methods. If it gradually arrived in the late Tang Dynasty, the gate gradually degenerated, and most of the people who took the exam were poor scholars who studied hard in the cold window. Except for paying attention to the subjects they were taking, concentrating on the selection of essays and poems, or memorizing scriptures, the state did not educate them. The lessons of the sect are gone, and the political tradition is even more ignorant. So Jinshi is light and thin, and it became a popular phrase in the late Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, except for a few families of the Lu family and the Han family, the family traditions all disappeared. Rural children, scholars in white houses, and remote examination boys, suddenly Chinese-style, enter the official career, and inevitably have a strange understanding of practical politics, and as for private education, there is nothing to talk about.

Secondly, the Tang Dynasty examination had a system of public papers. The so-called public papers are written by the examinees who send their daily poetry and essay results to the central government and the advanced officials who can write and learn from them to read them. This generation is advanced, after looking at the candidates' daily works, they first praised the product, and before the exam, there were already many well-known people who had obtained an objective status. The general list is a list after the examination, that is, according to the public opinion of the society and the government's ancestors, to select well-known people, but not based on the length of the exam. Even the examiner is humble, because he does not understand the academic public evaluation in this examination room, and does not set his own list, but Qianren sets the list on his behalf, and there are Qian's and the examinees' substitutes, and the examiners set themselves as the top champions. But at the time, these things turned out to be good words and were not considered fraud. Originally, the examination was for the country to select real talents, and if we understand the main spirit and original meaning of this system, why bother with the details. However, some people want to take advantage of the leniency of the system to cheat, so the government will inevitably tighten the system in order to prevent fraud. This is true of all systems. However, the system has gradually become tighter, and sometimes it has lost its original meaning and focused on preventing malpractices. The examination system of the Song Dynasty was far stricter than that of the Tang Dynasty, and at that time there was a vague name system, which was based on the real test results. In fact, the test results are only a short day, so the examiner deliberately wants to admit his most proud protégé to study, but because of his vague name, he can't find the person's paper, and the person finally falls first. If so, the examination is strictly controlled, and sometimes you can't get real talent.

In the Tang Dynasty, the examination was in the Ministry of Rites, and the distribution and appointment were in the Ministry of Officials. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Rites may not be appointed immediately, so they still serve as officials in the shogunate through the establishment of various yamen heads, and they have an internship in political affairs first. In the Song Dynasty, because of the long-term darkness of the five dynasties, people did not like to learn, and the imperial court deliberately rewarded literature and attached importance to the imperial examination. These were the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty examination system. In short, the examination system was more important and stricter in the Song Dynasty, but it was not more effective. However, due to the government's advocacy for many years, the social and academic atmosphere has been revived. So many people came out and wanted to reform this system. The first is that we want to replace exams with schooling, which is the most important thing. Examinations can only select talents, but fail to cultivate talents. In the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, there were Taixue, and in the Tang Dynasty, there were disciples, all of which cultivated talents. The society cultivates talents, and the government examination has a choice. The Song people wanted to actively promote education, which was good. But this is not to be expected. The second is to change the content of the exam, not to test the poetry, but to test the scriptures. The intention of this layer is also very high. Everyone learns poetry, and it is not a proper way to use this standard to find talents for the government. However, after the reform, the gains outweighed the losses, and the examination of scriptures and righteousness was not as good as the examination of poetry. Wang Jinggong sighed because of this, saying that he wanted to change his pedant into a scholar, but he unexpectedly changed his talent into a pedant. The pros and cons of this are the reasons for the pros and cons, and I will not go into detail at this moment. As a result of the above, it can be seen that each system must also be coordinated by other circumstances. If other circumstances change, the effectiveness and performance of this system will also change. However, in any case, the poetry examination system is a relatively important system in China's political system, and it has lasted for more than a thousand years from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. It is by no means accidental that there have been reforms and evolutions in the middle, and the wisdom and intelligence of an unknown number of people have been accumulated and gradually developed in the course of history. Until the late Qing Dynasty, Westerners knew that this system was used to bridge the bias of their political party elections, but we have discarded the previous examination system that has been rooted in history for more than 1,000 years, and no longer attaches importance to it, or no longer leaves the slightest room for tolerance. That's a strange thing. Fortunately, Mr. Sun Yat-sen also put forward this system again and listed it as one of the five rights, which is really like a treasure throwing dirt and picking it up again. However, we still do not care to study the long-term evolution of this system over the millennia of history. It seems that the examination system in China's history is still just a foolish policy under our unique dark **** politics. The introduction of the examination system today is a different matter, and it is always like not wanting to have anything to do with the examination system under the historical tradition. This is really a preconception on our part, not the truth. It is a pity that we cannot elaborate on this system separately because of our speech.

3. The tax system of the Song Dynasty

The tax system of the Song Dynasty was generally followed by the two tax systems of the Tang Dynasty, and we will not talk about it in detail. Just one of the more important ones. Originally, the two-tax system merged all the tax items into a single two-tax system. The rent adjustment is divided into three items, the rent for the field, the service for the Ding, and the household registration. Let's take a simple example, for example, Taiwan's expropriation of farmland and rice grain is rent. It is mediocre to demand that the people of Taiwan serve on a voluntary basis, and to build airports, roads, and water conservancy projects. Sugar is a native product of Taiwan, and how much sugar the government wants Taiwan to contribute will be apportioned by the people and distributed according to households. The two-tax law incorporated all three of these items into the field rent, so the amount of land rent increased. After the government collects the land rent, if the airport is to be built and the road is to be built, the government should pay for self-employed labor. If the government needs sugar or other goods, the government should also pay for it itself. The taxes collected by the government from the private sector are all grouped under one item. After many years, this method went wrong. Since the military period of the late Tang Dynasty, when the army arrived in a place, it still asked the people to help such as building roads, and also had to levy local specialties, such as sugar from Taiwan, and when the army from other places came to Taiwan, they did not want to buy sugar themselves, but asked the people for it. They think that this has always been the case, but they forget that these mediocrities and adjustments have long been included in the two taxes, which have increased the rent of the people's land, and now they have to pay labor and pay tribute to the people, so doesn't that increase the burden on the people? When the Tang Dynasty changed to the two-tax system, some people had already said that because of the convenience of taxation at that time, it was not credible, but it was gradually realized later. And one more important point. In the Han Dynasty, China originally had local autonomous organizations, and their leaders were called the three elders, and under the three elders there were Sifu wanderers. The three elders are in charge of education, and the husband collects the land rent, and the police and thieves are in charge. They all represent the local government and assist the government. This system disappeared in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and became in name only. By the time of the Five Dynasties, every time the army went to a place, it had to pay tribute and pay tribute, and those who had long been not in the system prescribed by the state had to find local leaders temporarily, and ask them for houses, straw, horse fodder, utensils, strong men, and provisions. I know it's not easy to do, but I have to do it reluctantly. The army often comes and goes, and these local leaders become specialized in running errands on the other. The magistrate, however, felt that it was easy to be blamed for such a person, so he insisted on citing one or two even if there was no such person in the locality. The army flows like water, and when it arrives at a certain place, it has to send errands, so after three or five years of errands, the furniture will collapse. If one collapses, find another. In the future, even if there is no army to demand, the local governor will still follow the old habit and still ask the local government to run errands as usual, so that it will become another burden for the local government. And worse still, there is no home in the land that can prosper, and when it prospers, it will be his turn to send messengers. This is the so-called errand service law of the Song Dynasty. The errand service of the Song Dynasty, like the border of the Qin Dynasty, was inherited from the previous history, and the government did not pay careful attention to it, and it became a great harm to the society. Wang Jinggong changed the law and began to work out the method of exempting money from military service. According to the government's regulations, the local government is asked to pay the money, and each family is apportioned, so as to avoid the suffering of local private government office errand bankruptcy. But this incident caused a great controversy, because if the people were asked to share the money for exemption, wouldn't it increase the burden on the people? However, Wang Jinggong's proposition is that the government will inevitably demand from the localities, and instead of choosing fertilizer and devouring it, it is better to divide the money evenly and turn the harm into lighter. Later, Sima Wengong became the prime minister, and he opposed all the new laws of Jing Gong, because he wanted to resume the errand service, when Jing Gong had retired in Nanjing, he heard the news, he said: "Can this matter still be opposed?" It can be seen that Jing Gong is indeed confident in the reform of this system. Su Dongpo originally also opposed the exemption law, but later opposed the resumption of the military service of Princess Sima Wen. Gong Wen advocated the implementation, and Dongpo said to him: "In the past, we opposed Wang Anshi and did not allow others to have objections, why did you govern and not allow others to have objections?" But Gong Wen finally didn't listen, and a Cai Jing ran out next to him, and he stood up and said that I could complete the errand service law in three months, and finally it was done for him. But later, when the old party of Wen Gong was expelled and the new method was reintroduced, it was this Cai Jing. Now everyone knows that Cai Jing is a bad person, and even Sima Wengong recognized him as a good person at that time. Based on the changes and disputes in this system, we can see that it was not easy to assess the merits and disadvantages of a system at that time. And the virtuous and treacherous characters are even more difficult to distinguish. But Cai Jing hurt Duke Wen and was shallow, and he hurt Duke Jing deeply. Because he later advocated the new law and damaged the Song Dynasty, later generations even scolded Jing Gong as a villain, wouldn't it be that Cai Jing caused Wang Jing Gong to suffer this injustice? However, Wang Jinggong's exemption law was not until the Qing Dynasty, and until today, Chinese society has always ceased to have strong military service. However, precisely because there is no service, the population should not be counted in detail. The Chinese government's household registration booklet was available in the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty, but gradually disappeared. Even if there were two dynasties in the Song and Ming dynasties, they didn't think it was important, so they were not very reliable. Wang Jinggong's exemption law, everyone has to pay for exemption, the Ming Dynasty has a whip law, and the Ding tax is included in the field rent, so it does not value the people. After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there was an order that the grain would never be increased, so there was no need for the Ding book. However, in this way, only the land has a direct relationship with the government, but the population has no direct relationship with the government. As long as a citizen does not have land, he should not take the imperial examination, he should not violate government decrees, and even he can have no direct relationship with the state for the rest of his life, how can this be expected and wholeheartedly approved by the idealists who have always valued the system of light taxation in Chinese politics?

