"Two Hundred Years of the Military Aircraft Department", written by Yuan Canxing and published by Yuelu Book Society.
Red Net Moment, October 11 (Reporter Cai Juan Correspondent Xie Yifan) In 1729, Yongzheng single-handedly created the Military Aircraft Department that influenced the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty and presided over the qing Dynasty's great politics for nearly two hundred years. The establishment of the Military Aircraft Division was a major change in the central organs of the Qing Dynasty, marking the peak of the development of feudal centralization in the Qing Dynasty. Why did Yongzheng set up such a central body to deal with confidential political affairs? As a temporary body, why has the Military Aircraft Service been around for so long and has such a great impact? What kind of figures are the Military Aircraft Ministers? As an important pillar to maintain the rule of the Qing court, can military aircraft withstand the test of history in the late Qing Dynasty?
Recently, Yuan Canxing, a well-known young scholar of modern history and the main speaker of CCTV's "Law Lecture Hall", wrote his blockbuster work "Two Hundred Years of the Military Aircraft Department" newly revised and published by Yuelu Book Club, showing readers a comprehensive and real Military Aircraft Department. The whole book is centered on the Military Aircraft Department, deciphering the power operation of the Qing Dynasty and looking into the secret history of the rise and fall of the dynasty.
Yuan Canxing, doctor of history of Soochow University and university teacher, has published works such as "Beiyang under the Muzzle of the Gun", "Military Aircraft Department", "Internal Affairs Office of the Great Qing Dynasty", "The Casual Life of the Ming People", "History of the Xiang Army's Conquest", "History of Mounting Paste in the Late Qing Dynasty", "History of beiyang War" and other works. He wrote history books, in subtle detail, revealing the real political life behind the grandeur of history.
"Two Hundred Years of the Military Aircraft Department" vividly tells the honor and disgrace and ups and downs of important military aircraft figures in the nearly two hundred years of the Qing Dynasty's history, truly and comprehensively shows the important role of the Military Aircraft Department as a power center and an important role in the major historical moments of the Qing Dynasty, and is a complete history of the rise and fall of the imperial power center. The author Yuan Canxing has made a new revision of the work, adding nearly 30,000 words to the whole book, and greatly optimizing the structure of the chapter. The narrative of the book is vivid and informative, and the tone of the book is humorous and bright, and it is a masterpiece that understands the history of the Military Aircraft Department and the middle and late Qing Dynasty.
New Book Trial (Excerpt)
The dream of "one man ruling the world"
On the west side of the Qianqing Palace Square of the Forbidden City, near the Longzong Gate, there is a row of simple bungalows. Compared to the splendid palace, it is quite shabby, and tourists will mostly ignore it. However, don't look at it as inconspicuous, it is the decision-making center of the Qing Empire for more than one hundred and eighty years.
It is the Military Aircraft Division.
The Military Aircraft Department was unique to the Qing Dynasty, and the initiator was the Yongzheng Emperor. Why did Yongzheng set up such a "Central Military Leading Group"? The fundamental reason was to effectively exploit the advantages of the monarchy's centralization of power, and the trigger was a war in the northwestern frontier of the empire.
The incident began in the second year of Yongzheng (1724), when the Qinghai and Shuot Mongol chiefs Lobzang Tenzin rebelled and were put down by Nian Qianyao and Yue Zhongqi. Lobzang Tenzin fled to Dzungar. Dzungar was an old rival of the Qing court, and the Kangxi Emperor had all been dressed up and personally conquered Dzungar three times.
In the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), the internal affairs were completed, and the emperor prepared to use troops in Dzungar.
In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), war broke out. The military situation is in full swing, it needs to be dealt with immediately, and it must be kept secret. But the political institutions of the time were not satisfactory. The Qing Dynasty system, with the cabinet as the center of state administration. The cabinet was located near the Wenyuan Pavilion outside the Taihe Gate of the Forbidden City, while the Yongzheng Emperor handled government affairs and slept in the Yangxin Hall, more than a thousand meters apart. The palace is heavily forbidden, and the process of handling the complicated procedures is very easy to delay the timing; and when the military reports to Beijing, it is easy to leak secrets through the cabinet first. Therefore, under the pretext of needing a close and confidential handling organ, Yongzheng built a row of bungalows at the base of the wall around the Longzong Gate, initially called the quartermaster room, later renamed the military aircraft room, and then renamed the military aircraft department, and selected his confidants Yunxiang, Zhang Tingyu, and Jiang Tingxi to secretly handle military affairs.
