Diqin Designer

Chapter 76: All for Centralization
"The 'three ministries' are the Secretariat, the Ministry of Palace Affairs and the Ministry of State Affairs, and the 'six ministries' are the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishments and the Ministry of Works."

The three ministries correspond to the three dukes, and the six departments correspond to the nine ministers. However, it sounds like the six departments have three fewer than the nine ministers. What's going on?

Li Nian said: "The Secretariat drafts the imperial edicts, the Ministry of Personnel is responsible for reviewing the imperial edicts and has the power to seal and reject them, and the Ministry of Shangshu is responsible for handling daily government affairs."

In short, the Secretariat was the decision-maker and issuer of government orders, the Ministry of Palace Affairs was the reviewer and provider of opinions, and the Ministry of State Affairs was responsible for the specific implementation of the orders.

"The chief official of the Zhongshu Province is Zhongshu Ling, and there are officials such as Shilang and Sheren; the Menxia Province has Shizhong, Huangmen Shilang, and Jieshi Zhongdengguan; the chief official of the Shangshu Province is Shangshu Ling, and there are officials such as Zuo Pushe, Zuo Cheng, Zuo Si Langzhong, etc. However, because the position of Shangshu Ling is quite important, it is generally not a permanent position."

Ying Zheng had been in power for many years. When he heard that the Secretariat was responsible for handling daily government affairs, he understood why later emperors did not permanently appoint a Shangshu Ling.

The Shangshu Ling has too much power and will conflict with the imperial power. If one person is allowed to serve as the Shangshu Ling all year round, is he the emperor, or am I the emperor?
Li Nian's next words also confirmed what he thought: "The six ministries are under the Shangshu Province, each with a Shangshu and a Shilang as the chief and deputy officials. Each ministry has four departments, with Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Zhushi officials."

Among the three provinces and six ministries, although the Secretariat and the Ministry of Palace Affairs had the power to put forward opinions and make decisions, their specific implementation was required by the Secretariat. The six ministries were all under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat, and the actual power of the Secretariat was the top of the three provinces.

"The Ministry of Personnel is mainly responsible for the appointment and removal, examination, promotion, demotion, and transfer of officials; the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the country's territory, land, household registration, taxes, salaries, and all financial matters. If a disaster occurs in a certain place and the court needs to provide disaster relief, the Ministry of Revenue will be responsible for allocating money and grain."

When talking about the Ministry of Rites, Li Nian paused. To make it easier for Ying Zheng to understand, he said, "In later dynasties, the imperial examination system flourished, and there were schools like the Jixia Academy. The Ministry of Rites was responsible for managing these schools and the imperial examination system. At the same time, the Ministry of Rites was also responsible for exchanges with other countries. If envoys from other countries visited, the Ministry of Rites would be responsible for receiving them."

"The Ministry of War, as the name suggests, is in charge of selecting military commanders, supplying food and weapons, and conveying military orders on behalf of the king. The Ministry of Justice has similar responsibilities to the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Works is similar to the Ministry of the Imperial Household."

After Li Nian's narration, Ying Zheng had a general understanding of the system of three provinces and six ministries.

With the vision of an emperor, he could see at a glance the advantages of the three-province and six-department system over the three dukes and nine ministers system.

The three provinces and six ministries dispersed the powers that originally belonged to the three dukes and nine ministers, reducing the threat to imperial power, especially the three dukes.

The Three Dukes are the Prime Minister, the Grand Marshal, and the Chief Censor. Each of them has enormous power. For example, the Prime Minister is the highest administrative official and holds the country's affairs in his hands, which inevitably leads to conflicts with the power of the king.

However, the three ministries divided the prime minister's powers, with the power to issue imperial edicts given to the Secretariat, the power to review given to the Ministry of Palace Affairs, and the power of execution given to the Ministry of State Affairs.

Although this still did not completely solve the hidden danger of the prime minister having too much power, the Secretariat was clearly a prime minister with some power dispersed, but compared with the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers system of the Qin Dynasty, it was already a considerable improvement!

