Song Gexing

Chapter 166 Reforming the Censor Platform

"Your Highness is trying to strengthen the scope of authority of the Yushitai, but at the same time restrict their opinions?"

After reading all the materials, Wang Anshi raised his eyes and asked, with surprise and a hint of fear in his eyes.

Zhao Fang solemnly nodded and said: "Yes, the censors have been overstepping their authority for a long time. Don't you think this is ridiculous? There is obviously a court of admonition and the censors are responsible for supervising all officials. Why do they have to overstep their authority?"

Wang Anshi was speechless. It cannot be said that Yushitai exceeded his authority. It was formed because of the need to implement co-governance between scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor.

The imperial censor's remonstrance and the remonstrance of the remonstrating officer are completely different things. The institution of the remonstrance court is small, and there are only a few people to advise the emperor. No matter how outspoken and daring it is, it is only a matter of a few people.

However, there are a large number of people in the Censorship Office. Although there is no Metropolitan Inspectorate in the Ming Dynasty, after adding the Censorship Censorship, the Censorship Patrolling the River, the Censorship Patrolling the City, the Censorship Patrolling the Salt, etc., the organization is huge, but there are still dozens of people.

In the Song Dynasty, the Yushitai was divided into three courtyards: the Taiyuan served as the censor, the palace courtyard served as the censor, and the procuratorate as the supervising censor. There were [-] chief officials respectively. In addition to the Yushi Zhongcheng who managed the entire Yushitai, there were ten Personal.

There are several subordinates in the Three Courts, as well as the censors staying in other three capitals, who also have the right to submit letters, the same rights as the headquarters in Bianjing.

It was just a staff of dozens of people. These dozens of people stared at the emperor every day to advise him, let alone other things, and they were annoying to death.

The biggest problem is that admonishing the emperor can leave a good reputation for his uprightness. Gradually, these censors stopped paying attention to their own work, and instead focused on admonishing with great interest.

You must know that the original intention of establishing the Yushitai was to supervise all officials, but in the end they did not care about corrupt officials and cared about who the emperor slept with today. Isn't this nonsense?

The same was true in the later period of the Ming Dynasty's Metropolitan Procuratorate. They overstepped their authority and became admonishing officials. They would rather line up to receive the imperial staff than supervise hundreds of officials.

No matter how far it has developed, all officials who are punished by the court will become gentlemen respected by the people of the world. Not only are the scholars chasing them, but even the brothel prostitutes respect them.

It can be said that such a society is perverted. This is how the Ming Dynasty committed suicide. It seems like freedom of speech, but in fact it is a chaotic dance of demons.

True freedom of speech should be academic freedom, not political freedom of speech. Ordinary people know nothing about politics, and they are not cannon fodder to be exploited by people with ulterior motives.

Zhao Fang firmly disagrees with such freedom. No matter how selfish he is, the old Zhao family's family and world are better than being ruled by the culturally backward Jurchens.

If you look at the tragic experience of the demise of the Ming Dynasty, you will know that Chinese civilization has regressed for hundreds, even thousands of years.

You must know that no matter how corrupt the Ming Dynasty was, the people's consciousness was not inferior to that of Westerners of the same era. They were at the forefront of the world in terms of culture and technology.

Moreover, the people of the Ming Dynasty were not xenophobic, and they were good at learning foreign cultures from top to bottom. Even Emperor Jiajing, who had not been in power for 30 years, immediately ordered research and imitation when he saw the advancement of Western arquebus guns.

There is no such thing as a big country trying to learn from the barbarians, but it is natural for them to learn from good things when they see them.

This is the original appearance of Chinese civilization. It is inclusive and open to all rivers. It does not feel inferior or conceited. It can despise the barbarians and their lack of culture in terms of culture, but it will never despise their advanced technology.

Let alone think that they are inferior to others because of their advanced technology, because they are confident that their own culture is the highest level of civilization.

