What did staff mean in ancient times?

The meaning of staff is very simple, that is:

In ancient times, it was called the staff officer, secretary, etc. in the shogunate. Later, it generally referred to the assistant personnel in the civil and military offices.

The curtain is the curtain, and Liao means hard work. ?So although the staff are involved in military and political affairs, they are also low-level workers.

The origin of the staff:

The style of raising scholars in the pre-Qin period was the prototype of the staff

This huge group of scholars only served the heroes of the Warring States Period. Strong private and authoritarian overtones. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, this style of cultivating scholars evolved into the "appointment system", that is, local governors had the right to assign their own staff. This special employment system assigned by the imperial court to local officials can be seen as the initial prototype of the shogunate system.

During the Han Dynasty, the commander-in-chief led the army on expeditions and had the power to recruit and select civilian staff on his own, and set up government offices to help handle military and government affairs, which was called "kaifu". Because this kind of government office is located in the shogunate, it is also called "shogunate", and the subordinates who command the left and right are also called "staff" and "shogunate". There are many types of staff, including the "long history" who is equivalent to the modern chief of staff and the commander-in-chief; there are "joiners" who consult on military aircraft and help direct military operations; there are "masters" who are similar to modern adjutants and secretaries and manage documents and various files. "book", "recording room", etc.

During the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, wars were frequent, war zones were everywhere, and "military control" was implemented everywhere. Local governors were concurrently served by military attaches, and the staff around the generals were transformed from simple officers to auxiliary generals. Civilians and military officers who "managed the army and dismounted and managed the people" now held official positions, and the proportion of civilian positions often exceeded those of military positions. This custom was passed down to the Tang and Song dynasties: in the Tang Dynasty, the highest local administrative agencies, the state and government offices, all had official positions such as chief historian, military officer, and recorder, known as "staff officers"; in the Song Dynasty, states also had special "secretary officials". However, these official positions have long been unrelated to military operations, and they do not serve the shogunate in the narrow sense.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were fundamental changes. The staff system in the Qing Dynasty was an employment system that had a profound impact on the ruling class. In a narrow sense, staff still refers to civilian officials serving military agencies.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were a large number of staff. After officials in the Qing Dynasty took office, it was a common phenomenon that regardless of their official rank, they would bring along their own trusted staff. At that time, the number of staff around officials ranged from more than ten to three or five. According to statistics, during the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 1,500 states and counties across the country, with more than 10,000 staff members.

The most famous staff:

The staff is well-known. Chen Huang, a water conservancy expert during the Kangxi period, Mr. Wu, a disciple of Tian Wenjing, the governor of Henan during the Yongzheng period, and Wang Hui, a famous scholar during the Qianlong period, were all very popular staff members. In addition, literary figures Pu Songling, politicians Lin Zexu, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and others all have experience as staff members. It can be seen that during the Qing Dynasty, the custom of raising staff was popular in officialdom.