the civil division, the military division, and the censorate.
At first, the Ming administration had only one Department, the Secretariat, that controlled the Six Ministries. In 1380, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Secretariat, the Censorate, and the Chief Military Commission and took personal charge of the Six Ministries and the regional Five Military Commissions. Like the Yuan dynasty, the Ming took over administration of the 13 provinces based on the Yuan division. Later, after the Jurcheon invasion, 4 semi autonomous commands were established. The provinces comprised of 3 bureaucratic divisions, civil, military and surveillance. Within the provinces were prefectures run by a prefect, within which were subprefectures under a subprefect. County was the lowest unit run by a magistrate.