The following article is reproduced from the Monthly Journal of Historiography and is gratefully acknowledged.
Guo Xiaodong, Ph.D. in History
Lecturer, School of Politics and Public Administration, Henan Normal University.
Abstract:The chief official is the general name of the main subordinate officials of the central and local governments in the Yuan Dynasty. Its system originated in the Jin Dynasty and was formed in the Yuan Dynasty. The chieftains of the Jin Dynasty were distributed in Shangshu Province, the Privy Council and its dispatched agencies, such as the Shangshu Province and the Xingshu Council, but the capital and other official positions of these institutions did not belong to the chief officials. The meaning of "chief official" is born in the context of the blurring of the boundaries between officials and the promotion of the status of officials. The title of "chief official" appeared no later than the middle of the Jin Dynasty, but it did not become institutionalized until the end of the Jin Dynasty. The establishment of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty was largely confined to the central institutions and not to the local governments. The establishment of the chief official system of the Yuan Dynasty was based on Kublai Khan's proclamation of the emperor and the implementation of the Han law, inheriting the position of the chief official of the Jin Dynasty. As a result, the Yuan Dynasty formed a systematic system of chieftains. The chieftain system has carried out a comprehensive transformation of the central and local bureaucratic system since the Song Dynasty, and has changed the external form and internal operation of the traditional fourth-class official system.
Keywords: Jin Dynasty; Yuan Dynasty; Chief Officer; subordinate officer; Fourth-class bureaucracy
From the 12th to the 14th centuries, the Jin and Yuan dynasties, which were established by the northern ethnic groups, had an important impact on the direction of Chinese history. In terms of political system, new measures such as the one-province system in the center of the Jin and Yuan dynasties and the local provincial system enriched the connotation of the Tang and Song dynasties and directly affected the development of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The chieftain system is a typical example of this. The chief official is the general name of the main subordinate officials of the central and local governments in the Yuan Dynasty. The subordinate officials with the name of "chief officer" began in the Jin Dynasty, inherited and carried forward in the Yuan Dynasty, and formally established the chief officer system. Rooted in the special political and cultural background of the Jin and Yuan dynasties, it profoundly changed the bureaucratic system and administrative operation mode of the Song Dynasty and descended from the Song Dynasty, and was also an important source for the construction of the bureaucratic system in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The positions of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty included the left and right officials of Shangshu Province and the experience of the Privy Council, etc., probably because the title of "chief official" only appeared sporadically, so it did not attract widespread attention from scholars. Xu Fan first put forward the concept of "chief official" in the Jin Dynasty, which was quite a pioneering achievement, but there was no special and in-depth discussion. The academic accumulation of the leaders of the Yuan Dynasty is much more than that of the Jin Dynasty. Xu Fan systematically examined the scope, responsibilities, sources, promotion characteristics and functions of the leaders of the Yuan Dynasty, and laid the foundation for research in this field. Other achievements mainly focus on the role of government leaders at all levels in the Yuan Dynasty in the handling of government affairs or the operation of bureaucracy, which has been more in-depth and thorough.
The achievements of the former sages are very prominent, but there are also some weaknesses: first, there is still a lack of care for the generation, operation and institutional significance of the leaders of the Jin Dynasty; Second, the clues of the evolution between the Jin and the Yuan chiefs, the establishment process and influencing factors of the Yuan Dynasty chieftain system are ignored. Third, the discussion of the chieftains of the Jin Yuan is relatively limited to the Jin Yuan, and to a certain extent lacks the idea of placing them under the bureaucratic system since the Song Dynasty. In view of this, this paper will start from the above three points and try to present the opinions on the system of the head of the Jin Yuan, in order to be beneficial to the study of related issues.
One
The composition of the position of the chief officer of the Jin Dynasty
As a kind of subordinate official title pioneered by the Jin Dynasty, "Chief Officer" was still in the embryonic and initial development state of the Jin Dynasty. There are few relevant historical records and a high degree of repetition, so it is difficult to fully investigate the composition of his position. At present, the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty mainly include the left and right Shilang officials of Shangshu Province (Langzhong, Yuanwailang), the experience of the Privy Council, the left and right Shilang officials of Xingshangshu Province and the experience of the Privy Council.
First of all, look at the chief of Shangshu Province. The article "Annotation Academy" of "Jin Shi Baiguan Zhi" says: "Repair the living note, take the notes, and move ...... Zhenyou for three years, with the head of the left and right divisions, as a custom. During the Zhenyou period, it was the left and right Shilang officials who "also carried the revision officials", so it is known that the left and right Shiro officials were the chief officials. This can also be demonstrated by concrete examples. In the third year of Zhenyou (1215), he supervised the imperial history Xu Gu "moved to the left division of the left division of the foreign lang, and also lived in the note", that is, the head of the left division and the official of the revision note. "The Biography of Bai Hua in the Golden History" is also known as the head of the White Hua in the Right Shilang. The above records in the History of Jin can be cross-corroborated with other documents. According to "Returning to the Hidden Chronicles, Recording Cui Li's Monument", when Cui Liju surrendered to Mongolia at the end of the Jin Dynasty, Liu Qi was summoned to the Zuo Si Rite Room, "Provincial Peng Cao Yifu introduced the two leaders Zhang Xinzhi and Yuan Yuzhi" to discuss the establishment of a monument for Cui Li. Zhang Xin was the Zuo Shilang Zhong, and Yuan Yuzhi was the Zuo Division's member Wailang Yuan, and both of them were called the chiefs. In the same book, "Recording the Great Liang Affair", Yang Juren is also called Yang Juren in Zuo Shilang as the leader. According to the record of "The Last Affair of Runan", Jin Aizong said: "Close servants, hearts, imperial history, ears and eyes, and both, not the prime minister, the chief official, the prime minister, the minister or the minister do not know, and those who know are only the ears of the officials." The official position of the left and right divisions of the Jin Dynasty was Lang Guan, so the "left and right division officials" were the left and right division officials. It can be seen that the chief official of Shangshu Province is the left and right Shilang officials.
The chief of Shangshu Province is sometimes referred to simply as "chief". According to the "Remains of Runan", in June of the second year of Tianxing (1233), Jin Aizong recounted to others the dereliction of duty of Wang Daji in the former left and right Shilang in the rebellion of Pucha officials and slaves, and then said: "I can't kill him, and the first Heshuo Prime Minister from the leader of several people is not opposed, and he is a great helper, so he has endured it so far and granted him a dismissal." Under the small note cloud: "The left and right Shilang (inner) clan can be false, and the word is virtuous." Crown, famous, Chongqing Jinshi. Wanyan Hulura, the word Zhongheng, and Jinde are both born in the history of the provincial order. They all died in the defeat of the city. "The city is full of affairs, that is, the rebellion of Pucha officials and slaves. In March of the second year of Tianxing, Marshal Pucha Guannu rebelled with the loyal and filial piety army, killed more than 300 officials below the execution, and put Jin Aizong under house arrest. "False" means to finish the face and "Yan" is Zhang Yan. The two of them and Wanyan Hulura both served as the left and right Shilang officials at this time. It can be seen that the "number of leaders" mentioned by Jin Aizong is the chief officials of the left and right divisions of Shangshu Province, including Wang Daji, Wanyan Yanke, etc., and "chief" is the abbreviation of "chief official". The epitaph of Wang Yuande written by Lu Zhengan, a Jin man, also said: "The old Asahi used to be the leader of the left and right divisions, and Shi Xianzong (according to, that is, the prince of the Sejong Dynasty) ordered him to kill his rites, and to enlighten the capital. This "chief" is also the chief officer, which refers to the left and right Shilang officials, excluding the capital.
According to the records of the "Jin Shi Baiguan Zhi", the left and right divisions of Shangshu Province set up Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Dushi. Since the left and right divisions and the members of the foreign affairs are the chief officials, why are the left and right divisions not the chief officials? What is the essential difference between them and the Lang officials? This is not only related to the nature of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty, but also related to the establishment of the chief officer system of the Yuan Dynasty.
Since the Tang and Song dynasties, the position of capital affairs has to a certain extent been between officials and officials. In the Tang Dynasty, the capital brought the internal officials, but because of the close relationship with the foreign officials in terms of candidates and positions, they were regarded as Xu officials by the people of the time. The capital affairs of the Song Dynasty still brought internal official goods, but in the system, they were classified as officials. The institutionalization of the official position in the Tang Dynasty was a new change in the Song Dynasty. What was the nature of the position of the capital affairs of the Jin Dynasty? According to the "Jin History: Hundred Official Chronicles", the left and right divisions were divided into "two members of the capital affairs, and seven products". From this point of view, it seems that the capital is an official position in the gold system. However, in the same book, the "Election Chronicle" says: "All officials who are appointed as capital affairs, pawn affairs, chief ministers, governors, and provincial decrees, overshadowing, cabinet divisions, direct provinces, deputy directors of the direct courts, procurators, legal knowledge, and hospital affairs supervisors are on errand and envoys, and the history of the decrees, the history of translation, the history of books, the history of books, the scribes, the translators, the translators, and the general affairs, and those who should have backgrounds in the bureaus are all exiled positions." The meaning of this sentence is that those who hold these positions are outsiders. According to this, everything again presents an out-of-flow attribute. Records of foreign jobs are also found elsewhere. In the second year of Dading (1162), the May court ceremony stipulated: "The seven products have been indecent to foreign jobs, and they are not suitable for entering the palace in case of the sun." If the left and right divisions have to take things together, they will listen to the palace. It can be seen that the left and right divisions belong to one of the "seven products that have been indecent foreign jobs".
