Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 559 Year-end Planning
Although he spent the whole night messing around with his wife and concubines at home, Huo Jun still got up early and went to the palace to pay homage to Liu Bei.

In the palace in Wuhan, Liu Bei was sitting on the couch, while Zhuge Liang, Wang Can, Ma Liang and other officials were sitting on the left and right, talking about political affairs.

Liu Bei was wrapped in a thick cloak and asked: "It is the twelfth lunar month now, and it will be the first day of the twelfth lunar month soon. Do you have anything to tell me?"

"Your Majesty, although the decision has been made and the household registration has been hidden, there are many things that should be taken as a warning to Your Majesty and other gentlemen!" Zhuge Liang said.

"What's the matter?"

Liu Bei tightened his cloak and said, "It's okay for the Prime Minister to say anything that is beneficial to the country."

Zhuge Liang pointed to the memorial on the case while holding a feather fan, and said: "Since the execution of the decree, many county governors have spoken out. Many of the old officials in the county are natives, and there are many aristocratic and powerful people. Since the execution of the decree, there may be officials who have neglected their duties. Lazy, or accepting bribes and not repaying them. If the county chiefs do not enforce strict laws and the governor makes inspections, it will be difficult to break the law. "

How difficult is it to search for a hidden house?

Without Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei's words, several states, counties and counties would report the truth obediently, and it would not be possible for a large army to garrison in key areas to sort out the population.

In order to detect hidden households, we need a strong and prestigious central government, with clear and transparent administration, and ensuring the smooth operation of administrative agencies. Only then can we detect hidden households in counties and counties.

The administrative structure of the Southern Han Dynasty has been polished by Zhuge Liang for more than ten years. Most of the officials have been replaced by his own people. In addition, Liu Bei's reputation has reached its peak, so he now dares to search for hidden houses.

However, the process of searching for a hidden house was not smooth sailing. On the contrary, there were many twists and turns. As Zhuge Liang said, most of the grassroots officials in the county came from powerful and noble families. In the process of searching for hidden households, they would inevitably neglect their duties or fail to report what they knew.

Except for Jiangdong, Yizhou and Jingzhou in the south were almost not broken up, and many counties and counties still retained their old officials. These old officials had bad habits such as clever words, greed for profit and taking bribes.

Why did Zhuge Liang enforce the law so strictly? In addition to enforcing the law, it also made the grassroots officials afraid. Therefore, the strict laws implemented by Zhuge Liang were not only for the people, but more for the officials.

Although the search for hidden households was successful, the problems of grassroots official governance reflected in it made Zhuge Liang a little worried.

Zhuge Liang chanted while holding a fan, and said: "For example, Yu Jing, the chief secretary of Kuaiji, was dismissed by Bu Yangzhou because he knew something and failed to report it. That is, when searching for Kuaiji County, Yu Jing underreported 300 households for his clan. If he had not been dismissed by Yangzhou If you check it, it will be hidden by Yu Jing."

"If we don't strictly investigate the evil officials in the counties and counties now, I dare to say that the people we have isolated will be under the control of the government in less than ten years." Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice.

It is not difficult for large households to hide their population. In addition to 'natural death', they can also cooperate with officials through various means to gradually replenish the separated population.

If Zhang San is found out by the government, his family head can clear the relationship and ask the government to issue a death certificate, and Zhang San will be reborn and disappear from the records. Or it may be that the slaves are hiding and not reporting children, and as the population increases or decreases, large households hide their population again.

The population of an agricultural society is destined to be impossible to clearly check. If the population is not to be hidden, it actually depends on the grassroots officials.

Liu Bei drank warm water and asked, "What does the Prime Minister want?"

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "Next year, Liang wants to send officials to the prefectures and counties, and order the prefectures and counties to send supervisors to the counties and villages to check whether any officials have violated disciplines and dereliction of duty, in order to clean up the rule of officials."

Countries are similar to companies. They often make reports at the end of the year to plan for next year's work.

For example, the above-mentioned plans of the states and counties can be regarded as the year-end summary of the states and counties to the central government. The central government will grade the governors of the states and counties based on the content of the above-mentioned plans.

As for the work tasks for the following year, in addition to several basic standards, states and counties are also responsible for special tasks set by the central government.

Among them, the postal supervisors are county officials who supervise county officials. They are responsible for examining whether county-level officials have done anything wrong and then reporting it to the prefectures and counties.

When he was young, Liu Bei was the captain of Anxi County. The reason why he whipped the governor was not because the governor asked him for a bribe, but because Liu Bei had been on the government's expulsion list because of the dispute between Jizhou and the central government, and because he had no way out and lacked family background.

When Liu Bei learned about this, he hoped to see the governor to defend himself, but the governor refused to meet him. In anger, Liu Bei thought that he would be fired from the government anyway, so he simply broke into the posthouse, whipped the postal supervisor, and left to vent his anger.

Liu Bei whipped the postal supervisor, which was the last sign of the workers' stubbornness. Although he could not hurt the boss who gave the order, he finally vented his anger.

Now that Liu Bei has become the emperor, he wants to rule the southern land and supervise the officials. Instead, he wants to pay attention to supervisory officials such as postal inspectors.

