Chinese opera has a long history, among which, Qingguan judgment drama is one of the main themes of traditional opera, and Hai Rui and Bao Zheng are often the protagonists of it, which has long been well known in Chinese folk. They are also famous figures in the history of supervision in ancient China.
Generally speaking, the ancient Chinese bureaucracy can be roughly divided into three major blocks: administrative, military, and supervisory. The administration is mainly civilian officials, responsible for governing the people; the military is mainly military attachés, commanding the army; supervision is mainly composed of speech officials, responsible for supervising power. As the saying goes, a supervisor is the official of a steward.
But in ancient times, imperial power was the supreme absolute power, and its original intention of establishing a bureaucracy was to maintain imperial power, and the supervision system was no exception. Due to this limitation, it is inevitable that the ancient ombudsman system will gradually move toward mediocrity and even extinction in name only.
The corruption of the official system and the lack of rule of law
In the entire history of the world, china's bureaucracy is the most precocious. Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and established a unified empire with the imperial power system, and established a system of separation of powers between the three powers of the chancellor, the taiwei, and the imperial master. As a close vassal of the emperor, The Imperial Master's status was second only to that of the Chancellor, and his duty was to picket hundreds of officials for dishonesty and breaking the law.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the whole country was divided into thirteen prefectures, each of which had one assassin to supervise the localities on behalf of the emperor, the so-called "Fengzhao Tiao Cha Prefecture". Below the history of the thorn, there is also the inspector of the post who is responsible for inspecting the county and township. As an inspector, the Governor is light and powerful. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei was insulted by the postmaster in Anxi County, and Zhang Fei angrily whipped the postmaster.
In the Central Empire under imperial power, all kinds of power and resources were concentrated in the capital, Jingshi. Therefore, the post of "Lieutenant Colonel" was also set up to be responsible for picketing and impeaching hundred officials of the Beijing Division, including the Prime Minister, and the power was so great that it "did everything to correct."
On the basis of the Qin system, the Han Dynasty set up the Imperial History Office (Tai) in the central government, and added the Chancellor Si Zhi and the Lieutenant Colonel as the Central Supervisor, and also set up the Zhizhong and Advisory Doctors. The strictness of its supervision system and the great power of the inspectors set a precedent in history and set an example for the system for future dynasties and dynasties. From the Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang dynasties to the Song and Yuan dynasties, China's supervision system is self-contained, vertically managed, more perfect and mature, and even introduced special supervision regulations.
In Chinese history, Tang Taizong was known for his humble heart, and he not only raised the rank of the counselor from five to four, but also made him participate in the court meetings of more than three high-ranking officials. "From now on, when Zhongshu, Menxia, and sanpin or more enter the cabinet, they will be sent to the court." In fact, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province, as the highest authorities, were originally set up to supervise each other. The so-called three provinces of the three provinces and six ministries, that is, Shangshu Province is the administrative organ, and Zhongshu and Menxia are decision-making and auditing bodies.
From Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan, the Mongols rode south to conquer the north and unify an unprecedented empire. Kublai Khan said, "Zhongshu Province is my left hand, the Privy Council is my right hand, and the Imperial Observatory is used to heal my left and right hands." "One is in charge of the administration, one is in charge of the military, and one is in charge of supervising hundreds of officials. Kublai Khan thought that with such a perfect bureaucracy, the empire would flourish forever.
However, the fate of the Great Yuan Empire was not much better than that of the Great Qin Empire.
The decay and demise of a country is first and foremost the corruption of the official system, and the corruption of the official system is first and foremost the failure of the supervision system. When Qin Shi Huang was alive, he insisted on going his own way and set up officials without using them, "The affairs of the world are no big or small, and they are all decided and superior." Up to the Hengshi Measuring Book, there are presentations day and night, and there is no rest if it is not presented. "Wait until Qin Shi Huang dies," the group of courtiers thought it was slanderous, and the great official took the lu to take the face, and qianshou was terrified. ”
Strong Qin is like this, and the future Han and Tang Dynasties will not let go of much. In the late period of each empire, there were similar failures: imbalance of power, accumulation into adultery, erosion of the official system, eunuch dictatorship, internal and external troubles, civil unrest, and the cyclical collapse of dynasties were inevitable.
Any political system is inseparable from people, and it is hoped that the Ming Emperor and the good ministers can create a prosperous and prosperous era, but for long-term peace and stability, in the end, it is still necessary to rely on the rule of law. Tang Taizong said, "The Dharma is not the Dharma of one person, but the Dharma of the world." "But the abolition of the law by power and the substitution of power for the law are actually the norm of ancient Chinese politics."