Regarding the above issues, Chen Zhaoyang's article "Jin Dai's Foreign Posts and Their Personnel Qualifications" has been discussed a lot, and the relevant views are as follows: in the "Jin History: Election Chronicles", the positions filled by the officials are indeed the foreign positions, and there are two kinds of foreign positions (capital affairs, chief affairs, etc.) and no products (provincial order history, etc.), but they are all official positions. Correspondingly, all of them are official positions. This is to follow the Tang and Song Dynasty officials can have quality, but all the quality officials have been demoted to foreign positions. "Aligning the internal and external flow of duties with the distinction between the two major attributes of officials, such as officials, may also reflect the development trend of the deepening gap between officials since the Tang and Song dynasties." From this research, it can be seen that the attribute of the capital affairs of the Jin Dynasty was the position of a foreign official, and the official character contained in the "Hundred Official Chronicles" was the result of the influence of the system of the Tang and Song dynasties, which does not mean that it was an official position in the stream. However, the argument that "the gap between officials is deepening" may need to be considered. Although the institutional distinction between the internal and external officials of the Jin Dynasty is relatively clear, in reality, the boundary between the two is blurred, which is particularly evident in the high-level official positions such as metropolitan affairs and chief officials (more on this later). It should be said that the divergence of officials to the Jin Dynasty has been effectively reversed. Therefore, the gap between the officials and officials of the Jin Dynasty was not deepened, but bridged. However, the internal positions in the Tang and Song dynasties changed to those in the gold system, and their positioning seems to have declined. This is also reflected in the history of provincial decrees: in the Tang and Song dynasties, the provincial decrees were divided into foreign official positions and internal officials, and in the gold system, they were foreign officials, that is, they became pure officials. In the author's opinion, the status of metropolitan affairs and other officials may seem to be "declining", but from the perspective of the blurring of the boundaries between officials, it is clear that their status has improved. The issue is complex and needs to be further examined in the future.
In short, the Jin Dynasty has an essential difference between the left and right divisions and the left and right divisions, although the former has a grade, but the position attribute is a foreign official. It is precisely because of the differences between the Lang officials and the officials in terms of internal and external goods, and the subordinates of the officials, that the left and right divisions have not been included in the scope of the position of chief officials. It can be seen that the nature of the chief officer of the Jin Dynasty should be an official. In the same way, although the chief, governor, and supervisor have ranks, they are also foreign officials, and they do not belong to the chief officials. The statement that "the chief officials, including experience, capital affairs, chiefs, and governors" contained in the "Chief Officials" article of the "Dictionary of Chinese History" still needs to be accurate. This description applies to the Yuan dynasty (more on this later), but does not fully correspond to the situation of the Jin dynasty.
Secondly, look at the head of the Privy Council. According to Yuan Haowen's records, Jin Aizong served as a privy envoy for a long time before he ascended the throne, with Zhao Siwen as the privy council experience. Zhao was later transferred to the Jiedu envoy, at this time Aizong had ascended the throne, and the sergeant discussed: "Jiedu, the chief official when he controls the cardinal mansion today, I Cao can't take it lightly." "It can be seen that the experience is the head of the Privy Council. In April of the first year of Tianxing (1232), "the Privy Council was returned to Shangshu Province, with the prime minister and court official, and the head of the left and right divisions and the experience officer". The experience of the Privy Council is similar to that of the left and right Shirou, and they are both chief officials, so they have the conditions to serve concurrently.
Finally, look at the province of Shangshu and the head of the Privy Council. "The Remains of Runan" contains, in August of the second year of Tianxing, "Xizhou Marshal's Mansion reported that the Song people were on the border, and the military horses were heavy, with the meaning of peeping, and begging for the soldiers to prepare." The edict was held to participate in the political ceremony, and the Privy Council was signed to lead the loyal and filial piety army of 300, the army of the Commander-in-Chief of Caizhou was 3,000, and the affairs of the province and the court were rested, and the Ministry of Rites was headed by Wen Di Han Xira, the governor of Shangshu Province, and Wang Ying, the head of the household department. The affairs of the provinces and courts in Xizhou, such as the Wudian and the Lou Chamber, are recorded in the Mourning Sect of the Golden History and the Biography of the Lou Chamber, which can be corroborated. From the record of "The Remains of Runan", it can be seen that Wendi Hanxira, Wanyan Nenta, and Wang Ying should be the heads of the two institutions of the province and the court. The Jin Dynasty Province had the positions of left and right Shilang officials, metropolitan affairs, and military assistants, all of which were foreign officials, so they could be excluded from the chiefs. In view of the fact that the experience of the left and right Shilang officials and the Privy Council of Shangshu Province is called the chief officer, and the province and the court have a chief officer, it can be roughly concluded that the left and right Shilang officials and the executive court experience of the province are the chief officials. In other words, the relevant positions of the province and the Privy Council derived from the Shangshu Province and the Privy Council are also the chief officials. However, it is not known whether the provincial experience is called a chief. Similarly, there are experiences from other institutions. For example, the Marshal's Office, the Xuanfu Department (later changed to the Pacification Division), the Military Commandery Division, and the Economic Strategy Department of the Jin Dynasty also had experience. These experience officials appear in the historical materials one after another, but the author has not yet seen a record of being called "chief officials".
It can be seen that the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty are mainly distributed in the highest administrative center of Shangshu Province, the highest military organ Privy Council and its dispatched agencies Xingshangshu Province and Xingshu Privy Council, and the title of "chief official" should be extended from the former to the latter.
Two
The background and institutionalization trend of the emergence of the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty
After clarifying the composition of the positions of the chiefs of the Jin Dynasty, it is possible to examine the background of the chiefs according to the specific positions among them. After the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, the situation of the division of officials and the low status of officials in the Tang and Song dynasties was broken, and the status of officials, especially senior officials, rose significantly, and the boundaries between officials were blurred, which was the background of the title of "chief official". The "chief officer" appeared in the Jin Shizong Dynasty at the latest, but it evolved until the end of the Jin Dynasty before it became institutionalized.
1. The background of the formation of the chieftain
The specific date of the appearance of the title of "chief official" is unknown, but according to the available information, it was first seen in the epitaph of Wang Yuande written by Lu Zhengan. The epitaph was written in the second year of Jin Zhangzong's succession, that is, in the first year of Ming Chang (1190). In view of the fact that it took a period of time for a term to become popular in society, it can be assumed that the "chief official" should have appeared earlier than the Jangjong Dynasty, and the Sejong Dynasty or earlier should have existed. The meaning of "chieftain" is not clearly recorded in historical sources. Here you can refer to the definition of the chief officer of the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty chieftain is the meaning of "chief official" or "chief of officials", and the author believes that the meaning of Jin Dynasty chief official should be the same. First of all, the political system of the Jin and Yuan dynasties had a strong inheritance, and the direct source of the Yuan Dynasty chieftain system was the Jin Dynasty chieftains (see the third part of this article for details). Secondly, since it is called "chief official", there must be a person under the command, taking the chief officer of the Jin Dynasty as an example, and his subordinates are officials such as the metropolitan affairs. Therefore, the meaning of "chief officer" should be the chief officer or the head of the officials. Finally, clues can also be glimpsed from the relevant records of the leaders of the Jin Dynasty. In the epitaph of Wang Yuande, quoted above, "Asahi used to be the leader of the left and right divisions, and Shi Xianzong ordered him to kill his ceremony, and he enlightened the capital with the capital", which shows the fact that the left and right Shilang officials are the leaders (officials) of the capital.
The Tang and Song dynasties were no different from those of the Jin Dynasty, so why did the Tang and Song Lang officials not have titles such as "chief officials" and "chief officials"? In the Tang Dynasty, due to the division of officials, the capital affairs were full-time positions for people from other places, and their transfer was confined to their own relatively independent and closed clerical system. The officials of Zhu Shilang were praised by the Tang people as the officials of the "clear stream", and the selection was strict, and the officials could not be touched. The Song Dynasty followed the trend of the Tang Dynasty's bureaucracy of dividing their paths, and although they were entrusted with important duties by the rulers, "the rulers were always wary of them and took strict precautions to put them in a lower political position", and the scholars disdained to do the official duties. After the reform of Yuanfeng, the selection and appointment of the left and right Shilang officials realized the complete humanization of scholars, and became "the important position of the middle and high-level court officials". In short, the political status of the left and right Si Dushi in the Tang and Song dynasties was low, and there was a clear difference in identity from Lang Guan, and it was difficult and unnecessary for the latter to be called the leader or leader of the former.
