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卷七十二 志第四十八 職官一

Volume 72 Treatises 48: Official Posts 1

Chapter 72 of 明史 · History of Ming
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1
沿 殿 調 退 宿 沿
The Ming administrative structure drew on Han and Tang precedent, adapting it where needed. Beginning in Hongwu year 13 (1380), the post of Grand Chancellor was abolished for good. Secretariat functions were split among the Six Ministries; each Minister shouldered empire-wide duties, with Vice Ministers as second-in-command. The Grand Secretaries in the palace halls remained advisers only. The emperor now held the reins of power himself, and the academicians seldom weighed in on policy. Impeachment fell to the Censorate; memorials passed through the Office of Transmission; reversal of wrongful verdicts went to the Court of Judicial Review—in much the spirit of the Han Nine Ministers. The former single Grand Military Commission was split into five commissions, but levies and troop movements came under the Ministry of War. In the provinces, three commissions (governor-general, administration, and surveillance) handled military, judicial, and fiscal matters; their performance was reviewed by the ministries in the capital. In that era the Ministries of Personnel, Revenue, and War held the greatest sway. Under the Ren and Xuan emperors, Grand Secretaries who had served as the heir apparent's tutors were repeatedly elevated to the Three Supporters, and their prestige rose accordingly. Emperor Xuanzong retained every lever of power, large and small, yet routed decisions through Grand Secretaries such as Yang Shiqi for their judgment. Jian Yi at Personnel and Xia Yuanji at Revenue were sometimes summoned and could weigh in on their ministries' business, but they saw the emperor far less often than Shiqi and his circle. Thereafter the Grand Secretariat's power grew day by day. Even when a Personnel or War minister stood his ground on principle, he was usually brought down. By the middle of Jiajing's reign, Xia Yan and Yan Song alternated in power until they functioned as real prime ministers, dominating the Six Ministers. Yet even the Secretariat's draft rescripts required the eunuchs' vermilion endorsement, and real power shifted to the palace staff. Court discipline and the rise and fall of worthy officials were now entirely at their disposal. Grand Secretaries who merely kept the emperor company at table had no choice but to follow eunuch cues. Even an able minister could only watch in dismay, powerless to reverse the tide. Early on, the Five Military Commissions were led by founding meritorious generals, and army discipline was strict. Under Yongle, eunuch overseers were installed, but they still did not dare overreach. After generations, noble kin and pampered youths ran military affairs, and discipline eroded daily. Eunuch appointments multiplied: every frontier gained an inspector, every major campaign a supervising eunuch. Frontier policy collapsed, and the dynasty's fate was sealed. Trace the dynasty's rise and fall, its order and chaos—is the root cause not simply who was put in office, and who was not! The establishment of offices, their hierarchy, and the full table of ranks are set out in the sections below. Readers may consult them for a full picture.
2
Court of the Imperial Clan
3
Court of the Imperial Clan. One Director of the Imperial Clan, with Left and Right Directors of the Imperial Lineage and Left and Right Registrars—all first rank—maintained registers of the imperial nine degrees of kinship, updated the jade genealogy on schedule, and recorded enfeoffments, succession, births, deaths, marriages, posthumous titles, and burials for every prince and princess, legitimate or otherwise. They relayed clan members' petitions to the throne, reported their talents, and recorded their offenses. In Hongwu year 3 (1370), the Great Directorate of the Imperial Lineage was established. In year 22 (1389) it became the Court of the Imperial Clan, headed by imperial princes. Prince of Qin Zhu Shuang was Director; Princes of Jin Zhu Gang and Yan Zhu Di were Left and Right Directors of the Imperial Lineage; Princes of Zhou Zhu Su and Chu Zhu Zhen were Left and Right Registrars. Later, meritorious nobles and senior ministers held the court in commission without filling all posts, and its duties passed entirely to the Ministry of Rites. Its Registry Office had one fifth-rank Registrar who handled incoming and outgoing documents.
4
Three Dukes and Three Supporters
5
殿
Grand Preceptor, Grand Tutor, and Grand Guardian—the Three Dukes—held the first rank; Junior Preceptor, Junior Tutor, and Junior Guardian—the Three Supporters—held the secondary first rank, assisting the emperor, harmonizing cosmic forces, and guiding state policy; their duties were weighty indeed. There was no fixed number of posts and no standing appointment. In Hongwu year 3, Li Shanchang was made Grand Preceptor and Xu Da Grand Tutor. Chang Yuchun had already received the posthumous title Grand Guardian. No one held a Three Supporter post as a concurrent appointment. The Duke and Supporter offices were abolished under Jianwen and Yongle, then restored by Renzong. In the eighth month of Yongle year 22 (1424), the Three Dukes and Three Juniors were re-established. In Xuande year 3 (1428), the emperor ordered Zhang Fu (Duke of Ying, Grand Preceptor), Jian Yi (Junior Preceptor, Minister of Personnel), Yang Shiqi (Junior Tutor, Minister of War and Grand Secretary), and Xia Yuanji (Junior Guardian, Minister of Revenue) to step down from their day-to-day posts and attend at court to advise on policy. For a time the Duke and Supporter titles were awarded as dedicated posts. After Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji died, Yang Shiqi resumed leadership of the Grand Secretariat. Thereafter the Duke and Supporter titles were honorific only—added to or granted posthumously for meritorious nobles and ministers. No civil official received a living appointment as one of the Three Dukes; only posthumous grant conferred that honor. In Jiajing year 2 (1523), Yang Tinghe was offered Grand Tutor but declined. Zhang Juzheng was the only civil official ever promoted to the Three Dukes in life—Grand Tutor in Wanli year 9 (1581), Grand Preceptor in year 10.
6
Three Tutors and Three Juniors of the Heir Apparent
7
Grand Tutor, Grand Mentor, and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent—all secondary first rank—guided the heir through moral instruction and watched over him carefully. Junior Tutor, Junior Mentor, and Junior Guardian—all second rank—attended the heir so he could observe the Three Tutors' conduct and receive their instruction. Guests of the Heir Apparent (third rank) attended the heir, assisted in court ritual, and admonished him when he erred. All were senior Eastern Palace posts, with no fixed number and no standing appointment. In Hongwu 1 (1368), when the Founding Emperor campaigned in person, he feared that appointing a separate palace staff while the heir governed might breed faction. Court ministers therefore held palace posts concurrently: Li Shanchang as Junior Tutor, Xu Da as Junior Mentor, Chang Yuchun as Junior Guardian, and Investigating Censors Wen Yuanji and Fan Xianzu as Guests. In year 3, Minister of Rites Tao Kai asked that dedicated Eastern Palace officers be appointed and concurrent posts abolished, so tutoring would have clear accountability. The emperor cited the case of Jiang Chong as a warning: concurrent appointment was deliberate policy, not oversight. Eastern Palace tutor posts thereafter were only concurrent, honorific, or posthumous titles. Only under Yongle, when Chengzu was at Beijing, was Yao Guangxiao appointed solely as Junior Tutor and left to assist the heir. From then until the dynasty's end they were empty titles, with no real role in tutoring the heir.
8
殿 (殿) 殿 (殿) 殿殿 使 殿 殿
Grand Secretary of the Hall of Central Perfection (formerly the Hall of Imperial Largesse) , Grand Secretary of the Hall of Establishing the Utmost (formerly the Hall of Scrupulous Conduct) , and Grand Secretaries of the Halls of Literary Glory and Martial Eminence, the Pavilion of Literary Depths, and the Eastern Pavilion—all fifth rank. They advised the emperor on policy, presented admonitions, reviewed memorials, drafted rescripts for imperial endorsement, and thereby kept government running smoothly. Edicts, proclamations, ordinances, investiture documents, instructions, letters, tallies, orders, and dispatches from the throne were all drafted, submitted for imperial endorsement, and forwarded to the relevant offices. Memorials, reports, tables, lecture chapters, letters, registers, briefing notes, examination answers, victory bulletins, and translations from below were reviewed, endorsed, and revised before forwarding; only when deemed sound were they acted upon. They accompanied the emperor on suburban sacrifices and imperial tours. At the Classics Lecture they served as Lecturer or Associate Lecturer. When the heir left the inner quarters for study, they directed the program, ranked the staff, and assigned their duties. At capping and wedding ceremonies they served as ritual assistants and betrothal envoys. They served as chief editors of Veritable Records, dynastic histories, and similar works. At the spring and autumn sacrifices to Confucius they officiated by proxy. They served as metropolitan examiners and as readers of papers at the palace examination. One Grand Secretary composed the inscription when jinshi graduates were honored, and a stele was erected at the Imperial Academy. After the Nine Ministers and censorial officials had deliberated on major ceremonies and state affairs, the Grand Secretaries weighed statutory precedent against circumstances, judged feasibility, and reported their recommendations to the emperor. They bore promulgated edicts to the Ministry of Rites. When imperial commands were needed, they verified the grounds and requested issuance. They drafted recommendations for imperial clan names and enfeoffments and for officials' posthumous titles. Because they dined in the inner palace and attended the emperor beneath the hall pavilions, the title Chancellor was avoided; they were known as the Grand Secretariat (neige).
9
() () () () () () () () () () () () ()
Earlier, following prior practice, the Founding Emperor established the Secretariat with Left and Right Chancellors of the first rank. In the first month of 1364, Left and Right Chancellors of State were first appointed: Li Shanchang on the right, Xu Da on the left. In the first Wu year (1367), court ritual was ordered to favor the left; the Right Chancellor became Left Chancellor and vice versa. In Hongwu 1 (1368) they became Left and Right Chancellors, with Pacification Commissioners (secondary first rank) , Left and Right Vice Chancellors (second rank) , Participation Councillors (secondary second rank) , to oversee all government functions. Subordinate officials included Left and Right Bureau Directors (fifth rank) Vice Directors (sixth rank) , Secretaries, and Inspectors (seventh rank) , Registrars and Archivists (secondary seventh rank) Consultation Office Consultants (third rank) Staff Officers and Adjudicators (secondary third rank) Adjudicators and Registrars (seventh rank) Directors of Affairs (eighth rank) Chief Pacifier of the Pacification Commission (fifth rank) Merit Review Officers of the Merit Review Office (seventh rank) In the tenth month of 1364, the Pacification Commission was subordinated to the Grand Military Commission. In 1367, the Consultation Office was abolished. In 1368, the Merit Review Office was abolished. In 1369, the offices of Registrar, Inspector, and Adjudicator were abolished. In 1374, ten Direct-Province drafting attendants were established and soon renamed Secretariat draftsmen.
