Yamen is the general name of the government since the Tang Dynasty. In the Qing dynasty, county officials called themselves county departments, departments or county governments, commonly known as county offices. It is the representative of feudal rulers at the grassroots level-county officials exercise power, and it is also the place where county officials handle official business. That is, the so-called "people do not govern, politics is not official, officials are not established, and they often use it at the same time." [48] shows the importance of yamen in the management of officials.
The establishment of government offices is regulated. In order to show the grade difference, the architectural structure of official offices at all levels, including painting and painting, has strict regulations and distinctions, which are insurmountable. The Qing dynasty stipulated that "civil and military officials in all provinces set up official positions, and their system and governance were the lobby and the second hall." Outside is the gate, the instrument gate, and outside is the Yuanmen (only military attache has it-author's note). The banquet is the inner room, the group room and the office is the office. " The Rites of the Qing Dynasty even stipulated in detail the shelf structure and painted decoration of wooden components in the halls of yamen at all levels. The author compares the existing architectural layout of Guangxu neixiang county Mansion in Qing Dynasty with that of Baoding Zhili Governor's Office in Hebei Province and Nanyang Mansion in Henan Province, and verifies it with dozens of maps of county halls in Qing Dynasty. It can be seen that although the floor space and building scale of local government offices at all levels in the Qing Dynasty are different, the provisions on the central axis are the same. Buildings outside the central axis are more flexible. In view of the fact that this paper mainly studies the system of county officials, it comes down to the principles of county government building layout:
Like other yamen, the architectural layout of county government in Qing Dynasty was restricted by two aspects. One is the restriction of Kanyu theory, which means that the space occupied by a specific building has the meaning of eight diagrams orientation map, so it can't be changed at will, and it is forbidden (the center of the ceiling of neixiang county government hall is painted with eight diagrams Tai Chi map, indicating that its design basis is eight diagrams map). Secondly, influenced by the layout and regulation of royal buildings, the main buildings are arranged on the central axis and cannot pursue luxury. [50] Specifically, the construction regulations of county-level governments can be roughly summarized as follows:
1. This building group faces south. The main buildings are all assembled on a central axis, and the zhaobi, the gate, the instrument gate and the stone ring square are built in turn from south to north. There are six rooms around the square. The main building has a lobby, two halls and three halls, with corresponding rooms, where the Chief Executive and his staff work. Its auxiliary officials and subordinates are on the east-west line.
2. "Wen Zuo You Wu". The six rooms are located in front of the lobby, according to the left and right rooms. In the east, there are officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments and workers, and then officials and soldiers (representing writers and military attaché s respectively) are the first, households and punishments are the second, and rituals and workers are the second. If you join, it will not disrupt this pattern.
3. The former official residence. County yamen all use the lobby and the second hall as the hall where the magistrate exercises power, forming the former yamen. Behind the second hall is the inner hall, where county officials work and their families live.
The prison is located in the south. Yamen prisons in all counties are located outside Yimen (Kunwei) in the southwest of the lobby, commonly known as "Nanjian".
However, when the rank of the chief executive in charge of yamen construction is inconsistent with the regulations of yamen hall, the size of the hall shall be based on the actual location, not because a certain chief executive has a high rank, and a yamen is a yamen. For example, although there were five official halls in neixiang county during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, three halls in the Ming Dynasty were used as halls. There was a hard mountain between the tip and the second room, and the tip was divided into two rooms. Form a "bright three and dark five" style building, which is a dark treatment method to contrast the majesty and height of the lobby. Although there are five pavilions in neixiang county and Nanyang, there are five pavilions in Nanyang. Therefore, there are five halls in neixiang county, which is neither a five-level yamen nor a seven-level county government exceeding its authority. In addition, after the county government was established in Zhang Bingtao, a magistrate of a county, there were still seven and four officials working here, so the neixiang county government was a county government after all, not a five-product government.