The Jin Dynasty was not the case, "the palace guards and the provincial Taiwan Department translated history, order history, and general affairs, and Shijin were all listed in the main class", and the phenomenon of scholars and officials filling officials was very common, and the division of officials was broken. In particular, the status of senior officials has been elevated, their power has increased, and they have shown unity with official positions in terms of election and promotion, and the difference in status between the two has been significantly reduced. This provides the conditions for the birth of the chieftain, and it is intended to be briefly illustrated by taking the left and right divisions as examples. From the institutional point of view, the left and right divisions of the Tang and Song dynasties were from the sixth grade and the eighth grade, while the left and right divisions of the Jin Dynasty were the seventh grades, and the grade was higher than that of the Tang and Song dynasties, which was closer to the staff of the Tang and Song dynasties. This reflects the improvement of the status of the left and right divisions of the Jin Dynasty. When Jin Xianzong was in charge of the country, "he ordered to kill his rites and enlighten the capital", and Wang Yuande, the right secretary of the capital, "played everything in detail, and did everything to make sense...... The number of Gong (Yuande) is advisored, and the discussion is audible. Every time the call is right, the sun is moved, and so is its knowledge." Jin Xianzong broke the routine and took charge of the affairs of the left and right divisions, which seemed to be accidental, but in fact it was based on the promotion of the status of the position. From the perspective of political behavior, the exercise of power in the Jin Dynasty was also more prominent than that of the previous generation. In the Sejong Dynasty, Wang Yuande was appointed as the right secretary of the capital, "There are prisoners who beat and kill, and the public thinks that it is wrong, and the execution wants to make it a crime, and Sejong said: 'I know why I hurt people with iron, and what is wrong with my words.'" 'The public apologized. After a long time, Shang Fu said: "How wide is the Qing theory, it is better to follow the Qing theory", and finally the prisoner "has to reduce death". Wang Yuande's debate with the emperor on the matter of punishment and prison reflects the important influence of the right division on the handling of government affairs. This is in stark contrast to the situation in which clerical officials have lost their initiative in handling government affairs since the Sui and Tang dynasties. Changes in status and power may breed the disadvantages of the left and right divisions arbitrarily exercising power. Zhang Zongchao, Shangshu Province selected to receive the Song envoys, "ordered Shi Zhouang to petition several members, and Li Bingcheng, the governor of Zuosi, was drunk and saw it, and said angrily: 'I raise two people, and I use Xu Wei?' Ordered to take Ang's clothes and canes left and right, and the left official summoned Ang to go, and ordered the history to be a slave. Li Bingjun, the commander of the Ming Dynasty, said: 'How can I only scold, if you advance and retreat, you will stay, and they will all be in me'." Li Bing's intention to choose a receptionist without authorization and scolding Ling Shi was a drunken behavior, but after sobering up the next day, he was still arrogant, thinking that he could decide whether Ling Shi would stay or not. The whole process is clearly in violation, and it seems that it can be seen as an undesirable consequence of the elevation of the political status of the capital. The change of status also brought about the unity of the left and right officials (i.e., Lang officials) and Lang officials in terms of selection and advancement. In the second year of Zhenyuan (1154), it was stipulated that the left and right divisions were "born in the palace, and entered the scholars, and the three colors of the history were elected"; For three years, "to supervise the corresponding person of the imperial history". The vast majority of the supervising imperial histories seen in the history are from Jinshi. Therefore, from the perspective of the system, the candidates for the left and right Shilang officials are mainly Jinshi. It can also be seen from the biography of the "History of Jin" that the candidates for the left and right Sidu affairs, except for the officials from the Jurchens and Khitans in the early stage, the rest of the period is basically all Jinshi people. This is much the same as the situation of the left and right Shirou officials. In the Jin Dynasty, serving as the left and right ministers was regarded as a symbol of a bright career. For example, Zhang Wangong, "for the right division of Shangshu Province, the imperial court will be of great use"; Shang Heng, "Charge the right division, so the court will be of great use"; Liu Zhong promoted the right division of the capital, "will be of great use". The above is true, the Jin Dynasty once served as the left and right of the capital of the chief of the nine chiefs, the career of the capital is far better than the Tang and Song dynasties. Similar descriptions can also be found in the left and right Shilang officials, such as Liu Ang, "promoted to the left Shilang, will be of great use". From this, it is known that whether it is in the selection or advancement, everything is one with the Lang official.
In short, because the political status of high-ranking officials such as the left and right officials of the Jin Dynasty was greatly improved, and there was no insurmountable identity gap with Lang officials like the Tang and Song dynasties, the relationship between the two reflects the blurred boundary between officials and officials in the Jin Dynasty. This should be the background to the emergence of the name "chief officer". At the same time, with the enhancement of the role of officials in the operation of government affairs, the establishment of chief officials to govern or lead them was also put on the agenda, so the left and right Shilang officials appeared for the first time as "officials leaders". This should be the direct cause of the appearance of the chief.
2. The tendency of institutionalization of chieftains
Although the chieftain was produced at the latest in the Sejong Dynasty, this article argues that it was not until the end of the Jin Dynasty that there was a tendency to institutionalize it.
First, the records of the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty appeared in the late Jin Dynasty (mainly in the Xuanzong and Aizong dynasties), and had not been seen before. Wang Yuande's epitaph was written in the early years of Zhangzong's Ming Dynasty, and it can be seen from the epitaph that Lu Zhengan was privately written at the request of Wang Yuande's son, which can hardly represent the official discourse. In the official documents of the end of the Jin Dynasty, the "chief officer" was first seen. "Jin Shi Baiguan Zhi" "Notes on the Academy" - "Repair the living notes, take the notes, and move the ...... In the third year of Zhenyou, the historical source of "the head of the left and right divisions" should be the official archives of the Jin Dynasty, which clearly records the "head of the left and right divisions" in Shangshu Province. There are also two relatively indirect historical sources. First, "The Remains of Runan" contains August of the second year of Tianxing, "the edict to participate in the political ceremony, sign the Privy Council, Lou Chamber, lead 300 loyal and filial piety troops, 3,000 troops of the Caizhou Marshal's Mansion, and the provincial and court affairs are resting, with the Ministry of Rites Wailang Wendi Han Xira, Shangshu Province Governor Wan Yan Nenta, and the head of the household department Wang Ying as the chief official." This account may be directly or indirectly quoted from the Emperor's edict. Second, "Jin Shi Baihua Biography" contains, on April 16 of the first year of Tianxing, the Privy Council was returned to Shangshu Province, with the prime minister and court official, and the head of the left and right divisions and the experience officer. Regarding the historical source of the biography, some researchers "suspect that the source is the "Xuanzong Shilu" and other historical materials at the end of the Jin Dynasty. The part cited in this article is about the affairs of the Mourning Dynasty, which is quite similar to the "Chiefs of the Left and Right Divisions" in the "Annotation Yuan" article of the "Records of the Hundred Official Chronicles" cited above, and may have come from sources with the nature of official decrees. To sum up, it can be seen that the official canonical documents of the late Jin Dynasty have recorded the "chief official" and may have recorded it more than once, which indicates that it has the characteristics of institutionalization to a certain extent.
Second, judging from the frequency of records, the "chief official" appeared 19 times, of which only one was before the end of the Jin Dynasty, that is, the epitaph of Wang Yuande written by Lu Zhengan, and the remaining 18 times were all seen in the end of the Jin Dynasty. Specific to the leaders of the left and right divisions, they appeared 1 time and 16 times before the end of the Jin Dynasty and at the end of the Jin Dynasty. The frequency with which an official name is used reflects its popularity. Generally speaking, popularity is an important indicator of whether the official name is institutionalized.
The trend of institutionalization of chieftains may be related to the rise of the power of officials at the end of the Jin Dynasty. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, the dynasties faced internal and external troubles, "the autumn of many reasons, eager to achieve success", "the habit of officials is flourishing, and the harshness has become the trend", and finally formed a situation of "the power of officials is prosperous". Officials "transferred from the county to the ministry, from the ministry to the province, within three or five years, all of them have important positions." The rapid rise of the power of officials has had a certain impact on the chiefs as "chief officials", and the evolutionary characteristics of the latter seem to be related to the strengthening of the power of officials. It should be emphasized that although the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty had an institutionalized development trend, this does not mean that they have become systematic and institutionalized. The scope of the Jin Dynasty's chieftain was still largely limited to individual central government offices and their dispatched agencies, such as Shangshu Province and the Privy Council, and had not yet involved local government offices, and their coverage was limited. It was a matter of the Yuan Dynasty that the chieftain really became institutionalized and matured.
