Although the bureaucracy was established very early in Chinese history, the development of each dynasty and each generation is actually constantly being repaired. In the Song Dynasty, in fact, one of the most important bureaucratic systems included the system of giving officials at that time.
Although the system of giving official gifts brought more benefits to the Song Dynasty at that time, there were also many drawbacks under this system. So what are the advantages of the Song Dynasty's official donation system? So how did these good and bad things work together on the rule of the time?
I. What are the benefits of the Song Dynasty's system of giving official titles?
1. The system of giving officials in the Song Dynasty was actually established based on a certain background of the times
The system of giving official titles in the Song Dynasty actually existed before. The specific time of existence is in the two Han Dynasties, but the specific big development is actually in the Tang and Song Dynasties, then in the Song Dynasty, the system of giving officials developed and improved. Then the official donation system was mainly used as a middle and high-level official at that time, or as a person who died because of some major national events, some gifted officials were obtained, and special people were used to promote their official ranks and official qualities.
To a large extent, it played a relatively large role in maintaining the stability of the country at that time. The system of giving official gifts is actually implemented within a certain range, and not all scopes can be implemented such a system of giving officials.
Then at that time, if you wanted to obtain such a qualification for giving officials, as well as the changes in the official products of the official gifts at that time, there were also more detailed regulations. Then there are specific and detailed regulations on the change of the official rank of the donor, and the promotion of the official at that time must be within three products.
That is to say, if an official of the seven products dies, then the emperor gives him a promotion, that is, by using such a system of giving officials, such an official product must not jump above the four products. For such a person, in general, has only done a relatively great thing for the country, or died for a certain national event. If too many official goods are given, it is inevitable that there will be an unfairness to other officials.
"In the order of civil officials, there are both court officials giving court officials, Beijing officials giving beijing officials, beijing officials donating court officials, selecting people to give elections, selecting people to give beijing officials, and selecting people to give court officials, and there are also those who have no official and no goods to give to the selectors, and those who have no official and no goods to give to beijing officials; In the order of military generals, there are small envoys to ambassadors, small envoys to the deputies, small envoys to the vice-officials, small envoys to the yao county officials, ambassadors to the ambassadors to the deputies, ambassadors to the ambassadors to the vices, ambassadors to the ambassadors to the yao county officials, the envoys to the vice envoys, the vice envoys to the vice ministers, the vice envoys to the vice officials, the vice envoys to the officials, the vice ministers to the officials, the officials to the officials, and the ranks of the officials without officials."
At that time, there were actually relatively strict regulations on the qualifications for donating officials. Under normal circumstances, it is generally after the official's death that he can get a certain qualification for the official, or when he has done a major thing for the country, he can also get such a qualification for the official when he has made some obvious merit. However, the promotion of official gifts obtained after the death of officials seems to be relatively large.
2. The implementation of the Song Dynasty's system of officials was actually conducive to consolidating the rule of the state and stabilizing the bureaucracy at that time
In fact, one of the main purposes of the Song Dynasty's official donation system was to stabilize the rule at that time, because the Song Dynasty was actually different from the establishment of some previous unified imperial dynasties. In fact, the Song Dynasty was not a unified country in the strict sense, it was a centralized state.
Therefore, it was decided that the Song Dynasty was different from the previous dynasties in the use of some bureaucratic systems and the use of some ruling measures, so it included the system of giving officials, in fact, the system of giving officials, although there was also a certain existence in the previous dynasties, but such a existence would not exist as frequently as the Song Dynasty. Because the previous country had a strong national strength, that is, the so-called unified empire, with strong strength.
Therefore, such an empire is often more centralized, so in the implementation of orders, there is actually no need for the system of giving officials in exchange for the compromise of those officials. Then the reason why the Song Dynasty gift system was frequently implemented at that time, and even the appearance of many detailed provisions related to the donation of officials, was mainly the Song Dynasty at that time, in fact, there was no previous dynasty.
For example, the Han and Tang Empires have such a strong unified execution power. In this case, then, only such a system of official donations can be implemented to win over certain officials and make certain compromises with the officials at that time.
The system of giving officials is simply to promote official goods for officials, so some bureaucratic positions are given to people who do not have official positions at that time, or those who have official positions. In fact, this is, in a sense, prompting those bureaucrats to do things for the state. In fact, this still shows that the centralization of power in the Song Dynasty was not enough, and even the Song Dynasty did not actually have a very absolute element of the monarch's mandatory order.
