Since the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department in the seventh year of Yongzheng, until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Military Aircraft Department has experienced a total of nearly two hundred years of history. During this period, the Military Aircraft Department became the decision-making center of the ruling group, although the Qing Dynasty did not have a prime minister, but in the eyes of people, the military aircraft minister was the real prime minister. However, it is puzzling why the Military Aircraft Department has not had an official name from the Yongzheng Dynasty to the Xuantong Dynasty.
The establishment of the Military Aircraft Division is a pioneering undertaking in the history of China's political system. As a vassal of imperial power, it pushed the autocratic imperial power to an unprecedented peak. The establishment of the Military Aircraft Department made the cabinet and the Council of Ministers, which were originally the administrative center, relegated to idle Cao, and although the university cadets held high positions, they had no real power, and became honorary titles with no official affairs.
After the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, the political operation system of the whole country has changed, and the original cabinet has undertaken the decree, the six sections have been refuted, the official affairs are undertaken by the cabinet, and the private affairs are directly sent to the imperial front, and the emperor's personal edicts or dictations are changed, and the military aircraft ministers undertake the decrees and approve the edicts sent from the court to all places. This chapter of the central and local official offices, after being read by the cabinet and accompanied by opinions, must still be submitted to the Military Aircraft Department for the emperor's deliberation. In this way, the emperor's will was carried out unhindered, unsupervised, unconstrained, and unchecked by courtiers.
The Yongzheng Emperor must have been very proud of his creation, and he completely got rid of the suspicious courtiers. Compared with the Cabinet, the Military Aircraft Service has at least three major advantages:
One is "Jane". It has a simple organization and few personnel, and only has a military aircraft minister and a military aircraft Zhang Jing. The former is a part-time job, commonly known as the "big army machine", mostly selected from university scholars, Shangshu, and waiters, and the number of people is not fixed. Although they were divided into foremen and general ministers, they had no subordination and were each responsible to the emperor alone. The latter was a subordinate of the minister, responsible for Manchu and Chinese characters, commonly known as small military aircraft. The whole institution had at most thirty-four men, and "there were officials but no officials." Since the members are specially selected by the central government, if they are not satisfied, they can resign at any time and return to the original yamen, thus saving a lot of red tape.
The second is speed. The Military Aircraft Department is extremely efficient, eliminating the time of the previous handover of the various gates and completing the same day. After the approval of the recital, or the issuance of the edict or the court, it is completed on the same day, and there is no delay of one day. The speed of the court is quite fast, and there are differences between "flying immediately" for three hundred miles a day, four, five, six hundred miles a day, and eight hundred miles a day. The emperor's will thus went straight to the place without hindrance.
The third is "secret." The military aircraft are forbidden to live in the palace and are not easily disturbed by the outside world, and it is strictly forbidden for foreign officials to enter the duty room without permission. The eunuchs responsible for delivering water and cleaning were all eunuchs under the age of 15 who were illiterate. The military ministers were all close associates of the emperor, and when they were on duty, eunuchs were not allowed to be on the side, and the drafting of edicts was strictly limited to the duty room. The use of seals by military aircraft departments must also be carried out in strict accordance with procedures and returned immediately after use.
It is precisely because of the above three advantages that the Military Aircraft Department has been effective as soon as it was established. The wonderful thing is just as Zhang Ruiyin, the imperial historian of the late Qing Dynasty, said: "The cabinet system, in the former Ming Dynasty, there were Yan Song's adultery, Zhang Juzheng's expertise, and Zhou Yanru's and Wen Tiren's evil yu country." As for this dynasty, Qian Gang is self-righteous, and the old is dyed with the new. However, with the heavenly wisdom of Emperor Shengzuren, there are still small blessings such as Aobai, Pearl, and Soetu. Set up their own military aircraft department, the famous ministers and sages are invincible, and they are all cautious and prudent, and they abide by the law..."
Therefore, the emperor did not hesitate to reward the members of the Military Aircraft Department, either silk or seasonal fruits and vegetables. The minister who is on duty every day, Sho Kyoto, has a dining room for meals, and is very favored. However, it is strange that in the final Qing Dynasty, such a powerful institution has not been a formal state institution in law, nor has it been an independent government.
Guangxu's "Great Qing Huidian" only refers to it as "handling the military aircraft department", and the minister of the military aircraft department is "the envoy of the inner court", who only has a duty station and no office. Since its establishment during the Yongzheng period, the Military Aircraft Department has been consciously developed and perfected by the emperors, becoming a generation of customization, and even more and more equipped with the function of administrative center. Structurally, however, the Military Aircraft Department was always more like the Emperor's personal secretary. Of course, this is related to the original intention of the Yongzheng Emperor to set up the Military Aircraft Department.
Since the appearance of the Military Aircraft Department is closely related to the use of troops by the Qing court and is named "military aircraft", it naturally has a strong temporary color. And the work it undertakes has a special department in the huge political institutions, which have evolved over thousands of years of political practice, and Yongzheng and his descendants do not have enough reason to start another stove.
In fact, the statutory central body has always been the cabinet, while the Military Aircraft Service is a mixture of think tanks, personal secretaries and administrative centers, with a strong royal body color. As far as the post of Minister of Military Aircraft is concerned, it does not have a very lofty status, because Zhang Tingyu, who first served as minister of military aircraft, never mentioned the post of minister of military aircraft during his own post.
Since its birth, the Military Aircraft Department has gradually replaced the Council of Ministers and the Cabinet and assumed the responsibility of the administrative center, and more importantly, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty did not feel its threat at all. On the contrary, it has become a royal tool of imperial power and an important symbol of the development of autocracy and centralization to a new stage. Perhaps, not "straightening out" the military plane and making it nameless is the magic of the emperor controlling it.