What was the rank system in ancient China?

The rank system of the new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty

The establishment of the rank system of the new army began in December 1904, when the Qing government approved the program of the Military Training Department and the Ministry of War, which was called "another system of officers of the new army", and in 1911, a complete rank system was finally formed.

Military rank system with the past Qing military hierarchy, compared to the changes in the hierarchy is to change the past military rank rank a column in the end of the classification, and took the form of the district and other graded, that is, the officer "district for the three, analyzed for the nine", sergeants and soldiers are divided into three levels, plus additional officers, ****juice six sixteen levels.

The names of the various grades are as follows;

Officers: superior first grade, generals, generals, and full captains

superior second grade, vice captains

superior third grade, co-captains

Medium first grade, full counsellors

Medium second grade, vice counsellors

Medium third grade, co-captains

Medium third grade, co-captains

Medium third grade, co-captains

Medium third grade. Associate Counselor

Second -class, Full Cadet

Second -class, Associate Cadet

Second -class, Associate Cadet

Additional Officers:

NCOs: Staff Sergeant, Sergeant, Lower Sergeant

Pawns: Posseman, Private, -Cadet,Private

The first military ranks adopted by the Qing government were: -Cadet, -Cadet, Private

Additionally, there was a need for a new military rank. >The rank designations first adopted by the Qing government followed the official names of the eight banners, slightly organized.

Dutong, the highest military officer of each of the eight banners in the organization, the Manchu name of the "solid mountain Ejin", Shunzhi seventeen years (1660), borrowed the ancient official name of the Han named Dutong.

Senator, Manchu name "A La Eizhen", forty-third year of the Ming Wanli (1515), Nurhachu established the eight banners system, in the solid mountain Eizhen set up under the level of official positions. The eight banners also have the official name of the "co-collar", for the name of the garrison cavalry generals.

Military school, the eight banners of the infantry battalion has "infantry school", the Yuanmingyuan three banners have "military school", from the eighth grade military position in the "deputy military school" and so on.

Superior sergeant, sergeant, corporal title, the Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties of the official number.

Another feature of the late Qing rank is that, in addition to the officer has another military rank. Practice and the Ministry of War in the submission of the "Army officers sergeant rank and complementary system summary of the statute," said the folding: "officers, manager of the payroll, medical and legal officials, is said to be sergeant; the Secretary of the affairs of the important and complicated, there must be a specialization, to be competent; and the officers with the same one, the rank of the rank should be similar, but in the first of the name of the official, crowned with the same word, in order to differentiate between them. "

The Qing Dynasty, according to the provisions of the army, according to the specialized professional is divided into eleven categories; military ranks of the most set up three levels of eight, the least set up only a second class. Guangxu twenty-one for the first time, the rank of military officers and the same level of officers, only in the title of the officer before the title of a crown with the word, such as "with the vice president", "with the military school" and so on. The first year of Xuantong, because "the official name above the crown with the same word, but also think the boundary is not clear", so it was changed to the title of the title before the professional name, such as "munitions vice president", "horse doctor is the Senator" and so on.

The range of ranks and their grades are as follows:

Quartermasters, military doctors, and armaments officers, with three grades and eight grades below the vice-commander;

Horse doctors, surveyors, and military judges, with two grades and six grades below the chief of the army;

Scribes' palaces, with two grades and five grades below the deputy chief of the army;

Audit officers, and officers of the army bands, with three grades and three grades below the chief of the army;

Scribes, and officers of the army band, with three grades below the military colonel;

Scribe and bugle officers, with the second grade below the first class of deputy military colonel.

Since the emergence of the rank and file in ancient China, there have been certain rules about what posts are matched with what titles (rank and file). During the Tang and Song dynasties, a certain range was allowed between the position and the rank, and terms reflecting this range were defined. Those with a high rank and a low rank were called "Hsing" for a certain plasma position, and those with a low rank and a high rank were called "Shou" for a certain position. The Song Dynasty also stipulated that if the title was more than two levels below the position, it would be called the "test" so-and-so position, while those with comparable titles would be addressed directly to the position.

