Film and television started from Yan Jiecheng in the Siheyuan

"Mourning Zong, it's easy to call him."

When both parties took a step back, the emperor still chose to give his father a good posthumous title, and the temple name was Miao Zong, which was barely acceptable.

Xianwen Suwu Xuanxiao Emperor, to be honest, this posthumous title is a joke to Zhao Zongquan in contemporary times.

Zhao Zongquan had been on the throne for more than two years. Zhao Zongquan's deeds had nothing to do with these six words. It could only be said that they had nothing to do with him.

After taking care of the future for his father, the new emperor can finally get down to business.

"Sheng Qing, how about solving the redundant officials in the Zhou Dynasty?"

Sheng Changbai also had the opportunity to chat with the new emperor.

"Redundant officials are a legacy of the Zhou Dynasty's decades of existence. You must not rush into reform. Your Majesty, you have to be patient. Even if it takes a few years to change the system of redundant officials in the Zhou Dynasty, it will be worth it. Improve the administration of officials. , when the government is unified and the people are harmonious, we can begin to comprehensively change the situation of Zhou's weakness."

Since it is necessary to fundamentally change the weak situation of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it cannot be solved by a simple decree, an inventory of salt, iron, tea and wine, various local taxes, and a wave of short-term interests.

The first step is to purify the official team of the Zhou Dynasty.

If the team is not purified, no matter what good government decree it is, it will not be implemented.

Just like the salt tax inspection last year, if we don't rectify the officials and conduct an inspection, it will return to the original state in just a few years. It's just that some of the beneficiaries have been replaced.

Nowadays, there are many redundant officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty, so there is a basis for choosing the best among the best and carefully selecting.

There are more than 2 officials. Compared with Dazhou's tens of millions of registered residents, this number does not seem to be particularly large.

However, considering that the Great Zhou Dynasty was still in the period of feudal society, the imperial power did not go to the countryside. There were only [-] states in the country, and each state had several counties, usually three or four counties.

In a county, there would be no more than five officials formally appointed by the court, usually only two or three.

In addition to the officials at the state level, road level, and central level, it is obvious that there are not so many people needed.

Even if all kinds of manpower are provided, the imperial court will have enough people to operate if it has several thousand people.

"There are redundant officials everywhere, where should we start?" the new emperor continued to ask.

"If you want to reduce redundant staff, it is nothing more than to get in less and get out more. To change this situation in the Zhou Dynasty, a two-pronged approach is undoubtedly the most suitable. First of all, when it comes time to reform the official system of the Zhou Dynasty, it is necessary to abolish redundant yamen and change the appointment of officials. The system enables officials to secure their positions and perform their duties, reducing internal and wasted energy."

The number of officials has been several times overstaffed, which resulted in multiple officials at different levels and multiple people in the Zhou Dynasty co-managing the same functional agency.

Just like the ritual officials of the Zhou Dynasty, there were the Ministry of Rites, Taichang Liyuan, and Taichang Temple.

Even if we want to distinguish the etiquette of the Royal Ancestral Temple from ordinary etiquette, there are some differences.

Two yamen are enough. The functions and powers of the three yamen are unclear. They are all responsible for rituals and sacrifices. It is obvious that there is some redundancy.

Several yamen have the authority to manage the same thing.

If something is arranged, grab it if it is beneficial, and avoid it if it is not beneficial.

It is to be expected that there will be mutual pushback and procrastination, which will affect administrative efficiency.

"Sheng Qing, what should we do with these extra officials?" the new emperor continued to ask. It's not that the new emperor didn't have his own thoughts.

Now it is obviously with some questioning meaning.

"This requires the Court of Examiners and the Department of Civil Service Examination to really start to play their role. Those who are capable will be promoted and those who are mediocre will be demoted. Those who should be dismissed will be dismissed, those who should be resigned will be dismissed, and those who should be transferred will be transferred."

The KPIs for officials still need to be formulated in more detail.

If these people can be dismissed or resigned, a lot of money can be saved.

The Great Zhou Dynasty treated civil servants well, but it might be difficult to dismiss them directly because of their mediocrity. However, it eliminated the need for errands and only gave them an official salary, which also reduced a lot of court expenses.

We can also assign these officials to those who write, teach, and compile books according to their specialties and abilities.

Although there are so many scholars in Bianliang that it can hardly be accommodated.

But in various remote states and counties, there is actually quite a shortage of scholars.

Letting these people go to remote places to educate them is obviously a good thing for the local area.

"This can eliminate some redundant staff, but how can we reduce the number of employees?"

