Since the establishment of the centralized power system, the imperial power has become more and more noble, and the courtiers have become more and more humble, which is the general trend of the gradual development of centralized power. The political systems of various dynasties and generations basically served to strengthen the imperial power, and every emperor who sat at the peak of power must have his own "art of controlling subjects". For example, the official system during the Eastern Han Dynasty was characterized by "although the three dukes were placed, the matter was returned to the Taiwan Pavilion", and the emperor strengthened the feudal centralization by weakening the "three dukes" and strengthening the "Shang Shutai". So from the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, what kind of techniques of controlling subjects can be seen by ancient emperors?
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the embarrassing position of the Three Dukes
The term "Three Gongs" was first derived from the Shangshu Zhou Guan, and has been an ancient official name since the Zhou Dynasty. Developing into the Qin Dynasty, the Three Dukes had become the general names of the three most prominent official positions of Taishi, Taifu and Taibao at that time. During the Western Han Dynasty, the emperor changed the original system of ministers to the system of three dukes, and the three dukes here refer to the Great Situ, the Great Sima and the Great Sikong, and the "Three Dukes" are actually to decentralize power. Unfortunately, it has been recorded in the history books that the power of the ministers in the Western Han Dynasty was already large enough to divide the titles, and their power was so great that the emperor was jealous.
Later, on the basis of decentralizing the power of the prime minister, the three princes and prime ministers were in contradiction with the birth of the imperial power. Because the existence of the Western Han Dynasty and the Three Dukes had seriously threatened the imperial power, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Emperor began to weaken the foreign power of the Chancellor and the Three Dukes by increasing the power of the Shang Shu, so as to achieve the purpose of centralizing the exercise of power. In order to limit the authority of the three dukes, it was gradually increased. From Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Shang Shuling's status and authority have been constantly improving, but the real power holders are the chancellor and the three dukes, who are the real executive heads of the imperial court.
Therefore, when Emperor Guangwu of Han ascended the throne, he already had a deep understanding of the power and harm of the "foreign dynasty", so in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu ordered that "overcorrection, the government is not under office, although the three dukes are placed, the matter is returned to the Taiwan Cabinet." From this time on, emperor Guangwu tried every means to seize the power of the Three Dukes, while at the same time constantly strengthening the power of Shangshu. The way to weaken the power of the three dukes is mainly manifested in the following aspects. Because the Three Dukes were named Da Situ, Da Sima and Da Sikong during the Western Han Dynasty, this "Big" character made their official positions look more prominent, so the Emperor ordered the removal of the "Big" character, and renamed the Three Dukes as Situ, Sima and Sikong, and later renamed taiwei, Situ, and Sikong; at the same time, the emperor established Shang Shutai, which was not high-ranking and had little power, and handed over the real power of the "Three Dukes" to Shang Shutai.
Since the real power of the Three Dukes belonged to Shang Shutai, the status of the "Three Dukes" became more and more embarrassing during the Eastern Han Dynasty. The three dukes themselves had the highest administrative power, but since they belonged to Shang Shutai, their decision-making power was deprived, and they were no longer trusted by the emperor. However, if any calamity occurs in the country, the emperor still has to ask them only. The Zizhi Tongjian records that in the autumn of 107 AD, this year was plagued by abnormal nature, and at the same time there were bandits in the people, and the emperor, in a fit of anger, deposed Xu Fang, the first of the three dukes, to be deposed; only one day later, there was another flood in the people, and Yin Qin, who was a sikong, was deposed by the emperor. In the middle and late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Dukes were basically useless, and emperor Guangwu was in control of the "Three Dukes", depriving them of decision-making power, administrative power, command power, etc., which was undoubtedly very successful.
Shang Shutai appeared, a solid supporter in front of the emperor
As mentioned earlier, in order to deprive the three dukes of their power, the political system of "Shang Shu Tai" was born, in fact, the emergence of Shang Shu Tai also showed the real "art of controlling subjects" of ancient emperors. Since the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of the Three Dukes has obviously threatened the imperial power, although the Emperor can finally make decisions on major matters, but when the court adopts the opinions, the Emperor is always subject to the Three Dukes. In order to divide the central power of the three dukes, the position of the upper desk was further improved in the Eastern Han Dynasty. While improving their status, the officials of Shang Shutai were also refined, and official positions such as Shang Shu Ling, Shang Shu Shu Shu Shu, and Shang Shu Shi Lang appeared on the stage of history. According to the Book of the Continuation of the Han Dynasty, The Hundred Officials Chronicle III:
"Shoshu Ling One, Sengoku"
From this, it can be seen that the highest status in this political system is Shang Shuling.
So what kind of role did Shang Shuling play between the emperor and the three dukes? As the supreme official of Shang Shutai, the political tasks and political relations it has to undertake are very complicated. First of all, from the analysis of the relationship between Shang Shuling and the emperor, when the Shangshutai was established as the core of the central political system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shangshuling naturally became the most direct and effective tool used by the emperor to control the centralization of power, and they can be said to be the same existence as the secretaries around the emperor. After all, this bureaucracy itself was born under the control of imperial power, although there were often contradictions between ShangshuLing and the emperor, but its power came from the imperial power of ShangshuLing, and whenever the imperial power was threatened, Shangshuling must be on the side of the emperor. For example, when the imperial power was divided by foreign relatives, Shang Shuling would even take the initiative to unite the eunuch forces to restore the emperor's rights to normal.
The second is the relationship between Shang Shutai and the Three Dukes, a bureaucratic system that was strengthened during the Eastern Han Dynasty, whose fundamental purpose was to suppress the Three Dukes. According to the "Book of Later Han", it can be learned that Dai Fuzhan, who was originally Shang Shu Ling, could actually be promoted to the position of Grand Situ on the recommendation of the Three Dukes, so from the perspective of Shang Shu Ling's position alone, it was lower than that of the Three Dukes. However, the Later Han Shu Guo Zhen Biography records that Shang Shu Ling could depose the Three Dukes by virtue of their authority; this was because they were directly subordinate to the emperor who was in the position of administrative center, so their real power was much higher than that of the Three Dukes who had a high position in the air.
In addition, in order to ensure the normal operation of imperial power, Shang Shuling also played a major role between foreign relatives and eunuchs. In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs and foreign relatives emerged in an endless stream. At that time, Shang Shuling, in order to eliminate the Qi Dou clan and his henchmen, did not hesitate to join forces with unrelated political forces to fight against the dictatorship of foreign relatives. After the complete eradication of the dictatorship of qi, Shangshuling again targeted the eunuch dictatorship, although Shangshutai, under the leadership of most Shangshuling, had always stood on the political position of resolutely resisting the change of officials, but the eunuchs still controlled Shangshutai with their own eyesight, which greatly weakened the role of Shangshuling in political struggles.
However, from The firm political position of Shang Shuling, it can be seen that they are always on the side of the emperor's position, after all, the power of Shang Shuling comes from the imperial power, which makes them have to rely on the emperor to exist, if there is no such personal dependence relationship, ShangshuLing does not have administrative power, decision-making power and other powers, which is the reason why the emperor can really control The Shang Shuling.