| The Ming Dynasty ended the rule of the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongolians and reestablished the Han regime.The rulers of the Ming Dynasty learned the lessons from previous dynasties and continued to adopt a series of measures to strengthen the monarchy’s autocratic centralization,abolish the prime minister system established since the Qin Dynasty and set up a cabinet,further concentrating power in the hands of the emperor.Under this political background,the Ming Dynasty inherited and strengthened the system of civil servants ruling the army in the Song Dynasty,thus making the political and social status of civil servants and military commanders obviously different.The evolution of civil-military relations in the Ming Dynasty was mainly closely related to the military system of civil servants ruling the army.With the establishment of the system of civil servants ruling the army,the relationship between civil and military officials changed from emphasizing military and despising civil in the early Ming Dynasty to advocating civil and deposing military in the middle and it finally evolved into the arrogance of military officials in the late Ming Dynasty.Correspondingly,the positions of civil servants and military commanders have also changed correspondingly: in the early Ming Dynasty,military commanders were given more important positions than civil servants;In the middle and late Ming Dynasty,the status of civil servants was greatly improved,and military commanders were gradually restrained by civil servants.At the end of the Ming Dynasty,the status of military commanders rebounded to a certain extent,with the emergence of military generals who combined civil and military powers.However,this has not changed the influence brought about by the long-term emphasizing on civil and the despising of limitary in the Ming Dynasty.Under the influence of this political pattern,there appeared a social fashion of military commanders were good at writing and the civil servants were good at martial arts,which also became an important feature of Ming Dynasty society.Such a political pattern and the deep-rooted system of civil servants ruling the army led the Ming Dynasty to maintain a stable feudal rule for a long period of time,but also indirectly led to a decline in the fighting capacity of the army in the late Ming Dynasty and eventually led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.The status of civil servants and military commanders in the Ming Dynasty was reflected in terms of official system,ceremonial dress,laws and regulations,etc.In the aspect of official system,the Ming Dynasty had a total of 42 ranks of civil and 30 ranks of military officials.The large disparity of official levels obviously conveys the emphasizing on civil and the despising of limitary.In terms of official positions,in the early Ming Dynasty,the military commanders had a very high position,and the generals who printed the stamps had the power of life and death.In the middle of the Ming Dynasty,the position of the military commanders declined,and there appeared some official positions held by civil servants,such as counsellor,guard,governor,prefect,governor,etc.Their political and military power became more and more powerful,and military commanders were restricted by civil servants.Judging from the daily communication between civil servants and military commanders,the status of military commanders was relatively high in the early Ming Dynasty.From the mid-term,the status of civil servants began to gradually improve,which was especially evident in the seating arrangements for parties,bus rides and other occasions.Judging from the laws and regulations,the early Ming Dynasty gave preferential treatment to military officials’ crimes,but this preferential treatment was gradually cancelled from the middle of the Ming Dynasty.How to correctly handle the civil-military relationship has also become an important issue in the study of ancient politics,and it is also of certain reference significance for the contemporary military reform. |
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