Of course, in a certain special period, there was indeed such an absolute mandatory order, such as during the Song Gaozong period. However, on the whole, the political structure of the Song Dynasty was not very distinct, and there was absolute monarchy. Therefore, the formal promulgation of the official system at that time in the Song Dynasty, as well as its frequent use, was actually conducive to winning over a certain number of people's hearts and minds, and could stabilize the bureaucratic order at that time.
After all, the centralization of power at that time was not very developed, so in the case of not very developed, some auxiliary bureaucracy was needed to provide some auxiliary means and measures for the centralization of power at that time.
In fact, at that time, the content of the official donation system was relatively rich, not only from the legal point of view to stipulate the detailed distribution level of the official donation system, then in some actual descendants, family members and future generations of a privilege use, in fact, there are also very detailed provisions. The descendants of those who were given official titles could actually enjoy the preferential treatment and privileges of the time to some extent, such as the specific land fields at that time.
On the one hand, the descendants of officials can have certain privileges, so these privileges, including in some annexed lands, are actually not restricted. Some of the relevant labor measures can actually be abolished according to the official goods of the officials. If the descendants of the noble official have committed a certain crime, then such a crime can be offset according to the rank of the ancestor of the previous generation. "The family of courtiers is blessed with grace, ze and ancestors, and is the most honored.
Although his posthumous titles are fictitious, their descendants are given shades, and their own households are official households. Therefore, the more three generations are given, the more the descendants of the shelter are, and it is not a special name. ”。 Then it can also be seen from such privileges that the reason why the dynasty at that time did not have so many privilege measures on the official system was actually that those officials could do their best for the dynasty.
Second, the Song Dynasty official gift system at that time actually had certain drawbacks
1. The biggest drawback is the lag in the implementation of the official donation system
In fact, the official donation system has a certain lag, because the person who gives the official may die, or because of other things, or because of some other thing to get the official. In fact, to a certain extent, such a former official system has a relatively large lag, especially such a lag is delimited according to the limitations of the times. In fact, the most influential officials are actually some officials who have died for the country, or officials who have been misunderstood by an emperor.
Although a certain amount of officials were awarded in the following periods, such a gift system was too lagging behind. For example, during the Song Taizu period, there were actually some people who opposed Song Taizu's title of emperor, then there were some people who supported Song Taizu's title of emperor, and song Taizu, in order to win over the officials at that time, actually gave a certain degree of official qualifications to those who opposed him to be called emperor at that time.
But such conferrals were not given when he was alive, but after his death. That is to say, the enjoyment of all the privileges after the gift of the official, in fact, the person who gave the official himself cannot enjoy it.
Then the only thing that can be enjoyed, that is, his descendants and his family can enjoy. In fact, these are some relatively good situations, in fact, there are some bad situations, such as Yue Fei himself because Yue Fei himself was actually persecuted during the period of Emperor Gaozong of Song. Then the specific qualifications granted to the official were during the Song Ningzong period.
That is to say, Yue Fei and his descendants actually have a certain state of being misunderstood, that is to say, such a misunderstood state is from the time of Emperor Gaozong of Song to the period of Emperor Ningzong of Song. During the reign of Emperor Ningzong, Yue Fei was formally rehabilitated, so that Yue Fei and Yue Fei's descendants were given a qualification to be squarely faced.
But such a kind of official gift is too lagging behind, even if some of Yue Fei's descendants have received some compensation? However, some misunderstandings and some measures that were punished before during the Song Gaozong period have been under Song Ningzong, so how should these things be compensated? Therefore, there is absolutely a certain lag in this kind of official donation system.
2. At that time, the system of giving official posts was also due to the possibility of arbitrariness because of the absolute monarchy of the individual
Although the centralization of power in the Song Dynasty was indeed not as strong as that of the later Ming and Qing dynasties, it was not as powerful as that of the Sui and Tang dynasties. But in essence, the system of the Song Dynasty was still an absolute monarchy, so under such a system, the likes and dislikes of the emperor affected the effectiveness of the rule at that time.
Therefore, the strict implementation of the system of giving official gifts at that time was not strictly implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law, but there were likes and dislikes of the emperor in it. For example, for a certain period of time, the emperor was very fond of the official. Then it will give that official a special favor. In fact, the most obvious embodiment of such a kind of likes and dislikes is the Song Huizong period.
3. Summary
In fact, a political system or a bureaucratic system will more or less have certain drawbacks, so the treatment of such drawbacks is how to avoid such problems to the greatest extent. Because of such drawbacks, it will not be completely eliminated, because it contains too many factors of the times.
bibliography:
1. History of the Song Dynasty
2. History of the New Five Dynasties
3. "History of the Yuan"