Hello, this is a journey of civilization. You are welcome to travel back to 1016 AD, the ninth year of the Great Zhong Xiangfu of the Song Dynasty, and the fifth year of the founding of the Liao Dynasty.This is the last year we talk about Dazhong's surrender. The reigning Song Zhenzong has been struggling with the book of surrender to heaven for nine years now.Next year, his old man will change his reign, and his reign will be changed to Tianxi.You must know that in that era, the emperor would not change the reign name for no reason, because it was too troublesome to change the reign name. If you want the whole country to go from top to bottom, if you don't say anything else, you have to follow this document alone. That's good.It's a big project.Moreover, according to the situation during the Song Dynasty, special people had to be sent to inform the surrounding political powers.

Our family's name has been changed. You need to know about it. It sounds very troublesome. It's not a big deal.So after changing the year, there must be a reason for how old it was.So what do you think is the reason for changing the year name from Dazhonghe to Tianxi this time?To put it simply, in this year, have the activities such as the Heavenly Book to succumb to the gods and Dongfengxisi come to an end?Everyone, whether it's the emperor or the ministers, all feel that, oh, we can't go on like this anymore, we have to put the brakes on it.

In the summer of this year, the Song Dynasty suffered a disaster. A sudden locust plague suddenly swept across the country. The area of ​​​​the locust plague was usually very large.Look at today's Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces. These seven provinces have all been hit by disasters.This locust plague, in addition to the losses suffered by the bankers, also caused a big problem for the monarchs and ministers of the court at that time, right?What have you monarchs and ministers been doing for the past eight or nine years?Didn’t you just go through a lot of sacrificial activities?Well, the gods from all walks of life have received so much incense, hey, are the mouths of cannibals short?Then the gods have to protect the Song Dynasty, right?Okay, now there are so many bugs and such a big disaster, how can we explain it?Is it because the gods are not working or because he is ungrateful?There has to be an explanation.

The locusts don't care. The locusts just eat and don't care about the explanation. But the officials in various places have to explain this matter.Therefore, when officials from various places reported to their superiors, they had no choice but to make up all kinds of nonsense.For example, this bug is indeed oil, but the bug is so well-behaved that it does not fly into the field.Even if insects fly into the fields, they will not eat the crops. They cling to the grass and would rather starve themselves to death than eat the crops.

Well, in short, what is written in the report is that because His Majesty the Emperor is of high moral character and under the protection of the gods and Buddhas in the sky, the locust plague did occur, but it did not harm the crops or cause losses.I don’t know whether Song Zhenzong believed these reports or not. Anyway, one day Emperor Zhenzong actually took out some dead locusts in the court and showed them to everyone. Why are you dead in this dynasty?What do you mean?Obviously the emperor wants to provide some evidence to prove that this locust is indeed benevolent and righteous, and it all died on its own, right?He's starving and won't even eat.The emperor of China took out this dead locust, and the ministers immediately cheered. Wow, how amazing it is, right?We have to organize hundreds of officials to hold a ceremony to congratulate the emperor. This is an unprecedented auspiciousness. The emperor will die on his own.Alas, the Prime Minister Wang Dan stood up at this time and said, no, no, no, we just agreed, the country has suffered such a big disaster, why should we be happy?You see, Prime Minister Wang Dan is blocking him life and death at this time, and he doesn't agree with him life and death.

A few days later, the monarchs and ministers were going to court and discussing matters. Suddenly, a large swarm of locusts flew over in front of the hall, covering the sky and the sun.Alas, look at this world, there are just these bugs, those bugs that are ignorant, disobedient, and unwilling to die. They fly in front of the emperor and insist on showing him off to you. You can imagine the one in the hall at that time.Awkward atmosphere.Emperor Zhenzong looked up at the insect, then turned to look at the prime minister.

Wang Dan said, if I listened to those people two days ago and really held a congratulatory ceremony for hundreds of officials, today the locusts are on the top of Kaifeng City. If so, wouldn't everyone in the world laugh to death?I was thinking about the words of the authentic emperor at that time. If we were present at that time, I would probably be able to hear the sigh in the hearts of everyone in the court.For eight or nine years, I have held so many ceremonies, burned so many incense, and visited so many Taoist temples. God really hasn’t given me any face at all.A big dream that had lasted for 9 years finally woke up.Look at this vigorous trance and the East Wind and West Movement. When the enthusiasm rises, everyone will be sucked into it. Who dares to say the opposite without hesitation?Even if there is a fact, it is everyone’s choice.I didn't see that negative fact, but as time went by, the fanaticism cooled down, and the hard negative facts were placed in front of me one after another. Can you say that you didn't see the locusts flying in the sky?The initial supporters of this hand, such as Prime Minister Wang Dan, began to have reservations.At first, those who were coerced into the situation began to think and look for a way out. Everyone quietly took a step back.What's the result?As a result, the most fanatical initiators and supporters, such as Song Zhenzong Wang Qinruo, will be left on the spot in embarrassment.Therefore, the change in Prime Minister Wang Dan's attitude was a key change.With his change, the entire era of Dazhong's surrender will come to an end.

