"People from the south were officials from the north, and people from the north were officials from the south. Later, the official system was gradually established. Self-study was not allowed to be an official in the province, and it was not limited to the north and the south." [History of the Ming Dynasty·Election Chronicle]
Although the emperor's words were implying that Jia Xu, as a quasi-prisoner, made arrogant comments about the selection and appointment of officials other than his own duties, he was suspected of overstepping his authority. However, Jia Xu went his own way and continued to make suggestions to select officials in Hedong.
When doing so, strictly follow the principle of three mutual laws.
The "Three Mutual Laws" is the earliest official place-of-origin avoidance system. Its original intention was to prevent local officials from taking advantage of their powers to seek personal gain for the clan and form local parties to stand on their own. However, later on, the scope of avoidance became wider and wider, and the taboos became more intense.
The strict environment made it difficult to select officials. Gradually, this rule was no longer adhered to, but the basic requirement that locals were not allowed to serve as local officials was maintained.
The emperor was silent. Nowadays, the Three Mutual Laws are not strictly implemented in the court. The most obvious thing is that the local Han Sui serves as the governor of Liangzhou. As Han Sui's staff, Cheng Gongying, a native of Jincheng, is the prefect of Jincheng. Of course, the court has
Liangzhou is located in a remote area, where Qiang and Han people live together, and is controlled by powerful powerful people. It is beyond the reach of Liangzhou, so it is helpless to adopt the strategy of "Liang people rule Liang".
Jia Xu's repeated mention of the Three Mutual Laws was not only aimed at Hedong. If we really look into it carefully, a series of officials in Liangzhou, from the governor to the county magistrate, would be replaced, and even the counties in Guanzhong would also be affected.
To overturn the existing political structure at once and destroy the foundation of Ma Rixi and other Kansai scholars, is this Jia Wenhe's work?
Xun You frowned. It was the same way last time when he plotted against powerful people in Hedong. Jia Xu seemed to always like to use drastic and ruthless means to deal with powerful people, regardless of the consequences. Xun You looked at the emperor and found that the emperor's face was thoughtful and seemed to be cautious.
Considering the hidden meaning in Jia Xu's words, he consciously said something: "Your Majesty, the three mutual laws are complicated and strictly enforced. In the past, the elections of the three governments were uncertain for more than a month, so that some state and county chiefs were left unfilled for a long time, which was not conducive to the situation.
The imperial court selects officials and appoints officials."
"What Mr. Xun said is that now that we are investigating, it is not good for the government and the public to be in turmoil." The emperor's eyes never left Jia Xu. Jia Xu felt the emperor's scrutinizing gaze and lowered his head slightly.
The emperor generally knew what Jia Xu was planning, but he had no prior communication with Jia Xu. The idea of reproposing the "Three Mutual Methods" to suppress the increasingly expanded Kansai scholars was entirely Jia Xu's alone.
idea.
Xun You seemed to realize that the emperor did not agree with Jia Xu's extreme measures this time, and struck a chord while the iron was hot: "When people from this county serve in this county, it is indeed easy for them to be protected by the township party and suspected of seeking personal gains. The avoidance system is indeed feasible, but it needs to be
With slight changes, as for the existing county governors and county magistrates, the situation must be taken into consideration and cannot be generalized."
The emperor's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he changed his words temporarily: "Jun Xun is still mature. From now on, the three mutual laws only need to avoid the place of origin and relatives. As for who is the official of state B, the official of state B."
The regulation that people from Bingzhou are not allowed to be officials from Bingzhou, but people from Bingzhou cannot be officials from Azhou is too harsh, so it should be exempted."
Jia Xu had no objection to this, but instead expressed support, as if he had no intention of causing a stir in the government and the public.
After the emperor discussed with Xun You and Jia Xu, the new "Three Mutual Laws", that is, the official avoidance system, was roughly finalized;
, officials in Cao and other departments must follow the domicile avoidance system. Although the scope has been expanded, the details of the avoidance are much looser than before. Officials at the county magistrate level can be served by people from the county in addition to people from the county;
The same is true for officials at the highest level, among whom officials who are related to the local area are still strictly prohibited from serving.
In order to avoid many immature areas at the beginning of the implementation of the Three Mutual Methods, it is tentatively planned to only be implemented in Hedong County. After Hedong County has developed experience, it will be promoted one by one.
