Among the ancient official positions, there were two that appeared the most often and made the deepest impression: one was the "Seven Pin Sesame Officials" Zhixian County, and the other was the prime minister who was "under one person and above ten thousand people". There are many prime ministers in ancient China, everyone is more familiar with them, but the names and nature of the prime ministers of different dynasties are different, so this section will talk to you about the prime ministers.
In most dynasties, their official name is not called Zaixiang or Xiangxiang, and the Zaixiang is not one, it may be two, three, or even a dozen or so. At the same time, the prime minister is not necessarily a pawn of the dynasty, and sometimes four or five officials can also worship the prime minister.
The origin and transformation of the prime minister
The prime minister was produced together with the emergence of the state apparatus, the Xia Shang Zhou period was generally called "Yin" or "Zai", the Spring and Autumn Period officially appeared the title of "Phase", and in the Warring States Period, almost all countries had the setting of "Phase".
After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, a centralized feudal empire was established, and the framework of China's ancient administrative institutions was also roughly formed. In the center of the Qin Dynasty, the chancellor was set up, divided into left and right, with the left as the upper. At the same time, it was also clearly stipulated that Yu Shi dafu should be the deputy of the chancellor and also in charge of supervision, and another lieutenant in charge of the military would be set up, and called "three dukes".
The Han Dynasty still set up a chancellor along the Qin system, still divided into left and right, with the right as the upper, if the chancellor is called "Xiangguo", then the status is more respected than the general xiangxiang. Xiao He and Cao Shan in the early Han Dynasty were both revered as Xiang guo. However, the Han Dynasty minister did not rule for a long time in the dynasty, and during the Han Dynasty, the imperial power was strengthened, favoring foreign relatives and close subjects, so the foreign dynasty's power was gradually reduced.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the three dukes such as Taiwei, Situ, and Sima were still nominally prime ministers, but they were basically false titles. Shangshu has always been the most powerful de facto prime minister. In fact, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, many dynasties no longer formally established the Chancellor. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the power of Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province gradually increased, and the governors of the three provinces were all called prime ministers, and this system was followed by the later Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The Tang Dynasty was a title of prime minister with many names
The Tang and Song dynasties were the most numerous and complex periods of prime ministers. The Tang Dynasty followed the Sui system, with the heads of the three provinces as the prime minister and the chief hundred officials Zuo Tianzi, who also had the role of mutual supervision and mutual restraint. Among the three provinces, Shangshu Province is the main one, and the head of Shangshu Province is "Shangshu Ling", which is subordinate to the left and right servants; the head of Zhongshu Province is "Zhongshu Ling", which is subordinate to Zhongshu Shilang; the head of Menxia Province is "Shizhong", and the subordinate is Menxia Shilang.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Shang Shu Ling, Zhongshu Ling, and Shi Zhong all worked together in the government affairs hall, and they were all called prime ministers. Since Emperor Taizong of Tang had served as Shangshu Ling before he succeeded to the throne, and he often fought outside, the actual work of Shangshu Province was presided over by left and right servants, who acted as prime ministers.
After Li Shimin became emperor, no one under his subjects dared to serve as Shangshu Ling again, and during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he officially abolished the post of Shangshu Ling, and at the same time added the left and right servants to "Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin", or added the name of "Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi" to serve as prime minister. If the left and right servants do not add such a title, then they cannot go to the government affairs hall to discuss matters, and they cannot be called prime ministers.
Tang Chu's name Xiangfang Xuanling was Zhongshu Ling, and the eldest grandson Wuji was "Shangshu Right Servant Shooting tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin". However, with the decline of the status of Shangshu Province, the status of Zhongshu and Menxia increased accordingly, and during the time of Wu Zetian, the government affairs hall moved into Zhongshu Province, and during the reign of Tang Xuanzong, it was renamed "Zhongshu Menxia", making Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province merge together.
In this way, even if other officials who are not left and right servants, as long as the emperor adds the titles of "Tong zhongshu menxia sanpin", "Tongzhongshu menxia Pingzhangshi", "participation in the pre-government affairs", "participation in the government affairs", "governor affairs", "participation in the government affairs", "participation in the discussion of the government affairs", etc., they can go to the Zhongshu gate to discuss politics and become the prime minister.
Obviously, after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there were several prime ministers, and generally one of these prime ministers was headed by a person called "prime minister". For example, Pei Yan in the time of Wu Zetian, Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong in the time of Emperor Xuanzong, Li Deyu in the time of Emperor Wuzong, and so on, are the prime ministers. In this way, the Tang Dynasty had as few as two prime ministers and as many as more than ten people, and there were more than 360 prime ministers in the entire Tang Dynasty, and most of them were below the three pins.
So many official titles of prime minister are naturally different, such as Li Linfu as "Libu Shangshu tong zhongshu menxia sanpin", Lu Yan and Li Jifu as "Zhongshu Shilang with PingZhangshi", Niu Zengru as "Hubu Shilang with Pingzhangshi", and Li Deyu as "Menxia Shilang with Pingzhangshi". On the contrary, although those elderly and important ministers in the imperial court had the titles of Zhongshu Ling and Shizhong, they were not considered prime ministers because they did not have titles such as "Pingzhang Zhengshi".
The reason why the rank of prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty was generally low was mainly that the emperor did not allow the ministers to be both high and powerful in order to prevent the story of usurpation of the throne during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The weight of the prime minister is mostly used by those who are not high in rank to be the prime minister with the titles of "participating in the government affairs" and "participating in the government of the dynasty".
The Chancellor system of the Tang Dynasty also needs to be noted for several points:
1, after the names of the governors of the three provinces and the three provinces were changed, the names of the prime ministers also changed, such as changing Shangshu Province to "Wenchangtai" during the Wu Zetian period, Zhongshu Province to "Fengge", and Menxia Province to "Luantai", so the tang Dynasty's name Di Renjie was called "Luantai Shilang Tongping Zhangshi", also called "Tongfengge Luantai Pingzhangshi", and at the same time was awarded the title of Yinqing Guanglu Doctor, so Di Renjie's official position was only from Sanpin.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Zhongshu Province was changed to "Ziwei Province" and Shizhong Province to "Huangmen Province", so the title of "Tongziwei Huangmen Sanpin" appeared. Due to the many changes in the rankings of the governors of the three provinces and the three provinces of the Tang Dynasty, it brought many difficulties to many readers.
2. After the Middle and Tang Dynasties, due to the division of the feudal towns, the degree of moderation made the power extremely great, so the title of prime minister was added to the envoy of the festival in large quantities, but this kind of prime minister was only an honor, and they did not go to the central office, so it was called "envoy".
In addition, the Hanlin scholars trusted by the emperor can add the titles of "to be edicted" and "zhizhi system" to draft various edicts on behalf of the emperor, and approve the answers, called "internal system", they play a great role, generally known as "internal minister", in fact, it is also the prime minister, such as the famous minister Zhang Jiuling is the prime minister of this nature.
In the Song Dynasty, Yuan dynasty and Ming Dynasty, there were also prime ministers, but since the Abolition of the Prime Minister system in the thirteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the real prime minister has also officially withdrawn from the historical stage, and with the further strengthening of imperial power, the so-called prime minister in the Ming and Qing dynasties has become in name only.