Fenghou Baixiang, in the appointment of senior officials in ancient China, in fact, there is a hidden distinction between civil and military, the Ming Dynasty began to limit the title of civilian officials, so that most of the feudal marquis became the most important honor for military officers, and baixiang is the most brilliant merit of civilian officials' lives.
From the difference between sealing and worshipping, can we vaguely find a little difference between the ancient civil servants and military attaches, and can we find the difference in their status in the eyes of the emperor?
The author believes that the army system pays attention to the distinction between the upper and lower levels, and the sealing of the highest honor of the military attache is a ceremonial embodiment of the fact that the emperor is the unquestionable supreme commander of the country, and the army needs a clear superior-subordinate relationship, and the sense of boundaries for the top military attaches below the emperor is not entirely negative.
In fact, in most dynasties, these people are the most reassuring existence of the emperor, after all, the sword handle is the root of the stability of the regime, and the top military attache is the emperor's true own person.
And the worship of the civil servants, it shows the emperor's respect for the civilian officials, he is not worshiping specific people, but worshiping the Confucians behind the civilian officials, worshiping the saints of Qufu, Shandong, in the traditional Chinese political relations, the emperor and the top civil servants can not be regarded as the relationship of the subordinates, they are royal guests, they are the people who help, then the subtext also has, not the meaning of the real own people.
One. Marquis: The particularity of the status of a military general
1． Martial arts will be fundamental to royal rule
Almost all the changes of dynasties are the consequences of military struggles, military generals, the army for the emperor, is the pillar of the rule, the top military generals, in fact, instead of the emperor to exercise the supreme command of the soldiers, they are the emperor's real little cotton jacket. The military generals of the Qin and Han Dynasties were not weaker than those of Wen Chen, and in the chaotic world, they were steadily surpassed, and when Dong Zhuo was in Chang'an, those civilian officials Yang Biao and Zhong Xuan were unusually low-key.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the military generals Lü Bu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhang Liao, and others also had a sense of existence that overwhelmed the civilian officials, and Zhuge Liang was one of the few people who won back a round for Wen Chen, but he was actually the supreme commander of the army of Shu Han, and his main political achievements, although successful in governing Shu Land, were indeed remembered as the martial arts of the Seven Qishan Mountains.
The military generals, the proud sons of Li Shimin's Tiance Mansion, Zhao Kuangyin laughed and beat the old brothers of Haha, the threat that Zhu Yuanzhang cared about the most, these people are the foundation of the imperial family in fact, the civil servants are chaotic, and the erosion of long-term policies, the military generals, well, may be directly destroyed by the flesh.
2． The warriors will be the royal family's own people
Historically, military generals, according to the distance of the emperor's position, gained different degrees of trust, and the people who could go to the end of the military officer system were all their own people in the eyes of the emperor, and military generals like Xu Chu, although often reprimanded by Cao Cao, were actually boards held high and gently lowered.
Successive dynasties and dynasties have such stunned warriors, in fact, they are very clear in their hearts of their own weight, they all know the emperor's favor for themselves, and they will also take the initiative to do some actions to offend people but stabilize the imperial power, many of them, although the official rank is not high, the post is the most important central position, most of them enjoy hereditary titles, they are the emperor's mainstay that can defend the regime for generations.
3． Carefully taste the meaning of the seal
The seal is from the sub-seal, he is the king of Zhou's trust in the princes, the highest honor of the military general, is to show the existence of the relationship between the upper and lower, this is not malicious, people from the army system, the sensitivity to the rank is almost an occupational disease, on the basis of a clear relationship, the military general to carry out the order without the slightest hesitation.
The emperor's title is the greatest trust in the military general, his own person, he shows that all the sources of power and all the honors are from the emperor's favor, he implicitly hints at a vertical management model, showing that the military general's behavior is only responsible for the fact that the emperor himself is responsible, in military management, this is clever, the army itself has an independent system, and the biggest purpose of the royal family is to isolate the possible invasion of the military system by the government system.
Two. BY: The indifference behind respect
1． Civil Official: The need for the daily rule of the royal family
The government affairs system, compared with the system of the army, is to maintain the basic operation of the country, he is the foundation of the regime, of course, it is also very important, but it seems to lack the momentum of the army, the source of civilian officials in the Sui and Tang dynasties are mostly the sons of various door valves, their ability is insignificant, appearing in the court is more of a central and local door valve political game.
After the Sui and Tang dynasties, a large number of civilian officials were promoted by the imperial examination, and these people were of course the pillars of the state, but the nature of the civilian official system caused the influence of the civilian officials themselves on government affairs, which was not as good as the influence of the military generals on the military system. Fundamentally, most of the civil servants and the emperor were only employed, and the emperor was quite polite to the top civil servants, and behind the politeness was a kind of indifference.
2． The civil service system was a collaborator of the imperial regime
The ancient tradition of the idea, the spiritual leader of the civil official is Confucius, the emperor and his dynasty are only the stage for the civilian officials to show their ambitions, the top civilian officials, in the deepest recesses of the emperor's heart, are treated as guests, and some emperors who respect the teacher and the Tao may have the idea of treating the prime minister as a master.
