What was the governmental organization of the Song Dynasty like?

A. The Central Government of the Song Dynasty

Of the five dynasties, Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing, the Song was the poorest and weakest link. In terms of the political system, it was also the least productive. At the moment, the central government of the Song Dynasty, or from the power to start. In terms of the Chinese political system, the Qin and Han dynasties were a big change. The Tang Dynasty was also a big change from the Han Dynasty. But the Song Dynasty could not be said to be a big change from the Tang Dynasty. Everything was inherited. What has changed is only due to the times and all the situations outside, and it has changed its face, and it has changed by adding notes and making alterations. Even if we say that it has changed, we cannot say that it has been established. Song of the Tang, can only be said to be like the Eastern Han Dynasty of the Western Han Dynasty, something but no government. The situation has been changed, but no system has been established.

B, the division of power

Song dynasty, the power of the Tang dynasty, much lower. Song dynasty also has three provinces, in fact, only in the palace, the door under the book of two provinces are moved outside the palace, so only the province alone to take the will, called the political affairs hall. And the Privy Council and the same as the two houses. Privy Council is the military, this is the late Tang dynasty passed down a new organization, the Song people can not be corrected, it is inherited, become an important official position. The middle book is the prime minister, the status of the sole. The two provincial governors no longer heard of the highest orders of the government. However, the central book and the Privy Council, that is, the prime minister can not control the military.

Then on the financial: the Song dynasty financial, mastered in the three divisions, the division is the Tang dynasty Shangshu six departments below the official name. But the Tang dynasty since the Anshi chaos, often due to financial difficulties, and even the prime minister of the Secretary of the Department. Song Dynasty and because of its shortcomings and can not be reformed, but into the government's financial power falls exclusively in the hands of the Department. The so-called three divisions - the first is the Department of the Ministry of the household, the second is the Department of salt and iron, the third is the Department of the Department of expenditure, the Department of expenditure that is the management of economic cashier. In the Tang Dynasty, there is the prime minister personally led by the minister of a division, such as salt and iron, degree of support and so on, in order to deal directly with financial issues for the convenience of seeing, this is not a training, in the end, by the prime minister to hold the financial power, but also can be said to go. The Song Dynasty, the status of the three divisions increased, independent of the national financial control, which is extremely unreasonable. Therefore, Wang Jinggong for Shenzong phase, want to change the law to implement the new government, the first measure, is the establishment of the system of three departments regulations, the Ministry of households, salt and iron, the degree of support for the three Yamen, re-organization, unified into the new Yamen (i.e., the system of three departments regulations Division). This measure, in jinggong is trying to put the financial power back into the hands of the prime minister, just as in the Tang dynasty by the prime minister to lead the department at the same time. Sima Wen was extremely opposed to this, he said, the financial should be managed by the three departments, the three departments can be replaced, should not let the two governments invade the matter. Here, however, we can see a kind of disagreement between Jing and Wen on the system at that time. Jing Gong's intention was to keep the financial power under the prime minister, which was a systemic issue, not a personnel issue, and was not related to the competence or incompetence of the three ministers at that time. Jing Gong is trying to re-define the authority of the three divisions, to the so-called Central Book of the rule of the people of the Privy Council of the military three divisions of the financial authority of the military and the people of the financial authority of the three re-òcialized. Duke Wen, on the other hand, the main one is still the same, only focusing on personnel, not focusing on the system. If the system, the military and civil finance authority of three, in the end is not reasonable to think.

Once again, I would like to talk about the use of people: the government has always used people, should be under the authority of the prime minister. What people should be used, what officials should be promoted, this is the prime minister below the Ministry of the official, Song Dynasty, but also set up another examination course. Courses are equal to ambrose, later renamed the court. And the court is divided into east and west of the two houses, the east of the main cultural election, the west of the main military election. And don't set up three class yard, to ambrose a generation of the inner court and the temple straight official. In this way, the right to use people, all not the prime minister. This is the early Song dynasty in a sense of inferiority of the royal family under the selfishness, deliberately to take away the powers and responsibilities of the prime minister and add. If so, not only the prime minister and Tang system is different, that is, the system of Shangshu become the general administrative organs, also destroyed.

