Which of the Shoshu of the Bingbu or the Admiral of the Nine Doors has more power? This is a question I saw in the platform Q&A recently, and there are many people who answer it, and the vast majority of people think that the Nine-Door Admiral has more military power than it is. I have some other opinions on this.
Before exploring this issue, it is important to understand the nature of the two posts, otherwise it will be difficult to make a comprehensive comparison.
First, let's talk about Shoshu Bingbu
The Military Department of the Qing Dynasty was the fourth of the six departments set up by Tiancong in the fifth year, and from the ranking point of view, there has always been the saying of officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, criminals, and workers, so the ranking of the military department in the six departments is roughly in the fourth place.
Before Yongzheng, the grade of the six Shangshu was Zhengerpin, and during the Yongzheng period, Shangshu was changed to Congyipin, second only to the Cabinet University Scholars. Shōshū Ofe belonged to the Ninth Secretary of State and participated in the affairs of the country.
The general post of the Military Department is to manage the assessment and appointment and dismissal of military and military officers throughout the country. After the first year of Yongzheng, due to the frequent use of troops in the northwest, it was generally a university scholar and a minister, and belonged to the emperor's special jane. There are one man in the Bingbu Shangshu and one in Han, and one person on the left and right shilang and one person in Han. Under them, there are also Lang Zhong, Yuanwai Lang, Tang Chief, Chief, Pen and Paste, etc., and there are about 220 large and small officials in the military establishment.
The qing dynasty's military department was also nominally in charge of state military affairs, but in fact did not have military power. To be precise, the two central organs of the Cabinet and the Military Aircraft Department also do not have military power. The only one who could mobilize the Eight Banners and the Green Camp army was the emperor, and the university scholars, military ministers, and Bingbu Shangshu only had the right to discuss, not to decide.
In addition, the Shoshu of the Bingbu Department is obviously of a lower status than that of the Officials, the Household Department, and the Ceremonial Department. In the Qing Dynasty, all the ministers who entered the cabinet to worship the chancellor or walked in the military plane of the Jian Dial, generally rarely took the turn of the bingbu Shangshu. If shoshu is promoted, he is often transferred to the first three departments, thus entering the cabinet and the military aircraft department.
Let's talk about the Nine-Door Admiral
The Admiral of the Nine Doors is a popular saying, and the official name is the Commander of the Infantry. However, the commander of the infantry is also an abbreviation, and its official title is different in different periods.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the army under the command of the infantry commander Yamen had two parts, one part was the infantry of the Eight Banners (which formed the infantry battalion), and the other part was the horse infantry of the Green Camp of the capital (which formed the five battalions of patrol).
The infantry commander was set up after entering the customs and was in charge of the Eight Banners infantry of the Manchurian, Mongolian, and Han armies. In the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, he also served as the governor of the nine gates of the capital (originally managed by the Military Department). Thirteen years after Kangxi, he was also in charge of the affairs of the three battalions, and at this point, he was named "Commander of the Three Battalions of the Nine-Door Infantry Patrol".
At the forty-sixth Company of Qianlong, the patrol battalion increased its number of troops and changed it to five battalions in the center, south, north, left and right, with a total of more than 21,000 infantry troops. Among the official titles of his commanders, he was changed to "Patrolling the Five Battalions". Before Qianlong, the official title of the Viceroy of the Nine Gates was Zhengerpin ( 正二品 ), which was changed to Changyi Pin during the Jiaqing period.
The duties of the Nine-Door Admiral are mainly defense, inspection, access control, arrest and other matters, in addition to prison breaks, compilation and protection of armor and other matters. If you compare it with the present, the commander of the infantry has the functions and powers of both the guard command and the public security bureau.
Comparison of the powers of Shoshu Bingbu and the Nine Gate Admirals
Through the above analysis, we can roughly understand the different responsibilities of the two gates. The Shoshu of the Bingbu belonged to the civilian official, and the Admiral of the Nine Doors belonged to the military rank. Although the two are from a grade point of view, the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, like the Ming Dynasty, are also heavy on literature and light on martial arts, which means that the civilian officials' one product is higher than the one product of the military position. Then, the political status of The Shoshu of the Bingbu Washi was higher than that of the Nine Gate Admirals.
Bingbu Shangshu did not have military power, but the Nine Gate Admiral could mobilize more than 20,000 soldiers and horses to which he belonged, and from the perspective of military power, the Nine Gate Admiral was obviously superior. However, this military power has no practical significance.
In many Qing Dynasty film and television works, the Nine Gate Admiral is often regarded as an important position related to the safety of the emperor. It is undeniable that the Nine-Door Admiral is incompetent without the emperor's cronies, but its role is far less enormous.
We know that the main defensive force of the Qing Dynasty Beijing Division was not the infantry commander Yamen, but the elite troops of the Eight Banners in Beijing. These units include the Forward Battalion, the Escort Battalion, the Jianrui Battalion, the Horse Riding Battalion, the Firearms Battalion, etc.
These battalions were stationed at the gates of the Beijing Division, responsible for the defense of the Beijing Division, and the number was several times more than that of the infantry battalions. In addition, there is also a guard office in the palace, and these guards selected from the three banners of the upper three banners are responsible for the safety of the royal family.
It can be seen that the defense of the Beijing division is a systematic component, and no force has an absolute advantage, which is also the balancing technique implemented by the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, taking the means of containment and use to ensure the safety of the imperial family.
The infantry commander Yamen was a part of this system, and its importance was self-evident, but it was not enough to threaten the imperial power, but there could be no problems in this position, which was also an important reason why non-cronies could not serve as the governor of the Nine Doors.
Although Shoshu of the Bingbu Department does not have military power, he has personnel power. In peacetime, personnel power is more important than military power. The Military Department manages the promotion and transfer of all military personnel, and has the same personnel appointment and removal powers as the Official Department.
As a rule, high-ranking military officials in all provinces of the country, such as admirals, general soldiers, deputy generals, and staff generals, must pass the examination of the military department before they can take office, and this alone is more enough to show the prominence of the military department Shangshu.
In addition, when there was a war in the country, the military department was also responsible for the allocation of money, food, ordnance, the construction of post stations, and the military merits of the generals participating in the war, which was the general logistics department during the use of troops. Therefore, whether in peacetime or in the period of military use, the military department has played a very important role.
From the perspective of promotion, Shoshu Bingbu was also more likely to be promoted than the Nine-Door Admiral. After all, the Admiral of the Nine Doors was a military official, and if he wanted to be level, he was the commander of a certain banner or the general who was stationed outside, and if he was born with three banners, he might be promoted to the minister of the interior of the consular guard, and rarely had the opportunity to enter the cabinet and the military aircraft department. (Of course, part-time jobs are excluded, such as Hezhen, Ronglu, etc.)
The promotion of Shoshu Hyobe, like the other six ministries, has a good chance of joining the Cabinet and the Military Aircraft Division. The essential difference between them is the difference between culture and martial arts, and in the Qing Dynasty, civilian officials had a better future than military officers at any time.
Speaking of this, the conclusion is that the Bingbu Shangshu has greater power and more prominent political status than the Nine Gate Admirals. This is the author's humble opinion, for reference only.
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