What role did the characteristics of division of labor among the three central provinces play in government decision-making in Tang Dynasty?

The concept of "three provinces and six departments";

It is a set of tightly organized central official system in China's ancient feudal society. It was established in the Sui Dynasty, and the six-part system remained basically unchanged from then until the end of the Qing Dynasty. For the three-province system, the Eastern Han Dynasty formed Shangshu Province (called Shangshutai); In the Three Kingdoms period, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province were established in order to divide and restrict the power of Shangshu Province. In the process of development, the organizational form and power evolved, and it was only in the Sui Dynasty that it was unified into three provinces and six ministries, which were mainly responsible for the formulation, deliberation and implementation of central government decrees and policies.

Three provinces:

Since the Tang Dynasty, the central political power system has been formally established:

Shangshu province, the highest administrative organ, is responsible for implementing important state laws and regulations;

The province under the door-the deliberative body, responsible for reviewing government decrees;

The decision-making body, Zhongshu Province, is responsible for drafting and issuing imperial edicts.

Zhongshu province is mainly responsible for negotiating with the emperor to draft bills and draft imperial edicts. The province under the door is responsible for reviewing the contents of the imperial edict and returning to the province of Zhongshu according to the situation. These two departments are decision-making bodies, and the laws reviewed and passed are handed over to Shangshu Province for implementation.

Six parts:

Shangshu Province has six departments, namely:

Official department: responsible for the assessment, appointment and removal of four types of officials.

Ministry of Finance: responsible for finance and treasury.

Ritual department: responsible for tributes, sacrifices and ceremonies.

Ministry of war: responsible for military affairs

Ministry of punishment: responsible for judicial and auditing affairs. Dali Temple is responsible for the specific trial. Major cases are jointly examined by the Ministry of Punishment, Yushitai and Dali Temple. It is called the third trial.

Ministry of Industry: responsible for engineering construction.

In Sui Dynasty, the governor of Zhongshu Province was called the Internal History Order, in Tang Dynasty, it was called the Zhongshu Order, and the vice title was Zhongshu Assistant Minister. The governor of the Sui Dynasty was called Yan Na, and the Tang Dynasty was called Shi Zhong, and the assistant minister was the deputy. The governor of Shangshu province called Shangshuling, and Shangshu servant shot it. However, since Emperor Taizong had held this position before he ascended the throne, in the late Tang Dynasty, this position was not easily granted, but was taken as the governor of Shangshu Province. After the Wei 'an Rebellion, Guo Ziyi made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. No official was partial to him, so he was awarded the Minister Medal. Another Zhu Wen claimed to be himself before he usurped the throne. In Zhongshu Province, there are a group of Zhongshu Sheren who are responsible for drafting imperial edicts. There are provincial officials under the door, who are in charge of things, riding constant attendants, advising doctors, living in lang, cleaning up bones and so on. Shangshu Province is composed of Zuoyou Cheng and is in charge of six departments. The officials of the six departments are all called ministers.

In the three provinces, ministers and servants have a high status, and they are extremely ministers and have no real power. It is the ministers of Zhongshu and Menxia provinces who actually exercise their relative rights.

Similarities and differences between the system of three provinces and six departments and the system of decentralization in modern western countries;

The system of three provinces and six ministries in the Tang Dynasty is similar to the political system of separation of powers in modern western society, such as the supervision and containment between powers through decentralization; However, its essence is fundamentally different. The purpose of decentralization is to limit the autocratic monarchy, while the fundamental purpose of the system of three provinces and six departments is to decentralize power and strengthen the autocratic monarchy.

The development of three provinces and six departments;

1, Qin dynasty:

The Qin Dynasty established Shangshu in Shaofu to take charge of ancient books, which was the beginning of Shangshu Province in later generations.

2. Han dynasty:

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty seized the power of the foreign dynasty (a formal government agency dominated by prime ministers) and established the internal dynasty headed by generals to handle military affairs. It is the beginning of the province of ministers in later generations to pass on chapters and communicate with domestic and foreign dynasties with ministers who originally belonged to Shaofu and people who fell in love with Hanshu. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, a minister's desk was set up to take charge of the affairs of officials, which was called a minister's order. However, at this time, Shangshutai still belonged to the system of less government, and its official position was low, so another general, Fu and Tai Fu were sent to govern in the name of Lu Shangshu. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shizhong Temple was established as the emperor's attendant and advisory body. Officials such as Zhongshu Zhongshi and Zhongqi are mostly knowledgeable scholars, which belong to the temporary election.

3. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties:

Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms became the prime minister himself, and moved the official departments of Cao Weicheng, the ministers such as Shangshu and Cao Xuan, to be an official, turning the internal dynasty established by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty into the official departments of foreign dynasties, which was the beginning of the establishment of Shangshu Province. According to reports, although there was a Shangshutai in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it became the main organ for handling government affairs, but after all, it was subordinate to the imperial palace and could not be said to be the official government affairs organ of the country. Because the ministers and Cao Cao had too much power, Cao Pi set up the Ministry of Chinese Books, which was in charge of confidential information, drafting and issuing imperial edicts, on the basis of the Ministry of Secretarial Affairs established by Cao Cao. There will be a librarian and an order, and the librarian is the CEO. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the power to serve China people and ride horses gradually expanded. The Northern Dynasties went out to politics and became the center of gravity of the central political institutions. There was a formal provincial government system in the Jin Dynasty.

4. sui:

After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the official title system established in the Northern Zhou Dynasty was abolished, and a central bureaucratic system with three provinces and six departments as the main body was established. There were five provinces in Sui Dynasty: Shangshu, Menxia, Civil History, Secretary and Civil History. The secretary province is similar to the later pavilion, and introspection is a special eunuch institution. The three provinces that preside over the central government are Shangshu Province, Menxia Province and Neishi Province. The three provinces contain each other, and * * * is responsible to the emperor. Among them, the decision-maker is the internal history department, and the chief executive is called the internal history order; The reviewer is a province under the door, and the officer said that he ran away; The institutions that handle daily government affairs are Shangshu Province, Shangshuling, Left and Right Servants, and there are six departments: officials, ceremonies, soldiers, officials (later renamed as the Ministry of Civil Affairs), officials (later renamed as the Ministry of Punishment) and workers. The governors of the three provinces in the Sui Dynasty were all in the same position. At the same time, the third division and the third division also participate in state affairs and are also prime ministers.

5. Don:

The characteristic of the three-province system in Tang Dynasty is that it was changed to two provinces and one province soon after its establishment. The motivation of this change lies in the control of relative rights by imperial power and the improvement of administrative efficiency. First of all, in order to control the relative power, the emperor gradually used some junior officials to participate in the political affairs and actually exercised the power of the prime minister. However, because there is no such lofty system as the prime minister, it is easy to control. Gradually, the positions of prime ministers, such as secretariat, assistant minister, minister and left and right servants, have become lofty titles, while the real prime minister has become a temporary position, which conforms to the law of decreasing relative power since the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the heads of the three provinces "respected their taste and didn't want to give it to others lightly, so they often took him as the post of prime minister and took his name as a fake." (The Book of the New Tang Dynasty, Volume 46, Guan Bailu) mainly includes "Ping" and "Same School". In the eighth year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign, Li Jing, a courtier, resigned as prime minister due to illness. Taizong disagreed and asked him to "take care of himself in a few days." The name of "Pingzhangshi" began. In the first year of Yongchun in Tang Gaozong, an official (Guo Daiju, assistant minister of Huangmen, and Cen Changqian, assistant minister of the Ministry of War) took "Tongshuzhang" as the prime minister. Changxing four years taboo (Murong Zhaoyan father seal), changed to "the same book two products", because ministers and servants belong to two products. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Xiao Yu and Li Ji were "the same three subjects of calligraphy". Because they were Shi Zhong and Zhong Shuling, the name of "the same three subjects of calligraphy" began. After Emperor Gaozong, the prime minister must have the title of "three products in the same school", otherwise even the minister of Chinese books can't be called the prime minister, and so can those with high taste (except those with the titles of three divisions and three divisions). The functions of the three provinces gradually tend to be mixed and unified. Decentralization among the three provinces will inevitably lead to the disadvantages of wrangling and inefficiency. In order to coordinate the actions among the three provinces, the heads of the three provinces regularly hold discussions in the hall of the provincial government. Since the period of Wude, both Chinese books and men have gathered in the government hall, which is located in the province under the door. ("General Code": "In the old system, the prime minister often deliberated under the door, which was called the government hall." )。 During the Yongchun period in Tang Gaozong, "Pei Yan moved from his post to Zhongshu Order, so he moved to Zhongshu Province." Thus, the central position of Zhongshu Province was established. In the 11th year of Kaiyuan, the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee Secretary Zhang Shuling said that the yamen was changed to the gate of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the seal of the yamen was also changed to the gate of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and then it was divided into five rooms: official, cardinal, soldier, household and criminal. Since then, Zhongshu has officially become the prime minister's office. Shangshu Province was renamed Wenchangtai, Doutai and Zhongtai in the Tang Dynasty, and its old name was restored. Zhongshu Province was renamed Xitai, Fengge and Wei Zi Province in the Tang Dynasty, and later renamed the old province. In the Tang Dynasty, Menxia Province was renamed as Dongtai, Luantai, Huangmen Province, and the old name was restored.