C, the encroachment of the power of the king

The above mentioned military, financial, employment of the Song dynasty, three powers are constrained, are divided, which is clearly the decline of the power of the phase. The flip side of this is the elevation of the monarch's power. That is to say, the Tang Dynasty, the ministers of the court, the prime minister to have a seat, and give tea. The ancient so-called "the three ministers sit and discuss", the Tang system is still the same. Until the Song Dynasty, the prime minister to the court, also stand together not sit. This type of transformation, to say very regrettable. But the evolution of history, which can not be blamed only on all the dark forces of the work, or a certain one or two people's selfishness intentionally made. Song Taizu in the latter Zhou, was a temple before the inspection point, just like an emperor's chief of guards. He was a chance, overnight as the emperor, and like his yellow robe as the emperor, Song Taizu is not the first, to him is already the fourth. In the middle of the decades, whoever the army wants to be the emperor, who has to do it. Zhao Kuangyin yesterday or a temple before the point of inspection, today is the emperor, that is the five generations of the darkest epitome of chaos. If you compare the emperor to the prime minister, but the prime minister has to do for one or two decades. In contrast, the emperor is not like. In the Five Dynasties, which emperors had the same objective status and respect as Feng Dao? However, in the end, the emperor should be an emperor, he is the head of a country. If the emperor is too unlikeable, all other officials will be unlikeable as well. Now we need to restore the chaos and counter-governance, honoring the king is the first step. Moreover, the emperor's decency and dignity is not as good as that of the prime minister, and it is also easy to start the suspicion between the emperor and the prime minister. It is said that the prime minister was to avoid suspicion, in order to show loyalty to the new emperor, so over self-effacement, not to sit, so that the government dignity of the emperor dignity gradually raised, gradually restored. On the matter of fact, this also should have wish. Of course, this is also the minister did not know the general body, but also to a psychological inferiority complex, only so. If in the Tang Dynasty, by the family tradition to deal with this situation, they will never do so. And like a generation of simple and unlettered people from the fields at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, they would not have done so either. It was a generation of small family-like readers from the late Tang Dynasty and the Fifth Dynasty who passed down the lightness of the scholarly tradition that did so. But their intentions at that time, ultimately still can be forgiven. However, things separated for a long time, the original meaning of the evolution of this thing is forgotten, the descendants will only see the dignity of the emperor and the prime minister of the humble.

Secondly, the emperor's edict, which is the highest government order. In the Tang dynasty to the prime minister of the province of preparation, the draft is called familiar with, also known as the familiar formulated. Cooked draft is the meaning of the detailed draft. Cooked in the book proposed to the emperor, the emperor only pro range at the end of the paper approved a few sentences, with the emperor's seal can be played, which is called the seal painting. After this procedure, it will be able to descend out of the line. This procedure, in fact, is the chancellor of the decree, only to ask the emperor said yes even if. In modern parlance, the emperor in the government of all the highest order has his right of consent. To the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the prime minister to avoid suspicion, in order to promote respect for the emperor, in order to make the emperor's prestige status is elevated, in the event that the government decided to order, first write a? Zi, this is a kind of opinion of the section, for something to put forward a few opinions, proposed into a few methods, sent by the emperor to decide, the so-called "face to get into the end". Then the prime minister and then according to the emperor's opinion formally proposed decree. So the chancellor of the face to take into account the imperial edict, only a draft or statement, and is no longer the final order out of the final draft, which is familiar with the chancellor of the Tang dynasty is a big difference. Song dynasty of the highest decree of the final decision in the emperor, not in the prime minister, at least the emperor will not only agree with the right to participate in the right of opinion. The prime minister is just following orders, so the power of the king is heavy, the power of the phase is light. Besides, all the important instructions of the government, originally not all to have the emperor's edict. In the Tang Dynasty, the political affairs hall order four sides, the book is said to be under the hall post, the early Song Dynasty, there is this system, at that time and said that the power of the hall post is heavier than the imperial edicts. But then there is an edict prohibited, the book shall not be under the hall post, and then changed to use? Sub-command. In fact? In fact, it is also like the Tangtai. Later, a magistrate, disobeyed the Chinese book of discipline, the original? Sealed, Taizong was furious, so that the public affairs shall be sent down the edicts of the punishment, that is, with? The son, also when playing the cut. This is not the Song Dynasty, all the decision-making power of the decree will be all returned to the emperor? This system, to the time of Emperor Shenzong, or abolished, still allowed to use? The son. According to these points, can prove that the Song dynasty prime minister's failure.

However, this should not be taken to mean that traditional Chinese politics was all about dictatorship and authoritarianism, as we say in modern times. In the early Song Dynasty, there was a story that when Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, when a certain official was vacant, he asked Zhao Pu, the prime minister, to draw up a name, and Zhao Pu drew up a name and handed it to Emperor Taizu, who usually hated this person, and he said indignantly, "How can this person be used", and tore the paper and threw it on the ground. Zhao Pu did not make a sound, the ground waste paper picked up and hid. After a day or two, the emperor again to Zhao Pu proposed, Zhao Pu early picked up the day before the broken paper with paste paste to carry around, that is, and then send this paper. Taizu surprised to ask: "how or this person", Zhao Pu replied, according to a certain opinion, for the time being, no one else is suitable. Taizu also realized, nodded and said: "In this case, according to your opinion with it!"

