Why does the textbook say that Qin set up three Dukes, but some people say that Qin did not set up Three Dukes?

It’s a pity that no one seriously answered such a good question.

Let’s start with the historical evolution. In the pre-Qin Dynasty, Sangong was the title given to the highest auxiliary ministers. The "Li" and "Book" have different opinions on which three they are and what affairs they are responsible for. The ancient and modern classics schools also have different opinions.

When he arrived in Qin, he established two prime ministers and abolished three princes. The two prime ministers are the left and right prime ministers, but there is also a prime minister above them, which Lu Buwei once served. The so-called "prime minister" means auxiliary. Since the Han Dynasty after Qin Dynasty was a civilian government, the initial official system basically followed the Qin system. The prime minister, the Taiwei and the imperial censor are all still in use. At this time, "Xiangbang" was changed to "Xiangguo" to avoid Liu Bang's taboo. Looking at "Historical Records", we can see that Xiao He was the prime minister of the country, and there were two prime ministers on the left and right under him. Later, gradually no one held the position of prime minister anymore, and the prime minister became the most powerful.

Probably during the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, after the rise of Jinwen Confucian classics, the ancient "Three Lords" were applied to the three positions of prime minister, Taiwei and Yushi. At that time, they began to be called the "Three Dukes", but that was just a common idiom. It would not really become a rule until Wang Mang's time, when Da Sima, Da Situ, and Da Sikong were called the Three Dukes. Later Han Dynasty also inherited it.

Therefore, there were no Sangong in the Qin Dynasty. The prime minister or the prime minister (when no one holds the position of prime minister) has the greatest power. According to the Han Dynasty's "Hundred Officials and Officials List", among the officials of the Qin Dynasty, the imperial censors were either "Shangqing" or "Qing". As for Taiwei, although this official position exists, no one has ever held it. Military power was actually in the hands of the emperor.

The above is history, Qin has no three masters.

Let’s talk about where the saying “Qin set up the Three Dukes” comes from.

There is a very important thing in China's official system - "supervision" (that is, the responsibility of the imperial censor). This can be regarded as an innovation in our country's administrative system, and once established, it will last for thousands of years. Even Sun Yat-sen still had to establish the separation of powers among the five powers, including more "supervision" and "examination" than in the West. Examinations are also Chinese characteristics. Sun Yat-sen obviously wanted to preserve the good things in China, that is, censorship (supervision). and imperial examinations (examinations).

The "separation of powers" system of administration, military and supervision, especially the separation of "supervision", was established in the Han Dynasty starting from the Qin Dynasty. I think that in order to give this kind of official system a name in textbooks or popular sayings, it is called the "Three Gongs and Nine Ministers System". Its top officials are the prime minister (administration), Taiwei (military) and Yushi Dafu (supervision). Tracing back to their origins, these three official positions in the Qin Dynasty are also called three public officials. But this is what later generations said, not what was said at the time.

If the "Three Gongs and Nine Ministers System" is used as the name of this three-power system, it can be said that Qin is its founder. But serious historians will not place the "three metric systems" on Qin's head in such a general way. For example, Qian Mu admired the Chinese official system very much. His "Outline of National History" listed the three officials and nine ministers in detail, but he placed it in the Han Dynasty.