10
仿殿殿 殿 殿殿殿
In 1376, the posts of Pacification Commissioner and Participation Councillor were abolished. In the first month of 1380, Chancellor Hu Weiyong was executed and the Secretariat abolished. All subordinate offices were abolished; only the Secretariat draftsmen remained. In the ninth month, Four Assistant officials were created, with Wang Ben and other scholars appointed. Upon establishing the Four Assistants, the court reported to the Ancestral Temple: Wang Ben, Du You, and Xi Shuo as Spring Officials; Du Jiao, Zhao Minwang, and Wu Yuan as Summer Officials, also serving as Guests of the Heir Apparent. The Autumn and Winter posts were unfilled; Wang Ben and his colleagues held them in addition. Each month they rotated responsibility across the upper, middle, and lower ten-day periods. They ranked immediately below dukes, marquises, and regional commanders. They were soon abolished as well. In 1382, following Song precedent, Grand Secretaries were appointed to the Canopy Hall, Martial Brilliance Hall, Literary Deep Pavilion, and Eastern Pavilion: Shao Zhi (Minister of Rites) to Canopy; Wu Bozong (Reviewer) to Martial Brilliance; Song Ne (Hanlin Academician) to Literary Deep; Wu Chen (Archivist) to Eastern. Literary Splendor Hall Grand Secretaries were also created, summoning elder scholars Bao Xun, Yu Quan, Zhang Changnian, and others to tutor the heir apparent. All held principal fifth rank. In 1395, an edict addressed the officials: "The state has abolished the chancellorship and established commissions, ministries, courts, and directorates to divide civil affairs among them—legislation of exceptional thoroughness. Future rulers must never consider restoring a chancellor. Any subject who petitions for one shall face capital punishment. At that time the Hanlin Academy and Eastern Quarters reviewed all departmental memorials and also handled approval and rejection. Grand Secretaries attended at the ruler's side merely as consultants. Under the Jianwen Emperor, Grand Secretaries were retitled Academicians. All Grand Secretary posts were abolished, each replaced by a single Academician. The Self-Cultivation Hall was renamed the Rectification Hall, with Rectification Hall Academicians appointed. Upon Yongle's accession, Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong, and others were specially chosen to serve at the Literary Deep Pavilion and join in state deliberations. Cabinet ministers' involvement in policy dates from this moment. Yet those admitted to the Grand Secretariat were compilers, reviewers, lecturers, and readers only—they had no staff of their own and could not command the ministries. Ministries reporting business could not route matters through the Secretariat either.
11
殿殿殿 殿
Because Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong had served him in the Eastern Palace, the Renzong Emperor promoted Shiqi to Vice Minister of Rites and Canopy Hall Grand Secretary and Rong to Director of Imperial Sacrifices and Self-Cultivation Hall Grand Secretary—the latter post Renzong first created, marking the cabinet's rising stature. Shiqi, Rong, and their colleagues were later promoted to ministerial rank; even while serving in the Grand Secretariat, ministerial title took precedence. Under Jingtai, Wang Wen became the first Left Censor-in-Chief promoted to Minister of Personnel and admitted to the Grand Secretariat. Thereafter Secretariat draftsmen staffed both edict bureaus; the Six Ministries followed their lead in virtually everything, and cabinet power grew heavier still. When the three main halls were completed under the Shizong Emperor, Canopy became Central Ultimate and Self-Cultivation became Establishing Ultimate, and cabinet titles changed accordingly. From the Jiajing reign onward, their places in court assembly and procession ranked above all Six Ministries.
12
Ministry of Personnel. One Minister (principal second rank); one Left and one Right Vice Minister (principal third rank each); subordinate Secretariat Affairs Office with two Secretariat Officers (secondary ninth rank); the four Pure Officials Bureaus—Selection, Seals and Enfeoffments, Records, and Merit Review—each with one Bureau Director (principal fifth rank); one Vice Director (secondary fifth rank); and one Section Chief (principal sixth rank). In 1398, one additional Section Chief was added to the Selection Bureau. In 1446, one additional Section Chief was added to the Merit Review Bureau.
13
The Minister oversaw empire-wide appointment, enfeoffment, honors, and performance review—distinguishing talent and assisting the emperor's governance. Essentially the ancient office of Director of Stewards, it was held especially weighty among the Five Ministries. Vice Ministers served as his deputies.
14
簿
Secretariat Officers handled urging and supervision, tracked delays, verified clearance, and managed paperwork. Early in the dynasty, four Section Chiefs and four Secretariat Officers served as leading officials and bore a Section Chief seal. In 1396, Section Chiefs were renamed Bureau Officers and two Secretariat Officer posts eliminated. All ministries followed the same pattern.
15
調 簿 滿滿 調 調
Selection handled officials' grades, promotions, transfers, and reassignments in support of the Minister. Civil officials had nine ranks, each with principal and secondary grades—eighteen levels in all. Posts below ninth rank were termed outside the regular stream. Selections included the annual great selection, urgent selection, distant-region selection, tribute-graduate teaching appointments, occasional screened selection, and presented-scholar favor petitions. Candidates were entered on the seniority register; their grade and stream were classified, appointments balanced, and advancement sequenced. Promotion normally required a completed review term; filling a vacancy without awaiting review was termed push promotion. Category push promotion submitted one name; single push promotion submitted two. Third rank and above—Nine Ministers, Vice Censors-in-Chief, and Academy directors—required court recommendation of two or three names. Grand Secretariat posts and the Ministers of Personnel and War required court recommendation of two names. Princes' officials were not transferred out; princes' in-laws were not appointed in the capital; ministers' kin could not hold censorial posts; and subordinates of the same clan yielded to superiors. When an outside official's talent and post mismatched, busy and simple assignments were swapped accordingly. Transmitted promotions and petitioned promotions could all be held and reported to the throne. Provisional, trial, and substantive appointments set seniority; establishment, abolition, merger, and concurrent posts matched workload; recommendation, reinstatement, and summons revived the overlooked; retained salary and supplemental notation accommodated favor and redundancy; demotion, transfer, and name removal disciplined misconduct; schedules supervised administration; and leave policies accommodated human needs.
16
祿 滿 滿滿 祿祿 祿祿
Seals and Enfeoffments handled enfeoffment, hereditary privilege, honors, and official registers in support of the Minister. Titles required service to state or military merit; designations required special edict. Whether hereditary or not, patent documents were issued. The Duke Continuing the Sage and grace enfeoffments for imperial affines received no patents. Each patent came in duplicate: the left copy stored in the inner treasury, the right given to the honoree's family. On hereditary succession, the patent was collected, merit and fault weighed, lineage verified, and generational descent or reduction ranked. For native officials, succession eligibility was investigated and referred to Selection for proposed appointment. Pacification commissioners, supervisors, administrators, and chiefs commanding native troops fell under the Ministry of War. For yin privilege, early Ming practice allowed officials from first through seventh rank to secure one son's inherited salary. In 1383, yin privilege rules for officials' descendants were codified. A principal first-rank official's son received principal fifth rank. A secondary first-rank official's son received secondary fifth rank. A principal second-rank official's son received principal sixth rank. A secondary second-rank official's son received secondary sixth rank. A principal third-rank official's son received principal seventh rank. A secondary third-rank official's son received secondary seventh rank. A principal fourth-rank official's son received principal eighth rank. A secondary fourth-rank official's son received secondary eighth rank. A principal fifth-rank official's son received principal ninth rank. A secondary fifth-rank official's son received secondary ninth rank. A principal sixth-rank official's son was placed in upper-tier posts outside the regular rank stream. A secondary sixth-rank official's son was placed in middle-tier posts outside the regular rank stream. A seventh-rank official's son was placed in lower-tier posts outside the regular rank stream. Restrictions tightened over time: only capital officials of third rank or higher who finished review with outstanding merit could secure one son's yin appointment as an office student; sons admitted by special grace were grace students. In enfeoffment and posthumous honors, posthumous titles for dukes, marquises, and earls each rose one grade. Third-rank officials and above with exceptional records, and those who died remonstrating, died holding their integrity, or fell in battle, all received posthumous offices. Active appointees first received honorary titles; after one review cycle, capital officials and outer officials ranked highest in review each received a patent for their own rank. From seventh rank upward, officials could extend honors to ancestors. Fifth rank and above received grand patents (gao); sixth rank and below received simple patents (chi). First rank: four credential scrolls covering three generations. Second and third rank: three scrolls for two generations. Fourth through seventh rank: two scrolls for one generation. Eighth rank and below within the stream received one scroll for themselves alone. First-rank scrolls used jade rollers; second rank rhinoceros horn; third and fourth gilded silver; fifth rank and below horn. Ancestors through the great-grandfather were titled to match the descendant's rank. Dukes, marquises, and earls counted as first rank. Inner and outer titled ladies took the rank of husband or son. Living honors were enfeoffments; posthumous ones were grants. Prior condemnation blocked any grant. The civil honorary ladder had forty-two steps, tied to review cycles. Principal first rank began as Grand Mentor for Splendid Fortune with Special Advancement and rose to Grand Mentor for Imperial Splendor with Special Advancement. Secondary first rank began as Grand Mentor for Splendid Fortune and rose to Grand Mentor for Imperial Splendor. Principal second rank: Grand Mentor for Fostering Goodness, then Supporting Governance, with an additional step as Grand Mentor for Supporting Virtue. Secondary second rank: Grand Mentor of Central Service, then Universal Service, with an additional step as Grand Mentor of Correct Service. Principal third rank: Grand Mentor for Commendable Deliberation, then Penetrating Deliberation, with an additional step as Grand Mentor for Correct Deliberation. Secondary third rank: Subordinate Grand Mentor, then Grand Mentor, with an additional step as Senior Grand Mentor. Principal fourth rank: Grand Mentor for Central Accord, then Central Statutes, with an additional step as Grand Mentor for Central Deliberation. Secondary fourth rank: Grand Mentor of Court Procession, then Court Deliberation, with an additional step as Grand Mentor of Court Petition. Principal fifth rank: Grand Mentor for Presenting Deliberation, then Grand Mentor for Supporting Governance. Secondary fifth rank: Grand Mentor for Court Instruction, then Grand Mentor for Direct Service. Principal sixth rank: Gentleman for Upholding Rectitude, then Gentleman for Upholding Virtue. Secondary sixth rank: Gentleman for Upholding Affairs, then Gentleman of the Forest of Scholars; clerical entrants of proven ability received Gentleman for Proclaiming Virtue. Principal seventh rank: Gentleman for Upholding Affairs, then Gentleman of Literary Grove; able clerical entrants received Gentleman for Proclaiming Deliberation. Secondary seventh rank: Gentleman for Following Service, then Gentleman for Summoned Service. Principal eighth rank: Gentleman for Advancing Merit, then Gentleman for Cultivating Office. Secondary eighth rank: Assistant Gentleman for Advancing Merit, then Assistant Gentleman for Cultivating Office. Principal ninth rank: Gentleman Awaiting Appointment, then Gentleman for Ascending Office. Secondary ninth rank: Assistant Gentleman Awaiting Appointment, then Assistant Gentleman for Ascending Office. Outer titled ladies had nine ranks of title. A duke's consort was Lady of [State]. A marquis's consort was Lady of [Marquisate]. An earl's consort was Lady of [Earldom]. First rank: Lady; later, First-Rank Lady. Second rank: Lady. Third rank: Lady of Cultivated Virtue (Shuren). Fourth rank: Lady of Respectful Bearing (Gongren). Fifth rank: Lady of Easy Grace (Yiren). Sixth rank: Lady of Tranquil Bearing (Anren). Seventh rank: Lady of Tender Youth (Ruren). Titles granted through descendants' honors took the prefix "Grand-"; not while the husband still lived. Grant rounds: seventh through sixth rank once each; fifth rank once; fourth rank once in the original rules, later dropped. Third, second, and first rank: one round each. Three mothers could not be honored at once; when two qualified, the higher rank applied. If the father's rank exceeded the son's, honors advanced one grade. Halted paternal grants and sons given in adoption could shift honors elsewhere. With the principal wife alive, the birth mother received no title; the wife could not be honored before the birth mother. Only one principal wife and one successor wife could receive titles. Corruption after grant triggered revocation.