Fourth, the military service system and the weakness of national defense in the Song Dynasty

The army of the Song Dynasty was divided into two kinds, one was called the forbidden army and the other was called the box army. The military system of the Song Dynasty is considered the worst military system in Chinese history, but it also has its own causes, and we still cannot blame the Song people too much. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the feudal town was arrogant, and the soldiers were still in turmoil, and almost everyone in the society at that time was a soldier, and the portrait of a scholar was gone. At the beginning, the army was decent, but later they all became old and weak. The army could not go into battle, so they used it as a prisoner. At that time, all those who served as soldiers had to have tattoos on their faces, which were called armies, to prevent them from escaping. For example, people like Song Jiang Wusong in "Water Margin" had tattoos on their faces and were sent to a local military camp to do hard labor, and people scolded him for being a thief and a soldier. Such an army, of course, is useless. In fact, these armies were more in service in the Han Dynasty, and Yong in the Tang Dynasty. The so-called service in the Song Dynasty was a representative of local autonomy in the Han Dynasty. Such a change is extremely unreasonable. Just because it is difficult to return, Song Taizu can only select a group of strong ones in this kind of army, and another formation is called the forbidden army. At first, a living soldier was used, and later a person was made out of wood, and sent to various localities and teams. Therefore, the forbidden army is more decent. Those who do not meet this standard will remain in the local army as a soldier. The box is the righteousness of the city, and the box army refers to the city that is stationed in various places. These soldiers do not want them to go into battle, but only to be errand in the localities. If the local government has any forced labor, they will be asked to do it. It stands to reason that the first thing that the Song Dynasty should do in the founding of the country was to lay down troops and demobilize, but the Song Dynasty only laid off as mentioned above, and as for demobilization, it could never be restored. This is also because the Song Dynasty won the world, and did not really unify the whole country, their great enemy Liao, has a history of more than 50 years before the Song Dynasty. The so-called sixteen states of Yanyun have long been ceded to the Liao people by Shi Jingjiao. At that time, Chahar, Rehe, Liaoning, and part of the territory of Shanxi and Hebei were all in the hands of the Liao. The northern fence was removed, and the Song Dynasty built the capital Kaifeng, which was a flat land exposed by the Yellow River. To the east of Taihang Mountain is a large plain, and the cavalry can go down from the north to the south, and they can reach the Yellow River in three days. Once the Yellow River is crossed, it will reach the city gate of Kaifeng. Therefore, the founding of the country in the Song Dynasty had no national defense. If the capital Luoyang can be built, the enemy will come down from Beiping, cross the river, and go west from the current Longhai line, and still need to cross the so-called Jingsuo Mountain in the Zhengzhou area, and there is still a danger to defend. If you go south from the west side of the mountain, the Yanmen Pass of Wutai Mountain is the internal danger there, which can be regarded as the second line of national defense. It is not easy to rush to the Yellow River in one go. Therefore, it is better to build the capital Luoyang. If the scale of the Han and Tang dynasties can be restored, and the capital Xi'an can be built westward, it will certainly be better. But why didn't Song Taizu build the capital Luoyang Xi'an, and the second bias wanted to build the capital Kaifeng? This also has his bitterness. Because the national defense line had already been broken at that time, Yan Yun had lost his land and had not recovered, so he had to raise soldiers. Food was needed for recuperation, and the military rations at that time already depended entirely on the Yangtze River valley. In ancient times, the so-called Central Plains of the Great River was dilapidated as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty, and its economy depended on the support of the south. There is a canal from Yangzhou to the north, this is not the canal after the Yuan Dynasty, but from Yangzhou to the north along the present-day Longhai line west to Kaifeng, this is the so-called Tongji Canal since Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. When the rice grain arrived in Kaifeng, if it was to be transported to Luoyang again, the Bianqu was already broken at that time. If it is transported by land, it is even more difficult, and a lot of manpower and material resources will be wasted. The founding of the Song Dynasty undertook the long-term chaotic, dark and dilapidated situation of the five dynasties, and there was no strength to transport the military rations to Luoyang, and Chang'an was desolate, not to mention. In order to save a little grain transportation costs, it was built in Kaifeng. Song Taizu also said at that time that in the future, the country will be peaceful, and the capital will still move westward.

At that time, there were two national policies, one was to attack the north bank of the Yellow River first, and then the Northern Han and Liao were flattened, and the Yangtze River valley could not be fought from below. This policy is aggressive, but it is also dangerous. If the battle is lost, there is no way out. One is to first level the Yangtze River basin, unify the south, and then attack the north, this policy is relatively stable and steady. Song Taizu adopted the second strategy, pacifying the south first, but leaving the difficult things for future generations to do. So when Song Taizu was dying, he listened to his mother and passed on his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi, who was Song Taizong. Taizong ascended the throne and twice conquered Liao, but both were defeated. Once he fought on the side of the sorghum river that went straight to the Xishan Summer Palace outside the Xizhi Gate in present-day Beiping, and this battle was defeated, and he himself was hit by an arrow, and he came back and died due to wounds. Historically, this kind of thing has been kept secret. Just because the situation of the founding of the Song Dynasty was like this, it could not reduce troops or demobilize in the future, and at the same time, it did not dare to fight with the Liao State again. Because if you want to fight, you can only win, not lose. As soon as he was defeated and retreated, he went to the Yellow River, and the country was shaken. Under such circumstances, the Song Dynasty became a force that could not raise soldiers, and knew that it could not fight but had to raise soldiers. What's even more strange is that he raised soldiers and didn't value them, but he came to try his best to promote civil governance. This is understandable, because the Song Dynasty deliberately advocated cultural governance, only to reverse the countercurrent of Chinese history in the late Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the people only wanted to use these troops to resist foreign troubles, and on the one hand, they advocated civil rule and emphasized literature over military force, so as to gradually reduce the military dominance and no longer follow the mistakes of the five dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the more soldiers are raised, the more they are raised, and the more they are raised. "Water Margin" said that Lin Chong was the head of the 830,000 forbidden army, but in fact, Taizu only had 200,000 troops when he founded the country, 660,000 when Taizong, and 1.25 million when Renzong arrived. Therefore, Wang Jinggong changed the law to implement a new policy, and he had to start reducing the army. The step of reducing the army was to restore the ancient militia system to replace the mercenaries at that time. However, the militia system was not easily implemented throughout the country, so the so-called armor protection system was first implemented in the Yellow River valley. Baojia is to train the peasants on the spot, hoping that they can be organized into an army when they need it temporarily, and they can be exempted from the cost of raising soldiers.

When it comes to conscription, it is not all necessary. Recruitment is also useful in a certain place and in a certain situation. However, there must be a definite enemy as the target, and it must be fought, and within a few years, the enemy must be dealt with, and in such a situation, the recruits can be deliberately trained and tried to the front, which may be better than the national military system. The Beifu soldiers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were recruited soldiers, and they also performed miraculous feats. However, the national defense spirit of the Song Dynasty was defensive, and they did not dare to take the initiative to attack, and their intention was always on the defensive. Combining the conscription system with a long-term defensive policy is a mistake. A soldier is recruited, and he is easily raised until he is sixty years old, and he is still in the army, during which only ten years between the age of twenty and thirty can be used. In the thirty years from thirty to sixty, he was old. And after ten years in the army, I am mentally tired. Such an army has no real name, so it can only recruit new ones. Therefore, the army is more and more cultivated, and the discipline is not good. There are many troops, and although it is not easy to defend against foreign insults, it can cause civil strife. The Song people were most afraid of the arrogant soldiers since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, but the Song Dynasty was still arrogant and fierce. The state cannot afford not to treat them, and they must always be better, otherwise they will rebel. The government had no choice but to reward the literati and raise the status of civil officials and suppress the status of military attachés. Jiedu makes idle people who have nothing to do, trapped in the capital, and sends hundreds of catties of charcoal every winter. Those who have raised martial arts and have to raise civilians have gradually increased the number of civil officials, and their salaries have gradually improved. On the one hand, there are redundant soldiers, on the other hand, redundant officials, the burden of the country is heavier than a year, weak and poor, and the poor are even weaker, and the government of the Song Dynasty can no longer reverse this situation.

During the time of Song Taizu, because of the arrogance of the guards, it was stipulated that the forbidden army should be guarded separately. The local army is useless, and all sides must be sent to the central forbidden army to defend it. But it is not allowed to last for a long time, for example, those who are in Hebei this year are transferred to the central government every other year, and then to Shanxi every other time. This is different from the retirement of the Han and Tang garrisons. The Song Dynasty did not retire, not in the frontier, that is, in the center, and still in the ranks. If so, they will adjust their defenses, and the soldiers will only feel that it is a lot of labor, so they have to give them more money. Therefore, although the Song Dynasty did not fight for many years, it was equivalent to mobilizing every year and fighting wars every year. The army was always running on the road, and the generals were separated from the army, and the army was transferred in batches, but the generals were still there. If so, the soldiers will not learn to be generals, and they will not like to be soldiers. This is also the fear that the soldiers will support the soldiers and respect themselves, but when the time is urgent, the soldiers will not be accustomed to each other, and it is difficult to use them. Therefore, throughout the Song Dynasty, soldiers had to be used, and soldiers were looked down upon, how to call martial artists meritorious service? The most famous military generals in the Song Dynasty, such as Di Qing, because he was born in the army, won the heart of the army, and was worshiped by the general soldiers, but the court had to beware of him to be the second Taizu of the Song Dynasty, and he wanted to add a yellow robe, so he made great contributions and was not reused, and as a result, the Song Dynasty became a dynasty that died because of raising soldiers.

However, when the Song Dynasty was founded, Chinese society inherited the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty and had suffered from the scourge of soldiers, so the Song Dynasty knew that Shangwen was light on military force since the founding of the country. When Song Taizu was dying, he had a will to tell his descendants: Your descendants will pass it down, and you must not kill a scholar. They firmly adhered to this family motto, and they all knew to respect the scholars and doctors. Until the Southern Song Dynasty, he still kept the legacy of not killing scholars. It's not just not killing, the Song royal family really knows how to reward literati. Therefore, after a hundred years, from such a chaotic and dark situation in the late Tang Dynasty and the fifth dynasty, the culture has slowly revived. The so-called Song Xue, also known as science, was laid in the first hundred years after the Song Dynasty. This generation of literati all advocated respecting the king and dividing the Ming and Xia dynasties, and advocated historical traditions, so China can still maintain and open up the second half of Chinese history from the Song Dynasty to the present. It is precisely because the people of the Song Dynasty are so literate and light on martial arts, so good iron does not hit nails, and the words of good men who are not soldiers have been passed down from that time. We can only say that the people of the Song Dynasty did not completely correct the problems of the Tang Dynasty in order to remedy the problems of the Tang Dynasty, but we cannot blame the Song people. It must be known that there are many problems, and the Tang Dynasty people should be blamed. The Tang Dynasty was reckless, and by the time of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was just like the so-called imperialism in modern times, which was unacceptable. We can only say that the Romans perished because of imperialism and that there was no more Rome. China has not collapsed after the Tang Dynasty's military recklessness, and China's history and culture are still continuing, which is still the credit of the Song Dynasty. We can't erase all these hardships because he is too poor and weak.

Speaking of the issue of national defense resources, this was also one of the biggest shortcomings of the Song Dynasty. The geographical situation of China, to the Yellow River Valley, is the Great Plains. As soon as you get out of the Great Wall, it is the Great Plains. Therefore, to fight in the north, you must have cavalry. And China's response to the enemy outside the northern Cypriot is even more indispensable to cavalry. The horses needed for cavalry were produced in only two places in China. One in the northeast and one in the northwest. One is the so-called Jibei Field, which is now the area of Recha. The first is the area of the Ganliang Hetao. It must be a cold place to raise a good horse. Horses can not be raised one by one, but must be raised in long mountains and valleys, with beautiful grass, sweet springs, and open fields, so that they can be raised in groups and used for cavalry to go out of the jam for long-distance pursuit. And these two places, when the country was founded in the early Song Dynasty, happened to be taken by Liao and the other by Western Xia, and they were not in the hands of China. There is still iron associated with horses, and the excellent iron ore is also outside the northeast, which is also one of the weak signs of the Song Dynasty. Wang Jinggong practiced the new law, while wanting to train Baojia, and on the other hand, he also noticed raising horses. However, it was inconvenient to raise horses in Chinese mainland, and it was estimated at the time that the land needed to raise a horse could feed twenty-five people, which was a major disadvantage of preparing for war in an agrarian society. As a last resort, Wang Jinggong formulated a horse protection policy and let the people go to the government to adopt horses and raise them. The horses are fostered in private homes, one by one scattered, and the people can use the adopted horses in peacetime to meet the needs of war and gather temporarily. Of course, the people are willing to do this kind of thing, and they bring a horse to it for livestock use, but they don't know that it is not easy to raise horses in temperate and humid areas, and it is easy to get sick and die. But when the horse died, he had to lose money, so the peasants saw raising horses as a chore. But the government wanted to be sent down, so Baoma became a government. In fact, even if this method is effective, in the event of war, a group of weak horses may not be really useful. In this system, it can also tell us about the great problems encountered in the national defense of the Song Dynasty.