The life of Prime Minister Wang Dan himself is coming to an end soon. Wang Dan will pass away next year. It is very emotional to say that our Civilization Journey program has launched. This is the 17th episode. We have already bid farewell to several prime ministers of the Song Dynasty.You see, we dedicated a program to talk about Prime Minister Lu Duan, and we also dedicated a program to talk about Prime Minister Li Hao. Now we have to say goodbye to Prime Minister Wang Dan.Wang Dan is not well-known in history, but one thing about him is that he served as prime minister for 12 years without interruption.Oops, this is incredible, it takes a long time, and compared with the previous two in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is actually more important, hehe.Regarding Wang Dan, we will wait until next year to talk about it in the next episode. So in order to make it easier to understand this website, what should we talk about first?Let’s talk about the relationship between the position of prime minister and the emperor in the Song Dynasty.Wow, this topic fits perfectly, where do we start?Let's start with the official names of the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty. Let's take the Wang Dynasty as an example. In this year, in February 1016 AD, the imperial court issued a document praising the birthday of Wang Wang, praising him for his "...Speaking of his official official name, who is Wang Dan?I'll read it to you.Kai Xi Yi Tong San Si Shou Si Kong Menxia Shi Lang Tong Zhongshu Men Xia Ping Zhang Shichong was the Qing Dynasty Ying Gong Envoy, Zhao Wen Guan University Bachelor and Xiu Guo Envoy, Shangzhu Guo, Taiyuan Jun Kaiguo Gongwang.

Hahaha, even if we take it out now, it still has punctuation marks. If the 48 characters in the ancient book are completely strung together, it will be a long string of characters.Haha, if you are knowledgeable, you can tell that it is divided into about 9 parts and 48 words.A person's official name is so long and seems so long-winded.But please pay attention to the 48 words I just read to you. Each word has a special meaning. No word can be omitted or changed. This is all evolved over a long period of time.Some of the words are official, some are zhi, some are jue, some are xun, some are Sanguan, and some are demolition.There are so many tricks. If you want to take it apart, we will explain it to you in detail.I just read 48 words, which is really enough to write a book.So we won’t talk so much in this program. We will only talk about the most important word. You may have heard me mention this word many times in our program called Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. This wordEr is the official official of the former wife of the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. Look at what a strange name.

Even those who have just started reading history books will find it baffling. Why is an official name so complicated and difficult to pronounce?How did Tong Zhongshu’s disciple Ping Zhangshi get this strange name?What secrets of ancient Chinese politics does the evolution of this name reveal?Today we take this question and travel back to 1016 AD, when the people of the Song Dynasty enjoyed nine years of happiness.

In this episode, let’s talk about the Prime Minister. We often talk about how the Prime Minister is, but have you actually thought about it?All those who have served as prime ministers in Chinese history did not have the word prime minister in their official official names.Look at the past dynasties, there are people who are called Xiangguo Xiangbang, some are called Prime Minister, Taiwei, Yushi Dafu, some are called Situ, Sima, Sikong, some are called Shangshuling, Shangshu Puye, and some are called ZhongshulingAmong the servants, there was only one who was not called prime minister.If you look at history books and look through the Twenty-Four Histories, you will find that only the official positions of the Liao Dynasty include such a prime minister, but what is going on?It is a word in the Khitan language of the Liao Dynasty. We translated it into Chinese and called him prime minister.

He was not called Prime Minister originally, but it is strange that from official history to folklore to the correspondence network of scholar-bureaucrats, the title "Prime Minister" has been used all the time. What's going on?Let me give you an example. In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a very famous couplet. The first couplet called Prime Minister Hefei Tianxiashou, and the second couplet called Simong Changshu Dihuang.Let’s first explain the second line. Si Nong Da Si Nong was the official in charge of money in ancient times. At that time, he was the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the person in charge of money was Weng Tonghe.This Weng Tonghe was from Changshu, Jiangsu Province, but at that time the world's grain harvest was not good and the land was deserted, so the familiar word in Changshu was used to contrast with the real word "shortage", which became the second couplet.

This sentence is a coincidence. Who is Hefei, the prime minister in the first couplet, referring to?Li Hongzhang?Is Li Hongzhang from Hefei, Anhui?But at that time, the world was barren, so the word "fat" in "Hefei" was paired with the word "skin" in "world thin" for "world thin". It was another coincidence, yes, but the question is, why should I be the prime minister?This Li Hongzhang is the prime minister. Although he has a very high official position, he is a governor-general of Zhili and a minister of Beiyang, but Li Hongzhang has never held an important position in the central government.Then why is this called Prime Minister?Alas, because his title included a bachelor of Wenhuadian University, with an official rank of 1st grade, so later we called him Li Zhongtang, and he was praised as prime minister.Hey, it all comes from the position of the Wenhuadian University Bachelor.But we all know that in the Ming and Qing dynasties, starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, the real prime minister, who had both the power to discuss political power and the power to supervise the administration of hundreds of officials, was abolished. There was no prime minister, so Li Hongzhang was complimenting him as a prime minister, but in factHe is a fake prime minister.Then you may have a question, why does this title of prime minister come up so confusingly?Well, today we are going to try to see if we can help you sort through this mess of problems by dissecting the titles of the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty, so that you can understand the ancient Chinese prime minister system without having to remember too many details.I have a general understanding of the laws of evolution.