As a result, the burden on the shoulders of Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong County, became even greater.
"Hedong can be said to be a blank land now. Wang Wendu has to cultivate and support the people in Hedong while also providing new policies. It is really a long way to go." The emperor said: "We have a plan, but we will have new policies in the future.
, all were given to Hedong first to observe the effect, and then promoted in all directions. Therefore, Hedong must be the most important place for the imperial court. In my opinion, it is better to add two thousand stones to the rank of Hedong County Sheriff to show the world that Hedong and Hong Kong
Nong and other counties are different from each other, and the imperial court attaches great importance to it."
Except for the special circumstances of Jing Zhao Yin and Henan Yin, the other county governors basically all have the rank of two thousand stones. According to the emperor's understanding from the perspective of future generations, the Hedong county governor, Jing Zhao Yin and Henan Yin were given the same rank as Jiu Qing.
The two thousand stone treatment was not only a reward for Wang Yi, but also improved the political treatment of Hedong, elevating it to the status of a directly governed county.
"Wang Wendu is not strict in his rule. He is a guilty person. If he is rewarded like this, if he still cannot do good things for His Majesty, then he must be punished severely." Jia Xu said calmly.
"I am not giving this to him alone. From now on, all the governors of Hedong will win two thousand stones. If he is frightened, he should be more diligent in his administration." The emperor chuckled lightly and said, "Don't let me down."
Jia Xu remained silent, as if the words were not meant for him.
After the three people discussed the feudal affairs of Wang Yi, the emperor planned to talk about the establishment of local functional departments, but was stopped by Jia Xu for a moment: "Cao's subordinate officials are a local system that has been followed for hundreds of years. Once it is changed,
, should we first order Situ and other princes to discuss matters together?"
"No, although Ma Gong and others have high moral standards, they are too rigid and will not change. When the time comes, each of them will insist on their own opinions, and the dispute will become more and more difficult to resolve. It is better for us to discuss it first, and then send it to China and Taiwan for discussion and drafting the edict.
"Yes." The emperor said lightly, thought for a while, and added: "Didn't we discuss important matters like this in the past? For example, the new policy in Hedong or the planning of Guandong, we have not discussed anything.
Is there any need to issue another edict? Don’t worry too much.”
If Jia Xu really had objections, he had raised them at the beginning. Why wait until now? After listening to the emperor's words, he soon stopped worrying about whether this was in line with the procedures, and he no longer worried about himself as a six-year-old.
Baishi's pacification order was an ultra vires act of involving a lowly official in national policy.
Xun You watched all this quietly from the side without saying anything. He knew that the emperor had always had the intention of dividing the power of the Shangshutai, and intended to re-establish the decision-making body and regard the Shangshutai as a pure executive agency, decentralizing and centralizing power.
It is something that every qualified emperor will do. It is a means of checks and balances for the emperor. Whether it is the chancellor's desk that monopolizes power in the future, or it becomes the minister's decision-making, the model implemented by the chancellor, as long as Xun You ensures that his power is not divided.
, where would you care about anything else.
The matters agreed upon by Ping Shangshu, Shizhong Xunyou and Pingzhunling Jia Xu were soon transmitted to the Shangshu table through oral edicts.
In addition to the three mutual laws, the policy of testing three ministers, and the imperial students entering Hedong, there is also the emperor's reform of the counties and counties in Hedong; from now on, the customs of the county government office will be called "Cao", and the county government office will be called "Cao".
As '掾', according to their functions, they are divided into Jue Cao Bu, who is in charge of judicial punishment, Wuguan Cao Bu, who is responsible for planning and selecting grassroots officials, literature Cao Bu, who is in charge of schools at all levels, and Postal Supervisor, who is in charge of in charge of roads in inns and patrolling counties.
etc.
What is different from other counties is that these Caobu departments are connected with the central government officials such as Jiuqing. For example, the Jue Caobu belongs to Tingwei, the Wugan Caobu belongs to Wugan Zhonglangjiang, the Literature Caobu belongs to Taichang, etc., almost every official in the central government
Each has corresponding functional subordinates at the local level, which in disguise strengthens the power of the central government.
These policies were originally a good thing, but for Situ and Lu Shangshu Shi Ma Rixi, what made him unacceptable was not the new policy itself.