Besides, at that time, the internal danger of the Great Wall, from Juyongguan to Shanhaiguan, was already in the hands of the Liao people, if the Liao people rushed to the south, what should they do? The alliance of the true sect was forced into this situation. Since the Song and Liao countries made peace, the national defense situation of the Song Dynasty was very pitiful. The two countries are neither formally at war, nor are the Chinese able to formally arrange border defenses. Only the people are rewarded for planting paddy fields, opening more channels, and planting more elm poplars next to the canals. In case of a battle, you can make an obstacle and slightly resist the cavalry of the Liao. This is an impossible solution. It's a pretty pathetic solution. But even if this method is pitiful, the Liao people also understand that China is still not allowed to open ditches and cultivate paddy fields from time to time. In addition, during the winter time, they let the troops go out to plunder, burning and destroying the Chinese border villages, so that China will never have a defensive line along the border, and they can invade at any time, so that China has no choice but to maintain peace negotiations. Even if there is only one side of Shanxi, Taiyuan to the north, there is also a Yanmen Pass internal risk, which is a line guarded by Yang Lao Linggong Yang Liulang and others. However, this is a secondary frontline, and the main one is still in Hebei. There is no danger to defend this line, and the main defense line is the Juma River, which is also near Zhuozhou, which is a poor defense line that China had to do in the Song Dynasty. As soon as he retreated, he went straight to the gate of the capital Kaifeng. It began to be the hilly area of the north and south of Huai, which gradually differed from the Great Plains of the Central Plains in the Yellow River Basin. As for crossing the Yangtze River, the situation is even different. Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty can still defend Jianghuai. This is the congenital weakness of the national defense of the Song Dynasty, and we cannot blame the Song people one by one. Naturally, the Song Dynasty was weak enough to produce a promising master, and in terms of the fundamental conditions for national defense, only by taking the initiative to attack as defense, first of all, to attack outwards in a big way, and to achieve victory, can we build a country and talk about other systems. At present, it is a defense to protect the country, and it is a kind of defense that is inferior, and sooner or later it will fail, and it is no longer necessary to accommodate this situation to decide on other systems. In fact, since ancient times, China has not established itself by fighting offensive. The Great Wall of Qin Shi Huang, from the Datong River in the east to the Yellow River Iron Bridge in Lanzhou, Gansu Province in the west, compared with the Song Dynasty, how can it be compared? Moreover, even if it is the Great Wall, it should be used for offensive defense. So finally forced out Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's Kaisai attack. The army of the Song Dynasty was completely used for passive defense, which was of course overkill because of the deep lessons of the Tang Dynasty. Advance cannot be attacked, retreat cannot be defended, soldiers are useless and cannot be dispensed with, and they are always supported in a state where there is no way to defend them. Fortunately, the people of the Song Dynasty attached great importance to scholars, and although the army was not organized, it was still able to revive the cultural governance, so there was no major problem with it. The general gains and losses are the same.

Lecture 4: Ming Dynasty

1. The government organization of the Ming Dynasty

A. The central government of the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty was the beginning of modern Chinese history, and at the same time the beginning of modern world history. From the Ming Dynasty to the present, six centuries and more than 500 years, Western Europe has embarked on a new stage of modern history, and China has also been the same. After the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was followed, and we should understand the Qing Dynasty, and we should first understand the Ming Dynasty, and modern China generally began with the Ming Dynasty. It is a pity that this stage of Western history is progressive, while China has regressed at this stage, at least in terms of political system.

If we say that China's traditional politics is ****, and the government is dictated by an emperor, this statement is okay to talk about the Ming and Qing dynasties. If we talk about the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, the organization of the central government, the imperial power is divided, and the proportions are different, but it cannot be said that everything is owned by the emperor. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu of Ming Taizu, according to the official history, because of the rebellion of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong, Ming Taizu received this lesson, and since then the prime minister has been abolished and no longer established. He also said that his descendants would never be allowed to make a prime minister again. Therefore, the government of the Ming Dynasty did not have a prime minister, and the Qing Dynasty did not have it. Therefore, we say that there was a major change in traditional Chinese politics in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the abolition of the prime minister.

What if there is no prime minister? In the past, the Tang Dynasty was divided into three provinces. A province of Chinese books, a province of menxia, and a province of books. In the Song Dynasty, the retreat of the subordinate province had no power, and the matter was generally like an admonition, becoming the opposite of the ruler, and it was rare to exercise the right to refute the edict. At that time, the prime minister was only a Chinese book province. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was still the official prime minister. Wait until Ming Taizu abolished the Zhongshu Province, leaving only the Zhongshu people, only the seven-grade Xiaojing official, whose duties are equal to a secretary. In the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese scholars were appointed to prepare edicts on their behalf, and now they are only assigned to manage the documents and copy. In the Ming Dynasty, it was also a seven-grade product, but it still had the right to refute. The two provinces under the door of the book are abolished, only the Shangshu Province remains, but the Shangshu order and the left and right servants are not set up, so the Shangshu Province has no governor, and the head of the six parts is responsible for it, it is called the six Shangshu, which is a bald Shangshu, in the Tang and Song dynasties, the first division of each of the six departments is called the Division, such as the household department has the household department, the official department has the official department, and the rest of the rituals, soldiers, criminals, and industrial departments are the same. The province of Shangshu has a Shangshu order, which is the chief officer. The left and right servants are the deputy commanders. Now in the Ming Dynasty, it is equivalent to the promotion of the department to the minister, and the six departments are just six Shangshu, becoming a multi-headed yamen. The heads of the six departments, each of which does not belong to each other. These Shangshu were all second-grade officials, which was already the highest official rank at that time.

In addition, there is a Metropolitan Procuratorate, which was changed from the Imperial Historical Observatory and is in charge of impeachment and picketing. All matters throughout the country are under the supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Ministries were combined, and they were called the Seven Secretaries.

In addition to Qiqing, there is also a General Administration Department and a Dali Yuan, which is called Jiuqing. The General Administration Department manages the chapters, and all the chapters sent to the emperor at home and abroad throughout the country belong to the General Administration Department, which is the general organ of the cashier of official documents. The Dali Yuan is rehabilitated, and all criminal law cases cannot be judged in the end, and if there is any wrong, you can go to the Dali Yuan to seek rehabilitation. The Shangshu of the Criminal Department plus the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Dali Yuan, also known as the Three Law Divisions, are all judicial organs, and all major judicial cases in the imperial court will be tried by the Three Law Divisions.

The above-mentioned Jiuqing, in fact, only the first seven Qings are more important, and the last two Qings are not important. Above these nine qing, there is no leader, so the Ming system has a secretary but no justice, and it has become a multi-headed government. The criminal department cannot manage the ministry of officials, the ministry of officials cannot manage the household department, and all the government officials are in equal ranks, and the emperor is the one who is the top leader.

The military attachés had the Metropolitan Governor, and there were five Metropolitan Governors in the country (the Tang Dynasty had 16 guards), and they all only took soldiers with them when they went out to fight. As for the requisition and mobilization of the army, all mobilization work is the business of the military department, and it is not within the authority of the metropolitan governor.

The government of the Ming Dynasty, after such a change, all power was concentrated in the Yellow Emperor. If we compare such an organization as the government of the Ming Dynasty with the traditional governments of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, we can see that the power of the prime minister in the past was important in the government. However, although all the power of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated in the emperor, there were still old historical traditions, and it was not all dictatorship of the emperor. There are many things that must be pushed by the court, discussed by the court, and discussed by the court. At that time, the petty officials were appointed by the secretary of the ministry, and the big officials were elected by the seven secretaries, the nine secretaries, or the governors and governors outside to hold a meeting, which was called court push. If there is a major event, each ministry cannot decide on it alone, and it is often voted on by the seven secretaries and the nine secretaries, which is called court discussion. If there is a big prison lawsuit, and the three law divisions can't solve it, and the seven and nine kings will hold a meeting to determine the prison, which is called Tingju. This system has long existed in the Han Dynasty, and the court has gathered to discuss major events, which has been recorded in official history, which shows that everything is not completely dictated by the emperor.

Besides, in the matter, although his official rank is only seven grades, in the Ming Dynasty, he was also a very important official. In the Ming Dynasty, things were divided into subjects, according to the six parts and six subjects of the Shangshu. For example, the household department gives the matter, the military department gives the matter, and the ritual department gives the matter, so it is also called the six departments to the matter. Probably this person was quiet about the finances, so he sent the household department to the middle of the matter. That person understands military affairs, so he sent the military department to the middle of the matter. The emperor's edict must be written through the book, and the beginning of the division will be carried out throughout the country. These six sections still have the right to refute the matter. For example, on financial issues, the order from above has been sent to the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Households can participate in the examination and express their opinions during the matter, which is like the expert think tank in the Western government now. As long as they do not agree, they can still return the original intention. Moreover, there are no big officials in the matter, so they can express their opinions separately. They can also attend the court push, the court meeting, and the court bow. Generally speaking, their opinions are well respected. If they objected, it was called a branch at the time. Often, the six Shangshu books are helpless because of the scientific reference, so they can only put the original proposal aside. This was still one of the limits of the monarchy's power at that time.

B. The cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty

However, in any case, in the Ming Dynasty, everything was the emperor's final success. But of course, the emperor alone cannot manage many things, so we have to talk about the emperor's secretariat. The secretariat of the Ming emperor, then called the cabinet. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet University. Because the emperor worked in the palace, he needed several secretaries to help him, and these people's offices were in the four halls of Zhongji, Jianji, Wenhua, and Wuying, as well as the two pavilions of Wenyuan Pavilion and East Pavilion. These offices were all in the Inner Court, so these people were called Cabinet Scholars or Cabinet Scholars. The original official rank of the cabinet bachelor was only five grades, and the six books were two grades, which shows that the status of the cabinet bachelor in the court was not high. The classes of the upper dynasty are also under the Shangshu. What do these scholars do? When he was in Taizu, the cabinet scholars were just like advisers to the emperor, and when the emperor had something unclear, he could ask them at any time, listen to their opinions, and be the emperor's reference. In the past, it was the prime minister's business, but now it is the emperor's business. The emperor could not write them one by one, so he dictated the scholars to write them, which is the so-called "passing the decree as a pen". Under the orders of the emperor, how to do this thing and how to approve that matter, they only wrote down according to the emperor's opinion. Therefore, it stands to reason that the scholar is just the emperor's private secretary, and the political power is still in the emperor, not in the scholar.