Three
The system of chieftains in the Yuan Dynasty was fully formed
Jin and Yuan, as two successive dynasties of the northern nations, had strong continuity in the political system. In terms of chieftains, the Jin Dynasty was the source of the Yuan Dynasty chieftains, who inherited the title and position of the Jin Dynasty's "chieftain" and developed it into a system of chieftains generally set up in the bureaucracy.
1. The background of the formation of the chief officer system in the Yuan Dynasty
The establishment of the chieftain system in the Yuan Dynasty was based on Kublai Khan's proclamation as emperor and the practice of Han law. During the period of the First Four Khans, the Mongol concept of the standard was too strong, and the Han-style bureaucratic system had not yet been established. In March of the first year of Zhongtong (1260), Kublai Khan was in Kaiping (now Inner Mongolia Zhenglanqi), that is, the Great Khan, and in May, he established the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was proclaimed, and the construction of the traditional official system of the Central Plains Dynasty was put on the agenda. As early as the first day of the fourth month before the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to effectively rule the vast Han land and use the resources of the Han land to fight against the Ali Buge forces in the Mongolian headquarters, the Yuan Dynasty imitated the establishment of the Jin Dynasty's Shangshu Province and established the highest government organ, Zhongshu Province. Since then, with the successive establishment or integration and improvement of central government offices such as the Privy Council and the Imperial Historical Observatory, as well as local institutions such as provinces, Xuanwei Divisions, roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties, the system of internal and external divisions in the Yuan Dynasty has tended to be complete. It is in this process that the system of chieftains should have been promoted. At present, the known title of "chief official" of the Yuan Dynasty Road Governor's Mansion seems to have been first seen in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1264).
As Xu Fan argued, "With the play of the role of officials in the Yuan Dynasty, the chief officials who controlled the cases and the officials under the jurisdiction of the covenant were inevitably strengthened, and the system of chief officials was also perfected." The Yuan Dynasty officials were separated from each other, and the Mongol rulers were "left Confucianism and right officials", and the officials were more respected, and the role of the officials was greater and the status was higher.
2. The succession of the Yuan Dynasty to the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty
The chieftains of the Jin Dynasty were basically inherited by the Yuan Dynasty, which was mainly reflected in the scope of positions, that is, the scope of the positions of the former was almost completely inherited by the latter. As mentioned above, the positions of the head of the Jin Dynasty include the left and right officials of the capital province, the left and right officials of the province, and the experience of the Privy Council and the Privy Council. There is no doubt in the academic circles that the Yuan Dynasty has no experience in the province and can be ignored, but the Privy Council and the Privy Council experience still belong to the chief officials in the Yuan Dynasty. What is slightly controversial is whether the left and right Shilang officials of the capital province and the province were considered chief officials in the Yuan Dynasty. Xu Fan believes that although Wailang, a member of the left and right divisions of the Yuan Dynasty, was in charge of clerical affairs, "because it had other duties", he was not the chief official. In other words, the left and right Shiro are not the chief officials. The position of the chief official of the Yuan Dynasty listed by the Xu clan also does not include the provincial and provincial left and right officials. This view is also debatable. In addition to the fact that some scholars have revealed that the provincial Langguan is still called the chief official, from the existing historical data, the left and right Shilang officials of the capital province should also be the chief official, and the argument is as follows.
First, the "Yuan History and Election Chronicles" recorded the cloud of the official examination system with the dynasty in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1269): "The left and right Shilangzhong, the staff and the outside Lang, and the capital affairs, were promoted to the second class after the examination." According to the article "Yuan Dian Zhang: The Day of the Official's Ascension to the Moon", on the seventh day of the third month of the first year of Dade (1297), the Zhongshu Province was approved: "'The head of the left and right divisions in my province, this monthly day is full, and the second class is commissioned. In the future, when the month and day are full, they will be promoted to a higher level and commissioned, how can they be born?' Son, Decree: 'That is the case. The reference in the recital immediately refers to the official examination system of the court in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty, and the head of the left and right divisions refers to the left and right divisions, and the members of the outside Lang. This can be explained that the provincial officials are called chiefs. Second, in December of the first year of Huangqing (1312), the capital province planned to appoint "the left and right departments, the six ministries and other yamen civil officials and chief officials" to deal with the issue of reducing the complexity of the provinces and ministries. In February of the following year, the provincial government also mentioned in its recital that the matter was handled by "the provincial officials, the chief, and the six ministers." In the previous material, there is a "civil official", and "civil official" often appears in the official documents of the Yuan Dynasty, and there is no lack of juxtaposition with the "chief official", such as "the provincial party committee civil official and the chief official, official", "the official of the provincial party committee, the chief official, the common comparison" and so on. It can be considered that the above-mentioned "civil affairs officials" should refer to the civil affairs chiefs and officials of the six ministries and other yamen (the chief officials and assistant officials of the Yuan Dynasty, collectively referred to as the chief officials), and the "chief officials" naturally refer to officials other than the main officials, so the scope of the "chief officials" should be the left and right officials and the subordinate officials of the six ministries. In the same way, the "provincial officials" in "our provincial officials, chiefs, and officials of the six ministries" should be the provincial officials, and the "chief" officials should be the left and right officials. Thirdly, on the 26th day of the fifth month of the seventh year of Yanyou (1320), the Zhongshu Provincial Song was played: "'The Dadu Province Zalu Huachi, the chief officials, the six officials, and the Bijachi people do not gather early, and there are generally slack. "Well, most of the provincial officials say that in the future. At this time, the emperor was in Shangdu, and Zhongshu Province and "Dadu Province" respectively referred to Shangdu Zhongshu Province (sub-province) and Dadu Zhongshu Province (Liuyuan). "Dadu Province Zalu Huachi" is the judge of Dadu Zhongshu Province. Judging from the arrangement of official positions in official documents, the chief officer should refer to the left and right officials. The above materials should prove that the left and right Shiro officials are indeed within the scope of the chief's office.
3. The development of the Yuan Dynasty to the chieftains of the Jin Dynasty
Compared with inheritance, the Yuan Dynasty mainly developed the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty, that is, it extended from the Shangshu Province and the Privy Council to the entire bureaucratic organization and perfect chief officer system. This is manifested in two ways: First, the increase in the position of chieftain. For example, the capital affairs, governors, chief affairs, Guan Gou, capital eyes, officials, classics and other former Jin Dynasty officials with and without quality are all included in the category of chiefs. At the same time, the Zhao Mo and the prosecution cases created in the Yuan Dynasty also became the chief officials. The second is the universality of the scope of the establishment of chiefs. For example, in addition to the establishment of individual central government offices (privy councils, etc.), the Jin Dynasty was generally limited to the central dispatch agencies and wartime local military offices (provinces, courts, marshals' offices, etc.), which was relatively cheap and militar. The Yuan Dynasty was far more extensive than the Jin Dynasty, extending to many middle and high-level government offices at the central and local levels, covering military, administrative, supervision, and financial systems. Another example is the governor, in the Jin Dynasty local administrative office, except for the Daxing Mansion with this position, there is no other setting, and the Yuan Dynasty road, prefecture, and state (Shangzhou) all have governors. Zhaomo and prosecuting cases were newly created positions in the Yuan Dynasty, and were generally set up in central and local institutions. On this basis, the Yuan Dynasty completed the institutionalization process of the chief official from the embryonic state of the Jin Dynasty to the systematic and perfect one, and the "chief official" officially appeared in the system as a new type of official title other than the chief official and the second official.
As far as the above two points are concerned, the second point belongs to the "quantitative change" of the position of the chief official, and the first point involves the change of the nature of the capital from the Jin Dynasty official to the Yuan Dynasty chief, which belongs to the "qualitative change". Let's explore how this "qualitative change" happened.
The promotion of officials in the original Jin Dynasty, such as the governor, governor, chief, and guangou, to the official position in the Yuan Dynasty should be an important factor for him to become the chief official. In February of the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1271), a holy decree issued by the Yuan court mentioned that the capital province and Neitai were ordered to agree on the regulations for the punishment of late inspection of official affairs: "In the future, the limit is seven days for minor matters, fifteen days for medium affairs, and thirty days for major matters." If the history is slow, the history of the decision is decided. When it comes to the correction, capital affairs, principals, experience, and the slowness of officials below the governor's level, the punishment of the middle matter, the decision of the three offenders, and the decision of the major offense ......", the school pointer pointed out that "speaking" may be a derivative text. It can be seen that in the official system of the Yuan Dynasty, the capital affairs have become official positions in the stream. However, this change from Jin to Yuan seems to have been ignored by the academic community for a long time. It is the product of the long-term operation of the relevant system, and can be roughly analyzed from two aspects: remote cause and proximate cause.
