The six ministries of the feudal era are the general name of the six departments of the administrative organization, including officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers. At first, the Six Ministries were not regarded as the core departments of the imperial court, and their main responsibilities were to be engaged in secretarial and transmission work, so the status of Shangshu at that time was not prominent.
It was not until the Sui and Tang dynasties that the Liubu became part of the Shangshu Province, and in order to avoid the problem of excessive concentration of power, it was not until the Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister system that the Liubu became the highest body responsible for the administrative affairs of the country.
During the Qing Dynasty, the six Shangshu and Shilang were each divided into Manchu and Han factions, with a total of 12 Shangshu and 24 Shilang. During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the number of Shangshu and Shilang was even more amazing, with a total of 27 Shangshu and 27 Shilang.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was still the king of Wu, he had already established his own small court, and its administrative structure basically followed the system of the Yuan Dynasty, but restored the Shangzuo system before the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the left is noble.
Zhongshu Province was the most powerful department at that time, and its organizational structure was very complex, although there was no Zhongshu Order, but there were two ministers on the left and right, as well as Pingzhang Political Affairs, Governor Political Affairs, Left and Right Shilangzhong, Wailang, Metropolitan Affairs, and Inspection.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set up six ministries and gave each ministry two Shangshu and two squires. As time passed, Zhu Yuanzhang found that the workload of the six departments was too large, so he added a Shangshu and a squire to each department.
In order to better manage the household department, he also set up five sections, and added four sections to the two departments of criminal law and work, and at the same time added a scholar and a squire in each department.
In the end, there were 27 Shangshu and 27 Shilang in Zhongshu Province. These changes are designed to improve productivity and management capabilities.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1380), after the Hu Weiyong case, Zhu Yuanzhang took the opportunity to abolish the prime minister system, cancel Zhongshu Province, concentrate his power in his own hands, and abolished all the ** in Zhongshu Province, leaving only ten "Zhongshu Sheren".
In this change, although the six departments were retained, but the organization was greatly simplified, each department only set up a Shangshu, left and right two squires, the original Shangshu in charge of each department was reduced to Langzhong, the original Shangshu in the third grade was changed to the second grade, and the six departments were completely under the direct control of the emperor.
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were thirteen Qing officials in the household department, each of which was in charge of the revenue and expenditure of a province and the reimbursement of the provinces to the army.
Since the Ming Dynasty had thirteen provinces, there were thirteen divisions. Although the Ministry of Rites was a "Qingshui Yamen" in previous dynasties, it was responsible for national ceremonies, education and imperial examinations, as well as the reception of foreign guests, banquets and scholars and other work related to national etiquette, so since the Sixth Ministry, its status has not been low.
The officials are in charge of the civil service, and their status is respected; The military department is directly subordinate to the emperor and is in charge of military affairs and military training; The Criminal Department is responsible for the prison and has 13 Divisions of Officials, which mainly deal with judicial and administrative affairs; The Ministry of Engineering is in charge of the project, including palaces, mausoleums, etc., and is also in charge of water conservancy, although the work is busy, but it has the lowest status among the six ministries.
The Qing Dynasty followed the six-ministry system of the Ming Dynasty and maintained its original functions. On this basis, the Qing Dynasty added the Lifan Yuan, which was responsible for the affairs of ethnic minorities, and dispersed some of the responsibilities of the Ming Dynasty Ministry of Rites.