Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 304 Pilot System of Governors
Zhu Gaoxu's first request for the governor did not exceed the expectations of the officials and was within the reasonable range.

But what he said next, which seemed ordinary, made the eyes of all the ministers present shine and open their eyes.

"Secondly, the governor's rank is set as the second rank of Zhengshu. He is in the same ministerial department and has the power to control and supervise the three local departments. The original rank of the chief envoy from the second rank, the inspector's rank to the third rank, and the commander's rank to the second rank remain unchanged. The original third rank The duties and powers of the officials remain unchanged, and everyone is responsible to the court."

When Xie Jin analyzed the Jiedushi envoys of the Tang Dynasty just now, he mentioned the power of Jiedushi envoys to appoint and remove subordinate officials.

If the governor wants to be a military envoy with monopoly power and dictate to the three local departments, then this requires a prerequisite, that is, the officials of the three departments must be subordinate officials of the governor.

But now Zhu Gaoxu has said that the functions and powers of the three departments remain unchanged and each is responsible to the court.

The so-called "powers remain unchanged" refers to the old rule set by Emperor Taizu that the three local departments are not subordinate to each other and are in charge of civil affairs, justice, and military affairs respectively.

The so-called "each one is responsible to the imperial court" means that it is recognized that the official envoys are subordinate to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Husbandry, the envoys for punishment and inspection are affiliated to the Ministry of Punishment, and the commanders and envoys are subordinate to the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army and take orders from the Ministry of War.

Zhu Gaoxu's seemingly simple sentence once again made it clear that the real superior of the local three departments was the six imperial departments. Although the governor had great power, the three departments were not his private yamen.

The three local bureaus have independent powers and are under the jurisdiction of the six ministries. The governor's main responsibility is to control and supervise the three bureaus and coordinate with the three bureaus to handle affairs.

The governor has the power to control and supervise the three departments. This is to use the big to rule the small.

At the same time, the specific military, political, and legal powers under the control of the three divisions are relatively scattered, and not all of them can be controlled by the governor.

In particular, while Zhu Gaoxu allowed local officials at all levels to submit inscriptions and memorials, he also gave local officials such as the Third Division the privilege of submitting secret memorials.

Through the system of secret memorials, the imperial court was able to control the governors with small ones.

Moreover, there are also constraints between the governor and the three departments. Under such large and small constraints, it is difficult to form a local power network with the governor as the core.

A governor who cannot do whatever he wants and is self-governing is obviously easier for the court to control.

At this moment, after understanding the "big and small containment" designed by Zhu Gaoxu, all the ministers in the meeting felt the ingenuity of this move.

Xia Yuanji and Fang Xiaoru, who had objected just now, were stroking their beards and thinking deeply, as if they thought of something else from this clever trick of "big and small containment".

Zhu Gaoxu saw the reactions of the ministers in the palace and continued unhurriedly: "Third, if the commander-in-chief of the capital and the governor are stationed in the same province, if they jointly carry out military affairs, the commander-in-chief of the capital will take the lead; In the event of an emergency war in the province, the capital commander will take the lead."

His words established the primary and secondary status of the governor and the capital commander in wartime.

Although in name, the Du Commander is under the supervision and control of the governor, he is a second-rank governor, and he is on an equal footing with the second-rank governor who is also a minister.

The commander-in-chief of the capital also enjoys the power of individual administration and can directly report to the emperor when something goes wrong. This makes it difficult for the governor to truly and effectively control the commander-in-chief.

The governor has the right to command and exercise control, but there is essentially a special relationship between the two parties that restricts each other.

That is to say, the governor is theoretically the highest local military and political officer, and his local military power is actually restricted by the capital commander.

In this way, how can the governor easily control the commander-in-chief?

Even if a certain governor has the talent to be a hero and uses various plans and methods to capture the three local chief officials, including the capital commander, it will still be difficult for him to rebel later.

Because the officials under the governor and the three chief officials were directly appointed and removed by the court, it was impossible for all these officials to rebel together.

In particular, the senior officials appointed by the Du Commander Division, which controls the military power of a province, include one Du Commander, two second-rank Du Commanders and Tongzhi, four senior and third-grade Du Commanders, and an experienced Secretary. Experience, Duanshi Si Duanshi, Jiu Si Jiu and other officials.

Under normal circumstances, the imperial court will have one person from the capital commander, Tongzhi, and Qianshi to lead the governor, called Zhangyin; one person is responsible for training troops, and one person is responsible for farming, called Qianshu; some are in charge of patrols, weapons, and water transportation , Jing Cao, Bei Yu and other affairs.

According to imperial regulations, if there are major military matters in the local area, the three departments must collaborate and report to the imperial court with their signatures.

No matter how sophisticated the governor's methods are, it is difficult to buy off all the high-level officials in the entire capital. The possibility of leaking information is often greater when hoarding food and grass, buying people's hearts, and planting confidants. After all, there are all-pervasive Jin Yiwei spies in this world!

Historically, even in the later stages of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and when the Qing court's dominance declined, Zeng Guofan and even later Li Hongzhang and other high-ranking governors did not dare to rebel.