According to the statistics at that time, from September 14 to 21, the 17th year of Hongwu, in eight days, a total of 1,160 pieces of music were sent to the palace by the internal and external departments. In each piece of music, there is one thing to say, and there are two or three things, for a total of three thousand two hundred and ninety-one things. This is because China is a large country, and everything is concentrated in the central government, and the central government should of course have a lot to foresee. Far from the time of Qin Shi Huangdi, he had already weighed the scales on official documents, and he saw it late at night every day, not to mention the Ming Dynasty? At that time, there were no modern and decent British and French countries in the West. Small countries such as Spain and Portugal, no matter how small their territory, are also pitifully simple in size. This, of course, cannot be compared with China. At that time, it was very difficult for a huge country to have everything approved by the emperor. Let's try to see the Beiping Forbidden City, the front three halls, is the place of the court, the back such as the Qianqing Palace, etc., by the emperor to stay. He had to go to the front every day to work, the distance was quite far, the climate in Beiping was frozen in September, and it only thawed in February and March of the following year, and the weather was especially cold in the morning. The Chinese government traditionally used to hold a meeting before sunrise, before dawn in the morning, and the emperor had to get up at dawn and dismiss when the sun came out. Generally, most of them live outside the palace, as far away as the main street outside the front gate. In the morning, there was a long way to run into the palace, riding a horse, carrying a servant, holding a lantern, and going for the fourth and fifth watches. 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, the sky was not yet bright, and the weather was cold, and there was no modern cold-proof equipment at that time. The stove was very rudimentary, with some charcoal fires, but it was just for show. The Ming system had three dynasties a day, called the early dynasty, the afternoon dynasty, and the evening dynasty, and the emperor had to come out three times to meet the ministers and the people. There are two kinds of Ming Dynasty: one is called the Imperial Palace, and the other is called the Imperial Gate. The Imperial Palace, also known as the Inner Dynasty, is a court meeting in the main hall. The royal gate is to the Fengtian Gate, which is on the balcony, so that the common people can also meet and talk. Now there are big gatherings in Western countries, and there is a custom of speaking on the balcony, we call this a spirit of democratic politics, in fact, the noon gate of the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty is the balcony to meet with the emperor and the people, but this system did not work in the Qing Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty did. The emperor has to go to court three times a day, how much trouble. Ming Taizu is the founding emperor, the world is called by him, he used to be a monk of Huangjue Temple, sweeping the floor and carrying water, he has such energy, he can be a dictatorial emperor. Ming Chengzu still fights the world with his own hands, he is the king who was sealed, and he usurped the throne from Beijing to Nanjing, and he also has the energy to cut the affairs himself. The children and grandchildren who go down again, growing up in the deep palace, and their energy is shrinking from generation to generation, they can't do this. You can't even go out to the court every day to meet the ministers. If you don't go to court today, you won't be able to catch things up tomorrow. The matter can't be connected, you can't ask the civil and military officials to wait there forever, and you can't let the ministers speak, and the emperor has nothing to answer. Later, the emperor was lazy and handed over the power to the cabinet, and the cabinet power was slowly regained.

However, although the cabinet power is heavy, and their official rank is still low, still only five grades, so usually the cabinet scholars are also scholars, so that although the status of cabinet bachelors is not high, the status of scholars is high. At the same time, like the Song Dynasty, they all have scripture banquet speakers. The scripture lecturer taught the emperor or the crown prince to read, and that was the teacher of the royal family. The people who held these official positions were also cabinet scholars, and naturally the relationship with the emperor was both respectful and close. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, the scholars (the emperor's private secretaries) served as the six scholars (the chief executive of the government) and the former lecturers (the emperor's teachers), and their status was dignified. However, the official title of the scholar of the Ming Dynasty has always been a scholar of a certain department and a scholar of a certain palace (cabinet), such as the secretary of the military department and a scholar of the Wuying Palace. Until the death of the Ming Dynasty, the scholar was still a five-rank official. However, in the last dynasty, he was also a scholar as a scholar, and he was already standing in front of other scholars. However, according to the theory of the right track of the system, the reason why he respects his own official is not his part-time job. Therefore, the cabinet scholars of the Ming Dynasty, in terms of the official system, can never be compared with the status of the prime minister in the Han, Tang and Song dynasties.

However, although his status in the official position was low, his power in the government was very high. Because all the recitals, political affairs, and detailed comments must be passed through their hands. In the era of Taizu and Chengzu, the emperor executed things by himself and orally instructed the scholars to write on their behalf, and the scholars were naturally only like a secretary. Later, the emperor was young and ignorant, and he had to consult the scholars on everything. Moreover, because the emperor is ignorant, he is also afraid of meeting with the scholars from time to time, and the internal and external chapters should be played, which is now read by the scholars, take a small note, write down their opinions, attach them to official affairs, and send them to the palace, which is decided by the emperor in the careful reading, which was called "the decree" at that time, which means to contribute opinions to the emperor. It is also known as "ticket drafting", which means that a small note (i.e., a ticket) is used to draft opinions and send them to the emperor for consideration. When the emperor himself saw it, he tore it up and wrote it with a red pen in person, called "Batch Red", also known as "Zhu Batch". Approve and take it out, this is the official decree. In the Tang Dynasty, all government decrees were drawn up by the prime minister and sent to the emperor for painting. In the Song Dynasty, it was the prime minister who presented the emperor with the emperor's consent or correction, and then formally drafted the decree. Now in the Ming Dynasty, all edicts were issued by the emperor's personal decree, and the scholars only helped the emperor personally, and all the responsibilities were on the emperor. And the emperor was derelict in his duties, but there was no way, even if he could only refute it sometimes. What is too small an official position in the matter, how can he be able to beat the emperor. Therefore, the system of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be dictatorial by the emperor. However, when it comes to big things, the emperor still has to go to the Wenhua Hall and the Wuying Hall to discuss with the scholars in person, only small things are not important, and the cabinet writes a note and sends it to the palace for the emperor to approve slowly.

But we should know that the world of the Ming Dynasty was nearly 300 years old, and the emperor was in the cabinet in person at first, and later some emperors did not often come to the cabinet, and the cabinet decree was intended to be sent in for approval. There are even a few emperors who have been indifferent for a long time, and because they don't care about things, they can't manage things, so they become 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 is the Wanli Emperor Mingshenzong, who has been an emperor for decades, has not been to the court for more than 20 years, and the ministers in the government have not seen him. At the time, it was rumored that he smoked a lot, and I don't know if it's true or not, but it's also very likely. Since the Chenghua of Xianzong, to the Apocalypse of Xizong, one hundred and sixty-seven years before and after, the emperor has not summoned ministers. But we can't blame these emperors for their bad behavior, because their energy and intelligence are limited, and they are trapped in the deep palace every day, and it is not easy to execute a major national event. No wonder they are afraid of being lazy and can't avoid the court. We should only blame Ming Taizu for the bad system he made. That is, if the prime minister is abolished and the emperor dictates political affairs, that system is really necessary.

Now let's talk about the emperor and the cabinet do not meet every day, so the contact between the emperor and the cabinet will give the eunuchs an extra opportunity to get up and down. The emperor had something to hand over to the eunuchs, who then handed it over to the cabinet. If there is something in the cabinet, it will also be sent to the eunuch, and then the eunuch will present it to the emperor. In this way, the eunuch slowly gained power. Even the emperor was troublesome, so he didn't approve the official business, and privately asked the eunuch to approve it. The real power of the red approval fell into the hands of the eunuchs, who became the real emperor and held all the supreme and final decisions of the government. When the eunuch was lazy to criticize, he used it as waste paper for wrapping fish and meat. This kind of dark corruption, in history, only the Ming Dynasty existed. The leader of the eunuchs was called the celebrant eunuch, and when the political system of the Ming Dynasty was the worst, the private eunuch was the real prime minister, and he was the real emperor. At the beginning, Taizu customized, on the one hand, he abolished the prime minister, but on the other hand, he also prevented the possibility of eunuchs hearing about political affairs. Therefore, in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, an iron plaque of "ministers shall not interfere in political affairs" was cast and hung in the palace gate. It can be seen that Taizu understands in his heart that the prime minister is abolished, and the emperor will be the dictator, and the eunuch is close to the emperor, and it is easy to gain power. Just as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty held the power in the palace, he also predicted that the emperor was young and easy to incur the queen mother's pre-government, so he had to give his mother to death first. They also thought of these possible harms, but Ming Taizu stipulated that the prime minister was not allowed, which his descendants complied with, and never dared to disobey it. As for not allowing eunuchs to interfere in political affairs, his descendants did not abide by it. The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty intervened more than any dynasty. Where did Taizu expect this?

In this case, there is nothing to be done outside, and if the cabinet scholar really wants to do something, he must first collude with the eunuchs. Because the cabinet can't see the emperor's face, unless it is combined with the eunuchs, all political affairs cannot be seen to the top. Zhang Juzheng, a famous cabinet scholar in the Ming Dynasty, was one of the great statesmen in Chinese history who was promoted by his neighbors, but he could only combine with eunuchs to gain real power. When Shenzong Wanli was not yet the emperor, Zhang Juzheng was Shenzong's master. Shenzong became the emperor, and Zhang Ju was the emperor's teacher and a cabinet scholar. However, he could not meet the students, and the university scholars could not preside over the decrees according to the political system. So Zhang Juzheng only had to collude with the celebrant to stretch his ambitions and instigate the political affairs at that time. But at that time, everyone in the courtiers opposed Zhang Juzheng, saying that he was not like the prime minister of the previous dynasty, not the official head of the government, and should not be in power. That's a good criticism. At that time, the six departments of Shangshu were the highest administrators of the government, and they only had to obey the orders of the emperor, not the cabinet. If there is an opinion between the cabinet and the six ministries, the six ministries can say: You are not the prime minister, you are not the minister, and you should not take care of our business. Take care of things that shouldn't be managed, and take power that shouldn't be taken, this is a minister, not a minister. There is a big difference between the power of the ministers and the power of the ministers in the traditional Chinese political viewpoint. The Minister had his rightful place in the system at that time. Under the traditional Chinese system, the prime minister should not ask anything and have no power. He doesn't ask about things, he doesn't have power, he is derelict in his duties, and he is incompetent. is not the prime minister, but asks about things and takes power, he is a traitorous minister, and he is a powerful minister. The exercise of power by powerful ministers is against the law of the country and also against traditional political morality. However, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no official prime minister at all. The six Shangshu and the seven Qing and the nine Qing were righteous ministers from the beginning. At that time, the people who opposed Zhang Juzheng thought in their hearts: The head of the ministry (six ministries) and the Yuan (Metropolitan Procuratorate) is in charge of state affairs and is only subject to the emperor's control, and you are a cabinet scholar, but only a personal adviser to the emperor, and you are in front of the emperor, it is your responsibility to "think calmly", and you should not use this relationship to officially interfere in the ministry, that is your overstepping your authority. Because Zhang Juzheng was in charge of affairs, he asked each yamen to prepare two copies of each official matter, one to the cabinet and one to the six departments. Again, he's wrong. Although the official rank in the matter was low, in terms of political system and legal theory at that time, all documents should be reviewed by him, which is good. The cabinet did not have the power to foresee, only the emperor privately asked him to foresee. Therefore, people opposed Zhang Juzheng at that time, and Zhang Juzheng City had no reason to reply. He then had no choice but to resign to the emperor, saying that he "is in a dangerous place, the emperor's affairs are in charge, and the emperor's words are on his behalf", these words are not bad at all. However, why was there an official order at that time that Zhang Juzheng acted as emperor? According to the Chinese political tradition, the emperor should not interfere in the affairs of the prime minister, and this has been discussed in detail when talking about the political system of the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties. Now the cabinet is not allowed to interfere with the emperor's power, so it is clear that it is good, and Zhang Juzheng cannot defend himself. Now we don't understand the situation at that time, and we always think that Zhang Juzheng is a great politician, and he can advocate the rule of law, but in fact, he himself has violated the law, and he has violated the great law of the country at that time. If the emperor is in charge of the affairs of the emperor, he will take care of it, is that not lawless? If Zhang Juzheng is in the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, he is a good prime minister. According to the system theory of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng was a cabinet bachelor, not the supreme leader of the government, and he was not allowed to be the prime minister without authorization as a cabinet bachelor, which was the biggest legal principle in the Ming Dynasty's political system, and it was also the reason why the Ming Dynasty was different from the Han, Tang and Song traditions. Zhang Juzheng wanted to claim to be a physical body, and as soon as he died, his house was raided. Although he made great achievements in the Ming Dynasty, he did not speak good of him at that time, because he was recognized as a minister, not a minister. This is not a statement of merit for his deeds, but a speech of justice for him in his position in government. At this moment, we want to advocate the rule of law, but we also want to respect Zhang Juzheng, which is because we do not understand the political system of the Ming Dynasty. When we know the political system of the Ming Dynasty, there have been great changes in the traditions of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties. Zhang Juzheng did not correct the system at that time first, but he sought merit under the system at that time, at least he was unscrupulous for the end, and the pros and cons of political influence did not compromise! Our above statement is only based on the theory of system and law, not from the theory of cause and intention. At least that's what those opposition parties were in at the time. We talk about this layer in detail in order to clarify how the system restricts personnel, and the necessity of this system in the Ming Dynasty is even more certain.