"Reduce the number of yinbu, especially the number of yinbu for senior officials. The number of yinbu should be reduced by more than half. Close relatives of descendants and grandchildren can naturally yinbu, but long-term followers and retainers should be excluded from the list of yinbu, and the yinbu quota cannot be transferred."

Sheng Changbai could be regarded as violating his scholar-bureaucrat class stance, but it was time for the system to be changed.

Ensuring the survival of the country is also safeguarding the interests of nurses and doctors.

We can only preserve the core fundamental interests of the scholar-bureaucrats, and the issue of subsidy for descendants must not be diminished.

This is the basic guarantee for a wealthy family to have continuous officialdom from generation to generation.

After cutting off the descendants of Yinbu, the entire civil servant group would be furious. Not only Sheng Changbai's shoulders could not bear the resistance, but even the emperor could not bear to admit it.

The problem of redundant officials in the Zhou Dynasty has historical factors. When Taizu brought peace to the world, most of them adopted a policy of recruitment.

During the troubled times, after various local political powers were absorbed by the Zhou Dynasty, in order to maintain local stability, most of these local officials were retained.

If there is no place, create a place to accommodate these people.

But now that Dazhou has not expanded its territory for a long time, the redundant personnel caused by the recruitment can be ignored.

Another source of officials from the Zhou Dynasty is the comprehensive implementation of the imperial examination. It used to be once every two years, but now it is once every three years. Each time, hundreds of people enter the official career.

The imperial examination is an official selection system with the highest talent success rate.

The current three-year term is considered scientific and appropriate, and this aspect cannot be changed.

The last part of the officials came from Yinbu.

Zhou's kindness to his ministers is reflected in all aspects.

The scope and quantity of yinbu in the Zhou Dynasty were so wide that they ranked first among all dynasties and dynasties.

The Great Zhou Dynasty was also the first dynasty to make quantitative regulations on Yinbu.

In other words, the amount of compensation is directly related to the official's position.

High-ranking officials, such as those who participate in political affairs, that is, the deputy prime minister, can not only influence their descendants and relatives, but even their own family's extended followers and retainers, they are also within the scope of influence.

In short, each official court was allocated a quota.

When high-ranking officials retire, there are still places to fill the gap. It is exactly when one person becomes a chicken or a dog and ascends to heaven.

In special periods, such as important days such as the emperor's accession to the throne and the birth of a prince, the Zhou Dynasty will also provide additional compensation to officials and distribute additional quotas.

Although most of these shady officials have limited prospects because they do not have formal imperial examination backgrounds.

However, the most serious overstaffing in the Zhou Dynasty was precisely among the grassroots officials.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Zhou Dynasty won the country in disgrace. In order to win over scholars, the Zhao family treated them as favorably as possible in order to gain support.

Now that the Zhao family has ruled the Great Zhou Dynasty for decades, the impression of orthodoxy has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Some of the excessive favor can already be appropriately withdrawn. "Sheng Qing, by doing this, will it appear that I am a little mean and unkind?"

If you want to carry out reforms, you must promote the interests of all parties. If you want to be a good old man like Emperor Renzong, who is praised by all parties, it is definitely impossible.

But doing this for the new emperor is certainly worth more than Zhao Zongquan engaging in party disputes for his own selfish interests and causing a lot of scolding.

"Officials who really care about the world can understand you, Your Majesty." Sheng Changbai comforted the emperor. Sheng Changbai was not old, and the emperor was two years younger than Sheng Changbai. Even if he sat on the throne, he still needed encouragement and support:
"Besides, there won't be too many people who object. Even if most of the officials' quotas are cut off, the official's own descendants will be enough. As long as the officials' descendants can still get the supplement, there won't be any strong objections. resist."

After Sheng Changbai finished chatting with the new emperor, and after the new emperor discussed with several loyal ministers, he formally proposed the reform of the official system.

"Zecheng, you proposed to the officials to solve the problem of redundant officials. It really stirred up a thousand waves with one stone, and the whole court became lively." Father-in-law Hai teased Sheng Changbai.

This time, Sheng Changbai revealed a big event, which made the whole court busy.

"Father-in-law, you and I both know that the problem of three redundancies in Dazhou has reached a point where it cannot be solved unless it is solved."

As for the issue of redundant officials, Sheng Changbai still couldn't get too involved.

The real operation still needs to be done by senior officials in the court.

He was quickly promoted from the deputy envoy of the third division to the rank of third division envoy, and then to the father-in-law who participated in political affairs.

He was one of the main leaders in solving redundant officials, abolishing yamen, and reforming the official system.

