There is a plot in the classic case-solving drama "Detective Di Renjie", Di Renjie directly killed the evil-doer Pingnanhou.

At that time, Di Renjie was a second-rank civil official, while Li Yuanfang was a third-rank military attaché, so why was it possible to execute the Marquis of Pingnan, who was knighted? In the Tang Dynasty's official rank and knighthood system, who held the real power?

The official rank of the Tang Dynasty

There is a more prominent feature of the official system in the Tang Dynasty, that is, there are very few first-class officials.

According to the official classic "Tongdian" at that time, in the official products of the Tang Dynasty, Zhengyipin only had a few positions such as Taishi, Taifu, and Sikong, but almost all of these positions were honorary titles and had no real real power.

The only official position in the Tang Dynasty with real power was the "General of Tiance", a position that was originally tailored for Li Shimin. Li Shimin, who was still the king of Qin at the time, successfully suppressed several local rebel forces and won Li Yuan's appreciation.

But at that time, Li Shimin was already the king of Qin, and he also held the position of the highest military commander, Tai Lieutenant, and there was no longer an official to be crowned.

So Li Yuan specially created a new official position to crown Li Shimin, and later after Li Shimin succeeded to the throne in the mutiny, this position was abolished.

In addition to several nominal positions such as princes and princes, there are also several titles at that time, such as heirs, kings, etc., and Zhengyipin, most of which are additional positions of honor, and cannot handle government affairs independently.

According to the "Old Tang Book", Zheng Erpin has the positions of auxiliary general, Shang Shuling and so on. Among them, Shang Shuling is the same as Admiral Tiance, and the courtiers know that they dare not live there, except for Yang Su of the Sui Dynasty who served as Shang Shuling, only Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty has done it.

Li Shimin held this position when he was the king of Qin, and when he succeeded to the throne, he abolished it along with Admiral Tiance.

From the beginning of the second grade, various substantive official positions have appeared one after another, and many high-ranking officials and local officials in the capital are from the second grade.

Among them, the highest power is the Shangshu Province left and right servants, this official position is closely related to the Sui Dynasty established three provinces and six ministries, and is the highest governor of Shangshu Province.

The original governors of the three provinces were all positive three products, and the nominal governor of Shangshu Province was originally Shangshu Ling, which was a hot potato for the same reason as the general of Tiance, so no one dared to compete with the emperor for official positions, so they avoided suspicion, and this official position gradually became a vacancy.

The left and right servants who were originally Shang Shuling's deputies became the de facto governor of Shang Shu Province.

The governors of the three provinces are all called "prime ministers", and each province has two governors at the same level to check each other and form a balance of power.

During the Tang Taizong period, in order to improve administrative efficiency, a "political affairs hall" was set up to gather personnel from the three provinces to work collectively. In addition to the top leaders such as the servants, the servants, and the Zhongshu Ling, other relevant personnel also participated in the discussion, and these people who were allowed to enter the political hall had special titles and titles.

In the later period, the status of Shangshu Province was gradually weakened, and the status of the left and right servants was declining day by day, and the later servants must have the title of "Tongzhongshu Men Sanpin" to enter the political hall, and the process of the three provinces was also reshuffled, and Shangshu Province was gradually squeezed out of the power center, leaving the other two provinces to have power.

The knighthood system of the Tang Dynasty

The title system of the Tang Dynasty was more complex than that of the previous generation, it can be said that the Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui system, and many systems also referred to the Sui Dynasty and were improved and developed on this basis, and the same is true for the title system.

According to the records of the "Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty", the title at that time was divided into nine levels, and the highest level was the king, which belonged to the first grade.

In order, there are the prince of the county, the heir king, the prince, the marquis, the uncle, the son, the male, etc.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, because of the newly established country, it was customary to seal a group of meritorious ministers, and in addition, in order to consolidate the rule, it was also necessary to reward the children of the royal family to strengthen the control of the country by the bloodline with the same surname.

Therefore, the feudal kings of the Tang Dynasty include kings with the same surname and kings with different surnames, for example, Luo Cheng's father Luo Yi was named the king of Yanjun, although he is a "king", but the fief is only a small county, far less beautiful than the surname Wang.

At that time, the princes Li Yuanji and Li Shimin were crowned the kings of one word, Li Yuanji's King of Qi and Li Shimin's King of Qin, and they were in charge of the largest administrative division "state" at that time.

According to the convention, the emperor's son will be crowned king, and it is the largest "one-word king" in the fief, these thrones can be inherited, but when they inherit, they will be downgraded accordingly, and they can only be named "two-word kings", such as Li Longji was once the king of Linzi.

In addition to the canonization of knighthoods according to blood kinship, knighthood according to military merit is also a very important way, the Tang Dynasty promotion system is divided into two categories: knighthood and military merit knighthood, military merit knighthood is also called "honorific system".

The lord rank of the Tang Dynasty was divided into twelve ranks, the highest of which was Shangzhuguo, followed by Zhuguo, Shanghujun, Hujun, and Wuqi.

Shangzhu is equivalent to the second grade of the courtier grade, and the pillar country is from the second grade, and so on, and the most inferior military cavalry captain is from the seventh grade.

Why was Di Renjie able to kill Pingnanhou?

Di Renjie has been an official all his life, and the last extremely popular minister has become the highest-ranking person among civil officials.

According to the Tang Dynasty document "Granting Di Renjie the Internal History System", Di Renjie once served as the internal history and Nayan, the internal history and the Zhongshi are the same as the position of the season, responsible for drafting government decrees, and Nayan is responsible for the work of the servant, specifically reviewing and approving various important documents.

In addition, Di Renjie also has various honorary titles, such as Shangzhuguo, which is the honorary title of the second grade, and the other is the founding man of Ruyang County, which belongs to the fifth grade.

There is also a historical background that needs to be paid attention to, after Wu Zetian came to power, in order to consolidate the imperial power, he wantonly slaughtered the bloodline of the Li family, belittled the status and legitimacy of the prince surnamed Li, and supported the Wu family to ascend to the throne.

For this reason, she divided a large number of titles, which also led to the proliferation of marquises.

In "Detective Di Renjie", in the face of Pingnanhou's questioning, Di Renjie said contemptuously: "You are just a little Wupinhou", which shows that Pingnanhou's grade in the play is not high.

At this time, Di Renjie also had a more important identity as "patrolling the heavens", which was similar to the special commissioner sent by the central government to the local government, which was equivalent to the later minister of the Qincha, and the minister of the Qincha and the sword of the monk Fang had a role similar to that of the emperor in person.

According to the regulations, the officials who patrol the hunt can go directly to the heavens, and as long as the evidence is conclusive, they can be cut first and then played, which shows that Wu Zetian trusted Di Renjie very much at that time.

According to the above introduction, we know that Di Renjie's official position belongs to the second grade, and in the title system, the marquis is only equivalent to a marquis with no real power, if as Di Renjie said, the Marquis of Pingnan only has five grades, it is completely impossible to compete with Di Renjie, who is the second grade and the second grade, so the case process of Di Renjie is blameless.

Article source: "General Dictionary", "Conferring Di Renjie's Internal History System", "Old Tang Book"