Foreign armies also have certain provisions in the relationship between the position and rank, Europe and the United States said that the position of rank, the former Soviet Union said that the establishment of rank. After the implementation of the rank system at the end of the Qing Dynasty, followed and inherited the foreign armies and China's ancient traditions, the relationship between the position and the rank of a clear provision.

The Qing Historical Manuscripts-Officers' Records recorded:

Positive Tutong, serving as presidential officer (equivalent to the later military commander)

Vice Tutong, serving as commander-in-chief (town commander);

Associate Tutong, serving as chief of staff (co-commander);

Positive Seneschal, serving as commander-in-chief (standard commander);

Vice Seneschal, serving as first class staff Officer;

Associate Senator, as Stewardship Officer (Battalion Commander),

Full Cadet, as Supervisory Officer (equivalent to Company Commander)

Associate Cadet, as Platoon Commander:

Associate Cadet, as Division Commander.

The Qing government began to match the rank with the title, the requirements are very strict, called "to match the rank with the officer, so that the difference". But after a few years of practice, proved difficult to achieve full rank, so in the second year of the Xuantong revised to, in general, "to the equivalent of the official, the equivalent of the job", "but in case of military service needs material for a moment without the appropriate candidate, grams deputy to their duties, or greater than the military level, or less than the military level of the officer, can also be sent to fill the discretionary. However, in the event that there is no suitable candidate for the military post, the officer or officer who is larger or smaller than the military post may be assigned to fill the post. However, regardless of the size, the rate of difference is limited to one grade, and shall not be exceeded."

The rank of generals and generals, and is the first level of the first class, is a reward for the accumulation of meritorious positive metropolitan, belong to the nature of the honorary title, in the corresponding relationship with the military, and the positive metropolitan has no obvious difference.

Before the reform of the official system of the Qing army, the ruling class emphasized the military. The Sino-Japanese War suffered a defeat, more provoked some of the dissatisfaction of the military ministers, have accused the past, "agreed on the official system, compilation of books, more out of the hands of the civil servants, the intention is to emphasize the civilization of the military. Do not know that the state set up military positions, the original intention of its defense, its responsibility is not lighter than the civil servants. Therefore, one of the purposes of the reform of the official system, should be "correcting the habit of lightness of the accumulation of human feelings, so that the civil and military gradual return to the same subject". Xuantong yuan in October, the military advisory office to the court decided to "army officers military officer ranks compared to the civilian complementary table", in fact, is a civil and military officers of the rank comparison table, the provisions of the rank of the military officer and the corresponding relationship between the civilian.

The following is this provision:

Great generals and generals, the same as the university soil, the first grade;

Captains, the same as the governor and the right royal secretary of the Duzhaoyuan, from the first grade;

Vice captains, the same as the governor, governor and the Ministry of War bullying, the second grade;

Associate captains, the same as the governor and the Buzhengzhi, from the second grade;

Positive senatorial chiefs

Associate chief of staff, the same as the governor, the fourth grade,

Corporate military colonel, the same as the governor of Zhili, the fifth grade;

Associate military colonel.

Associate military colonel, the same as the governor, the seventh grade,

Additional officer, the same as the county minister, the eighth grade;

Superior sergeant, the same as the training guide, from the eighth grade;

Sergeant, the orange same as the county chief minister, the ninth grade;

Corporal sergeant, the same as the inspector, from the ninth grade.

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Ming Dynasty guards system is inherited from the Tang Dynasty's government soldiers system, the Song Dynasty's more garrison law ideas and the Yuan Dynasty's military households hereditary system, especially welcome friends to publish high arguments, and invite friends of world history to make a comparison between China and foreign countries.

A Primer on the Battalion Soldier System of the Ming Dynasty

The battalion soldier system was a long-neglected and misinterpreted part of the Ming military system. The relationship between the battalion and the guards' army, and between the conscripts and the battalion is the key to understanding the battalion system, and to grasp the emergence and development of the battalion system from its relationship, so as to correctly understand the unique phenomenon of coexistence of army and soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, and to correctly understand the Ming Dynasty's military system.

