Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 101 Grinding Method

Tasks came one after another, and Yuan Keli felt that the burden on him was getting heavier and heavier.

But in order to understand the emperor's thoughts, he continued to ask:
"In addition to the imperial court and the local three law departments, what other departments does your Majesty plan to adjust?"

"For example, should the Thirteenth Department of the Ministry of Revenue need to be adjusted?"

Yuan Keli guessed that the emperor probably didn't like the thirteenth department of the Ministry of Husbandry, which was downgraded from the 13th Department of the Ministry of Punishment to the 13th Office of the General Affairs Department. The previously established General Administration of Finance and Law is probably preparing for the adjustment of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Zhu Youjian really dislikes the Ministry of Household Affairs and feels that the current Ming Dynasty's finances are in chaos.

But he has just established Sunchon Bank and Yingcheon Bank, hoping to let them obtain some of the functions of the central bank and seize some of the financial power of the Ministry of Accounts.

Now that the two major banks have not yet fully stabilized, it is still possible for the Account Department to establish an Account Department bank and take over its powers immediately.

Therefore, he did not tell everything about the adjustment of the household department, but only expressed to Yuan Keli:

"The Ministry of Household Affairs does need to be adjusted, but this matter is too important and requires capable officials to take charge."

"I plan to wait until Bi Ziyan takes office before discussing this matter with him."

"Whether the Thirteenth Division should be downgraded to the Thirteenth Hall, or should be integrated with the local grain supervision department, etc., and changed to a local transfer yamen, requires comprehensive consideration."

There were no local transfer yamen in the Ming Dynasty, and the Thirteenth Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs actually assumed this responsibility.

Zhu Youjian has not thought clearly about whether these thirteen divisions should continue to stay in the court or localize them. He needs the assistance of ministers who are proficient in finance.

This prudent approach was approved by Yuan Keli. He also felt that Bi Ziyan could shoulder this important task and would not care about the household affairs that were not within his scope. He asked again:
"Where is the official department, the head of the six departments?"

"How does Your Majesty want to adjust?"

This needs to be spread out. Zhu Youjian has long been interested in changing the promotion system of Ming officials. At this time, he said to Yuan Keli:
"There are two ministers in the Ministry of Personnel. Now one is a special supervisor and has been promoted. I plan to let the other supervise examinations and examinations."

"In the future, we should refer to the Song Dynasty to implement the grinding method. Officials will be promoted and demoted according to their grades, and promotions will not be allowed."

"It must not be like when Wei Ni was in power, where officials of the fifth and sixth grades were promoted to the first and second grades in two or three years, once or even several times a year, without taking their grade seriously at all."

"Officials who have been promoted beyond their previous level will all be demoted this time. They will even be held accountable for their rebellious crimes and punished accordingly."

Today's system in the Ming Dynasty is that officials in the capital can be promoted as long as they complete one errand, and they can be promoted even if they don't complete it and continue to work as usual. It is very common to move once or twice a year. Most of the time, promotion does not depend on ability, but depends entirely on official connections.

Zhu Youjian hated this kind of thing, so he emphasized the need to standardize promotions when he was getting rid of those who abused their official positions. At this time, the grinding and survey method was proposed with reference to the ancient system, which made Yuan Keli feel that the emperor attached great importance to this.

However, promotion strictly based on grade is by no means what all officials want to see.

In particular, the officials of the Department of Science and Technology have low status and high authority, and it is very unfriendly for them to be promoted based on their grades.

Therefore, Yuan Keli advised:
"Your Majesty has a good idea."

"But some of the officers' grades just don't make sense."

"For example, Kedao officials should actually be divided into five, six, and seven grades, and their actual power is even equivalent to the fourth grade."

"Now they are all in the seventh grade. Your Majesty cannot treat them all together."

This is the pot that the emperor lets officials control, in order to protect the imperial power. Zhu Youjian did not dare to change this system easily and said:
"I have already set up the title of Shi Yushi. If the officials of the Department of Science and Technology have meritorious service, they can be promoted through the title."

"Similarly to other officials, they can be given additional titles or be granted salary upgrades to casual officials."

"From now on, officials below the third-grade official will be transferred once every five years and promoted according to grade."

"Those who do poorly in exams will not be promoted, and may even be punished."

"Those who excel in exams or have meritorious service will be awarded one year of merit, two years of merit, three years of merit, four years of merit, and five years of merit, minus one to five years of grinding."

"This matter is under the responsibility of the Special Supervisor of the Examination Section, Mo Kan, and the specific regulations will be formulated."

