Inner Department
The Inner Department (內史寺, nups-sre′-le) is an ancient and medieval Themiclesian government department responsible for finance, statistics, judicature, and administration in general. Thought to the be the oldest government department, it was re-established multiple times in history, and its roles have also evolved considerably.
Name
The Shinasthana term nups-sre′-le as applied to the pre-modern department has been translated differently by authors, sometimes reflecting historic heritage and others the contemporary function of the department. These names include:
- Inner Department
- Inner Administrator's Department
- Department of Internal Affairs
- Department of State
- Home Office
- Exchequer Department
- Ministry of Receipts and Outlays
- Ministry of Home Affairs
Historic role
It is generally thought that the Inner Department was the first bureaucratic department to have been founded in Tsins. Records of the existence of such an office in Tsins extend into the Archaic Era, when it began managing the lands held by the crown. Its primary tasks appear to be fiscal, collecting feudal dues. In the Classical era, the Tsins crown arrogated a larger demesne, which required administrators in villages and towns to collect tax and to arbitrate local disputes. At the same time, many land-holding nobles were "levelled" into large but ordinary landowners, who paid taxes but no longer undertook functions that, in modern understanding, belonged to government; those then devolved to the royal administrator. The Inner Department supervised the work of these local administrators, who would evolve into magistrates.
In the 3rd century, crown lands expanded by conquest and by the dispensation of feudal vassals, though the newly-acquired territories in this period were not added to the demesne land but formed into provinces. Distance, differing goals, and a fear for unduly-concentrated power may have been the motivation, which however remains academically unresolved. Thus, during the Tsins hegemony, the Inner Department had both the character of a regional government and a department of the central government. Provinces were disbanded in the early 4th century, reverting the territories to the Inner Department, only to reappear later in the century, and this time becoming a permanent administrative apparatus.
In preparation for a capitation tax, the Inner Department conducted the first formal census in 428. The census formed the foundation for conscription, which was imposed in 440 for the defence against a general alliance of Sungs's enemies that year. The Inner Administrator was able to supply the Sungs king with an army of 67,000 trained and armed men, whereas his nobles at most could raise 37,000 who still depended on the royal granary for supplies. After the war ended in a stalemate, the Sungs king became suspicious of the power of the Inner Department and sought to divide its portfolio. In the 5th century, the Marshalcy of Justice was made independent of the Inner Department, such that it no longer heard appeals from local magistracies.