Open the map of the Forbidden City to find that the Longzong Gate is located west of Qianqingmen Square, and directly north is the Yongzheng Emperor's residence, the Yangxin Hall, and the distance between the two is less than fifty meters. From one thousand to fifty meters, from the cabinet to the military aircraft, the shortening of the distance meant that the government affairs were handled quickly, and it also meant that power was concentrated to the emperor.
There is a two-meter gap between the house of the Military Aircraft Office and the palace wall, and it is said that there was a dedicated passage to the Yangxin Hall here. This road passes through the palace wall, passes through the imperial dining room, and leads to the Yangxin Hall, and the palace wall of the imperial dining room still has traces of passages. The impatient Yongzheng Emperor moved the military affairs processing center to his vicinity not enough, but also carved out a hole for convenient travel. Yongzheng's urgent desire for treatment and Qian gang's dictatorial desire were fully revealed.
After the end of the war in the northwest, Yongzheng did not abolish the Military Aircraft Department, but instead added a "small military aircraft" to handle clerical affairs in the following year, the military aircraft Zhang Jing. In the 10th year of Yongzheng (1732), he also cast a letter from the Military Aircraft Department and stored it in Ouchi. Why does a Provisional Institution exist for so long and have such an impact? Because the emperor grasped the secret of Qian Gang's arbitrariness through the military plane, he solved the problem of centralized rule.
The creation of the Military Aircraft Division was necessary both for the use of troops in Dzungar and for the centralization of power. After the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, the earlier Council of Ministers of the Legislative Council of Ministers had a false name, and the Ministers of the Council of Ministers became false titles, had nothing to do, and had a name but no reality, and was finally abolished during the Qianlong period. Although the South Study Room is still the place where Hanlin is on duty, it is no longer involved in government affairs, and is mainly responsible for literature, calligraphy and painting. However, walking into the South Study Room has always been the greatest honor in the hearts of the Qing Dynasty scholars, and the emperor often let his trusted ministers enter the South Study as a reward.
The Xinuan Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall was the place where the Yongzheng Emperor handled government affairs and approved the recitals. Hanging on the wall is a couplet of Yongzheng's handwritten letters, which is very eye-catching: Only one person rules the world, and one person serves the world. The emperor unabashedly expressed his desire for centralization. So, how did he do it?
The secret lies in the three words of the Military Aircraft Department: diligence, speed, and confidentiality. Yongzheng pursues efficiency. As soon as the Military Aircraft Department was established, the Yongzheng Emperor stipulated that no matter how many official documents there were, they must be completed on the same day. Even if there are hundreds of pieces in a day, they must be processed overnight. The emperor's requirements were so strict that the work of the military minister was very hard. Wang Wenshao was a military minister in the late Qing Dynasty, and in his diary, he left scenes of the military aircraft minister's hard work. At the beginning of the day (three o'clock in the morning), before dawn, Wang Wenshao was about to enter the military plane. On the New Year's Day of the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), he arrived at the duty house (the location of the military aircraft office) at two o'clock in the morning, and could not breathe a little and rest until seven or eight o'clock in the morning. Hungry at night, the ministers of the military plane would eat a late-night snack before leaving home. The emperor was also very thoughtful, and under the porch of the office of the Military Aircraft Department, there would always be a plate of burnt cakes and fritters for the ministers to fill their hunger.
At three o'clock in the morning, the Forbidden City was pitch black, and only the military plane was illuminated. However, the hardest worker was not the Minister of Military Aircraft, but Zhang Jing, who was responsible for writing the edict and managing the archives. After the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, its powers and responsibilities have become heavier and heavier, and all political, military, economic, and foreign affairs have not passed through the Military Aircraft Department, and a few military aircraft ministers alone have been unable to handle it. Therefore, in the second year of the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, the military aircraft Zhang Jing was added. At first, the military aircraft Zhang Jing had no quota, and was selected from the cabinet of officials such as Zhongshu and Pen And Post. From the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), there were sixteen people in each of the Jingman and Han dynasties, divided into two classes each of the Manchu and Han dynasties. The leader of each squad was called "Dalami", and he led the Zhang Jing on duty at the military aircraft. Usually, Man han Zhangjing takes turns on duty, and each shift is on duty for two days. Even on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Military Aircraft Department must also be a difference in value.
