Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 785 Establishment of a New Grassroots Government
From the Qin, Han, Tang and Song dynasties to the present, all dynasties, whether powerful or not, have adopted the political mechanism that imperial power should not go to the countryside.

"Imperial power does not go to the countryside, only clans in the countryside, all clans are self-governing, autonomy depends on ethics, and ethics creates squires." For thousands of years, the governance of villages below the county level has relied on such a set of conventional systems.

"Imperial power does not go to the countryside" does not mean that the imperial power does not want to go to the countryside, but that the imperial power cannot go to the countryside because the resources controlled by the imperial power are very limited.

Moreover, these resources controlled by the imperial power must first be used for the continuation of the royal family, secondly for the operation of the bureaucratic system, and thirdly for social control.In this way, level by level, when it is used to manage society, there are not many resources left.

In this state, imperial power can only be delegated to officials at the county level with the help of bureaucrats.The smallest official is the Qipin county magistrate, and the county gentry have to manage it by themselves.

In fact, for an ancient country, China's land area is too large and the population is too large. It is almost impossible for the ancient centralized government to infiltrate state power into regional society like modern countries.

One is because of the limited financial resources of the court; the other is that the court officials are limited.And these two most fundamental problems have been implemented in the land of Huaxia for thousands of years from beginning to end.

On the other hand, before entering modern times, China's unique centralized system could basically maintain the stability and development of the country, so the government had little will and motivation to infiltrate rights into the regional society.

However, due to his humble background, the Taizu of this dynasty was often bullied by corrupt officials and evil officials since he was a child. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang hated the exploitation of the people by officials from the bottom of his heart. After he ascended the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang once clearly ordered: They are not allowed to go to the countryside, and they are not allowed to personally supervise the work in the countryside, so as not to affect the people's farming and waste money.

As the most basic level of government, the county government is almost a "one-man government." "Imperial power does not rest in the county" keeps official officials at the grassroots level at a lower order of magnitude. Rural governance relies on the power of the squires and local clans.

Under this mechanism, the influence and control of the clan forces in many places over the people has far surpassed that of the emperor and the imperial court, and these phenomena are in line with Zhu Youjian's efforts to create a prosperous, democratic, civilized, and ruled by law brand-new Daming contradicts.

The current Ming Dynasty far surpasses previous dynasties in terms of both financial resources and the number of officials, and has the basic conditions to implement the "imperial power to the countryside". As long as the strategy is appropriate, there are still strong problems in getting rid of the disadvantages brought about by this old mechanism. operational.

Speaking of local clan forces, Zhu Youjian believes that from a fair point of view, clan power is not a "remnant of feudalism" but a defense organization with land rights. This organizational form played an extremely important role in the later generations of the War of Resistance Roles, such as the Sichuan Army, the Hunan Army, the Guangxi Clan, etc., these backbone forces of the War of Resistance were all formed by relying on the human, financial and material resources of large local clans.

It can be seen from this that the clan power can still play a very important role at the critical moment of the survival of the country and the nation, and the imperial power going to the countryside is not to compete with the clan for power, but to implement various policies of the imperial court. On the premise of retaining the limited autonomy of the villagers, let the general public enjoy the dividends brought about by the great economic development.

The clan power in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty was much weaker than that in the southern part. In various rural villages, the mixed situation of small families and small households accounted for the vast majority.Looking at it from another angle, if the situation of Sun Cheng's family happened in Guangdong and Guangxi, where the clan is powerful, the situation seems to be much better than it is now, because if the Sun family is a member of the clan, other family members will never be concerned about the loss. The Sun family, who has the ability to work, stands idly by, and mutual help is one of the core elements to maintain the centripetal force of the clan.

The basic power of the existing imperial court is the county government, but due to the extremely inconvenient traffic conditions, it is very unrealistic to expect the county magistrates, county magistrates, masters and other secondary officials to go to the countryside frequently to understand the people's conditions.

Now local officials still use sedan chairs as their main means of transportation. In the era when all construction was entirely by manpower, the progress of widening and leveling roads in various places was very slow. Can you expect officials to go to the countryside in sedan chairs every day?How much money and resources would that cost?

Greetings in advance to go to the countryside, the local gentry should prepare the corresponding reception work, the officials came to the place, took a look around, and after eating and drinking enough, took the "local products" of the gentry's "filial" land, and returned to the county with satisfaction. And the squires will definitely find ways to "repay" the money spent by the people. This behavior can only increase the burden on the people in a disguised form, and it can't solve any problems. It is absolutely useless.

Zhu Youjian’s ultimate goal is the model of the township level regime in later generations, which is the most direct manifestation of the imperial power going to the countryside. With the existence of the township regime, the imperial court’s major policies can be implemented in place.

Taking Sun Cheng's family as an example again, if there is a township government, coupled with supporting laws and regulations, as long as the township officials do not slack off or dereliction of duty, their family's situation will soon be reported to the county government, and thus You can get the corresponding financial assistance from the county, and you will get specific help from the village. For example, the village is arranging people to help you harvest and cultivate.

Of course, this kind of help is paid, and the help funds will be allocated to each county, and the imperial court will also regularly check the distribution and use of funds.

However, Zhu Youjian also understands that things are easy to say, but it is impossible to be so smooth and perfect in the implementation process. Various situations will always appear and happen. The biggest damage and harm, for this, can only be dealt with by strengthening supervision, we can’t stop eating because of choking, right?

In order to allow more impoverished families to receive assistance and relief from the court, Zhu Youjian is ready for trial and error. Jin Yiwei will directly assume the responsibility of supervision, while officials at the township level will have additional subsidies, and according to Opportunities for promotion based on performance during tenure.

As for the candidates for this batch of officials, Zhu Youjian decided to select officials from various counties and resident Jinyiwei. In view of the fact that this may lead to the problem of insufficient manpower of Jinyiwei in various places, it is necessary to reduce the number of personnel in the pro-army thousand households in the capital. Quantity, send it to the place.

The capital's existing seven pro-army thousand households can be reduced to four. Dongchang will lead the security protection of the entire capital, and Jinyiwei will serve as an auxiliary force to undertake the task of detecting, espionage and arrest.

Set up township offices below the county level, delineate the area with a population of [-] or less in adjacent natural villages, set up officials of the eighth rank and lower ranks, a chief official, a township chief and a second assistant, and a number of officials. In addition to the normal salary rewards , There is another monthly allowance for each person. The specific amount is determined by the cabinet, and it can only be high but not low.

　Thank you Bubble Dragon for your reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)