You must know that among all the titles of prime ministers in all dynasties in China, the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were the most confusing. Among them, the term that has been used for a long time is the term we mentioned earlier, called Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhang Shi.These eight words together are completely incomprehensible.What do you mean?We have to break it down to understand it. It can be broken down into three parts. The first part is the first word.The second part is "Zhongxusmenxia", and the third part is "Pingzhang style". Let's briefly explain it first. Let's first look at what the first word "tong" means?Tong means that you are not yet, but even if you are, this is called Tong, similar usage. There is also a word in the imperial examination called Tong Jinshi origin.What does it mean?Even though you didn't do very well in the exam, you are not very qualified to be a scholar.The imperial court is lenient and considerate. Even if you are a Jinshi, this is called having the same background as a Jinshi.This usage is similar to the ancient times when calling a concubine Mrs., which means she is not a Mrs., but you can be considered a Mrs.Therefore, there was another very interesting couplet in the late Qing Dynasty. The first couplet was called "Wash the Feet of Mrs. Bi Ru", and the second couplet was called "Gitong was born as a Jinshi".This is a couplet that makes fun of those officials who were born in the same Jinshi family, so Tong Zhongshu's family is Pingzhang Shi.

Don't worry about what the last seven characters mean. The first character in the picture is "tong". What does this mean?It means that you are not yet, but the court will consider you to be one for the time being. You can tell that this means suppressing your identity. You are not.Okay, let’s look at the second part. What do these four words “central pivot door” mean?They were two departments in the Tang Dynasty government, namely the Central Province and the Menxia Province. The heads of these two departments were prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty.Okay, let’s look at the third part, which is the three characters. What does Pingzhang mean?"Ping" means to distinguish, "Zhang" means to express, "Yes" means national affairs. The three words "Pingzhang" combined together mean to discuss and deal with national affairs together.Okay, now we connect the eight words to understand, and it means the same as Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi.I understand, you are the one, and the emperor has appointed you to have the same right to discuss and handle national affairs as the provincial governor under Zhongshu Province for the time being.This is called Tong Zhongshu’s History of Barriers, do you hear it?Although you are not a prime minister, even if you are you for the time being, although you do not have the status or honor of a prime minister, you still have the right to get involved in handling state affairs.

Then you may ask, why does this sound more and more like a temporary arrangement and not like a formal position?Alas, by the way, you are right. It was a temporary arrangement from the beginning. Let’s briefly walk through the evolution process.It is said that during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a prime minister named Li Jing, who was the prototype of Nezha's father, King Li Tianwang in the myth and legend.In real history, Li Jing was of course a famous general in the early Tang Dynasty. After he became prime minister, he also consciously knew that he was a famous general. He was afraid that his achievements would shock the emperor, so he pretended to be sick. I am not in good health, and I am no longer a prime minister.Is that okay?Of course, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty understood what was going on, so he was polite to each other and said, OK, OK, it's OK if you are not the prime minister, but no matter what treatment or honor, hey, it has to be the same as before. You can't refuse this.

He also told Li Jing that if your illness gets better in the future, you will come back every now and then to see which subordinate provinces and central provinces you have visited to discuss and deal with some major national affairs. This is called Pingzhang's official business.You are no longer the prime minister, but you can still take care of the prime minister's affairs. This is the origin of the three words Pingzhang style.So where did the previous word come from?This also has to talk about the Tang Dynasty.During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor wanted some officials to participate in the prime minister's meeting and handle national affairs. However, it was a pity that these people were not high enough, so wouldn't it be enough to directly promote these people?No, these people are not qualified enough for promotion. What should I do?It's easy, just add a title. At first, the title was quite confusing, but gradually it became unified with the word "Pinggang City" under Tongzhongmen.

From this time on, the system clearly stipulated that the person with this title was also a prime minister, and there was no difference in power from the real prime ministers such as Zhongshu Ling and Shi Zhong.Then you may ask, where did those original titles of prime minister go?Why did all the prime minister's team become temporary promotions?Which prime minister is he?This brings us to the crux of the matter.The situation in the Tang Dynasty was like this. Didn't the Anshi Rebellion break out in 755 AD?I would like to interject here by the way, knowing about many eras of Chinese history.It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember it, but I really hope you can remember this year in 755 when the Anshi Rebellion broke out.755 years why?Because this is a very important turning point in the entire history of China.We are talking about many issues in the Song Dynasty now. In fact, if you want to get to the bottom of it, you have to go back to the Anshi Rebellion in 755 before we can see clearly.

Let’s get back to the topic. After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, of course the Tang Dynasty Central Committee had to concentrate all resources on commenting on it, right?But the imperial court was short of both money and soldiers at that time, but there was one thing that was relatively in short supply and could be had at any time.What?The official position will give you an interpretation of the history, and the job will give you the title of generalissimo. Even when a general goes on an expedition, he will first receive a large pile of great men named Umeda.You won the battle and someone under your command made meritorious deeds, so you filled in his name for me and filled in whatever official you wanted, so the devaluation of official titles was very severe at that time.It is said that I saw a historical record that said that there was a great general who could only exchange for a meal of wine at his great man's village. Are the officials of the imperial court so worthless?Then you can imagine that there are so few ordinary military industries. What about the really large military industries?Therefore, the imperial court could only reward the most distinguished prime ministers with official titles such as Shu Ling and Shi Zhong.For example, the two great heroes who quelled the Anshi Rebellion were named Guo Ziyi and the other Li Guangbi. The court had no choice but to promote Guo Ziyi to the position of General Secretary on the same day. In Li Guangbi's poems, these are the names of the prime minister's positions.But do you think that if these people want to command troops on the front line, it is impossible for him to become prime minister in the central government?Right?Secondly, the court is very wary of them. You are a general leading troops. How can I allow you to really become prime minister?So your fancy for the official titles of Shu Ling and Shi Zhong, the two real prime ministers, gradually changed, they became nominal, and finally turned into some kind of honorary sneak attack.And the unexplained, temporary, temporary Tongzhongmen subordinate Pingzhang we just mentioned was the prime minister confirmed by his family title, so he naturally became the only prime minister. This process is interesting, right?So if you look at history, it is like this. It often reaches the end in such twists and turns. A very awkward official name becomes the official name of the prime minister, and it has been used like this since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and it has been used until the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, probablyIt took 300 years.So do you think this is a coincidence, or is there some inevitable pattern behind it?

