Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1598: Daming United Station (Part [-])
For a long time, there has been a distinctive political phenomenon in Ming Dynasty, that is, the position with supervisory power will ferment over time, and over time it will become the de facto boss of the supervised person.

This phenomenon is evident in many positions. For example, the governor, who was dispatched from the central government at the very beginning, supervised the province as the capital censor (the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the capital censor, etc.) They appeared as senior administrative officials and military generals, and later became a practice and permanent residence, and became the highest governor of a province today.

Another example is the inspector censor. Compared with the governor, this position has so far retained a stronger "central mission" or "imperial envoy" nature, but its real power performance in the local area far exceeds its own rank. So much so that some inspector censors with a slightly stronger personality can call and drink dignified second-rank chief envoys as if they were officials.

As a result, in the face of such a patrolling censor, the chief envoys really can only obey their promises. If they are not satisfied, they may be impeached, which will seriously affect their careers and even collapse.

You know, what is the concept of Cong Erpin?The servant of the six departments is known as the official of the hall, but he is only the third rank!Even if there are no additional titles in the six books, the title is only the second grade.

If by chance Gao Yushi met Gao Yushi a few years ago, and the governor was not in the province, and the governor was unable to govern for some reason, then the inspector censor could even act as the governor.

How much power does the governor have?The governor of the Ming Dynasty is not the governor of the Qing Dynasty. The governor of the Ming Dynasty can manage all local government affairs, military affairs, finances, and some special affairs related to them, such as salt administration, tea administration, horse administration, etc., all of which he can manage!
Not only that, if the governors of some border areas had a strong personality, they could even take the initiative to launch wars—for example, the governor of Liaodong often did this, and Gao Wushi did it when he was the governor of Liaodong.

Being able to start a war means that its position itself has such power.But the governor was originally just a civil servant. When did wars and powers that should only belong to the center of the court come into being?
The source of this power probably dates back to May of the second year of Zhengtong.At that time, Yingzong accepted the suggestion of the Sanyang Cabinet and appointed Wang Ji, Minister of the Ministry of War, as Prime Minister of Gansu Border Affairs. In the imperial edict to Wang Ji, there were two sentences: "Border affairs are important national affairs, and Gansu is especially important. The comparison will not be the person. , The military preparations are slack. Today, I have specially ordered you to go, and have a meeting with the commander-in-chief to discuss the strategy of the battle and the defense. The division of affairs is appropriate, and I heard that you will implement it at your own convenience, and I still have a report."

Please pay attention to the sentence "meeting with the commander-in-chief to defend the strategy".I said before that the three local leaders are the governor, the general soldier, and the guarding eunuch.Since the governor had already overwhelmed the general soldiers and guarding eunuchs to control the local real power in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, he went to hold a meeting with the latter two, just like the meeting of the secretaries of later generations. It must be the top leaders who can make decisions, you two deputy secretaries Suggestions can be made, but if the suggestion can be counted, then it depends on whether the secretary approves it?

So the governor has the decision-making power of this "meeting", and what is this meeting for?It is responsible for formulating the "strategy of war and defense" - needless to say, defense is very powerful, because "war" refers to taking the initiative to fight.

Of course, according to Daming's actual situation and mentality, to use a term from later generations, such proactive wars should all be classified as "preventive wars."That is to say, I have judged through various situations and think that you may violate me, so I will beat you up first, so as to ensure that you will not have the ability to violate me.

Looking back, a job that was originally just to supervise local officials turned out to be powerful enough to start a war with surrounding forces. It can be seen that the supervision system of the Ming Dynasty...is indeed very distinctive.

Talking about the governor and the inspector is actually talking about the new system of the Ministry of Household Supervision Station.This system is also currently developing in the direction of expanding the powers of governors and inspectors.

Especially after Gao Pragmatic collected financial power last year, the officials dispatched by the Ministry of Household Affairs to supervise post stations in various places have appeared to a large extent the signs of "the top leaders of the provincial post station system", and the emergence of this sign itself has high pragmatism. The element of deliberate connivance exists.

How to indulge?Easy to handle.

To give an example, Gao Wushi, in his capacity as Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, appointed Wailang Zhao, a member of the Shanxi Cleaning Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, to go to Shanxi to "audit the Shanxi Post Station" for a period of one, two, or three years.

In this way, within this "period", Zhao Yuanwailang has the right to comprehensively audit the post stations in one province of Shanxi, and he is responsible for the audit of the entire post stations in the territory of the Chief Minister of Shanxi, which means that he has the right to audit Obtained the supervisory power of the post station in a fixed area.

Originally, there was no Yuanwailang in the Ministry of Households, but only two levels: doctor and principal. Later, in the seventh year of Xuande, there were three Yuanwailangs, one of whom worked in the center, and the remaining two were for the Qinglisi in Sichuan and the Qinglisi in Yunnan. Assume.However, these two positions were abolished after a short period of time. So far, there is only one Yuanwailang in the center of the household department, and he has become a special existence among a large number of doctors (superior) and principals (lower).