C. Local government of the Ming Dynasty

Local politics has always been the biggest issue in China's political history. Because China is a big country, the relationship between the quality of local administration is the most important. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there were two great historians at that time who learned from the pain and discussed the political system of the Ming Dynasty and the way out of Chinese politics at this time. One is Huang Lizhou, who wrote a "Ming Yi Interview Record", and what he paid the most attention to was the abolition of the prime minister in the Ming Dynasty. He believes that in the future, the only way to set up a prime minister is to correct the name and define it, and make the prime minister the leader of the government, and not let the emperor personally take over the power. Another Gu Tinglin, the author of a "Daily Knowledge", once said: The world is peaceful, there are many small officials, and there are few big officials; In the chaos of the world, there will inevitably be many big officials and few small officials. He gave many examples from history. All in all, if local politics is done well, the world will be peaceful. If local politics is not done well, the world will be in chaos. The focus of the two of them, one up and one down, is different. Huang Lizhou paid attention to the top, and Gu Tinglin paid attention to the bottom. But if we look at the entire history of Chinese politics, we can see that what they said is also an unbreakable lesson.

From the perspective of traditional Chinese history, the best local government system is the Han Dynasty, but the local system of the Tang Dynasty is also good. Let's take an example: China is such a big place, and now there are planes, trains, telegraphs, and government decrees, and it doesn't feel very difficult. In the past, transportation was entirely dependent on post riders, which was not easy. The post road can be connected to the whole country, and there are stations everywhere, and it was called a pavilion at that time. The capital of the Tang Dynasty was in Chang'an, and it was very difficult to send an official document to Panyu (Guangzhou) or to Hangzhou and Fuzhou, as we can imagine. However, at that time, there were no mistakes in political affairs due to the distance of transportation and the difficulty of delivering information. At that time, official documents were also divided into priority and urgency, just as telegrams are now divided into urgent and ordinary telegrams. At that time, there were certain rules for how many miles a horse should run at one o'clock to deliver a certain kind of official document. From this station to that station, how much faster and how slow it is, are all stipulated. At each station, there is a person who guards the station, and the person who sends him on business has arrived, and the person who has eaten and drunk enough has been prepared, and after a little rest, he changes to a horse that has been fed in advance, and continues to run. There are restrictions on where you can stop on the first day and where you can go on the second day. Therefore, within a few days, there is no problem in arriving as scheduled. Now telegraphing uses science, which used to be all about human horsepower. Every day, the Ministry of Household Officials and the Ministry of Shangshu have official documents sent to various places, a horse comes, a horse goes, and they are crowded on the road. Nowadays, trains and steamships are sometimes missed, and in ancient times, it should be a common thing to miss the stagecoach. But it is always necessary to arrive more or less within the prescribed time limit. Otherwise, political affairs will be chaotic and the country will collapse. To cite this example, we know that the Chinese who like to say now have no concept of time are not always correct. According to theory, the larger the space, the more important the time, and if the Chinese do not have a sense of time, they should not be able to rule and manage the huge space.

Speaking of those stations, the architecture is also very exquisite. Rockeries, pools, pavilions, halls, baths, stables, all of which are well-equipped. When the business is delivered, you will always be well rested, so that you can go on the road again tomorrow with full energy. Even if you don't sleep or stay overnight, a minute or two of rest is enough to refresh your fatigue. At the same time, prepare a new horse for you to continue on the road. Horsepower is also divided into grades, and those who carry first-class emergency documents will be given the first-class fast running horses to ride. These guards of the barren mountains and valleys will never mislead you. This example illustrates the high administrative efficiency at that time. However, this kind of merit cannot be attributed to the central government, and this is not the business of the prime minister and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, but the business of the local government. Gu Tinglin has personally walked in many places, according to him: as long as you see a big road, the roadbed is solid and flat, ask and investigate, most of them are left by the Tang Dynasty. As long as you see a big city, strong and majestic, once you ask and investigate, most of it is left by the Tang Dynasty. Mr. Gu also saw a lot of the architectural ruins of the post pavilion, and he only traced the scale of the Tang Dynasty. According to his "Daily Knowledge", it is really as if modern Europeans revere Roman monuments. But Rome was conquered by the imperialists, and everything was done by force. The Tang Dynasty was entirely about the perfection of local politics. The intentions of the two are different, and Mr. Gu is not indifferent, like an archaeologist to praise the Tang Dynasty. His intentions are aimed at the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty. Let's talk about the local administration of the Ming Dynasty!

D. The system of provinces and regions below the Yuan and Ming dynasties

If we want to talk about local administration in the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing that should be mentioned first is the current so-called provincial and regional system. Today we still use the term province. The provincial system did not start in the Ming Dynasty, it began in the Yuan Dynasty. It can also be said that the Jin Dynasty already had a province. But it was the Yuan Dynasty that officially became the system. Today, we are commonly known as Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, and the province is like a domain name. However, in history, the provincial character was originally the name of the yamen, not the domain name. In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, there began to be a book in the province. Zhongshu Province was the central prime minister's office at that time, generally known as the capital province. The province is a branch of the central prime minister's office (metropolitan province) and stationed outside. This was due to the fact that the Mongols conquered China and did not dare to decentralize the political power, but to completely control the centralization. If something happens in a certain place, the central prime minister's office will send one or two people to suppress it. In the past, the Imperial Historical Observatory sent people to inspect the local administration, and today it is here, and tomorrow it will be there, so there is a travel platform. Zhongshu Province is the highest organ of the central government, so how can it be divided into part in Jiangsu and part in Guangdong? This was an extremely unreasonable system in the Yuan Dynasty. This is because the alien race has conquered us, and it has straddled us. The first to use this system was "gold". However, whether it is Jin or Yuan, it is a foreigner who uses this system to rule China, and they are not at ease with handing over power to the local government, nor are they at ease with decentralizing the political power. Therefore, even local government affairs are personally ruled by the supreme leader of the central government. For example, Britain now has a governor in Hong Kong and in India in the past, and the colonial governor is directly under the emperor. Nominally, the Governor of the Colonies, sent by the British Emperor, not by the Cabinet. This is because the Cabinet represents the National Assembly, and the National Assembly represents the will of the people. There was no public opinion in the colonies. Britain itself can have democracy and self-government, such as Hong Kong, Indian colonies, etc., there can be no democracy and self-government, so there should be no magistrates, and the emperor will send a governor to govern it. It can be seen that there is a meaning behind any system. The Xingzhongshu Province of the Yuan Dynasty was an action of the central government, the police station of the Prime Minister's Office, which was stationed in this place to manage affairs. If so, the local government has absolutely no power, and the power lies only with the central government. The Yuan Dynasty had a central government and no place, and China was only its place of conquest, like Hong Kong in the United Kingdom.

The Yuan Dynasty, like the Song Dynasty, divided the localities into roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties, but in fact the local power of the Yuan Dynasty was not handed over to the local government, but was managed by the central government. The governor of the province is the central governor and comes to the place in person. At that time, it was not that the whole country was divided into several local administrative regions, but that each of these districts had a central prime minister, that is, it became the central prime minister's office. Therefore, the correct definition of the province is not a local government, but only a mobile central government. In other words, it is the central government that invades the localities. If the central government needs to send a senior official to suppress a certain place, it will send a foreign prime minister. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were a total of ten sub-offices, not the national local administration divided into ten districts. This is the de jure reality of the provincial system.

A little deeper. This kind of provincial facility is not actually for administrative convenience, but for military control. This is the historical origin of the provincial system. Therefore, it has been inherited to modern times, and there are still traces of it. Our modern provincial divisions are different from the roads and roads of the Tang and Song dynasties. For example, Jiangsu: Xuzhou is a military town, it is Shandong on one side, Henan and Anhui on the other. Xuzhou belongs to Jiangsu Province, but its periphery, Jiangsu is not under its control, and if so, the governor or governor of Jiangsu cannot control it. Nanjing is also a military town, but if Guangde does not defend it, or Wuhu gives up, Nanjing cannot be protected, and Guangde and Wuhu are not under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu. This is true in any province. Give you this half, cut off your half. so that all the provinces of the land may be in pieces. Neither can resist in unison, and it is difficult for any region to resist alone. This is the intrinsic spirit of the provincial system.

The system of the Yuan Dynasty, the people of the Ming Dynasty naturally understood its intentions. The people of the Ming Dynasty knew that this system did not make sense in name. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also abolished the Zhongshu Province, so how could it be used in the Zhongshu Province? Therefore, the governor of the province was changed to the envoy of the government. The country is officially divided into thirteen political envoys. The envoy refers to the official, and the secretary refers to the yamen. If we speak in the correct name, we should say that the local administration of the generation is divided into thirteen political envoys, and we should not say how many provinces it is divided into, or how many provinces. In the Qing Dynasty, there were permanent governors and governors in the declaration of political envoys. In the Ming Dynasty, the governor was a non-permanent official, so the highest level of the head of the local administration was the political envoy. However, to call the political envoy department an administrative region is already a misnomer, and it is not in accordance with the words. As far as the official system is concerned, local areas should not be called divisions. In the Qing Dynasty, there was no proper name, so it still followed the name of the province. For example, there is a political envoy in Jiangsu, there is a governor of Jiangsu, and the Jiangsu region is called Jiangsu Province or Jiangsu Province. That's what the Qing Dynasty was called. In fact, the title of the province is even more unjustifiable. In addition, the Qing Dynasty unified the provinces and regions and divided them into comprehensive divisions, such as the three provinces of Kwantung (east of Shanhaiguan) or the three provinces of Lingnan (Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian) and so on. This is even more pointless. This is confusing political geography with physical geography. Later, the Chinese really made a mistake about this. Regardless of anything else, it is only called Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province, not to mention the three provinces of Lingnan or the three southern provinces, and the three provinces of the independent Guandong because of the Qing Dynasty's restrictions on Chinese going out of the customs, often mixed called the three provinces of the Kwantung Province, not separated, and later the Guanzi Province was called only the three eastern provinces. The customs are the same, as if the three eastern provinces are different from other provinces and regions, the whole country only knows that there is one eastern three provinces, but does not look at the Qing Dynasty, and Lingnan also has the three southern provinces. The other provinces are all called together in this way, and the three eastern provinces are not different from the other regions, but we mistakenly recognize them as two things. Later, some people mistakenly called the three eastern provinces Manchuria, which was even more wrong. Manchuria is only a small area near Changbai Mountain outside the Songhua River in Jilin Province, which belonged to Jianzhou Wei in the Ming Dynasty, called Fu in Tang Dynasty, and Wei in Ming Dynasty, which is the name of a military region, not an administrative region in Northeast China. The three provinces of Kanto are the administrative regions of the Northeast, and not all of them are administrative regions. However, ordinary people do not pay attention to these things, or the Manchurians want to deliberately magnify the regional concept of Manchuria, so he reluctantly divides the provinces and regions into Kwantung provinces, Lingnan provinces and other unreasonable names to confuse them. Later, the Japanese added fuel to the fire, deliberately saying that the three eastern provinces were another region, and the three eastern provinces were Manchuria. This is a great confusion. Later, Pu Yi's pseudo-organization was discovered, claiming to be Manchukuo, believing that it was the Manchurians who ruled Manchuria, but in fact, how could the three eastern provinces be compared with Manchuria? Confucius said that the name is not right, the words are not good, among the scholars of the Qing Dynasty, some people advocate not to use the province or the word province, but the correct name is the political envoy. But what is the name of the governor and governor? So no one echoed it at the time. However, it is inappropriate to call the province a province, and it is even more absurd to add that there are 18 provinces in the department. In the history of China, there is no such thing as a division and a division of the headquarters. The Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty has already reached the Datong River in the east, and the Liaohe River basin will always be within the Chinese historical circle, how can it be said that it is not the headquarters of China? This was a deliberate attempt by foreigners to confuse right and wrong and to create a pretext for aggression. At this moment, there are so-called South China, Central China, North China and other names, let me ask if there are these divisions in China's political regions? The Chinese don't pay attention, everyone calls it like this, it's okay now, it doesn't matter, ten or twenty years later, maybe there will be political and diplomatic problems again. Even in our minds, in our concepts, there will be problems. If we think that we are South China and you are North China, these concepts will have a great effect. This is implicated because of the province of the Yuan Dynasty. This should be our vigilance. The provincial character of the province is basically an ominous name, and it is best to get rid of this word in the future under the division of new local political regions, and never follow it again.

