In the eleventh year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1806, there was a major corruption case in ZhiliZhili is a non-mainstream scribe Wang LinanIn the past 11 years, he embezzled more than 200,000 taels of silver, involving more than 20 prefectures and counties, and shocked the government and the public.
directly alarmed Emperor Jiaqing, and there were ten people who were sentenced to be beheaded, and more than ten people were sentenced to be beheaded after the autumn.
Emperor Jiaqing) for the Ming Zheng Code to put an end to future troubles,At that time, Emperor Jiaqing also asked all the prefectures, counties and government offices that were directly subordinate to the nearest government to organize scribes at all levels who were not in the stream to go to the scene to be executed, in order to be a warning education, to obtain the effect of scribes not being greedy and not corrupt, but there is no effect.
In just three years since the conclusion of Wang Linan's case, he is still in ZhiliThere was another incident of scribe Wang Shuchang and others, and fraudulently received more than 70,000 taels.
Due to the corruption of the Qing Dynasty's unpopular scribes, there were endless incidents of corruption, and every time the scribes reversed right and wrong, the misjudgment of the case and the inconsistencies in the manuscripts released led to continuous public resentmentThere are also scribes who are arrogant and shouting: Shangshu and governors are like chariots and mules, and my generation is like a royal, comparing their commanders to mules and horses, and scribes to drivers.
The talents of the Qing Dynasty).
The scribe, a clerk who was not in the Qing Dynasty, was really a lowly and powerful personHow did they become pilots in the court, and what role did they play?
The Qing Dynasty's official election system basically followed the Ming Dynasty's official selection method, and it is still the sameThe implementation of the imperial examination is mainly to enter the office, and the person who enters the office is called the right way to enter the officeThose who are recommended by Chengyin, donate officials, and enter the office through the competition are called different paths.
Specifically, in the imperial examination, through the children's examination to become a student, that is, we often say Xiucai, it can be said that this is a dignified scholar, although there is no formal ** qualification, but you can see the official without kneeling, it is the starting style of entering the official, according to the class division at that time, it is the lowest level of the first class.
The team of the annunciation after the test).
After Xiucai, after studying to participate in the township examination, you can become an official, of course, such an official is generally at the bottom of the ** gangsters have no possibility of promotion, and there is no right to speak among colleaguesThose who have not entered the government also have a salary to take, and there is no problem in supporting their families.
Further up is the Jinshi and the palace test, the emperor palace test hand-picked to become Hanlin, to the Hanlin class can enter the top class of officials, have the opportunity to serve as officials, rites, criminal and other six departments of the hall officials, that is, the six departments of Shangshu, left, right waiters, etcIf you are released, there is a high probability that you will serve as the governor and become a feudal official.
There is no problem with not becoming a HanlinAs long as he is a jinshi, he may become a local governor or a middle-level of the six departments, or a position equivalent to such a class.
Jinshi who participated in the temple examination).
As forMost of the people who are sponsored by the people who enter the Shicheng Yin in a different way are the descendants of the founding fathers or the sons of senior **After the death of these founding fathers and senior **, their children can be sponsored to become officials;There is also a part of it in the local conscriptionThose who have made outstanding contributions or who have made meritorious contributions and died in battle on the border and on the battlefield may be sponsored by the magistrate and approved to become officials.
The above-mentioned way to become an official is only to obtain different levels of qualifications, and the actual entry to the post is not to obtain qualifications, similar to the current separation of professional title evaluation and recruitment, and only the official position can be regarded as a post after obtaining fame.
Hand-picked Hanlin's list).
Needless to say, the transfer is to change positions with the same yamen and the same level, and the change is to serve at the same level as other yamenTransfers mean that the rank of the chief officials of completely different departments remains unchanged, and it is often the case that local officials outside the Beijing government are allowed to take up their posts in Beijing, or the local officials go to Beijing to take up their posts as Beijing officials.
The lowest level of qualification among them is XiucaiStrictly speaking, they are not **, they can only become non-grade clerks in various ministries and commissions and yamen, which is what we call the handler now, that is, what we often call a knife and pen officer, or collectively known as clerks, can also be turned into a regular after five years of work, but this probability is extremely small due to the strict quota limit.
The officials of the Qing Dynasty were divided into official positions, grades and official ranks, and they were generally divided into nine grades and eighteen levels, whether they were local or ministry, all of which were included in the nine grades and eighteen levelsThe higher the class number, the smaller the official position, the highest and largest official rank is the official of the first grade, followed by the first grade, all the way from the ninth grade.
Qing Dynasty Yipin civil official robe pattern).
Those who are not included in these eighteen levels are called unentered streams, and they are also called scribes or scribes。The salaries of scribes at all levels who do not enter the stream are extremely low and not fully guaranteed, and they are generally solved by the chief officials of each yamen on their own.
Because the Qing Dynasty selected the best imperial examinations, most of the subjects such as the Four Books and the Five Classics were examined, and those who entered the official were basically civil officials, and they talked about poetry and books in their daily interpersonal interactions.
At that time, the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty had reached more than 10 million square kilometersIf there is no unified means to upload and issue decrees in such a vast area, the whole country will play a game of chess, and the world will be in chaosAs a result, all kinds of documents came into being on the basis of inheritance, and there was a clerical governance under the rule of civil officials.
Manuscripts of the Qing Dynasty).