In addition to strict building regulations, county offices in Qing Dynasty were also divided into assistant ministers, subordinates, assistant ministers, three classes and six rooms, screen friends and long attendants. They have a clear division of labor, perform their duties, and are a unified whole to carry out normal work. The positions and personnel composition of county departments are as follows:
The county has a chief executive, who is in charge of the county's politics, and a person who helps to handle affairs, and has hired a screen friend as his staff adviser.
Assistant officials, one person is Xiancheng (positive eight products), and the main book (positive eight products) has no quota. In charge of grain and horses, household registration, tax collection and arrest, each department has its own office, called Xiancheng Ya (post) and Chief Bookkeeper Ya (post), each with one person to assist in handling affairs. According to "Official Draft III of the Qing Dynasty", there are only 345 county officials and 55 principals in 1358 counties in China. In the Qing Dynasty, there were no county officials and assistant officials in neixiang county.
He is an official, a historian, not a layman, and is responsible for inspecting prisoners. In Qing dynasty, there was no county magistrate or assistant official in charge of Chinese books, but the official in charge of Chinese books was classical history. Being in charge of the public security prison, it is customary to call Dian Shi as a county commander (along the Yuan system), and set up a special agency to call Dian Shi Ya (post), inspector or arrest department, with one person to save Dian Shi to assist in the work.
There is a Confucian Oracle Bone Inscriptions (Eight Classics) and a Confucian tutor (Nine Classics), "responsible for training students and learning politics."
The inspector of the inspection department (from Jiupin) is located in a remote and key place in the county, "catching thieves and raping". During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, neixiang county set up inspection departments in Xixia Kou.
Miscellaneous officials, there are medical departments, yin and yang studies, monk associations and Taoist associations in each county.
In addition, there are Cheng Yi (in charge of postal delivery), sluice officer (in charge of sluice switch), tax envoy (in charge of business tax), county warehouse envoy (in charge of warehouse) and river berth officer (in charge of collecting fishing tax), all of which are set according to the situation and also belong to dirty miscellaneous officials. 〔5 1〕
Room six. The functional offices of the county government follow the Ming system and are generally called six rooms or six departments, namely, officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, punishments and workers, which are the epitome of the six departments of the central court. However, in the Qing Dynasty, the six rooms of the county magistrate's office were only used for appellation. In fact, they were mainly six rooms, and there were many attachments. According to the Records of neixiang county Annals published by Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, the neixiang county Office has three bedrooms, namely, clerks' room, households' room, and three bedrooms, namely, soldiers' room, criminals' room and workers' room, which became eight bedrooms. During Guangxu period, in addition to six rooms, there were warehouses, warehouses and offices, and the number of offices increased to ten. The functions of each room are: to be an official room, to choose officials, to worry about the squire and to be an official from other provinces; Household, household registration management, taxation and food, famine relief and other things; Ritual room, palm study, imperial examination, enlightenment, standards, etiquette, sacrifices, festivals and other things; Armory, in charge of soldiers, people's power, martial arts, public security and other things; Torture room, responsible for solving cases, taking notes on court affairs, planning and writing case reports, and managing prison affairs; Factory building, engineering construction, building yamen, etc. : paving a long room, sending it by post, and welcoming officials; The undertaker shall handle all kinds of official documents and letters, register them in this room, and distribute them to all rooms for transmission; The warehouse stores grain and the warehouse stores property. [52] All its functions and powers are supervised by magistrates, and each division deals with specific affairs.
