Looking at the "rice bowl" in ancient and modern times, which era of civil servants is the coolest?

People pay attention to the hot and cold of civil servants, which reflects a kind of anxiety, that is, they hope that civil servants' posts will be normal and will not be over-interpreted. In people's minds, civil servants are a job that guarantees income through drought and flood, with stable work, good welfare and high social status. To this end, some people do not hesitate to prepare for ten years, just to win the reputation of "civil servants."

In the history of China, were civil servants of all dynasties "iron rice bowls" or "porcelain rice bowls" in the end?

The first is the "porcelain rice bowl" that the ancient "civil servants" broke at a touch.

Generally speaking, in ancient times, officials who were included in the state administrative establishment and supported by the state, commonly known as "officials who ate the imperial grain", were at most eight or nine products, that is, catching heads below county orders (county orders), similar to the current public security bureau chief, and then civil servants, regardless of the court. In other words, grass-roots civil servants, such as touts and courtiers, who accounted for more than 90% of ancient civil servants, worked in government agencies at all levels and served the "public", were even more vulnerable than the famous officials supported by the court.

1. The appointment system of grass-roots "civil servants" has low treatment.

"Beloved" is an ordinary grass-roots civil servant, belonging to the category of officials. Refers to those scholars who failed in the imperial examination and turned to learn to master administrative affairs. Most of the counties (cities) appointed by the imperial court grew up in the imperial examination. Although they can write a good hand and recite four books and five classics, many people know nothing about dealing with complex administrative affairs in an unfamiliar place. Therefore, in order to complete government affairs, local officials must recruit teachers who are familiar with local social conditions and public opinion and assist them in handling government affairs and affairs. The role played by touts is roughly equivalent to the current secretary-general, who is specifically responsible for "official books" and the like.

The "leaders" are also called "Xu", and their specific job is to "run around as servants". "Xu" can be divided into "soap" and "Li" soap, which is responsible for specific administrative affairs such as tax collection, arrest and market management; Li's official positions are coachman, sedan chair bearer, cook, etc. Responsible for official logistics services.

In ancient times, grass-roots civil servants such as "teachers" and "chiefs" did not occupy the state establishment, nor did they have the monthly salary allocated by the state finance. Their food and clothing depend entirely on the leadership of the county (city) that employs them. Rich and generous people give more, poor and stingy people give less, and there is no clear goal The salaries of touts and officials vary greatly across the country.

The way out for these grass-roots civil servants is usually: resign or be fired, or work for life, and they are not allowed to take part in the imperial examination and can never be promoted. For those who can't do well, the county boss quit as soon as he speaks, and there is little nonsense, and there is no need to talk nonsense, because the management of grassroots civil servants was not organized at that time.

What is the social status of grass-roots civil servants? In the Yuan Dynasty, people were divided into ten classes. The so-called monks have second class, three officials and four officials, five soap and six officials, seven advocating eight sages, nine scholars and ten beggars. Below the official, this is the soap official, only more decent than actors and Confucian scholars.

A story can also illustrate this point: in the Qing Dynasty, a group of soldiers executed pirates, and the knife could not be cut, so they had to use a saw to saw it, which was terrible. A farm boy passed by and it was useless to scold them. He sent soldiers who refused to accept him. He called the boy, and he cut off a bunch of heads with his hands. He sent soldiers to reward the boy with a lot of money and told him to report to the yamen every other day. However, the boy was beaten by his father when he came home. The reason is that the father does not want his son to be a government official or a private servant, which shows that his professional reputation is low in the hearts of the people.

Then, what is the salary level of touts and officials (gifts)? According to Shen Bang's Miscellaneous Notes on Wanbu, this kind of private service of wanping county yamen in Ming Dynasty can receive 326 yuan of "work, food and silver" every year, which is exactly half of that of the book office (touts). This shows that the wages of grass-roots civil servants are low.

