Some scholars have made rough statistics on the origin of Qing Dynasty officials, Shangshu, Zuo Du Yushi, Governor, Inspector of these four positions, the number of jinshi births accounted for about 41%, it is not difficult to see that in the ranks of senior civilian officials, jinshi accounted for a large proportion, but still not more than half, which also means that most of the civil officials in the Qing Dynasty did not enter the army through the examination.
So, in addition to the imperial examination, what other channels did the Qing Dynasty have to enter the army?
The first is the Gong Jiansheng
The entry of gongjian students into the shi is a relatively common phenomenon in the Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly referring to the five types of gongsheng who studied in the Guozijian, such as jugong (juren qualification to enter prison), yinjian, excellent supervisor, enjian, and routine supervisor (donated into the school), as well as six types of gongsheng such as shigong, engong, yougong, bagong, deputy gong, and regular gong.
As a rule, the GongJian students of the Guozijian do not need to take the imperial examination, and they can pass the examination after a certain number of years. However, the rank of gongjian students is not high, most of them are prefecture and county officials, mainly state tong, state judges, county clerks, and master books. Only the yin overseers were higher in rank, generally four pins lower than their father's official position. If the father is a university scholar, then the shadow is taught five products.
The second is the secular office
The hereditary office is divided into two situations, one is the clan lord, which refers to the prince, the county king, the baylor, the shell, the town duke, the auxiliary state duke, and the general of the hereditary office. The princes of the clan do not need to be examined, and can pre-govern and serve as officials by virtue of their noble status as royal princes, which need not be elaborated on, which is a remnant of traditional aristocratic politics.
The other is a title with a different surname, including gong, hou, uncle, son, male, light car lieutenant, riding lieutenant, cloud lieutenant, en knight lieutenant and so on. Titles with different surnames were all awarded for military merit, so the flag people accounted for the majority.
After Qianlong, the conferral of titles with different surnames was customized, and the dukes below the cloud knights and above could serve as the eight flag military attaches above the military school under the capital. In addition, those below the viscount can also serve as civil officials, and the rank is generally not low, for each ministry lang, the member of the foreign lang.
However, the children of nobles with different surnames who have the title of hereditary lord are not all able to enter the official, they need to study in the Eight Flags Official School, and wait until they are old enough and pass the examination before they can be awarded the official, these people are not officials by their true ability, so the overall quality is not as good as those who were born in the Imperial Examination.
The third is the preservation
This situation is not common, it was more common in the early Qing Dynasty, and it was rare after Qianlong. At the time of the clearance, the Central Plains had not yet been unified, and a large number of talents were needed to enrich the ruling institutions, and during this period, recommendation was the most common method. For example, when Duo Duo led his troops down to Jiangnan, every time he captured a city, he would recommend many local celebrities as state and county officials.
After the Kangxi Dynasty, the state was in peace, and the imperial examination system became more and more perfect, so there were fewer cases of being recommended as officials. However, the talents selected by the imperial examination are often not qualified for some special positions, such as the river system is a professional department, and the full belly of poetry books cannot block the Yellow River to break the embankment.
Therefore, in order to select special talents in certain aspects, the imperial court also often let officials in Beijing and local governors recommend them. In addition, the three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong also held some system subjects, such as the Erudite Hongzi Section, the Economic Special Section, etc., and those who passed the examination could be awarded officials.
The fourth is the examination of officials
The distinction between officials and officials in the Qing Dynasty was very large, and officials did not belong to the category of officials. According to the regulations, officials can also pass the examination to enter the army, but the status of the official is not high, so even if you pass the examination, the official position granted is very low.
Fifteen years before Qianlong, when officials were examined for posts, they were appointed from below the eight pins to the un-entered stream, and from the eight pins and the nine pins plus the unflow, for a total of only five grades. In the late Qianlong period, when the officials were examined and appointed to the official position, only the ones left were from the Nine Pins and the uninvolved.
Not only that, but the imperial court also had some restrictions on those who were born as officials, such as not being able to serve as zhengyin officials (Zhixian and Zhizhou). Moreover, he only served for five years, and after the expiration of the five-year period, he had to leave office and return to his hometown, and the government also had to supervise him, and if he stayed, he would face punishment.
The fifth is donation
Donation is to spend money to buy officials, and donation is the head of the Kangxi Emperor, the purpose of which is to make up for the lack of revenue from the national treasury through donation. Although Kangxi was a last resort after pacifying San Francisco, in view of financial difficulties. However, this initiative has been followed.
During the Qianlong period, the treasury was abundant, the phenomenon of donation still existed, and the original imperial court was not bad for this bit of silver, but Qianlong had a fallacy that donation was
"Not enough to make up for the subject"
This means that through the channel of donation, some special talents can be selected. But one thing is certain, before Qianlong, the donation was still within the controllable range.
After arriving in Daoguang, donation became one of the fixed incomes of the household department every year, and the wind of donation was also great, and the national treasury had millions of taels of silver every year.
There are also many restrictions on donations, such as not being able to serve in the bureaucracy, household department, and ceremonial department, not being able to serve as a scholar official, and the highest in Beijing cannot exceed five pins, and the highest local government cannot exceed four pins. After all, it is an official who spends money to buy, and the imperial court is still not at ease after all.
The several channels of admission listed above are the most common forms of recruitment except for the selection of officials. But it should not be all, for example, many of the flag people have embarked on the road of guarding the road, and some are ordinary flag people, who through their own efforts, started with military merit, such as the Qianlong Dynasty's first-class Gonghai Lancha, whose identity is an ordinary vest.