Song Shi: How many steps does it take to split the power of the prime minister?
preface
The right is the cage, and they throw bait and lure people into the cage. Partial desire cannot disappear, for this reason, most of China's thousand-year history is a history of power struggle, but also a history of imperial power and power competition.
cause
In order to stabilize the government, Zhao Kuangyin decided to appoint the former northern Zhou minister Fan Qian as the prime minister, the first step in realizing the separation of powers.
▲Zhao Kuangyin
outcome
In order to prevent excessive persuasion, Zhao Guangyi deliberately promoted the governor to make him as powerful as the prime minister.
▲Zhao Guangyi
disposal
1. The Emperor's Troubles
In our eyes, the emperor is the biggest under the heavens, and the people must listen to the emperor, and officials must also assist the emperor. But the emperor also has certain troubles, that is, the struggle between imperial power and phase power.
The prime minister has always had the saying that "ten thousand people are above, one person is below", and he is a figure who touches the top of power, second only to the emperor. Moreover, since ancient times, the matter of the prime minister seizing the throne has often occurred, so the emperor will worry about the excessive power of the prime minister, and still often beware of the prime minister.
Not only that, the emperors of successive dynasties have tried to divide the power of the phase, and now Song Taizu is no exception.
▲ A glass of wine releases the military power
We also know the identity of Song Taizu, so he is very concerned about the military power and the right to fight, and the former cup of wine to release the military power has made many people return to their hometowns and leave the government, but the position of prime minister cannot be lifted by drinking.
After Song Taizu became emperor, the first thing to consider was the prime minister, because he did not know who to use as the prime minister, Song Taizu thought about it, and finally chose to use Fan Qian and others, they were all old subjects of Northern Zhou, because with them, the world would not have any resistance to the new imperial court.
▲Fan quality
2. Division of phase power
There are such advantages to the use of old ministers, but there are also disadvantages, because old ministers and Song Taizu are not people of the same heart, but they will hinder Song Taizu and cannot depose them.
However, at this time, Zhao Pu had a proposal, because the Song Dynasty had just been established, so it was necessary to clean up the local rebel forces, and Song Taizu took this opportunity to begin to divide the power of Xiang.
First of all, the three divisions were in charge of finances, and then Zhao Pu was in charge of the military, so that the power of xiang was divided into half, and the power of Fan Qian and others was thus vacated by the emperor.
When the Song Dynasty was stable, there was no need for old ministers, so Song Taizu replaced Fan Zhi and others with his own people, and the candidate who was most in line with the prime minister was Zhao Pu.
▲Zhao Pu
Although he was his own person, the emperor was still very worried, so he used the excuse of worrying about Zhao Pu's overwork, and planned to set up another official position, saying that he was the deputy of the prime minister.
But after all, it is an official position, and it cannot always be called a deputy, so Song Taizu found Tao Hub, a scholar of Hanlin, and Tao Hub's understanding of official positions is not very proficient, but the emperor is in front, he can't always say that he doesn't know, so Tao Hub temporarily came up with a Tang Dynasty official position, called the Governor of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, Song Taizu listened to Tao Hub's advice and summoned the deputy of the prime minister to participate in the government affairs. However, Tao Hub was blind, because during the Tang Dynasty, he deliberately divided the power of the prime minister, so the participation in the government affairs of the governor was higher than that of the prime minister, both in terms of power and status.
However, because of Tao Hub's remarks, the Counselor became the deputy of the Prime Minister, but the rights of the Governor became gradually higher than that of the Prime Minister.
Because the later things were the same as Song Taizu thought, Zhao Pu was not reliable and needed others to balance him.
▲ Song Dynasty official system
3. The decline of phase power
Another time, when Song Taizu went to Zhao Pu's house, he saw King Wuyue giving gifts to Zhao Pu, and the gifts were all packed in bottles. This made Song Taizu full of curiosity, he wanted to see what was inside, but when he opened it, it was actually all gold.
Zhao Pu hurriedly knelt down when he saw this, indicating that he had not opened it and did not know that it was gold. However, Zhao Kuangyin did not have any dissatisfaction, saying that he would accept it, after all, the major affairs of the country were not Decided by Zhao Pu.
Although the emperor said so, in the eyes of the imperial court officials, Zhao Pu was in charge of state affairs, because after Zhao Pu became the prime minister, many things were arbitrary, resulting in the court officials all thinking that Zhao Pu was above ten thousand people and under one person.
The governor who was once responsible for the decentralization of power did not dare to speak, which led to his work gradually becoming a miscellaneous job for Zhao Pu.
Moreover, in the Song Dynasty, the wood of Qin and Long was very precious, but Zhao Pu could often send people to buy it, which gradually made the emperor begin to be suspicious of Zhao Pu, and at this time, other officials also took the opportunity to say bad things about Zhao Pu, so the emperor decided that half of Zhao Pu's rights should be taken away.
Because the three divisions were originally in charge of money and took away the power of the three divisions, but now the existence of the three divisions can no longer balance the power of the phase, so Song Taizu decided to add an official position to check and balance, thinking about it, Song Taizu set his sights on participating in the political affairs of the governor, and once thought of being a deputy, so that the prime minister could restrain a little.
Nowadays, it is only possible to improve the right to participate in the affairs of the governor and to separate the powers of the people. Because the Governor was only a deputy, he did not have the seal of the prime minister, so Song Taizu decided to let the two people take turns in charge, so that the power of the chancellor was once again divided.
▲ Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin (March 21, 927 – November 14, 976)
brief summary
The power of the Governor is as great as that of the Prime Minister, which is conducive to the Song Dynasty's administration of the government, facilitates the reinforcement and stability of the Song Dynasty's imperial power, and avoids the mistakes of decision-making.
【References】
1. "Song Shi Zhao Pu Biography"
2. "Continuation of the General Guide to the Governance of Zizhi Volume II"
3. Compilation of Anecdotes of the Song Dynasty