According to the official department of Qing dynasty (volume 12), there are four officials in six rooms, namely, "four foreign officials are different, one is a scribe, the other is a messenger, the third is a canon official and the fourth is a collection official". County officials are collectively referred to as "Canon officials". Officials of the chief officials, assistant ministers and junior officials in Fuzhou County are officials. And the leaders of each room, or called inheritors, or crowned by the names of each room, are called official books, household books, ritual books, military books, criminal books and work books. The number of "six rooms" librarians is generally more than ten, not more than twenty. They are not officials, have no rank, or are "elected and filled" and "changed after five years" [53] (some of them are competitive). They are civil servants in the yamen. They make a living by collecting paper and pencil fees, copying fees and meals, and they can also get all kinds of bad rules to make up for their income. They are familiar with people's feelings, proficient in laws and regulations, know the format of official documents, know the tricks of officialdom, are good at handling the internal affairs of yamen, hold the real power of yamen, and even cause a kind of harm. They use their special advantages in the government to take advantage of everything, so as to balance the psychology of being in the government but having a blocked political future and low economic benefits. 〔54〕
Monitor of Class Three. That is, soap, strong and fast. It is a huge stratum and the lowest organization of the county government. Generally speaking, soaps are on duty, fast hunters, and strong ones are weak. Actually, there is no clear separation. Soap class and strong class are responsible for back office, station class, execution, security and road. Fast class is fast step by step and fast horse, which is specialized in arresting people. The so-called "three-level chief" is just a general term, but it is actually more than three levels. In addition to soap, Zhuang and Kuai, there are people's Zhuang, herbal tea, gold, chefs, umbrellas and so on. , also belong to this category. They are public servants of yamen and officials in a broad sense. Their work and food are assessed by the yamen, and county officials contact with the people.
Like other official positions, the governors of prefectures and counties in Qing Dynasty generally used two kinds of people, one called touts and the other called Chang Sui, as their brains, confidants and followers.
Beloved, also known as Muyou, Mubin, Xibin and Xixi, was called Master or Old Master Q by county officials. There is a courtyard in neixiang county called "Confucius' Courtyard". In general counties, no matter how many touts there are, Qian Gu and Fu Ming touts are necessary.
Changsui, also known as Nagasaka, is a common domestic slave and family member of county officials, but they are not handmaiden without personal freedom, but people who specialize in serving as domestic slaves. Their relationship with county officials is employment, and their personal attachment is not strong, so they can freely choose their masters. Today, they take office with Zhang, and tomorrow they can go to Zhang government. Their duty is to help with official business, which is different from the handmaiden who waits on the master's daily life. Their official duties mainly include opening doors, stamping, keeping warehouses, waiters, duty halls, opening books, submitting papers, posting and delivering messages. The difference between long-term attendants and screen friends, scribes and officials is that screen friends discuss and approve manuscripts in the department, while scribes handle manuscripts in six rooms, and officials do poorly, while long-term attendants communicate with officials, screens, officials and officials and "arrange" affairs, which is the confidant of local officials. 〔56〕
There are examples of the establishment of official positions and the number of officials in yamen. The Qing dynasty stipulated that "both internal and external officials have a rated number of yamen officials. If there are more, one person will be given a hundred sticks, every three people will be given a first class, and only one class will be given in three years". 57. Officials in charge will also be punished for setting up official uniforms indiscriminately.
However, although there are clear provisions in laws and regulations, in fact, the number of yamen is often overstaffed. In the seventh year of Daoguang (1827), Nayancheng, the governor of Zhili, reported to the Qing court for approval, reducing and repaying 23,900 civil servants in the province, and stipulated that the number of civil servants in the county government should not exceed 80 in the future, and all the rest were dismissed and merged into Li Jia police. [58] In fact, this law is still difficult to implement. In the Qing dynasty, the central government stipulated that each county had 50 strong men. According to Tongzhi's General Examination of Neixiang in Qing Dynasty, there were magistrate 1 person, official history 1 person, teaching 1 person, patrol 1 person, and 65,438+009 other handymen in neixiang county at that time, such as class three officials, umbrella bearers, etc. Plus medical officers, yin and yang students, scribes and touts who are not listed in the chronicle.
Precautions:
[1] [13] Overview of official tables in past dynasties.
[2] "Three official drafts of the Qing Dynasty".
