In the feudal era, "the major affairs of the country are worshipped in Rong", and for aristocratic families, the most important thing is sacrifice. The most important thing in the sacrifice is to slaughter the cattle, so "slaughter" is a symbol of this meaning, so the princes of the Son of Heaven and the nobles and ministers are called "slaughter", such as the slaughter of the family. This is the internal stewardship, and the external handling of affairs, is called the phase. Xiang means to be a deputy, that is to say, Xiang is the lieutenant of the noble, representing him in handling foreign affairs.
In the unified Qin and Han dynasties, it changed from feudalism to counties, calling this change "turning the family into a country", all aristocratic families fell, but only one family became a "country". Therefore, there is no distinction between external affairs and internal affairs, and they are all internal affairs of the "family". The original head of the family became the prime minister and the political leader of the country.
As a result, the prime minister became the most important position under the emperor to assist the emperor in handling government affairs. Prime Minister is a general term, in different periods, according to different powers and settings, there are different names, such as Xiangguo, Prime Minister, Shangshu, Servant, Shoufu, etc., no matter what it is called, it is "one person under ten thousand people" to assist the supreme ruler in handling government affairs
The position of prime minister has existed since the Warring States period, and he handles government affairs and family affairs on behalf of the monarch. It is generally called Xiangguo Xiangbang, which means that the deputy of the state is the second person, that is, the adjutant of the king。Guan Zhong is the prime minister of Qi.
Before the Warring States period, there were similar positions, in the Xia Shang was the history of witches, and in the Spring and Autumn of the Western Zhou Dynasty, they were the ministers, but they were not prime ministers.
During the Qin Dynasty, the official name of the prime minister was Cheng Xiang, and both Cheng and Xiang had the meaning of "deputy", meaning the emperor's aide-de-camp。Sometimes it is divided into left and right, with the right as the top, which is called "right prime minister" and "left prime minister".
The Han Dynasty was similar to the Qin Dynasty. In the early Han Dynasty, Xiangguo and Prime Minister coexisted, and Xiangguo's status was higher than that of Prime Minister, and later the Prime Minister gradually replaced Xiangguo and became the sole prime minister. The prime minister is the main position, and there is also a deputy called the imperial historian who is in charge of the hundred officials and the emperor's supervision.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a group of Confucian scholars were appointed as prime ministers to deal with daily administrative affairs, but the decision-making of actual government affairs was transferred to the inner court (because it was located in the palace where Emperor Wu lived, it was different from the palace that normally handled government affairs, so it was called the inner court, and the main department was Shangshutai). The power of the prime minister was gradually transferred to the hands of the chief of Shangshutai, and the prime minister must have a part-time job of "recording Shangshushi", otherwise even if he has the position of prime minister, it is in name only. The first part-time "Lu Shang Shushi" was the general Wei Qing.
Since then, the real power of the prime minister has been in the Shangshutai of the inner court, not in the prime minister of the outer court. Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty changed the prime minister to Da Situ, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was jointly governed by Situ, Sikong, and Taiwei. When the Han Dynasty presented the emperor, the prime minister was replaced, and Cao Cao served as the prime minister.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, prime ministers or prime ministers mostly appointed themselves as powerful ministers, which became a means of usurping the throne and seizing power. The system of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was changeable, and the person with whom the emperor discussed political affairs or entrusted secrets was the prime minister, and the official names were Zhongshu Jian, Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, Shangshu Ling, Servant or General. The most respected and powerful person is the Lu Shang Shushi.
The Sui Dynasty established a three-province system, and the governors of the three provinces, the internal history order of the internal history province, the Nayan of the Menxia province, and the Shangshu order of the Shangshu province were all prime ministers. The Tang Dynasty changed the internal history province to the Zhongshu Province, which was mainly responsible for drafting the decree and changing the internal history order to the Zhongshu order, with two people serving as the order; The province of Menxia is responsible for the review of the refutation, and the name is changed to the waiter, and there are two people to serve as it; Shangshu Province is in charge of execution, with one Shangshu Order, and two adjutants serving as left and right servants.