Just now we broke the eight words "Tongzhongshumenxiapingzhangshi" into one, two or three parts for you to understand. We might as well go one step further. We might as well make a borrowed topic and focus on these two or three parts.Let’s take a look at three internal accumulations of the evolution of insight wisdom in ancient China.Let’s look at the first word first, which is copper. As explained before, what does copper mean? Isn’t it you now?But even if you are, this is called pain because you don’t want it. What is this?Isn’t this a commonly used method of rights?It means appointing people who are not qualified yet.Very strange, you are not qualified, why should I use it?Why do you do this?Let me give you an example first so you can feel it.

It is said that Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, used a person named Chen Ping when he was starting to gain momentum. Chen Ping was a famous smart man who was known to work miracles. Chen Ping temporarily defected to Liu Bang's camp.Liu Bang took a liking to him at first sight, and immediately promoted him and made him his follower, and he was also responsible for supervising all the generals in the army.So do you think everyone can accept it?Who is Chen Ping?This person has neither merit nor any ability, and he doesn't even know how to suck.Oh, you sent him to supervise us, alas, aren't you kidding?But it's strange. The more dissatisfied these generals are with Liu Bang, the more they believe in Chen Ping, and the more they want to use Chen Ping. Think about it, why is this?Teacher Xiong Yi analyzed this story when he received the qualification certificate. He said it was very simple. Think about who Liu Bang was?Liu Bang's team at that time was engaged in rebellion and the business of beheading, right?The eldest brother of the underworld, as the eldest brother, he has to talk about brotherly love.

But the problem is that the army must have rules and discipline, so what should we do?Then could it be that Liu Bang fell out with his brothers and established rules with his brothers?No, you have to borrow help from outsiders, right?Liu Bang had to find someone young, junior, and foreign.Alas, of course he looks smart and energetic. If he is promoted in an exceptional way, he can hold down everyone with a big fist.Who is this?This person is Chen Ping, and Chen Ping is such a young, foreign, and clever Boolean that Liu Bang finally met.

Then think about it, what will happen next?You can imagine two situations. One is that Chen Ping can barely control the situation, but why can he control the situation?It must be because he fully relied on Liu Bang, asking for instructions early and reporting later. He had to ask for instructions every step of the way.What should I do in my situation?Because he himself has no qualifications and prestige, he can only borrow Liu Bang's prestige, so even if such a person has done his job well, he poses no threat to Liu Bang at all.All your rights essentially come from the possibility that we can speculate that Chen Ping screwed up. He couldn't control these old brothers and even annoyed them.What to do?Alas, Liu Bang is easy to handle. He just invites the old brothers to have a big drink, then hugs his fists and says, brothers, I'm sorry, the things you are angry about are not what I want to do, but what I want to do.Chen Ping did it without telling me.Come on, drag Chen Ping out and kill him.Everyone calm down, calm down, this matter is over.

So we usually think that a person in a position is authorized by the organization to have corresponding rights because he is qualified.This seems to be the way it should be.What does it mean to be qualified?Usually there are two types, one is brought about by surviving the years, and the other is brought about by accumulating merit.The so-called seniority-based or merit-based rewards, are these the only two ways to gain seniority?But no matter what kind of qualification it is, as long as he obtains certain rights based on his own qualifications, regardless of his age or merit, his qualifications and rights will be one, which will cause trouble.

What's the trouble?Our program has talked about Montesquieu before. A famous saying of the French thinker Montesquieu said that power is only responsible for the source of power.If the source of a person's power is his own qualifications, then his leader's ability to control him will become smaller.Think about it, the old-timers in companies nowadays are those who are senior or have great achievements in selling monsters and are difficult to manage. This is the reason why such people are difficult to manage.Their qualifications and status are one and the same.

Okay, let’s look at the story I just told from this perspective, right?When Liu Bang appointed Chen Ping, he did the opposite. When appointing a position, he separated qualifications from power and promoted people with insufficient qualifications to take power.So what is the source of this person’s rights?There is only one source, whoever promotes him is the source of his power.So what can he be?He can only be a tool for those who promote him.When I say this, you may feel that it is a little dark and has the color of a dark conspiracy.But to be honest there is no way.In real history, if a minister is in his current position because his qualifications and power are combined, that would be really troublesome.Because what the emperor wants to do is really unstoppable.Let me analyze several situations with you.

The first situation is that a person with sufficient qualifications may not be capable enough.For example, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, many important positions in the court were held by clan masters. These people were qualified. For example, he wished he had been qualified since his grandfather, but there was a problem with these people, they were unwilling to work.?There was a word at that time called "Wang Bai Shukong".What does it mean?It was a prime minister who didn't read the contents of the document from Song Lai at all. He just signed and sealed it in the blank space left by Jade County, and then Wen Qian sent it away.

