"Qing Dynasty governor, Manduo or Handuo? Since when has there been more than full? The data is not what you think. "It's a challenging historical subject. As a multi-ethnic state, the composition of the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty in different historical periods will be different. As the dominant nation, the Manchus naturally dominated in the early days, but over time, the proportion of Han Chinese in the ranks of officials gradually increased. When will this shift be? What are the historical factors? By analyzing the changes in the composition of the governors, we can get a glimpse of the subtle adjustment of the Qing Dynasty's ruling strategy, and we can also appreciate the role of multiculturalism in national construction. So, let's wait and see how the data confirms your imagination or reveals something new.
First, the reason for the dominance of the full flag in the early stage
In 1644, the Later Jin minister Dolgon led the Manchurian Eight Banners army into Beijing, ending the rule of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it was undoubtedly inevitable that the banner people would dominate the operation of the Qing Dynasty.
The first is the need to consolidate rule. There is a clear gap between the Manchus and the Han in terms of population and culture, and in order to prevent the Han people from resisting, it is a kind of self-protection to install flag men in important posts. During the Shunzhi Dynasty, from the governor to the governor and the prefect of the prefecture and county, the Manchus and banner people accounted for the vast majority, and the Han people accounted for only a minority. According to the record of the 18th year of Shunzhi, the 8 governors and 19 governors of the country were all Manchuria or Liaodong, and the Liaodong people were actually Han army banner people.
Secondly, the status of the banner people is better than that of the Han people, and it is easier to be reused. Before entering the customs, the Qing Dynasty had compiled the Han people as the "Han Army Banner" and exempted them from service, which was quite special. After entering the customs, although the Qiren were not Manchus, they were still regarded as "assimilated" foreign peoples, and were included in the privileged class along with the Manchus, and their status was much higher than that of the Han Chinese, so they were given priority in the appointment of important positions.
In addition, in order to control the frontier, the rulers often appointed Manchu and Han military bannermen as governors. During the Kangxi period, he decreed that the governors of Shaanxi and Sichuan must be Manchurians. In such an important frontier area, the placement of Manchu generals can undoubtedly reduce the risk of civil strife.
In addition, the Manchurian people were "meritorious in founding the country", and there was a precedent for appointing important military ministers. During the Shunzhi period, the Manchu military general Dolgon was successively sent to Guannei to quell the peasant uprising, and made great achievements in the civil strife of the Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties. After entering the customs, with his outstanding performance in the pacification of the rebellion, he was awarded the title of Prince Duoduo and became the founder of the Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen that in the early period of the reign, no matter from the political, military, status, traditional and other aspects, the Qing court installed Manchu and Han military bannermen as local leaders. This also left many records for later generations about "full flags". However, as the dynastic foundation was firmly established, this policy was increasingly tested, and the ruling group began to evolve.
2. Trade-offs during the Kang Yongqian period
As the dynasty's foundation became more secure, the Qing court's consideration of the composition of the ruling group gradually changed. During the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties, the proportion of Han Chinese in important positions at the central and local levels continued to rise, but the military towns were still dominated by banner people, reflecting the imperial court's constant trade-off between maintaining its rule and borrowing Han ministers.
As early as the Kangxi Dynasty, the rulers realized that they should pay attention to the talents of the Han people. In the 18th year of Kangxi, Emperor Kangxi put forward a request to the cabinet that "regardless of the Manchu and Han dynasties, only materials are taken". The following year, he revised the "Grade Examination" to unify the Manchu and Han grades with the promotion procedures, and to a certain extent, the status of the Han bureaucracy was raised. Since then, the ministers inside and outside Beijing have adopted the "Manchu and Han combined" employment.
However, the imperial court apparently remained cautious about the appointment of local governors. According to statistics, a total of 102 governors and 197 governors were appointed in the Kang, Yong, and Qian's dynasties. Among them, 43% were Manchus, 3% were Mongols, and 10% were Han bannermen, which together accounted for the absolute majority. Although Han Chinese account for 44%, they are relatively weak.
Especially in some key areas, the Qing court insisted for many years that Manchurians should hold the positions. For example, the post of governor of Shaanxi and Sichuan, from the seventh year of Kangxi's edict to "use Manchuria" to the Yongzheng period, was held by Manchus for more than 60 years. It is not difficult to understand that Sichuan and Shaanxi are not only important towns in the northwest, but also a choke point leading to the Western Regions, and the imperial court naturally hopes to install its own people to guard it.