E. Ming Dynasty local supervisors and governors

In addition, the local governor of the Ming Dynasty, who was alongside the political envoy of Chengxuan, also had a probationary envoy. The political envoy is in charge of the administration, and the judicial envoy is in charge of the procuratorate. There is also a commander who is in charge of the military. The three divisions are collectively referred to as the three divisions. The political envoy department is also called the domain division, and the criminal envoy department is called the prosecutorial department. In the Qing Dynasty, it was commonly known as the feudal platform and the platform. It stands to reason that the envoy can still be called a platform, such as the example of the imperial history line. According to the inspector, he should have been mobile to investigate, and he was not stationed in a certain place. However, the Ming and Qing dynasties have fixed stations, and it is no longer reasonable to call Taiwan. As for the political envoy department, the administration of the whole province is under his control, and it should not be called Taiwan. There are officials who participate in politics and council under the political envoys, and there are deputy envoys and other officials below the criminal envoys. In the Qing Dynasty, the branch was commonly known as the Taoist platform, and it was commonly known as the superintendent, just like the provincial government sent a few senators to the local government to assist in handling affairs. In this way, it will be even more difficult for local governments to do things. Ming system, local administrative system, the lowest level is the county. Above the county are the prefectures and prefectures, which are the second level. The above is the province, which is the secretary of the political envoy, which is the third level. In addition to the third level, the division is added, and it becomes the fourth level. In the Yuan Dynasty, the central government was divided into local governments, and it became a province of Xingzhongshu. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the local high-level government was sent to the lower level, which was the supervisor. And it's no wonder. Because the provinces are big, there are many things. As a last resort, there is a system of division and separation. There are two types of divisions. Those sent by the political envoys are called the sub-patrol road, and those sent by the inspection envoy are called the sub-patrol road. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the great Confucian king Chuanshan, in his book "Yellow Book", once had a statistic, saying: Shandong Province has six prefectures, but there are sixteen divisions. Shanxi Province has five prefectures and 13 sub-divisions. There are eight prefectures in Shaanxi Province and 24 sub-divisions. There are 17 branches in nine provinces in Sichuan Province. In this way, there is a government above the county, and there is a division (sub-division) above the government, and the province (division) is above the division, and there are many officials in charge of officials and few officials in charge of the people. The county officials are the officials who are close to the people, and the officials above the government and the state are all the officials in charge. The officials in charge of the people are not only few, but also small. Therefore, China's local politics, the Song Dynasty is no longer ideal. The Song system was divided into four supervisors, including Shuai, Cao, Xian, and Cang. In the Ming Dynasty, a province was divided into three divisions: a political envoy, a probationary envoy, and a commanding envoy. The first two divisions were divided into many divisions and divisions. Below these many officials are the prefectures, prefectures, and counties. The county magistrate pressed too low and was pitiful. It is too late for him to serve the governors who flatter him, how can he have the strength to get close to the people. In the Han Dynasty, the county was above the county, and there was no more above the county. The county Taishou of the Han Dynasty was a 2,000-stone official, with a rank of Yulu, similar to Jiuqing. A county government often has a large number of hundreds of subordinate officials. But there are more than a hundred in Han County. Today, a province in China is larger than a country in Europe, and the current officialdom habit is still Bo Governor and not act. As for the county magistrate, that's really insignificant, and it's really a big political problem.

The above is only about the political envoys of the Ming Dynasty, according to the inspection envoys and the commanders. And above these chiefs, there are officials, and there are higher officials, that is, governors and governors. The governor was fine under the Ming Dynasty system, because he had to send such officials, and they all carried the title of imperial history. That is to say, the Imperial Governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the central government was temporarily sent to the localities to do things, and the affairs of the governors and governors were to do things. For example, when the Japanese came, and there were no people in the coastal areas, they sent a governor or governor, which was temporary. After a few years, the matter was calmed down, the official still returned to the central government, and the organ was abolished. However, in the Qing Dynasty, the governor became permanent again, and the governor governor was added to the political envoy (Fantai) and the governor (臬台), and the local administration became worse and worse. Now let's talk about the source of historical evolution, the Han Dynasty changed from assassination to pastoralism, and the Tang Dynasty's Ten Observers, all of which changed from supervisors to local administrators. Only the envoy of the temperance is the military governor who becomes the chief executive, but it is still intended to open the border to the outside world. The governors of the Ming and Qing dynasties were intended to prevent internal chaos and not to open the borders to the outside world. It is no longer good for the central government to come to the localities, let alone send officers to Changchuan to suppress it? If it weren't for the failure of local politics, why would there be such a need? This cannot but be said to be a major failure in China's political history.

Self, Ming and Qing dynasties

The above is the high pressure of the local government layer by layer. And from below, something went wrong again. The most important thing is the system of Lixu. In traditional Chinese politics, there is a distinction between officials and officials, and the first officials refer to the management of general business, which is slightly equivalent to today's so-called affairs officials. In the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the chief of each organ was called an official, and the subordinate officials were called officials. There is no big difference in the origin of officials. It is common for the prime minister to be born from a subordinate official. Therefore, the political atmosphere of the Han Dynasty was extremely honest and down-to-earth. The officials and officials of the Tang Dynasty have been far apart, but there is still no clear division between the two. The period of judgment division should be from the Ming Dynasty. If we go back to the top, the shortcomings still came out in the Yuan Dynasty first. Because of the governor of the Yuan Dynasty, all used the Mongols. The Mongols did not understand politics and could not read Chinese characters, so they had to rely on secretaries and copywriters. Chinese scholars had no way out, so they went into various yamen as secretaries and copywriters. That is the distinction between officials and officials. However, during the Ming Taizu period, due to the lack of talents, the implementation of recommendations, any chief can recommend talents. The recommended ones are not divided into jinshi, prisoners, and officials, and the imperial court is still appointed. A jinshi is equivalent to a person who has passed the higher civil service examination, a prison student is equal to a college student, and a clerk is equal to a civil servant. This fashion is not distinguished, but also has a background. But it was a momentary emergency. When he came to the Ming Dynasty, he stipulated that officials could not be imperial historians, which stipulated that those who had been civil servants could not be supervisors. and the officials were not allowed to be admitted to the jinshi, so the origin of the officials was restricted. Officials and officials are clearly separated. As a result, in the concept of vulgarity in Chinese politics, officials are looked down upon. This concept began in the Yuan Dynasty and was determined by the Ming Dynasty. This incident has had a great impact on China's political history. Western society has classes, but there are no streams. Chinese society, on the other hand, has no class. This is also a big difference between the two societies. To this day, the concept of flow is still very deep in the minds of Chinese. For example, teaching is a kind of industry, and the office clerk in the yamen is also a kind of industry, but between industries and industries, there is a clear distinction between turbidity and inferiority, which is the concept of flow products. For example, civil and military attachés are the same as officials, and their official rank and grade are all equal, but under the concept of streams, there is obviously a difference between civilian and military attachés. This is a unique tradition of Chinese society, and it is not easy for Westerners to understand this distinction. If you want to translate the word liupin into a Western noun, you can't translate it, only the Chinese understand it in their minds. For example, singing opera is also a profession, but in the minds of Chinese, singing opera is first-class. This stream, that first-class, each has its own quality, and the grade is different. Farming and reading are also occupations, but in our minds, in addition to occupations, there is another concept, which is the so-called flow product. In the concept of the Ming Dynasty government, Xu officials became first-class products, and Xu officials had no background. At first, he was not allowed to do the imperial history, and then he was not allowed to take the Jinshi examination, and as a result, he only asked the candidates or those who had no way out to be officials. Although the quality of the officials was low, they had a great influence on the politics of the time. The most famous so-called Shaoxing master in modern political circles is not only in the Qing Dynasty, but as early as the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Their power has long been spread throughout the country. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a Mr. Chen Ji, he had a friend who went to Shaoxing to be the magistrate of the county, he wrote an article to see him off, to the effect that the world is in the six departments, and the officials of the six departments are completely Shaoxing people, although these Shaoxing people are in the central government to do copywriting, but their fathers and brothers are still in Shaoxing. I hope that after you arrive in Shaoxing, you can pay more attention to educating their families. Educate the father and brother of the Xu officials well, and they will be able to educate the Xu officials in the future. If the officials become better, the world will be governed. Therefore, Shaoxing is the foundation of chaos in the world. Chen Jiting's words really can't be said to be without other reasons. Some of the things of history are on the table, and some are hidden under the table. Generally speaking, when talking about history, we only pay attention to the things on the table, such as the prime minister and the six ministries, but do not notice that there is power and influence under the table. Until the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty, there were still people who said: When everything is in the hands of the officials, the selection can be delayed, the punishment can be light or severe, the wealth can be encroached upon, the ceremony can be abolished, the life can be in and out, the lawsuit can be large or small, and the project can be increased or decreased. In most cases, the officials in China's political circles are in charge of these seven items, namely, selection, punishment, wealth, ceremonies, human life, prison lawsuits, and projects. In fact, there were only seven major political affairs at that time. The clerk is a professional in these seven items, a traditional expert. They are career politicians with specialized knowledge. But at that time, the officialdom looked down on these people, and these people also thought that they were despicable, so they did not know what to do, so they tried their best to cheat and do evil. We all know that in the old officialdom's investigation and resumption of official affairs, some said that there was a reason for the incident and there was no substantiated evidence, and there were also those who said that there was no substantiated investigation and there was a reason for the incident. It is light to report on the front, and heavy on the back. These are all in the hands of the officials. Most of the local administrators in the Ming and Qing dynasties were in charge of officials, not in charge of affairs, and everything was handed over to the master and handled by the officials. This kind of master is found in all yamen, and the top and bottom are mixed, and they collude with each other in all directions. But the official in charge of the official was born in the imperial examination, where does he know these things? An official who really wants to do things, once he arrives at the yamen, it takes at least three or four months or a year and a half to understand the details of the situation in the yamen, and a generation of officials will inevitably rise up against him and secretly obstruct him. This kind of situation, since the Ming Dynasty, has not existed before. Until the Qing Dynasty, this trend became more and more day by day, and its mistake was to separate the turbidity of the official flow. What flows above is called a clear stream, and what presides down is turbidity. As long as one line of officials precipitates into the turbidity current, you will never want to turn over again, and you will never be able to climb again.