Think about it, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the Yuan Shao family had three officials in four generations, how much influence did their family have in the Eastern Han Dynasty?

It is not a joke to say that his disciples and former officials are all over the world. He really has the ability to do so. Unfortunately, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were not capable enough and failed to transform the Yuan family's influence into the capital to seize the world.

As a feudal emperor, Ying Zheng naturally wanted to concentrate more power in his own hands. Is there any way to weaken the power of the prime minister and concentrate power? Ying Zheng did not ask immediately, but listened to Li Nian's continued explanation: "The three-province and six-department system was established by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. It changed during the Tang Dynasty. Although the three provinces weakened the power of the prime minister, the three provinces were definitely not as fast as two or one province in handling government affairs."

"But the emperors of the Tang Dynasty saw the benefits of the three provinces and were unwilling to merge them into one. They also wanted to handle government affairs more efficiently, so they came up with a series of countermeasures, such as using officials with less experience and not granting positions such as Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, Shangshu Ling to people lightly."

"These measures still could not prevent the emergence of prime ministers, but they lowered the rank of officials with the power of prime ministers, that is, officials no longer had the power of prime ministers and a lofty status at the same time."

Ying Zheng nodded. This was indeed a good method, but it was still not what he wanted most.

Because this only lowers the status of the official with the power of the prime minister, the power of the prime minister still exists.

"During the Song Dynasty, the system of three provinces and six ministries underwent further changes!"

The Song Dynasty was truly powerful. It not only suppressed military officers, but also civil officials. It was not simply about emphasizing civil officials over military officials. It was just that civil officials were treated more favorably than military officials, but the suppression of power was not reduced at all.

One way the Song Dynasty came up with to suppress the power of civil servants was to disperse the power into multiple departments. That is, even if a problem could be handled by one department, the Song Dynasty would set up three or four departments.

The advantage of this is that the power of civil servants is diluted and not easily threatens the imperial power. As for the disadvantages, one of the "three redundancies" in the Song Dynasty can give us a glimpse of them.

Although there were many cowards among the emperors of the Song Dynasty, they were not lacking in political skills and were not fools. How could they not see the drawbacks of "redundant officials"? Why didn't they change it?
Firstly, the situation is too bad to be reversed, and trying to reform is like cutting flesh and bones from one's own body, which would be extremely painful; secondly, "redundant officials" are good for them.

After listening to Li Nian's talk about the changes to the Three Provinces and Six Departments system of the Song Dynasty, Ying Zheng said: "Such a dynasty, defending against the people, the civil and the military, is on guard against everything. Although the country may last for a long time, it is difficult to be strong. No wonder it can coexist with the Hu people's dynasty!"

Li Nian nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. The Song Dynasty was also called the 'Great Coward' in later generations. The famous 'Jing Kang Shame' in history occurred during this dynasty. In order to survive, the Emperor of Song did not hesitate to send his wife and daughter to be bullied by the barbarians."

Ying Zheng was silent. How could there be such a shameless emperor? Why not just find a pillar and hit himself to death?
Li Nian had not yet told him that Huizong had excellent fertility and that he still had children even after being captured by the Jin Kingdom. But what he said had already made Ying Zheng feel very unhappy. A dynasty that produced such a bastard emperor could last for more than 300 years, but his Great Qin collapsed in just over ten years from the time he became emperor.

He calmed down his unhappiness and looked determined: This time, we will never repeat the mistakes of history that Li Nian mentioned!

Li Nian continued, "When the Ming Dynasty was first established, the three-province and six-department system was also used. The Hongwu Emperor, who founded the Ming Dynasty, rose from a beggar to become the supreme ruler of the world. With his wisdom, how could he not see that the three-province and six-department system did not solve the hidden danger of the prime minister's power to the imperial power?"

What? Ying Zheng was also shocked. Rising from a beggar to become the supreme ruler of the world? Is there such an emperor in later history?

(End of this chapter)