The official titles of "ZhiXian" and "County Order" of the ancient feudal dynasties, at first glance, seem to be the meaning of the county chief. In fact, the one-word difference between the two is a world of difference.
The evolution of feudalism
Speaking of "county orders", few people know that the appearance of county orders is even earlier than that of the emperor, even as early as to start from ancient times... Dayu made meritorious contributions to the management of water and successfully became the leader of the Chinese nation. After Dayu's death, he passed on his leadership position to his son Qi, and since then, China has officially entered the feudal dynasty of "father to son, family to world".
Portrait of Da Yu Zhi Shui
By the Time of the Zhou Dynasty, the feudal system developed into a feudal system, in which the Zhou Tianzi divided the country regionally, and then appointed members of the royal family and meritorious servants to govern in different places. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, because the princes everywhere were very wise and loyal and grateful to the Zhou Tianzi for their sub-sealing, this sub-feudal system was also very effective.
However, with the passage of time and the existence of the hereditary system, the ability of the princes in various places was not as good as that of the previous generation, and the loyalty was not as good as before, and since then, the sub-feudal system has gradually collapsed, and the princes have supported themselves and leaned on each other, and Zhou Tianzi has become useless. Thus entering the chaotic Warring States period, a new administrative system was born.
Zhou Tianzi's sub-sealing system
Origin of the county order
During the Warring States period, the various princely states were divided and independent, annexed to each other, and the war was raging, and the situation changed between the stars and the stars. Whenever a new territory was laid, it had to be troubled by how to manage this new land, so the official position of "county order" came into being.
Since this land was acquired by the vassal states through war aggression, the native people of the land would more or less resist the invaders. In order to compensate for their own losses in the war, the invaders often expropriated and violently expropriated the people in the invaded lands, making the contradictions between the indigenous people and the new ruling class more and more intense, and the regional situation will become turbulent and unstable, which is not conducive to recuperation.
Warring States situation map
Therefore, the management of the new land has become a hot potato, very difficult to deal with, but if left unchecked, it will be difficult to maintain the ruling class's right to rule this land for a long time.
In order to gain the trust of the natives in the new ruling class, the conquerors would often recruit some prestigious natives from the local area to serve as leaders and administrators of the region, calling them "county orders". These county decrees were very appealing before they became county ordinances, so it would be convincing to more indigenous people that he would administer the area in place of the ruling class.
Photo of the county order
Of course, the county order at this time will not be given too much power, and it is enough to be mainly responsible for maintaining law and order and collecting money and grain. The reason why the Warring States period did not dare to let the county order have too much power was mainly because the territory of the princely states was small, so they were most afraid of internal rebellion, and once they rebelled, the collapse of the entire country would be easy. Therefore, the central ruling class will inevitably find ways to firmly grasp power in its own hands.
After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, the concept of princely states ceased to exist. In the face of the vast territory after reunification, in order to facilitate the centralization and management, Qin Shi Huang decided to change the administrative system of the original sub-feudal system to the county system, and since then, the county has become a formal administrative unit, and the county order has officially become an official exclusive to the administrative region of the county.
Illustration of Qin Shi Huang's unification of the Six Kingdoms
But the county order at this time is not so completely acceptable. Because many people still retain the concept of the period of sub-feudalism, they are unwilling to admit that they have become Qin people, so naturally they do not want to see the grass-roots parent official under the county system: county order. Therefore, the situation of the county order seems to have become more embarrassing, and even when Liu Bang revolted, it was started by killing the county order of Pei County.
However, whether it is Qin or Han, it clearly stipulates that counties with a population of more than 10,000 households are clearly defined, and county officials are called county orders. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to frequent wars and a sharp decline in population, the county governors in this period were all called county orders. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the grades and names of county orders were more meticulous and cumbersome, and today, county orders are roughly equivalent to the deputy secretary of the CPC county party committee in a county, and are second in command after the secretary of the CPC county party committee.
County orders in film and television dramas
After saying the county order, let's see what is the difference between Zhi County?