The distant cause can be traced back to the influence of the Jin Dynasty system. The important changes in the status or power, election, and future of the Jin Dynasty compared with the Tang and Song dynasties have been discussed above, and the characteristics of the blurred boundaries between officials in the Jin Dynasty have been pointed out. In fact, not only the capital, but also the senior officials such as the head of the Jin Dynasty, the governor, and the Guan Gou also reflected the above characteristics to varying degrees. In terms of authority and status, the characteristics of the directors of the six ministries are more prominent. Tian Xiaolei pointed out that the government affairs handling system of the six ministries of the Jin Dynasty was divided into three levels: ministries, departments, and sections, and the chiefs of each sub-department were not the officials of the six ministries in the past, but the chief ministers. That is, the status of the director has been improved, the authority has increased, and he has assumed part of the duties of the original Lang official. Let's look at the actual political operation. In February of the fifth year of Ming Chang (1194), "Xuanhui was ordered to make Yi Lamin and the head of the household department, Chizhan Shili, look at the north Yingtun, and draw a long-term plan." Xuanhui envoy is the third product, and the head of the household department is the main personnel manager of the border defense garrison together with it. In August of the fourth year of Zhenyou (1216), hundreds of officials gathered to change the coupon law, and Wang Shouning, the director of the Criminal Department, expressed his political opinions. In May of the fifth year of Cheng'an (1200), Zhang Zong issued an edict to have a priest to discuss the worship ceremony, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites believed that "all official clothes should be worshiped in Han, and if they were in civilian clothes, they should use their own customs to worship", and Chen Song, the director of the Ministry of Rites, had the opinion of disagreeing with it, thinking that "if you can make public clothes worship, you can worship in civilian clothes." Pingzhang Zhang Wangong agreed with the opinion of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and Sikong Wanyan Xiang agreed with Chen Song's opinion. In the end, Zhang Zong accepted the suggestions of Wan Yanxiang and Chen Song. The agreement on the ritual reflects the principal's participation in political affairs. To sum up, the role of the principal in the handling of government affairs cannot be summed up by a simple official label. In terms of selection, a large number of people from Jinshi are selected for the director, and they are on par with official positions. For example, the director of the six departments, "the emperor ruled for four years, and the directors of the six departments began to use Hanshi people." Dading for three years, using Jinshi, non-special purpose shall not be intended to be an official, such as the slaughter of the Baocai talent, not into the norm". That is, after the third year of Dading (1163), the chief basically chose Jinshi. The governor of the Punishment (According to the Inspection) Division, most of the incumbents in the history are Jinshi, such as wiping and twisting loyalty, completing Yanyu, and sticking and cutting chastity. Let's look at the six cabinet library management hooks. The criminal department was in charge of hooking, and in the second year of Da'an (1210), "each was in charge of each other". In the following year, the household management hook was also in charge. In terms of the future, due to the selection of those who were born as jinshi, the directors and others broke through the shackles of the previous division of officials, and there was no limit to the career of officials, and the highest could be appointed as a governor. Scholars have counted the people who served as chiefs in the "History of Jin", and pointed out that they could be moved to prominent positions such as Zaizhi and Liubu Shangshu, and the chief became one of the important qualifications for the promotion of officials in the Jin Dynasty, which was not the case in the Northern Song Dynasty. The same is true for governors and governors, and there is no upper limit to the political future of the incumbent.
The unearthed official seals are also faintly visible, and the boundaries of the officials of the Jin Dynasty are blurred. There are many official seals unearthed at the end of the Jin Dynasty, including the "Governor's Seal", "the Seal of the Provincial Capital" and the "Shaanxi Road Marshal's Mansion Governor's Seal". Holding the official seal can probably reflect the political status of the senior officials of the Jin Dynasty that surpassed the official positions.
In other words, although the capital affairs and chief affairs of the Jin Dynasty were influenced by the division of officials in the Tang and Song dynasties and were designated as officials in the system, their status was improved and their powers expanded, and they were integrated with the official positions in terms of selection and future, reflecting the characteristics of the blurred boundaries between officials and officials. The Yuan Dynasty inherited the gold system, and the Mongolian ruling group did not have the concept and constraint of the division of officials, so the practical characteristics of the Jin Dynasty's capital affairs in the system and the blurred boundaries between officials were absorbed by the Yuan Dynasty, and the position of officials was abandoned by the Yuan Dynasty. On this basis, the metropolitan affairs finally became an official position in the system.
The proximate reason why the capital affairs became official positions in the Yuan Dynasty was the development of the Khan's court Bijachi system and the local staff system during the Great Mongol period. Bijachi was one of the deacons of the Great Khan of Mongolia, meaning "clerical officer". From the time of Ögedai Khan, the need to govern the Han region led to an increase in the status and authority of the Bijachi (such as the Great Bija Chi Yelu Chucai), and the province of Zhongshu, where he was located, "exercised the power of the prime minister's body within a certain range." Yelu Chucai and other provincial officials...... already has the character of a great Mongolian prime minister". Recently, some scholars have speculated that it may not have been the chief magistrate who exercised the main administrative functions in the Khan's court during the period of Ögedai Khan, but rather Bijachi, based on the fact that the Persian document "Five Genealogies" does not contain the great magistrates of the Ögedai period, and that the "Black Tartar Affair" only records the Yelu Chucai, Zhenhai, and the Bonding Chongshan. In any case, there is generally no problem that Bijachi has more prominent executive power. The capital and the Bijachi are both clerical positions, and the power operation of the latter should have an important impact on the shaping of the attributes of the former's position. In addition, during the period of the Great Mongolian Kingdom, the Central Plains recruited a large number of Confucian scholars or Han Chinese who were proficient in official affairs, whether it was the administrative institutions (Yanjing Xingshangshu Province and the official offices under the rule of the princes, etc.), the marching marshal's mansion (the province before the army, the Wanhu Mansion, etc.), or the kings. Among these shogunates, there are metropolitan affairs, governors, etc., all of which are official positions in the Jin Dynasty. For example, Han Ren Shendao Jiezhongyun: "Gengzi year, Zhao Xingtai Yu Yan, the opening of the mansion, the election of counselors, the good ability to be urgent, with An Hou recommended, the first appointment of the public to fill the provincial capital." "Gengzi year, that is, the twelfth year of Yuan Taizong (1240). The subordinate subordinate to the government is a prominent feature of the operation of various institutions in the Central Plains during the period of the first four khans, such as "Yuan Shi Shentu Zhiyuan Biography": "Shizu went to the south, garrisoned Xiaopu, Jinghu Jinglu envoy begged for strength, recommended as the governor of the Economic Strategy Division, the military machine service, and many paintings. The division was returned, to Suizhou, and the captured men and women were sent to Zhiyuan. Jiang Yu, a native of Laiyang, is known to Zhang Rong, the marquis of Jinan, for his official Mingmin, "from the government officials to the governors of the left and right divisions, he belongs to the majority of household registrations, and he is divided into all the way." In addition, the system was not established during the Mongolian period, and the above-mentioned positions have been basically integrated with the official positions of this institution in nature. This should be a prelude to their entry into the Yuan Dynasty as official positions.
In a nutshell, the promotion of officials from the original Jin Dynasty to official positions in the Yuan Dynasty can be traced back to the influence of institutional factors that blurred the boundaries between officials in the Jin Dynasty, and the proximate cause is the development and operation of the Khan's Bijachi system and the local staff system during the Great Mongolian period. These factors were absorbed in the implementation of Han law after the accession of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, and the capital officially evolved into an official position. It can be said that the Jin Dynasty was a transitional period in which the capital affairs evolved from official positions to official positions, and the Yuan Dynasty was a period of completion. "Zhongtang Shiji" contains a list of officials and officials in Yanjing Xingzhongshu Province (that is, Zhongshu Province) in the first year of Zhongtong, which is called "eight officials on the left and right", three of the following Langzhong, three of the outsiders, and two of the capitals. It can be seen that since the establishment of Zhongshu Province, the left and right departments have been included in official positions. Since it has become an official position, it is natural that it will be called the chief officer along with the left and right Shiro officials. The situation is similar for the chief and governor.
