1. What is an internal office?
During the Qing Dynasty, the vast Forbidden City was inhabited by emperors, queens, a large group of concubines and members of the royal family. Their food, clothing, housing and transportation are all managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the Ministry of the Interior is essentially the logistics support department of the palace.
The scale of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is staggering, with more than 3,000 people at most. As far as the number of people is concerned, it is 10 times that of the household department with the largest number of people in the six departments. The Ministry of Interior consists of Chuguang Department, DuDu Department, Zhangyi Department, Accounting Department, Construction Department, Shenshu Department, Qingfeng Department, Shangyuan Hospital, Quartermaster Hospital and Chen Feng Garden. This is commonly known as the "Seven Divisions and Three Hospitals".
In the specific division of labor, Chu Guangsi is responsible for royal gold and silver jewelry, furs, porcelain, silks and satins, clothes, tea and other special offerings. The viceroy is responsible for the selection and appointment of officials of Shangsanqi Wu Zhi, the salary assessment of officers and men, and hunting and fishing. Zhang Yishi is responsible for the music and dance in the inner court, and also records the eunuch's grade and orchard tax. The accounting department is responsible for the taxation of land. The building department is responsible for restoring the palace. The drug rehabilitation center is responsible for the criminal and civil cases of Shangsanqi. Qingfeng division is responsible for raising cattle and sheep. The court was responsible for the horses used in the palace. Military Equipment Research Institute is responsible for manufacturing and storing umbrellas, saddles, swords, guns, bows and arrows. Management and maintenance of various gardens in Chenfengyuan.
In addition to the "seven departments and three hospitals", the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has three weaving departments, three flags consular department, palm defense department, three flags zhuangtou department, royal tea restaurant, wine promotion department and royal pharmacy. It also dominates the respectful room. As you know, Jing Shi is an institution that manages eunuchs and maids-in-waiting, and it is also a big department.
2. The Ministry of the Interior has money.
The story at the beginning of the TV series Yongzheng Dynasty is that the Yellow River flooded and the court ordered disaster relief. However, the Ministry called it poverty, saying that there were only 500,000 taels of treasury silver that could be distributed, at least 2 million taels less. Finally, Emperor Kangxi took out two or three million taels of silver from the interior office, which solved the problem satisfactorily.
This story illustrates two points. First of all, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Housing are two independent departments. Second, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has money.
Where does the internal affairs department get the money?
There are many sources of income for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, such as Heilongjiang Gold Mine, Northeast Antler Ginseng, Jiangning Weaving, Jingdezhen Porcelain Kiln, Huang Zhuang and so on. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also controls Shanhaiguan, Huaiguan, Zuoyi Pass, Right Wing Pass, Zhangjiakou and Shahukou, and all the surplus silver from these tariffs has entered the pocket of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Guangzhou Customs must pay official tax to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
At the same time, every year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will allocate a certain amount of money to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a "reserve bank in the national treasury". This money is quite large. "Xiao Ting Miscellaneous Notes" records: "When the government (the Ministry of Internal Affairs) has insufficient investment, it will be supported by the treasury of the household department. In the middle of the year, parents made a ruling, which saved some extra expenses and spent more than 600,000 yuan a year. " In other words, in the mid-Qianlong period, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development allocated more than 600,000 yuan to the Ministry of Internal Affairs every year.
It is worth mentioning that during the Qianlong period, financial expert Xiao Shenyang came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Before Xiao Shenyang came, the Ministry of Internal Affairs could not make ends meet; After Xiao Shenyang came, he invented a kind of "negotiation silver", which made silver flow into the office like water. Internal affairs makes a lot of money. Later, Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River six times, but he didn't withdraw money from the office, and the office still had a surplus.
3. The Ministry of the Interior has the right.
In many TV dramas, the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a eunuch. Is that really the case? The answer is of course no.
In the early Qing dynasty, in order to prevent eunuchs from interfering in government affairs, the court made strict regulations, saying that "eunuchs should not exceed level 4." An Dehai, a famous red man in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, has only four top grades. Do you know what rank the head of the internal affairs department is? Positive second product! It's the same level as Badu. So it is impossible for a eunuch to be the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Li and An Dehai, the great eunuchs of the Qing Dynasty, never served as the general manager of the interior office.
Those who can serve as the head of the interior office are either royalty, descendants of heroes, or people the emperor especially trusts. Fu Heng, the striking "Gao Fushuai" in Biography of Yan Xi Palace, used to be the head of the internal affairs office. Who's Fu Heng? He was the younger brother of Emperor Qianlong after the founding of the Qing Dynasty. The small Shenyang and adults mentioned above are also rooted in Hongmiao, and they are favored by Emperor Qianlong because of their ability to handle affairs.
Because of the importance of the interior office, the emperor will arrange someone he can trust to be the head of the interior office. Because of this, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs definitely plays the role of walking sideways in court. The princes and concubines in the harem will respect each other when they see the head of the internal affairs office, and they dare not offend easily.
In addition to the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, other officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also have considerable power.
During Guangxu period, there was a court painter named Qing Kuan who was good at painting and calligraphy. He was recommended by Prince Chun and entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He has served as Yuan Wailang, Tang Langzhong and Secretary of the Third Hospital. The Third Hospital of Qing Dynasty belongs to the third category. On the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Guangxu wanted to send four gold bracelets to Empress Dowager Cixi and asked how much it cost. Qing Kuan replied that * * * was worth forty-two thousand pieces of silver.
Forty-two thousand silver for four gold bracelets? Emperor Guangxu was startled. "Isn't this going to copy my home?" Because he just saved 42 thousand silver for private money. Emperor Guangxu was not as easy to fool as Daoguang, knowing that Qingkuan must have been ripped off, but he called the assistant minister of the official department to respect the letter and planned to cure Qingkuan's crime.
I didn't want to take someone to check the letter, but I didn't find any evidence of leniency. Finally, he had to set up a demolition stone in front of Qingkuan's house on the pretext of "breaking the law", and he was dismissed. Not long after, Qing Kuan was reinstated by Empress Dowager Cixi.