The origin of Zhi County
Zhixian was first born in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms at the end of the Tang Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the highest official of the county was the county order, but by the end of the Tang Dynasty, when the military and government were divided and independent, the Tianzi of the Tang Dynasty was already useless. At this time, as the basis of local politics in the Tang Dynasty, counties have always been places where various separatist forces competed for them.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the town was divided
At this time, although the Tianzi of the Tang Dynasty was useless, the generals of these local separatist forces were not too brazen to directly drive away the original county orders, so they sent their own officials to "jointly govern" with the local county orders to further weaken the real power in the hands of the county orders.
During the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, who was deeply afraid that the local armed forces were too strong and threatened the centralized power, pursued a policy of emphasizing literature over military force while reforming the basic local official positions, the most important of which was the reform of the appointment of county orders. The counties of the Song Dynasty were strategically divided into five levels according to the size of the population and location.
Zhao Kuangyin's cup of wine released the military power
For the three counties of the upper, middle, and lower levels, they are still managed according to the traditional county orders in the past, but for the counties with large populations and strong strategic strength, the central government will send court officials to govern, and the central government dispatched local government officials still adopt a rotation system, which is not fixed.
Especially during the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system was prosperous, and many of the top preparatory scholars and doctors would be sent by the imperial court to the localities for grass-roots training in turn, and then returned to Beijing as officials after accumulating certain qualifications. These officials who were appointed from the central government to the local government in charge of county affairs were called Zhi County. In the Song Dynasty, when the literati and inkers flourished, there were especially many people who participated in the imperial examination system and entered the career path, so the number of Zhixian who were sent to the local area gradually exceeded the number of traditional county orders.
Officials of the Song Dynasty
Over time, the highest-ranking governors of the county were called ZhiXian . The famous Wang Anshi in history, after passing the examination for the jinshi, was first sent to the local area to serve as the judge of Huainan Jiedu, and later transferred to Yin County as a Zhi County, and returned to Beijing as an official because of his rich political achievements.
Later, the three dynasties of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties also followed the Song Dynasty's "Zhixian" name, and the county order gradually faded out of the historical stage and was replaced by "Zhixian".
Be with the masses of the people
The difference between a county and a county order
Finally, let's summarize the difference between Zhi County and County Order. The two were very different from the beginning of their establishment, and the county order appeared earlier, and it was always the highest official of the local county-level administrative district, until the late Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty began to be gradually replaced by Zhi County. Zhixian appeared much later, and at the beginning it was mainly temporary positions, and it was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that it completely replaced the county order and began to gradually stabilize.
Officials are turning heads and ears
However, in general, the difference between the two official ranks is actually not much different, and the status of the DPRK and China is not high. The county order has always been very formal and stable, and Zhixian in the Song Dynasty was only a prop for the experience of Shitu Xiaobai brush. However, no matter how stable the county order is, it is only a local official, and it is still obviously different from those zhi counties that will become central officials sooner or later. At the same time, because the position of Zhixian is the representative of the central power at the grass-roots level and the upward passage to middle and senior officials, it can also stimulate the enthusiasm of officials for work.
Portrait of the Zhixian judgment
It is worth noting that the administrative functions entrusted to the county order and the zhi county are completely different. The county order, as the highest administrator at the county level, has a lot of power in the local area. However, with the restriction of Zhi County, the power will be "diluted" a lot. Zhixian can not only appoint staff and issue government decrees, but also have the power to appoint and remove county orders, reward and punish, and recommend them. It is even possible to dispatch military service in the county and have certain military command powers.
Portrait of Zhixian Xunhu
In contrast, as a magistrate, county decrees only have the work of civil litigation, collecting taxes, and educating the people, and naturally do not have the administrative authority of central officials to appoint staff and issue government decrees, and at most they can only dispatch the servants in the county court. Therefore, the power of the county is naturally much greater than the power of the county order. Until the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the reduction of the bureaucratic system, Zhixian simply merged and implemented the part of the county order directly, and the county order completely ceased to exist.