After entering the Yuan Dynasty, the history of the Jin Dynasty still continued the attributes of the Jin Dynasty and was a non-quality official; Although the capital and the officials have rank in individual government offices, they are not internal officials, and the Yuan Dynasty generally called them foreign officials, which are still regarded as officials in essence. The official formation of the Yuan Dynasty was the internal official of the stream, and the exile official who raised the case and tied the rank of the file, had a similar status to the capital and the official, and was regarded as an official. The position of foreign officials in the Yuan Dynasty was roughly at the junction of officials and officials. Nonetheless, since the above-mentioned positions have the common characteristics of the chief of officials and the chieftain, they are established as the chief officer along with the official position. This reflects the importance that the Yuan Dynasty attached to the chieftain's officials, who were called officials. As mentioned above, the nature of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty was an official, while the chief officials of the Yuan Dynasty were both officials and officials, including both official positions such as metropolitan affairs and chief affairs, as well as official positions such as metropolitan affairs and official offices, which is an important difference between the two. This change is the result of the downward movement and diffusion of chieftains from some high-level institutions in the Jin Dynasty to various types of institutions at all levels in the Yuan Dynasty.
Four
The transformation of the chieftain system to the Song Dynasty and the subordinate system
The emergence and operation of the chieftaincy system was deeply rooted in the political and cultural environment of the Jin and Yuan dynasties, and was significantly different from the bureaucratic system of the Song Dynasty. Following the change of the head of the Privy Council in the Jin Dynasty to the subordinate officials of the Privy Council in the Song Dynasty at the level of the central government, the system of the heads of roads, prefectures, prefectures and counties in the Yuan Dynasty carried out a comprehensive transformation of the local subordinate officials of the Song and Jin dynasties.
1. The transformation of the chieftain's official system to the bureaucratic system of the central government since the Song Dynasty
At the level of the central bureaucracy, the transformation of the bureaucratic system of the Song Dynasty by the head of the Jin Yuan was most representative of the Privy Council, the highest military body. As the head of the Privy Council, his system was formally formed in the Jin Dynasty and was inherited by the Yuan Dynasty.
The establishment of the Privy Council can be traced back to the establishment of the Privy Council in the middle of the Tang Dynasty and the Privy Council in the late Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the subordinate officials of the Privy Council were all Chengzhi and deputy Du Chengzhi, "who were in charge of the decree and commanded the affairs of the court." If the palace is standing and the Praetorian Guard School is examined, it will be played as it is, and the will will will be granted to the Division; The same is true of the Tibetan Kingdom." Generally speaking, the functions of the capital include the passage of the upper hall and military documents. The name of "undertaking the decree" should be derived from its duty to "undertake the decree", and it can be called the undertaking officer.
Regarding the subordinate officials of the Privy Council of the Jin Dynasty, the "Jin Shi Baiguan Zhi" reflects the system after the Xuanzong Dynasty, and the previous situation is not clear. In the sixth year of Song Xiaozong's reign (the tenth year of Jin Shizong's reign, 1170), Fan Chengda sent an envoy to the Jin State, and wrote the "Lanlu Lu" detailing the official system of the Jin Dynasty at that time. However, for the Privy Council, it is only recorded that "the Privy Council has envoys, deputies, and signatures", and does not mention other positions. According to the records of the "Golden History: Hundred Official Chronicles", the second Privy Council includes: Privy Envoy, Privy Councillor, Privy Councillor, and Privy Councillor. With the signing of the Privy Council, a small bet was made, "one more member in the seventeenth year of the big set". Wang Zengyu speculated that the first three positions may have been set up during the reign of King Hailing. In other words, what Fan Chengda wrote means that there may not have been a Privy Council for 10 years. Combined with the record of "one member added in the seventeenth year of Dading", it seems that it can be inferred that it was a post or was established in the Sejong Dynasty. Moreover, the author has noticed that the "Lanlu Lu" lists the heads of the Jin Dynasty and the subordinate officials in great detail, such as before the official position of the Privy Council, it is recorded that the provincial governor of Shangshu and the left and right Shilang are in the middle and outside of the office, but it does not include the affairs of the officials; The six ministers and Lang Zhong and Wai Lang do not include the chief officer. It can be seen that the "Lanlu Lu" should only write the official position but not the official position, and only describe the official position of the ministers: "There are also governors, chiefs, capitalists, and pawns as officials." "After the sixth department, he was listed as the second privy envoy, deputy envoy, and signatory of the Privy Council, but he did not say that he belonged to the officials. Although this record gives the illusion that the Privy Council of the Jin Dynasty did not have subordinate officers, it is conceivable that it is impossible for the Privy Council not to have subordinate officers, but it is difficult to verify at present.
The subordinate officers explicitly appointed by the Privy Council are the experience of the end of the Kim. "Jin Shi Baiguan Zhi" contains the experience of subordinate officials in the Privy Council, and has subordinate officials such as capital affairs, cabinet and treasury management hooks. However, the record of the Privy Council's experience of "seeing you in Xingding for three years" in the small note of Zhiwen is not very accurate. The "Golden History" point school believes that "three years of Xingding" or "three years of Zhenyou". Through investigation, the author believes that the Privy Council experience is set between the second and third years of the reign of Sadyu (1214). On the whole, there should be no problem with the establishment of the post in the Xuanzong Dynasty. The experience began to be seen in the Marshal's Mansion and Xuanfu Division in the sixth year of Zhang Zongtaihe (1206), and was established in the Privy Council during the reign of King Da'an of Wei Shao, and re-established in the Privy Council during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Zhenyou. There is a special office experience department, and the subordinate departments constitute the new bureaucratic system of the Privy Council.
What is the difference between the experience system and the bureaucratic system of the Privy Council in the previous generation? In the Song Dynasty, the Privy Council undertook the decree and performed the order, and the Privy Council of the Jin Dynasty seemed to be responsible for these functions by judges rather than experience. The specific duties of the Privy Council of the Jin Dynasty have not been seen in the historical books, but it has all the affairs under it, such as "taking charge of things and paying things, checking and checking the documents of the provincial office", that is, sending and receiving, checking and inspecting cases, and also setting up a cabinet treasury to manage the hook, which is responsible for the custody of the case. The capital affairs and the management of the hook are both positions in the case, and the experience is their direct leadership, and they are called "chief officials", which means that they are the leaders of the officials such as the capital affairs and the management of the hook. Therefore, the attribute of the Privy Council experience in the Jin Dynasty was that of a case officer. The case officer refers to his central work around the case. The chief officials of the Yuan Dynasty, including the experience, were called case officials, and the Jin Yuan should have continuity in this regard.
As the head of the Privy Council, he participated in the military aircraft on the basis of the general affairs of the consul general, and assisted the chief in decision-making, and had a high status. Since its inception, experience has played an important role in the decision-making of the hospital. In August of the third year of Zhenyou, "I am ugly, and the privy council officer of the military government must adjudicate with the experience officer, and the experience is discussed and the court official does not obey, and Xu Zhizhi hears it." At this time, the Jin dynasty was facing a serious threat from the Mongols, because as early as May of that year, the Central Capital had fallen, and the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse. The strengthening of the power of experience in military decision-making is probably due to the consideration of restraining the arbitrariness of the courtiers. In September of the second year of Zhengda (1225), Wuxian returned with Zhending, "the imperial court manager Hebei, and the Song Dynasty took Peng Yibin by it, and then took Xing, Wei, Ci and other states from Shandong." The Privy Council experienced Bai Hua's suggestion to eradicate Peng Yibin in time. It can be seen that he has been widely involved in military aircraft affairs. Due to his auxiliary role in military and political affairs, he has a close relationship with the officers and has a high status. For example, during the Zhenyou period, Xuanzong promoted Anshi to the Privy Council experience, "Shi Waizong was in the Spring Palace, led the affairs of the Secret Council, and then saw the encounter". Another example is Zhao Siwen, in the later period of mourning Zongzhengda, he was also the observer of Bozhou with the degree of moderation. The army lacked military discipline and "the former government could not be controlled." However, in view of Zhao Siwen's experience in the Privy Council, he had a close relationship with the Mourning Sect as a privy envoy at that time, and Bo Bing was afraid of the authority of today's emperor and did not dare to offend Siwen.
The experience system reflects the transformation of the Privy Council bureaucracy system of the previous generation in the Jin Dynasty, and the case officer thus became a subordinate official and played an important role in the operation of government affairs. This was the special influence that the chieftain brought to the political system of the Jin Dynasty. However, the system of chieftains had not yet developed into a common system during the Jin Dynasty, so the magistrates did not become widely subordinate officials in various institutions, and their political status was constrained. In addition to the Shangshudu Province and the Privy Council, the Central Government of the Jin Dynasty has not found any subordinate officials named after "chief officials", and the "fourth-class official system" (see below for details) since the Song Dynasty should still be in operation. The Yuan Dynasty not only inherited the experience system of the Jin Dynasty in the Privy Council, but also extended the chief official system of the Jin Dynasty to all internal and external institutions, so that all the case officials could become subordinate officials, and their role in the handling of government affairs was significantly enhanced. Especially at the level of local government, the system of chieftainous officials comprehensively changed the subordinate officials of the Song and Jin dynasties, and the traditional fourth-class official system underwent substantial changes.