At the same time, there was also a clear division between the Manchus and the Han in major military decisions. According to statistics, the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties appointed a total of 21 team leaders, all of whom were Manchurian. As the supreme military commander, the leading ministers are all Manchurians, which is actually a manifestation of checks and balances on power.
In other words, while the Han Dynasty was increasingly employed, the imperial court retained the priority of the Manchus in military defense. At that time, the division of labor among Manchu and Han officials was roughly as follows: Han officials were in charge of government, and Manchu officials were in charge of the military. The Han Chinese entered the central government by virtue of their cultural roots and unquestionable merits, while the Manchus exercised military power and guarded against each other.
However, this was not a confrontation between the Manchus and the Han races, but the result of the rulers weighing the pros and cons. After all, the Qing Dynasty pursued the concept of "Huairou Yuanren" and focused on uniting all ethnic groups in order to achieve long-term peace and stability. While fully borrowing from the talents of the Han Chinese, consciously retaining the dominant position of the Manchus in the military is undoubtedly a prudent ruling strategy. However, this state of affairs will not be able to last forever in future generations.
3. Repressive wars promote change
Although the Qing court had begun to reuse Hanchen as early as the Kang Yongqian period, the situation of Manchu banners dominating local power did not fundamentally change. It was the Taiping Rebellion that broke out in the mid-19th century that really drove a major turning point in this pattern.
In 1851, the banner of rebellion was forever waved in Guangxi, marking the full-scale outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion. In the face of this unprecedented large-scale peasant uprising, the Qing court successively sent multiple armies to encircle and suppress it, but all of them were ineffective. Among them, the most criticized is the complete defeat of the Eight Banners Green Battalion army.
As the main force of the Qing court, the Eight Banners Green Battalion was once pinned on high hopes. However, due to the lack of war for a long time, lazy training, and the aging of the soldiers, they have not been replenished with new blood for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is declining day by day. In the face of the frantic attack of the peasant army, the green battalion suffered heavy losses. In the battle of Changzhou alone, the Qing army suffered tens of thousands of casualties.
On the other hand, the Taiping Rebellion also dealt a devastating blow to the civil service system of the Qing court. According to statistics, from the first year of Xianfeng to the sixth year, 429 civil officials above the seventh grade died, far more than usual. Three high-ranking officials above the rank of three ranks, such as governors and vassal ministers, were also killed, which shows that the war has brought heavy trauma to the bureaucracy.
Under the double attack of internal and external patients, the Qing court had to find a new way out. In 1853, Wen Xiang, Su Shun and other important ministers played Chen "The twilight of the people is deep, and if they do not reuse the Han people, they cannot be chaotic". Wenzong listened to this suggestion and immediately promoted a group of Hanchen to suppress the war.
The first to be reused was Zeng Guofan, the commander of the Hunan army. As a hero who pacified the war in the south of the Yangtze River, Zeng Guofan was appointed as the governor of Liangjiang in April of the 10th year of Xianfeng, and the following year he also served as the minister of the Qincha, in charge of the military affairs of the four provinces. From then on, the Qing court officially handed over the power of governing the army to Han Chen.
Subsequently, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Hu Linyi and other Han people were entrusted with important tasks. This not only marked the increasingly prominent role of Hanchen in the military field, but also meant that the composition of local governors would undergo fundamental changes.
Faced with the severe impact of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing court was forced to break the old pattern and rely on the force of the Han Dynasty to extinguish the war. This undoubtedly accelerated the pace of the Han people entering the core of the political power, and laid the foundation for the transformation of the composition of the late Qing governors. From then on, the position of the Han people in the local government would continue to rise, which would have a profound impact on the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
Fourth, the late Qing Dynasty new type of supervision group
The violent impact of the Taiping Rebellion not only destroyed the military system of the Qing court, but also completely changed the composition of the governors. In the late Qing Dynasty, a new type of supervision and supervision group dominated by those with military merits came into being, and they replaced the old official corps that used to be dominated by meritorious service in the imperial examination.
First of all, because the Qing court used a large number of Han ministers as generals in the process of pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the number of Han people with military backgrounds continued to increase. Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others all made great contributions in the suppression of war, and then were reused.
For example, after quelling the peasant uprisings in Yunnan and Sichuan, Zeng Guofan was appointed governor of Liangjiang and was in charge of the military affairs of the four provinces; Zuo Zongtang was entrusted with the post of commander of the Hunan army because of his merits. These people then became local governors and became the backbone of the Qing court.