What do you think the government should do?For these people, well, what should we do?I don’t care about you, anyway, the fact that I am sitting here is the product of my qualifications. Our family has been qualified for this for generations, so what do you think we should do?If you were the emperor, would you have to die in a hurry?But your government is in chaos, and you have to be responsible for the result, so there is nothing you can do. You can’t invite the powerful people to leave, so as the emperor, he has to promote some people who are not qualified but are willing to work, and actually hold the power. YouIs this the only way left?This is one situation, and there is another situation where a person with sufficient qualifications is not of the same mind as the emperor, so there is nothing the emperor can do.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a prime minister named Song Jing, who was as famous as Yao Chong.Yao Chong, a famous prime minister of Song Jing Dynasty.Song Jing was good at everything, except for one thing: he didn't want the emperor to expand the territory and fight.So when Song Jing became prime minister, he suppressed military achievements. How big of a military force did you establish?It’s as if I didn’t see it. For example, at that time, a general went out to conquer the grassland and cut off the head of the Turkic Khan and brought it back to Chang’an.
Oh my god, what level of military merit is this?It wasn't his fault, but in the eyes of Prime Minister Song Qing, he didn't care about him at all, and it took until the second year to reluctantly give this man a very low-level official.So what do you think the emperor should do?Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to open up borders and clear up blockages, right?Isn’t there a poem?It's okay for Emperor Wu to step aside, he is such a character.However, seeing that Prime Minister Song Jing had a very high reputation, his principle of not fighting wars indiscriminately could not be said to be wrong from the political point of view at the time. Therefore, if the emperor wanted to expand his territory, the only way was to promote a large number of people in an exceptional manner.People with military merit keep adding sand to the prime minister's wrench. If there are too many people like this, the emperor will retire only after his advice.There is another situation where although a person has sufficient qualifications, it is not clear whether he will be useful.Then the emperor has a way, that is, I use a large number of people who are not qualified. No, it doesn't matter. If it doesn't work, replace them. OK, for example, it is still Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. This is the style of Wu Zetian's employment.

I read that someone in the paper specifically counted it and said that Wu Zetian appointed 78 prime ministers successively, and some repeatedly promoted 78 prime ministers, with an average of 4-5 changes a year. This speed and number far exceed that of a low-level official in the previous generation..In a word, Wu Zetian heard it right and said, OK, you will be the prime minister tomorrow. If you do something wrong, you should be evacuated, you should be killed, and Wu Zetian will not blink an eye.Anyway, you are not qualified to begin with, so your position as prime minister was given to you on a temporary basis by me.

I have analyzed these situations, and now you understand that the same word for Pingzhangshi under Tongzhongshumen has endless magical uses.In the history of China's political system, this is a common rule. Whenever those who hold power want to suppress the power of the prime minister or the elders of the court, the emperor will often use people with insufficient qualifications to assume powerful roles.For example, in the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister was replaced by a great scholar, and in the Qing Dynasty, a military minister was used to replace the great scholar. This was actually the same pattern.This is the first Ci Er Tong.Okay, let's move on to the second word, Zhongshu Menxia. This is a compound word that originally referred to the two central agencies in the Tang Dynasty, the Central Province and the Menxia Province.From this word, you can see that the second logic of political system evolution is spin-off.The separation we are familiar with is the separation of functions. This has been around for a long time. For example, you are in charge of justice, you are in charge of civil affairs, you are in charge of military affairs, and you are in charge of finance. This separates the functions.This existed very early in the Qin Dynasty.This kind of split is easy to understand, but starting from the Tang Dynasty, there was a particularly strange new split logic.You see, the Tang Dynasty was called Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province. The divisions set up in this way are a bit puzzling.You see, their superficial logic is this: Zhongshu Sheng is responsible for formulating policies and drafting recruitment documents, while Shangshu Sheng is responsible for executing the subordinate provinces.Strangely, Menxiasheng is responsible for sealing the blog.

What does trick mean?It was the officials in Menxia Province who felt that this tactic was inappropriate to scare people.Haha, if you reject it, the book will be invalidated.You said that Zhaoshu's imperial edict can be invalidated. Why is that?Is this to restrict the imperial power?This is to break down one's thought process into three paragraphs, you think?If you are a prime minister with complete power and you want to do something, in what stages will you do it?You are also in these three stages.First, when you encounter a challenge or a problem, think about what to do first, right?This is equivalent to the process of formulating a recruitment plan for the Ministry of Education. Do you have to write a plan?I figured out a way, what should I do?Do it right away, can't you, as a mature person, do it?You have to reflect and look at this method. Is my idea appropriate?Check again and again if there are any loopholes.This is equivalent to the function of the Feng Bo Zhaoshu we just mentioned, thinking about it.After thinking about it, I thought, oh, okay, this plan is very mature and has no flaws, so let's go ahead and do it. This is the executive function of Shangshu Province.So when you look at the decentralization of power, the perspective has changed.