I. Battalion military system and the system of guards

Ming dynasty was established at the beginning of the implementation of the system of guards in the country. In fact, the guards are not the modern sense of the barracks, not a wartime organization, the guards of the soldiers live in a place, and cultivation and guarding, by the court in wartime temporary deployment of soldiers and generals, soldiers and generals are separated, soldiers do not know the generals, the generals do not know the soldiers. This blueprint of military construction at the beginning of Ming Dynasty was soon changed due to the increasing border troubles, especially in the neighboring areas of Ming Dynasty, and the temporary deployment of soldiers and generals gradually became a regular system. Between Xuande, two generals were established in Shanxi and Shaanxi. Between Jiajing, divided Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei and Guangxi two generals to four generals, changed Fujian, Baoding vice generals to generals. Wanli, and set up additional generals in Lintao, shanhaiguan. Tianqi additional Shandong Denglai general. Chongzhen, set up more, and the complexity can not be remembered. General officer to replace the original commander-in-chief status, become the highest local military officials.

To this point, the military system of the Ming Dynasty has changed, "after the Hong Yong, border trouble day thorns, the set of generals, then become a permanent member. The town guards heavy power, the potential of light, the guards elite, all from the selection, so the official set and guards in vain the name of the old family". This system some historical books called the town garrison town, the author believes that, from its establishment, called the battalion soldier system is more appropriate, but also better illustrate the difference between its and the guards.

The status of the battalion generals has undergone a process of change from high to low, this process also reflects the battalion military system from wartime organization to the evolution of the regular military system. The general, deputy general officer Ming early are to the public marquis of the governor, generals, guerrillas, generals and other officials, Ming early also more than to Xunqi Dudu, etc., after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, this situation has changed. General officer, Tianshun rate before the use of the Hundred Relatives, after all the five military governor's office officials in the rank and file to lead the appointment.

The main source of battalion soldiers is drawn from the guards officers. As the guards officer transfer for the camp officer is very commercial common, the guards officer in the commanding officer of the Department of the post, for the battalion system borrowed. Guards in the system of all commanders, for the highest official of the local guards, but all the Division of the post as a battalion officer, the grade is quite low, only higher than the guard level, in the general, vice, senate, tour below. After being dismissed, the battalion officers from the capital division returned to their original guard posts.

The Ming Dynasty battalion military system is a kind of immature military system, there is a Ming Dynasty, has been in the process of continuous development, continuous adjustment, until the Qing Dynasty, the end of this process, the Qing Dynasty, the green battalion military system that is the Ming Dynasty battalion military system of the direct inheritance.

The battalion soldiers were partly derived from the guardhouse army. Governors and governors had standard soldiers under their jurisdiction, while generals kept their own soldiers. The standard bearers and the soldiers were organized into separate battalions. The soldiers were the generals' personal servants, and the generals were initially responsible for their own expenses, but as the system became more popular, it was recognized by the court, and the officials gave them food and pay. As the guardsmen were selected as soldiers, a new concept ------ of "military soldiers" emerged, that is, the battalion soldiers from the guardsmen's flag army. But the battalion soldiers, different from the guards of the army. In fact, the battalion guards are not unified. With the town of the general guards at the same time stationed in the local, is able to control the civil and military governor governor. Yongle nineteen years, began to send the governor to deal with local warfare, something is sent, until the end of the matter. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the status of the civil ministers to improve, the civil ministers led troops to war, and add the title of the Governor General military affairs. The governor became the first important ministers.