17
調
Merit Review handled merit grades, name registers, and mourning support for the Minister. There were ten civil honorific ranks. Principal first rank: Left and Right Pillar of the State. Secondary first rank: Pillar of the State. Principal second rank: Chief Minister of Correct Governance. Secondary second rank: Minister of Correct Governance. Principal third rank: Vice Minister of Supporting Governance. Secondary third rank: Junior Vice Minister of Supporting Governance. Principal fourth rank: Vice Minister of Assisting Governance. Secondary fourth rank: Junior Vice Minister of Assisting Governance. Principal fifth rank: Rectifying Vice Minister of the Masses. Secondary fifth rank: Coordinating Rectifying Vice Minister of the Masses. Fifth rank and above required two completed review cycles before honors were granted. Every appointment, transfer, demotion, or reassignment recorded age, native place, and path of entry. Yellow personnel slips went up each twelfth month; spring and autumn clearing of registers followed—all to the inner offices. On special cause, slips were posted and then withdrawn. Officials whose parents were seventy and who had no brothers could request leave to support them at home. Three-year mourning required leaving office; seizing, concealing, or shortening mourning drew impeachment. Only Astronomy Directorate officials returned after three months' mourning leave.
18
滿 滿
Performance Evaluation handled review, demotion, and promotion in support of the Minister. All officials received credentials on a nine-year cycle: review at three and six years, then a comprehensive ninth-year memorial classifying them competent, ordinary, or incompetent for promotion or demotion. Promotions capped at two grades, demotions at three; the worst cases meant dismissal and criminal penalty. Capital officials faced inspection every six years, in si and hai years. Fifth rank and below: incompetence brought graded demotion or penalty; Fourth rank and above submitted self-assessments; the throne decided retention or removal. Outer officials attended court every three years, in chen, xu, chou, and wei years. Provincial commissioners beforehand compiled three-year merit and fault dossiers on subordinates, submitted them for review, and sent them back for final promotion and demotion decisions. Granary officers: annual review; patrol inspectors: three years; education officers: nine years. Prefecture, subprefecture, and county reviews varied with local workload. Clerks completing three- and six-year reviews moved to Seals and Enfeoffments for assignment. After nine years they sat examinations and received formal office. Royal household staff and Astronomy, Imperial Workshops, and similar directorate officials were exempt from review. Impeachment memorials weighed merit and fault and proposed retention or removal for imperial approval. Recommendations and retentions required verified outstanding records for special honors.
19
仿
Early Ming: four departments in the Secretariat handled currency, ritual music, penal matters, and construction. Hongwu year 1 (1368) created the six ministries—Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishments, Works—with Ministers through Section Chiefs ranked from third to seventh rank. They still reported to the Secretariat. In 1373 each ministry gained two Ministers and two Vice Ministers. Personnel set up General, Honors, and Performance Evaluation sub-departments, each with one Director, one Vice Director, and two Section Chiefs. In 1380 the Secretariat was abolished; following the Zhou Six Ministers model, ministry ranks rose and each ministry had one Minister and one Vice Minister. Revenue alone kept two Vice Ministers. Each ministry split into four sub-departments; Personnel added Seals and Enfeoffments. Each sub-department had one director, one vice director, and one section chief; a vice minister was added soon after. In 1389 the General Bureau became the Selection Bureau. In 1396 it was fixed as Document Selection, Seals and Enfeoffments, Honors Review, and Performance Evaluation, plus five sub-departments—all called Clear Officials Bureaus. Under Jianwen, ministry ministers rose to first rank; left and right chamberlains at second rank sat above vice ministers; 'Clear Officials' was dropped from bureau titles. At Yongle's accession, the old system was fully restored.
20
退
The Minister of Personnel set the tone for the bureaucracy, appointed and dismissed officials, and held a selection post of unmatched ceremonial standing. Early in Yongle, Hanlin scholars were posted to the Grand Secretariat. Later Yang Shiqi and other grand secretaries reached the Three Solitaries and held concurrent minister titles, yet in precedence they still ranked below Ministers Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji. Under Jingtai, Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Wen became Minister of Personnel and entered the Grand Secretariat as concurrent academician; his seating still followed his original title. From the second month of Hongzhi 6 (1493), at an inner banquet, Grand Secretary Qiu Jun as Junior Mentor and Minister of Rites ranked above Junior Mentor Wang Su, Minister of Personnel. Afterward, vice ministers and household masters who entered the Grand Secretariat ranked above all six ministries.
21
Ministry of Revenue — with appended section on the Director-General of Granary Depots
22
西西西西 西西 西西西 使使使 使使 使使 使使使 使使 使使使 使使 使使 使使 使 使 使使 使使 使 使使 使 使使使 西使 使使
Ministry of Revenue. One minister, principal second rank; One left and one right vice minister, each principal third rank. Subordinates included the Registry Office with two registrars at auxiliary ninth rank; Thirteen provincial Clear Officials Bureaus—Zhejiang through Yunnan—each with one bureau director at fifth rank. After Xuande, Shanxi had three directors; Shaanxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan each had two; Shandong gained one more. One vice director, secondary fifth rank. In Xuande 7 (1432) Sichuan and Yunnan each gained a vice director; both were later abolished. Two section chiefs, principal sixth rank. After Xuande, Yunnan gained seven section chiefs; seven bureaus gained a second chief each; Shandong, Sichuan, and Guizhou each gained one. Document Revision Office: one reviser at eighth rank. One inspector, principal ninth rank. It oversaw the Paper Currency Directorate: one director at eighth rank and one vice director. The vice director was ninth rank with one registry clerk; both posts were later abolished. Paper Stock Bureau: one commissioner and one vice commissioner; the vice post was later cut. Note Printing Bureau: one commissioner and one vice commissioner; both were later abolished. Broad Beneficence Paper Currency Depot: one ninth-rank commissioner and two auxiliary-rank vice commissioners—abolished under Jiajing. Broad Accumulation Depot: one commissioner, one vice commissioner, one clerk—Jiajing abolished the vice commissioner and clerk. Confiscation and Fine Depot: one commissioner and two vice commissioners—abolished under Jiajing. Five stem-named archives (Jia through Wu): five commissioners and six vice commissioners; Ding had two commissioners until Jiajing cut one and abolished Yi and Wu vice commissioners. Broad Surplus Depot: one commissioner and two vice commissioners. Abolished under Jiajing. Outer Transport Receipt Depot: two commissioners at ninth rank and two vice commissioners at auxiliary ninth rank. Later all commissioners and vice commissioners were abolished. Transport Receipt Depot: one commissioner at ninth rank. One vice commissioner, auxiliary ninth rank. Abolished under Jiajing. Circulation Depot: one commissioner and one vice commissioner; both were later abolished. Taicang Silver Depot: one commissioner and one vice commissioner. Jiajing abolished the vice commissioner. Imperial Horse Granary: one commissioner and one vice commissioner. Military Stores Granary: one commissioner at auxiliary ninth rank. One vice commissioner; later both posts were abolished. Chang'an, Dong'an, Xi'an, and North Gate granaries each had one vice commissioner; Dong'an Gate once had two until Wanli 8 (1580) cut one. Zhangjiawan Salt Granary Inspection Office: one commissioner and one vice commissioner. Longqing 6 (1572) abolished both posts.