Although ancient officials, teachers and courtiers often took bribes when they were in office, they earned a lot of gray income and made preparations for their future, but in any case, they did end up with a "porcelain rice bowl." Figuratively speaking, officials at all levels are employees of the emperor, and grass-roots civil servants such as touts and chiefs are employees of officials, much like white-collar and blue-collar workers who now work for their bosses.

2. The situation of "civil servants" in Ming Dynasty was in jeopardy.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the "empty seal case" of Guo Huan, assistant minister of the Ministry of Finance, and killed10.5 million officials to fight against illegal officials and pay money in hell; Then, in the case of the rebellion of Prime Minister Hu and General Lan Yu, more than 40,000 officials at all levels were executed by collective punishment in 14. As for those who were imprisoned, dismissed and dismissed, there are countless more.

According to incomplete statistics, during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, 70% of China officials left for various reasons. At that time, some officials had to hold a farewell ceremony with their families at work in the morning, saying that if they left today, they might not come back. When I got home after a day, I breathed a sigh of relief and said to my wife, "Oh, I finally lived another day today. Let's talk about it tomorrow. "

Officials are so "precarious" that even ordinary people are inferior. At this time, the rice bowl of civil servants may not be called "porcelain rice bowl". Some people may say that this is a heavy code that must be used at the beginning of the dynasty, which is not enough. Civil servants in ancient peacetime should be "iron rice bowls"! The answer is: not necessarily.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang practiced this examination method. According to this method, in the three years of Wanli (1575), it was found that 54 officials (equivalent to provincial and ministerial level) and officials (equivalent to secretaries of provincial central discipline inspection commissions) "failed to complete the annual target tasks". Among them, Governor Wang of Fengyang, Inspector Zhang Genghua, Inspector Zhang Shouyue of Guangdong and Inspector Xiao Yu of Zhejiang were suspended for three months due to too many unfinished matters. In the four years of Wanli, there were 19 prefecture-level officials in Shandong and 12 prefecture-level officials in Henan, who were demoted and dismissed for collecting less than 90%. During Zhang's administration, the redundant staff laid off according to the examination law accounted for about three-tenths of the total number of officials.

It can be seen that in peacetime, the imperial court often deducts wages, demotes, demotes or even simply dismisses local officials who "have not completed their work tasks". If they are not careful, their jobs may be broken.

Not only are the rice bowls of provincial and ministerial officials broken at any time, but the rice bowls of the Prime Minister, which is equivalent to the State Council's record, are sometimes not much better. 17 During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, more than 50 prime ministers, 14 defense ministers and10 governors were removed.

A similar situation didn't just happen in the Ming Dynasty. The average term of the post of prime minister in the Western Han Dynasty is not long, with an average of more than four years. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the average term of office of the "Three Publics" (the three most distinguished officials in ancient times, Taishi, Taifu and Taibao) was less than two and a half years.

The court does not care about teachers, officials who serve the "public" and other grassroots civil servants.

It is important to say that the ancient "civil servants" held "porcelain rice bowls", but it does not mean that they became court officials "through reading examinations or other means", because the number of this group was too small in ancient times.

Second, how did the dynasty treat retired "cadres"

1. Qin and Han dynasties: no official and no salary, on seniority.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, anyone who held public office and ate finance was generally called an official, and had no status or rights except to work for the court. At that time, the saying was "I tried my best to make peace with the city, and you bowed down and made peace with the city", which is similar to the meaning that people now help the boss. The relationship between boss and employee will be dissolved once they retire for various reasons, such as funeral, illness, office change, dismissal and resignation. Then it will often become "three noes."

No pension. That is to say, no matter how much your original salary is, as long as you leave your job, you will stop paying your salary (unless you have a special decree from the emperor). For example, in the Han dynasty, people with low salaries or heavy burdens were not easy to save money, so many officials had to make a living once they stopped working.