Second, camp soldiers and conscripts

Zhu Yuanzhang rose to create the dynasty in the process, the call for conscription is a normal way of the source of its army. Hongwu period, the world is established, set up one after another around the guards, military and civil registration, will no longer use the method of recruitment to gather the army. After Xuande, along with the escalation of border tensions, the guard system of the increasingly relaxed, the recruitment of troops as an important source of military strength and received more and more general attention. The large-scale recruitment of soldiers appeared after the Tumu Rebellion. By the Zhengde period, the recruitment of soldiers was mainly under the jurisdiction of the local administrative system. During this period, the recruitment of soldiers was integrated with agriculture and the military and agriculture. Recruitment of soldiers in the fall and winter drills, spring and summer farming, or winter and spring drills, summer and fall farming. In the northern border towns, due to the need for war, part of the conscripts by the guards, but not directly for the guards, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the militia supplemented to the guards of the army's deficiencies, to participate in the guards of the army's affairs.

After the Jiajing period, the conscripts were widely used in the country as an emergency strategy, and their numbers were so large that they accounted for a large proportion of the Ming army. Jiajing southeastern Japan, the use of a large number of recruited soldiers, the number of not less than hundreds of thousands of people. This period of recruitment and the government is the employment relationship, therefore, Jiajing after the recruitment of soldiers is no longer like the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the recruitment of soldiers with exemptions from the form of corvée and free rent and grain for the preferential exemption, and only exempt itself from the poor corvée.

Recruitment was not the same as battalion soldiers, and recruitment was the main source of battalion soldiers, but some of the recruits were subordinate to the guards. Recruitment of soldiers called by the officer of the guardhouse was generally subordinate to the guardhouse, and the officer of the guardhouse was responsible for recruitment, which was approved by the governor. There are two kinds of recruitment under the guards, one is not into the guards of the army quota, by the guards of the management, and the second is the guards of the army was drawn to use elsewhere, to recruit to make up for the original quota.

Recruitment is mainly attached to the battalion, recruitment is the main source of battalion, especially in the southeast coast, more in the Jiajing Wanli years to set up battalions of police trouble. Generals and the people from their own money and wealth, to raise troops for the battalion, with the army to serve, not only was allowed, but also encouraged, called the "righteous recruitment". Under the battalion military system, part of the generals also come from the recruitment, and even a will be recruited by the generals who have been promoted to senior generals.

Three, the difference between the army and soldiers

Army and soldiers coexisted, is a unique military system in the Ming Dynasty. Gu Yanwu pointed out that "the judgment of the military and agriculture and two of them, three generations below the general malpractice. Judgement of the army and soldiers and two of them, since the beginning of the state dynasty". The current academic research on the Ming dynasty army and soldiers, there is a relatively common error, that is, that is, the soldiers is to raise soldiers. In this way, the difference between the army and the soldiers lies in the recruitment, whether hereditary. In fact, the army and the soldiers in the organization of the form of the difference between the army and the soldiers is the fundamental difference between the army and the soldiers.

Army belongs to the guards, by the small flag, the total flag, hundred households, thousand households, guard commanders, all commanders, up to the five military governor's office under the jurisdiction. The guards and officers hereditary, only the five military governor's office officials and the Department of not hereditary, for the flow of officials, the guards by the career officer and the martial arts selection and authorization. The guards and officers were military, with their families, living in one place, and passed on from generation to generation, basically no longer change. The station of each guardhouse was fixed, the number of soldiers was fixed, and the number of generals was also fixed. In short, under the system of guards, the power was decentralized and the soldiers and generals were separated. However, after the Jingtai, the Ministry of War rose in power, the Minister of War, the Governor of the military affairs, to take away the power of the five provinces, the five government officials change the title of the virtual.

Soldiers belong to the battalion, by the shichang, captains, sentry, general, guards, all the Secretary, guerrilla, generals, deputy general, the general command, directly under the Ministry of War. Soldiers are generally not hereditary, with the exception of those who have been converted from guardsmen to soldiers. Soldiers do not have the provisions of the household registration, soldier service period is not long, generally not lifelong service, more wartime creation, after the elimination of soldiers withdrawn from the camp, but in the important military defense guards are often Chuan garrison. Battalion soldiers do not follow their families, closer to the modern military system. Battalion officer without rank, some of them are under the system of guards, no fixed membership, not hereditary. The battalion soldiers were similar to the battalion generals and did not need to be appointed by the imperial court in wartime, but were directly led by the chief and deputy generals. After the relative increase of the general's power, the soldiers could be recruited by the general himself, and the relationship between the caller and the caller was so close that the soldiers were dispersed even in the event of the general's change of heart.