The Military Aircraft Service places the greatest emphasis on efficiency and speed. The work process of the Minister of Military Aircraft vividly depicts the "fast and furious" here: after the Minister of Military Aircraft entered the duty, at about five or six o'clock, the sky was just dark, and he would go to the Yangxin Hall to meet the emperor and listen to the emperor's opinions on the handling of government affairs, which is called "undertaking the will". After the emperor consulted the military aircraft minister's opinion on government affairs, he gave instructions, and the military aircraft minister would rush back to the military plane fifty meters away and give the emperor's meaning "to explain the will" to the military plane Zhang Jing, who walked like a fly and wrote the "proposed purpose". The Minister of Military Aircraft took the prepared edict and rushed back to the Yangxin Hall to report to the Emperor for approval. One after another, but in one hour, many government affairs were handled.
The Minister of Military Aircraft was on his knees to "undertake the will." After a long period of hard kneeling, the ministers summed up some tips. For example, they will use a round jacket cloth to line the knee with cotton wool in the middle, so that kneeling is not painful. In order to avoid long kneeling all day, the military ministers also practiced the skill of conciseness: no matter how complicated the matter, it must be finished in three sentences, so that the emperor will not ask again. After the emperor's approval is sealed, it will be stamped with a large seal of the military aircraft, and it will be written that the number of daily miles will be handed over to the soldiers to send the stagecoach to pass, or four or five hundred miles a day, or six hundred miles to expedite, and the galloping horses carry the emperor's approval and flow endlessly on the imperial stagecoach. With this transportation system, the tentacles of centralized power reached out to all sides of the empire.
"Secret" is the biggest feature of the Military Aircraft Department. After the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department, Yongzheng repeatedly warned his subordinates of the principle that "if the subject is not secret, he will lose his body", and stipulated that the outside of the Military Aircraft Department should be guarded by the guards, and it was strictly forbidden to enter privately from the princes and ministers down to the eunuch palace women. Even the service staff stipulates that it must be a small eunuch under the age of fifteen who cannot read, called "Little Mo Tong". After the age of fifteen, he immediately changed new people. The imperial mail, which occupies the large head of the documents of the Military Aircraft Department, and the recital submitted to the emperor by the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs, have changed the long-standing official document practice in ancient China.
Today, the "Shang Dynasty Batch Fold" is the main impression of people's work as emperors. As you know, the emperors before the Qing Dynasty were "not to approve the folding". The sonata was placed on the emperor's desk and had to go through a complicated process. Taking the Ming Dynasty as an example, at that time, the uplink official documents of the local provinces and the central ministries were called "inscriptions" if they were related to public affairs; those related to private affairs were called "songbooks". These "books" are first summarized in the Department of Communications and Envoys equivalent to the General Office of the State Council, and then handed over to the Cabinet. The cabinet first "drafted" with a handling opinion, and sent it to the emperor for approval together with the songbook. The emperor wrote down his opinions with a Zhu pen and then sent them to the cabinet for execution, which is called "approval of red".
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was sluggish in government affairs, often handing over the power of "approving red" to the celebrant of ceremonies, and asking the chief eunuch Bingbi to make "Zhu Batch" according to the emperor's will. Although this government affairs process of the Ming Dynasty opened the back door for eunuchs to participate in the government, it also formed a restriction on imperial power. Because the cabinet first read the recital, the emperor drew up opinions before he could see it. Even if the Emperor rejects the Cabinet's "vote", the Cabinet will think of a remedy. Slowly, the head of the cabinet became the de facto prime minister. If he had close relations with the chief eunuch, Bingbi, and the emperor was young, then the decision-making power was in the hands of the first assistant of the cabinet. For example, Zhang Juzheng during the Wanli period, subordinate officials played the script, the cabinet "voted" according to Zhang Juzheng's meaning, the political ally Feng Bao controlled the celebrant of ceremonies and then "approved the red", and the "Wanli New Deal" was vigorously implemented.
In order to avoid being deceived by the cabinet, the Kangxi Emperor invented the system of folding in the middle of the kangxi period—the emperor's cronies secretly submitted reports directly, and the emperor controlled the overall situation through secret reports. Bypassing the cabinet, this ensured that the emperor carried out his will without interference and that power was concentrated in the monarch.
Yongzheng improved the system of folding. He not only extended the right to write to university scholars and provincial governors, clans, provinces, provinces, ti, and towns, but also made great efforts in secrecy measures. First of all, the secret folds were directly in front of the imperial court, and no one changed hands in the middle; and the secret folds could only be approved by the emperor alone, even the military ministers could not look at them.