When we tell this story, we can still imagine that Zhao Pu still has some of the traditional demeanor of a prime minister. But in fact, Zhao Pu is not a Taoist scholar, only because Song Taizu trusted him, and at the same time there is no other decent person, he became the prime minister. After he became the prime minister, he was still warned by the Emperor that he should take time to study when he became the prime minister, and that is why he read the Analects of Confucius. Later, it was said that Zhao Pu ruled the world with half of The Analects of Confucius, so probably he read The Analects of Confucius, but he did not read it properly and carefully. However, Zhao Pu was already a good prime minister of the Song Dynasty, which is evident from the story he told before. It's not that Zhao Pu is outstanding, it's just a traditional historical habit that should be so, when so, and Zhao Pu also so. Although the power of the prime minister was low at that time, we should still base on the historical facts, and should not just rely on our own imagination to scold the traditional Chinese politics as being all about imperial despotism and dictatorship. Moreover, the Song royal family's family tradition was to try to honor the scholars and not to allow the killing of court officials. The Northern Song emperors were relatively free of tyranny and authoritarianism. The shortcomings of the Song Dynasty system, in the scattered, in the weak, not in the monopoly and violence. Until the Southern Song Ningzong, has almost died, the emperor when the next hand strip, then known as the imperial journal, but also provoked indignation of courtiers, said the matter is not out of the book, is a messy government. Visible in the Song dynasty, there is a traditional objective position. We are only based on history at the moment to say that Song is not as good as Tang, the so-called Song dynasty prime minister dereliction of duty, everything is still a systemic problem. Not only the emperor's dictatorship, not to mention the system.

Ding, Jianqi and the government of the water and fire

Now again to the Song dynasty prosecutor: its first in the Han dynasty, supervision by the vice prime minister of the imperial historian to exercise. At that time, the scope of supervision of the royal historian, outside the central local internal and external hundred officials, inside the royal family and the court, all under the supervision of the royal historian. The chief of the imperial history was a deputy chief of the imperial history, which was specialized in supervising the royal family and the court, and could also be said to be supervising the emperor. The other one was the Minister of the Imperial History, who supervised the government, both central and local. Therefore, as far as the distribution of powers is concerned, the royal historian is the eyes and ears of the prime minister or his deputy. The chancellor issued orders, and the deputy chancellor helped him to monitor. At that time, the court and the court, both are one by the prime minister of the control, naturally, the right to monitor also to the court. Later, the imperial historian withdrew from the palace and became the imperial historian, whose authority was limited to the supervision of the government, but not the supervision of the emperor and the court. However, among the government officials, there were still those who monitored the emperor, which were called admonition officers. Admonishers have also existed since the Han Dynasty, such as the genus of the Counselor of Counselors, which belonged to Guangluxun in the Han Dynasty. On the name of his official position, is specifically called to follow the emperor, in the emperor's near, specifically to criticize and satirize the emperor's words and deeds. Guangluxun is one of the nine ministers, subordinate to the prime minister, of course, the counselor is subordinate to the prime minister. And to the Tang Dynasty, this kind of counselor, all belong to the province under the door, and the previous mentioned in charge of sealing and refutation of the governor in the same organ, such as counselor, gleaner, fill in the queue and so on are. The great poet Du Fu has done gleanings. These officials, the rank is not high, and no power, but very respected by the government. Most of them are selected young and advanced, learned, temperament, and political seniority is not deep. Although they are small, but can speak to the emperor. The term "pick up" means to pick up something after it has been dropped, which means that the emperor has forgotten something and he can remind him of it. "Mending Que" means that the emperor has any faults and has to make up for them. In addition, there is the Division of remonstrance, positive speech, etc., in short, the definition of the right name, they are specialized to the emperor admonishing faults. Tang system, after the emperor's audience with the civil and military officials, usually no special things, quickly dispersed. After the court, the emperor another and prime minister from the discussion, this time the bystanders shall not participate, and the admonition of the province under the door alone in the exception, they grow with the prime minister to participate in the list of seats. This is because the prime minister sometimes inconvenient to speak directly with the emperor's words, but can let these small official mouth to speak. If the emperor is angry, also can not directly to the prime minister. They speak right, certainly good, speak wrong, but also no harm in general. Because their name is admonition, originally to speak their mouth. They are small, light, not high, speak poor words can also be willing. As the saying goes, the speaker is not guilty, the listener is sufficiently disciplined. With their entourage beside the chancellor, the chancellor can avoid direct conflict with the emperor, and what the chancellor wants to say is spoken by their mouths, which is a kind of technical problem in politics. These techniques, of course, were born out of an ideal need. The so-called ideal need is the regulation between the power of the king and the power of the other. The relationship is as follows:

Emperor-->Chancellor-->Admonisher-->Emperor

The emperor uses the Chancellor, the Chancellor uses the Admonisher. The duties of an Admonisher were to specifically admonish the Emperor for his faults. This was different from the imperial historian. Unlike the imperial historian, who was to monitor the government, the counselor did not monitor the government, he only corrected the emperor. As such, if we regard the counselor as a prosecutor, then the prosecutors in Chinese history should be divided into two kinds of counselors. The Imperial Palace of the Tang Dynasty was the Imperial Palace of Records. Although the Tang Dynasty's official of the Imperial Palace was the ear of the Emperor, the Tang Dynasty's official of the Imperial Palace was the mouthpiece of the Chancellor. The imperial censorship in the Tang dynasty has been independent from the power of the prime minister, but the power of admonition is still in the hands of the prime minister. This system, to the song dynasty and changed. The counselors were originally subordinate to the Ministry, but in the Song Dynasty, the counselors were independent and did not have a governor. In other words, they were not directly under the prime minister anymore. Moreover, in the Song Dynasty, the counselors were not allowed to be appointed by the prime minister, so the counselors had to be promoted by the emperor himself. Originally, the establishment of the counselor, the intention of the corrective rope in the son of heaven, and not used to correct the prime minister, the emperor only called admonition, and the counselor is also clearly the prime minister's subordinate officials. Now the admonition officer from the door of the province, it becomes bald, independent, not subordinate to the prime minister. And they were promoted by the emperor himself, and could not be recommended by the prime minister, so they became not for the purpose of correcting the son of heaven, but for correcting the prime minister. Thus, admonition was in opposition to the government. Counselor is to say for the job, no matter what what place he can speak, not to speak is not due diligence, speak the wrong words turn is not matter. Moreover, these counselors have low rank and small authority, and they are only some officials with high reputation. Originally, the selection of young and educated, prestigious, knowledgeable and courageous to be able to open the door to be appointed as an admonition officer. If they speak wrongly, of course, they will be removed from office, but if they are removed from office, their reputation will be higher, and they will have more chances to be promoted. Therefore, when the prime minister said east, they said west, and when the prime minister said west, they said east. They always disagreed, and they always expressed dissenting views to the government. Otherwise, how can they be called admonishing officials and how can they be regarded as doing their duty? In this way, they have set up for the Government an opposition organ which only makes empty speeches but does not take up any real responsibility. They love to express their opposition to the government, and there is no discipline for them to do so, as long as they are admonished, they can express their opinions individually. The government, however, could not always ignore their opinions. This trend began in the Song Dynasty, which is also considered to be the Qing Dynasty. Qingdao is always the enemy of the government. While it is true that the Qing Dynasty may not be entirely bad, the government is always constrained. Gradually, the counselors and the officials gradually became indistinguishable from each other. Taiwan officials to monitor the target is the government, the admonition of the target or the government, and put the emperor on the sidelines, into no one cares. The prime minister has to deal with the emperor, but also to deal with the advisers, and how to get to play?

But the above, most of them are still some personnel, rather than belonging to the system. If the system, the Song dynasty are largely inherited from the old Tang. Only because of the Song dynasty, Taizu Taizong do not know the general, the intention to take the power of their own, in other words, this is the small soldiers do not feel at ease with the ministers, which is fine. They are all kinds of measures, since the beginning of the constant opposition. But because of the early Song inherited the five generations of the accumulation of evils, social readers less, academic decline, against only know the Tang system is not so, and did not look at the big picture, to create a customized law for the Song generation. Later, the emperor read a book, know history, know politics, more social readers, academic revitalization, until Ren Ying Shen three dynasties, only want to put the previous ancestor of the accumulated ills, to reform, but the accumulation of potential has been, eager to reverse not over. Fan Zhongyan failed before, Wang Anshi failed after. Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty trusted Wang Anshi and asked him to change the law, however, the counselors and the prime ministers were against each other, and they were on fire with each other. However, at that time, the admen were not like the so-called opposition party in the modern West. They were decentralized and isolated. Their position seemed to be exclusively to preside over public discussions, not to oppose the government. In terms of moral stance, they were more powerful than the opposition parties in the modern West. When the prime minister did not listen to them, they begged to go, and when they did, they became even more famous. When another person comes up, he continues to oppose the government in accordance with what the previous person advocated. The government cannot do without these officials. This system, this culture, is really difficult to deal with, the result is only the prime minister begged to go. The failure of Wang Jinggong's new policy was naturally attributed to the non-cooperation of Jianwang. Although the emperor trusted the prime minister, he could not reverse the situation. Even the emperor, together with the prime minister, could not do anything about it, which was a unique weakness of the Song system. As long as the later, the admonition of too fierce, make too much fun, too boring, society and the government, all hate Jianqi, do not pay attention to, ignore, so the admonition of the loss of power, however, powerful ministers and treacherous ministers and from then on out of the head. The government without a system, which can have good behavior, which can have good results.