[3] See Yongzheng Zhu Pi Yu Zhi and Historical Archives 1993 No.4. ..
[4] See Liu Ziyang's Textual Research on Local Official System in Qing Dynasty and Vacancy Table of Provincial, County and County Officials.
[5] [7] Official Department of Qing Dynasty (Volume 10).
[6] See Feng Youlan's Preface to Sansongtang.
[8] Kangxi's Neixiang County Records and Official History.
[9] According to the existing Jude Wong Zude Zhengbei in Mashankou Town, Neixiang.
[10] The laws of the Qing Dynasty, the laws of officials, and the overstepping of officials.
[11] [17] [36] Neixiang County Records and Official History of the Republic of China.
[12] On Sejong's Selection of Talents and Appointments in Qing Dynasty, see Historical Archives No.2, 1985.
[14] The inscription in the lobby reads: Mao Shili took office on February 17th in the 22nd year of Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty (1896), and Qinjia Tongzhi (Wu Zhengpin) rebuilt Zhang Bingtao.
[15] See Forum of Politics and Law, No.4, No.0/990, Zhang, Historical Reference of Punishing Corruption and Governing Officials in Ancient China.
[16] See Wen Shizhe 199 1, No.2, Lu Xū @ ④ Hui, A Brief Introduction to the Evolution of Ancient County Officials System in China.
[18] "Donghua Record" Kangxi thirty-four years.
[19] Continuation of Imperial Classics 16.
[20] [2 1] "Draft of Qing Dynasty, Yu Fu Er".
[22] "Draft of the Qing Dynasty Yu Fu Si".
[23] [24] Official Department of Qing Dynasty (Volume 1 1).
[25] See The Story of Yanjing Times.
[26] "Zhu Yuanzhang is a one-year record."
[27] "Rizhilu Funeral System".
[28] Quoted from "Historical Grand View Garden Strict Education System in Qing Dynasty" 1994No. 10.
[29] copied from the Qing Daoguang "Lu 'an County Records".
[30] See "Qing Hui Dian Official Department".
[3 1] Construction of Neixiang County Records of Kangxi.
[32] The Qing Code, compiled by the Ministry of Punishment (Volume 53).
[33] [56] See Qin Zheng's Study on Judicial Trial System in Qing Dynasty.
[34] [35] The Qing Code and the Ministry of Punishment (Volume 56).
[37] Quoted from Guangming Daily, Zhao, Characteristics and Enlightenment of Ancient County Government.
[38] [39] See History of the Qing Dynasty (volume 18).
[40] "Qinghuidian Household Department" Volume 19.
[4 1] Member of Neixiang Examination in Tongzhi County of Qing Dynasty.
[42] [43] [44] [45] "Draft of Qing Dynasty, Election Record and Performance Appraisal".
[46] According to the existing "Fundraising Monument" and "Canon Re-introducing Year" plaques in neixiang county Ya.
[47] See Qing Hui Dian Li Bu 1 1.
[48] Ming Chenghua "Neixiang County Records Creation Records".
[49] "Qing Hui Dian Gong Bu" Volume 58.
[50] [58] Li See Ren Kai and Heng Zhiyi. Zhili Governor and Governor's Office in Qing Dynasty.
[5 1] For the above, please refer to Draft III of the Qing Dynasty.
[52] See the records of Hsinchu County, Taiwan Province Province and the Governor and Governor's Office of Zhili in Qing Dynasty.
[53] "Qing Hui Dian Official Department" Volume 12.
[54] See Wu Jiyuan's "Officials and Knowledge of Literature and History in Ancient Society" No.9, 1993.
[55] Liang Zhangju's essay on retiring from the Temple.
[57] The laws of the Qing Dynasty and the laws of officials
Notes about words not stored in fonts:
The original word is Jia Bird.
@ ② The original word is the bird in the right half of the orchid.
@ (3) The original word is "invasion".
@ ④ The original word is Xu.