While Zhuge Liang was speaking, the attendant came to Liu Bei's ear and muttered a few words.

"Your Majesty, Huo Du is waiting outside the palace!"

"When Governor Xuan Huo comes in, he says that the Prime Minister is discussing political affairs with everyone. Just enter the palace directly."

"promise!"

In a thousand words, Zhuge Liang explained to Liu Bei his plan to purge officials next year.

While Liu Bei listened carefully to Zhuge Liang's plan, he asked Ma Liang to take notes for the prince. Although Prince Liu Chan is less than eighteen years old, Liu Bei has already planned to train Liu Chan.

Asking Ma Liang to take notes and introduce the court's policies to Liu Chan allowed Liu Chan to familiarize himself with court politics in advance. So as not to rush to the position in the future and not know everything. Of course, it doesn't mean to let the prince preside over the government, but to enable him to understand what the ministers are saying in the future. Just like him, he can understand what Zhuge Liang is saying.

After a while, as the palace door slowly opened, Huo Jun entered the meeting hall.

In order not to disturb Zhuge Liang's speech, Huo Jun bowed slightly to Liu Bei and everyone, and then sat down under the guidance of his attendants.

After sitting there for a short time, Zhuge Liang finished explaining his plan to purge officials.

Liu Bei nodded slightly and said with admiration: "I originally thought that by dividing the population with light corvee and small taxes, we could achieve great governance in the south. Now after listening to the words of the prime minister, I deeply feel that the current Han Dynasty still has shortcomings."

After saying that, Liu Bei looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think the Prime Minister thinks?"

"I agree!"

Ma Liang took the lead in handing over.

"I think it's feasible!"

Then, Sun Shao, Fei Guan, Wang Can and other senior officials supported Zhuge Liang's opinion.

"Good~"

Just as Liu Bei was about to say something, he suddenly felt pain in his stomach and intestines and had the desire to go to the toilet.

"Everyone, please discuss it first, I will come as soon as I go!"

Without waiting for anyone to answer, Liu Bei tried his best to maintain his demeanor and headed to the toilet with the help of his attendants.

"Your Majesty, what is this?"

Huo Jun, who had just arrived in the palace, was a little confused and asked.

"This is your Majesty's illness!"

Wang Can came over to explain and said: "Since last year, your Majesty's old illness has worsened, which is often the case. The doctor can't diagnose the problem. Your Majesty has tried various prescriptions, but they are all useless."

"Your Majesty is a bit thinner," Huo Jun said.

"Ok!"

In order to save Huo Jun's face, Zhuge Liang held up his fan and asked, "I wonder if Zhong Miao has a different opinion about what Liang said about governing the county officials?"

Huo Jun pondered for a while and said: "Although Jun heard Kong Ming's words for the first time, he thought there was nothing wrong with them. He just had a superficial opinion. I wonder if Kong Ming wants to hear it?"

"Zhong Miao just said it doesn't matter!"

Huo Jun stroked his moustache and said: "Previously, the imperial court took away the power of the governor of the state and changed it to the appointment of Shangshutai. Later, it changed the law of filial piety and incorruption in order to try to obtain filial piety and incorruptibility. Now the second government has achieved results at the beginning, and the court has already There are many assistants.”

"If you want to govern the county officials now, it is better to take over the power of the county governor to appoint county officials. The governor of Tongzhou will appoint officials from the capital. The county chief official or the county official with a small salary can be recruited by the county governor."

The county system was actually transformed from the feudal system in the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, the county system in the Han Dynasty was different from the later state, county and prefecture systems. It retained strong features of the feudal system, that is, the prefect of the county was like a monarch. He is in charge of most affairs in the county and has the power to appoint personnel.

We can get some idea of ​​this from the title of the position: when called the prefect, he is the king of the mansion; when he is called the governor, he is the envoy; when he is called the county magistrate, he is the king of the county. Although "jun" like "sir" has a tendency to be universalized, among the early objects of address, they were either honorable or noble.

In the same view, those who are Tinghou and above are called princes. Those above Tinghou can call themselves retainers, and even the bold ones can be called orphans. For example, Huo Jun is now a county prince and calls himself an orphan, so there is no problem with etiquette.

Of course, with the changes of the times, the central government became more and more centralized, and the power of conquest and expansion of prefectures and counties was gradually abolished during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Therefore, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the system they took over had considerable changes from that of the Han Dynasty.

Previously, Huo Jun suggested that Zhuge Liang take back the power of recruiting governors out of considerations of centralization. Now Huo Jun is considering both the centralization of power and the current administration of officials.

"Take away the power of the county governor to eliminate?"

Zhuge Liang couldn't help frowning and said: "The power of the county governors has been used for four hundred years. Now it is taken away and appointed by the Shangshutai. Although it is beneficial to the country, I don't know whether the county governors are willing to do so. Follow it.”

During the Han Dynasty, the main force in governing local areas was the prefect of the county. If the prefect was wise, the county would be prosperous, while if the prefect was meek, the county would be decadent. Therefore, if the Southern Han Dynasty wants to rule the world, the thoughts of the county governor are of vital importance. If they collectively reject the withdrawal of the right of expulsion or have objections, it will be difficult to handle.

(End of this chapter)