During the period from the Qing dynasty's entry into the customs to the abdication of the Qing emperor, there were two situations in the power game between the central and local governments in the Qing dynasty: first, the Qing government implemented centralization or even totalitarianism after opening the door to the Opium War. Whether it attaches importance to Han people or Manchu depends entirely on the needs of its regime, and it is a right to give up a very small part of it voluntarily. For example, during the Daoguang period, Mei Zengliang once said in the Book of History above: "A chicken barks a dog without warning. /kloc-from 0/70 to now, ten Yu Wanli have been made in the east, west, north and south, and it's up to the leaders of China, the officials of big and small governors to hold official ceremonies, to be afraid. If the temple is close at hand, their subordinate officials will hand over to each other, and the scribes will be descendants. ②
Secondly, in the middle of19th century, due to sharp social contradictions and class contradictions, and the influence of western invasion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army Uprising broke out, which swept through most of China and lasted for an unprecedented time, putting the rule of the Qing Dynasty in jeopardy. The original military forces-the Eight Banners and green camp-were decadent and unable to shoulder the heavy responsibility of maintaining feudal rule. In order to quell the peasant uprising that threatened the regime, the Qing court had to give provincial officials the power to train the army and raise their salaries. As a result, the military power, administrative power and financial power of the central government were transferred to local governments by human rights, and from Manchu to Han people, forming a regional pattern of integrating politics, economy, justice and military affairs led by local governors of Han people. Among them, the power transfer from the central government to the local government is a passive power transfer to stabilize the rule. For example, the Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty said: "It is convenient to act when you are in charge, choose people regardless of their qualifications, and take measures at any time. You can't take big plans as an example." ③
Undoubtedly, the Qing court's demotion of power was a last resort, and no one would give up his rights easily, except in extraordinary times, which was really a helpless move. However, this helpless move of the Qing court was an important reason for accelerating the demise of the Qing dynasty. The centrifugal tendency of various local forces is unchangeable, which also reflects that imperial power is no longer majestic. With the rising power of local governors, whenever it comes to CUHK, such as the central government's policy issues, military affairs, etc., the Qing government has to quote the opinions of Xinjiang ministers, which has developed into a rule that the court will hand over major decisions to local governors. For example, dealing with the issues of "coastal defense" and "blocking defense" can also be considered as a dispute between Hunan and Huaihe. The national defense thought of "paying equal attention to coastal defense and fortress defense" also made Zuo a national hero.
However, the Qing government, as the ruler, would never hand over power to others in this way. There is bound to be a counterattack. That is, it entered the second stage of the game between the central and local governments in the Qing Dynasty. From 1960s to 1990s, the Qing government tried to re-establish a highly centralized military rule system. For example, in the military, the brave are turned into soldiers, and the brave camp system is introduced into the centralized military system. At the same time, in order to control the number of brave battalions in each province, in 1878, the provinces were ordered to eliminate one-tenth of the brave battalions. Financially, the Qing court restrained local financial power by apportioning and designating reimbursement to Beijing, and still controlled local financial power to a certain extent. In terms of personnel appointment and removal, the Qing court could recall or transfer the governor's post at any time by controlling the governor's appointment and removal rights and transfer rights.
But even these measures can't change the situation that rights are doomed to be divided. First, the loss of customs rights in China. A basic source of central finance is blocked. Since treaty of nanking, China's independent tariff rights have been restricted, and China's tariffs were completely controlled by imperialism until Hurd, an Englishman, served as the General Administration of Customs and Excise. Even without decentralization, the Qing government could not have complete financial autonomy.
Second, the rise of the Westernization Movement. 19 The Westernization Movement, which rose after the 1960s, began with the establishment of military industry. 1864 Li Hongzhang, then governor of Jiangsu, wrote to Yi: "If China wants to strengthen itself, it is better to learn from foreign sharp tools. If you want to learn foreign weapons, you can't find weapons. " (4) Yi then wrote to Emperor Tongzhi, and put forward the famous conclusion that "the way to govern the country lies in caring for self-improvement, but sizing up the situation, self-improvement focuses on training, and training is more important than pre-emptive tools" (5). Advocate self-improvement, learn from the west, establish machine manufacturing enterprises and develop the military. Among them, the local governor was the first to set up enterprises, such as 1865, and was promoted to the governor of Liangjiang, and established Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau in Shanghai and Machinery Bureau in Jinling; Fujian and Zhejiang Governor Zuo Yu 1866 founded the Shipping Bureau in Fuzhou. In addition, with the establishment of a large number of military enterprises, local governors gradually realized the importance of capital, so they put forward the slogan of "seeking money" and founded a series of private enterprises: 1872 Li Hongzhang's first private enterprise in Shanghai, Tianjin Kaiping Mining Bureau and General Administration of Telegraph; Hanyang Iron Works founded by Zhang Zhidong and so on. The Westernization Movement expanded the autonomy of local governors both militarily and economically.