2. The transformation of the chieftain's official system to the local government bureaucratic system since the Song Dynasty
As previously examined, the existence of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty was generally limited to Shangshudu Province, the Privy Council and the provinces and courts sent by it, and among the local government offices, the Jin Dynasty mainly inherited the Song system, and the title of "chief official" did not yet appear. Therefore, what this part actually discusses is the transformation of the Song and Jin bureaucratic system by the Yuan Dynasty chief official system.
(1) The reform of the Yuan Dynasty chief official system and the subordinate officials of local governments
The local administrative system of the Tang and Five Dynasties was basically followed by the Song Dynasty. On this basis, the Song Dynasty created a system and formed a two-level system at the state and county levels. In the Song Dynasty, the state-level subordinate officials were composed of shogunate officials (judges, pushers, etc.) and Zhucao officials (records, military officers, etc.), and county-level subordinate officials were composed of chief bookkeepers and county lieutenants. The local government of the Jin Dynasty road, government, prefecture and county inherited the Song system, and the composition of subordinate officials (shogunate officials) included different ranks or categories of judges, pushers, chief bookkeepers, county lieutenants and other positions.
The subordinate officials of the local government in the Yuan Dynasty were quite different from those of the Song and Jin dynasties. Yu Delin on the occasion of the Song and Yuan dynasties described the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty Road (Governor's Mansion) and the Mansion (Sanfu) and said: "The big one of the county is called the road, and the second is called the scattered house." The road has a governor's office, and the government has Daru Huachi, and there are government Yin, Tongzhi, Zhizhong, and government judgment, which is called the road official. If the government is scattered, it will be ruled without being placed. The second of the road officials has experience, governor, and accusation case, and is called the chief officer. If the house is scattered, it will be experienced in vain and not set up. This passage relatively completely describes the construction of the Yuan Dynasty road and the government, but there are two shortcomings: one is that the road in the Yuan Dynasty is divided into upper and lower two, Yu said that it is the upper road, and the difference between the construction of the lower road and the upper road is that the lower road is not set up in the middle of the governance; Second, the Yuan Dynasty road and government also had pushers. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, he abolished the dismissal of the officials, and in the twenty-third year of the Yuan Dynasty (1286), he was replaced, and he went on the road to "place two officials, specialize in prisons, and one member of the lower road". The setting of the prefectural magistrate may come after this. Compared with the previous dynasty, the first change in the subordinate officials of the road and the government in the Yuan Dynasty was that the positions of the chief officials constituted new subordinate officials. Lu and Fu Dalu Huachi below the official to the official (about the origin of the official in the Yuan Dynasty later), under the official is the chief official, that is, "the road official has experience, governor, and accusation case, which is called the chief official." If the government is scattered, it will be a vain experience." The second change is the transformation of judges and magistrates into judges, which is determined by the previous change. Wang Yi of the Yuan Dynasty said: "The governor's office was placed in various roads of the national dynasty, and its officials and subordinates were from Dalu Gaqi (press, that is, Dalu Huachi), the governor and even the officials, all of whom signed the book. "The subordinate officials of the Yuan Dynasty did not have the right to judge and sign (details later), which means that after the chief official became a new subordinate official, the judge and the magistrate were no longer classified as subordinate officials, but were regarded as officials of the same nature as Daru Huachi, the chief administrator, and the same acquaintance - the main official. The chief official includes the chief officer and the second officer, and the judge and the magistrate belong to the second officer. The state and county governments generally follow the same path. After the governors of the Yuan Dynasty, the heads of the prosecution cases, the officials, and the canons and historians formed the new subordinate officials, the state judges, the county chief bookkeepers, and the county lieutenants were promoted to the rank of Zuo Er Guan (Zhengguan). Among the above chiefs, the experience and governor of the Lu Governor's Office are internal positions, and the rest are foreign positions. Subordinate officials include foreign posts, which is also the difference between the bureaucratic system of the Yuan Dynasty and the previous generation.
The above-mentioned process of change of subordinate officials may also be accompanied by changes in the power of judges, magistrates, etc., and the academic community has not paid enough attention to the relationship between the chief official system and this change.
During the Song and Jin dynasties, judges, magistrates, and magistrates, as subordinate officials, undertook a large number of government affairs handling functions, with a wide range of functions and great power. In the Song Dynasty, the shogunate was "in charge of the assistant county government and divided the case." His books, cases, and documents are all in charge of the matters that are urged to be supervised. All county affairs and guards, and the signing of books", the power is also more prominent. In the Yuan Dynasty, the subordinate official duties of judges and other officials were gradually usurped by the chief officials, so although they were promoted to the rank of second officials, the actual administrative power was relatively weakened. After the Yuan Dynasty pacified Jiangnan, with the promotion of the chieftain official system, the judges and magistrates of the local government were even abolished for a time. "Zhishun Zhenjiang Zhi" contains: "The previous dynasty (according to, referring to the Song Dynasty) set up judges, pushers, zhilu, managers, judicial, and six Cao officials, which were covered with books to prepare group affairs, and they were attached to them. Where the governor's office, there are three members of the cabinet, namely, the experience, the governor, the prosecution case, and the Zhaomo Cheng Hair Cabinet, which are called the chief officials, and are in charge of the affairs of the six Cao. This shows the causal relationship between the abolition of the chieftain system and the abolition of judges. Later, due to practical needs, the Yuan court set up judges and magistrates, but their powers or the nature of their duties were different from those in the past. Yuanren Cheng Duan Xueyun: "In the middle of the county, everything is unified, but there are guards, subordinates, and bureaucrats. When the law is signed, from the bottom up, the liao is intended to be above the prison, the judge's office, the middle of the administration is the office, and the president is in the prison. For those who are in charge of governance, although there is nothing to deny, they can also. "Subordinates" and "bureaucrats" refer to judges and chiefs, respectively. This passage outlines the relatively "awkward" situation of the post of Zhizhong: although Zhizhong nominally has a wide range of powers, the subordinate official affairs have been usurped by the chief, who has the specific operation power of government affairs, and the Daru Huachi and Lu Governors have the final ruling power, and the space for exercising power in the process of handling government affairs is relatively limited. Obviously, the same should apply to judges. When Wang Yun was the judge of the Pingyang Road Governor's Office, he described his position and said: "To help the pen to cut off, it must be in the upper official, if the bureaucrats have nothing to do." "Wing" refers to the judge. In fact, their state of "idleness" is not only caused by the power of the chief, but also is inseparable from the fact that the chief officer has taken over the work of the subordinate officials.
After the change of power, the direction of the judge's position is noteworthy. According to the "Yuan History: Hundred Official Chronicles", the judge of Xiazhou "caught the thief at the same time". However, it was not only the judges of the lower states who also led the arrest of thieves. Studies have shown that the scope of the implementation of this system is Zhongzhou and Xiazhou, and most of these states do not belong to counties, so it is necessary for the judge to directly lead the township to catch thieves. This is probably the direct reason for the implementation of the system. As for the background of the implementation, the author believes that it should be related to the chief. Because the judge is deprived of the power of the subordinate officials, he is relatively idle, so he may be arranged to be in charge of the arrest of thieves. Wu Cheng said: "The county has a lieutenant, a thief, and the old one." The judge of the state is like a lieutenant, and the system of the country is also. Different from the previous dynasty, the subordinate officials of the state-level government in the Yuan Dynasty were centered on the chief official, and this change should provide conditions for the operation of the system of state judgment and arrest of thieves.
The situation of the magistrate is similar to that of the judge, and his authority is different from that of the Song and Jin dynasties due to the operation of the chieftain system, which is manifested in the full-time of the position. Although the magistrates of the Song and Jin dynasties were judicial officials, they were not in charge of prisons and prisons, and were also in charge of other government affairs. The Yuan Dynasty magistrate was a "sole criminal name", which was very different from the previous magistrate. During the Song and Jin dynasties, as subordinate officials of the government, like judges, they had to deal with the affairs of the Cao Cao they received, and they had heavy responsibilities. In the Yuan Dynasty, after the chief official usurped the power of his subordinate officials, the magistrate did not need to intervene in the huge and complicated government affairs, and was able to take care of the prison.
The chieftain system also had an impact on the exercise of power by the county lieutenants. The existence of the chief officer made the county lieutenant of the Yuan Dynasty get rid of the status of a subordinate official, and the reduction of miscellaneous chores made his job of catching thieves full-time. Xue Lei pointed out that the county lieutenants of the Yuan Dynasty were full-time thieves, and the situation of occupation was reduced compared with the previous generation, mainly due to the improvement of the chief officer system. The county-level chieftain was responsible for most of the affairs sent by the government.
