巡检司是明清时代县以下的基层治安机构。苏州地区的巡检司设置始于宋代,集中于太湖沿岸与重要塘浦的出海口。明初苏州巡检司设置数量达到顶峰,平均各县设有四至五个。在一条鞭法推广之后,苏州各县的巡检司陆续裁撤,至雍正三年(1725)分县后,平均每县仅设一巡检司。巡检的主要职责是治安与缉私,除此之外,明清时代苏州府巡检职官在实际行政中还经常兼任非制度性的职责,主要包括水利、诉讼、教化、赈济等事务。暴式昭是晚清苏州巡检司的一个案例,晚清苏州的巡检司担任者以生员为主要来源,行动受到州县主官的极大限制。明清以降,苏州巡检司多驻扎于市镇,以往认为巡检司起到市镇管理作用,实际巡检司驻扎于市镇的现象多是出于建置维持成本的考虑,巡检驻扎于市镇的现象并不能必然说明巡检是管理市镇的手段。 Inspection Division is the grass-roots security agencies below the county level during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Inspection Division set up in Suzhou began in the Song Dynasty, focusing on the coast of Taihu Lake and the important sea of ​​the mouth. At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Suzhou Inspection Division set the peak number, with an average of four to five counties. After the promotion of a whip, the inspection divisions in all counties in Suzhou were abolished one after another. Only one inspection division per county was located on average after the three years of Yongzheng (1725) sub-county. In addition, the inspections of Suzhou government officials during the Ming and Qing Dynasties often served as non-institutional duties in the actual administration, including water conservancy, litigation, education, relief and other services. The stormy show was a case of the Suzhou Inspection Division in the late Qing Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, the chief inspector of Suzhou Inspection Department took the staff as the main source, and the action was severely restricted by the chief officer in the county. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Suzhou Inspection Division and more stationed in the town, in the past that the inspection division played the role of the town management, the actual inspection division stationed in the town is mostly due to the construction of the maintenance cost considerations, inspection stationed The phenomenon in the towns does not necessarily mean that the inspection is a means of managing the towns.