Jingming

Chapter 280 The emperor is still there, but the sky has changed

In the Beijing civil government office, it can be roughly divided into six departments, six departments, six divisions, five temples, three courtyards, three supervisors, two government offices and the remnants of the original Zhongshu province.

There is no need to elaborate on the six departments and six departments, but these six divisions range from a single yamen to a subordinate yamen, and the official ranks range from the third rank to the ninth rank.The Tongzhengshi is the most prominent, and the Tongzhengshigui is one of the nine ministers. The separate department of Shangbaosi is in charge of the official seals of civil officials, the pedestrian department is dedicated to running errands for the emperor, and the Senglusi and Daolusi are in charge of monks and Taoists all over the world. The Jiaofang Division, which specializes in music households, is subordinate to the Ministry of Rites but relatively independent.

As for the five temples, Dali Temple is one of the three Dharma divisions, and the Dali Temple Qing is also one of the Jiuqing.Taichang Temple is only concerned with rites and music, Taipu Temple is dedicated to Ma Zheng, Honglu Temple and Guanglu Temple have been introduced earlier.

The three courts are the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Imperial Academy, and Imperial Hospital; the third court is Guozijian, Qintianjian, and Shanglinyuanjian; the second mansion is the Zongren Mansion and Zhan Shi Mansion.

The remnants of Zhongshu Province will either be reduced to a small and transparent Zhongshu Sheren, or they will become the current cabinet.

For a long time, there were three points in the establishment of the Central Government Office of the Ming Dynasty that could not be ignored the most.

First, there are a large number of departments and officials who are ruled by the emperor and enjoy services.Among them, things related to sacrifice, viewing of heaven, and etiquette are related to the supreme authority of the emperor's "ordered by heaven". Some departments under the Ministry of Industry are regarded as serving the material and spiritual enjoyment of the emperor.

Second, major matters concerning the direction and review of the country's practical affairs must be handled at the central government, but the ranks of the chief officials who handle practical affairs are all too low. , How much voice can they have?
Third, due to the emperor's requirement for power control, all important affairs decisions should go through the emperor in principle.The overwhelmed emperors of all dynasties thus let the rise of the chief inspector and the cabinet step by step, but that was just laziness. In fact, power was still highly concentrated.

Zhu Houcong is also very clear that the existence of this framework must be the "best choice" that meets the current needs in a large sense.

Before making this decision, he thought for a long time whether this would be a little more hasty.

But after thinking about it, the biggest barrier is actually the emperor himself: whether he is willing to delegate power, whether he dares to delegate power, whether he wants so many private services.

After the imperial power arrived in the Ming Dynasty, it was concentrated to its peak.

Things will be reversed, and later China has no real hereditary remnants of imperial power, while many countries in the world still retain some so-called royal families and royal families.

After weighing for a long time, Zhu Houcong decided to take this step.

He can still retain the core power and maintain a highly centralized imperial power in essence, but in terms of some specific powers to deal with government affairs, it is necessary to give officials space, which is also a way to win people's hearts—more official positions , more power, better treatment.

The Jinshen Hall, which has been renamed the National Policy Hall, has not yet held the conference, and it is still a classroom.

Attending the lectures were the governors of various provinces, Zuo Buzheng envoys, governors of the two capitals, Nanjing Jiuqing, and the chief civil servants of the capitals of border towns who were abroad.This time, the new and old counselors, as well as the chief officials of the various yamen in Beijing, are also sitting here.

Of course, it was Zhu Houcong who attended the class.

"Guangdong has the chief envoy, the commanding envoy, the punishment department, the public security department, the inspection department, and the tax department. Under the chief envoy, except for the land tax, all other subjects and taxes have been moved to the tax bureau. Division. The chiefs of all divisions are present at the provincial affairs meeting, plus the governors of the provinces, and the future provincial township academy who will accompany them, making a total of nine people."