(2) The transformation of the Yuan Dynasty chieftain's official system to the fourth-class official system of the Song and Jin local government offices
"Fourth-class officials" was the organizing principle commonly practiced by most government agencies in the Sui and Tang dynasties. According to the different status and role in the process of handling government affairs, the ranks of officials are divided into four levels: chief, general judge, judge, and chief officer. "The judge is responsible for the specific adjudication of cases, the division of labor to deal with relevant government affairs, the general judge is generally the deputy prefect, responsible for assisting the prefect in making a ruling on the judge's judgment, and the prefect makes the final decision on political affairs, as for the presiding officer, he mainly assists the judge in handling the case and assists the judge in adjudicating the case." Although the operation of the government in the Song Dynasty rarely mentions the fourth-class officials, the division of the prefect, the second official, the shogunate official, and the officials and officials of the Cao Dynasty actually formed a fourth-class official system. It can be seen that the external titles of fourth-class officials (mainly third- and fourth-class officials) in the Song Dynasty have changed. The Jin Dynasty was similar to the Song Dynasty, such as the Lu Governor's Office, whose prefects were in charge of the "General Judgment of the Government Affairs", and the Governor of the Tongzhi Capital and other Zuo II officials were "in charge of the judgment of the government affairs", and the chief judges, government judges, and push officials were in charge of the soldiers, households, rites, workers, and criminal cases, and then other subordinate officials and officials. The prefect, the second officer, the shogunate officer, and the official constituted a typical four-class official system, although the Jin dynasty did not have such a clear name. Wu Zongguo believes that although there was no mention of the "fourth-class official system" after the Tang Dynasty, the model of the fourth-class official system in the Tang Dynasty was continued by future generations.
With the renewal of subordinate officials in the Yuan Dynasty, the fourth-class official system of the local government in the original Song and Jin dynasties also underwent substantial changes, and the chief official system broke the fourth-class official system in terms of external form and internal operation form. Externally, after the chief officer became a subordinate official, he replaced the shogunate of Song Jin and formed a new fourth-class official with the prefect, the second official and the officials. More importantly, in terms of operation, under the fourth-class official system, the judges and magistrates, who were the third-class officials "shogunate", were subordinate officials who were divided into six cao and commanding officials, and on this basis, they were sentenced to their respective documents, and provided assistance to the general judgment of the second official and the chief judge. On the one hand, the experience of being a chief official and the governor still assume the basic functions of the former subordinate officials: being responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the organization, controlling the officials of the government, and formulating the draft of government affairs for the decision-making of the chief and the second. On the other hand, the nature of experience is different from that of previous judges and judges. The latter divides the judgment in the process of government affairs and has the power to adjudicate and sign, that is, to adjudicate on political affairs and sign and draw in official documents. However, the government of the Yuan Dynasty implemented the government affairs of the round discussion and joint signature, although the experience and other powers were heavier, and the draft of the meeting was drafted before the round sitting and participated in the round discussion, and the road experience and the governor also had an important right to discuss the government, but in the document signing and mortgage link after the round discussion, they could not participate in the signature and drawing, and the right only belonged to the official official. As Wang Yi said, "The governor's office was set up in all parts of the country, and its officials and subordinates, from Daru Huachi, the governor to the governor, all signed the book." Cheng Duanxue described the Lu Governor's Mansion Yiyun: "If the law is the office, from the bottom up, then the liao (press, that is, the chief officer) is intended to be above the level, the judge is the office, the middle of the administration is the office, and the president is in the prison." Ye Ziqi's "Cao Muzi" said: "The governors of Yuanlu Prefecture and County said that Dalu Huachi, palm seal letter...... The judge is the chief officer. All this proves that there is no power to adjudicate the copy. In fact, the meaning of "chief" – "chief officer" or "chief of officials" – already reveals the nature of the office of experience. The basic duty of the officials is to be the case officer, and as the leader of the officials, the essential attribute of the chief officer is the case officer. For example, in the "Yuan Dian Zhang", "the experience, governors, prosecution cases, capital officials, and historians are all personnel in charge of cases." It can be seen from the changes in the nature of the Song and Jin judges, pushers, and other leaders in the Yuan Dynasty that the former was the "judge" (shogun) among the fourth-class officials and was also in charge of case affairs, and was essentially an administrative official; The latter does not belong to the "judge", but to the case officer who takes the paperwork and books as his own job. Xu Fan once pointed out: "Due to the existence of a large number of chieftains, the officials in charge of government affairs and the officials in charge of cases in the feudal government are separated, and from the perspective of the history of the development of the political system, this cannot but be a noteworthy change." This realization should be said to be quite insightful.
At this point, the transformation of the fourth-class official system of the local government of the previous generation by the chief officials of the Yuan Dynasty has been roughly clear: first, after the third-class official of the Song and Jin Dynasty "shogunate officials" replaced the third-class officials of the Tang Dynasty "judges", the "chief officials" of the Yuan Dynasty replaced the "shogunate officials" of the Song and Jin dynasties, and the external form of the fourth-class officials changed again. Second, the Yuan Dynasty's government affairs handling model led to the difference in the nature of "chief officials" and "shogunate officials". The latter is an administrative officer who has the power to adjudicate the copy, while the former does not have that power and is a typical case officer. In addition, Song Jin's "shogun" has the power to adjudicate, and the main difference between it and the "general judgment" of the chief and the "general judgment" of the second official should be that it belongs to the "sub-judgment", but the nature of the three is generally the same, that is, they all belong to the group with the right to adjudicate. This is not the case with the "chief officer", who does not have the power to adjudicate the case, and presumably for this reason, he is not called a "judge". However, due to the characteristics of the officials, they became the leaders or leaders of the officials, and thus became basically the same position as the officials. In other words, under the fourth-class official system of the Song and Jin dynasties, the "shogunate officials" were homogeneous with the chief and second officials, while in the Yuan Dynasty bureaucratic system, the "chief officials" were homogeneous with the officials.
It should also be noted that the officials at all levels of government in the Yuan Dynasty were divided into three levels: chief officials, chief officials, and officials. Li Zhi'an believes that the three-level organization method bears the imprint of the old customs of the Mongolian steppe, and "it is probably reasonable to compare the chief officials, chief officials, and officials with the Mongolian steppe, which are attached to the Mongolian steppe." This group structure is slightly different from that of the fourth-rank officials of the Song and Jin dynasties, but in essence, the main officials include the chief and the second officials, so the basic form of the fourth-class officials still exists. Because of this, the Yuan people also have the division of prefects, two officials, chief officials, and officials, such as Zhang Yang Haoyun, "Today's husband is up to the court, down to the county, and its officials are also long, there are second, there are curtains, and there are Xu Shiyan." Therefore, the above two divisions are parallel, while the former one is the mainstream.
Five
Conclusion
The chieftain system is a brand-new bureaucratic system pioneered by Jin Yuan, which arose from the background of the deep-rooted shackles of the division of officials since the Tang and Song dynasties, the improvement of the status of officials and the increasingly significant political role, reflecting the influence of the system construction of the northern national dynasties on the ancient Chinese political civilization. It was the system that began in Jin and matured in the Yuan Dynasty, which also reflects the inheritance, development and evolution of the political systems of the Jin and Yuan dynasties. Although the chieftain appeared in the Jin Dynasty, it was not popularized, so its influence in the Jin system was limited. As a scholar of the past put it, "because the Jin Dynasty has always practiced imperial examinations, and its territory is smaller than that of the Yuan Dynasty and limited to the north, the Jin Dynasty's chieftaincy system is far less complete than that of the Yuan Dynasty." Although the Jin Dynasty reversed the situation of the division of officials, most of the rulers emphasized Confucianism and advocated the imperial examination system, which made the status and role of officials still limited to a certain range, and the system of chieftains and officials directly related to this was not fully developed. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty emphasized officials, and the election system of officials became the mainstream, and the role of officials in politics was far beyond that of the Jin Dynasty. The operation of the chief officials of the Jin Dynasty undoubtedly provided a reference for it, and on the basis of the golden system, the unified Yuan Dynasty timely implemented the chief officials to the entire bureaucratic organization, and the chief official system that sprouted in the Jin Dynasty has now moved towards maturity and glory.
In the process of establishing the chief official system of the Yuan Dynasty, the operation of the chief officials and officials system of the Jin Dynasty and the Bijachi system during the Great Mongolian period played an important role, and the chief officials of the Yuan Dynasty showed the characteristics of a mixture of Mongolian and Han (Jin system). The chieftaincy system failed to develop effectively in the Jin Dynasty, so the organizational principle of the Jin Dynasty government was still largely based on the fourth-class official system of the Song Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty chieftain was institutionalized, which not only changed the fourth-class officials of the Song and Jin dynasties in terms of external form, but also profoundly transformed the latter at the internal operation level due to the Mongolian characteristic government affairs handling model of round discussion and joint signature. From this point of view, the chieftain system is, to a certain extent, the embodiment of the dual policy and political culture of the "Inner Mongolia and Foreigners" in the Yuan Dynasty.
The original article was published in the 4th issue of the Historical Monthly, 2024, with notes omitted.
END
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