In the previous article, the author chatted with you a series of stories about various official positions in the Qing Dynasty, such as xuezheng, admiral, envoy, and so on. Today, we talk about the two kinds of feudal officials of the Qing Dynasty, that is, the governor and the inspector. The governor begins with Zheng Erpin and the Governor belongs to Congyi Pin (從一品). Logically, the rank of the governor is slightly higher than that of the governor, who should be a subordinate of the governor. However, in the official field of the Qing Dynasty, the governor was self-contained and was not afraid of the governor at all. So why is this happening?
First, we need to talk about the Governor and the Governor. Governors and inspectors were all official positions gradually formed by the Ming Dynasty. In the middle of the 13th century, after the rapid rise of the Yuan Dynasty in the north, in a few decades, it successively eliminated the Great Jin Kingdom, the Western Xia Kingdom, the Dali State, the Southern Song Dynasty and other regimes, and established a huge dynasty with unprecedented territory. However, with the expansion of the territory, the Yuan Dynasty also began to face problems in various aspects. Because the Yuan Dynasty lacked local management experience, and it was very obvious.
Faced with hundreds of state capitals and thousands of counties in the country, the complex population data, arable land yield, and crop varieties of each region made the Yuan Dynasty a little overwhelmed. We take the cultivated land in various places as an example, due to the huge difference in geological structure and climate, the cultivated land in various places is divided into more than 10 types such as sandy land, mud land, and watered land, and each type is divided into several grades. There are also many types of crops in various places, such as adzuki beans, wheat, rice, sorghum, etc., and the theory of grains and grains has appeared.
For such a complex situation, the Yuan Dynasty was clearly inexperienced. Relying on the two-level division of prefectures and counties in the Tang and Song dynasties, it was impossible to meet the needs of the Yuan Dynasty. The 15 roads of the Tang Dynasty and the 23 roads of the Song Dynasty are not perfect in all aspects. Finally, the Yuan Dynasty combined the actual experience of the 23rd Road of the Song Dynasty and further improved and adjusted it on the basis of the framework of the Jin Dynasty Xing Shang Shutai. Eventually, the famous provincial system was introduced. The Yuan Dynasty divided the country into 10 provinces, such as Jiangxi Province, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, Sichuan Province, and so on.
However, the Yuan Dynasty set up positions such as chancellor and pingzhang in each province, which were very complicated. Although the Yuan Dynasty established a provincial system and laid the framework of the provincial system, it was not perfect in all aspects. First of all, the division of the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty was unreasonable, and local management was very difficult. Second, the design of local institutions is very simple and overlaps. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty's rule, many problems had arisen.
In 1368, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, according to the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty, on the basis of the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty, the divisions of various localities were further adjusted. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the lessons of the local organs of the Yuan Dynasty, abolished the local Pingzhang government affairs, and established a pattern of troikas of envoys, envoys, and envoys. However, in the face of various practical problems, there are often cases of various agencies prevaricating with each other, which is not conducive to management.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty gradually set up inspectors, who were responsible for managing all aspects of the affairs of a certain province or several state capitals. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the northern nomadic cavalry continued to move south, and the Wokou invaded all parts of the southeast, relying on the strength of a province or a town, and they were no longer able to cope with the huge challenge. It takes several provinces or towns to fight jointly, but the provinces and towns are all at the same level. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty successively established the Viceroy of Jiliao, the Governor of The Three Sides, the Governor of Zhejiang, and so on. Please note that after the establishment of the Governor-General, the military command was the mainstay.
However, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty, the governors and inspectors were not perfect and fixed. In the 17th century, the Qing Dynasty gradually established its own rule. It began to further adjust and improve the ming dynasty's official selection system. During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, the governor and inspector became the standard feudal officials. Among them, in addition to the viceroy of Sichuan and the viceroy directly under the governor, the rest of the governors administered two or three provinces, such as the viceroy of Fujian and Zhejiang, the viceroy of Liangjiang, and so on. Generally speaking, the governors all held the titles of Shōshū Shōshū of the Hyobe or Tosain Right Capital.
