I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 490 Queen Mary's Determination

Queen Mary hurriedly picked up the document in front of her, and didn't know which item she had just talked about, so she had to glance at Joseph beside her for help.

Seeing her son nod slightly, she immediately put on a majestic posture and nodded, "I agree with the proposal. Please ask Archbishop Brian to prepare the relevant decree."

Brian bowed and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Joseph also breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that his sausage-cutting strategy was successful.

Although the impact on officials in water conservancy and road administration is minimal, once this decree is signed, it will be tantamount to setting a precedent for officials to take exams before taking up their posts!

There is a lot of room for maneuver when it comes to how to define positions that require high professional knowledge.

Do you think finance requires professional knowledge? Does industrial management require professional knowledge? What about agriculture? What about trade? What about the judiciary?
In the future, more and more government positions will be included in the scope of "professional examinations", and eventually all positions will be included. The most important step in the reform of civil service will be completed.

By then, the professional studies of officials could be opened up to institutions such as the University of Paris and the University of Toulouse, and the University of Administrative Management would only be responsible for the assessment.

By then, it would have become a complete version of the "civil service examination", and the civil service reform would have been completely completed.

Most importantly, the process is gradual and will not provoke strong opposition from the existing bureaucracy.

Of course, there will definitely be people who are dissatisfied with this system. After all, some useless descendants of nobles cannot be promoted to high positions just by relying on their connections. But they will also remember the grand occasion of the police review and turn their dissatisfaction into complaints, which are just words.

In fact, even such a civil service examination system has huge advantages for the nobility.

First of all, university tuition fees in this era are very high and ordinary families simply cannot afford it.

Secondly, the children of the nobility are more familiar with the examination contents of the Administrative University - their fathers were the first to study here. It is not like the Internet age now, where the civil service examination questions can be found everywhere. Even if the common people have no problem with the professional subjects, they may not be able to beat the nobility in the civil service examination.

Therefore, the nobles had less resistance to taking the civil service exam. After all, the aristocracy controlled most of the government positions.

Joseph would not pursue absolute equality. At least in the 18th century, the role of the nobility was irreplaceable.

Brian then continued, "Next is the proposal. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince proposes the establishment of an 'auxiliary administrative agency' to serve as a supplement to the main administrative department that can immediately take over management when an accident occurs."

Seeing that everyone didn’t quite understand, Joseph explained, “I thought of this question from this corruption case.

"As you know, there are more than 40 officials on trial in court, and most of them will be convicted. The things they are responsible for will come to a standstill in a short period of time, which is a risk that must be considered.

“So I think we can set up an ‘auxiliary administrative agency’, with positions based on existing government departments, but without granting actual power.

"If something unexpected happens to the existing officials, appropriate officials can be transferred from the 'auxiliary agencies' to take over."

The Minister of Justice, Baron Breteuil, immediately frowned and said, "Your Highness, this will increase the salary expenditure of officials. And according to what you said, these people in the 'auxiliary institutions' are useless most of the time..." Joseph smiled and said, "Your concerns are very reasonable, so the salaries of officials in the 'auxiliary institutions' will be set relatively low. And they can also do some work within their capabilities, such as sorting documents, transcribing materials, etc."

"But this is still..."

Mirabeau observed the expression of the Dauphin, then stood up and said, "Baron Breteuil, do you know how long the administrative management in various places was interrupted by the imprisonment of so many officials? It may be more than a month.

“The losses incurred during this period are enough to pay the salaries of officials across the country for half a year.

"I think your highness's suggestion is very good. Not only can it stabilize the administrative management, but it can also allow those nobles who have nothing to do to take up a part-time job and make some contributions to the country."

Joseph immediately gave him a look of approval. What about letting the nobles contribute to the country? Fortunately, Mirabeau could be involved.

Joseph just wanted to create a lot of "empty positions" to accommodate those who bought their positions. After all, they paid real money and signed an agreement with the government. It is difficult to dismiss them directly if they did not make any big mistakes.

So he set up this "auxiliary administrative agency" based on the Nanjing garrison court of the Ming Dynasty. The names of the official positions are exactly the same as your previous ones, but once you are transferred from the Beijing court to Nanjing, you will lose all your power and just wait for retirement.

When professional assessment of officials becomes popular in the future, all those officials who are just sitting in their positions and only thinking about making money will definitely be blocked in the assessment. Then you will have no choice but to gain experience in "auxiliary positions".

As for maintaining a group of bureaucrats, Joseph did not think it was a waste of money.

On the contrary, if these guys who got their positions by selling their official positions are replaced by people who can get real work done, the positive impetus it brings to the country will produce benefits far greater than their meager salaries.

Not to mention that "support positions" can at least do some things like organizing documents, so we can hire fewer ordinary clerks, which doesn't cost much more in the end.

Upon hearing this, Baron Breteuil thought that the Crown Prince wanted to create more official positions so that he could collect more fees for buying them, so he said no more and sat down silently.

Queen Marie was not distracted this time. Seeing that the ministers had no objection, she signed the document handed over by Brian - such a small-scale administrative adjustment did not even require the king to sign a decree.

After discussing some daily affairs, this cabinet meeting, which seemed ordinary but actually had a profound impact on France, came to an end.

Queen Marie looked at Briand's back, recalled what happened at today's meeting, and suddenly called him to stop.

Brian turned back and bowed slightly to her: "Your Majesty, do you have any other instructions?"

Queen Marie hesitated and said, "Archbishop Briand, do you think that if I don't attend the cabinet meeting, can the Crown Prince lead the ministers to properly handle government affairs?"

Brian thought: Yes, of course, His Royal Highness the Dauphin has long supported the overall situation of France. In fact, if you are not present, the meeting may be more efficient.

However, he still showed great surprise and shouted: "You are the soul of France. If you don't preside over the cabinet, it will be a disaster for the country!"

(End of this chapter)