The new emperor really looked down on the prime minister and deputy prime minister who supported his father Zhao Zongquan's misdeeds.

I probably still think that these people have no morals, no bottom line, and no basic persistence and integrity to be a prime minister.

I simply don’t dare to leave things to a few people.

After taking the throne, he quickly promoted several prime ministers and deputy prime ministers to help him handle government affairs.

Although the previous aspects have not been eliminated for the time being, these few are already far away from the center of power. The emperor does not discuss matters with these people, so he has completely stepped aside.

He did not directly remove a few people because the new emperor was concerned about a few people. They were the old ministers that Zhao Zongquan left to him.

If you want to give these people some dignity, you should also give Zhao Zongquan some respect.

By alienating these people, I hope that they will give up and resign themselves.

"Whatever thoughts you have, tell me in detail. After all, since you proposed this matter, you must have thought it over carefully." Father-in-law Hai frowned and said to Sheng Changbai.

Future generations may agree with reform, but for the present, it is basically a thankless effort.

The purpose of the reform must be for the court to recover some of its benefits.

This will inevitably touch the interests of some people and breed many opponents.

Reform is never an easy job.

At this time, Father-in-law Hai was promoted to deputy prime minister and presided over this matter, which was not necessarily a good thing.

But then again, now that he has been promoted to prime minister, he definitely hopes to display his ambitions.

If you want to do something, there is nothing you can do without offending others.

Like Han Zhang, being prime minister is just to maintain the stability of the court.

Da Zhou was waiting for death slowly, which was meaningless.

"Compared with my father-in-law, my political experience is nothing worth mentioning. Since you asked, Mr. Taishan, I will simply say something. I hope my father-in-law will not forget that Taizu Taizong did this when he reorganized the system. The original intention of each government office to divide powers and govern..."

The current political system in the Zhou Dynasty, with cross-management of various departments and serious redundancy of officials, can be said to have been deliberately done by the Zhao family themselves.

The purpose is to prevent civil servants from using them to suppress military generals, and also to prevent civil servants from having too much power without any restrictions.

Therefore, this kind of political system was created, with unclear powers and constraints, and extremely low efficiency.

Although now the orthodoxy of the old Zhao family has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

In order to improve administrative efficiency and solve the problem of too many redundant officials, we can be more relaxed about civil servants.

But the supervision system still needs to exist.

The old Zhao family wanted to prevent civil servants from having too much power, while Sheng Changbai wanted to prevent corruption because of his absolute power.

They all agree that there are certain supervision and restrictions.

"I'm sure there should be some restrictions. I'll think about it." Father-in-law Hai nodded. It really gave each yamen absolute rights. Regardless of whether the emperor was at ease or not, it was not a good thing.

After the father-in-law and son-in-law continued to chat about some political matters, they returned to their daily routine.

"When you leave your job after the new year, Chaoyun and the children, do you want to go to the job with you?"

"The child is still too young. Let Hai and the child stay in Bianliang for now. When the child is older, I will take them to my post when I return to Beijing to report on my work."

This time Sheng Changbai let others go and still chose to take office alone.

"The child is too young. Can't we keep the child and let Chao Yun take up the post with you?"

It can be said that Father-in-law Hai's proposal is exactly the same as that proposed by Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu.

The children were left in the care of Wang Ruofu and Sheng Hong, while Sheng Changbai and Hai Chaoyun went to work abroad.

It was considered a routine operation in this era, but it was rejected directly by Sheng Changbai.

It's not that Wang Ruofu and Sheng Hong are afraid of hard work.

The Sheng family has hundreds of servants, and taking care of a child is not hard at all.

It was Sheng Changbai's simple dislike. This couple didn't know how to educate their children.

The two of them really have no ability to educate children.

In addition to Sheng Changbai's strong self-control, he is considered self-taught.

Hualan and Minglan, who were educated by the old lady, were excellent in all aspects, but the other children were really not that promising.

"It would be too miserable for a child to leave his parents when he is only a few months old. It would be better to wait until the child grows up," Sheng Changbai replied.

Time has entered the twelfth lunar month, and the New Year's Eve is not far away.

In addition to preparing for the New Year, Sheng Changbai was dealing with some of the aftermath of his departure after the New Year.

The Sheng family is relatively stable now, and there isn't much to worry about.

There are not many people left in the family, most of them live in Sheng Hong's back house, and there will be some jealousy.

Sheng Hong can handle these by himself. For various reasons, Sheng Hong is not as easy to be manipulated by Lin Zhishuang as before.

But for the four Lans married into the Sheng family, they always need to be arranged before Sheng Changbai leaves.

(End of this chapter)