During the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, when talking about Yuan Shao , he often mentioned his identity - the Three Dukes of the Four Generations, which was also a unique title at that time. As for why such a title is considered a product of history, there were two such families during the Eastern Han Dynasty. In addition to Yuan Shao, the Yuan family in Runan, who were the three generations of the fourth generations, the Yang family in Hongnong, who were also the three generations of the fourth generations of the third generations of the fourth generations. So how did this name come from? Who among these two families has held positions as the Three Duke? This article will talk about it together with you.
1. What is the Three Commons
Three Commons is the collective name of the three most respected positions in ancient my country. The names in different periods are slightly different. During the 1 Zhou Dynasty, the Taishi, the Taifu and the Taibao were collectively called the Three Dukes.
Qin Shihuang After unifying the world, the official positions were also reformed, and the prime minister, the Grand Marshal, and the Censor, were collectively called the Three Dukes. The prime minister among the three dukes was the highest chief executive, assisting the emperor in handling government affairs, and also responsible for managing civil and military officials; the Taiwei was the highest chief military officer, assisting in managing military affairs across the country; the censor was responsible for supervising all officials, which was equivalent to the current Discipline Inspection Commission, but it was slightly lower than the prime minister and was known as the "deputy prime minister".
Three Dukes and Nine Ministers
Han inherited the Qin system, Han Dynasty basically inherited the official position of Qin Dynasty , but it was different in different periods. When Emperor Wu of Han was set, Grand Sima was replaced by the Taiwei. At the same time, Emperor Wu of Han also weakened the power of the prime minister. Therefore, since Emperor Wu of Han, the status of the prime minister has been declining but has not been abolished.
After Wang Mang usurped the Han , he also reformed the official system, setting up the Grand Situ, Grand Sima and Grand Sikong to replace the Prime Minister, Grand Wei and Censor, so the Three Dukes became these "three major" official positions.
Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu After establishing the Eastern Han Dynasty, he changed his official position to Wang Mang , but the positions of the three dukes were slightly different. He changed the Grand Sima back to Taiwei, and removed the big characters from the Da Situ and Da Sikong and became Situ and Sikong . Therefore, the three dukes in the Eastern Han Dynasty were Taiwei, Situ and Sikong.
2. Why did the fourth generation of three official positions appear?
. It is said that except for the royal family, official positions cannot be hereditary. In other words, under normal circumstances, one family cannot hold an official position for several consecutive generations, especially the high position in the court. However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, two families held the three official positions for four consecutive generations. Why did this happen? This starts with the Han Dynasty's official election system.
We know that the Three Kingdoms and Jin implemented the 9th rank Zhongzheng system, and after the , the imperial examination system was implemented, but in the , the Han Dynasty implemented the imperial examination system.
The so-called recommendation system is actually a talent recommendation system, that is, local officials such as prefectures and counties inspect and select talents within the areas under their jurisdiction, and regularly or irregularly recommend talents that meet the corresponding standards to the court according to certain subjects such as filial piety, virtuous and upright, scholars, etc., and the court will then pass appropriate assessments and grant them official positions. For example, Cao Cao's adviser Xun Yu's is a filial and honest person.
Recommendation system
This way of recommending talents must have certain disadvantages, because some people with real talents and knowledge cannot enter the official career because there is no channel for promotion, while some people who are ignorant can become officials in this way because they have certain relationships.
So why did the family form the fourth generation of the three ministers? Let me give you an example. For example, if someone serves as the Grand Marshal in the court, then through the recommendation system, he can recommend some people to the official positions they want. These people will inevitably be grateful to the Grand Marshal after they wish and repay the Grand Marshal in turn. So when they have the opportunity, they will naturally recommend people from the Grand Marshal's family to certain official positions.
After a long time, this concept has become deeply rooted in people's hearts. After a certain period of time, a large family of aristocratic families have been formed. Because of this unique system of recommendation and the formation of the Three Dukes of the Four Generations is not difficult to understand.