Zhu Houcong looked at them, and pointed to the prepared structure diagram next to him: "The same is true in Beijing. From now on, the major principles are that national policies, provincial affairs, government affairs, and county affairs conferences will decide on major issues, while the actual affairs will be handled by various ministries. The Governor, the prefect, the county magistrate, and Zhen, all just grasp the direction and coordinate the various departments. Except for military affairs, criminal names, public security, constitutional inspections, and taxation, the chief minister is in charge of the civil affairs of a province. The order is in charge of the civil affairs of a government, and the county magistrate of Liupin is in charge of the civil affairs of a county."

"As for the center of the imperial court, don't be ambiguous about the cabinet in the future." Zhu Houcong said lightly, "The name is Wupin University Scholars, but in fact it is Zaifu. The word cabinet sounds like it is just bowing to the emperor inside. Since then, The cabinet was renamed the State Affairs Hall. It is still on duty in the Wenhua Hall, but there is a hall left in the three halls of the previous dynasty, where the meetings are held. Living in the country, in front of my eyes, is the most important thing in the country!"

In the middle, there is no desecration.

When entering the Forbidden City, civil and military personnel can only go through the side door, and only the emperor has always gone through the middle.

As for the three halls of the previous dynasty located on the central axis, one hall is now reserved for the use of the State Affairs Hall, and the cabinet has also removed this internal character. How trustworthy is it?

"Bachelors are changed to merit titles, and the ministers of state in the Palace of State Affairs are all from the first rank; there is also a prime minister and minister of state, who is the first rank." Zhu Houcong looked at the crowd, "There will be a lot of practical work in the future, and the State Affairs Hall will deal with it and approve it. There is no need to go through Zhu's approval."

"The people in Zhongshushe all belong to the State Affairs Hall. There is one Zhongshu supervisor, who is the third rank, who is the prime minister and the minister of state; there are six Zhongshu orders, who are the third rank, and the six ministers of state. The six ministers of state each lead a department. There is no precedence."

This is really giving the prime minister some real power to the minister of state, but not without checks and balances.

"As for the national policy meeting, there are seven ministers in the State Affairs Hall, all of whom are counselors. The nine ministers are the same as before, and they are all counselors. It's just that among the nine ministers, the minister of general policy has been changed to be subordinate to the national policy conference. There are two deputy envoys, both of whom are third-rank officials. One of them is dedicated to communicating with the Supervisor of Zhongshu, and the other is dedicated to communicating with the Sixth Division and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. In addition to the staff of the six divisions, each of the six divisions has a principal and a deputy. , Zheng, from the four grades, another six departments are set up to give things, and the three grades are set up. All six departments are given things, and the general committee is composed of six science and technology committees. Participate in national policy meetings."

First, the National Policy Conference was used to restrict the entire State Affairs Hall, and then the National Policy Conference was connected with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Divisions through the General Administration to check and balance the entire State Affairs Hall.In the Palace of State Affairs, the ministers of state who each receive a department are equivalent to two votes each, and they can exert pressure on the prime minister and minister of state at the national policy meeting.

But it's not over yet.

"In addition to the chief of the imperial study, the assistant ministers under the Metropolitan Procuratorate participated in the national policy conference. The Wuying Hall set up a military affairs conference, with one general staff and several staff. One of the military general staff, one of the five army governors, One of the battalion admirals, one of the chief of public security, one of the chief of the tax department, and a total of 24 people attended the national policy meeting. The enlarged meeting every three years, just like today, has many other members present."

The military’s right to speak at the national policy meeting was further enhanced. Originally, there was only one Cui Yuan who represented the honored ministers of the five armies’ governor’s mansions, and only Yang Yiqing, an important minister of the border town, was among them. First Wang Shouren and then Yao Mao attended. There will be five people linked to military interests.

The topmost structure is determined, and the next is the six departments and other government offices.

