On the west side of Qianqing Palace Square in the Forbidden City, near the Long Zongmen, there is a row of simple bungalows. Compared with the splendid palace, it looks quite shabby and most tourists will ignore it. However, although it is inconspicuous, it is the Military Department, the decision-making center of the Qing Empire for more than 180 years. The establishment of the military department was caused by a war and was unique to the Qing Dynasty. The initiator was Emperor Yongzheng. Why did Yongzheng set up such an institution? The fundamental reason is that we want to take advantage of the centralization of monarchy, and this motive was caused by a war on the northwest border of the empire. Beginning in the second year of Yongzheng's reign, Qinghai Heshuo Mongolian leader Luobu Zangdanjin rebelled and was overthrown by Nian Gengyao and Yue Zhongqi. Luozang Danjin fled to Junggar. Junggar is an old rival of the Qing court. Emperor Kangxi went into battle in full gear and personally inspected Junggar three times. In the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, after the internal affairs were purged, the emperor prepared to attack Junggar.
In the seventh year of Yongzheng's reign, war broke out. Once a fire occurs, it needs to be dealt with immediately and must be kept confidential. But the political system at that time was not satisfactory. In the Cheng and Ming Dynasty systems of the Qing Dynasty, the cabinet was the center of national administration. The cabinet is located near Wenyuan Pavilion outside the Gate of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. Emperor Yongzheng handled government affairs and slept in the Yangxin Hall. The distance between the two is more than a kilometer. The palace is strictly forbidden, and the complicated procedures can easily delay the opportunity; when the army reports to Beijing, it first passes through the cabinet, and it is easy for secrets to be leaked. So Yongzheng built a row of bungalows at the base of the wall near Longzongmen under the pretext of needing a strict processing agency. It was first called the Munitions Room, then the Military Room, and then the Military Department. His confidants Yunxiang, Zhang and Jiang Tingxi were selected to handle military affairs secretly. Open the map of the Forbidden City and you will find that Longzongmen is located to the west of Qianqingmen Square, and to the north is the Yangxin Hall, the residence of Emperor Yongzheng, less than 50 meters away. From 1,000 meters to 50 meters, the shortening of the distance from the cabinet to the military department means that government affairs can be handled quickly, and it also means that power is concentrated in the hands of the emperor.
There is a two-meter gap between the military headquarters' house and the palace wall. It is said that there once was a special passage leading to the Yangxin Hall. This road passes through the palace wall, passes through the imperial kitchen, and reaches the Yangxin Hall. Today, there are still traces of the passage on the palace walls of the royal kitchen. The impatient Emperor Yongzheng moved the military affairs processing center to his own community. It was not enough. He also had to open a convenient passage. Yongzheng was eager to seek governance and his desire to act arbitrarily was fully revealed. How to work effectively in the military? After the Northwest War, Yongzheng did not abolish the military department. Instead, in the second year, he added Zhang Jing's "Little Military Aircraft" to handle paperwork. In the ninth year of Yongzheng's reign, the seal of the Ministry of War was cast and stored in Da Nei. Why can a temporary agency exist for so long and have such great influence? Because the emperor mastered the technology of "arbitrariness" through the military department and solved the problem of centralized rule. After the establishment of the Ministry of War, the Wanghui, which existed in name only, became empty-handed and in name only, and was finally abolished during the Qianlong period. Although the South Study Room is still the office of Hanlin, it is no longer involved in government affairs and is mainly responsible for writing, calligraphy, and painting.
The Xinuang Pavilion in Yangxin Hall is where Emperor Yongzheng handled government affairs and reviewed the throne. A couplet in Yongzheng's calligraphy hangs on the wall, which is very eye-catching: If only one person rules the world, can we serve one person for the world? The emperor openly expressed his desire for centralized power. So, how did he do it?
The secret lies in the three words of the military department: "diligence", "quickness" and "secretness". Yongzheng pursued high efficiency. As soon as the military department was established, Emperor Yongzheng stipulated that no matter how many official documents there were, they must be completed on the same day. Even if there are hundreds of memorials a day, they must be processed overnight. Under the emperor's strict requirements, the Minister of Military Affairs worked very hard. At 3 o'clock in the morning, the Forbidden City was dark, with only the military treasure room brightly lit. However, the person who worked the hardest was not the Minister of Military Affairs, but Zhang Jing, the military attache who was responsible for writing the imperial edict and managing archives. After the establishment of the military department, its powers and responsibilities became increasingly onerous. All political, military, economic and foreign affairs must go through the military department, which cannot be handled by several military ministers alone. Therefore, in the second year after the establishment of the Ministry of Human Armed Forces, another Zhang Jing military aircraft was added. At first, there was no quota for the military aircraft Zhang Jing, and she was selected from officials such as Shu and Pen in the cabinet. Starting from the fourth year of Jiaqing, Zhang Jing and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had 16 military aircraft, divided into two levels: Manchu and Han. The leader of each class is called "Dharma", and he leads Zhang Jingren on duty in the military department. Usually, the Manchus and Zhang Jingren take turns on duty, and each shift is on duty for two days. Even on New Year's Day, the military department is on duty.
The military emphasizes efficiency and speed. The work process of the Minister of Military Affairs vividly depicts the "speed and passion" here: After the Minister of Military Affairs takes office, at about five or six o'clock, at dawn, he will go to Yangxin Hall to see the emperor and listen to the emperor's opinions on the handling of government affairs. , this is the so-called "receiving the order". The emperor issued instructions after asking the Minister of Military Affairs for his opinions on government affairs. The Minister of Military Affairs would rush back to the military headquarters 50 meters away and hand the emperor's "declaration" to the military aircraft Zhang Jing, who would write the "proposed decree".
