Research On The Vice Minister Of The Ministry Of Revenue In The Ming Dynasty

The abolition of the prime minister was a crucial event in the political history of the Ming dynasty.After the system of three provinces and six ministries was gradually formed in the Sui and Tang dynasties,the prime minister,as the head of the officials,was responsible for contacting the imperial power and commanding the officials of the six ministries.However,in 1380,Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister.The six ministers rose to be the highest administrative department of the empire,directly responsible to the emperor,and their status was greatly promoted,which was obviously different from the previous dynasties.The Ministry of Revenue,as one of the top six departments,has always been highly concerned by the academic circle.However,scholars usually focus their attention on the ministers--the secretary of the Ministry of Revenue,and seldom pay attention to the situation of the second officer--the vice minister in Ministry of Revenue.In fact,the vice minister played a very important role in the politics of the Ming dynasty,which was closely related to the governorship system,the problem of regional restriction of government officials,the problem of party affiliation,and the problem of domineering in the Ming dynasty.The study of the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue is helpful to examine the politics of the Ming dynasty in a more stereoscopic way.Based on a lot of historical materials,we will discussed the development of the vice minister,including their duty,areal distribution,background,immigration officers and emigration officers and their terms by comparing about 329 vice minsters by statistics from 1368 to 1644.The details are as follows:Chapter one is mainly related to the process of setting up vice minister and its related duties.In 1368,Zhu Yuanzhang started the setting of the system of six provinces.After the three dynasties of Hongwu,Jianwen and Yongle,the setting was basically completed.However,due to the political volatility of the Ming dynasty,the group of the vice ministers also experienced the phenomenon of position test and installation in the subsequent process.After the setting,the authorities did not make a clear distinction between its functions.By summarizing the cases,the functions of vice minister in the Ministry of Revenue include governor barn,worshipping the God of Taicang,managing the farming in West Garden,taking charge of military affairs,supervising money laws and other temporary affairs.The ministry of the vice ministers' origin and geographical distribution will be discussed in the second chapter.During the Hongwu period,there were some geographical restrictions on the officials of the ministry of Revenue,so it is necessary to investigate the situation that the vice minister group carried out this regulation.The first part of this chapter is divided into two stages: Hongwu-Jianwen period and Yongle period and later,during the Hongwu period,although officials issued to the fact of regional restrictions,but people who lived in south still took charge of the position of the vice minister.But after the Yongle of the Ming dynasty,vice minister generally followed the tradition,while the specific political situation,cultural development level and population influenced the setting of vice minister.Regarding one's previous experience,obviously,before Zhengtong period,the source way of vice minister is much more pluralistic,and after Zhengtong period,as the imperial examination is flourishing,it trended that through the imperial examination to be a vice minister became a mainstream.The third chapter mainly examines the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue's immigration,emigration and term.Due to the fact that the condition about vice minsters is complex,this chapter is divided by periods to discuss.On the whole,whether the immigration officer or emigration officer,changes of the vice minister group are included in the central official groups,reflecting the state power running stable,which suggests that as the system of national stereotyped,the way that officials early flow path was no longer open.And the term of vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue was mainly within one year,indicating that the change of vice minister was frequent,which shows the complexity of politics in the Ming dynasty.