To handle such a huge amount of paperwork, a new professional class was born
Whether it is in the six departments of centralized officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, or in the yamen at all levels of local provinces, governments, and counties, there are a number of talented scribesThey are not in the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Officials, but they have the quota of the Ministry of Officials, and they specialize in keeping all kinds of documents, recording all kinds of copywriting, drafting all kinds of documents, and so on.
The clerk had a lot of work, but his income was very low, and he was struggling to support his family, the level of his salary is completely determined by the chief officer, life is basically attached to the department or the chief of the yamen, it should be said that they are dedicated and very professional in the business under their jurisdiction.
They must not only grasp the cases that have been handled by similar incidents in their own dynasties, but also grasp the cases of various affairs handled by previous dynasties, especially the matters that have been discussed by the previous emperors of this dynasty.
Only when these scribes have a large number of historical and neighborly ways and methods of handling various incidents, can they put forward methods that do not exceed the rules and regulations when they need to deal with various government affairs for reference, they also have the capital and value to survive, so as to obtain the best recognition.
The Holy Decree of the Qing Dynasty).
In turn, they are more dependent on these clerks, and they are more reluctant to deal with things by themselves at work, which makes them more unfamiliar with the businessIn order to let these scribes serve themselves with all their hearts, in return, ** when dealing with some affairs, but everything involving the affairs of the scribes is not big, they often take a blind eye to deal with it.
However, after serving for a certain period of time, the ** of the Qing Dynasty often transferred and re-employed, and the most transferred and re-transferred were the chief officials of various departments and various localitiesTheir adjustment is often accompanied by the adjustment of deputy positions and middle levels, which lays the foundation for the corruption of scribes and the failure to fall off.
Qing Dynasty scribe's notes copywriting).
Due to the selection and appointment of the main ** in the Qing Dynasty,Regardless of whether it is through the right path or the other way, its class channel is still relatively narrow, and the number is limited.
In particular, the six ministries of officials, households, rites, criminals, soldiers, and workers, as well as the feudal officials in the outer places, because they basically have only one qualification, that is, the Hanlin hand-appointed by the emperors of previous dynasties, the number is very limited. In order to prevent them from becoming big in a certain department or in a certain place, they often need to adjust their positions.
Similarly, the number of jinshi is also small, and they will also be promoted on the spot because of their excellent work or promotion in other places, or they will be changed or transferred because they have stayed in a certain department or a place for too long.
Jinshi plaque).
But in the six ministries or local ** at all levels, the scribes who have not entered the stream, are all some landed talents, these scribes are the closest to the people in the six departments or yamen, or these people are also the closest to the people among the scholarsWhether it is in the government or among the scholars, they are the people who know the social situation and public opinion best.
Therefore, whether they worked in the local area or worked as a scribe in the six ministries, they were the first people to rely on after the arrival of the chief official。And because they do not belong to the jurisdiction of the ministry, they have stable jobs, and they are often sons who inherit their father's business, and they are very familiar with the work and business of their own departments, so it can be said that they are familiar with it.
It is precisely because of this kind of situation that the chief officer is often adjusted, or the middle-level is transferred to another post, and so on, that the chief officials and middle-level officials of various localities and departments are not proficient in their own work and business due to the frequent adjustment of their postsA series of laymen who are concerned with laws, regulations, public sentiments, cases, and so on, are forced to rely on the scribes of the various ministries to carry out their administrative affairs.
Qing Dynasty ** The clerk of these six ministries is responsible for the management of documents and archives, and the specific work of copywritingInter-ministerial document delivery and correspondenceThey can do some tricks in sending documents and conveying ** word of mouth.
In particular, a change in tone when conveying a verbal message is enough to lead to the exact opposite resultIt is completely possible to deceive superiors and subordinates, and to tell right and wrong in order to achieve personal goals.
Because these scribes stayed in one post for a long time, they were very familiar with the cases and inheritance of this post and the regulations, and the six departments were formulating various regulations and documents and regulations of various departmentsIt is necessary to know the relevant regulations of the past regulations and the inheritance of various regulations in order to determine whether there is a violation of the ancestral system and whether there is a conflict with the decrees issued in the past.
When you meet a responsible scholar or squire, who is willing to spend time carefully checking the scribe's copywriting, you can also find problems, but how many such scholars or governors are there?Therefore, there will be a phenomenon that the Shangshu and the governor say it does not count, and the scribe says it does not count.
The reason why the Qing Dynasty produced a situation of "co-governance with Xu officials" was that the end of the scribes could not be lostIt is entirely due to the narrowness of its system of electing officials, the lack of quantity, the frequency of the adjustment of the book and the governor, and the unprofessionalism of the business under its jurisdiction.
And the corresponding stability, professionalism, inheritance, and lack of effective supervision of the scribes, againCoupled with the mismatch between the low income of the clerks and their workload, it is inevitable that the scribes will be forced to take advantage of the power in their hands and the loopholes in the supervision to embezzle money.
Scribe stills).
Emperor Jiaqing repeatedly rectified the overstepping of authority and corruption of ink by scribes, and issued regulations on this, but in the end it was unsuccessfulIn the end, I can only lament that "this dynasty and Xu officials rule the world together".
Although the scribes are not in the official register of the Ministry of Officials, they often represent **or** departments in their daily interactions with various departments and the people, and their greed for ink and the reversal of black and white give the people the impression that it is a problem of your court. Therefore, tigers must be beaten, and these flies and mosquitoes must be beaten.