This kind of officialdom is still a kind of law and a system, and those who talk about the system do not pay attention to it. The political tradition at that time valued the law rather than the people. As long as you are in the flow of officials, no matter how talented and virtuous you are, you still can't get out of the original stream of officials, and you are still a bureaucrat. Therefore, the officials no longer want to love themselves, and they no longer want to go up. And all the documents and books, the cases and the stories, are all in their hands. They manipulated them to restrain their superiors. Although the chief is wise, he has no choice but to do so. This is a disease of the law, not a disease of the people. Modern people say that Chinese do not speak of the law, but in fact, the traditional problem of Chinese politics is that they stress the law too much, and everything is done according to the law. A clause in and out, one word or two words, often goes back and forth, bringing important business to a halt. Another aspect of bureaucratic politics is what is known today as clerical politics. This is the disadvantage of Shangwen in traditional Chinese politics. The advantage of the politics of the two Han Dynasty lies in its quality and lack of literature. The harm of Shangwen politics is most likely to be exposed at the lower and lower levels of politics. Local politics is the lowest and lowest level of politics. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were many unproductive clerks (吏xu) under a small official (Zhixian), and many political tricks (literature and law) were paid to them.

Second, the examination system of the Ming Dynasty

The examination system has not changed significantly since the Tang and Song dynasties. By the Ming Dynasty, there was a lot of change. Later, the examinations of the Qing Dynasty were all inherited from the Ming Dynasty, and now we will talk about two important points:

A. Jinshi and Hanlin Academy

The first lecture is Jinshi and the first and Hanlin Academy. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the examinations were first submitted by the people to the local government, and the local government sent them to the central government, and these people were called Jinshi. After the examination, it is called Jinshi and the first. For example, if you are from Shandong, you will register with the Shandong Provincial Government, and he will send you to the central government, and you will be a Jinshi of Shandong Province. For admission to the examination, it is called Jinshi and the first. Therefore, there is only one main exam. In the Ming Dynasty, the number of people who applied for the exam was larger, so it was divided into several exams. The first is the prefectural and county examination, which is called admission, also called county students, and commonly known as Xiucai. It stands to reason that county students should go to the county school to study, but there is no formal county school. The second is the provincial examination, the examination location is in the provincial capital of each province, which is called the township examination, and the successful test is commonly known as lifting people. The provinces raise people and send them to the central government to assemble for the examination, which is called the examination. The entrance examination is the first Jinshi, also called Jinshi and the first. In fact, in terms of nominal theory, lifting people is like Jinshi, and Jinshi is like lifting people, how can there be so many differences? After the Ming system of Jinshi and the first, they should stay in the central government to study, and the central government will send an old qualified senior Jinshi to teach. This person is a senior official of the imperial court himself, and he does not strictly teach and read. As a rule, after these jinshi have studied for three years, they will take another exam, and those with good results will have to enter the Hanlin Academy. Therefore, the Hanlin of the Ming Dynasty was a Jinshi who studied in the center for several years, and after the examination, it was called the Sanguan at this time, and it became the Hanlin. However, this kind of system of Jinshi study soon became nominal. The fashion of the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to Jinshi and Hanlin, and Hanlin could not be a big official if it was not Jinshi Hanlin. Before the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination was only a scholar and a second, and even if the service was distributed, it gradually increased according to its administrative performance. In the Ming Dynasty, it was inconvenient to raise people to be Jinshi, and they must be Jinshi and first, and these people who entered the Hanlin Academy could become great officials. If so, there is no share of being a big official, and if so, the imperial examination field will also be divided into streams. Jinshi and the first are clear streams, floating on the top and straight forward, while Xiucai Juren becomes a turbid current, precipitating below, and never exalting. Dingjia was born, and it has also become a concept of flow. We can't say that there is class in the scientific field, but there are streams. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song dynasties, anyone had to start from a small official, but everyone had the hope of becoming a big official. After the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination was divided into two layers, and the lower level was Xiucai and Renren, who could not be a big official. The upper echelons are Jinshi and Hanlin, and there are no petty officials. The same was true of the Qing Dynasty. Like Zeng Guofan's Jinshi Palace Examination, although he was ranked in the top three, he was only born in the same Jinshi, but he had good grades in the Jinshi Sanguan and was admitted to the Hanlin Academy. As for those who can't get into the Jinshi Hanlin, no matter if you have good academic cultivation and good political performance, there is no way to do it. This kind of system still emphasizes the law rather than the people. To be sure, however, this system is by no means without its benefits. Many celebrities in the Ming and Qing dynasties were born in the Hanlin Academy. Because after taking the Jinshi examination, he stayed in the central government for several years, and gradually understood all the actual political affairs of the government. The government has given him a good background, and he will be a big official in the future, and he can work hard with peace of mind. During the period of Jinshi Liuguan and the Hanlin Academy, he studied and studied while acquiring a lot of political knowledge, which was waiting for the government to be of great use. Jinshi and Hanlin have become a ladder for the government to store talents and raise hope. The imperial examination can only look for talents, but cannot cultivate talents. However, under the Ming and Qing dynasties, some talents can be cultivated. This kind of talent is invisibly concentrated in the central government, and its influence is very great. Even like Zeng Guofan, when he was admitted to the Jinshi, he was only in his thirties, and he did not have a deep foundation in learning at that time. During the period when he stayed in the museum, he lived in the capital, although his life was very hard, but he was also very leisurely, and he had nothing to do, so he could wholeheartedly find friends from his teacher and study and study. The foundation of learning was laid at that time. And to do Hanlin, still nothing, or study,. Even if you are put to other provinces as the chief examiner, the main exam still does not have many things, travel all over the world, know more about the folk customs, know more friends, and come back to Hanlin. For example, for many years, the finance is an official. The state raises you there, and guarantees that you have a big official to do. You know the affairs of the government, and it is a good system to only let you calm down for a while. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, many university scholars and great politicians were most of them from Jinshi Hanlin. It's not that under the ten-year window, I only know eight articles, and I don't know anything else. When they live in Kyoto, they often only bring a servant, raise a horse, or live in a guild hall or a monastery, looking for friends today, visiting the glass factory tomorrow, checking books, and buying antiques. Or teach a private house in the home of the minister of the dynasty. However, they have a clear hope and are deliberately cultivated by the government. In terms of government, there should be a place to store talents, and the next generation of talents should be trained there. Nurture his knowledge, nurture his prestige. If so, you can connect to the gas. In the Han Dynasty, it was the Peng family that cultivated talents. The Tang Dynasty cultivated talents in the door. In the Song Dynasty, it cultivated talents to read the school in the library. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the institutions that cultivated talents were merged into the examination system. Of course, not all of them are good, but it is also true that politicians and scholars come out of this.

B. Eight strands

Second, we'll talk about the eight-strand text. This was the worst thing in the Ming Dynasty examination system. From the second half of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty for three or four hundred years, the Bagu Wen Examination was really the most destructive in Chinese history. Everyone knows: Baguwen is not interesting, but why does the government use it for the exam? Of course, some people want to say, isn't this the **** emperor's deliberate policy of fooling the people? However, the Ming Dynasty's implementation of the eight-strand text has long been in decline. At that time, where would the emperor create such a system with such intentions? When we know any system, it is difficult to say that one or two people invented and formulated it. Because there were so many candidates at that time, the admission criteria were always a problem. In the past, in the Tang Dynasty examination, it was necessary to test the legal poetry, because it was not easy to set the standard for ancient poetry, and to judge the merits and inferiority, the legal poetry should be limited to words and sentences, and it should be neat and tidy, and a word that is not legal will not be taken. Criteria are more likely to be specific and objective. In the Song Dynasty, poetry was not examined, benevolence and morality, and everyone would say the same, it was difficult to distinguish who was good and who was bad. Therefore, it evolved into the Ming Dynasty, and gradually evolved into a certain format in the scriptures. If this format is violated, it will not be taken. This is nothing more than an objective test criterion. Baguwen is like a disguised poem, a kind of scripture in the form of law. This format was not developed all at once, but gradually. In the beginning, it was not the government's intention to fool the people and destroy talents, but the purpose was to recruit real talents. However, the talent is finally worn out for this. Now we only accuse the people who initiated this system of having bad intentions and harboring great malice, but in fact, this system was not founded by a certain person at a certain time. Moreover, even if a person with a fair and kind heart is benevolent, the system he creates can also be biased and harmful. We must think like this in order to have a deeper study and vigilance against the political system.

Fourth, the military system of the Ming Dynasty

Now speaking of the military system. The martial arts of the Ming Dynasty are not far from those of the Tang Dynasty. Ming Taizu leveled the world, and originally had a system of guards and institutes, but in fact, it was just like the government military system in the Tang Dynasty, but the name was different. The large military area is called the guard, and the small military area is called the station. The guard house of the Ming Dynasty was like the mansion of the Tang Dynasty. Ming Taizu once said: "I raise millions of soldiers, or I will waste a grain of rice for the people." "How do you do that? That's the health system. At that time, each military district was set up in one prefecture, and the guards of two prefectures were connected. There are about 5,600 people as one guard, 1,128 people as one house, and 112 people as 100 households. In the event of a war, the imperial court sent a general, called the chief military officer, with the guard army. At the end of the war, the commander-in-chief surrendered his military authority and the army returned to the garrison. In peacetime, the army of the guard provides land for self-support, and the state does not want him to pay taxes, and this system is still the same as the military system.