3. The two four generations of the Eastern Han Dynasty
Although the system of recommendation can lead to a large family like the four generations of the Three Dukes, it is not just like this for any family. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, only the Yuan family and the Hongnong Yang family had this honor.
Let’s talk about the Yuan family in Runan first, because the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are the most flaunting identity of the fourth generation and the third generation. Yuan Shao's Gaozu Yuan An was originally a filial and honest person. Later, he was promoted to the third official. In the third year of Emperor Zhang's Yuanhe (86), Yuan An took over the position of Sikong, who had retired and returned home, and the following year he replaced Huan Yu as the position of Situ.
Yuan Shao's great-grandfather Yuan Chang was Yuan An's third son. He served as the prince's servant for his father. Later, he continued to be promoted. In the third year of Yuanchu of Emperor An (116), he replaced Liu Kai as Sikong.
Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao's grandfather Yuan Tang was also a filial and honest man. He was promoted to Sikong in the first year of Benchu (146), and later served as Situ and Taiwei. It can be said that one person regarded the Three Dukes as everyone.
Yuan Shao's father Yuan Feng inherited Yuan Tang's title, and served as Sikong during the reign of Emperor Xian of Han. Yuan Shao's uncle Yuan Wei earlier than his brother Yuan Feng , and served as the Taiwei and Taifu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the autocratic power, because the Yuan brothers raised an army to fight against Zhuo, Dong Zhuo was afraid that he would kill his whole family for his support.
Yuan Shao’s ancestors had four generations and five people served as the three ministers, and they regarded Taiwei, Situ and Sikong all the way, so Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were naturally qualified to call their family as the three ministers of the four generations.
In addition to the Yuan family in Runan, the Yang family of Hongnong is also a family of three people of the fourth generation.
Yang Xiu Gaozu Yang Zhen didn't come out to be an official until he was 50 years old. In the first year of Yongning in Emperor An (120), Yang Zhen replaced Liu Kai as the position of Situ, and in the second year of Yanguang (123), he replaced Liu Kai as the position of Taiwei.
Yang Xiu's great-grandfather Yang Bing in the fifth year of Emperor Huan of Han Yanxi (162) succeeded Liu Ju as the Grand Marshal;
Yang Zhen
Yang Xiu's grandfather Yang Ci in the second year of Emperor Ling of Han in the second year of Emperor Ling of Han (173). In the fifth year of Xiping (176), he replaced Yuan Wei and as Situ. In the second year of Guanghe (179), Liu He was framed and imprisoned by eunuchs and died. Yang Ci became Situ again. In the fifth year of Guanghe (182), Yang Ci replaced Xu Qing as the Taiwei. So Yang Ci also regarded the three masters as the ones alone.
Yang Xiu's father Yang Biao In September of the sixth year of Zhongping (189), he replaced Dong Zhuo as Taizhong Doctor . In December of the same year, he succeeded Huang Wan as Situ. In July of the first year of Xingping (194 ), he replaced Zhu Yan as the Grand Marshal and recorded the affairs of the Shangshu.
Because Yang Xiu's ancestors all served as the Grand Marshal among the Three Dukes for four generations, Yang family is also called the Fourth Grand Marshal.
Summary:
In this way, the two families of the Yuan family in Runan and the Yang family in Hongnong are incomparable. If you have to compare, the Yuan family should be more powerful, because the Yuan family has served as the three public positions for four generations, while the Yang family has only four members of the three public positions.
These families of great and small colluded with each other to form a huge political force. From the Three Kingdoms, Jin, , Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then to , Sui and Tang , the families had great political influence. By , when the Tang Dynasty , even the royal family was proud of marrying a woman from the five surnames Qiwang family. Even Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin had no choice but to have any help from the five surnames Qiwang family, which shows the influence of the aristocratic families.