2. No qualifications. That is to say, in addition to the senior officials who have worked for more than 2,000 stones (collectively referred to as county magistrate), when retiring from office, they can be awarded the official position of "more than 600 stones" to show preferential treatment. If other officials under 2000 stone are re-elected, they have to return to the starting line and compete with the new rookie officials. In short, there is neither a cadre status that can be retained nor a continuous length of service that can be accumulated.

Third, there is no shadow. That is, "people walk away from tea", and the privileges and influence when they are in office are written off.

Important officials in the imperial court have no unemployment protection, no continuous service and no compassion. Officials at lower levels are naturally treated worse: in 2000 Stone, those who make minor mistakes will be reprimanded, while middle-and lower-level officials, such as "secretaries and secretaries", "observe disintegration at any time, carry forward privacy, and retire after a few months in office", that is to say, they are easily broken.

2. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the salary was halved and the official residence was handed over.

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, official positions have been separated. The so-called dismissal from office is actually just resignation, that is, due to various reasons such as funeral, illness, candidate, recall, resignation, official career and so on. They are out of positions (or errands) where they can exercise certain powers, but the identity of officials representing personal qualifications and rights still exists.

In other words, the "civil servants" in the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties were all civilians (except those who originally had aristocratic status) after they resigned. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, "civil servants" have remained officials after leaving office, enjoying privileges that ordinary people dare not expect in many aspects: for example, they can not show their faces in court when they are involved in lawsuits, and they can be punished by officials when they commit crimes. For example, a house can have several halls, how cars and mounts are decorated, what styles and colors can be worn, and even what specifications can be used for funerals and graves after death. According to the level of official resources, ostentation and extravagance corresponding to their levels can be adopted. Although the expenses have to be paid out of one's own pocket, the identity significance of "officials have constant respect" is precious compared with all kinds of prohibitions that cloth clothes can't surpass even if they have money.

In addition, since the late Tang Dynasty, retired officials, regardless of their rank, can enjoy a "half-paid" pension, which was never even dreamed of in the past. However, in spite of this, the practical significance of retiring officials in the Tang and Song Dynasties is not only the loss of the privilege of exercising power in a certain position and receiving full official salary, but also a very important privilege-the right to housing.

In ancient times, there was an avoidance principle of appointing officials, that is, they were not allowed to serve in their native place or family property. Therefore, civil servants at that time had to travel around the country if they often served. On the one hand, I don't have much time and energy to engage in real estate in my hometown. On the other hand, no matter where I work, there are always excellent official residences for you and your family to live in.

But once an official retires, he has to move out of the official residence and hand it over to his successor. And there are restrictions on where to settle down in the future. For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, all local government officials at all levels were not allowed to live in their posts for three years after leaving office. If they have relatives or property in the local area, they will not be allowed to live after three years. Violators were sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Therefore, if we want to take stock of the actual losses caused by the retirement of officials, it is urgent that we can no longer live in well-equipped official residences.

After Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ascended the throne, former Prime Minister Li Rizhi submitted his resignation to the court without telling his family. After the emperor approved it, he ordered his family to immediately pack up and move out of the official residence and move to the rural residence. The lady asked why, and he said he had retired. The lady was furious: "the property has been empty many times, and the child's name has not been set up." What is resignation? "

Du Yan, a former prime minister, had no retreat to move to a house in the countryside after retirement, so he had to wait for a long time in the garage of Nanjing (now Shangqiu, Henan Province) (a unit that taught car control skills, similar to the driving school of later generations) until his death. "The first room was simple, only a few tens of miles long, but he lived a rich life."

The prime minister still can't live in the official residence. Of course, other retired officials have to find ways to solve the housing problem themselves. When Su Zhe retired to Xuzhou, he was envious when he saw that Li had built a new house. "I don't have a house at the age of seventy, so it's not as good as your house, just thirty." So he decided to build a house and enjoy the happiness of his old age. "I don't have three houses in my life. I became a gallery at the beginning of this year." However, my wish came true and my life savings were exhausted, so I blamed myself for "never measuring myself" and working as a house slave at this age.