The original decentralization of checks and balances meant splitting affairs one by one and letting different people take charge of different majors.The splitting carried out by the Tang Dynasty is amazing. It splits one person's thinking process so that three people can combine into one whole person. This splitting method is very advanced.Why do you say that?Why do you say he is wolfberry?Because this splitting method solves a major problem, that is, if the emperor does not understand something, it is a professional matter.I am a layman, but the emperor is not willing to bypass the power, and he wants to control whether this matter can be done.It turns out that if the affairs are separated, the more detailed the separation, the more specialized the areas.For example, judicial affairs are now delegated to a minister, and a certain official is appointed.Okay, if the emperor wants to intervene in a specific case, then you, the emperor, must understand the law. How can you legally handle this official who is responsible for the law?Are they professionals?Is it right?You can't lift the vat with him, so when the emperor intervenes in this case, he sets a threshold, making it difficult to intervene.But if you go back to the Tang Dynasty, this splitting method is very clever. The emperor can take care of this specific matter without having to understand it.

Well, let me give you an example from modern society. It may be easy for you to understand that a leader of a company does not know much about a specific business. Does that mean he cannot lead this business?No, he can first ask the company's strategy department. You all say you want to develop this business. How to launch it?What product are you developing?How to sell?What are the benefits to the company?Your strategy department first comes up with a set of plans. What do you think this amounts to?It is equivalent to the Zhongshu Ministry in the Tang Dynasty. You first come up with an idea and ask the strategy department to write a report. Then, he can set up a plan review department within the company.
Of course, you can also hire a consulting firm outside the company. You can do it face-to-face or back-to-back to review the plan, provide opinions, and evaluate the feasibility. What does this mean?Isn't this the Menxiasheng of the Tang Dynasty we just talked about?Okay, we have a plan, and the reviewer who made the suggestion has also polished it.Once it is completed, once the opinions are unified, it will be handed over to the specific business department for execution. This is equivalent to the above, so you see, as a leader from beginning to end, he does not need to know this business specifically.Its functions are split between different departments. Some departments only care about what should be done, regardless of whether it is difficult or not, and some departments only care about what is right, regardless of whether it is possible or not.Some people just lower their heads to pull the car, and there is no need to raise their heads to look at the road, so the three types of departments can cooperate with each other.Of course, in the actual practice process in history, Zhongshu and Menxia Sheng are not Zhongshu Sheng. They are responsible for writing edicts. After they are written, they are sent to Menxia Sheng. Menxia Sheng will send them back after reading them and saying they can’t, and then Zhongshu Sheng will send them back.After making changes, send it back, and then send it back if it doesn’t work. That’s not how it works. It’s too inefficient.Although there is such a functional split, in reality it will definitely evolve into something called the Dutch Office.Regarding this matter, what do I, the Zhongshu Province, want to do?Are we on site?Let me tell you on the spot what I want to do?If you feel it is not appropriate, you can put forward your opinions on the spot, and then we will discuss it. Once the opinions are unified, I will go back and write the edict. He must have evolved into this result, so Heshu's office hours have been long, and a place has appeared, thisThe place is called the official hall, and all the prime ministers work in the official hall. In this place, everyone has different roles, and they discuss things together. So you can see this wonderful result. The original role of the prime minister was one person, and now it has becomeWith collective leadership, everyone divides labor based on their respective roles, and then collectively takes responsibility for one thing.

For example, there were two famous prime ministers under Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, one was named Fang Xuanling and the other was named Du Ruhui. Together, they were called Fang Mou and Du Duan.In fact, you understand the rule I just mentioned. From this word, you can infer the control of these two people, right?Fang Xuanling, aren’t you good at planning?Fang Mou?So he must be the leader of the Ministry of Education, and he is responsible for coming up with various ideas and planning various plans, right?Will Du Ru be good at making decisions?Then I will listen to your ideas, and then I will judge whether your idea is feasible or not?So he is the leader of Menxia Province.So you see the two prime ministers each exerting their own specialties. Under the governance of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, they cooperated very well.

Today we start with the official name of Prime Minister Wang Dan, Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhang.Now that we have finished talking about Tonghe Zhongxusmen, let me look at the third word, Pingzhang style.This word actually also reveals a logic of ancient Chinese system design. Simply put, it is to use temporary demolition, that is, you are not doing this job, but I will temporarily send you to do this job, using temporary assignments to replace the official position of political history., is that a normal matter?Do you understand the meaning of this word?I just sent you to do this, but I didn’t say that you must be the official.My previous Civilization Journey program was the one in 1013 AD. I talked about an insight of teacher Zhang Hongjie. He said that there is a very interesting thing in Chinese history, that is, the official names of many local officials are oftenVerbs, such as governor and governor, are all verbs.Why?Because none of them were permanent local administrative officials at the beginning. They were all temporarily sent by the court to handle an issue. The matter continued to be handled for a long time. Over time, he became a salute and a local official.

In fact, this rule applies not only to local administrative officials, but also to the central government.For example, in the Qing Dynasty, there was a so-called minister of military aircraft. In fact, the official name of the minister of military aircraft was not the minister of military aircraft, but what was his name?Tell the military aircraft department to walk, the military aircraft department to learn to walk, the military aircraft minister to walk, the military aircraft minister to learn to walk.If you look at this official position, its core is still grassroots. In the beginning, it was all temporary demolition. You have your own job, and you are sent to do other things in your original capacity.It was not until the Guangxu period at the end of the Qing Dynasty that there was an example of being directly appointed as a military minister. In the early Qing Dynasty, all ministers were on the job.

