The Prime Minister's Residence: The Structure of Deng Shexing's Provincial Administration and Its Differences from Zhu Yuanzhang

—By the author: Fang Congzhe, who spares no effort

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang and Deng She hold equivalent official ranks (Left Chancellor of the Song Province), and their respective territories and military strength are also comparable. Therefore, let us compare the provincial institutions under each (that is, their respective governing teams) to observe any significant differences.

Zhu Yuanzhang:

In the year of Dingyou (1357), he established the Council of Advisors under the Provincial Secretariat, modeled after the central government system, appointing Li Shanchang, the foremost among civil officials, as the chief advisor. Clearly, for Zhu Yuanzhang, the Council of Advisors played a role somewhat analogous to the Secretariat’s relationship to the emperor. This position already represented the highest status available to civil officials under him, yet it is evident that Zhu Yuanzhang purposely restrained the influence of the civil bureaucracy, keeping them in the position of staff officers rather than principal ministers. This approach foreshadowed his later abolition of the Secretariat, forming a consistent policy.

It was not until April of Xinchou year (1361) that Li Shanchang, the advisor in the Secretariat, was finally promoted to Associate Chancellor.

In July of Jihai year (1359), Zhu Yuanzhang executed another, and indeed the only other, ranking official in his provincial government—Guo Tianjue, the Right Chancellor, who represented the remnant power of the Guo family. From then on, Zhu alone occupied the seat of power.

Among the military commanders, in May of Jihai year, Xu Da was promoted to “Grand General Serving the State, Co-Director of the Privy Council,” while another general, Shao Rong, held an even higher status. It is thus clear that the military commanders held significantly greater standing than the civil officials—an origin of the precedent set in the early Ming dynasty. However, just like Deng She’s generals, these men were stationed across various regions and not involved in day-to-day governance. The actual administrative responsibilities fell to Deng Yu, the signatory of the Privy Council (appointed as associate chancellor of the Secretariat, concurrently overseeing the Privy Council, with overall command of all military forces).

Deng She:

On the civil side, Deng She appointed Wen Huaguo as Right Chancellor and Hong Jixun as Left Chancellor; Luo Guoqi and Qing Qianxing were made Associate Chancellors. Wen Huaguo, stationed in Pyongyang, was promoted to Right Chancellor, in a manner similar to Deng Yu and Hu Dahai, who served as Associate Chancellors in the separate provincial Secretariats, though without the division of provinces in this case; Qing Qianxing was a surrendered general responsible for Liaoxi, falling into a similar category. These two may be set aside for now. Notably, both Hong Jixun, as Left Chancellor, and Luo Guoqi, as Associate Chancellor, governed from the main council, participating directly in state affairs. This suggests that Deng She’s ideal model for governance differed markedly from Zhu Yuanzhang’s, and was likely inspired by the Tang and Song dynasties’ systems.

He also established a mobile Censorate.

As for the military, “Chen Hu and Tong Shengyang were both appointed as Co-Directors; Guan Shirong and Zhao Guo as Deputy Privy Councillors; Li Heshang and Zhang Daier as Privy Council Signatories; He Guangxiu and Yang Wahu as Associate Signatories.” Tong Shengyang’s role, like that of Shao Rong, was a move to draw in a particular faction and may be set aside. Zhao Guo, Zhang Daier, and others were, for the most part, military governors in various regions or held other military positions. Thus, their council titles were largely honorary. In this respect, Deng She’s practice was similar to Zhu Yuanzhang’s at the time.

However, Deng She also established a mobile Censorate, with a Censor-in-Chief of the second rank, appointing Yao Haogu to the post. Two Supervising Censors of the third rank were appointed: Wang Zongzhe, the top scholar, and Fang Buzhen. These were mainly civilian officials who had surrendered from Liaoyang and Guangning, likely intended to oversee the “old guard” with “new faces.” Yet this institution remained incomplete.

In contrast, Zhu Yuanzhang did not pay much attention to this, only establishing the Censorate in the Wu era.

By comparison, Deng She’s appointments more closely resembled the old Song dynasty system.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not establish a mobile Censorate, he did set up the office of the Inspector (about 1360, though the details are somewhat unclear; for example, Zhang Yi, one of the notable gentlemen from eastern Zhejiang, served as Inspector or Deputy Inspector there) mainly to strengthen oversight of local officials. This was quite similar in intent to his later replacement of the Censorate with the Office of Metropolitan Surveillance.

On Deng She’s side, the mobile Censorate’s functions were more balanced and less specialized.

In sum, Deng She’s approach to appointing officials bore a greater resemblance to the traditional Song system, while Zhu Yuanzhang’s structure reflected his intent to centralize power and restrict the influence of civil officials, foreshadowing the administrative reforms of the early Ming dynasty.