The Ministry of Internal Affairs is a unique imperial service agency of the Qing Dynasty, exclusively serving the imperial power, and its main functions are: "In charge of the Three Banners and the Cervix, among all the functional departments, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the most closely related to the emperor, and its subordinate institutions are also the largest, and why did the Qing Dynasty set up the Interior Office?"
Background to the establishment of the Ministry of the Interior
The Qing Tiancong period was a transitional period from the Later Jin Dynasty to the Chongde Imperial Power, and it was also an important period for the Qing Dynasty to move from khan power to imperial power, and with the continuous development of khanate property, the property ownership of "khan treasury" and "national treasury" was increasingly clear. At this time, the number of people wrapping began to grow, and there was an urgent need for an organization to manage.
1. The functions of the Treasury and the Khan treasury are interrelated
The national treasury is to manage the entry and exit and use of the state's public finances, including: relief of disaster victims, provision of principal for national trade, rewards, banquets to the tribes, etc. In short, the treasury property is mainly for the state and the flags.
From the comparison of the relationship between before and after, it can be seen that the two are one public and one private, and the property obtained is respectively into the national treasury and the private treasury, and the eight banners include the yellow flag under the jurisdiction of the Emperor Taiji, and the wealth obtained from this banner should enter the khan's treasury. Compared with the national treasury, the Khan treasury has its private treasury attributes, and at the same time has some functions of the national treasury. Its main possessions were used by the Khan to reward his ministers and ensure his daily expenses.
In the 9th year of Tiancong, the Mongols, Huerha and other tribes were annexed, when the warehouse was short of grain, all the major Baylors took out their own stored grain, and then ordered the Eight Banners to produce hundreds of stones of grain, indicating that Baylor's private nature of grain contained obvious private characteristics. In December of the same year, Zhang Cunren said: "The treasury stored in the Treasury of the Great Inner Province has been used enough. Indicating that the national treasury is insufficient does not mean that the khanate is not abundant.
The treasury and the khan's property are the proceeds of the country's foreign trade, but there is a clear distinction between the two in the ownership of property, and with the increasing number of khan's property and the increase of the population of the clothing, this important institution of management should be born.
2. The urgency of the management of the clad slaves
Beginning with Nurhaci, the Houjin wars of plundering the outside world continued to escalate, and the number of slaves captured in the war increased day by day, most of whom were incorporated into the Eight Banners, forming a new cattle record organization, that is, the Clothed Cow Record; and a greater number of slaves were allocated to the princes and nobles to form the Clothed Slaves.
According to the Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, "there are no less than a thousand dings in the upper houses, no less than twenty dings in the lower families, and in the following year, the son of Daishan, Wakda, was rated as one hundred and fifty-eight in Manchuria, one hundred and eighty-six in han, and twenty in Mongolia.
It can be seen that it was entirely possible that thousands of slaves were used in the homes of Qing dynasty ministers at that time. In the first year of Shunzhi, there were already 13,000 people in the Eight Banners, and in the 5th year of Shunzhi, it had reached 130,000 people, and the number of clothed cattle and household servants combined was at least 200,000. It can be seen that during the Imperial Taiji period, the number of slaves in the Qing Dynasty far exceeded the sum of the NiuLu and the Clothed Niulu of the Eight Banners.
The sum of such a huge number of slaves will be a reserve military force that cannot be ignored. Such a contingent can be a living force on the battlefield, but at the same time, mismanagement, and the wanton robbery of slaves without discipline have a negative impact on the army, and it is also easy to produce "collaborating with the enemy and treason". Therefore, it is necessary to strictly manage the slaves under the family.
3. The inner court became an important place for state banquets
After Nurhaci moved the capital to Shenyang, he began to build the Shengjing Palace, forming a relatively hierarchical court system. Since the beginning of Tiancong's fifth year, he has frequently summoned Mongolian kings and Ming Dynasty generals to hold banquets in the inner court in the palace. The frequency of the feast and the large number of people have broken through the original function of the inner court as a living, and the inner court needs to assume part of the functions of the national ceremony. Whether it is the grand ceremony in the palace, or the acceptance of submission, the banquet of the prince, etc., this makes the affairs of the inner court become increasingly heavy.
These became one of the backgrounds for the establishment of the Interior Ministry of the Qing Dynasty.
The main functions of the Ministry of the Interior
First: Handle the rituals in the palace
According to the Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, in May of the first year of Chongde, there were new cherries to pay tribute, and Emperor Taiji asked Fan Wencheng, Luo Shuo, and others to recommend them to the Taimiao Temple with the officials who managed the affairs of the Inner Prefecture, Ning Taha, and Qi Chongge, the Rebbe Qixinlang, and still ordered all new fruits and grains to be recommended to the Taimiao Temple."
It can be seen from this that the handling of sacrifices was the main duty of the personnel of the Ministry of internal affairs, and this duty was also the main function of the later Ministry of internal affairs.
Second: the management of royal private property
The management of royal private property, including imperial estates and royal commerce, was another way to increase wealth in addition to war capture and robbery.
Third: the reserve force of the two yellow flag armored soldiers
With the escalation of the war between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, the Strength of the Eight Banners began to be insufficient, of which the two Yellow Banners Wrapped Niulu became a paramilitary force, widely participating in the foreign wars of the Later Jin, and was also the main force charging on the frontal battlefield, among which there were many people who were commended for their bravery in battle and were commended and promoted, and the Baoyi Niulu also became an important force on the battlefield.
Since its establishment during the Tiancong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has undergone continuous evolution, and its main functions have also begun to be enriched, including: "handling palace sacrifices, pilgrimage ceremonies, entering and leaving concubines, the prime minister and prince, princesses and princesses, setting up seats in the palace feast, monitoring the use of treasures in the cabinet, duty in the palace and the Yuanmingyuan, inspection, appointment and removal, and introducing officials of the palace."
Reference: Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty
Examination Strategy of the Interior Ministry of the Qing Dynasty
《Qinghui Codex》