We can give another example, that is, you must have heard of the magistrate of a county. You have heard of it in various TV series and novels, but it is strange. Sometimes the magistrate is called a county magistrate, and sometimes he is called a magistrate.Branch line.Alas, here comes the question, is there a difference between the names of county magistrate and magistrate?There really is.What is a county magistrate? The county magistrate has been the official title of a frontline wise leader since the Qin and Han Dynasties.But after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, there was great turmoil in the local area, so there was a kind of temporary dispatch. Some were called Quanzhi County Magistrate, and some were called Zhixian County Magistrate.Don't blame him for his confusing official name. He means the same thing, that is, your main job is not here, but the court temporarily sent you to take care of the affairs of a certain county. What is the point of omniscience?Isn't it just temporary?That's it, this is how I got to know each other.

So what do you think are the benefits of doing this?There are so many benefits, first of all, it makes it easier to deal with new challenges, right?Temporary arrangements, is he just dealing with things that arise temporarily?Just like the same situation in many large companies today, a new business suddenly appeared that was very important, and the company decided to try it.Will a department be established immediately?Formal department?No?First, each department will recruit capable personnel to form a temporary organization. First, it will make a name for itself, and then decide whether to become a formal department.It's definitely more flexible this way, right?We moderns understand this.

Another point is that after the official duties and actual work were separated, a wonderful result was that officials suddenly found that they could be promoted or demoted.Let’s take Kou Zhun, a person we are very familiar with who is often mentioned in this stage, as an example.In 1006 AD, Kou Zhun's eight items were in Shaanzhou. Wow, there was a prime minister. The prime minister was raped, and then he became the governor of the state.He was demoted so much, from a central official to a small local official who supported China and foreign countries. How could he bear this gap?How can the imperial court let go of this prestige?How could Kou Zhun tolerate his own pride?etc.Alas, you don't have to worry. Strictly speaking, Kou Zhun was not demoted.Why?Because his job has always been to be a third-rank official of the Ministry of Justice.This is his true job. His other officials, whether they are prime ministers or spiders, are all sent on assignments. It is a temporary arrangement, but they were originally sent to serve as Tong Zhongshu's Pingzhang envoy to become prime minister.Change your job now?Changed your assignment?Go support that Shaanzhou.You are not the governor of Shaanxi Province.There is no such thing as this, it’s just, hey, I’ll take care of it for the time being, that’s all.You are not a local magistrate. Your job is to be the third-rank Minister of the Ministry of Justice. You see, if you deal with it like this, everyone will not look bad.We just used the title Tong Zhongshu Menxia Ping Zhangshi to talk about the three logics of the evolution of ancient Chinese institutions. Let's sort it out a little and temporarily replace qualified people with unqualified people.

Second, use multiple split roles to replace a complete role, and use temporary assignments to replace formal official positions.Do you feel this way after hearing these three logics?He wonders why the imperial administration does not use the formal system to carry out policies openly and honestly, instead of creating such a set of informal systems with twists and turns to save the country, half-hiding the pipa, it sounds so temporary and only these three tricks, thisIt is indeed a question that needs explanation.

Our pursuit of a better life comes from the opening of every extraordinary door.Casa Di was born for love, the art of connecting families. Today we are talking about a small aspect of the evolution of China’s prime minister system.In the past, we often saw a statement that the core of the evolution of China's political system was the continuous strengthening of imperial power. This imperial power was too overbearing and it constantly attacked and deprived the prime minister of his power. This sounds correct and is consistent with the facts.For example, in the Han Dynasty, there was still a nominal prime minister. However, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, power was decentralized, checks and balances were established, and base leaders were established. The prime minister was no longer the same person.In the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister was completely abolished, and in the Qing Dynasty, only the minister of military discipline who knelt down to enter the emperor's opinion was left. Isn't this the process of the imperial power depriving the prime minister of his power step by step?It sounds right, but when you step away and think about it, it’s wrong.

Haha, ever since China had the emperor system, the emperor has monopolized power.Whether the emperor has lost all his power is another matter. In theory, there is no doubt that the emperor is self-centered and monopolizes power.What is a prime minister?The prime minister is invited by the emperor to work.In today's terms, a professional manager is a person who has authority authorized by the emperor.Oh, the emperor first authorized him, and then deliberately thought of ways to take away the power, so why did the emperor suffer?Right?It is equivalent to today when a company's board of directors spends a lot of money to hire a general manager, and then the board of directors tries various tricks to weaken the general manager's power and make it impossible for him to do his job.So what do you think the board of directors is doing to you?What are you drawing?So when we jump out and take a look, we will understand.

The essence of the problem is not that there is any struggle between imperial power and prime minister power. If there is no such thing, it is to find a prime minister system.Then this system can neither threaten the imperial power, but also have high administrative capabilities. The prime minister and the emperor are not to be ranked. The victory or defeat has been decided long ago. The emperor is the boss, and both of them have to compete with each other in various possibilities.It is difficult to find a balance. This balance is to ensure that the entire system design can not only ensure order and security, prevent chaos and chaos, but also maintain administrative efficiency. This is the evolution of China's prime minister system over thousands of years.That's a real problem.

Can do it.You should be able to tell from our previous analysis that, yes, one of the solutions is to allow formal systems and informal systems to coexist, with a fuzzy zone and a flexible space. This is an effective method.China has been such a huge political community since ancient times, right?Being so huge, of course it has to have a very beautiful formal system, it's not impossible.But if there is only a beautiful formal system, it will not work because it is too big.At the end of the formal system, there must be various flexible, temporary, and vague informal systems, so that the governance of the entire country can be exploratory and seek truth from facts.