Because these governors knew very well that the rebellion would face many constraints and the possibility of success was too low.

"What do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked loudly.

The ministers looked at each other, and for a moment they didn't know how to answer.

According to the three rules Zhu Gaoxu just set, the subsequent governors of the Ming Dynasty basically lost the room to act independently in terms of the system and could only obey the orders of the court. In fact, they completely obeyed the orders of the Ming Emperor.

The ministers knew very well that the reason why their emperor designed and operated the governor system in this way was to ensure that the governors were arbitrary, to firmly grasp the imperial power, and to use the hands of governors to control the military and administration of a province.

"Your Majesty, I don't understand something."

Xia Yuanji stood up, bowed his hands, and said respectfully.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "But it doesn't matter."

"According to what Your Majesty just said, the power of the governor lies in the control and supervision of the three departments. However, although the governor's rank is in the same minister, he is at the same level as the capital commander. Will this weaken the governor's supervisory power over the capital department?"

Xia Yuanji slowly expressed his doubts. "I would like to reiterate once again that the power of supervision is one of the core powers of the governor. The governor also has the power to hear, inquire, and make decisions on local cases. That is, the power of supervision owned by the supervisory censor is owned by the governor."

"But the most important power of the governor is to control the coordination of the three local departments and prevent the three departments from passing the buck and delaying the official work."

Zhu Gaoxu solemnly said: "The governor controls the three local departments, which naturally includes the capital commander department. The arrangement I made is just a continuation of the old system of governor powers during the Yongle period. The purpose is still to restrict the capital commander and prevent them from abusing their power, becoming domineering and corrupting. The laws of the imperial court.”

What he said is actually very simple to sum up. He is to arrange an immediate boss for the three local divisions, so that they will not have no one to control them and let themselves go, causing them to do evil in the local area and deceive superiors and subordinates.

Especially for military commanders.

The Ming Dynasty relied on military force to build the country, and the status of military generals during the Hongwu period was quite high. During the Yongle period, Zhu Di often used troops abroad, and the status of military generals was also high but not low.

With the precedents of the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, the generals stationed in various places would inevitably think that they were superior to others, and even more so, they would be domineering and have no regard for local civil servants at all.

If the governor does not have the power to control the commander-in-chief, it will be difficult for the local commander-in-chief to obey his orders and cooperate with the other two departments.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu must give the governor the power to control the capital to make local military commanders afraid.

"I understand." Xia Yuanji said respectfully.

At this time, other people in the hall also understood.

Because according to Zhu Gaoxu's design, the governor was purely an agent of the imperial power. As a capital official, he was stationed in a province and inspected one area. He was the link between the imperial court and the three local departments.

"In addition, I would like to add a few points about the governor's term of office and the terms of office."

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while and then said: "When a governor takes office, his term is five years, and he can serve up to three consecutive terms in the same place; only those with excellent political performance can be re-elected; those with mediocre political performance can be transferred to other places after one term. .”

"No one can hold the position of governor for more than 20 years in total; he is not allowed to serve in his hometown and must follow the rules of avoidance. Even if he is appointed across provinces, he must serve five hundred miles away from his hometown."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Yu Yanzhao stood up and bowed.

He expressed his support for Zhu Gaoxu's decision with actions.

Yu Yanzhao was one of the first batch of students from Jinling Normal Academy and one of the first batch of people to receive the baptism of "Zhu Gaoxu Thought".

His performance at this moment was completely within the expectations of traditional civil servants such as Xie Jin and Fang Xiaoru.

"What do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked as he looked around at everyone in the hall.

In fact, he knew that the governor system was not perfect and had its shortcomings.

This is specifically reflected in the fact that the place managed by the governor is limited to one province.

In the event of a large-scale civil unrest, the governor of a province is often stretched thin.

Therefore, the establishment of large military regions is necessary.

And this is exactly what he will do next in implementing the "Qianxi New Deal".

"I have no objection."

Xia Yuanji stood up and cupped his hands.

"The minister has no objection."

Fang Xiaoru, Xie Jin and others also stood up and saluted.

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes fell on Jian Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and said: "The Ministry of Personnel listened to the decree, and I ordered the Ministry of Personnel to take the lead, together with the other officials of the five departments, as well as the officials of Dali Temple, Duchayuan, and Tongzhengsi Hall, to jointly recommend the Northern Minister. For the candidates for governor of the six provinces of Ting, Anxi, Puchang, Liaodong, Guizhou, and Jiaozhi, three candidates for each province have been tentatively selected, and the list will be submitted in two days."

"The ministers obey the order."

Jian Yi, the Minister of Personnel, Yu Yanzhao, the Minister of Rites, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Hubu, and others said in unison.

Zhu Gaoxu asked again: "Kang Ping?"

Kang Ping bowed forward to listen to the order and said: "My servant is here."

"Pass on my oral instructions to let the prince attend the meeting of the six ministries and nine ministers recommending the governors of the six provinces."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered.

"The servants lead the order."

Kang Ping said respectfully.

(End of this chapter)