The Military and Political Affairs Office was a newly established central organization that served the emperor directly. Its appearance was first due to the need to use troops in the northwest, and later it was actually closely related to Yinzhen's series of struggles to consolidate the imperial power. From the long-term struggle with Yunti and others, Yinzhen felt that in order to further consolidate the imperial power, he had to adjust the original institutions to ensure that power could be highly concentrated in his hands. In the eighth year of Yongzheng, he made major reforms to the central institutions of the Qing Dynasty and established the Military and Political Affairs Office.
Before this, the Qing Dynasty's organs that were directly responsible to the emperor were the Council of Ministers and the Cabinet. The Political Affairs Office was set up in the second year of Chongde. It stipulated that each flag of the Eight Banners would send three ministers to discuss state affairs. It was called the Political Affairs King Minister Conference. This kind of organization of the Manchurian nobles participating in politics was compatible with the political situation of the transition from the four Baylors to the monarchical system in the early Qing Dynasty. After the Ren Pass, although the imperial power was gradually concentrated, this organization, which represented the old customs of Manchuria, was still retained and exercised its power before the Shun and Kang emperors came to power. Things changed during the Yongzheng period. From the decades of clique activities of Yunti and others, Yinzhen could see that the instability of the regime from the end of Kangxi to Yongzheng was largely due to the inheritance of the ancestral system and the power in the hands of the nobles. It's too big. Therefore, after he ascended the throne, he constantly looked for opportunities to issue orders to limit their power. In February of the first year of Yongzheng, he issued an imperial edict: "In the past, during the imperial examination, all the ministers, guards, and officials of the Upper Three Banners were not allowed to walk under the kings. Even the subordinates of the kings were not allowed to interact with each other unless they were under their jurisdiction. The ministers in charge of the guards and their ministers will strictly inspect the guards and officials in charge of them. Later, if there are people who walk privately, once they are found, they will be impeached. If you don't participate in the impeachment, after I find out, or if you are reported by others, you will certainly be severely punished together with the ministers in charge.”On the surface, this was to restrict the members of the kings, but in fact, it was a way to prevent the kings and flag lords from secretly expanding their power and cliques. In the seventh month, he issued an imperial edict on the issue of the kings and Banner Lords ignoring the monarch and acting on their own. This imperial edict clearly stated that he would not allow the kings of the Five Banners to ignore the imperial power. In October, he issued an imperial edict on the chaotic titles of the kings and Baylors in the court and under his banner: "Princes and kings also have titles. The reason why the title is given is probably because of the title. If there is no king named Baylor, you should call him by his name. As for the title of Nine Bells and Fourteen Kings, there is no such thing in the country. From then on, all the kings who did not have the title of Baylor and others called their names immediately. If they were called by their names again, they would definitely not do so. This will be reported to the eight banners and all departments and yamen.……Then the villain and other people will idle imperial clan also known as king, also known as Baylor King, Beizi King, Duke King. If anyone has this title after this, he will not be forgiven.”This was an attempt to restrict the nobles in name and on fishing vessels.
Although Yinzhen repeatedly warned against the excessive power of the princes and nobles, the system did not change, especially the role of the Political Affairs Office. Therefore, the problem of the dispersion of imperial power could not be fundamentally resolved. Yunchen, Sunu, Seventy, and the other princes 'arrogant activities against the imperial power were proof of this. It was not until the seventh year of Yongzheng that Yinzhen completely eliminated the hostile forces that he was able to carry out structural reforms. At that time, the Qing army was fighting with the northwest Elute Mongol Gardan Celin, and the military reports were frequent. The cabinet responsible for collecting and sorting out military reports was outside the Taihe Gate. It was inconvenient for the Emperor to summon them at any time and it was far away from the internal court, so there were more opportunities for leaks. In order to put an end to hidden dangers, Yinzhen set up a military and political office in Longzong Gate in the eighth year of Yongzheng.
Although the Military and Political Affairs Office was not as noble as the cabinet in name, due to its responsibilities, such as participating in the handling of official memorials, drafting decrees, discussing national military and political matters, handling major criminal cases, etc., it gradually replaced the cabinet. The cabinet became an agency that handled routine matters.
Military aircraft office set up military aircraft minister, military aircraft Zhang Jing and other posts. The military minister is part-time and appointed by Yin Zhen. At that time, Prince Yi Yunxiang and Grand Scholar Zhang Tingyu were appointed by Yin Zhen. Every day, they had to pay their respects to the Emperor, listen to the "Lun Yin", and receive the imperial edict. Such a special position was something that no minister could achieve, and the Council of Ministers gradually became useless. Emperor Qianlong later talked about the relationship between the Military and Political Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office."Since the beginning of the country, there has been a king of ministers. At that time, because there was a discussion office, the special envoy Wang Chengchong handled it. Since the establishment of the Military and Political Affairs Office during the Yongzheng period, it was called by the military minister every day to obey the decree. However, Manchurian Grand Scholar and Shangshu Xiangli both held empty titles and did not do anything that should be done, which was a nominal but not actual thing.……All the posts in the government are empty, and there is no need to fill them.”(This also means that the Military and Political Affairs Office replaced the Political Affairs Office after its establishment.)
Yinzhen set up the Military and Political Affairs Office to concentrate power in his own hands. Therefore, while setting up the Military and Political Affairs Office, he also formulated some systems to limit the power of the Military and Political Affairs Office. If the silver seal of the "Military and Political Affairs Office" was stored in the internal court, all documents that needed to be sealed must be personally "printed" by Zhang Jing on duty at the internal memorial office and returned after use. Another example was the implementation of the "court mail" method, that is,"where the military affairs are considered to be leaked and inconvenient to copy and send, the military minister will write it face to face and submit it. Once it is sent out, it will be sealed in a paper letter, sealed with the silver seal of the" Military Affairs Office ", handed over to the Ministry of War to seal it, and sent to the post station to deliver it." Doing so reduced the number of intermediate links and made it easier for the emperor to directly command the local officials. It could be said that the establishment of the Military and Political Affairs Office was an important sign that the imperial power was highly concentrated in the hands of Yin Zhen.
At the same time, Yinzhen also set up an inspection office outside Taihe Gate to inspect and supervise the matters handed over by the emperor to the ministries and the Eight Banners. The management minister was still held by the Manchu and Han Grand Scholars. The establishment of this organization would help in the implementation of the various imperial edicts. From then on, all the departments and yamen, all the special cases that were handed over by the emperor's edict, had to be handed over to the inspection office for verification on the same day. They had to check and record the case every month, and then report at the end of the year. In this way, the use and exertion of imperial power was further guaranteed.
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