Thirdly, with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War 1894, the Qing Dynasty used hundreds of thousands of troops to resist Japanese ships, which failed and the Beiyang Navy was destroyed. The Qing government was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki, which made the relationship between the central and local governors more prominent. In the late Sino-Japanese War (1895), the Qing court appointed Rong Lu as the minister of war and commander of infantry, and recommended Yuan Shikai to train the new army. In an attempt to train new troops under the central control to replace local soldiers and rebuild the central military pillar. However, the total annihilation of the Beiyang Navy dashed the idea of the Qing government. With the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government made people even more disgusted, and it wanted to overthrow this decadent dynasty more and more. With the failure of the Sino-Japanese War, signing a treaty will cost a lot of money. A group of progressive reformers have written articles on reform and called for local autonomy. Although Empress Dowager Cixi bankrupted the political reform with a tough attitude, the voice of reform calling for political reform and local autonomy has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
With the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government was as frightened as a bird. Although it still maintains the traditional centralized situation of ruling and being ruled, obeying and being obeyed. However, in this stage of the game, it is obvious that the central government of the Qing Dynasty has been at a disadvantage, and the decentralization has not been curbed, but has been strengthened.
But the Qing government is still making a final struggle. From 190 1 to 19 12 when the Qing emperor abdicated, the game between the central and local governments in the Qing court became more chaotic and intense. 1901June 2 1 day, the Qing dynasty issued an imperial edict to declare war on eleven countries, but at that time, Liu Kunyi, the governors of Liangjiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Hongzhang, Xu Ying, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Qi Jun, the governor of Sichuan, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, did not execute the imperial edict to declare war, but seized it. They called the imperial edict a "perverse and chaotic life" under the threat of the Boxer Rebellion. For example, Li Hongzhang, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, called and said, "This is troubled times, and Guangdong does not follow the imperial edict." ⑥ In the southeast provinces, the governors openly disobeyed the orders of the Qing government to support the Boxer Rebellion, contacted Sheng Xuanhuai in Shanghai, and signed a mutual insurance agreement with the participating countries, which was called Southeast Mutual Insurance. So at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the central government of the Qing Dynasty declared war on foreign countries, and local governors colluded with a belligerent empire to protect each other. I have to say that the prestige of the central government in the Qing Dynasty has dropped to a very low level.
190165438+1October 29th, Empress Dowager Cixi, who took refuge in xi 'an, issued an imperial edict in the name of Emperor Guangxu, ordering ministers above the governor to discuss the government, people's livelihood, the imperial examinations in schools, military finance and other issues in detail. It can be clearly seen that the core of the reform in 190 1 was to deprive local governors of military and financial power and restore the powerful centralized rule in the past. The later "New Deal" began. The Qing court sent letters to officials inside and outside Beijing, proposing comprehensive reform within two months and setting up a "supervision office" to prepare for the New Deal. The opinions put forward by the governors of Liangjiang and Huguang, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong are called "a three-fold discount of Chu Jiang Club" and become the main blueprint of the New Deal. This is undoubtedly another powerful proof that the opinions of local governors have a great influence on the central policy. Raising military pay and training the new army is one of the main contents of the "New Deal", and military power is generally regarded as the highest power of the country. The Qing government compiled and trained the "new army" in order to eliminate the old green camp, so as to limit the expansion of local training in various provinces and regain military power. At the same time, the Qing government ordered provincial governors to rebuild their military systems, and announced the establishment of "training centers" in the central government to make the provinces "consistent in military systems, combat methods and equipment." From 65438 to 0904, the Qing government decided to rebuild the entire military system and build the new army into 36 towns under the jurisdiction of training. Towns12,500 officers and men, totaling 450,000, formed a standing army, which was uniformly mobilized by the imperial court. ⑦ The centralized military power of the Qing government strongly opposed the local governors. First of all, in the preparation and training of the "new army" funds. Salary increase is the premise of training, and the target of salary increase of Qing government mainly became the wealthy southeast provinces. Through salary increase, on the one hand, it can break the monopoly of local governors on financial resources and restore the central government's control over local finance; On the other hand, abundant financial resources can rebuild the military pillar of centralized government. However, the situation was not as beautiful as the Qing government imagined, and the local governors who had long controlled the place knew the wishful thinking of the Qing government like the back of their hands. They may jointly or publicly express their opinions and actions and resist the central government's salary increase policy. For example, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, publicly declared that local revenue and expenditure "cannot be disclosed peacefully, and there must be room for it". Secondly, it lies in the problem of "unifying one battalion system". Of course, local governors are unwilling to hand over their military power to others easily, so in dealing with this issue, except Yuan Shikai, most of them choose "silence". In the New Deal, the Qing government also set up the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce to dominate the national finance and control the local finance. Set up a patrol inspection department to manage the national police affairs in a unified way. Set up a department in charge of education. All the actions showed that the Qing court wanted to weaken or even recover the rights of local governors, but everything was not satisfactory.
