Ancient official positions refer to the official positions of ancient political personnel, and the situation of ancient official positions involves official signatures, official names, and official positions. Since the situation of each dynasty is not the same, it can be roughly divided into two categories: central official positions and local official positions. "Cloth envoy" belongs to the local official position, this title, we have seen in many television works, at first glance literally think that there is something to do with "cloth".
But in fact, this is only an official position that existed in both the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the scope of authority has changed with the times. History of The Ming Dynasty. It is said in the Chronicle of officials in the fourth book: "Undertake to declare the political envoys, one on the left and one on the left and one political envoy, from the second product ... In charge of the government of a province, the imperial court has Virtue, prohibition, and inheritance of propaganda, and the following is Yu Yousi... Xuande and orthodoxy are still the same, and there has been none since then. ”
As we all know, the political envoys were first created in the Ming Dynasty, which was the development of the provincial system of the Yuan Dynasty. In order to manage the vast territory, the Yuan Dynasty created the provincial system, which was the beginning of China's provincial system, but the Ming Dynasty was an important period in the history of the development of the provincial system.
The Ming Dynasty abolished the post of Zhongshu Province, which belonged to officials at the central level, and abolished the corresponding institutions that matched Zhongshu Province. The official position was abolished, but the local management still needed to be continued, so the Ming Dynasty set up three new institutions with mutual implications in the original provincial management to complete the management of the county level. They are: the Department of Political Envoys, the Department of Probation, and the Department of Commanding Envoys.
Their specific roles are as follows:
At that time, there were thirteen positions in the country, of which the title of province was not added, but only the political envoys were divided into left and right, mainly responsible for some administrative affairs in the province. For example, managing population, civil affairs, money and grain, taxes, civil affairs, etc., are similar to the current provincial government agencies, just like the current provincial governor position, which is a provincial official.
In the Ming Dynasty, the envoys were from the rank of Erpin, and since there were not many officials above the erpin in the local area, the envoys were considered to be high officials on the side of the weight.
2. Sentencing according to the Department of Probation: The jurisdiction of this official position is basically the same as that of the envoy, but the matters for which it is responsible are different. It is mainly responsible for local legal affairs, public security and other matters, which is similar to the current provincial public security departments, procuratorates, courts and other institutions.
Third, the Command and Envoy Department: Mainly manages the military organization, and accepts the management of the Central Military Department and the Military Governor's Office, which is similar to the current provincial military districts. This position was in charge of military affairs and did not care about anything else in the local area. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that everyone rarely hears about this department.
These three divisions can be said to have their own responsibilities and responsibilities, but with the changes of the times, some changes have taken place in the central and local governments.
During this period, the Ming Dynasty produced ambassadors of Chincha and were sent to the local government to manage related affairs, and many new official positions were created, such as governor and inspector. During the Ming Dynasty, the governors and inspectors were all people of the central government, not subject to local control, and could be said to be very large officials. However, in the Qing Dynasty, this situation changed.
Some of the systems of the Ming Dynasty were followed by the Qing Dynasty. However, because the territory of the Qing Dynasty was much larger than that of the Ming Dynasty, the difficulty of management also increased, so some administrative affairs fell on the shoulders of local officials, and the things to manage became more. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty also optimized some systems before the Ming Dynasty to be more suitable for the application and management of the current government.
Here, let's look at the difference between the Ming and Qing dynasties in detail.
First, the governor and the inspector: During the Qing Dynasty, the governor and the inspector changed from a central official to a local official, the governor managed 1-3 provinces, and the governor only managed one province. But both the governor and the governor are official governors at the provincial level.
Second, the Department of Political Envoys: The Qing Dynasty's Department of Envoys was still subordinate to erpin, mainly responsible for matters of money, grain, and taxes, but it was no longer managed for local administrative affairs, and the provincial-level departments of envoys were no longer divided. However, in Jiangsu Province, it was a bit special, at that time, Jiangning and Suzhou each had a political envoy, still called the left and right envoys, also known as "Fantai" and "Fansi".
The envoys of the Qing Dynasty were equivalent to the current vice governors, who were vice provincial officials, and their status was slightly reduced compared with that of the Ming Dynasty.
Third, according to the Department of Inspection and Envoys: This official position is Juzheng Sanpin, and is still responsible for judicial work at the provincial level, which is basically the same as the Ming Dynasty, and there has not been much change. In addition, in a province, a number of yamen can be set up to supervise the yamen, the clan division, and the prefectural division.
Fourth, the Commander of the Envoy Department: Because there were changes in the military system, the post was not established during the Qing Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners were stationed in the border areas of various provinces and cities, and the local military was managed uniformly. The Green Battalion, on the other hand, was managed in pieces by the Governor and the Inspector. At that time, the Green Battalion was an important military armed force of the Qing Dynasty, and the limelight overshadowed the Eight Banners.
Fifth, the adjutant of learning and politics: referred to as the tixue, this official position is not graded, the main jurisdiction is the provincial scientific expedition and education work, and the current provincial propaganda department minister, secretary, director of the department of culture, director of the department of education and so on. This was a newly created position in the Qing Dynasty, but the work of this position was mainly done by envoys during the Ming Dynasty.
From this, it can be seen that during the Ming Dynasty, the Department of Political Envoys was an executive at the provincial level, and Erpin was the highest official of the provincial government agency and belonged to the provincial governor level. However, during the Qing Dynasty, the envoys were deputy provincial officials, belonging to the rank of executive vice governor. Therefore, whether it is the size of the official position, the level of the level, or the scope of management affairs, there are great differences between the Ming and Qing dynasties.
However, in any case, the position is indispensable and very important, related to the rise and fall of a provincial region, related to the life of a party of the people. As the saying goes, when officials do not make decisions for the people, it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes. Throughout the dynasties, no matter what kind of official position, no matter how high or low, they must think of doing things for the people and serving the people, only in this way can the rule of a country be long-lasting and the position of officials be stable.
Otherwise, it's all talk.
Resources:
[Ming Shi Zhi Zhi IV, Ming Jing Shi Wen Compilation, Qing History Manuscript Zhi III]