| This paper mainly discusses the dual nature of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants(宣徽使)in Song Dynasty and its process of becoming rank,the reasons for their abolishment and the rank adjustment after their abolishment,the inheritance relationship between the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants and“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments(执政恩例)”in Song Dynasty,the evolution of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”and the specific content of the treatment of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”.1,The dual nature of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in Song Dynasty and its process of becoming rank.The Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in the Song Dynasty were divided into two stages by the year of Kangding(1040).Before that,their nature was mainly manifested as a duty assignment(差遣),and then mainly as a rank.The Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in Taizu Dynasty had obvious position characteristics;in Taizong Dynasty,they promoted the prestige of the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs(知枢密院事和枢密院副长官)who had served Taizong before he succeeded to the throne by means of making them serve as the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in the same timel,which enhanced the function of rank of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants,and formed the practice which is that the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants severed as the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs,which continued to the early years of Renzong.In Renzong Dynasty,due to the fact that it was difficult for military officials to enter the Bureau of Military Affairs(枢密院)and the war between Song Dynasty and Xia Dynasty,the main conferring objects of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants changed from the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs to northwest generals,and the main working place of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants changed from the central government to northwest military Town,which greatly deepened its rank.In Renzong Dynasty,the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants had a high degree of rank,which was mainly reflected in the formation of two new rank sequences with the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants as the hub.One is“Zizhengdian Xueshi--Zizhengdian Daxueshi or Guanwendian Xueshi--the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants”,which is only for the literati;the other is“the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants or Jiedushi--the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendant and Jiedushi--Jiedushi and Tongzhongshumenxiapingzhangshi”.At the same time,it also faced civil and military officials.In addition,the estrangement between civil official and the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants was also broken in the middle of Renzong period.Before that,the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants was conferred from the military rank.In the middle of Renzong period,because the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants made the post holder become the highest military commander in the local area,and the highest military commander in the local area also gradually changed to take civil official as the mainstream in this period,the phenomenon of appointing the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants from the rank of civil official began to appear,and became more and more common.After Renzong,the high-rank Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants made its quality very complicated.For some literati,it had the function of keeping rank.However,if we consider the whole group,its main function can be summarized as two points:promoting class position and marking the identity of personal attendant of the emperor.Its function of rank is more similar to the title of palace(殿阁职名).After Renzong,the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants still had the nature of a duty assignment.In the middle and later period of Renzong and the period of Shenzong,we can see some Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants return to the Court of Palace Attendants(宣徽院)to serve.Generally speaking,for a specific Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants,if they worked in a local place,it is a rank.If they returned to the central government,it could be directly transformed into positions.There was no gap between them.2,The reasons for the abolishment of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in Song Dynasty and the rank adjustment after the abolishment.the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants gradually developed separately from the Court of Palace Attendants since Song Dynasty was founded.the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants always maintained a high grade,but the duties of the Court of Palace Attendants became more and more simple.However,the connection between them has not been cut off.The establishment of the Commissioner really depends on the existence of the Court of Palace Attendants.In Yuanfeng reformation,the Court of Palace Attendants,as a central government organ,was within the scope of restructuring and adjustment.However,the Court of Palace Attendants was not an institution in the original bureaucratic system in the Tang Dynasty,and it did not have a very important role like the Bureau of Military Affairs.Therefore,the Court of Palace Attendants was abolished,and the Commissioner was no longer appointed.In addition to the restoration of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants,the Song government also made a series of rank adjustments from the period of Zhezong to Gaozong,which include upgrading the rank of xueshi,upgrading the economic treatment of the the title of palace,setting up the military rank Taiwei,granting some officials the treatment of"the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments",and guaranteeing the treatment of the former chief executive group by appointing them Inner Temple assignment(内祠差遣).3,The succession relationship between the“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”and the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants in Song Dynasty and the evolution of the“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”.Since the years of Zhenghe,there are two different forms of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”:civil official and military officer.The form of civil official are directly inherited from the the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants,which mainly shows in three aspects:First,they are in the same position and basically equal to the Assistant Councilor.Secondly,the form of civil official are all attached the senior title of the palace.Thirdly,after the combination of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”and the senior title of the palace,their rank functions are the same as that of the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants.The senior title of the palace is used to identify the status of the servant,"the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments"is used to improve economic treatment and shift rank.The evolution of"the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments"of civil servants in the Southern Song Dynasty is shown in four aspects:First,the title of the first award gradually declined,the majority is Duanmingdian Xueshi after the middle period of Gaozong.Secondly,the number of awarding in the late Southern Song Dynasty tended to be unrestrained.Thirdly,the number of appointing increased gradually due to military reasons,and gradually appeared the order of ranks between“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”and the Assistant Councilor in the military officers in the later period of the Southern Song Dynasty(some officers who are in charge of military forces have been transferred from“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”to Assistant Councilor,but still in charge of military forces).Fourth,when the powerful Prime Ministers(权相)were in power,the appointing rules often has special performance.The rank of military officer inheriting the Commissioner of Court of Palace Attendants is actually“Taiwei”(太尉),and"the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments"of military officer is not a complete form of rank,but a way to determine the partial treatment of senior military officials such as the Taiwei,Shixiang,Sanshao since the last period of the Northern Song.This is mainly because after the reformation of Yuanfeng,some of the treatment of senior military officials above the Taiwei has not been determined in time through law,so it is often necessary to invoke the provision of treatment of the Assistant Councilor to determine it.4,The specific content of the treatment of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”.The Assistant Councilor of Song Dynasty are not equal in rank.They can be roughly divided into three levels according to their treatment and class position.The highest level is the primary Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs(枢密使),the lowest level is signing affairs of the Bureau of Military Affairs(签书枢密院事)and assistant signing affairs of the Bureau of Military Affairs(同签书枢密院事).Other Assistant Councilor are in the middle level.The specific analogy object of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”needs to be analyzed in detail,which includes the analogy of a specific Assistant Councilor and the general reference of"ruling".The reason why the general reference of"ruling"exists is that the treatment of Assistant Councilor in laws and regulations is also generally referred to as“ruling”,and the meaning of“ruling”is separately stipulated in the official rank law.The“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”mainly refers to the current Assistant Councilor,but its treatment is not exactly the same as that of the current Assistant Councilor.The reasons is that some treatment is not available to the current Assistant Councilor.The treatment of“the equivalent of the Assistant Councilor’s rank and emoluments”includes a wide range of economic treatment,such as salary,servants,reward and so on,as well as political treatment,such as rank,advance promotion,clothes and belts,guard of honor,recruiting relatives and so on. |
