Recently, we received a question from readers: What is the promotion path of the county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty? Generally speaking, the county that can do the job is expected to be promoted, so will it be the prefecture?
However, the actual situation is more diverse, and the promotion of the county governor is not limited to the position of the governor.
During the Qing Dynasty, there were 1,314 county magistrates in the country"Rushing, complicated, tired, difficult"Divided into grades, the number of words represents the heavy responsibility. For example, Tai'an Prefecture is subordinate to Tai'an County, and Tai'an County is the top"Four words are missing", Xintai, Donga Wei"Two words are missing", Laiwu and other three counties belong"No words"。
The qualifications vary with the number of vacancies, and the initial appointments are mostly limited to simple vacancies and medium vacancies. Only those who have completed their term of office and have excellent evaluation, or have been recommended by the Governor, may be promoted"To be missing"or"The most missing"。
There are few exceptions since Yongzheng to be promoted to a senior Sanzhou governor, and the assessment and promotion process is usually required. The grade change is limited to the top prefect county, and the outstanding performance can be improved, as for whether he can be promoted to the prefect of Wupinsan Prefecture, it depends on the follow-up situation.
To put it bluntly, the magistrate is the role of the seventh grade, while the governor of Sanzhou is from the position of the fifth grade, there is an obvious gap between the two, and the promotion challenge is not small. There are only 145 positions in the country, and if there is a vacancy, the county governor can be promoted, but this is purely luck.
When a seat is not available, the path to promotion requires finding other paths. In general, there are two situations for the promotion of the county: one is to maintain the grade, but the position is changed; The second is substantial promotion, which means the improvement of grades.
The Qing Dynasty had a strict bureaucratic system, whether it was the capital or the locality, each position had a clear one"Promotion sequence"This is statutory, and the ministry cannot exceed this provision unless authorized by the emperor's order.
In the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty, both ** and the people were enthusiastic"Promotion chart"This diagram reveals the subtle layout of the promotion path. It's a pity that the imperial historians didn't have the opportunity to show it in kind.
For the magistrates of other counties, they can be promoted to the head of the six departments, important members of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, etc., such as the judge of Dali Temple, the doctor of Taichang Temple, etc., as well as the Chinese calligraphy department, the governor of the General Administration Department and other positions.
However, this was only a theoretical route for the promotion of the officials, and by the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the road to promotion in the county magistrates was increasingly blocked, and those positions that were once within reach were gradually moving away.
Especially since the Qianlong Dynasty, the road for the magistrates of other counties to enter the officialdom of the capital is almost closed, according to statistics, among the 100 magistrates, only one or two people may be able to achieve internal promotion, and the difficulty of promotion can be seen.
Transferring to the capital, regardless of the grade of the local **, even if it is a demotion and transfer, the outside world generally regards it as an opportunity for promotion. For example, when the political envoy of the second rank is transferred to the capital, he usually does not directly become a squire, but serves as the position of the third rank of the king; Similarly, the promotion of the prefect of the fourth rank can generally obtain the position of the fifth rank of the foreign lang, which is a sign of promotion.
However, the governor was an exception, because the Qing court was extremely strict in the selection of frontier officials, which was necessary for the emperor, and the status of the governor was far greater than that of the political envoy. There are many examples of internal transfers of superintendents, often maintaining or upgrading their original grades, or even directly becoming university scholars.
Returning to the topic, since Qianlong, most of the promotions of the magistrates are still at the local level, and because the magistrates are administratively specialized, it is more common for them to be promoted to the governors.
When the position of governor is full, the magistrate is often promoted to a key position in the prefecture - Tongzhi (Zheng Wupin) or Tongju (Zheng Liupin). Some readers may not be familiar with the two important assistants of the prefect, Tongzhi and Tongju.
As a permanent establishment at the provincial level**, Tongzhi and Tongju are set up in each prefecture, and even in places with heavy government affairs, there will be additional additions, up to three or four people. Often, they were independently responsible for the administration of specific regions, which were equivalent to those specific to the Qing dynasty"hall"Administrative.
The hall is further divided into the Zhili Hall and the Scattered Hall, the latter is directly under the government and the level is similar to that of the non-directly subordinate state. However, the Qing Dynasty did not"Zhicho"In other words, the actual leader of the hall is the same knowledge or general judgment.
Therefore, the promotion of the magistrate to the same knowledge or general judgment is equivalent to the promotion of Zhili Prefecture or Sanzhou Zhizhou, which can be said to be a very suitable position change.
The position of deputy of the Salt Transportation Division is not a conventional promotion path for the magistrate, and it is rare for someone to jump directly from this position, and it is more achieved by being promoted to the magistrate of Jingxian County. However, even at this level, there are not many opportunities to serve in the capital for a long time.
In fact, the possibility of the next round of job transfers will still be carried out to local areas.