After the Song and Yuan dynasties, China's political culture and national governance level declined, on the one hand, the bureaucracy stacked on the bed, the number of officials became increasingly large, on the other hand, the centralization of power shifted to the monarchy. The Ming and Qing dynasties completely abolished the chancellor system, and the emperor monopolized power; while the power structure was unbalanced, the rule of man replaced the rule of law. Huang Renyu pointed out in the "Fifteen Years of the Wanli Calendar" that in China for two thousand years, the substitution of morality for law was the ultimate in the Ming Dynasty, which was the crux of all problems.
Even the best system of supervision depended on the character of the emperor
In early Chinese history, emperors did not do as they were imagined, and not all emperors were arbitrary dictators.
In ancient China, the system of supervision was used not only to supervise officials, but also to correct mistakes and deviations in the emperor's decision-making. Therefore, the ancient supervision system consisted of two parts: one was the imperial history supervision system, and the other was the official speech system.
Yushi used impeachment methods to picket officials and evil deeds and to rectify the chaogang; the counselors exerted the spirit of "bitter mouths and good medicines are good for the sick" and "satirized the left and right, with kuang ren jun". Compared with the imperial history, the pressure and risk faced by the imperial power, which is totalitarian, are much greater, whether it is the criticism and rebuttal, or the review of the edicts and chapters, which require not only political wisdom, but also great courage.
In the late Qing Dynasty, Inspector Yushi Jiang Chunlin served for 6 years, and 68 impeachments were folded, and more than 15 people were named and surnamed, and they were directly shocked by the government and the opposition, and they were known as "the first person to advise officials".
Whether it was the imperial history or the counselors, their ultimate task was still to serve the emperor, or to serve the imperial power. The Ombudsman was the "Son of Heaven's Eyes, Ears, Wind and Discipline", representing the imperial power to supervise officials at all levels. In a sense, the ombudsman played the role of a third party between the emperor and the bureaucracy: on the one hand, the imperial power borrowed the ombudsman to control the bureaucracy; on the other hand, the ombudsman, as a member of the bureaucracy, also tried to control the imperial power. During the Anshi Rebellion, the eunuch Li Fuguo supported Suzong, set up a "cha affairs office" to supervise hundreds of officials, and added a Zhongshu order, Suzong was like a puppet, and Emperor Daizong even honored Li Fuguo as "Shang Father".
In order to rule the people, the emperor set up a bureaucracy, and in order to control the bureaucracy, he set up a supervisory body. The earliest supervisory bodies were still part of the bureaucracy, subject to the control of the chancellor or the shaofu, and later directly controlled by the emperor, that is, the imperial history was appointed by the emperor and was only responsible to the emperor.
In the two thousand years from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the supervision system was irreversibly deformed, especially the advisors, which were gradually put into oblivion and idling, and finally abandoned, and the imperial power was finally freed from all fetters and became an unsupervised and controlled force.
Du Fu had served as a brief advisor, that is, "Zuo Shiyi", and when he did not agree with the emperor's wishes, he was degraded. Since the Song Dynasty, the system of speech and advice has been shrinking, and the authority of the counselor has been completely reversed. The main duty of the Song Dynasty counselors was no longer to slander the monarch, but to "where the government of the dynasty is lost, the ministers to the hundred officials are not his own, and the three provinces to the hundredsi are violated, they are all corrected." Since then, the status of the counselor has deteriorated and gradually disappeared.
While the officials degenerated and disappeared, the power of the imperial history became greater and greater, and some were even co-opted and corrupted by corrupt officials, and they complied with them. At this point, the supervision system has become ineffective. In the Ming Dynasty, there were even secret service supervision agencies such as Jinyiwei.
As early as the Han Dynasty, Shi Shi was above Taishou as an inspector and became the head of the local administrative and military. The inspector was originally "to patrol the world and appease the military and the people", and like the governor, it belonged to the temporary official position of supervision affairs, which was set up according to the matter and was withdrawn after the matter was completed. It is reasonable to say that the governor and the inspector belong to the metropolitan inspection system, but during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the governor and the inspector were all local military and political officials, collectively known as the governor. The Ombudsman became an administrator on his behalf, making his own decision, making the Supervision invisible.
During the Gengzi Rebellion, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang, Xu Yingqi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Kui Jun, the governor of Sichuan, Sheng Xuanhuai, the minister of railways, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, jointly launched the "Southeast Mutual Protection", which seriously weakened the authority of the imperial court, which sounded the death knell for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
Zhao Dongmei said in "Law and the Heart" that the tension between "concrete emperors" and "abstract emperors" constitutes the biggest contradiction of the imperial system. The core of the traditional imperial power system is the emperor, and no matter how good the supervision system is, its foundation still depends on the personal character of the emperor, which has both accidental and inevitable factors. Under the emperor system, the level of ability of successive emperors in the same dynasty is usually "decreasing", and the more they go to the back, the more mediocre they are.