These departments are more or less linked to Guangdong's new system.Among them, the Ministry of Rites set up the Department of Culture, Education and Religious Officials separately in terms of culture and education, the Ministry of Industry specially set up the Department of Cleaning Up Officials for Technology, and the Ministry of Households specially set up a tax department that was almost in a parallel state in terms of grades, and the first official was from the second grade. The general department and the Ministry of War have newly established two departments of recruiting and armaments.

In contrast, all the divisions under the six ministries are headed by a certain right servant, so the number of right servants has greatly increased; and the general department responsible for daily official affairs of each department is designated as the fourth grade.

Then there is Taipu Temple.The department after Ma Zheng was taken away by the herdsmen has changed the most, and its new identity has become the Chief of Public Security.

The department is gone, and the officials in charge of horse affairs are not in line with this line, but the General Department of Public Security has suddenly changed from a relatively marginal department to an extremely important department.

This chief of public security can participate in the national policy meeting, and he is a second-rank military officer!

As for Guanglu Temple, Taichang Temple, Pedestrian Department, Senglu Department, Daolu Department, Shanglin Yuanjian, etc., they have either been merged into the Six Departments and other offices, or will soon be changed into enterprises under a certain department.

The last is the Hanlin Academy.

"The meaning of Hanlin encompassing all kinds of art scholars is hereby, and there are Wenhuayuan, Jingshiyuan, and Baigongyuan under it. Hanlin bachelors will be awarded titles after that, and no merits will be awarded. Except for Baigongyuan, the rest will remain the same. The waiting room under Huayuan is still located in the palace."

From non-Hanlin not being admitted to the cabinet to being not awarded to the Hanlin for meritorious service, from the outstanding Jinshi to the establishment of Baigongyuan, the path of the Hanlin Qingliu's rise has been completely changed.

The emperor's wishes are too clear: emphasizing practice and efficiency.

For this reason, he did not hesitate to give more official positions above the fourth rank, and he did not hesitate to let go of some government affairs that can be independently decided by the State Affairs Hall.

Looking around, the important departments in the Beijing government have not changed much. Some interests of the six departments have been set aside, but some powers have been added; although the Taipu Temple has been slapped the most, it has transformed into a much more prominent position. Directorate General of Public Security.

The biggest changes can only be experienced by those above the second grade: the establishment of the State Affairs Hall and the changes in the National Policy Conference.

Then comes the extremely important question: how to guarantee so many extra officials financially and the salary of so many titles in the future.

"Three years." Zhu Houcong looked at them, "There are many expenses in the palace, many of which have already been purchased. Within three years, all of them have been purchased. After three years, if the new method can form a framework, the income of the financial plan And expenditures will eventually be separated. If I am relieved at that time, the national treasury will start to implement unification. After that, budgets and final accounts will be clarified by all ministries.”

The "conspiracy and family raids" that started last year resulted in a huge amount of money and assets confiscated, far more than the money confiscated in the Qian Ning and Jiang Bin cases.

In the early days of the implementation of the new law, it was really a case of copying the family and enriching the country.

Now Zhu Houcong is saving money on his own expenses, and has also set up sixteen state-owned enterprises to open up sources of income.

To spend these three years with the money obtained from the house raids, if the new law can really bear fruit, then it can be regarded as entering its own cycle.

At that time, it will really be faced with how to manage Daming's financial accounting well, and a Ministry of Finance that can manage in a unified manner and know the roughly accurate income of the country's entire fiscal revenue is indispensable, and a unified treasury is indispensable.

Today, the emperor's own internal treasury and the Taiku warehouse of the household department are still managed separately, which is quite chaotic.

If Zhu Houcong hadn't often lent money to the Ministry of Household Affairs, many things would have been called "the national treasury is in short supply".

The Ming Dynasty did not have a unified national treasury, and the Ministry of Household Affairs had always been limited by the structure of small finances. The emperor himself was the largest expenditure item of the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, the unified feeling of all the ministers present is: Your Majesty is really drawing his own blood to support Daming for the sake of the new law.

