The Tang Dynasty has a strong and colorful stroke in the history of the world, if the Tang Dynasty can serve as the prime minister under one person, it will be the scenery of guangzong Yaozu, but the official rank of the Tang Dynasty prime minister is only Zheng Sanpin, why is this? Were the First and Second Pin officials of the Tang Dynasty more powerful?
First of all, we must have a general understanding of the central official system in China's feudal society, Qin Shi Huang unified the world, established a new order in a pioneering way, and urgently needed a new bureaucracy to adapt to and serve the Qin Empire. After comparing and summarizing the bureaucratic systems implemented by various countries in the Warring States period, Qin Shi Huang finally determined the system of three dukes and nine secretaries.
The three dukes were the chancellor, the taiwei and the imperial chancellor, and the duty of the chancellor was to assist the emperor in handling government affairs, and was a veritable "hand of the emperor", above ten thousand people under one person; the lieutenant was to manage the army for the emperor, and the responsibility was relatively simple, but very important; the imperial chancellor was responsible for supervising hundreds of officials, but the positioning at that time was not clear, and he was also responsible for the work of the deputy of the chancellor.
There were nine secretaries under the three dukes, and the content of responsibility was more specific, but these people were appointed by the emperor himself. From the setting of the duties of the three dukes, it can be found that there is a mutually restrictive relationship between them, which reflects the historical trend and distinctive characteristics of the concentration of imperial power in feudal society.
The collapse of the Qin Dynasty was extremely rapid, but the system established by the Qin Dynasty survived, and the system of three dukes and nine secretaries was fully developed in the Han Dynasty, at the same time, as mentioned earlier, the imperial power would be more concentrated, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to move from the Tang Xiang Tian To further weaken the power of the Chu Xiang.
The three dukes and nine secretaries system was perfected and developed in the Han Dynasty, while the three provinces and six ministries system shined in the Tang Dynasty. To be precise, the three provinces and six ministries system was not original to the Tang Dynasty, but was inherited and perfected on the basis of the central official system of the Sui Dynasty, and continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty, with basically no major changes.
The so-called three provinces refer to Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province. Zhongshu Province was the emperor's think tank, responsible for providing a variety of governance strategies and ideas, formulating specific suggestions for the emperor, and drafting edicts or decrees.
Menxia Province was to help the emperor determine whether the idea of Zhongshu Province was feasible, and often communicated with the emperor. The duties of Shangshu Province are simple and difficult to do, and to put it bluntly, they are to carry out the emperor's decrees.
As the saying goes, "Easier said than done", Shangshu Province has to put things in place and turn ideas into facts, so it has set up six departments under it, namely the Official Department, the Household Department, the Military Department, the Punishment Department, the Ceremonial Department, and the Ministry of Works, and there are 24 divisions under the six departments, which are responsible for specific categories of affairs.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the chancellor was one person, while the tang dynasty chancellor was composed of many people. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister was the governor of the three provinces, that is, the boss Zhongshu Ling of Zhongshu Province, the boss of Shangshu Province, and the old gate of Menxia Province, they were all called prime ministers.
The official ranks of these prime ministers were Zhengerpin and Zhengsanpin, of which Shangshuling was Zhengerpin and Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province were Zhengsanpin.
Speaking of this, it is necessary to mention Li Shimin, during the time of Li Yuan, The Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Shimin once served as Shang Shu Ling (正二品), so after Tang Taizong ascended the throne, in order to highlight Li Shimin's status and merits, no one held the position of Shang Shu Ling.
Since Shangshu Province still existed and played an important role in commanding the six ministries, it was impossible to be in a leaderless state, so the two deputies of Shangshu Province (Shangshu Left and Right Servants) became the prime minister, and their official rank was from Erpin.
In Menxia Province and Zhongshu Province, the highest official is not one person, but two people, namely zhongshu ling two and menxia shizhong two.
At this point, it can be seen that there were actually 6 people known as prime ministers in the early Tang Dynasty, which can also be seen that Tang Taizong was jealous of the power of the prime minister, first through the separation of powers and checks and balances to weaken the power of the prime minister, and then through the appointment of "double chiefs" to avoid a single family, the ultimate goal is to concentrate power in their own hands.
The struggle between imperial power and power ran through the entire feudal era, and almost all the meritorious emperors exerted their strength in this matter. With the passage of time, the Tang emperor gradually sealed more people to participate in political decision-making, most of whom were Sanpin officials, but added "Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin" in front of the official position, and they were also called members of the Tang Dynasty's army of prime ministers.
Later, the role of Shangshu Province also weakened more and more, resulting in Shangshu Province's left and right servants (from Erpin) no longer having real power, so the Tang Dynasty's prime ministers were basically held by three pin officials, even four pin officials and five pin officials.
Since the most powerful prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty were basically three pin officials, who were the first and second pin officials of the Tang Dynasty?
In the Tang Dynasty, zhengyipin had Taiwei, Situ, Sikong, Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao, which are often referred to as the Three Gongs and Three Divisions. In addition, Zheng Yipin also had a General of Heavenly Strategy, which was created by Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, to stabilize Li Shimin, so the entire Tang Dynasty was only held by Li Shimin. The officials from Yipin were Prince Taishi, Prince Taifu, and Prince Taibao, as well as Yi Tong Sansi and so on.
In general, the First and Second Grade Officials of the Tang Dynasty were held by people who did not hold real power, many of whom came from the noble royal family or who had made significant contributions to the country, in addition to some honors that were posthumously honored.
There are also a few exceptions in the history of the Tang Dynasty, such as the eldest grandson Wu Ji and Fang Xuanling during the Tang Taizong period, and Li Shimin was able to establish the merits of famous history, both of which were indispensable. Therefore, it is also a rare person who holds a product of official residence but holds actual power.
Wei Zheng was known as a generation of famous ministers, in 629 AD, Wei Zheng was only from the secretary of Sanpin, but with the blessing of Tang Taizong, he entered the government affairs hall to participate in decision-making, that is to say, he was already a veritable prime minister, and at that time, he was the highest responsible person of the three provinces, and the prime minister at that time had not yet flooded.
There was also a famous minister in the Tang Dynasty, and he was Di Renjie. In 691, Di Renjie was awarded the title of Tongfengge Luantai Pingzhangshi by Wu Zetianjia, which was actually the power of the prime minister, and at that time he was only a Sipin official.
The addition of "Tongfengge Luantai Pingzhangshi" began during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and the same meaning as "Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin" during the reign of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of Tang Taizong, as long as such a title is granted, it has the power to participate in the decision-making of political affairs, and is truly an official who can be called the prime minister.
In 697, Di Renjie became chancellor for the second time, and his official position was gradually improved, and after his death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Sikong of Zhengyipin.
Most of the prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty were sanpin officials, but they all had real power, and those who were higher grade first-grade officials and second-class officials were virtual positions without real power, mainly enjoying high-level treatment. In the final analysis, the development process of the Tang Dynasty's prime ministers was dominated by the emperor and met the requirements of the concentration of imperial power.