23
祿 祿
The minister governed household registers and land-tax policy for the realm. Vice ministers assisted him. They audited registers, annual accounts, and actual tax and corvée collections, then relayed orders downward. Every ten years they compiled yellow registers, ranking households upper, lower, or marginal to track growth and decline. Field encroachment, dedicatory gifts, false and shadow registration were banned; concealed households, flight, collusion, and household splitting were banned; illegal succession and marriage were banned. All were audited and corrected. When the emperor plowed the sacred field, the minister presented plow and hoe. They opened wasteland for the poor, registered migrants, limited fields against heterodox holders, and used cadasters to curb land concentration; they set planting duties for agriculture officers, allotted fodder lands for horse herds, and summoned tenants to use land fully; they remitted debts, extended grants and exemptions, regulated rewards in notes and silver, taught law to officials and subjects, and used weights, market purchases, and price appraisals to steady the economy; granary policy eased hardship; revenue from mountains, ponds, passes, markets, and mines supported the state and army; exchange rules aided the grain transport; disaster orders—exemptions, relief loans, equalized purchase, locust control—addressed famine; transport, garrison farming, purchases, and levies stocked the borders; salary scales kept rank in order. In 1392 Hongwu reset annual salary grain for all civil and military officials. First rank: 1,044 shi of grain. Secondary first rank: 888 shi. Second rank: 732 shi. Secondary second rank: 576 shi. Third rank: 420 shi. Secondary third rank: 312 shi. Fourth rank: 288 shi. Secondary fourth rank: 252 shi. Fifth rank: 192 shi. Secondary fifth rank: 168 shi. Sixth rank: 120 shi. Secondary sixth rank: 96 shi. Seventh rank: 90 shi. Secondary seventh rank: 84 shi. Eighth rank: 78 shi. Secondary eighth rank: 72 shi. Ninth rank: 66 shi. Secondary ninth rank: 60 shi. Unranked posts: 36 shi. All were paid in a mix of rice, paper notes, and grain equivalents.
24
祿 西 西西 西西 西 西祿 西
Thirteen bureaus each ran their province plus assigned capital and direct-rule revenues, office and guard salaries, border rations, and granaries, salt, and toll posts. Zhejiang oversaw seven capital guards and the Divine Engine Camp. Jiangxi oversaw five capital guards: Banner Hand and the four Golden Guards plus Jiyang. Huguang oversaw the Imperial Academy, Music Office, six capital guards, and the Xingdu Rear Garrison. Fujian oversaw Shuntian, eight capital guards, Five Armies and related camps, seven North Zhili prefectures, two subprefectures, Daning and Wanquan commands, all North Zhili guards, and three granaries. Shandong oversaw Brocade Clothes and Daning guards, Liaodong command, major salt transport commissions, Yunnan and other salt directorates, Lingzhou salt, and southern Gan salt tax. Shanxi oversaw five capital guards and the Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi garrisons. Henan oversaw four capital guards, the horse pasture battalion, Tongguan Guard, and Puzhou Battalion. Shaanxi oversaw the imperial clan court, Five Armies, six ministries, censorate, transmission, judicial review, heir apparent's household, Hanlin, stud, ceremonial, seals, supervising offices, drafters, messengers, astronomy, medicine, capital cavalry, military academy, crafts institutes, four capital guards, two camps, and four northwest garrisons. Sichuan oversaw eleven capital guards, Yingtian, forty-nine Nanjing guards, thirteen South Zhili prefectures, four subprefectures, the Central Capital command, and all South Zhili guards. Guangdong oversaw six capital guards and the Foreign Pasturage and Dianjing battalions. Guangxi oversaw sacrifices, entertainments, music, victims offices, Taicang silver, ten inner storehouses, five capital guards, twenty-three horse granaries, elephant and cattle granaries, and capital pastures. Yunnan oversaw seven capital guards, the Great Army and four imperial-city gate granaries, and Linqing, Dezhou, Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Tianjin granaries. Guizhou oversaw the upper forest park, paper currency, metropolitan tax, gate tax offices, three capital guards, five garrisons, and seven toll stations.
25
沿 祿
Four sections: Civil Affairs tracked geography, people, gazetteers, terrain, land, households, and products for its province; Revenue Expenditure handled summer tax, autumn grain, retained and forwarded grain, rewards, and salaries; Metal and Tax handled maritime trade, fish, salt, tea, note levies, and fines; Granary handled transport grain, military stores, and grain receipts and issues. Assignments came in three kinds: Personnel selection (registered), imperial memorial (titled), and ministry order (ministry). Terms ran three years, one year, or three months.
26
使使 西西西西 使 使 使 使 西 祿西 西 簿 簿
Initially, Hongwu 1 (1368) established the Ministry of Revenue. In 1373 it gained two ministers and two vice ministers. It split into five sections: First, Second, Third, Fourth, and General. Each section had one director, one vice director, and four section chiefs. Only the General Section had two directors, two vice directors, and five section chiefs. In 1375 the Secretariat reported that the Revenue, Justice, and Works ministries were overburdened. For the Revenue Ministry's five sections, each gained a minister and vice minister, two directors, two vice directors, and five section chiefs, plus six chiefs in the internal General Section, two in the external Reference Section, four accounting clerks, two revisers, and one controller. A capital circulating-currency depot was also established under the Ministry of Revenue. It had one commissioner, two vice commissioners, one registry clerk, and two chief overseers. In 1380 the ministry's rank was raised, with one minister and two vice ministers as the fixed establishment. It split into four sub-departments: General, Revenue Standards, Bullion, and Granaries. Each sub-department had one director and one vice director. General had four section chiefs; Revenue Standards and Bullion each had three; Granaries had two. The capital circulating-currency depot was soon abolished. In 1389 the General sub-department was renamed the People sub-department. In 1390 the four sub-departments were reorganized into twelve regional departments: Henan, Beiping, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Fujian. The Sichuan department also oversaw Yunnan. Each department had one director, one vice director, and two section chiefs, each handling population registers, tax grain, and related matters for one provincial administration commission according to workload, with concurrent oversight of the capital region where appropriate. Within each department, affairs were still managed through four internal sections. One reviser and one inspector were also appointed to audit document traffic and schedule and supervise processing. In 1386 the Paper Currency Directorate was re-established. Hongwu 7 (1374) first established the Paper Currency Directorate, with one director at principal seventh rank; one vice director, auxiliary seventh rank; and one registry clerk, provincially nominated. Under it were the Paper-Making and Note-Printing bureaus, each with one eighth-rank commissioner; one ninth-rank vice commissioner; and one registry clerk, provincially nominated. The Paper Currency and Circulating Currency depots each had two eighth-rank commissioners; two ninth-rank vice commissioners; and one registry clerk, provincially nominated. The directorate head was soon raised to principal fourth rank. It had been abolished in 1380; now it was restored at principal eighth rank. In 1393 natives of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and the Suzhou-Songjiang region were barred from appointments in the Ministry of Revenue. In 1396 the twelve departments became twelve Clear Officials Bureaus. Under the Jianwen reign they were again reduced to four bureaus. The rest is described under the Ministry of Personnel. The Yongle Emperor restored the former system. In Yongle 1 (1403) the Beiping Bureau became the Beijing Bureau. In Yongle 18 (1420) the Beijing Bureau was abolished and bureaus for Yunnan, Guizhou, and Jiaozhi were added. In Xuande 10 (1435) the Jiaozhi Bureau was abolished, fixing the ministry at thirteen bureaus. Thereafter overlapping duties were consolidated. Stipends for the imperial clan, meritorious nobles, and civil and military officials fell to the Shaanxi Bureau. North Zhili prefectures, subprefectures, guards, and battalions were overseen by the Fujian Bureau. Those of South Zhili were overseen by the Sichuan Bureau. Empire-wide salt revenue was overseen by the Shandong Bureau. Transit duties were overseen by the Guizhou Bureau. Grain transport and the Linqing, Dezhou, and related granaries were overseen by the Yunnan Bureau. Imperial horse and elephant house depots were overseen by the Guangxi Bureau. Early in the dynasty a Ministry of Agriculture was briefly established, then abolished; it was set up again in the inaugural Wu year (1367). a minister, principal third rank; a vice minister, principal fourth rank; an assistant minister, principal fifth rank; a Fallow Fields Office director, principal fifth rank; and a registrar and accounting clerk, principal seventh rank. It was abolished in Hongwu 1 (1368). In 1370 it was restored with its seat in Henan: one minister, two vice ministers, four assistant ministers, and two registrars and two recorders. It was abolished again in 1371. A Receipt Verification Office was later established and also abolished. Hongwu 13 (1380) established the Receipt Verification Office to handle capital officials' stipends, paperwork, and verification tallies. It had one verifier at principal seventh rank; and two vice verifiers at auxiliary seventh rank. The verifier was soon renamed director, and the vice verifiers became left and right assistant directors. It was abolished in 1385. None of these fell under the Ministry of Revenue.
27
西
One director-general of granary depots oversaw grain storage at the capital, Tongzhou, and other depot sites. Early in the Hongwu reign twenty military reserve granaries were set up, each with its own managing office. After the Yongle move to Beijing, capital and Tongzhou granaries were established, managed by Revenue Ministry bureau staff. In Xuande 5 (1430) Li Chang became the first revenue minister appointed solely to supervise granaries, establishing a permanent practice. Thereafter, whether a minister or vice minister held the post, none handled ordinary ministry business. In Jiajing 15 (1536) the post also gained concurrent oversight of Western Park agriculture. Early in the Longqing reign that concurrent duty was dropped. In Wanli 2 (1574) an extra section chief was assigned to accompany treasury operations, daily assisting the vault chief in receiving and disbursing silver, with quarterly rotation. In Wanli 9 (1581) the post was abolished and vice ministers were assigned to share the duty. It was restored in Wanli 11 (1583). In Wanli 25 (1597) Right Vice Minister Zhang Yangmeng was put in charge of Liaodong provisions. In Wanli 47 (1619) an additional vice minister for provisions supervision was added. Under Chongzhen, supervisors were added for Liaodong, bandit-suppression, and Xuan-Da provisions, bringing the total to three or four such posts. In Tianqi 5 (1625) a vice minister for currency-law oversight was also added.