The emperor really...

And next, some important candidates were "tweeted" on the spot.

Before this official national policy meeting, there was a half-lecture, half-discussion meeting. Everyone just recommended the candidates in their minds.

Afterwards, it will be voted on at the official national policy meeting, which will be decided by the emperor.

But everyone knows that now is ventilation.As a smart person, you need to know who will be in charge of what in the future, so that you can give pertinent opinions during formal discussions, so that the selected person can carry out their work.

First, there are a few newly established important ministers who can participate in national policy: the general staff of the military affairs conference, the chief of the public security department, the chief of the tax department, and the chief of the six departments.

Then, there are several other important ministers serving the new imperial center: two deputy envoys, Zhongshujian Zhongshuling, and the chief and deputy of the six departments.

Finally, there is a new group of third-rank right ministers, fourth-rank general directors, and red-robed senior officials from other ministries who have appeared in the six ministries.

During this process, Nanjing Jiuqing felt like sitting on pins and needles.

It seems that the six departments of the government have not changed much, but since then there have been ministers of state in charge of government affairs on the heads of the six ministers of the north and the south.

At this moment, the ranks of many officials in Beijing's yamen have been upgraded, but it does not say that Nanjing will do the same.

In the future, it will also be a certain department under the sixth department. The Beijing sixth department will be in charge of the right servant of the third grade, and the general director of the fourth grade. The managers of the six Nanjing departments will only be the fifth grade doctor.

Although the Beijing Six Parts have always been the most important, at least everyone's superficial titles are the same.

Now, the gap has widened in terms of rank, and the ministries in Nanjing must first be managed by Beijing, and then they will be abolished.

The Nanjing Jiuqing looked helplessly at the heated discussion in the hall, knowing that this was probably the bait thrown to them by the imperial court first.

Do you want to get on the bus of the reform of the Beijing government office first, and join the Beijing court and even the national policy meeting?
This means that from now on, in response to the call of His Majesty and the National Policy Conference, all the cadres in Nanjing will be gradually brought to Beijing. When only a group of old, weak, sick and disabled are left in the Nanjing government offices, the abolition of the Nanjing government offices will naturally become a matter of course.

The great official is in the front, looking at the upcoming real prime minister, looking at His Majesty who has obviously planned it long ago, and the old and new counselors, they don't need to think too much, they just madly move toward some old and friendly counselors Wink.

This time is the real big change in the top court.

From top to bottom, there are three more independent departments, the Taxation Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Public Security Department, which will obviously extend vertically to the counties. They only accept the leadership of the chief officials of various places, but are controlled by their superiors. This is brand new. system.

The autonomy of the original six ministries and ministers of state has also been greatly increased.

There is no doubt that those who can't keep up with the version will be eliminated first.On the contrary, those officials in green robes are nothing more than clearer powers and more scenes of ascension and transfer.

After selecting a group of candidates for these newly established important positions, the hall was silent for a while, and did not touch the prime minister and minister of state and the extra position of minister of state, but discussed the establishment in the Hall of Martial Arts military conference.

Yang Yiqing was actually elected as the first candidate for the military general staff, which means that he will not become the Minister of State, and he will completely enter the sequence of military attache from now on.

But this also means that there can also be civil servants in the military affairs conference.

"The Minister of the Ministry of War, the Minister of the Ministry of Households, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Military Affairs are all staff members of the military affairs conference. There are also four positions of staff officers. They can be both civil and military, and they must know soldiers."

Not surprisingly, Cui Yuan immediately elected Gu Shilong, who had resigned from office and wanted to avoid the limelight, and Ma Yong, the chief minister of the Guangdong Public Security Department who had made meritorious service.

Before that, Fei Hong had already elected Zhang Jing, the censor who patrolled the water and was quite well-versed in the Sichuan Rebellion, as the new commander of the fourth-rank military department. Yang Yiqing then elected two more frontier generals.