The minister took the prepared edict and rushed back to Yangxin Hall to submit it to the emperor for approval. One after another, in less than an hour, many government affairs were completed. The military minister is kneeling and "giving orders." After a long period of hard work, the ministers summed up some tips. For example, they would place a circle of cotton wool around the knees so that it would not hurt when kneeling. In order to avoid kneeling all day long, the military and political ministers also developed the ability to be concise and concise: no matter how complicated the matter is, they must be said in three sentences to avoid the emperor asking again.
After the emperor's approval and seal, the Ministry of War's seal was affixed, indicating the daily mileage of the post, and the Ministry of War sent a post horse to deliver it, or expedited it at four or five hundred miles or six hundred miles per day. The galloping horses will carry the emperor's approval and flow along the imperial post roads. With this transportation system, the tentacles of centralized power extended to all sides of the empire.
"Secret" is the biggest characteristic of the military department. After the establishment of the military headquarters, Yongzheng repeatedly warned his subordinates that "if you fail to keep secrets, you will lose your virginity." He also stipulated that the outside of the military headquarters should be guarded by imperial guards, and it was strictly forbidden for everyone from princes and ministers to eunuchs and maids to enter without permission. Even the service personnel must be illiterate eunuchs under the age of fifteen, known as "little children". After 15 years old, change immediately. However, the "official positions" that accounted for most of the military documents and the "memorials" presented to the emperor by the civil and military ministers changed the long-standing official document customs in ancient China. Today, "Shangchaozhezi" is the main impression of the emperor's work. Who knows, before the Qing Dynasty, the emperor did not approve of discounts. Placing the memorial on the emperor's desk required a complicated process. Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. At that time, official documents issued by local provinces and central ministries were called "inscriptions" if they were related to official affairs; for personal matters, they were called "prints." These "books" should first be summarized as general affairs
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was lazy in government affairs and often handed over the power of "approving the red" to the master of ceremonies, allowing the chief eunuch to "approving the red" according to the emperor's wishes ". Although this set of government affairs procedures in the Ming Dynasty opened a back door for eunuchs to participate in politics, it also restricted imperial power. Because the cabinet reads the memorial first, the emperor prepares his opinions before reading it. Even if the emperor vetoes the cabinet's "draft", he will work hard to remedy it. Slowly, the cabinet record became the de facto Prime Minister. If he has a close relationship with the chief eunuch and the emperor is young, then the decision lies with the chief minister of the cabinet. For example, in the Wanli period of Zhang's reign, subordinate officials "reported", the cabinet "accorded to Zhang's wishes", and the ceremonial supervisor controlled by political allies once again "criticized the red". As a result, the Wanli New Deal was vigorously implemented. In order to avoid being deceived by the cabinet, Kangxi invented the memorial system in the middle year of Kangxi. The emperor's cronies submitted reports directly and secretly, and the emperor controlled the overall situation through secret reports. The throne bypasses the cabinet, ensuring that the emperor can execute his will without interference and concentrating power in the monarch.
Yongzheng perfected the memorial system. Not only did he expand the number of people with the right to write records to include college students, provincial governors, princes, towns, and cities, but he also made great efforts to maintain confidentiality. First of all, the secret fold went directly to the headquarters without anyone changing hands in the process; and only the emperor could see the secret fold, not even the Minister of Military Affairs. The secret documents and Zhubu between the ministers and the emperor were delivered in special boxes. No one can open the box except the secretary who has the emperor's key. Even so, Yongzheng also earnestly warned his ministers not to reveal the secret content. Ertai was one of Yongzheng's most trusted ministers. Yongzheng warned Ertai's nephew Chang'e in Zhu Pi's memorial, "Don't let anyone know, not even your uncle Ertai." Even though Zhu approved the memorial, Yongzheng still did not relax and required the executor to return it to the palace for preservation within a certain period of time. He could not copy it, otherwise he would pay money in hell.
So, how did Zhu’s memorial reach the performers? Damn it, the military. After the military aircraft Zhang Jing received Zhu Pi's memorial from the military headquarters, he copied the memorial together with Zhu Pi and kept it. The original is then sealed and sent directly to the Minister. Some of the excerpts were not carefully considered by the emperor that day and were "left in the middle" without being published; others were extremely confidential and only recorded "for other purposes" without even keeping copies.
Yongzheng: A model of diligence among Qing emperors. Yongzheng, through the military department, "ruled the world with one man" and put the heavy burden on his shoulders. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty were generally diligent in their duties, and Yongzheng was the most outstanding one. In May of the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, the emperor said with emotion in his edict that the imperial examination was a model of diligence. On the other hand, I work from early morning to late night every day. During the day, Emperor Yongzheng met with officials of all sizes and read seals; at night, under blue light, you had to read as many as twenty or thirty secret foldouts from all over the country. According to statistics, during the thirteen years that Yongzheng was in power, he reviewed at least 22,000 memorials, granted 190,000 titles, and wrote more than 10 million words of comments. Unlike Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong, Yongzheng never went south to hunt the Mulan Paddock in the beautiful south of the Yangtze River. With the exception of a day off on his birthday, he is a work machine. Behind centralization is giving up rest and being diligent in political affairs. On August 23, the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign, the emperor died suddenly in the Old Summer Palace. The new emperor's reign name was Qianlong. During the Qianlong period, the Ministry of War became the emperor's right-hand man, and the Minister of Military Affairs became the emperor's senior secretary.