Under the traditional system, the only thing that could constrain the emperor was perhaps history. According to the Chinese tradition of "left history and right history", "the emperor must write a book", and the emperor's every word and deed will be recorded by the historian. The QiJu Lang of Menxia Province and the Qi Ju Ren of Zhongshu Province were both note-keeping officials. This kind of "record" invisibly constitutes supervision and deterrence of the emperor, and even a mediocre emperor must be concerned about the historical consequences of wrong words and deeds.
The Ombudsman's name has gone down through the ages, but he has also lamented that he has grown old
Since ancient times, China has been an official-based society, and the status of officials is noble and lofty. The original intention of the supervision system was to supervise officials and "to be humble and respected". The greatest incentive for the Ombudsman was mainly fame and profit—from a distance, he could get the name of Qingshi by saying that he could get a good name; from a close point of view, he would receive a rich reward from the emperor, "humble and rewarded, and persuade him to make meritorious progress.".
As a representative of imperial power, Yushi held the sword of Shangfang in his hand, and his official position was not high, but his power was very large, that is, he was humble and powerful, and the small was the big. "Officials who are light are light in their desire to cherish their wealth, while weight is the weight that heals officials." In the Western Han Dynasty, the rank of Yushi and Thorn Shi pin was only 600 stones, equivalent to a low-level county order, but the Thorn History was able to supervise the 2,000-stone magistrate according to the "Six Questions". The Tang Dynasty supervision of the imperial history was only on the eight pins, but had the right to supervise the six Shangshu, and the style of "shocking the prefectures and counties".
In the Qing Dynasty, the Duchayuan was a "Qing Dynasty" that was different from other yamen, and the Yanguan was regarded as a "Qing class", which not only had a status comparable to that of ordinary officials, but also greatly guaranteed its authority. According to relevant records, before the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), the office and secretarial staff of the Metropolitan Inspection Bureau, such as capital affairs, experience, and pen-and-post style, regardless of grade, wore "badger supplementary clothing" to indicate that they had the authority to shovel evil and rape. Generally, officials are not allowed to privately consult the inspectors, so the residences of officials are plastered with the words "civil and military officials, private residences are exempted from seeing" and "one should be delivered by the official documents and the door".
With regard to the performance of duties by the Ombudsman, although the Qing Dynasty allowed the officials to "hear things about the wind and the facts", the impeachment they played must be based on the principle of truthfulness and accuracy, otherwise they would be punished accordingly, so as to prevent the Ombudsman's false public welfare and private interests and the bad habit of reporting private grievances.
However, the authority of the Ombudsman still went through ups and downs due to the constraints of the imperial power. The failure of the Ombudsman to assert his authority not only makes his due diligence unsuccessful, but also makes it difficult to guarantee his personal safety.
In the nineteenth year of Tang Zhenyuan (803), there was a great drought in Guanzhong, and Han Yu was the overseer of yushi, and saw that the victims were displaced and starved everywhere, but Jingzhao Yin Li Shi, who was in charge of the administration of the capital at that time, blocked the news and falsely claimed that the grain was abundant. Han Yu was furious at "On the Hunger of the People in The Drought of Heaven" and proposed impeachment. Unfortunately, Han Yu's impeachment did not affect Li Shi's career, and Han Yu was instead victimized and belittled.
Hai Rui was alone, had no children, and left only more than ten taels of silver after his death, not even enough for the funeral.
In the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui had the style of a traditional Chinese scholar who became a benevolent person and took righteousness, but this was not popular in the official arena at that time. He was appointed as the right capital of the Nanjing Metropolitan Inspection Bureau, and seeing that the officials were corrupt and indignant, he suggested that the emperor restore the old system of Taizu and strip the officials who had embezzled more than eighty consecutive years, and for a time became the public enemy of the entire official field, and was impeached by Yushi Fanghuan.
Hai Rui was alone, had no children, and left only more than ten taels of silver after his death, not even enough for the funeral. The tents and bamboo beds he had used were in tatters, and everyone who saw them wept bitterly.
Even in the Qing Dynasty, it was common for ombudsmen to be treated coldly, insulted and beaten, and even assassinated.
Historian Ni Junmin believes that because the security mechanism of the ombudsman fluctuates and operates for most of the emperor or so, it is inevitable that it will be unbalanced, so that it will be vain. For example, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty all seemed to suffer from a kind of "phobia of the Ming Dynasty", and they were deeply resentful of the atmosphere of recruiting power and bribery and mutual party support at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it was inevitable that the correction would be excessive. Therefore, successive emperors have attached great importance to the anti-prison guarantee for officials, and in addition to the anti-prison guarantee, there are prohibitions, which affects the personal and professional protection of the ombudsman.
Visual I Yang Xiaodong
Edit I Xu Ran
Review I XiaXin