Let me give you an example. The three provinces and six ministries system of the Tang Dynasty was beautifully designed. You have to draw a diagram of the system design. It is like Chang'an City. The four directions and four directions of the design are particularly orderly, and even have a sense of order.The beauty of order.Look at the emperor above, and then there is the Shangshu Province in the middle. On both sides are the Zhongshu Province, the other is the Menxia Province, and then there are six ministries. The six ministries are neatly organized, with four temples in each ministry.There are four temples.For example, in the establishment of the Ministry, the four divisions are called Lixun Fengkaohubu, and the four divisions are also called Hudu Jincang.Each of the six departments is like this. The drawn tables are very beautiful and neat, just like Chang'an City.

But if you think about the Tang Dynasty, how could it be possible for the Tang Dynasty to be so neat and uniform with such complicated administrative affairs?How about allocating functions to four divisions in such a seamless manner?So you can imagine that under the formal system, it must have undercurrents and seek truth from facts to create a large number of informal systems, so that the court administration can operate.I have a book here, Rural Reconstruction written by Mr. Fei Xiaodong, which proposes a very interesting concept called dual-track politics.Of course, Dual-Track Politics was written based on some political observations during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.To put it bluntly, the top-down formal system is one track, but when it comes to the private sector and specific situations, a large number of informal folk rules are another track.But it is called dual-track politics. Chinese politics operates on these two tracks at the same time, formal and informal.

This book gives an example. For example, if the court wanted to collect taxes at that time, the county magistrate would set tax quotas. Each household and each piece of land would have to pay a certain amount. This was determined by the formal system.But the problem is that we know that the imperial power does not go offline. When it goes below the line, the government has no legs.It certainly has the power in theory, but without legs it can't be enforced.The numbers are indeed there. For each village and county, how much should be paid for this land?The numbers are there, but the question is how can we collect them?The officials in the county can only pass orders to the Baochang.

Protecting the people is a hard job, and it is done by ordinary people in turn. The ordinary people themselves are not willing to do it, and they have no rights.So the chief security officer could only run an errand, and then he would discuss it with the team leaders of each village and each family. This year, you see that the county has asked so many to be paid. If the team leader thinks it is reasonable, he will pay it.If the team leader feels it is unreasonable, then the team leader actually wants to decide not to pay at this time.Alas, that doesn't mean the two sides are at odds.What do you think the county can do?The county's solution is to arrest the security chief and beat him to a fight, or to put him up there and stand in front of the county government office. According to the royal law of the imperial court, this is the end of your power. You can't bring down every common person.Catch them all and spank them, right?Right?I can only beat this security guard.

But the problem is that the team leader below cannot let one of his own, even the security chief, who is also one of his villagers, have his face looked ugly if one of his own is spanked, so they will step in and take action from various public sources.Negotiate with the government through private channels until we reach a tacit understanding with the county magistrate and reach an agreement to pay this much. Then the county will change the number, hand over the grain, and let the jailed security chief go home.This matter is finally over.

So you can see that this is a two-track operation. There is one formal one, but there is also an informal one surging underneath. This also proves it.I also brought a famous book today, a study of Chinese bureaucracy written by Mr. Wang Yanan. It also mentioned that taxation in ancient China was like this, which is called no concession in principle and no persistence in implementation.Haha, what do you mean?Not giving in on principle?That is to say, there is a set of formal systems and numerical indicators, which cannot be edited, and it is difficult to explain to all aspects.But in fact, it is actually implemented based on specific circumstances and cannot be adhered to.In the end, everything will be passable, that's what it means.

Okay, with this perspective, you can look at the prime minister system of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the topic we are talking about today, and then look at that weird name, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhang Shi, and then we will have a little moreCompassion from understanding.There is a bit of informal system here, a shadow that exists in the formal system.Speaking of the Southern Song Dynasty, some people called it the Song Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin, the Song Taizu of the Northern Song Dynasty, said that I was a great emperor. After I became emperor, I changed some of the messy systems of the Five Dynasties. He was a great reformer.That’s why we can transform the world from chaos into great order.But there was a great Confucian named Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty. When Zhu Xi heard this comment, he disagreed. He said that otherwise our Taizu just removed those unreasonable systems that were too excessive during the Five Dynasties, and the remaining legal items, including the imperial system, he will be retained if he can.Therefore, for a person like Taizu, as long as he is a person who does things, he can catch the big ones and let go the small ones. This is called heroic means.Look at the later Wang Anshi. He couldn't understand the logic of Wang Anshi. He cared about details every day, and as a result, the reform was a mess.

Alas, these words were not said by me, but by Zhu Xi. The Chairman actually said this very well. You see, he actually said that word a thousand years ago. What is it called?A person called Shier?A person who really wants to do things is like this. On the one hand, he respects the political system, and at the same time, he respects the actual conditions. He will not make random changes.On the basis of reality, create a spirit of rights and interests one by one according to needs, which is the so-called informal system, and then push your goals forward in a meandering but firm manner. In the end, although it may seem a bit chaotic, others will look at it a bit.The old and new are mixed together, a little unclear, etc.Just like what we are talking about today, Tongzhongshu Menxiaping showed the official name.But in fact, he has actually gone through this difficult balance and walked out a golden path as thin as a hair, and he is the one who does things.This is our topic in 1016. Next year in 1017, we will talk specifically about Prime Minister Wang Dan. See you next year.