Most emperors, on the other hand, may have been mildly wary of their courtiers. Compared with the emperor's ease of commanding the Janissaries, marshals, etc., the mannerism of the courtiers is very telling in itself.
To put it simply, although the position of the civil official after the Song Dynasty became heavier and heavier, in fact, he was not the emperor's own person, compared with the status of the general, the prime minister changed faster in the korean situation, in the peaceful era, a large number of disputes caused by government affairs made the emperor lack of warmth between the emperor and the courtiers, behind the title of Aiqing was a deep suspicion or contempt, after the Song Dynasty, the great festivals of the civil servants were often at a loss, and the emperors' perspective on the civil servants was more from the perspective of political manipulation.
3． Worship: It is Confucianism
Relative to the title of the military general, for the worship of the civil servants, the emperor's posture is very low, the emperors of all generations are to worship Confucius, for the confucius concept of the set of masters, a worship is also very in line with the identity of the emperor, after all, the maintenance and the superficial affinity of the Confucian system is an important factor in the stability of the rule.
This worship, full of etiquette, but full of life, the dynasty is ultimately the emperor's, countless ministers are just hurried guests of the times, are the guests of the dynasty, although they are important, but outside the door of the family, the emperor's courtesy to the civil servants in the faint sense of boundaries, that is, to remind themselves, but also to remind those powerful civil servants in the ruling boundaries.
Three. The positioning of wen and martial arts was the key to the prosperity of the dynasty
1． Cao Cao's positioning of Wen Wu
The basis of Cao Cao's rule, his Clique of Military Attachés and the Yingchuan Shiren Clique, is a sample of the role of the civilian generals, and during Cao Cao's lifetime, Cao Wei's political structure was incomparably stable, which lay in this set of unspoken rules in the operation of his regime.
Takeshi will be the pawn of the Guards, Xu Chu. To the five sons of liang generals, they are all Cao Cao's own people, they and the Wenchen clique do not have much intersection, in addition to Cao Cao's relatives, are all people who have a relationship with Cao Xiang, many of these people and Cao Cheng Xiang's kindness are independent and vertical.
Zhang Liao was Lü Bu's general and was almost beheaded, Xu Huang was from the Yellow Turban Army, and later in Hanzhong and Jingzhou, he was the most reliable army, and they all had a faint family-like warmth in addition to military affairs for Cao Chengxiang. Cao Cao's sense of proportion to the martial arts system is very good, in terms of wenchen, in addition to Guo Jia, even Xun Yu finally broke up with Cao Cao, in today's words, many of them are pure work relationships.
Cao Cao has never regarded most of the courtiers as his own, and for people like Xu You, doesn't Cao Cao's position in the dispute with Xu Chu explain a lot of problems?
2． Chongzhen: A negative teaching material for the handling of relations between the wenchen and the military
For the confusion in the definition of the status of the civilian generals, which may be an important reason for the decadence of the late Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen did not trust the civilian ministers, but at least did not frequently physically eliminate them, he replaced a large number of cabinet ministers, those who did not agree with his political views, he basically treated each other with courtesy.
For such a mediocre talent as Zhou Yanru, chongzhen's murderous emperor did not give a hot hand in the end, and Wen Tiren, although he could not escape death in the end, but supported for ten years, far exceeding the support years of the Chongzhen Dynasty martial generals. For the military generals, in addition to the direct killing of Yuan Chonghuan and He Renlong, Chongzhen also forced the death of Daming's last hope, Sun Chuanting, the most fundamental problem of this emperor is that he not only did not regard the military generals as his own people, but even regarded the military generals as enemies.
There were many reasons for the political and military chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, but Chongzhen's abandonment of the military attaché's own people, the unspoken rules of the officialdom of the civil servants and secretaries, may also be a reason that cannot be ignored.
epilogue:
Ancient Chinese writing, is really broad and profound, the appointment of officials, worship, grant, appointment, election and other words are different, behind the hidden political meaning, although the status of military generals in history showed a downward trend, but because of the military in ancient politics of a veto, the emperor still regarded military generals as the most important part of the political structure, the emperors for military generals, willing to establish personal relations outside the official relationship, willing to regard them as family.
Sealing this condescending and condescending word is a need for the hierarchical division of the army system, and he shows hidden affinity in his harshness.
The worship of civil officials is a kind of self-humility of the emperor, he seems to have raised the civil servants to a very important position to look at, but this worship, after all, is the great god of Shandong behind the civil servants, worship is the continuation of ancient Chinese political etiquette, the characteristics of the government system processing, generally will not let the emperor have too close to the civil officials.
Behind the worship is a faint indifference, the emperors hope that the civil servants can better position their presence in politics, he is a royal guest, an outsider who gives opinions, he is an executor who can only be executed after approval, and the guest who exceeds his authority will not be loved by the master.
Resources:
Zizhi Tongjian
History of the Ming Dynasty
Romance of the Three Kingdoms