The governors of the three provinces are all prime ministers, but their functions and powers are divided, and those with certain titles are also equivalent to prime ministers, such as "participating in political affairs", "Tongping Zhangshi", etc., and the number of prime ministers is uncertain. After Tang Gaozong, only those who added "three products under the door of the same book" and "three products under the door of the same book" and "flat chapter under the door of the same book" were the prime ministers. In this way, it is to divide the power of the prime minister, and many people hold each other's posts to contain each other, so as to avoid the dictatorship of one prime minister, and the Song Dynasty inherited this mechanism.
After the founding of the Song Dynasty, Taizu of the Song Dynasty continued to strengthen the imperial power, divide and weaken the power of the prime minister. The prime minister was not an official name, it was actually a group in the Sui Dynasty, the highest leadership outside of the emperor. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the "two governments and three divisions system" was implemented, and the power of the prime minister was divided into three. **Although there are three provinces, the three provinces and the six ministers are not allowed to manage the affairs of the department without permission, and they are idle posts. The actual power belongs to the "Zhongshu Menxia" this institution, also known as the political affairs hall, the capital hall, etc., to manage the administrative affairs of the state, with Tongping Zhangshi as the chief, mostly by the Zhongshu and the two provinces of the minister, there is no fixed number. In addition, the executive power is divided with the governor as the vice-minister. The Privy Council is the highest military body, and the chief is the Privy Council, which is called the "two governments" in the east and west together with the political hall. The "three divisions" (household department, salt and iron, and degree branch) are in charge of finance, known as the "province", and the chief is the "three ministers", known as the "minister", and the status is slightly lower than that of the "two governments". The two governments and three divisions are independent and not subordinate to each other, and are directly responsible to the emperor and constitute the highest auxiliary political organs.
At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, the left and right servants shot (púyè) and added the same Ping Zhangshi, who was the prime minister, and no longer served as the waiter of the two provinces, and the waiter of the two provinces was changed to participate in the governor's affairs. After the filial piety of the Southern Song Dynasty, the prime minister was the prime minister of the left and right, and the deputy prime minister was still the governor of the government. In addition, Ningzong and Lizong both set up "Pingzhang Military Affairs" and "Tongpingzhang Military Affairs", which were served by old ministers or powerful ministers, dealing with military affairs, and their power was higher than that of the prime minister.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was the center of government affairs, and the chief official Zhongshu Order was often led by the crown prince, the lower was the left and right prime ministers, and then the lower was the Pingzhang political affairs, and the deputy positions were the left and right ministers and the governors.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was established, and the prime ministers were left and right. In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed Zhongshu Province, abolished the prime minister, and the emperor personally decided the state government, and the prime minister system was abolished. Later, the emperor was overwhelmed by the complexity of the government, and set up a cabinet of university scholars and assistant clerks. After the cabinet became more and more important, the scholar became the de facto "prime minister", called the auxiliary minister, and the first person was the first assistant.
The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming system, and Yongzheng set up a military aircraft department and became the de facto prime minister. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was customary to call scholars to worship the prime minister, but there was no official title of prime minister.
The so-called "prime ministers" of the Ming and Qing dynasties were all advisers to the emperor, although they participated in the decision-making of state affairs, but they did not have the power to make decisions, and the emperor alone decided on large and small affairs.
The position of prime minister was initially held by one person, or two people were set up, and at the beginning of the Sui and Tang dynasties, it became a group of people serving together. It is an auxiliary decision-making body of the emperor, and it is responsible for the handling of the affairs of the whole country, not just a certain person or a certain position, such as Shangshutai, the three provinces, etc.
From the process of changing the prime minister, it can be seen that the imperial power and the prime minister have been in a struggle. Imperial power encroached on the power of the prime minister, from the head of state, gradually became the head of the country and the conquest, thus giving birth to the Ming and Qing dynasties. To a certain extent, the existence of the prime minister can well restrain the misdeeds of the imperial power.
History