What role did ancient prime ministers play in feudal society?

The Prime Minister is the floorboard of the ancient chief executive of China, and the highest official position under the monarch to assist the monarch in handling government affairs. Xia and Shang Dynasties were the history of witchcraft, the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the minister, and after the Warring States Period, he was the prime minister. Prime Minister is a general term for officials in the history of China. Give priority to slaughter, supplemented by each other.

The prime minister originated in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Slaughter" means domination. In Shang Dynasty, officials managed housework and slaves. In the Zhou Dynasty, there were Taizai who was in charge of state affairs, Jiazai who was in charge of aristocratic housework, and Yizai who was in charge of a city, all of which were general names for officials.

With the change of dynasties, the official names of prime ministers appeared one after another: Prime Minister, Guo Xiang, Da Situ, Secretariat, Cabinet Member, Military Affairs Minister and so on? Up to dozens of official names. According to records, as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it was known as Taizai, Yin and Taishi. Although these official positions were intended to assist the son of heaven in managing the country, there was no state machine at that time? The nature of the position of middle-level chief of staff. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Xiang's name appeared. For example, Guan Zhong is the phase of Qi, and Lin Xiangru is the phase of Zhao. Because the atmosphere of cultivating scholars prevailed at that time, many people were knowledgeable? People are recruited by various countries.

Due to its thorough changes and rapid development, Qin was the first country to establish a county system in the Warring States period, and was appointed as prime minister in the second year (309 BC)? . The name of the prime minister began. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the prime minister was first identified as an official system. In the yin and Zhou dynasties before Qin dynasty, the supreme ruler of the country ruled through enfeoffment princes, and the king of Shang dynasty or the son of heaven of Zhou dynasty could not interfere in the internal affairs of enfeoffment countries, and because the monarch of enfeoffment countries was hereditary by nobles, the son of heaven had no right to relieve their sovereignty in enfeoffment countries? Force.

After Qin Shihuang, the feudal system was abolished, counties were set up, governors were abolished and officials were set up. The emperor no longer ruled by patriarchal blood relations, but appointed bureaucrats to give orders to the whole country. Therefore, it is necessary to organize a bureaucracy to assist government affairs with the help of the prime minister. The Prime Minister came into being under such historical conditions. With the development of feudal countries, the prime minister system has been followed by two? Millennium.

In the early Ming dynasty, there was also a province of Zhongshu, which influenced the prime minister. In the 13th year of Hongwu (1380), the prime minister was dismissed, and the emperor personally decided the state affairs. The prime minister system was abolished. After the emperor, due to the overwhelming complexity of politics, he set up a cabinet university assistant document with five items. The post-cabinet position is getting heavier and heavier, but the university students have the reality of prime minister, but they don't have the name of prime minister, and their power is limited to some extent. They are called auxiliary ministers, and the first one is records.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yongzheng set up the Ministry of War, and the cabinet became idle Cao, and the minister of military aircraft performed the duties of prime minister. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was customary to confer a bachelor's degree as a sacrificial ceremony, but there was no such official title as prime minister.

Among all the official positions, the prime minister changed the most, because the monarch not only needed the help of the prime minister to handle political affairs, but also worried that the prime minister's power was too heavy and endangered his own power. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, university students and military ministers had the responsibility of assisting the emperor as prime ministers, but in fact they were only executors of imperial power and had no independent decision-making power. Although there are also cases where university students and military ministers are authoritarian, their power only comes from the trust of the monarch, not from the system itself, and their status is relatively unstable.

Few great emperors can endure excessive power for a long time. Therefore, relative rights have been decreasing in the history of China. Among them, there are three significant changes:

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set the imperial palace as the administrative center. The sui dynasty formally established the three-province system; Sangong canceled the opening of the government and became a complete honorary title. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Hu's case was used to abolish the phase, which was a combination of monarchical power and phase power.