28
使使
Ministry of Rites. One minister, principal second rank; One left and one right vice minister, each principal third rank. Subordinates included the Registry Office with two registrars at auxiliary ninth rank; four Clear Officials Bureaus—Ceremonial Regulations, Sacrificial Rites, Receiving Guests, and Refined Provisions—each with one bureau director at fifth rank; one vice director, auxiliary fifth rank; and one section chief at sixth rank. In Zhengtong 6 (1441) the Ceremonial Regulations and Sacrificial Rites bureaus each gained an additional section chief. Another Ceremonial Regulations section chief was added to instruct imperial sons-in-law. In Hongzhi 5 (1492) the Receiving Guests Bureau gained a section chief to supervise the Hall of Joint Harmonies. It oversaw the Seal-Casting Bureau: one commissioner and two vice commissioners. In Wanli 9 (1581) one post was cut.
29
The minister directed empire-wide policy on ritual, sacrifice, banquets, and civil service examinations. Vice ministers assisted him.
30
西 祿 祿 簿祿簿簿簿簿 簿簿簿 簿簿
Ceremonial Regulations handled ritual texts, imperial enfeoffments, examinations, and schools. For the emperor's accession, capping, wedding, investiture of the crown prince, consorts, and crown prince's consort, bestowal of the empress dowager's honorific title, congratulatory and formal audiences, state banquets, and archery ceremonies, it compiled and submitted the relevant ritual protocols. For the classics lecture, daily lectures, ceremonial plowing, school inspections, scholar examinations, announcement of examination results, imperial tours, personal campaigns, presentation of the calendar and spring rites, presentation of captives and victory reports, the crown prince's coming-of-age or regency, princes' studies or departure to fiefs, birth and naming of imperial children, officials' and titled palace women's congratulatory rites toward the crown prince and consorts, and rites of the princely states—it promulgated the prescribed forms to the relevant offices. For promulgated rescripts and patents, the reading aloud of edicts, commands, tables, and petitions, and official correspondence at every level, it supplied the prescribed forms. Annual requests to enfeoff imperial princes, commandery princes, defenders, supporters, consorts, princesses, and noble ladies were graded by degree of kinship. Officials addressed imperial princes by full title and personal name but did not treat themselves as subjects. A prince's own officials styled themselves as his subjects. Patents for the imperial clan, imperial sons-in-law, palace women of rank, and foreign kings were prepared jointly with the Ministry of Personnel. It regulated the specifications for all official seals. The Grand Secretariat: silver seal with a straight knob, 1.7 cun square and 0.6 cun thick, in jade chopstick seal script. The Pacification-of-the-West, Quelling-the-North, Pacification-of-the-Qiang, and Pacification-of-the-Man generals, among others: silver seals with tiger knobs, 3.3 cun square and 0.9 cun thick, in willow-leaf seal script. The Imperial Clan Court and the Five Military Commissions, all principal first rank: silver seals with triple-platform knobs, 3.4 cun square and 1 cun thick. The Six Ministries, the Censorate, and each regional military commission, all principal second rank: silver seals with double-platform knobs, 3.2 cun square and 0.8 cun thick. The Duke of Yansheng, the Celestial Master Zhang, and the Zhongdu garrison commissioner, all principal second rank; each provincial administration commission, auxiliary second rank: silver seals with double-platform knobs, 3.1 cun square and 0.7 cun thick. Later the Duke of Yansheng was granted a triple-platform silver seal. The Shuntian and Yingtian prefectures, all principal third rank: silver seals, 2.9 cun square and 0.65 cun thick. The Office of Transmission, Court of Judicial Review, Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Household of the Heir Apparent, capital guards, each provincial surveillance commission, and each guard, all principal third rank; the Stud Farm Directorate and pacification commissions, all auxiliary third rank: bronze seals, 2.7 cun square and 0.6 cun thick. The Court of the Imperial Stud, Court of Imperial Entertainments, and each salt transport commission, all auxiliary third rank: bronze seals, 2.6 cun square and 0.55 cun thick. The Court of State Ceremonial and each prefecture, all principal fourth rank; the Directorate of Education and pacification offices, all auxiliary fourth rank: bronze seals, 2.5 cun square and 0.5 cun thick. The Hanlin Academy, Left and Right Spring Mansions, Court of Imperial Seals, Directorate of Astronomy, Imperial Medical Institute, Directorate of the Imperial Parks, each bureau of the Six Ministries, registry of the Imperial Clan Court, chief steward offices of princely establishments, and each guard battalion, all principal fifth rank; the Directorate of Classics, registries of the Five Commissions, pacification offices, and comfort offices, all auxiliary fifth rank: bronze seals, 2.4 cun square and 0.45 cun thick. Each prefecture, auxiliary fifth rank: bronze seals, 2.3 cun square and 0.4 cun thick. The Censorate registry, left and right offices of the Court of Judicial Review, Five-City Military Patrol Office, the four counties of Daxing, Wanping, Shangyuan, and Jiangning, Buddhist and Taoist registries, Zhongdu garrison registry, adjudication offices, registries and adjudication offices of each regional military commission, guard companies and native-official offices, and princely judicial review offices, all principal sixth rank; various sub-offices of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and registries and judicial inquiry offices of each provincial administration commission, all auxiliary sixth rank: bronze seals, 2.2 cun square and 0.35 cun thick. The Six Sections, Courier Office, Office of Transmission registry, Ministry of Works construction office, Court of Imperial Sacrifices registry, sub-offices of the Directorate of the Imperial Parks, surveillance commission registries, and each county, all principal seventh rank; secretariat drafters and registries of the Shuntian and Yingtian prefectures, capital guards, Court of Imperial Entertainments, Court of the Imperial Stud, Household of the Heir Apparent, guards, salt transport commissions, Stud Farm Directorate, and pacification commissions, all auxiliary seventh rank: bronze seals, 2.1 cun square and 0.3 cun thick. Rubbing offices of the Ministries of Revenue, Punishments, and Censorate, the Ministry of War herd office, Directorate of Education discipline, doctoral, and registry halls, registry halls of the Court of State Ceremonial and Directorate of Astronomy, provincial administration rubbing offices, prefectural registries, and princely tutor, treasury, commissary, sacrificial, medical, and works offices, plus pacification office registries, all eighth rank: bronze seals, 2 cun square and 0.25 cun thick. Punishments and Censorate prison offices; Shuntian and Yingtian rubbing and prison offices; Court of State Ceremonial sub-offices; Directorate of Education classics hall; imperial parks registry; inner-palace treasuries, horse and fodder stables, Hall of Joint Harmonies, dyeing works, literary crafts, leather, pigment, saddlery, treasure source, and armory bureaus; metropolitan tax and music offices; garrison and regional military prisons; surveillance and prefectural rubbing and prison offices; princely steward registry, instructor, and ritual offices; prefectural and guard Confucian schools and tax offices; yin-yang and medical schools; Buddhist and Taoist directorates; and inspection posts, all ninth rank: bronze seals, 1.9 cun square and 0.22 cun thick. Prefectural and county Confucian schools, storehouses, courier stations, sluice inspection posts, bamboo levy offices, fisheries, dyeing and tax offices, yin-yang and medical schools, and Buddhist and Taoist rectory and assembly offices, all outside the regular ranks: bronze strip seals 1.3 cun wide, 2.5 cun long, and 0.21 cun thick. All of the above had straight knobs and nine-fold seal script. Investigating censors: bronze seals with straight perforated knobs, 1.5 cun square and 0.3 cun thick, in eight-fold seal script. Grand coordinators, supreme commanders, touring grand coordinators, garrison commanders, and officials on special assignment: bronze travel credentials with straight knobs, 1.95 cun wide, 2.9 cun long, and 0.3 cun thick, in nine-fold seal script. Foreign kings' seals came in three grades: gold, gilt, and silver. Worn seals were replaced and reissued. For auspicious omens it identified their named objects and barred requests for feng and shan rites that would unsettle the emperor's mind. It nurtured scholars through school policy, gathered talent through examinations, taught precedence through village drinking rites, honored the aged through old-age care, fixed ranks through regulations, extended benevolence through poverty relief, encouraged merit through commemorative tablets, aired public concerns through memorials and conferences, and checked wicked commoners by banning self-castration.
31
Sacrificial Rites handled all sacrificial codes and matters of astronomy, national mourning, and tabooed temple names. Sacrifices fell into three kinds: spirits of Heaven, spirits of Earth, and spirits of the dead. It distinguished great, middle, and minor sacrifices and saw that they were reverently supplied. It maintained altar sites, ritual provisions, temples, and imperial tombs and inspected them regularly. It adjusted offerings of victims, wine, jade and silk, grain broth, and land and water burial and burning rites, and ranked accompanying spirits, secondary offerings, and merit recipients in proper order. For deities empire-wide listed in the sacrificial code, it checked the relevant statutes, notified responsible offices, and ensured sacrifices were performed on schedule. It supervised calendar officers in issuing calendars and astronomical tables empire-wide. On solar or lunar eclipses it notified inner and outer offices to perform rescue rites. On omens or anomalies it reported immediately; in serious cases it requested sacrificial announcements and imperial self-cultivation. For funerals and sacrifices, noble and humble each had their grade; it fixed the rules and promulgated them. Posthumous titles ran: emperors seventeen characters, empresses thirteen, consorts, crown prince, and crown prince's consort two each, imperial princes one, commandery princes two—graded by character count. Burial rites, sacrificial grants, or posthumous titles for meritorious kin or senior civil and military officials required referral to the responsible office, verification of conduct and ability, consultation of public opinion, and a settled recommendation to the throne. Attendants who had served faithfully or died in loyal remonstrance might receive a special posthumous title even when rank did not qualify. On anniversaries of an emperor's or empress's death, sacrifice was performed at the tomb; court audiences were suspended but routine business continued. Practitioners of astronomy, geography, medicine, divination, shamanism, music, Buddhism, and Taoism were registered and overseen; those spreading heterodox or fraudulent teachings were punished without pardon.
