All military matters were controled by the bureau of military affairs ( shumiyuan), while the important financial and household matters became the exclusive task of the three departments of the state financial commission ( sansi 三司): the Census Bureau ( hubusi 戶部司), Tax Bureau ( duzhisi 度支司), and Salt and Iron Monopoly Bureau ( yantiesi 鹽鐵司). The Grand Counsellor should only possess the control of civil matters, and he had to share his tasks with a Vice Grand Counsellor ( canzhi zhengshi 參知政事). It was especially the position of the Counsellor-in-chief ( zaixiang) that was weakened. Even the central government was restructured in a way that should disenable a single unit or person to accumulate too much power. The whole centralized administration was therewith constructed in a kind of radiation spider web, with every aspect of government concentrating in the imperial court. ![]() The intention was to create a stable situation within the empire itself but on the other side defense against foreign invaders was neglected in a dangerous grade. Both authorities at one time could only be exerted by the emperor. These units had a command authority, but not fielding authority which lay with the Bureau of Military Affairs ( shumiyuan 樞密院). The imperial army ( jinjun 禁軍) that had been divided into two units ( ersi 二司), the palace command ( dianqian shiweisi 殿前侍衛司) and the metropolitan command ( shiwei qinjun mabusi 侍衛親軍馬步司) was now divided into three divisions ( sanya 三衙 or sanwei 三衛) under three marshals ( sanshuai 三帥): the palace command, the metropolitan cavaly command, and the metropolitan infantry command. ![]() ![]() Generals were transferred regularly to another post in order to prevent them from binding ties with their officers and troops. Around half of the army was garrisoned around the capital, thus creating a kind of balance that enabled the emperor to suppress rebellions either in the capital or in the provinces. The recruitment of landless peasants into the militia should weaken their potential for rebellions and social uprisings. A great part of the army consisted of militia ( mubing 募兵) that were professionals rather than conscripted peasants ( yibing 役兵). Under the Song administration, prefectures ( zhou 州) and districts ( xian 縣) were directly controled by the central government, prefects ( zhizhou 知州) were transferred every three years to another unit and were controlled by controllers-general ( tongpan 通判) that were allowed to report to the capital without knowledge of the prefect the prefectural revenues were immediately sent to the capital by a transport commissioner ( zhuanyunshi 轉運使) from the transport bureau ( caosi 曹司) penal law was exerted by the central government and - the most important innovation step - elite soldiers were garrisoned around the capital where they served as model ( bingyang 兵樣) for the troops in the province. All in all, the Song system was more autocratic than the Tang system because more power was in the hands of the emperor himself, or in those of persons acting on the emperor's behalf, like the strong Counsellors-in-chief ( zaixiang 宰相). But basic lines of the governmental system - dating from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) - were still in work. The terms and titles of the Song period administration are very confusing and not very easy to reconstruct. The experience of the late Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907) that regional military leaders had too much power in their hands to be effectively controlled by the central government, led to a thoroughly new system of a parallel instalment of civilian ( wenguan 文官) and military officials ( wuguan 武官) that were to mutually control each other. ![]() A political system balancing between military and civil officials
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