E, Song Dynasty local government

Song Dynasty system, one side is the decline of the power of the pharaohs, the other side is centralized power. When it comes to local administration in China, one can only say that the Han Dynasty was good, the Tang Dynasty was comparatively okay, and the Song Dynasty was terrible.

There were three levels of local government in the Song Dynasty. The highest level is called Lu, which is equivalent to the Tang Dynasty Way. The middle level is the government, state, military, and supervision, equivalent to the Tang Dynasty's state government. The lowest level is still the county. It was first divided into fifteen roads, and later into more than twenty roads. Since the Five Dynasties, local administrators were all soldiers. Song Taizu released the military power in a cup of wine and cut down the military power of generals, so the military officials no longer led troops and were naturally not allowed to control the local civil affairs any more. These ministers of military officials, also in the long-term chaos tired, realized, no longer contend. They only have a number of officials, the central government for them in the capital to provide a large mansion, a generous salary, so that they live down. For example, you are Jiangsu Governor, the central government still retains your title of Jiangsu Governor, but please live in the central government. Jiangsu Province, another person to send, sent by a civil servant. This is called know a city, know a government affairs. These governor governor, originally another official title, are the central official, with a know a certain state and a certain government affairs of the temporary dispatch. His job is still a central official, and temporarily to manage the affairs of a certain state and a certain government. Strictly speaking, these are still personnel, non-system. But until the Qing dynasty, the county governor but become a formal official name, which is really unreasonable. If the definition of the correct name, the Song Dynasty, there is no magistrate, only temporarily sent the central government officials to take care of local affairs, that in the system is not even more unreasonable? In the Tang Dynasty, the head of each province was an envoy of observation, according to the name, the envoy of observation was sent by the Imperial Historical Office to investigate the local administration, and was not a formal local administrator. But later on, they gradually became local chiefs. This has been mentioned in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, it changed again. These officials, in the Song Dynasty, also known as the supervisors, each way **** there are four supervisors, the general became Shuai, Cao, Xian, warehouse. "Handsome" is the pacification ambassador, in charge of all the way military and civil affairs, leading the military ban, reward and punishment. The "Cao" was the envoy of transportation, who was in charge of finance, and led the supply and storage of funds. "Xian" is the criminal investigation envoy, in charge of justice, leading the prison lawsuits, prisoners detailed reply. "Cang" is to raise Changping make, in charge of relief, leading Changping Yi warehouse, water conservancy convergence and dispersal. These four are equal to are not the local governor, but the central government sent to the local to supervise the command of the local. In the Tang Dynasty, the state and county, as long as to serve a superior, that is, the observation of the ambassador, while the Song Dynasty to serve four superiors, that is, the marshal, Cao, Xian, warehouse, that can be imagined that the local officials of the difficult to do. Of these four, the Cao, that is, the transit ambassador was the most important. The local finance was in his hands, and he had to transfer all the local wealth to the central government. In the Tang Dynasty, part of the local income was transferred to the central government, while the other part was kept in the local government. In the Song Dynasty, all of the local revenues were transferred to the central government, and the local government had no storage. Normally, it was very hard, but when something happened at the local level, it was even more unimaginable. The so-called centralization of power in the Song Dynasty was the concentration of military power and financial power, while the localities became increasingly poor and weak. As for the centralization of employment, it was already implemented in the Tang Dynasty. But the local poor and weak, so the Jin soldiers invaded, only the central capital (Bianjing) a loss, the whole country disintegrated, more difficult to resist. Tang Dynasty Anshi Rebellion, its military strength is not weaker than the Jin people, Tang two capitals are lost, but the wealth of the counties thick, each city, are stored for a few years of rice, uniforms and weapons are stockpiled, so everywhere you can fight each other, or there are ways to do so. The Song dynasty is the wealth of troops are concentrated to the central, do not leave a little in the local, so the central failure, the whole country fell apart, no longer have a way.