On August 1906, Yuan Shikai made preparations for Chen Lixian. All localities responded positively, with the famous industrialist Zhang Jian as the most. Various consultative councils have been established to discuss constitutional issues. 1 September, the Qing government sent a letter "preparing to imitate constitutionalism". The next day, the Qing government set up an overall reform Committee-the establishment of the official system bureau. This is the beginning of the official system reform in the late Qing dynasty, and it is also a big power game in the Qing court. As a result of this official system reform, Cen Chunxuan, the former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was dismissed, Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili and Beiyang Minister, was forced to resign from his eight posts, and Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, was transferred to the capital, but in fact he was promoted to the imperial city. On the contrary, the power of Manchu nobles increased greatly. "Although the Qing government could not weaken the local power of the governors and other senior officials, it successfully increased the power of Manchu officials in the central government. After appointing only one minister to lead each government department, among the 13 senior officials (i.e., ministers of military departments and ministries), there are 7 Manchu, 5 Han and 1 Mongolian standard-bearers. This Mongolian flag bearer is of course Mongolian, but he belongs to Manchu camp. Therefore, as a result of the reform of the central government, the ratio of Manchu to Chinese among the top officials is eight to five. Compared with the previous arrangement of equal numbers of Manchu and Han, the Qing government skillfully handed over the control of the central government to Manchu under the principle of abolishing racial discrimination and fairness. " Pet-name ruby this practice of the Qing government made the local officials of the Han nationality extremely dissatisfied. This situation becomes more serious in1908-1911. Guangxu and Cixi died successively, and three-year-old Puyi ascended the throne with the help of his father Prince Chun. Yuan Shikai was forced to retire from Henan on the grounds of foot disease, and Zhang Zhidong died a few months later. The two most powerful local ministers in the late Qing Dynasty left the ruling and opposition parties one after another or even forever. The prince of alcohol, who is in power, thinks that he can make reforms with great fanfare. So the royal cabinet came into being, and it seems that centralization has begun again. However, with the beginning of the road protection movement and the dates of19 10 and10, the local uprising-Wuchang Shouyi broke out. In the face of the revolutionary army uprising, the Qing dynasty headed by Prince Chun was at a loss, and the Beiyang warlords were completely unaffected by the central government. So the royal family had to use Yuan Shikai, who was "recovering from illness" in Henan. Although Yuan retired, he secretly controlled the Beiyang New Army he founded. Yolanda is not an easy master to deal with. He can go out of the mountain, get the relieving, and ensure that he has enough pay, but the Qing government, which has lost all hope, must promise.
The Qing government had to agree to Yuan's request when the country was in danger, dissolve the royal cabinet and appoint it as prime minister to suppress the Wuchang Uprising. In fact, Yolanda didn't really want to defeat the revolutionary army. On the one hand, he oppressed the southern revolution by force, on the other hand, he negotiated secretly with the revolutionaries. Revolutionaries also believe that Yuan Shikai is a political leader who can lead China. For example, Huang Xing wrote in his letter to Yuan: "Our talents are higher than our talents. With the qualifications of Napoleon and Washington, it is difficult to break the achievements of Lun and Washington, and go straight to Huanglong, destroying it and eating it. It's not just people in Hunan and Hubei who claim that the public is Napoleon and Washington. In other words, there are no people in the northern and southern provinces who don't give up their orders. Cang Wang, Qunyang. Once in a thousand years, please don't miss it. " Attending Yuan seems to be the spokesman of the Qing Dynasty, but don't forget that Yuan is the representative of local governors. The revolutionary party was losing ground, and three towns in Wuhan were captured by Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. In order to end the confrontation between the north and the south, Yuan Shikai and Beiyang generals electrified to support * * * and on October 25th, 65438/KLOC-0. 19 12 February 12, Yuan Shikai forced the Qing emperor to abdicate, and Empress Yulong accepted the preferential treatment, thus ending the Qing dynasty's rule over China.