The army and the soldiers were also different in the form and amount of pay. The army's pay was solved by the cantonment, and when the cantonment was destroyed, it was supplemented by salt and civil transportation, and then part of it was taken from the annual regulations of the Beijing Transportation Bureau. The soldier's food and wages are all taken from the capital transportation annual silver, or additional new pay. The amount is also different, the soldiers have a home, horse prices, clothing, equipment and other silver, the monthly food is also more generous, while the army only monthly food, wartime or expedition only when there is a line of food.

The army and the soldiers were also different in their use. Soldiers gradually took over the role of the army. Soldiers were mainly for war, while the army was mainly for defense and cantonment. "Soldiers to defend the enemy and the army to sit and defend, soldiers heavy army light, the army borrowed guards in the soldiers, the strong army is back to fill the soldiers". But the soldiers did not completely replace the status of the army, the guard system until the fall of the Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, the guards were changed to the Tun Ding, partially retaining the functions of the Caojun, the guards as a military organization completely disappeared, and the guards as a geographic unit and the time of the cancellation of the administrative jurisdiction of the institution is even later.

The Ming battalion system and the guard system were often used in the same way. In general (not very strict), the general soldier, deputy general soldier by the Lord and other ministers and governors and other officials, generals, guerrillas by the commanding officer and other officials, guards, generals and guard commanders, and a thousand, a hundred households to fill the post.

Hongwu years of the 48 guards is still only a kind of preparation, to Yongle after the 72 guards of the five military battalions and the previous in the nature of the difference, not only is the preparation for the preparation, but also a combat establishment, such as Yongle after eight years of the Northern Expedition.

Senatorial generals, guerrilla generals and other posts, has long been there. When the Northern Expedition of the Great Ancestor in the general, vice generals, for the expeditionary system of permanent officials (often with the general plus the rank of generals of the move). Only the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the soldiers are often deployed by the guards, to be made after the middle of the battalion, is divided into two ways, it is not strange.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the guards fled, and in September of the second year of Zhengtong, the Ministry of War statistics, the world of the Department of the guards fled up to 1.2 million people, equivalent to about half of the country's rated military personnel. And to Zhengde, according to the military secretary Wang Qiong estimated that the number of escaped guards has accounted for the amount of nine out of ten. The fleeing people are mostly strong, not fleeing people are weak, so the guards have no combat effectiveness, it is not difficult to understand.

The battalion system of the garrison seems to be not unified, from the general to the general can be independent battalion, the number of people is uneven, the establishment of the size of the disparity.

Military foreign officials: foreign commissioner general

from the ninth rank:

Civilian Beijing officials: Hanlin Academy service imperial edict, Manchurian Kongmu, the Ministry of Rites, four translations will be the same official order class State Children's Prison canonical records, the Honglu Temple Han Mingzan, the order of the class, the Ministry of Justice Department of Prisons, the Chintian Supervision Department of the morning, the doctor, the Imperial Hospital, too often the temple of the Secretary of the music, the Ministry of Public Works Secretary of the craftsmen

Civilian foreign officials; the government office of the Zhaosu, the state mandarins, the ambassador of the Road Treasury, the ambassador of the Xuancourses Department, the House Taxation

Beijing officials in the civil service: the ambassador of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the ambassador of the Prefectural Taxation Department, the ambassador of the Prefectural Prison Department, the ambassador of the Prefectural Warehouse Department, the inspector, and the land inspector

Beijing officials in the military service: the assistant chief of the horse factory of the Public Servants' Palace

Outside officials in the military service: the extra outside commission

Not yet entered into the stream:

Beijing officials in the civil service: the imitator of the Hanlin Academy, the treasury of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the ambassador of the Minting and Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Ceremony, the official of the Department of Military and Horsepower, and the vice-emissary of the Chongwen Gate

It's too much to write, so I'll give you the URL.

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