During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years, the number of governors from the military increased greatly. According to statistics, a total of 67 soldiers served as governors or governors during this period, more than one-third of the total. Among them, the disciples of Zeng Guofan accounted for the majority, and they were called "Zeng family warlords" by later generations.
At the same time, due to the decline of the imperial examination system and the impact on cultural fame that has always been valued, the proportion of traditional officials who rely on the imperial examination to enter the government has also decreased significantly. According to incomplete statistics, only 14% of the late Qing Dynasty governors had experience in Jinshi and posting.
Another striking feature is that the phenomenon of long-term tenure of governors has become prevalent. Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and others have served for more than ten years, forming a situation of "several years in one state, small every year". This long-term practice of holding power in the local government has undoubtedly intensified the monopoly of power in the local area.
Unlike the previous governors, who were mostly civil officials and served for a short period of time, the dominant force of the late Qing governors shifted to the military and long-term rulers. As representatives of the "Shengren Banner", they have abundant military resources, but they lack a deep cultural heritage compared to civilian officials.
The rise of this new group of governors marked a fundamental shift in the ruling base of the Qing Dynasty. Although the warriors, who were once regarded as the "beetles of the eunuchs", were ostracized in the early stage, they finally gained legitimacy under the baptism of war, and gradually replaced the old civilian ranks and dominated the operation of local power. This shift not only reflected the Qing court's dependence on local power, but also heralded the decline of centralized power and the increasing trend of decentralization.
5. The deep impact of the transformation
This change in the composition of the governors not only changed the ruling pattern of the Qing Dynasty, but also had a profound impact on the whole society, accelerated the process of ethnic integration, promoted the expansion of local power, and exacerbated the contradictions between the central and local governments.
First, the rise of the late Qing Dynasty governor group objectively accelerated the pace of Han and Manchu integration. In the past, the Manchurian bannermen occupied a dominant position, and although the Han people advanced, there was still a certain estrangement. In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the large number of people with military achievements entering the supervision team, the boundaries of Han and Manchu identity became increasingly blurred.
Taking Zeng Guofan as an example, he commanded the Hunan army to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and was removed from the third-class Shuntian guard lieutenant and became the banner bearer. Similar situations are also common in other Han military ministers. Although nominally they were included in the ranks of the bannermen, in reality they had become one with the Manchurian bannermen.
At the same time, the children of the Manchurian Banner no longer stick to tradition when looking for jobs. Many descendants of the banner people gave up the hereditary system and joined the military instead, serving under the generals of the Han army. For example, Zhengjiazhen, a "Manchu and Mongolian mixed military family", is a typical representative of the descendants of the Manchurian Banner people who obtained the title through military exploits.
In other words, the rise of a new type of governor group in the late Qing Dynasty has made the identity of the Han and Manchus increasingly blurred in actual operation, and the banner people and the Han aristocratic class have gradually blended together. Although there were twists and turns in this process, it objectively promoted the mutual assimilation of different ethnic groups and laid the foundation for the great integration of ethnic groups in the future.
Second, the military power gained by the governors in quelling the rebellion contributed to the expansion of their power at the local level. He has been in charge of the military for a long time and has gradually formed his own military base; Being in power for a long time has increased its control over local affairs. Some governors did not even wait for the imperial court to give orders, and called for the recruitment of troops to suppress bandits.
Taking Zuo Zongtang as an example, although he was not officially appointed to command the Hunan army when he commanded the Hunan army, the actual number of troops he controlled was tens of thousands. In his later years, Zuo Zongtang was even allowed to raise the army on his own, which shows that his real power in the military has increased.
At the same time, the expansion of local power also laid the groundwork for the later provincial capital movement. Some governors were dissatisfied with the centralization of power, and advocated the implementation of local autonomy in their own jurisdictions and the independent requisition of personnel, financial and material resources. Although this approach was difficult to implement at the time, it laid the foundation for future peace and division.
Third, the expansion of local power has also exacerbated the contradictions between the central and local governments. Some governors relied on their military might to be tyrannical and disobey the orders of the imperial court. For example, when Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangguang, he repeatedly attacked the princelings until he was dismissed. Zuo Zongtang also showed an unruly personality from time to time, and once openly disobeyed the orders of the central government.
end
Similar conflicts occurred from time to time in the late Qing Dynasty, reflecting the growing power confrontation between the central and local governments. Under the impetus of the governors, the centralized system of the Qing Dynasty was greatly impacted, and the local forces became more and more divided, which not only shook the foundation of the dynasty's rule, but also caused disasters for the deterioration of the situation in the future.