32
使使 使 使
Receiving Guests handled reception, entertainment, and gifts for tributary missions from foreign states. For foreign tributary missions it distinguished route, envoys, and tribute—their distance, number, and abundance—and thereby fixed grades for welcoming kings or envoys, lodging, provisions, and rewards. All tribute was inspected before entry into the inner treasury; extra carried goods were paid for at value. If a foreign state requested succession and enfeoffment, enfeoffment patents were dispatched there. On envoys' return they reported local products and suitability, and the propriety of gifts and ritual exchanges. Foreign states with merit in guarding the frontier received command seals and enfeoffment patents. Envoys of various states were checked against edicts or inspection registers on entry and exit; none were permitted to enter improperly. Native officials on tribute missions were likewise checked against inspection registers. On their return, gilded edicts of instruction were issued and had to match the bronze tally. It examined memorial language, translated texts, and received and escorted envoys; tested translators and interpreters of the Four Barbarians Halls; and forbade their private dealings and leaks. It also handled court bestowal regulations and provincial tribute of local products.
33
使 使 祿 使祿
Refined Provisions handled banquets, sacrificial victims and beans, and wine and food. Imperial ceremonial food for officials came as banquets or wine meals in upper, middle, and lower grades according to rank. Foreign envoys and native officials received banquets and travel provisions; banquets might be held once or twice; travel provisions followed regular rules or imperial grants. It distinguished all their grades. The same applied when imperial princes proceeded to their fiefs, when kings, dukes, and generals came to court, and when their envoys arrived. Delicacies, wine, and foodstuffs were supplied by the Court of Imperial Entertainments; it tallied quantities and regulated issue and receipt. Kitchen laborers were conscripted from the populace to serve the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Court of Imperial Entertainments; those of long service might be selected as princely commissaries. For annual ice storage and issue it notified responsible offices to keep supplies scrupulously clean.
34
Initially, in Hongwu 1 (1368) the Ministry of Rites was established. In the sixth year two ministers and two vice ministers were appointed. Four subordinate departments were established: General, Sacrificial, Provisions, and Receiving Guests. Each department had one bureau director, one vice director, and three section chiefs. In the thirteenth year the ministry rank was raised; one minister and one vice minister were appointed, and each subordinate department had one bureau director, one vice director, and one section chief. Shortly afterward one additional vice minister was added. In the twenty-second year the General Department was renamed the Ceremonial Department. In the twenty-ninth year the Ceremonial, Sacrificial, and Provisions departments became Ceremonial Regulations, Sacrificial Rites, and Refined Provisions; only Receiving Guests kept its old name; all were styled Clear Officials Bureaus.
35
Under the Zhou, though the Minister of Masses took charge of state rites, the Minister of Education already took charge of teaching—rites meant chiefly sacrifices to spirits and gods. Only under the Ming did one office combine ritual, music, and education, oversee the imperial clan within and foreign states without, and comprehensively administer everyone from celestial officers down to physicians, cooks, and performers. From the Chenghua and Hongzhi reigns onward, Hanlin scholar-officials usually held the post. More ministers who rose from this post to the Three Dukes and chief tutorship than from any other ministry held the highest offices.
36
Ministry of War, with appended note: joint management of capital camp military affairs.
37
使使使使
Ministry of War. One minister, principal second rank; one left and one right vice minister each. Vice ministers were principal third rank. Subordinates included the Registry Office with two registrars at auxiliary ninth rank; the four Clear Officials Bureaus—Military Selection, Appointments and Operations, Chariots and Travels, and Military Storehouses—each with one bureau director at fifth rank. In Zhengtong 10 (1445) the Military Selection and Appointments and Operations bureaus each gained an additional bureau director. In Chenghua 3 (1467) the Chariots and Travels Bureau gained an additional bureau director. In Wanli 9 (1581) all were abolished. One vice director, auxiliary fifth rank. In Zhengtong 10 the Military Selection Bureau gained an additional vice director. In Hongzhi 9 (1496) the Military Storehouses Bureau gained an additional vice director. Later all were abolished. In Jiajing 12 (1533) the Appointments and Operations Bureau gained an additional vice director. Two section chiefs, principal sixth rank. During Hongwu and Xuande three additional section chiefs were added to Military Selection and four to Appointments and Operations. In Zhengtong 14 (1449) the Chariots and Travels and Military Storehouses bureaus each gained an additional section chief. Later they were abolished. In Wanli 11 (1583) the Chariots and Travels Bureau again gained an additional section chief. It oversaw the Hall of Joint Harmonies with one commissioner at principal ninth rank and two vice commissioners at auxiliary ninth rank; the Great Pass Office with one commissioner and one vice commissioner each, all outside the regular ranks.
38
The minister directed empire-wide policy on selection, appointment, and training of military guards and troops. Vice ministers assisted him.
39
調 祿祿 祿祿 使 使 西 祿 婿 祿退祿
Military Selection handled selection, promotion, transfer, succession, and merit rewards for guards, posts, and native officials. For all military officials of six grades, there were twelve grades of merit peerage. Principal first rank: Left and Right Pillar of State. Auxiliary first rank: Pillar of State. Principal second rank: Upper Guardian General. Auxiliary second rank: Guardian General. Principal third rank: Upper Commandant of Light Chariots. Auxiliary third rank: Commandant of Light Chariots. Principal fourth rank: Upper Commandant of Cavalry. Auxiliary fourth rank: Commandant of Cavalry. Principal fifth rank: Commandant of Valiant Cavalry. Auxiliary fifth rank: Commandant of Flying Cavalry. Principal sixth rank: Commandant of Cloud Cavalry. Auxiliary sixth rank: Commandant of Martial Cavalry. The military honorary ladder had thirty steps. Principal first rank began as Grand Mentor for Splendid Fortune with Special Advancement and rose to Grand Mentor for Imperial Splendor with Special Advancement. Auxiliary first rank began as Grand Mentor for Splendid Fortune and rose to Grand Mentor for Imperial Splendor. Principal second rank: General of Fast Cavalry, then General of the Golden Guard, with an additional step as Dragon-Tiger General. Auxiliary second rank: General Who Stabilizes the State, then General Who Pacifies the State, with an additional step as General Who Serves the State. Principal third rank: General of Manifest Valor, then General of Manifest Resolve, with an additional step as General of Manifest Martialism. Auxiliary third rank: General Who Cherishes the Distant, then General Who Pacifies the Distant, with an additional step as General Who Secures the Distant. Principal fourth rank: General of Illustrious Might, then General Who Proclaims Might, with an additional step as General of Broad Might. Auxiliary fourth rank: General Who Proclaims Martialism, then General of Manifest Martialism, with an additional step as General of Trusted Martialism. Principal fifth rank: General of Martial Virtue, then General of Martial Integrity. Auxiliary fifth rank: General of Martial Strategy, then General of Martial Resolve. Principal sixth rank: Captain of Manifest Trust, then Captain of Sustained Trust. Auxiliary sixth rank: Captain of Loyal Manifestation, then Captain of Loyal Martialism. Selections were held six times a year. Some posts were hereditary; others were appointive. Hereditary ranks ran nine steps: commander, vice commander, assistant commander, guard pacification commissioner, chief centurion, deputy centurion, decurion, probationary decurion, and post pacification commissioner. Some lines inherited the post outright; others inherited by substitution. Minors received preferential support. When succession failed, ranks could be reduced or abolished—or abolished outright across the line. Appointive ranks had eight steps: left and right chief military commissioners, vice commissioners, assistant commissioners, regional commanders, and vice regional commanders. Assistant regional commanders, principal garrison commissioners, and vice garrison commissioners. Promoted from hereditary ranks or drawn from the military examination—none of these could pass by inheritance. Any hereditary exception came only by special grace. Non-substantive posts were provisional: each step counted as half a grade above the substantive rank, drew no salary, and could not become substantive without military merit. Trial posts counted as a full grade, paid half salary, and received no patent. Purchased posts drew salary but did not perform duties. Battle merit had two tiers: exceptional merit ranked first, leading merit second. Leading merit had four levels: the northern frontier ranked highest, then Liaodong, then western and Miao frontiers, then internal rebellion. In comparative examinations, “old” officials were those appointed before Hongwu 31 (1398). “New” officials were those appointed after Yongle. Every five years the military roster was reviewed: beforehand grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners filed merit-and-fault reports, which were checked again to decide who stayed or went. Commanders at the Five Commissions, Embroidered-Uniform Guard, and field headquarters reported in person; the throne ruled. Two candidates were nominated from senior ranks; one from below regional commander. Native chieftain posts ran nine grades, from auxiliary third to auxiliary seventh rank, none drawing annual salary. Succession for sons, kin, wives, daughters, sons-in-law, and nephews followed local custom. Border-affiliated posts from chief military commissioner down to pacification commissioner—fourteen grades in all—were authenticated by patent and edict against forgery. Posthumous honors: death in royal service added two grades; death in battle added three grades. Palace rescripts for appointment or removal had to be memorialized and confirmed before taking effect. Slips summoned map registers; early merit brought patents; merit reviews graded commanders; trials drilled troops; preferential support closed grace cases; honors encouraged death in battle; retained salary curbed favoritism; laws on killing surrenderers, lost posts, shirking the enemy, and inciting mutiny kept discipline; statutes on capital crimes, moral breach, robbery, and fleeing battle severed hereditary stipends.
40
輿 調 退 調
Appointments and Operations handled maps, force structure, fortifications, garrisons, training, and campaigns. Every region’s terrain, distance, and frontier boundaries were mapped; registers were filed every three years with troop, chariot, and cavalry counts. Force structure linked capital and provinces; military officers could not issue mobilization warrants on their own. From the chief and regional military commissions through garrisons, guards, defense commands, agricultural colonies, herd offices, guard units, ceremonial guards, native offices, and frontier commands, each body commanded its troops and tribes for mobilization, garrison, tribute, audiences, and frontier defense. They repaired and inspected walls and moats on schedule. Frontier commanders came in five grades: grand defender, co-defender, divisional defender, garrison commander, and anti-pirate commander. Posts were added as needed at strategic points to station garrison troops. Capital-camp training fell to civil and military grandees, with supervising secretaries and censors inspecting. Generals drilling their own camps, the four guard camps, or the warrior, junior-officer, and attendant camps checked troop rolls and squads, noted who was present or absent, and taught formations, pace, spacing, and drum, bell, and banner signals. Campaigns required imperial orders to deploy generals; rewards, punishments, supplies, and merit records governed promotion and demotion. Fortresses screened the frontier; beacons carried intelligence; passes checked spies; pursuit suppressed banditry; the able-bodied were tapped for militia; and summons, apprehension, enrollment, conscription, selection, merger, exemption, release, and relief kept the rolls straight.
