I originally wanted to write an expansion pack about the official system of the Tang Dynasty, but then I found that there were too many flaws, the topic was too big, and the thinking it elicited was too deep, which would deviate from the theme of the book.
Therefore, I have excerpted the parts related to the content of this book and published it in a separate chapter. These contents are basically beyond the readers' psychological expectations. I still have to say a few more nonsense.
The first thing to talk about is the involution and polarization of officialdom.
The so-called involution means that there are too many people serving as officials, and the "official position" (this word is in quotation marks, I will explain it later) is not enough.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty society (including Kaiyuan Tianbao), the entire officialdom had been institutionalized, which triggered a series of chain reactions. For example, some novels (I won't tell you which one specifically) like to quote Feng Yan's "Eight Heroes", which means that one can be promoted to prime minister in eight steps, with two official position options at each step, to illustrate that this was the dream of a scholar in the Tang Dynasty to become an official. .
Bajun said that he couldn't be wrong, but he missed the point. Considering the context, it was completely wrong.
Scholars in the Tang Dynasty can be understood as those who were awarded official positions after passing middle school, or those who aspired to be officials. Therefore, Zhang Jiuling was a scholar, and the frustrated scholar who failed the imperial examination was also a scholar. So, is the ideal of scholars really the "eight-step promotion method" to the prime minister?
In fact, no, their dreams are just "clear" and "wanted".
Qing, the concept is very complex. To put it simply, it means not doing anything, or doing less. A hard-working official position like the governor is definitely not considered "clear", so there is absolutely no such official title as the governor in the eight-step promotion method.
After explaining clearly, let’s explain the “must”. The so-called “must” simply means important. Some officials are just for the sake of being clean and not wanted. They are very idle, but not important at all, such as the administrator of the library and other official positions.
After explaining this, let’s explain what a “scholar” is. To put it simply, studying is for officials and their families. From the time they were born, there was only one path for them, either Enyin became an official, or he was on the road to the imperial examination, or he was dismissed from office and "raised his family" at home and was idle.
In short, it is impossible for them to participate in social labor, to farm, to do business, and to marry the children of non-officials.
After understanding these concepts, the involution in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods can be easily understood.
There are an average of 27 Jinshis per year, which may seem like a small number, but there are even fewer suitable official positions. Not to mention, it will take three years for Jinshi to be elected as an official. These three years are the preparation period for these Jinshi to use connections and use the back door!
Counting those who have become officials since the Ming Dynasty, those vacant official positions are far from enough.
Although there were many official positions in the Tang Dynasty, but! Not all of these scholars will serve! This point is very important. Tang Dynasty historical novels that ignore this point are basically just talking to themselves for fun.
Scholars monopolized noble official positions. If the emperor did not promote them, they would not allow someone with a similar background like Li Linfu to hold such official positions, let alone Niu Xianke, who had no backing and had not taken the imperial examination.
For the same reason, these people will not hold non-noble official positions, such as magic officers. There are a large number of such officials, such as medical officers in Taiyuan Hospital, or a large number of grassroots workers in prefectures and counties.
They have official positions and are not low-level officials, but there are no official historical records. Many official positions are determined by epitaphs unearthed through archeology in later generations.
Then we can deduce a terrible conclusion from this: the history of the Tang Dynasty written by the Song Dynasty people is actually just the history of the scholars of the Tang Dynasty, and the history of the Tang Dynasty in the eyes of the scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty. The types of noble official positions in the Tang Dynasty only account for 20%-25% (100+/400+) of the total number of civil servants in the Tang Dynasty that have been discovered. If the number is also included, the proportion of noble officials is even more terrifyingly low. .
Officials in the Tang Dynasty generally served four-year terms, and they were generally transferred after expiration. They resigned first and then waited for the election of officials (such as what happened to Lao Zheng after he returned to Chang'an). It is easy to resign, but it is difficult to be granted an official position again. Many readers have the impression that officials should continue to be officials until they die.
But this was not the case in the Tang Dynasty.
People like Zhang Jiuling, Bai Juyi, and Li Deyu have held more than twenty official positions. They are basically people who have been serving as officials and are among the leaders of successful officials. But what about ordinary officials?
It's just 3-5 terms. Maybe an official career will only last 12-20 years in full. Many people who live in their 50s and 60s have an official career of less than ten years! He spent most of his life in seclusion.
Either working as an official or being forced to live in seclusion at home, this is the living condition of officials. Some people who were officials themselves but were not considered officials in the eyes of the scholar-bureaucrats who revised history in the Song Dynasty, such as magic officers, etc., because history books did not record them, there are very few records about these people, and the historical materials are fragmented.
But one thing that is certain is that after the Anshi Rebellion, Jiedushi needed a large number of hard-working officials to maintain the situation, so a large part of these people were reused. The demand for talents among the marshals is great, and the salaries offered are also very high, providing a large number of jobs for various marshals who have not been recorded in detail in history books.
To sum up: in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the bureaucratic class dominated by scholars was seriously solidified, the ascending channels at the bottom were blocked, and competition among scholars was fierce.
The second thing I want to say is: after the mid-Tang Dynasty, it gradually became the norm to set up officials based on "services". The three provinces and six ministries system was in name only. The efficiency of government affairs was extremely low, and the "patching" model had to be adopted to maintain operation.
This point is also inseparable from the gradual decline of the scholar class. People with real talents and knowledge often come through "special channels", and the things they do often come because of "special channels". The three provinces and six ministries that maintained the operation of the imperial court, as well as many unimportant departments and official positions, gradually became idle.
For example, the Ministry of Household Affairs is responsible for collecting taxes, but it can only collect those taxes that were set when the Tang Dynasty was founded. As for the extra sex workers and handymen, there is absolutely nothing we can do. After the Anshi Rebellion, the position of Minister of Household Affairs became a vacant position, and there are many similar examples.
Therefore, whatever duties the emperor or the central government needs to do, they set up whatever positions they need.
If you need to manage the transportation of taxes, then set up a "transshipment envoy".
If it is necessary to collect a salt tax, then set up a "salt and iron envoy".
Even Li Longji sent people to search for beauties among the people and set up a "Flower and Bird Envoy"!
These duties, which are constantly created specifically for the required offices, have greatly impacted the structure of three provinces and six ministries. Since the end of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had been operating at a low efficiency for thirty years. Officials often went to work only every few days, so leisurely that they almost faded away.
The reason is that many official positions in the three provinces and six ministries have been vacated by new positions responsible for exclusive matters.
The evolution of this process is one-way and irreversible. Li Longji's appointment of financial officials to manage finances is a passive response to these virtualizations. It is also the call of the times and is not based on personal will.
After reading the above, I think readers should also understand what I want to express.
The general trend of history is vast; those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish.
Where is there anything absolutely right or wrong, where is there any absolutely good person?
Zhang Jiuling must be a good person? Li Linfu must be a bad guy?
These questions need to take into account the position of the questioner and what he wants to know in order to have an appropriate answer.
Many people have asked, and I don’t mind saying that in the process of researching historical materials, I have increasingly discovered that the model of the prosperous Tang Dynasty was unsustainable. The Tang Dynasty is hopeless. If you like to read the plot of saving the Tang Dynasty, maybe it would be better to read a book without thinking. My book cannot be saved.
I cannot change the materialist view of history in this book just because I want to watch the plot of Saving the Tang Dynasty.
Regarding the content of the official system of the Tang Dynasty, I will add more later.