Last year, Gao Pragmatically collected financial power. In addition to establishing the system of four servants of the household department and the establishment of two new departments and thirteen divisions, he also established a group of Yuanwailang under the original structure of the household department. As an expatriate, go to the local post station to supervise.

Considering that there are only four officials in the Vehicle Driving Department of the Ministry of War (two of the fifth-rank doctors and two of the sixth-rank masters), it is actually impossible to send people to manage the post stations in various places. The immediate boss of the station officials under the provincial structure.

Because of this, Gao Yushi, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is the lead writer of "Renovation Post Station Shu". It also has something to do with the prestige gap between Zhou Yong and Zhou Yong within the Real School and even the entire Ming Dynasty political arena.

But things are not so simple, because as I said before, the post station system of Daming is divided into "troika". In addition to the water horse station, there are also express delivery shops and delivery stations.

This express shop is very interesting, but few people may have heard of it, so I want to focus on it.

The main duty of the courier shop is to deliver messages.Each shop has a special small house, which is very simple, but it is a unified system: "every twelve o'clock sundial is laid to check the time. There is a wedge for the shop door, a pair of ever-burning lamps and candles, and two books and calendars."

Chuo Qie is actually the official archway of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to the words of later generations, the express shop is a yamen archway at the entrance. The room is brightly lit 24 hours a day, a clock is hung on the wall, and two notebooks are placed on the table.This is the basic situation, as for other facilities and equipment... not yet available.

The delivery personnel of the express delivery shop are called Pubing, and the Ming Dynasty's attack on the Yuan system has not been changed. "Yuan Shi" describes the attire of shop soldiers like this: "Every shop soldier has a splint, a pair of climbing bells, a tasseled spear, three feet of soft silk, a collar, and a Hijri calendar." He also said: " All soldiers in the shop wear leather belts around their waists, hang bells, carry guns, carry raincoats, and hold torches at night, and when the roads are narrow, those who carry carts and horses, those who bear the former, hear the bells and stay away, and at night they also startle tigers and wolves." During the Ming Dynasty The same is true, "Each set a pair of splints, a pair of bells, a tasseled gun, a stick, and a Hijri calendar", "ring the bell and hand it over".

So how does the courier shop work?It is "When the front shop hears the bell, the shop secretary must first go out of the shop to hand in the delivery, and then fill in the time in the pocket of the cover, the name of the shop soldier who should be delivered, and quickly order the shop soldier to wrap it tightly with a burden and a splint, take a small Muslim calendar, and deliver it urgently Hand over to the front store, and write the time to the store on the Hijri calendar, so as not to get lost and stagnate."

As I said just now, there is a bell in the "equipment" of Pubing. This is a special bell, just like the current car horn. When you hear the car horn from a long distance, you don't think it's someone riding a bicycle. Yes, the same goes for the bells of the pawnshop.

For example, you are now a shop soldier in Balipu, and you work in the shop.One day you were sitting in the house, when you heard a familiar sound of bells from far and near, you hurriedly got up and went out to check, and sure enough, you saw a buddy with a bag on his back, a long gun, and a bell hanging towards you, panting up.

What should you do at this time?First of all, take over this buddy's bag. Inside the bag is a plywood, and inside the plywood is a written message—the message may be the frontline military situation, or it may be an emergency order from the court, but it has nothing to do with you.

What you have to do is to take over the burden and carry it on your back, and sign on the small Islamic calendar that the buddy is holding to signify the receipt—it is the same as the express receipt in later generations.

The small Hijri calendar is the logistics bill, and you need to write the time when you sign for it. As I said earlier, there is a clock hanging in the house. As long as your brain is not confused and your eyes are not blind, you will definitely not sign by mistake.

Write down the time clearly, and then write your name, for example, "Shuntianfu Zhulu Mayi Balipu High Pragmatic Receive at 20:[-] on August [-]th, [-]th year of Wanli".After writing, take your tasseled gun and a stick by the wall, and then it’s time to go out, and you have to run all the way to Shibalipu.

Why the emphasis on running all the way?Because you need to go quickly—according to the rule of ten miles per pavement, the transmission time is fixed under this distance—for the delivery of official documents, according to the ancient law, one hundred quarters a day and night, one shop every three quarters, day and night must Travel three hundred miles.But when an official document arrives at the store, it needs to be delivered immediately regardless of the number of corners. It does not matter day or night, and the bell is rung to deliver it.

Converting this time and distance, it is roughly equivalent to that you have to walk five kilometers in about 45 minutes, which can be advanced but not delayed.The walking speed of normal adults in later generations is generally about five kilometers per hour, the jogging speed is about nine kilometers, and the fast running speed is twelve kilometers.Then, at a jogging speed of nine kilometers per hour, five kilometers only takes about 35 minutes, which is enough time.

actually not.

It is necessary to know that the prerequisites for this standard of later generations are quite different.Modern people run on the road, hard asphalt road or soft cement road. When they go out for exercise, the sun is just right and the breeze is blowing. They wear newly bought sports cushioned running shoes and wear breathable, sweat-wicking and quick-drying shoes. Sports T-shirt, while listening to music to run relaxed and comfortable.