6. Song:

By the Song Dynasty, although the names of the three provinces had always existed, they had been mixed into one province. At the same time, due to the establishment of the Privy Council and the Third Division, the prime minister was deprived of military power and financial power, and the three provinces system existed in name only. The official system in the Song Dynasty "has officials, posts and dispatches: officials should hold titles and posts, and posts should be selected, rather than being dispatched to manage internal and external affairs." Secondly, there are medals, honors and titles. Therefore, scholars take the stage cabinet, promotion and prohibition of submission as their important positions, and are not proud of extending their posts; Send important plays, not rank, honor and title. "("History of Song Dynasty "Volume 161" Official History "). Not only is the prime minister a temporary post, but there is no official in the world who is not a temporary post. As for "doing nothing right, doing nothing right". According to "Song Hui Yao Zhiguan", "Ling, Shi Zhong, and the above are the third subjects, and they are the prime ministers. "However, in fact, there is a phenomenon that Shi Zhong is the title of Cheng Xiang, instead of Ling as the title of Prime Minister. Like Shang Shuling, Zhong Shuling is also an honorary title. Everything else is based on the same book. (On the Origin of Ancient and Modern Times, Volume II, Three Provinces: "The governor of the country for three years is in name only, and there are indeed admirers among his servants." ) Song Dynasty usually has two phases at the same time, much less than Tang Dynasty. There are also individual or parallel. When the three issues were tied, the prime minister was Zhao Wen University Museum, the second phase supervised the revision of national history, and the last phase was Jixian University Hall. In these two stages, the Prime Minister also holds a bachelor's degree from Zhaowen Museum and supervises the revision of national history. When Zongshen Yuanfeng was restructured, his dispatch post was cancelled. The governors of the three provinces are prime ministers, and all officials are under the jurisdiction of their own officials. It is inconvenient to give light prizes to ministers, ministers and officials. So Shang Shu left and right servants as prime ministers. The left servant shoots an example, which is the assistant minister and the governor. Right servant shot an example, assistant minister of Zhongshu, governor of Zhongshu Province. In the second year of Zheng He, the minister's order was abolished, and the minister was changed to Zuo Fu, and the minister's order was changed to You Bi, all of which were empty. He also changed his left servant to be too slaughter and his right servant to be less slaughter, and still served as assistant minister in Zhongshu and Menxia provinces. In the first year of Jingkang, Shang Shu's servants were prime ministers, and the names of the governors of the three provinces were all in accordance with Yuanfeng's official system. After crossing the south, everything tried to restore the old system of Taizong and Taizong. In the third year of Jianyan, all the servants of Shangshu were added as the general rules of Zhongshu, and Zhongshu and Xiamen provinces were returned to Zhongshu. In the eighth year of Xiaozong Avenue, the left and right servants of Shangshu were changed to the left and right prime ministers, and the names of Zhong Shi, Zhongshuling and Shangshuling were abolished, so it was customized.

7. Yuan:

In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was in charge of officials, while the Privy Council and Yushitai were in charge of politics, army and supervision. Ministers save time and leave time, and the provinces under the door no longer leave time, so the province of Chinese books is more important than the previous generation.

8. Ming:

There was no secretariat order in the early Ming Dynasty, but the six books were still unified by the secretariat order, and the chief said that the prime minister was around. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Hu was overthrown, the province of Zhongshu and the prime minister were abolished, and the six departments were directly responsible to the emperor. At this point, the three provinces, six departments and three provinces were completely abolished.

9. Qing:

During the Qing dynasty, six ministers were in charge of world affairs, including the king's meeting, the study and the military department.

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