On the other hand, Wang Qiong elected Wang Shouren as Minister of the Ministry of War. At this moment, he officially began to move the position of Minister of the Six Departments of Beijing.

Later, Yang Tan formally elected Wang Qiong to serve as a replacement minister of state to lead the Ministry of Officials.

Datian officials cannot join the cabinet, but now the rules have changed.

The emperor is still there, but the sky has changed.

As soon as the six ministers moved, they finally pointed to the supreme position in the hearts of civil servants: the prime minister with real power, the prime minister and the minister of state.

They thought this must be Yang Tinghe's position, but none of the old consultants said anything.

Then, it was Yang Tinghe who saluted himself and said: "Your younger brother Ting Yi has been recommended to replace Wang Boan as governor of Jiangxi, and my minister Yongxiu has been recommended to be the right servant of the household department. It is not suitable for me to be included in the national policy meeting. I recommend Fei Zi as the prime minister Minister. Fei Gong entered the cabinet twice, and supervised the constitution of Sichuan. His virtues and talents are far-reaching, and his prestige is high. The minister is old. Please Governor Ying Tian, ​​and Governor Jiang Jingzhi of Huaiyang, will assist His Majesty in clarifying the major problems of river transportation, sea transportation, and Huanghuai flooding. , and build the eternal foundation for Ming Dynasty."

There was a complete silence in the hall. For other people who didn't often hang out in national policy meetings, this decision was too heavy.

The leader of the new party gave way to the leader of the "old party".

Let the old party implement the new law, and the leader of the new party guide Zhili with his sword.

Nanzhili has a governor of Huaiyang and a governor of Yingtian. On the surface, Nanzhili has not been demolished, but the intention is obvious.

However, one of Yang Ting and his two brothers is in Nanjing and the other is in Jiangxi. The cultural and educational center in the south of the Yangtze River is actually served by these two brothers as the governor.

In addition, Yang Shen, who served as the right servant and headed the Department of Cleaning Officials of the Ministry of Households, the emperor trusted the Yang family, and the Yang family was going to work like crazy to clear up the tax benefits in the south of the Yangtze River.

Fei Hong was only shocked by the new Prime Minister and Minister of State, but he really didn't know that Zhu Houcong and Yang Tinghe had made this decision.

In the blink of an eye, he figured out the meaning of what Yang Tinghe said to Zhu Houcong before, so his mood was very complicated.

Does this count as Yang Tinghe's compensation for his ancestral grave being dug up because he didn't care about his past mistakes?
In any case, this is also a heavy stroke in the annals of history, the new official prime minister of Ming Dynasty after more than a hundred years.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Do you have any other candidates for election?"

He nodded as if he knew what Yang Tinghe said, but everyone else lowered their heads: Although all the smart people in the world already know that Fei Hong is an insider who is acting, he does represent a relatively conservative faction. .If Fei Hong becomes the prime minister, this group of people will surely take over the banner of the new law.

Sometimes they are not really opposed to the new law, but because they are not in power and unable to protect their own interests and future.

But that will change later.

Zhu Houcong then said: "Since this is the case, let me talk about my views on the new law in the fifth year of Jiajing. You and others also carefully considered and proposed to form a draft strategy, and then discuss the details at the national policy meeting. I think that next year, we will first clear the land and rebuild the land. The Yellow Book and the Government Office of Reform. It is advisable to mobilize the sons and students of the world to become officials; those who do not want to become officials, if they support the imperial government's decree, they can be awarded the talents of the village. What do you think, the governors and the governors of the province?"

In addition to opening up a way for farmers, businessmen and commerce to rise, the main purpose of setting up [-] ranks of rural sages is indeed here.

After next year, if the local gentry in Daming do not want to come out to be officials, then they will cooperate with the imperial court to sort out their family's land and people, and they will be the village sages.

If not, what is?
(End of this chapter)