Therefore, it is also known as the Master of the Stage, the Lord of the Ministry, and so on. The governor belongs to the zhengerpin or from the first pin, of which most of the governors are from the first pin. The full name of the governor is very long, for example, the full name of the viceroy of Liangjiang is: Bingbu Shangshu and Du chayuan Right Governor Yushi Governor Liangjiang and other local governors of military affairs and grain to control the affairs of the South River, and also in charge of the two Huaiyan administration. Carefully, the Governor's main job was to manage the various forces in the precinct, to manage the waterways, warehouses and food transport.
Although there are also some responsibilities for local management, after all, they are not local officials close to the people. Please note that the Governor is not a subordinate of the Governor, but only of a lower rank than the Governor. Generally speaking, the inspector hangs the title of the right deputy capital of the Metropolitan Temple, which belongs to the Zheng Erpin or Cong'erpin and is called the Lord of Zhongcheng or the Lord of Futai. The inspector is responsible for the affairs of the province's military, government, people, finance, river, water, grain and other aspects, and belongs to the number one in the province.
Let's take the Inspector of Henan as an example, the full name of the Inspector of Henan is: Inspector of Henan and other places to supervise military affairs and pay for grain, control the towns, and manage the camps. It follows from this that part of the work of the Governor and the Governor overlaps. Strictly speaking, however, the governor is directly responsible for all aspects of a province, which the governor does not have. For example, during Zeng Guofan's tenure as governor of Liangjiang, Shen Baozhen, the governor of Jiangxi, looked down on Zeng Guofan very much. Although the governor could not help the governor, Shen Baozhen refused to provide supplies and food to the Xiang army. If Zeng Guofan was made, he could not control Jiangxi Province at all.
The two men have been fighting for years, and neither can help the other. In the face of a more powerful patrol, the governor does not necessarily have much advantage. Why isn't the governor afraid of the governor? Because according to the rules of the Qing Dynasty, the superiors had the right to evaluate the subordinates. For example, the prefect has the power to evaluate the county and the governor to the prefect. The examination language of excellence, competentness, and incompetence in the evaluation largely determines the promotion of officials. If the inspector's examination of a prefect is "incompetent," then the prefect is downgraded nine times out of ten.
However, the Governor did not have the power to evaluate the Inspector. Everyone was a feudal official appointed by the imperial court, so the inspector was not afraid of the governor at all. According to the division of responsibilities of the imperial court for the governor and the governor: "At the beginning of the establishment of the original, the local officials ruled, under the supervision of the provincial governors, and listened to the governor, and the governor was the main soldier." In fact, the imperial court divided the responsibilities of the governor and the inspector very clearly.
The description in the General Code of the Qing Dynasty is more detailed, the governor: the general rule of the military and the people, the repair of the feudal territory. The weight of the frontier marshal, the help of several slaughters, the selection of materials is particularly prudent, and the ministry is no exception. The inspectors are: to announce morality and intentions, to soothe the people, to repair the government and punishment, to revitalize the pros and cons, and to examine the rule of the group of officials. Therefore, although the rank of the governor is higher than that of the inspector, he is at most half a superior of the inspector, not the standard superior. From the Kangxi Dynasty to the Daoguang Dynasty, infighting between governors and governors abounded, and even the imperial court knew what was going on.
Especially in the areas where the governor of the same city is more interesting, such as the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Guangdong. The contest between the governors and the governors continued until the Guangxu Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty's rule, due to a series of events such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, a series of events occurred, exposing the Qing Dynasty's insufficient ability to deal with emergencies. In particular, the governor and the inspector "threw the pot" at each other, which made the imperial court very angry. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties, the Qing Dynasty began its famous reforms.
After this, in the provinces that oversee the same city, the governor was abolished and the governor was concurrently appointed. In the meantime, the Qing Dynasty began to strengthen the power of the governor. Therefore, at the end of the Qing Dynasty's rule, the power and status of the governor began to be significantly higher than that of the governor. However, at this time, the Qing Dynasty was already in turmoil, and such reforms had no results at all.
There are many more stories about the official positions of the Ming and Qing dynasties. In future articles, the author will talk to you slowly.