Preface

In ancient times, the road to promotion for officials was bumpy and arduous, and the difficulty was beyond imagination. Although ability and political performance occupy a place in the promotion process, there are three hidden criteria behind it.

What were these standards? How did they affect the path of promotion of ancient officials? In addition to the immediate efforts and performance, what kind of problems did ancient officials have to deal with?

1. The vicissitudes of officialdom

The central institution of the Ming Dynasty can be described as a great wall of steel from the inside out, from top to bottom, interlocking. At the top is the Cabinet, the supreme think tank. Although the number of members of the cabinet is small, they hold the highest decision-making power in the world, and their status is transcendent, and the official rank can reach the highest rank of the second rank.

Wenyuan Pavilion University Scholar and Wu Yingdian University Scholar, although these titles are just empty names, they are enough to make thousands of civil and military officials look up to them. Under the cabinet is the huge bureaucratic machine of the Six Ministries. The Shangshu of the six departments, like the six generals who control the overall situation, lead countless pawns.

The responsibilities of each department, such as the household department, the official department, the ritual department, the military department, the criminal department, and the engineering department, are different, but they complement each other and are indispensable. The subordinate institutions of these departments are even more complicated, and the staff and directors of the Cleaning Department are like countless small gears, silently driving the operation of the whole machine.

At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the supervisory body, is like a pair of discerning eyes all over the world, always watching every move of all officials. Although the official rank of the Imperial Historian is not high, the power in their hands is huge, and they can even directly point out the emperor's mistakes and ask him to correct them. Legend has it that when the number of imperial historians of the Imperial Procuratorate was the largest, it reached 100 people, which shows the weight of its authority.

II. Fanggu Heavy Land

At the local level, the Ming Dynasty implemented a three-level administrative system of provinces, prefectures, and counties. The largest level is the Chief Executive, which is equivalent to today's provincial government. The number one leader of the political envoy is the political envoy, whose status is equivalent to that of today's provincial governor, and his official rank is as high as the second rank. His subordinates participated in politics and councils, and although their powers were not as good as those of political envoys, they were also important figures who were prominent for a while.

In addition, there is also a special agency under the Department of Political Envoys, the Department of Criminal Prosecution and Prosecution, which is responsible for the trial of criminal cases and legal affairs in the province. The leader of this institution is also a high-ranking official from the second grade. It can be seen that the central government of the Ming Dynasty supervised the local government very strictly.

3. The source of power

Next, there is the government at the provincial level. Each prefecture has a prefect who is the head of one side and rules over the whole prefecture. The grade of the prefect varies according to the local economic strength and tax collection capacity.

If the annual tax of a government can reach more than 200,000 stones, then the official rank of the prefect is the fourth grade, if it is between 200,000 and 100,000 stones, it is from the fourth grade, and finally if there is only a tax of less than 100,000 stones, then the official rank of the prefect is only the fifth grade.

From this system, it is not difficult to see how meticulously the central government of the Ming Dynasty controlled the localities. Taxation is the source of power, and the central government has achieved firm control over local power through the fine distribution of local officials' grades.

IV. Shiba Ma Kokan

Finally, we come to the lowest level of this bureaucracy – at the county level. In the county seat, the magistrate is the biggest power holder on one side. However, despite this, the official rank of the magistrate is only a mere seven grades, which was jokingly called "sesame petty official" in ancient times.

In addition to the magistrate, there are also other officials in the county, such as the county chief and the chief bookkeeper, but their grades are all below the eighth grade, and they are basically from some people's backgrounds. However, although the magistrates have a low rank, the responsibilities they shoulder are quite significant.

After all, they are the grassroots officials closest to the people, and the county's livelihood and suffering, tax collection, and social security all need to be handled by the county. Therefore, the central government of the Ming Dynasty was also extremely strict in the selection and assessment of the county.

Fifth, difficult promotion

It is not an easy task to become a qualified magistrate. First of all, they must pass the imperial examinations such as lifting people and jinshi to obtain a ticket to enter the officialdom. After that, they have to accept the layers of assessment by the imperial court, whether it is public opinion evaluation, internal evaluation, or the evaluation of the central inspection team, there is no one link left.

If a magistrate performs well in office and successfully passes all the assessments, then he has a chance to be promoted. However, this opportunity is not so easy to come by. At that time, the rule was that an official could only be promoted by a maximum of two levels at a time.

In other words, it is difficult for a small official of the seventh grade of sesame to reach the sky in one step. They must serve in the position of magistrate for three years, and then undergo a new round of assessment, if everything goes well, at most they will be promoted to the sixth grade.

Sixth, soaring

However, the opportunity, while rare, is not entirely impossible. The central government of the Ming Dynasty also set up an irregular surprise assessment mechanism. The central inspection team, composed of officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the six sections, will carry out surprise inspections of officials in various localities from time to time.

If an official performs well and receives an excellent evaluation during this inspection, then with the joint recommendation of the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he will be able to be promoted quickly, ascend to the sky, and soar to the top! However, after all, such cases are very rare.

More often, an obscure little county, if you want to get the attention and appreciation of your superiors, you must rely on your perseverance and perseverance, and work hard and hard in an ordinary post. Only in this way can we slowly accumulate our political achievements in a long time and wait for the arrival of that turning point.

epilogue

Seeing this, have you gained a deeper understanding of the road to promotion of officials in ancient times? How arduous and tortuous this road is, and how full of thorns! If a small sesame official wants to be reused and appreciated by his superiors, he must make innumerable efforts and sweat.

They must pass the layers of assessment and show outstanding political achievements and talents before they can hope to gain a glimmer of life. And in the process, they will also have to face countless difficulties and traps. The struggle between the government and the opposition, the struggle for power, and the struggle for the gateway will all become obstacles that they must overcome.

How many people have finally failed and retired from the scene? And how many people have been able to rely on their unremitting efforts and extraordinary wisdom to finally overcome obstacles and achieve a career? This is the portrayal of ancient officialdom, and this is the situation of that era.

It may be distant and unfamiliar, but it is an important part of our nation's long history. Let us explore the reasons for this eventful period with our own curiosity, appreciate the hardships and tenacity of those predecessors, and feel the changes of that era.