However, Pubing was in the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the terrain, there are many kinds of bad roads in the mountains.Just talking about the road conditions, many people's running speed must be reduced on the dirt roads in their hometown villages when there were no roads.

The speed limit of one pavement every three quarters is fixed, the standard is sunny and sunny, and the standard is also the standard for stormy wind and rain.No matter how legitimate your reason for being late is, since the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang are inflexible, you will be punished if you deserve it. If you want to be reasonable, you may have to go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing to "face the saint".

Besides, this rule not only means that you have to deliver things in stormy weather, even in the middle of the night, you still need to deliver things when you receive them.In the worst case, your unlucky reminder may receive the mail at three o'clock in the morning, and then brave the storm, lightning and thunder, walk the muddy mountain road, catch up with ten miles, and deliver it to the next shop.

Therefore, it is very, very hard to spread the soldiers, and this kind of hard work is exchanged for the efficiency of news transmission for three hundred miles day and night.

As I said before, the cavalry marches at a speed of [-] miles a day, and the horses may not be able to bear it any faster, and the horses are too affected by weather and terrain factors. For example, they may perform well in Hebei, but if you change it to Yunnan Pull the hips directly.

Therefore, in this case, the express delivery method, which is a completely manual delivery method, has become the fastest and most timely method. It takes [-] miles a day and night, and the [-]-mile journey from Beijing to Kunming takes [-] days.That is to say, in today's Ming Dynasty, if there is a sudden military situation in Yunnan, the emperor can get the news within sixteen days at the earliest.

But here comes the problem. The courier shops all use manpower, and each courier shop can’t be short of people at [-] hours a day. It needs N shifts to be on duty, and the setting density is as high as ten miles per shop. How many people are needed in the whole country for the courier service? Is shop service enough?How much salary is needed to maintain such a huge staffing?

To make matters worse, the courier shop is different from Shuimayi. Shuimayi has a certain income-generating ability after Gao Yushi's previous reform of "Shuyi Lushu"-it is run as a state-run guest house along the way.However, the courier shop does not have this ability. If you look at it as a company, it is still in a state of pure loss so far, without any profitability.

Gao Yushi clearly pointed out this point in the "Renewal Post Book" this time, and pointed out that express delivery shops must have their own financial resources, and cannot always rely solely on financial allocations to maintain them.

But if that's all, even if he thinks of a solution, it's enough for Wang Xijue to praise him as Wang Zuozhi, and he won't use Cao Zhi's so-called "clear as ice, clean as jade, law but not powerful, harmonious but not powerful." Obscenity" to praise his character.

The reason why Wang Xijue praised his political opponents so much is because the method mentioned by Gao Wushi in "Great Post Book" was to voluntarily give up one of Jinghua's own abilities that had already dominated the world.

Gao Wushi said that Jinghua has relied on its own logistics system to implement a set of "postal delivery" methods in these years, that is, to uniformly accept letters and packages of limited weight within a certain area, and then send them according to the sender's order. Corresponding fees will be charged for the weight of the letter or package sent and the distance of the journey.

Jinghua will make an agreement with the sender in advance to ensure that the letter or package is delivered to the target person intact within a certain period of time.Gao Pragmatism believes that relying on express stores has the advantage of being spread all over the country, this fee-based postal transaction can be implemented, and express stores will have some advantages over Jinghua's logistics system.

What are the advantages?The first is to spread this advantage across the country.As a "private company", Jinghua, no matter how strong its financial resources are, it is impossible for Jinghua to spread all over the country, and the advantage of express delivery stores already exists naturally.

Secondly, Jinghua's postal delivery is carried out by relying on its own logistics system, which is not professional, so the speed is actually not fast.For example, when delivering goods from Suzhou to the capital, it may be necessary to wait for several cargo ships to be fully loaded before departing, because this can ensure safe navigation, and this requires a certain amount of waiting time.

If the courier shop does postal delivery, there is no such disadvantage.The soldiers across the country are actually engaged in a "relay race", and they can drop off as they arrive.

Or even considering that people need to rest, you can make a limit, such as at least five or six shops in a day.Every delivery can be paid separately on a piece-by-piece basis. This payment can be divided between the shop and the express shop. For example, seven to three points, [-]% for the shop and [-]% for the shop. The specific ratio can be negotiated separately ...Such a monthly settlement will benefit the court, the shop, and the shop soldiers, and the sender and recipient will also gain convenience, which is completely happy for all.

Of course, the only one who should not be happy is probably Jinghua itself, because once this innovation is implemented, it is obviously the only one whose interests will suffer.

This is what Wang Xijue admired. Cutting one's own flesh to improve the country's system, isn't it "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, lawful but not powerful, harmonious but not obscene"?
And the things that should be boasted are not over yet, because we haven't talked about Gao Yushi's innovation for the delivery office.
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Thank you book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Cloudy Good Mood", "KIKI Kai", "Shan Qi Zhao Bi Xin", "Altay's Old West" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: The various policies related to reform in this book are really aspects that I pay special attention to.In particular, you may find that when I write about certain wars that are not directed by Gao Yushi himself, I often use the "blank" writing method. If you compare it, you can see that I really care about writing about reforms.

(End of this chapter)