41
簿 簿 簿 殿 西 簿
Chariots and Travels handled imperial regalia, ceremonial escorts, palace guards, courier relay, and stud farms. The great entourage regalia served major ceremonies and great court assemblies; the hall ascent entourage served regular audiences; the martial array entourage was created for the Jiajing emperor’s southern tour. Each inventory was tallied and issued to the responsible offices. Regalia for the empress dowager and empress, and guards for the heir apparent and enfeoffed princes, followed the same rules. Palace guards stood full duty at the audience hall and rotating duty at regular audiences; guard and personal-guard units split the four gates into four lines and patrolled day and night. The imperial city had four guard lines: Meridian Gate in front, Gate of Divine Prowess behind, East Flowery Gate to the left, West Flowery Gate to the right. Courier relay used the Joint Reception Office in the capital and post stations and transport depots outside, all run on tally and pass verification. Horse administration fell to the Court of the Imperial Stud and Stud Farm Directorate, which tracked registers and turnover—except the inner stables, kept separate.
42
使 調
Military Storehouses managed weapons, tallies, rosters, the military academy, and fuel and menial staff. Campaigns drew arms from the Ministry of Works, logged in registers, then levied to frontiers by imperial order. Envoys crossing the frontier had to present verified tallies. Shortfalls in army rolls were filled by orders to provinces, prefectures, and counties. Pursuit, record-keeping, household registration, discharge, and suspended summons verified recruitment, mustering, penal transfer, reassignment, and roster counts. Junior officers and heirs not yet holding office studied at the military academy under a supervising section chief. They reported on instructors’ quality and students’ diligence. Offices received fuelwood by regulation; yamens had runners scaled to rank.
43
Initially, Hongwu 1 (1368) established the Ministry of War. In Hongwu 6 one minister and one vice minister were added. Three departments were set up—General Headquarters, Chariot Headquarters, and Appointments and Operations—with directors, vice directors, and section chiefs matching the Ministry of Personnel. In Hongwu 13 the ministry’s rank rose; one minister and one vice minister were appointed, and a Storehouse Department became a fourth subordinate, each with one director, vice director, and section chief. In Hongwu 14 a trial vice minister was added. In Hongwu 22 the General Headquarters became the Sima Department. In Hongwu 29 the four departments became the four Clear Officials Bureaus: Military Selection, Appointments and Operations, Chariots and Travels, and Military Storehouses. Only Appointments and Operations kept its old name. Under Jingtai an extra minister assisted ministry business; Tianshun abolished the post. Longqing 4 added two vice ministers by notation, then abolished them. Late Wanli restored them.
44
One coordinator oversaw capital-camp military affairs—a minister, vice minister, or right censor-in-chief. He supervised capital-camp training. Early Yongle created three great camps under military generals. Jingtai 1 created the corps-camp supervisor; Minister Yu Qian held it concurrently, then the post was abolished. Chenghua 3 restored it, usually held concurrently by the minister or a censor-in-chief. Jiajing 20 Liu Tianhe was first told to set aside ministry work, given a separate seal, and charged solely with military affairs. In Jiajing 29 the seal for “General Supervisor of Capital Camp Military Affairs” went to Qiu Luan; a ministry vice minister again coordinated military affairs, without a separate seal. Wanli 9 abolished it; Wanli 11 restored it. Early Tianqi added a second coordinator, then abolished it. Chongzhen 2 added another; Liu Zhilun, raised from commoner status, served as vice minister of war.
45
西西西西 西 西
Ministry of Punishments. One minister, principal second rank; one left and one right vice minister each. Vice ministers were principal third rank. Subordinates: the Registry Office with two registrars. Thirteen provincial Clear Officials Bureaus—Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Shandong, Fujian, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan—each had one director at fifth rank, one vice director at auxiliary fifth rank, and two section chiefs. Section chiefs were principal sixth rank. Zhengtong 6 each of the thirteen bureaus gained an additional section chief. Chenghua 1 Sichuan and Guangxi each gained an extra section chief; later abolished. Under Wanli, Huguang, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Fujian each lost a section chief again. Document Revision Office: one reviser at eighth rank and one inspector at ninth rank. Prison Office: six prison masters at auxiliary ninth rank.
46
The minister held authority over penal law empire-wide—convict labor, case review, and custody. Vice ministers assisted him.
47
涿鹿涿鹿 西 西 祿宿 西西西 西 涿鹿
Each of the thirteen bureaus handled penal matters for its province and for the capital prefectures and direct-administration units assigned to it. Zhejiang oversaw Chong Estate, the Central Military Commission, penal supervising office, palace directorates, eight capital guards, Foreign Pasturage Battalion, Liang-Zhe salt transport, Hezhou, and Zhuolu guards. Jiangxi oversaw five princely estates, the Front Military Commission, Imperial Horse Directorate, supply bureaus, ten capital guards, Luzhou Prefecture, and affiliated guards. Huguang oversaw five princely estates, the Right Military Commission, palace directorates, Heavenly Treasury, nine capital guards, Xingdu command, two prefectures, six guards, and Bohai Battalion. Fujian oversaw Revenue, Imperial Stud, revenue supervising office, currency and palace agencies, a storehouse, ten capital guards, horse pasture battalion, Fujian salt transport, two prefectures, four guards, and Meiyu Battalion. Shandong oversaw four princely estates, Left Military Commission, imperial clan court, War Ministry, seals and military offices, supply agencies, three capital guards, Dianjing Battalion, Shandong salt transport, Liaodong command and traveling stud, Fengyang, and numerous guards and battalions. Shanxi oversaw five princely estates, Hanlin, astronomy, imperial park, cavalry commands, palace workshops, eight capital guards, two prefectures, garrison guards, Shenyang guard, and two battalions. Henan oversaw seven princely estates, Rites Ministry and related courts, heir apparent's household, academy, rites supervising office, drafters, music and victims offices, arms and signal offices, east city cavalry, music office, six capital guards, Two Huai salt transport, two prefectures, twelve guards, and four battalions. Shaanxi oversaw four princely estates, Rear Military Commission, judicial review, messengers, apparel and needlework offices, west city cavalry, eleven capital guards, Hedong salt transport, two traveling studs, Taiping Prefecture, five Baoding guards, Pingliang guard. Sichuan oversaw Shu Estate, Works Ministry and supervising office, headwear and dyeing bureaus, Buddhist-Daoist registry, eight capital guards, two prefectures, three guards, and Shenmu Battalion. Guangdong oversaw Yingtian Prefecture, seven capital guards, Yanqing, and Huailai Battalion. Guangxi oversaw Jingjiang Estate, transmission office, Five Armies adjudication, central city cavalry, currency and silver bureaus, eight capital guards, two prefectures, and seven affiliated guards. Yunnan oversaw Shuntian Prefecture, medical institute, ceremonial and fuel offices, transport treasury, two prefectures, sixteen guards, and three battalions. Guizhou oversaw Personnel Ministry and supervising office, Vegetable Office, Changlu salt transport, Daning and Wanquan commands, five prefectures, five garrisons, fourteen guards, and three battalions.
48
調 簿
Revisers and inspectors audited case files and recorded fines and ransoms. Prison masters commanded jailers and oversaw prisoners. When soldiers, civilians, officials, or imperial clansmen and meritorious kin ran afoul of the law, the ministry interrogated them, tested their accounts, matched conduct to the code, weighed culpability, and memorialized for decision. Imperial-command prisons had to follow the written record, not the emperor's mood. Special edicts, separate commands, regulatory precedents, and posted examples could not be cited unless they had been deliberated and promulgated as binding law. Every death sentence, whether carried out at once or after autumn review, required three memorial reviews. Each year the ministry reconciled capital-case rolls for the two capitals and thirteen provinces. Every five years the throne sent officers to clear backlogged injustice. At Frost's Descent the ministry joined the Five Offices, Nine Ministers, and censorate supervising secretaries to review serious prisoners. Doubtful cases went to border service; disputed cases went back for reinvestigation; clear convictions awaited execution. Summer hot-weather review waived flogging, reduced servitude and exile, and freed minor detainees. In drought years the emperor likewise ordered special prisoner reviews. Executions halted during major state sacrifices. Where the code allowed commutation, fines could redeem offenses from strangulation and decapitation down through miscellaneous crimes and the lightest penal servitude. Litigants had to appeal up the hierarchy; only grave, urgent cases might strike the Petition Drum. Major provincial cases brought orders to send investigators. Two bureau officers supervised executions in the provinces. Each year the ministry memorialized the names and counts of concluded cases—the annual report; each month it reported detainees held, freed, living, and dead—the monthly report. Finished cases went to the Court of Judicial Review for re-examination within a set term for fair judgment. Prison duty rotated monthly among section chiefs, who maintained cells, locks, discipline, clothing, and rations. Sick prisoners could receive family visits, have shackles removed, and be given medicine. The ministry registered captives and inventoried slaves confiscated from officials and private households. Official misconduct was logged as well. At year's end officials petitioned to clear their records. The code used general principles to subsume articles, eight connective terms to frame argument, mourning grades to weigh circumstance, and ink branding to mark thieves. Forfeitures did not touch burial grounds or the treasury; clansmen and palace women were spared instant market execution or prison; the aged and infirm were spared immediate interrogation. See the Treatise on Penal Law.
