During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial court would send officials to designated places to temporarily handle affairs, and these officials who were sent by the King Were the ministers of Chincha that we often see on television. Sending Chincha ministers to the localities was very common in the Qing Dynasty. Lin Zexu was appointed as the minister of Qincha to go to Guangdong to preside over the anti-smoking ban, and it is recorded in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty": "Ugly, Lin Zexu was appointed as the minister of Qinchai, investigating and handling the Incident in Haikou, Guangdong, and restraining the water division of the province." ”
The biggest difference between the Minister of Chincha and the general official is that it is a temporary position. Although the grade was not very high, the magistrate was afraid when he saw him. In other words, if the imperial court sent a chincha minister to a local area, it meant that there was something in the place that needed to be dealt with or investigated. Therefore, the relationship between the chincha minister and the magistrate is very delicate.
▲Wax figure of Qing Dynasty minister
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Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, the power of local governors continued to expand, and they were later called feudal officials. These feudal governors completely controlled the local military and political power, and originally stipulated that officials should be erpin ( Erpin ) , but later the local governors slowly became from Yipin , and inspectors also became Zheng erpin . With the improvement of official positions, the actual power of these feudal officials has also been expanding, and even penetrated into other areas other than their original powers.
Even the appointment and dismissal of state and county officials was controlled by these feudal officials, and if the power of these local governors was allowed to continue to develop without restraint, it would inevitably directly affect the centralization of power. In response to this situation, the Qing court took two measures, one was to shorten the term of office of the local governor and transfer him to different places, and the other was to send a Chincha minister to restrain the power of the local governor.
▲ Li Hongzhang was once a feudal official
However, there were other cases in which the imperial court sent chincha ministers to the localities. If there were some major criminal or economic cases in the locality, and the imperial court was worried that the local officials would collude with each other in the process of trying such cases and could not handle them impartially, they would send the Minister of Chincha to try them. In addition, in dealing with the relief of disasters and the construction of some large-scale projects, the imperial court would also send special Chincha ministers to be responsible. If this type of official business is carried out exclusively by local officials, there is a high risk of corruption and bribery.
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Experts said that but the tasks of the above Chincha ministers are not fixed, that is to say, when there is something that needs to be dealt with, such Chincha ministers will be dispatched. The inspection of the army is the fixed work of dispatching the Chincha Minister, and in the "Qincha Minister's Inspection of the Provinces' Battalions", there are clear and detailed regulations for the work of the Chincha Minister.
▲Stills of the Qing Dynasty army
Generally speaking, in order to support chincha ministers in their work at the local level, the imperial court would give them great power. There is an exception, however, because the powers of the Minister of Chincha are also temporary as the work of the Minister of Chincha, and they vary from task to task. If he were just a chincha minister who was an ordinary inspector, he would not interfere too much in local affairs. In the laws of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the very clear regulations for the Chincha ministers who patrol the military camps, there were no very clear provisions for the temporarily dispatched Chincha ministers. In this case, the chincha ministers are also very prone to corruption and other problems due to excessive power, and even their entourage will be called "little chincha" and will often be bribed by local officials.
From the perspective of local officials, if they want to promote government affairs, or want to get funds and other needs, they must get the support of the imperial court. The imperial court attached great importance to the return of the chincha minister after the investigation, so the local officials would also rely on the chincha minister. If there was something, he quickly reported it to the imperial court and requested that the minister of Chincha be sent to coordinate the handling.
▲ Chincha Minister in the movie
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So overall, the imperial court sent a minister of Chincha more like a correction procedure. However, the main procedure for running local affairs is still the original local governor and inspector. Against this backdrop, the imperial court would be very careful to grant privileges to chincha ministers.
In certain circumstances, the chancellor would receive military powers conferred by the imperial court. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang once commanded military affairs as a minister of Chincha. In the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", it is recorded that "Zuo Zongtang was appointed as the minister of Qincha, supervised the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu, and rewarded Liu Dian with the title of secretary of the three pins", in this case, the power of the minister of Qincha was very large, and he could command local officials.
▲Statue of Zuo Zongtang
Regardless of whether the power received by the Chincha ministers was large or small, they were all officials directly appointed by the emperor and could directly report the local situation to the emperor. Therefore, the local officials must be desperately obsessed with the Chincha Minister, and even if they are upright and upright, they will not easily contradict the Chincha Minister when they face it. However, when the Minister of Chincha went to the local area to handle affairs, he did not have a good understanding of the actual situation in the local area and rushed to make a move, not only could not complete the task, but also may be deceived by the local officials by various means.
epilogue
The Emperor sent Chincha Ministers to straighten out local affairs or to carry out some special work, so they needed to choose the right people; chincha ministers needed to have considerable talent between local officials and the emperor to successfully complete their tasks; and for most local officials, Chincha ministers either came to help them solve their problems or to pull their pigtails. Therefore, between the chincha ministers and the local officials, who has the greatest power ultimately depends on the emperor's intentions.