First of all, it should be noted that selling officials is not a patent of the Qing Dynasty. In ancient times, starting from the Qin Dynasty, selling officials occurred in almost all dynasties. For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty often sold his official position in order to raise money, and people who committed crimes could be put back after paying some money. When Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty came to power, it was even more serious to sell one's official position and get a title. The sales officials of the Qing Dynasty can be said to be the most successful and the most in-depth application.
The earliest sale of officials in the Qing Dynasty can be traced back to the fourth year of Kangxi. At that time, the country was in need of a lot of money, so Kangxi ordered that as long as 500 shi of grain or 500 taels of silver were donated to the court, young people could go directly to the Imperial Academy, the highest institution of higher learning, to study, and others who did not want to study could be given the title of a ninth-grade sesame official. Hualing, however, the official position at that time was of an honorary nature.
From then on, the opportunity to sell officials in the Qing Dynasty was completely opened. In the late Kangxi period, the money for buying an official increased from 500 taels to 15,000 taels, and the highest official position could directly be the county magistrate. In other words, you can become the county party secretary by spending 15,000 taels of silver. Later, the selling of officials in the Qing Dynasty became a regular practice. Whenever the court was short of money, there was usually a famine, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers needed repairs, and war years were the most rampant times for selling officials.
However, although selling officials means selling officials, there are still some rigid rules, mainly three points. First, officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites cannot be sold, no matter how much money is paid. This is mainly because the Ministry of Personnel is responsible for managing personnel. If something went wrong, the Qing Dynasty would be over. In addition, the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the sacrificial system and various management systems, so it cannot be sold. If it is sold, it will be chaotic.
Second, Beijing officials can only be sold to fifth-grade doctors. This is the limit. This is mainly because high-ranking officials in the capital are required to participate in the morning dynasty and formulate major national policies, so the price cannot be too high. Moreover, the price is clearly marked. The price for the fifth-grade doctor is 9,600 taels of silver, and the price for the sixth-grade Beijing official is 4,620 taels of silver.
Thirdly, the highest level of local officials is Daotai, which is equivalent to the current deputy governor, and the price is also very clear. The fourth-grade Daotai costs 16,400 taels, and the prefect, that is, the mayor, costs 13,300 taels. , the county magistrate wants 9,600 taels and so on. Therefore, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, finances were stretched thin, so official selling was rampant.
For example, during the Daoguang period, officials were sold for more than 8 million taels of silver in nine months. How many officials were sold? And when everyone buys an official, it is not to govern the country and bring peace to the world, nor to realize their ambitions in life, but for money. Whatever these people spend on buying an official will be paid back tenfold or a hundredfold after taking office. Therefore, the common people continued to be fished out, which was why there were especially many peasant uprisings in the late Qing Dynasty. This was also an important reason for the long-lasting difficulties in the late Qing Dynasty.
The full text is reproduced from Baijiahao Farmer Broadcast.