In the preface to the Zhu Zhi Zhi Zhi, Yong Zheng said smugly: "Such a recital ... Every word is out of the mind, and no one has a false hand on the person, nor does anyone praise the side. "The secret folds and Zhu Batch between the chancellor and the emperor were passed on by special boxes. The chancellor and the emperor each had a key, and no one else could open the box. Even so, Yongzheng also instructed his subordinates not to leak the contents of the secret folds. Ortai was one of Yongzheng's most trusted favorites, and Yongzheng warned him in a letter to Ortai's nephew Echang: "Do not let one person know, that is, Uncle Ru Ortai does not have to be known." That is, Zhu approved the recital, Yongzheng still did not relax, and also ordered that the player be returned to the palace for preservation within a certain period of time, and he himself must not copy and leave the bottom, otherwise he will be severely punished.
So, how did the fold after Zhu Batch reach the hands of the player? By the military aircraft. After the Military Aircraft Department received the Zhu Batch Fold, the Military Aircraft Zhang Jing first transcribed the fold together with Zhu Batch and preserved it; the original was sealed and installed and passed directly to the Minister of The Fold. Some folds, the emperor did not consider the whole day, "left in the middle" and did not send; others, some extremely confidential, only recorded "another purpose", even the copy is not kept.
Yongzheng relied on secret folds to understand the situation, implemented the new policy, deterred his subordinates, and clarified politics. For example, climate, grain prices, incorruptible, water conservancy, etc., are all within the tight fold, almost all-encompassing. In addition to these, the energetic Yongzheng also liked to meddle in trivial matters, and the chancellor also looked forward to the wind and pointed out that he would like it: in June of the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), Zhai Shiyou, a resident of Mengjin County in Henan Province, picked up 170 taels of silver from Qin Tai, a cotton merchant in Shaanxi Province, and did not swallow it privately. Tian Wenjing, who was then the governor of Shandong in Henan, told Yongzheng Chen about this matter in the middle of the recital, and the emperor instructed: "This is Tian Wenjing, you have a good education, it is really the auspicious rui of the country, and you are very happy." "Because many local officials have the right to play secretly, Yongzheng is happy to have them restrain and supervise each other. Wang Shaoxu was recommended by Ortai to be the viceroy of Guangzhou, and Yongzheng was worried that he was too "gentle and gentle, and he was famous for xiaohuigu", so he asked the Guangzhou general Shi Liha to monitor Wang's performance. After receiving Shi Liha's reply that "Wang Shaoxu never forgot the holy grace, was clean and clean, and was diligent in handling affairs", Yongzheng was still full of doubts and asked the opinions of the governor of Liangguang and the acting governor of Guangdong. After receiving the affirmative opinion of Inspector Fu Tai of Guangdong, he only stopped.
Appointing a viceroy of Guangzhou would cost the emperor such a mind. Under the shock of the canopy of Heavenly Power, the new policies promoted by Yongzheng, such as the spread of land into acres, the return of land to the stream, etc., were also vigorously implemented. Since the beginning of the Yongzheng Dynasty, the politics of secret folding has become the mainstream of Qing dynasty politics. The military aircraft department played the role of a hub, which contributed greatly to the qing empire to its prosperity.
Yongzheng used the military plane to "rule the world with one person", and at the same time put the burden on his shoulders. Qing emperors were generally diligent, and Yongzheng was the most prominent of them. In May of the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), the emperor said with emotion in his edict that the emperor had already been a model of diligence in going to the court every day; and the emperor had worked from early morning to late at night every day. During the day, the Yongzheng Emperor received large and small officials and performed chapters; at night, under the green lantern, he also had to read the secret folds of various places, up to twenty or thirty pieces.
According to statistics, in the thirteen years that Yongzheng was in power, he had at least approved more than 22,000 pieces of music and folds, more than 190,000 inscriptions, and written more than 10 million words of criticism. Unlike his father and son, Yongzheng never toured the splendid Jiangnan and hunted the Mulan paddock. Aside from his birthday off, he was a work machine. The back of the monarchy's centralization of power is to give up rest and be diligent in government affairs. On August 23, the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), the emperor died violently in the Yuanmingyuan, and the throne was passed to prince Hongli of Bao, and the new emperor was named Qianlong. During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Military Aircraft Department completely became the Emperor's right and left hand, and the Military Aircraft Minister completely became the Emperor's senior secretary.