When we read history and read about the later years of the Ming Dynasty, we always feel that China is too bad. Manchuria is just a small tribe outside the Songhua River, how could China not be able to resist him? Because of this indignation, we cannot help but feel more sad. In fact, we should know that the collapse of a country as big as China is certainly not a simple thing, and we should really pay attention to it in history. This is not to say that cultural decay, moral degradation, government **** darkness, a few empty imaginary words, can tell the cause. As far as politics is concerned, as long as every system has been implemented for two or three hundred years, it will inevitably go wrong. The Ming Dynasty has generally passed two or three hundred years of peace, and no matter how good the system was at the beginning, it will be corrupted, which is a natural thing. For a long period of two or three hundred years, people's spirits will not always be tense and remain the same. It will also relax a bit. Take the guard system, this system is not bad, and the Ming Dynasty also established Huihe's martial arts based on it. Later, the country was prosperous, the four borders were peaceful, and the soldiers did not fight in their lives, so of course their spirit would be relaxed. Moreover, mobilization for war, such as the fight against Manchuria, should be evenly distributed throughout the country according to the system, and it should not be transferred from a certain place alone. This is not bad, but as a result, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all over the country have been concentrated in the central government, and it has long been a national commotion. Moreover, the customs, habits, languages, and appearances between them are all unfamiliar. When I opened the arsenal, I didn't know that the weapons and clothes hidden in it had been stored there several years ago. When I took it out, the iron was rusty, and the threads were rotten. The government cannot be blamed for this. Of course, we can't always make two or three hundred thousand sets of military uniforms every three or two years, and put them there and let them rot one at a time. Even today's Americans are working hard to build military aircraft as a last resort. If there was no enemy of the Soviet Union, he would not have built it. The Ming Dynasty also had mildew in military uniforms due to the accumulation of Chengping for a long time. Once these tattered military uniforms are taken out and distributed to the soldiers, they are temporarily hasty, the fat people are dressed tightly, the thin people are wearing fat ones, everyone wants to change a set of body fits, in the barracks, you look for me, I look for you, it is not an easy task, most of them are reluctantly sloppy to put on. Before departure, the army had to sacrifice the flag as usual, which was certainly not entirely superstitious. Now that the army is going to war, it is necessary to practice in advance and try out the guns. In the past, the ceremony of sacrificing the flag was to kill an ox, which is like today's test artillery before the development of the army. It is said that in the Ming Dynasty, this cow could not be killed. Why? This is because the knife in the arsenal has been hidden for too long, and it is rusty and dull, so it can't kill a cow. The knife used to sacrifice the flag and kill the cow is still the same, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers can hold it even more in their hands. Today, however, we cannot simply rely on such things to scold Chinese culture for being bad, or even say that our nation is aging. This is really because Chengping has been peaceful for too long, so he naturally forgets about his combat life. Let's look at the Manchurians, they wear hats that can be covered on both sides, only from the ears to the chin, and the face only shows two eyes and a mouth. This is due to the cold climate in the northeast, so you can put down your hat to protect your ears and nose from freezing. The horse coat and robe we wear today are also the military uniforms of Manchuria at that time. For the convenience of riding, the robe is open on one side, and when you ride on the horse, you can also put the placket on the other side, and both legs are covered. According to the clothes of Chinese mainland people, when they ride on a horse, their knees are exposed, and they are going to be frozen and stiff. The two hands were stretched out to hold the reins of the horse, and the sleeves of their hooves were just right to protect the outstretched fingers. Our Chinese army, some of whom are from Yunnan and some of whom are from Guangdong, has never seen ice or snow since their birth. Suddenly, he should be transferred to Beijing, put on those old military uniforms that were not suitable, and then transferred to Guanwai, when the wind blew, his spirit was miserable, how could he fight against the Manchurian army? I didn't notice any of this at the time, so I couldn't do it as soon as I touched it. At that time, a Chinese commander-in-chief, Du Song, was killed by an arrow from the Manchurian soldiers, because the rust of his hat and the arrow pierced through the armor, and the commander-in-chief did not have good armor, let alone the soldiers. We will not know these things if we read history cursoryly. According to him, Xu Guangqi should train new soldiers from scratch, the number of troops does not need to be large, and each soldier should be measured and made into military uniforms, and it must be suitable for the climate outside the Northeast Pass. Of course, swords, guns, and weapons should also be new, and they should be matched with everyone's strength. If so, we can talk about training. He set the plan, and the government approved it, but the household department couldn't come up with the money, so it couldn't do it. From this point of view, we can know that a country's armament and material conditions are also important, and we cannot always use our spirit to defeat a strong enemy. But after the great defeat of the Ming Dynasty, it learned a lesson and changed rapidly, and China was still able to resist at that time. However, the central government collapsed, and the army outside could not support it. In the past, there was such a debate in the Song Dynasty, is it better to raise a horse? Or is it better to raise twenty-five peasants? It seems to say now, is butter better, or is it better to cannon?

The military uniforms were sealed in the arsenal, and the peasants of the whole country generally lived quietly and peacefully, and they had not seen the military revolution in their lives, so they should not curse excessively on such days. However, once chaos breaks through the border and they are asked to run out of the border in a hurry, military uniforms are the life of the army, and we cannot but recognize the importance of material conditions. The material conditions are not compatible, and the spirit alone can not last. In terms of our armed forces, after hundreds of years of peace, it should also decline. Suddenly a Manchu Qing came out, and it was not surprising that he couldn't resist it. From a historical standpoint, there should be a historical statement. The so-called historical statement is to explain specific facts according to history. Let's not say that the Chinese nation is aging, its culture is not good, those empty words. We need to analyze the specific circumstances of that time, in other words, we need to find historical materials that show where the failures were. Of course, what I have said above is only a small part of the historical facts. But it's always more practical.

Lecture 5: Qing Dynasty

1. Institutions and spells

When we talk about political systems, some of them are indeed institutions, and some of them can only be called events or spells. As far as the system is concerned, spells are just things or means; It's hard to say it's politics. The system is generally out of the public, and some of the measures formed under the intention of the public are the system. Sorcery, on the other hand, is selfish, so there is no exact limit. The so-called method and power technique, of course, cannot be carefully distinguished. Moreover, the establishment of a system certainly has many complex relationships, which inevitably carry some private intentions at that time. To say that the establishment of a system and absolute impartiality is not only unprecedented in ancient history, but also in the history of the future, and to say that a country has established a certain system without personal relations and without selfishness, I am afraid that this hope is still far away. However, there should be weight between public and private. Now, how much did China's political system in the past dynasties come out of the public? Or is it more selfish? What is the meaning of spells? Or is the significance of the system important? In terms of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty can be said to be a system, while the Eastern Han Dynasty is mostly out of Guangwu's selfishness. On the Tang Dynasty, it can indeed be said that the system was established, while in the Song Dynasty, many of them were only a kind of spell. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many things that could only be said to be some things, and it could not be said that it was some systems. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that there was no system at all. All its systems are based on the Ming Dynasty, and in the system of the Ming Dynasty, plus many of their selfishness. This kind of selfishness can be said to be the selfishness of a "tribal regime". Everything has the selfish punishment of the Manchurian tribes, so there are only spells, not to mention the system.

2. The tribal regime of the Qing Dynasty

When Westerners talk about politics, they must first talk about sovereignty. Much of their political thinking is based on the concept of sovereignty. Therefore, in the West, there is a division of theocracy, royal power, and civil power, and until now, national sovereignty rests with the people. When China talks about politics, it has never discussed where sovereignty lies. For example, where is the political sovereignty of the generations? This kind of thinking is rare in China. When Chinese talk about politics, they always attach importance to their duties. Just what should the government do? What are its responsibilities? Did it do its job? It does not say where sovereignty lies. Behind sovereignty is a kind of free will. For example, if this teacup is said to be mine, it means that I can use this teacup freely. This is a right, not a morality. There is no freedom if the duty is not considered in terms of sovereignty, and the duty is in the sense of doing the best to the best of its ability. This is a huge ambiguity in the political thinking of the two sides. Now, we might as well follow the Westerners' thinking and briefly describe where China's political sovereignty has been in history. Judging from historical reality, the political sovereignty of a country as large as China cannot be in the hands of one person. If there is a person who holds this sovereignty in his hands, it is difficult for him to grasp it because the country is too big. Therefore, those who hold power must be collective. Take the West, for example! Theocracy is supported by religious groups. The royal power was supported by the general aristocracy. The Tsar of Russia, supported by many noble families. Before the French Revolution, there were also many nobles who supported its imperial power. Therefore, the imperial politics, or the division of this power among the nobles or the division of this power among the military, we can say that one is the aristocratic regime and the other is the military regime, and it is often not easy to distinguish between the two. Because most of the nobles are soldiers, and when the soldiers are in power, they become nobles. Today, Western democracy is criticized as a bourgeois regime, and of course there are many big industrial and commercial capitalists in British and American society who support this regime. And ** itself is called the proletariat****. As mentioned above, the theocratic bourgeoisie and the proletariat are all collectively in charge of political power. However, since the Han Dynasty, our Chinese history cannot be called imperial power, because the emperor alone cannot hold the power of a country. It cannot be said that it is an aristocratic regime, because since the Han Dynasty, there has been no obvious aristocracy. Is it a military regime? We also can't see that the Han government is controlled by the military. Is it a bourgeois regime? There has never been a bourgeoisie in China. Therefore, if we talk about political power, then China should be a kind of scholar regime, and the power of the government is in the hands of scholars, scholars, from the Han to the Ming Dynasty. Under the examination system, there are also various regulations for scholars to run into the government. In terms of institutional provisions, there are absolutely no hereditary privileges. Therefore, scholars and scholars in Chinese society are only a kind of goods, not a class. Now I ask why Chinese politics has specially developed such a system, handing over the power to a generation of scholars and scholars, and deliberately preventing everything **** from the aristocratic soldiers and the rich and the poor? This should further talk about the importance of China's political ideals and responsibilities rather than sovereignty. This is within the scope of political thought, but the system and ideology are actually two sides of the same coin, so they are mentioned here.

Now let's talk about the political tradition in China's history, although it is a kind of scholarly regime, it cannot be without perversion. Throughout the history of China, in addition to the scholar regime, there has always been a special regime, which I call at the moment the tribal regime. The so-called tribal regime is to put the political power in the hands of a certain tribe, and this is the foreign regime in Chinese history. For example, when the Mongols and Manchurians ran into China, not every emperor of the Yuan and Qing dynasties could control the entire power. In these two generations, after his regime, all the tribes of Mongol Manchuria supported this regime. So the Mongols and Manchurians were a special class or special elements in this regime. This kind of regime is what we call tribal regime. Whether it is Mongolia or Manchuria. They all want to take a clan to control the government and take power. This kind of regime, of course, is selfish, so all the measures taken under this regime cannot be regarded as a political system, but can only be regarded as a kind of magic, a means of controlling this regime. If the scholars who have never been in China are completely selfish and want them to control the whole country, these words are unfounded. Because the scholars are not an obvious group in society, like the Manchurians and Mongols. It is more likely to be said that the political system rewards and supports the readers, rather than that there is a specific type of scholar in society who wants to steal the political power and deliberately control it. Only from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the scholars formed a door, and then the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, we can also say that this period is a kind of door regime, and the regime at that time was almost all in the hands of the gate. But at that time, there was no system to allow the clan to control the regime. At that time, the system was still only to entrust the power to the scholars. However, in the social situation, the scholars are all from the family, so the family has political power. It was a social trend, a political habit, and the system at the time did not make any effort to correct it, and that's it. As soon as the Tang Dynasty arrived, public examinations were held, and the regime was reopened, so the sect was overthrown, and the old tradition of the scholar regime was still restored. Today, we want to talk about the political power of the whole people, and the sovereignty of the state should be the whole people, which can also be said to be our ideal. But this is not possible if the whole population is to come together and take power. It is still inevitable that there will be either the bourgeois-centric, or the intellectual-centric, or some other new way of representing the whole people. For example, ** advocates the existence of a proletariat, that is, one of them. If it is up to the people as a whole to take power, this is only a theory. Today, the regimes of Western democracies say that they represent the whole people, and the scholars in Chinese history cannot be said to represent the whole people. Reading the books of the sages and preaching the way of cultivating Qi and governing peace, and the state will examine and recruit them based on their talents, and the opinions of this generation of scholars can represent the whole people, which is a Chinese theory. At the moment, the West must wait for everyone to be elected, and the Chinese use an open examination system, which is a difference in method. How can the ideals of the two sides differ in the idea of selecting people who can represent the entire population to organize the government to take power? If this is the case, then China's historical regime has long been opened, so the Chinese have never discussed what government sovereignty should belong. The open regime of Western governments came late, so they are always fighting for the ruling power, which should not be yours but us, and should not be in the royal family but in the people, and this is the origin of the emphasis on sovereignty in modern Western political thought. The traditional regime in Chinese history, as I have said above, is no longer an emperor. The emperor personally could not grasp the political power, and only after the prime minister was abolished in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's power in the government was particularly heavy. But it was not at that time that the political system was established, and the entire sovereignty was handed over to the emperor, and the emperor could not say that the country belonged to me. The Chinese emperor has never said the phrase "I am the country", even the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties did not dare to say it. Just the emperor replaced the prime minister, it was still a change in the system, not a theoretical renovation. Only the tribal regime began to replace the scholars with another group of people, that is, the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty and the Manchurians in the Qing Dynasty, who were the actual holders of the power at that time. But on the surface, it is still like the scholar regime, and it is still said that the power should be handed over to the scholars. This is a traditional Chinese political theory, and the Manchurians are aware of it, but have never formally opposed it. Only under this theory, they used another spell to overpower the Manchurian tribes over the Chinese scholars. If they are ****, they should be tribal ****, and they are still not emperors. Only when we understand this can we talk about the system of the Qing Dynasty.