"The Ministry of War is still responsible for the examination and preparation of military attachés."

Yuan Keli had nothing to say about the relocation of military attaches every five years during the military and political examinations of the Ministry of War.

And in his heart, he felt that one hundred households were the sixth grade, which was too high a level. In addition, military attaches can perform meritorious service when they go to the battlefield. If the transfer time is too short, it is easy to be promoted without promotion - so relocation every five years is very suitable for military attaches!

But civil servants also move every five years, which creates a big problem.

This means that it will take forty years for a Jinshi who started as a seventh-grade scholar to normally move to a third-grade scholar.

Considering that the age at which civil servants pass the Jinshi examination is usually around thirty years old, it means that if you don't make outstanding achievements, you will need to be around seventy years old to be promoted to the third rank.

This is absolutely unacceptable to most civil servants.

In addition, the transfer time of military attaches was the same, which meant that the emperor treated civilian officials and military attachés equally. In the eyes of some civil servants, this is a humiliation——

How can we, who are dignified civil servants, be the same as military attachés?

Therefore, Yuan Keli immediately advised and said to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, how can the transfer time of civilian officials be the same as that of military attachés?"

"And the military attache exam is taken every five years, and the civil service exam is taken every three years."

"I believe that the transfer of civil servants should take three years."

Three years is too short a time to move. It only takes twenty-four years to advance from the seventh grade to the third grade.

If this method is implemented, it means that most of the more than 10,000 civil servants in the court, especially thousands of Jinshi, can be moved to the third rank.

Of course Zhu Youjian couldn't accept it and said to Yuan Keli:

"With thousands or even tens of thousands of third-grade civil servants, does Yuan Qing want the Ming Dynasty's finances to collapse?"

"Not to mention how their positions are arranged, their salaries alone are difficult for Ming Dynasty to afford."

"It is absolutely impossible for civil servants to move every three years."

The Song Dynasty did not treat civil servants so favorably. Yuan Keli thought for a while and felt that it was a bit unrealistic for civil servants to move every three years, so he suggested:
"In the former Song Dynasty, Jinshi and non-Jinshi moved at different times. I believe that non-Jinshi officials can move according to the transfer time of military attaches, which is every five years."

"Jinshi move every three years, which is different from non-Jinshi."

This is a way, but thinking of Yuan Keli’s mention of the civil service examination every three years, Zhu Youjian said:
"For non-jinshi, let's set it at six years!"

"The civil service examination is held every three years. This system cannot be changed easily."

"For officials who are not Jinshi, their tenure starts from the ninth rank and is scheduled to move every six years."

This is one year longer than the transfer time for military attachés. Although Yuan Keli feels that it is unfair to the civil servants who have been promoted as candidates, supervisors, and officials, he believes that it will take thirty years for them to move from the ninth rank to the seventh rank starting from the top three Jinshi. , the time is too long.

But when he thought about the emperor's addition of Mingfa and Mingshu departments, and the recruitment of top-level and fifth-level Jinshi scholars, he no longer sympathized with these people——

If they can't even get into the top four or five, that's their problem.

If you don’t have the title of Jinshi, and you can’t think of a way to make meritorious service to reduce hardship, why do you want to be promoted?
Zhu Youjian was actually a little helpless towards being so harsh on non-jinshi.

Non-Jinshi officials may have talents like Hai Rui, but if regulations are not strictly followed, corruption will easily occur.

In the Ming Dynasty, the regulations on the appointment of candidates and supervisors were very rough. They could be awarded small capital positions, teaching positions, as well as Fuzuo and prefecture and county officials.

The difference is from not being in the mainstream to being at the fifth level. For example, in the 28th year of Jiajing reign, Hai Rui started out as a low-ranking scholar. In the thirty-sixth year of Wanli's reign, Chen Xinjia started out as the fifth-level magistrate of the state.

The difference between the two is too great and it is too easy for corruption to occur.

Zhu Youjian would rather let them all join the ranks from the ninth rank and move every six years to see if anyone stands out and select talents with merit.

If the candidates and supervisors are not willing to be transferred every six years, they have a way out, which is to be transferred to military attachés and be transferred every five years in the future.

Knowing that he was about to face war, Zhu Youjian welcomed and even hoped that he would be promoted to an official in the army.

　"History of the Song Dynasty":
　　Although there are many methods of civil service, none of them focus on improving officials, cutting off officials, and improving rank.

　　Although the examinations are intensive, don't focus on the officials giving calendars and checking the approval documents.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)