Mentioning the term "feudal official", I think everyone will not feel strange. This is not a specific official position, but refers to the highest leading official of one or more provinces in ancient times. The concept of "province" originated from the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty, and the corresponding feudal officials were the governors of the provinces of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the governors and governors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Of course, before the Yuan Dynasty, there were also some official positions that met the definition of feudal officials, such as the Tang Dynasty's Jiedushi Envoy, whose power was almost the same as that of the Tu Emperor, and the military and people's livelihood affairs in the area under his jurisdiction were all self-determined.
However, with the increasing concentration of imperial power and the gradual improvement of the bureaucratic system, the power of feudal officials generally showed a trend of reduction, and in the Qing Dynasty, there was even a very humiliating position. In terms of rank, this position is congyipin, which is a veritable feudal official, but its actual power is not even as good as that of the prefect of Sipin. If it were not for the idea of a mixed pension, almost no one in this position would be willing to take the initiative, because maybe it would be so idle for a lifetime, let alone have any big achievements. So, what exactly is this official position?
This is actually a common admiral on TV, the full name is the admiral military chief officer. In the Qing Dynasty, The Viceroy was one of the high-ranking military attaches, and his rank was Congyi Pin (從一品). Many friends may not have a specific concept, so Ziyuan will briefly introduce it. In the Qing Dynasty, the viceroy was Zheng Erpin , the governor with the titles of Shangshu of the Bingbu and the Imperial Envoy of the Right Capital of the Imperial Guard of the Imperial Guard was from Yipin , the Inspector of the Qing Dynasty was from Erpin , and the Inspector of Shandong and the Inspector of The Rank of Lang of the Bingbu were Zheng Erpin. It can be seen from this that the rank of the viceroy is so high that it is on an equal footing with the governor with the title of Shangshu.
In fact, the admiral was responsible for commanding the land or water officers and soldiers of a province, usually the highest official of the Green Camp (Han Bing) in the provinces of the Qing Dynasty, and was in charge of an area of one or two provinces, tens of thousands of square kilometers, or even hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. In the great China, there are a total of 12 land admirals and 3 admirals (Fujian Admiralty, Guangdong Admiralty and Yangtze River Admiralty), which shows its great power. Unfortunately, because of the excessive power, the rulers of the middle and late Qing Dynasty began to weaken the authority of the viceroy to prevent them from supporting the army and respecting themselves. Gradually, this position became an idle job, and the admirals could only mix with their wives and concubines every day except for drinking and playing and going out to walk birds, which was a typical "mixed eating and waiting to die" anyway.
Interestingly, in many film and television works, the governor and the governor usually fight over each other because of the overlap of their respective powers, but the higher-ranking governor is completely out of the matter, and does not even dare to say a big word, and often has to say good things in front of the two. In the end, this is also because the Admiral has almost no real power. What is even more tragic is that in the triennial examination of officials, local officials will be evaluated by the governor and the inspector in order to survive the survival of the fittest, even the viceroy from Yipin is no exception. Under this system, the future and promotion of the governor are tightly held in the hands of the governor and the inspector, where dare to rebel against the two?
In addition, the governor, the inspector, the prefect, and the lower prefect all had the right to directly give the emperor a secret fold, and the viceroy, as a feudal official, did not even have this right. In this way, the career of the viceroy was suppressed, and he could not make a small report to the emperor, and if he was dizzy for a while and clashed with the inspector and the governor, then basically there was only the fate of resigning from the office and waiting for the counselor. Therefore, as the governor of the feudal territory, not only could the local government affairs not be managed, but even the military affairs rights were divided up by the governor and the inspector. So the question is, since this position of such a high rank was established, why did it continue to weaken in the later stage, even to the point of extinction in name only?
The reason is also very simple, successive dynasties and dynasties will set up some nominal positions in order to promote and secretly demote certain officials. On the other hand, the Green Camp was originally formed by the Qing court in the early years of Shunzhi, which was formed by the Ming army and other Han soldiers, and at that time, in order to unify the whole country, the post of admiral was established. In the later period, as the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners declined day by day, the Manchu rulers became more and more suspicious of the Han, and the governor in charge of the green camp in a province was naturally guarded, not only his authority was increasingly reduced, but even the candidates for the viceroy were mostly filled by the flag people. In addition, the green battalion formed by the Han people was not treated as well as the Eight Banner Soldiers in all aspects, and its admirals were naturally even less likely to have much preferential treatment, all of which was to prevent local support for the self-respect.
bibliography:
Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 117, Zhi 92