49
西西西西
Hongwu 1 established the Ministry of Punishments. Year 6 added one minister and one vice minister. It set up General, Comparison, Capital Crimes, and Gatekeeping departments, each with two directors and vice directors except Capital Crimes with one each. General and Comparison had six section chiefs apiece; Capital Crimes and Gatekeeping had four. Year 8, overwhelmed by casework, added four sections, each with its own minister, vice ministers, directors, and five section chiefs. Year 13 elevated the ministry: one minister, one vice minister, four sub-departments with one director and vice director each, four section chiefs in General and Comparison and two in the others; another vice minister followed. Left and right vice ministers were first distinguished. Year 22 renamed the General Department the Statutory Department. Year 23 split the four departments into twelve provincial bureaus; Zhejiang also covered Yunnan. Each bureau was staffed on the Revenue model. Year 29 renamed them the twelve Clear Officials Bureaus. Yongle 1 made Beiping Beijing. Year 18 abolished the Beijing bureau and added Yunnan, Guizhou, and Jiaozhi. Xuande 10 abolished Jiaozhi, fixing thirteen Clear Officials Bureaus.
50
Ministry of Works (appended: Superintendent of the Yizhou Mountain Works)
51
使使 使使 使使 使使 使使 使 使使 使 使使 使使 使使
Ministry of Works. One minister at principal second rank; one left and one right vice minister each. Vice ministers were principal third rank. Subordinates: the Registry Office with two registrars. Four bureaus—Construction, Forestry and Crafts, Hydraulics, and Garrison Lands—each had a fifth-rank director; Hydraulics later gained four more. Each bureau had one auxiliary fifth-rank vice director; Construction Provisions later gained two, Forestry and Crafts one. Two section chiefs each. Section chiefs were sixth rank; Hydraulics later gained five, Construction Provisions three, Forestry and Crafts two, Garrison Lands one. It oversaw the Construction Office: one seventh-rank director, two eighth-rank deputies, and two assistants. Literary Crafts Institute: one ninth-rank commissioner and two vice commissioners. Leather Workshop: one ninth-rank commissioner and two auxiliary ninth-rank vice commissioners. Auxiliary ninth rank; later abolished. Saddle and Bridle Bureau: one ninth-rank commissioner and one vice commissioner. Vice commissioner was auxiliary ninth rank. Longqing 1 abolished both commissioner posts. Treasure Source Bureau: one ninth-rank commissioner and one vice commissioner. Auxiliary ninth rank; abolished under Jiajing. Pigment Bureau: one ninth-rank commissioner; later abolished. Armaments Bureau: one ninth-rank commissioner and two vice commissioners; one vice post was later cut. Frugal Care Storehouse: one auxiliary ninth-rank commissioner. Established Jiajing 8. Weaving and Dyeing Office and Miscellaneous Manufactures Bureau each had one ninth-rank commissioner and one vice commissioner. Five bamboo-and-timber levy bureaus—Guangji, Tongji, Lugou Bridge, Tongzhou, and Baihe—each had one commissioner and one vice commissioner at ninth and auxiliary ninth rank. Datong Pass Transit Directorate: one eighth-rank director; abolished Wanli 2. Two ninth-rank vice directors and one registry clerk. Later the vice directors and registry clerk were all abolished. Charcoal Bureau: one auxiliary ninth-rank commissioner and one vice commissioner.
52
The minister held authority over registered artisans and mountain and marsh resources. Vice ministers assisted him.
53
殿 簿
The Construction Bureau managed planning and construction. It scheduled labor and materials for palaces, tombs, walls, altars, temples, storehouses, offices, barracks, and princely residences. Regalia, guards, and instruments went to the inner palace and competent agencies; the bureau inspected condition and cracked down on shoddy work. Execution gear had to meet code specifications. Craftsmen fell into two classes: rotating corvée, called up every three years for up to three months, then sent home; and resident service, working ten days a month with rations. Convict labor had regular and miscellaneous grades. Three days of miscellaneous labor equaled one regular day, apportioned by the size of the project. Material yards—the Divine Timber and Great Timber yards for lumber, Black Kiln and Glazed Tile yards for pottery, Platform Foundation yard for fuel—were inventoried for building needs.
54
Forestry and Crafts managed mountain and marsh harvesting, hunting, and ceramic and smelting work. Each year the ministry ordered subordinate offices to hunt and gather the meat, hides, horns, bones, and feathers of birds and beasts needed for sacrifice, hospitality, royal banquets, ritual implements, and military stores. Water duties covered eighteen species of bird and twelve of beast; land duties covered eighteen beasts and twelve birds—all taken only in season. Between winter and spring, nets and snares were forbidden on rivers and marshes; between spring and summer, poison was forbidden on the open plain. While crops were young, trampling was banned; at harvest, slash-and-burn was banned. Vermin could be taken in traps, with graded rewards. No one might cut timber, open furnaces, or bury the dead on the lower slopes of imperial tomb hills. Logging and grazing were barred at sites honoring emperors, sages, loyal martyrs, sacred peaks, guardian mountains, tombs, and temples that had served the public good. Commoners might enjoy the produce of mountain lots and orchards, subject only to light dues. Military kit and arms were ordered from competent workshops, reviewed jointly with the Ministry of War, and had to meet standards of strength and finish. Ceramic quotas might be annual, temporary, or suspended or cut; registers tracked every delivery, and nothing was to be smashed needlessly at the people's expense. For every foundry, materials were readied, molds inspected, and work passed to the proper agencies. Coinage had to meet exact weight standards, pass into the inner treasury, and then be issued. Pass tokens and firearms were cast in the inner workshops, and their designs must not leave the palace. Pigments were levied only where they were native products.
55
使 輿
The Hydraulics Bureau managed rivers, marshes, ponds, bridges, roads, shipping, weaving for state use, documents of obligation, and weights and measures. Its hydraulic duties were grain transport and field irrigation. It stockpiled metal, timber, bamboo, and fascines, repaired gates, channels, polders, and levees on schedule, and regulated storage and release against drought and flood so that fields, homes, tombs, and crops were not harmed. Shipping and milling must not compete with irrigation for water, nor irrigation with grain transport. At every major water junction it posted a capital official to oversee local agencies. Corvée had to fall in the agricultural off-season; when it could not, hired labor finished the job. Roads and ferry bridges were kept in repair on a fixed schedule. Before imperial tours, state funerals, or major rites, routes were cleared, repaired, and inspected to standard. Vessel and cart types included Yellow Boats for the imperial household; ocean-going and river grain transports; dispatch and fast courier boats for official freight; anti-pirate and war vessels; and large carts, single-axle carts, and war chariots—each budget reconciled for volume, distance, duration, and labor. Weaving of coronation robes, patents, regulated silks, sacrificial garb, ritual vestments, and offering cloth was assigned to the inner palace, Nanjing, Zhejiang, and other sites, with full tallies and strict economy. Iron tallies for dukes, marquises, and earls were sized by rank. Specifications appear in the 《Treatise on Rites》. Sacrificial vessels, registers and seals, imperial carriages, tallies, and other gear were all regulated through the inner palace. Measures and weights were carefully calibrated, issued, and displayed in the markets; offenders who failed the standard were punished.
56
The Garrison Lands Bureau managed military colonies, merchant tolls, fuel charcoal, porter labor, and tombs. Where troops garrisoned a post but supply lines failed, military farms were opened to swell army granaries. It arranged construction, timber, city bricks, barracks, official housing, uniforms, weapons, draft oxen, and farm tools. Transit duties on merchants varied by the goods they carried. Fuel charcoal came from southern shallows or northern hillsides, or was levied on households in kind or cash, with quotas scaled to need. Cutting and hauling fuel were done entirely by hired labor. Tomb layouts and the rules for hall steles, tomb tablets, and stone tomb beasts were graded by status within the imperial clan, ennobled kin, and the civil and military ranks. Tomb regulations appear in the 《Treatise on Rites》.
57
簿 使使
Early in the Hongwu reign the Ministry of Works and its staff were established, with the Directorate of Imperial Works placed under it. In Wu 1 the Directorate of Imperial Works was created: a director of upper third rank, a vice director of upper fourth rank, and assistants of upper fifth rank. Its Left and Right Commissariats had commissars of upper sixth rank, associate commissars of lower sixth rank, and clerks, registrars, and deputy commissars of upper seventh rank. The Military Supply Depot had a chief of lower eighth rank and a deputy of upper ninth rank. In Hongwu 1 the directorate was placed under the Ministry of Works. In year 6 an additional minister and vice minister were appointed, and four sub-departments were set up: General Affairs, Forestry, Water, and Garrison Lands. The General Department had two directors and two vice directors; the other departments had one of each. The General Department had eight section chiefs; the others had four apiece. A Construction Commissariat was also added. In Hongwu year 6 the directorate was reduced to upper sixth rank and its commissariats to upper seventh rank. Soon the Construction Commissariat and its branch offices were re-established, each with one chief commissar and two deputies, all under the directorate. In year 8 four sections were added, each with a minister, vice minister, director, two vice directors, five section chiefs, and two auditors. In year 10 the directorate was abolished. In year 13 the establishment was fixed at one minister, one vice minister, and four sub-departments (Garrison Lands shortened to Lands), each with one director, one vice director, and two section chiefs. In year 15 a second vice minister was added. In year 22 the General Department was renamed the Construction Department. In year 25 the Construction Office was established. The directorate became the Construction Office at upper seventh rank, with two chiefs, two deputies, and two assistants apiece, chosen from the most skilled artisans. In year 29 the four sub-departments became the Pure Officials bureaus of Construction, Forestry and Crafts, Hydraulics, and Garrison Lands. After the Jiajing reign an additional minister was appointed solely to oversee major projects.
58
沿 滿
A superintendent of the Yizhou Mountain Depot oversaw imperial fuel charcoal. Early in the dynasty fuel came from riverside reed flats and from the Longjiang and Waxie depots. After the Yongle move of the capital northward, supplies were procured at Baiyangkou, Huanghuazhen, Hongluo Mountain, and other sites. In Xuande year 4 the Yizhou Mountain Depot was established under a dedicated superintendent. Under Jingtai it shifted first to Pingshan, then to Mancheng, with successive oversight by the ministry's minister or vice minister. In Tianshun 1 it returned to Yizhou. In Jiajing year 8 the post was abolished and a section chief took over management.
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