"Your Highness, these six subjects are probably not simple, right? The six departments are not the highest authority in the Song Dynasty. It seems unnecessary to supervise them, right?"

It has to be said that Lao Wang has a sharp eye. Although Zhao Fang did not write down the system of abolishing three provinces and promoting six ministries, he could still see through the tricks at a glance.Zhao Fang could only curse inwardly, "I've been sloppy, I shouldn't have shown this to him." He said with a smile, "I'll talk about that later, let's talk about the procuratorate system right now."

Wang Anshi took a deep look at him, lowered his head and glanced at the materials in his hand, and said: "Increase the number and classification of censors, cancel the qualifications of censors to speak, I agree!"

"Oh, do you think it's feasible?"

Zhao Fang asked in surprise, Wang Anshi raised his head and said solemnly: "It is indeed feasible, and it is necessary."

He explained his views: "Your Highness also knows that with the implementation of the reform in recent years, the local supervision force has obviously failed to keep up. The Department of Prisons can only supervise officials to judge the rights and wrongs of prisons. The Department of Transportation can , there are many duties such as promoting Chang Pingsi, and adding supervisory responsibilities is insufficient in itself. It is naturally the best to send an additional patrol censor. After all, there is a big difference between a regular post and a part-time job. "

In the Song Dynasty, there was no local censor. Roads, prefectures, and prefectures were generally supervised part-time by yamen such as the Transportation Department. As for the county level, there was basically no one in charge.

Unless someone files a complaint, or the matter becomes serious and the higher-ups know about it, the state government will send people to monitor it.

Of course, in the Song Dynasty, there was also a Tongpan who was responsible for making snitches, but the Tongpan's responsibilities were for the chief officials of the prefecture, and he had no interest in paying attention to the county level below.

To put it bluntly, the Tongyan in the Song Dynasty was set up by the emperor to prevent local officials from becoming big. The purpose was to prevent threats to the imperial power and not to care about local corruption.

As for why the prefects and prefects had to monitor, it was because the prefects in the Song Dynasty had the right to command the troops stationed in the local area.

This is very different from the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, only the governors and military officers had the authority to mobilize military posts and civil servants, but these were all provincial-level yamen.

It was different in the Song Dynasty. If Xiang troops were stationed in the state, the governor of the state had the right to mobilize them. Even in the county seat, the magistrate had the right to mobilize them.

In addition to the Forbidden Army stationed in the dining area, the chief officer of the state government in that place also has the right to mobilize in emergencies, such as quelling chaos and foreign invasion. There is no need to report to the court, and the chief officer can directly order and command them.

Just like Liang Zhongshu's transfer of Suo Chao in Water Margin, there was no need to report it to the court.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, this kind of system actually has a greater degree of freedom, so it naturally needs to be restrained. The power of general judgment in the Song Dynasty is greater than that in the Ming Dynasty, which is the reason.

In the Ming Dynasty, the general judge was Zuerguan, and he did not dare to compete with the chief official. However, in the Song Dynasty, the general judge was often superior to the chief official because he had the right to write directly to the emperor.

In the next few days, Wang Anshi went to the Prince's Mansion every day to report, and the two of them stayed in the study room to discuss. A few days later, the two of them jointly signed a letter, and the change began.

The Yushitai did not change its name to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but the entire structure was changed. The left and right censors were censors, and the left and right censors were censors. They directly defeated the opposing censor Zhongcheng.

Because in the original Yushitai, one person was the dominant one, the Yushi Zhongcheng, but with the arrangement of censors on both sides, from one person in power to two, who would not be jealous of those who wanted to be in power.

As for the higher-level imperial censors, they originally had a vacant position in the Song Dynasty and had no right to manage the censorship station. Who would care about you?

Coupled with the cancellation of the right to remonstrate, the officials of the Remonstrance Yuan will naturally support it strongly, and they can finally take back their rights without stepping on you.

(End of this chapter)