When the governor of the Qing Dynasty was transferred to Shangshu of the Criminal Department, was he promoted and reused, or demoted? This question is a private message I received from a reader in the background, and I will take this opportunity to talk to you about this problem today.
The relationship between the governor of the Qing Dynasty and Shangshu of the Criminal Department has actually undergone some major changes in different historical periods. The Qing Dynasty began outside the customs and merged the Ming Dynasty system with the Eight Flags system. In the center of the imperial court, the six cabinets of the Ming Dynasty were inherited, including the Criminal Department.
At the local level, the system of establishing governors and governors in the local areas of the Ming Dynasty was inherited. It must be noted here that when the governor was first established, he was actually a Beijing official, temporarily assigned to the local government to handle military and government affairs, and later out of practical needs such as handling government affairs and offices, he gradually evolved into a local feudal official.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, the governor was still a little less interesting than Shangshu of the Criminal Department. First of all, in terms of grade, the governor was treated in the Qing Dynasty as a second-grade official, while the Criminal Department Shangshu was from the first grade, and here it was a little worse. Moreover, in the early days of the Qing Dynasty, the central government still followed the system of the six-ministry cabinet, and the power of the criminal ministry itself, in charge of prisons and justice, was also heavier and higher in the six ministries.
In addition, in the Qing Dynasty, the governor also held relatively limited real power, mainly to supervise military affairs and food, and the governor of some places may be granted some special powers by the emperor, such as concurrently serving as the governor of the province or region where he is stationed, or tea and horse affairs, etc., but it is still not a regular system.
However, at the beginning of the Yongzheng period, many systems of the Qing Dynasty underwent major adjustments. In the center, the Military Aircraft Division was established. It was an emperor's secretarial body. Although during the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor also set up a Nanshufang as a secretarial agency to assist him in handling government affairs, the Nanshufang did not replace the cabinet as the later Military Aircraft Department did, becoming a new hub, nor did it last long, from a temporary institution to a long-term institution accompanying the last years of the Qing Dynasty.
The establishment of the Military Aircraft Department greatly reduced the power of the original six cabinets. Although nominally speaking, the cabinet scholar of the imperial court and the official of the six ministries of Shangshutang are still high-ranking officials of the imperial court, but if they do not enter the military aircraft department, their real power is greatly reduced.
In contrast, the Governor's power at the local level was increasing. Beginning during the Yongzheng period, the imperial court began to make the governor hold the posts of Shangshu of the military department and the imperial history of the right capital of the capital Chayuan. The imperial court granted the governor these two official positions, mainly so that the governor could better control the military power in his jurisdiction and supervise the subordinate officials. With these two official positions at the same time, the governor can not only expand his real power a lot, but more importantly, the grade is the same as that of the criminal department Shangshu, and they are all subordinate to the first product.
Moreover, after the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties, this concurrently serving as the governor became the norm. At this time, if the governor is transferred to the capital to serve as the secretary of the criminal department, unless he is transferred to the military aircraft department again, it is only a level-level transfer. This situation also has a corresponding case in real history. According to the Qing History Manuscript, during the Qianlong period, the emperor transferred Li Wei from the post of Shangshu of the Criminal Department to the position of directly subordinate governor.
However, in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a relatively big change between the power of Shangshu of the Criminal Department and the governor. Behind this change, the essence is the trade-off between the central and local powers of the Qing Dynasty.
From the end of the Qianlong Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was corrupt and local rebellions occurred from time to time, and later the anti-Qing Dynasty was huge, and the imperial court was unable to suppress it, so it could only appoint local regiments to train and give local officials such as governors and governors greater temporary powers. Later, although the Qing Dynasty suppressed the rebellion, and Zeng Guofan and others also took the initiative to disband the Xiang army to show loyalty to the imperial court, the expansion of local power has become a trend.
Especially after the two Opium Wars, the imperial court had another one more that had to deal directly with foreigners, and after setting up foreign affairs in order to strengthen itself, the local governors began to have more diplomatic powers, and could deal directly with foreign countries, handle foreign affairs, and train new troops, such as Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others. They also enjoy playing their hand in the place.
Especially before the Sino-Japanese naval battle, Li Hongzhang held Beiyang and held the posts of directly subordinate governor and minister of Beiyang, not to mention Shangshu of the Criminal Department, even if he was the minister of military aircraft, he might not be able to meet his ambitions. Not to mention that ordinary foreigners know more about Li Hongzhang than most princes and ministers. Even the governors of other positions often hold some vacant positions such as salt administration and river channel, which is not only real power, but also profitable.
That is to say, in the late Qing Dynasty, although the rank of the governor and the criminal department Shangshu were still at the same level, the transfer under this kind was unless it was to enter the military aircraft department or concurrently hold other positions. Otherwise, it's more of a stealth downgrade. However, the post of Shangshu of the Criminal Department was abolished during the Guangxu period, and the post of governor accompanied the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Friends who are interested in history can pay attention to: brain hole aliens, an alien who studies the history of the earth