Song Gexing

Chapter 193 Water Conservancy in the Song Dynasty
In the third year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Song Dynasty, the Third Department established another department as the River and Canal Department, but it was only responsible for the Yellow River and Bianhe River. In the third year of Emperor Jiayou's reign, it was abolished and renamed the Capital Water Supervision Department.

This is the water conservancy department in the true sense, facing the whole country, but it is still under the jurisdiction of the Third Division. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that it came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry.

At the same time, during the Renzong period, a river repair department was established, which was originally subordinate to the river canals department. After the river canals department was abandoned, it was subordinate to the Du Shuijian, which is a subordinate agency.

There is another subordinate agency of the same kind, and that is the Hexunsi, which inspects the role of embankment repairs. However, this yamen was established very early, during the Song Taizong era.

All in all, the official positions in the water conservancy department of the Song Dynasty were too small, which caused difficulties in doing things. They were often hampered by local officials, but there was nothing they could do.

Therefore, as soon as Zhao Fang proposed to patrol the river, Li Zhongchang, the governor of the capital, immediately asked.

Zhao Fang's original intention was to dispatch temporary governors, but he did not intend to introduce the governor system so early. He was stunned by his question.

The governor system should be said to be the best system among the official systems of the Ming and Qing dynasties, although it still has shortcomings. For example, the governor's jurisdiction is too large, which can easily lead to problems such as too much power.

But the governors could actually restrict each other. It was only in the late Manchu Qing Dynasty that the governors' rights were gradually eroded by the governors, and they were overpowered.

In fact, the governors were not under the jurisdiction of the governor-general, but each had their own responsibilities, all of which were directly responsible to the emperor. However, in the later stages, the governors would generally be under the jurisdiction of the governor-general.

But the governor was never a subordinate of the governor, and this did not change from the time it was established to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.

The biggest highlight of the governor system is that the emperor can grasp local power. As long as he can control the governor well, he can control local power and have strong ability to deal with local emergencies.

Especially the governor system in the early Manchu Qing Dynasty, the governor was in charge of the military and political power of one or two provinces, the governor was in charge of the military and political power of the province, the envoy was in charge of the government affairs of a province, and the admiral was in charge of the military power of a province.

This is a very effective way to balance the local military and political power. The governor has the power, but he does not actually have direct control over the military. The army is actually in the hands of the admiral.

It is the chief envoy who handles daily government affairs. Therefore, the governor system is like a small local court, but it is not independent. It must be loyal to the central government in order to maintain its power.

It should be said that the governor system is the best system formed by taking the essence of the ancient bureaucratic system after 2000 years of evolution.

The Song Dynasty was not suitable for the governor system because the imperial power had not reached its peak. Co-governance between scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor had become the consensus of the world, and no one could change this.

This is a gradual process. Not to mention Zhao Fang's inability to change, no one can change it. Only by smashing the Song Dynasty and creating a new dynasty can this be done.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty could not change it. Except for the father and son Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had never been able to completely control their ministers.

The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were blamed one after another. This was precisely because the emperor had no choice but to push out the eunuchs and compete with the ministers after the ministerial power took away the imperial power.

Otherwise, any emperor who is willing to let eunuchs take power would really think that the emperor is a fool. Although eunuchs are the closest people to the emperor, they are also the most dangerous.

You must know that eunuchs are in the palace. If they have too much power, they can kill the emperor and support a young puppet. This lesson existed a lot before the Ming Dynasty.

This happened many times during the Han and Tang Dynasties. Zhu Yuanzhang was not a fool, so he left an iron sign that eunuchs were not allowed to participate in politics early and hung it in the palace.

But later emperors still introduced eunuchs one by one.

Even Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, who had to be recognized by the Qing Dynasty as the Holy Son of Heaven, also reused eunuchs and even restored the West Factory. This was not a helpless move after being ignored by the ministers. "His Majesty!"

The stunned Zhao Fang was woken up, and he pondered for a moment and said: "Today's time is too tight, let's make a temporary assignment first, and we will see the results next year and then decide whether to make it permanent."

Li Zhongchang was a little disappointed, but what the emperor said made sense. Without practice, there is no right to speak. It is better to wait until the time comes.

Wanting to understand, he immediately asked again: "Does Your Majesty have someone to choose? I think this person must have a good understanding of water affairs, otherwise it will be easy to not dare to do his job, but only to investigate whether officials are corrupt."

These words immediately aroused dissatisfaction among many people. As a doctor of the sixth grade, Li Zhongchang was originally not qualified to go to the court. It was just different today that he was qualified to go to the court.

Not only in the Song Dynasty, but in ancient dynasties, only officials of the fifth rank or above who were serving in Beijing were eligible to go to court, but there were two opportunities for all members in Beijing to go to court twice a year.

That is the great court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month, and the annual court meeting at the end of the year. Today is the last court meeting in the fourth year of Jiayou. After the meeting, everyone goes home to celebrate the New Year.

Li Zhongchang's words can easily lead to ambiguous thoughts, that is, he himself wants to be the governor. After all, in terms of familiarity with water affairs, who else is more qualified than him, the city's water supervisor.

But the problem is that the doctor is only a sixth-rank official. Governors and envoys, whether in the Southern and Northern Dynasties or the Tang and Song Dynasties, can only be held by high-ranking officials of third rank or above.

Although it is a temporary assignment, once you serve once, you will be eligible for promotion after leaving office.

Fortunately, Zhao Fang knew who Li Zhongchang was and understood that this was not what he meant. He smiled and raised his hand to suppress the questioning.

"Lv Qing, would you like to go on a trip? This trip is not easy. It involves traveling through mountains and rivers. You are old and have reason to refuse."

Zhao Fang looked at Lu Jujian, and Fan Zhongyan couldn't help frowning and said: "Since your majesty knows that I am getting older, why not change someone else."

He is really not worried about Lu Jujian's age. The 61-year-old Lu Jujian has a strong body and does not look senile.

Instead, he thought that Zhao Fang had some objections to Lu Jujian. You must know that the old Lu Guan now lives in Tokyo as a transfer envoy, and Long Tu is a direct bachelor. To become a governor or something is to be demoted.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Lu Jujian took a step forward and said, "Thank you Fan Xiang for caring about me, but I am in good health and not afraid of dangerous mountains and rivers."

After saying that, he bowed his head to Zhao Fang and said, "I am willing to go! It is an honor for me to be favored by your majesty. How dare you follow others? You must be the first!"

Zhao Fang stretched out his hand with a happy face and said: "I know you. You are an all-rounder. Not only do you know everything about money and food, but you are also familiar with water conservancy. The most important thing is that you have the ability to make decisions. I will give you five Officials below the rank have the right to kill first and report later.”

As he spoke, he looked at the ministers and said: "You know, sirs, the governor I established is different from the previous governors. They only have the power and responsibility to govern. Instead, they have assigned three thousand imperial troops as imperial envoys to judge corruption among local officials on the spot. Corruption, maladministration and other issues.”

The whole court was in an uproar. This power was too great. In the Song Dynasty, imperial envoys never had the right to judge on the spot. Instead, after discovering the officials who should be dealt with, they were dismissed and waited for the court to send someone to deal with them specifically.

Not to mention traveling with an army, this is the rhythm of a feudal official.

(End of this chapter)