Chapter 360 The emperor’s heart is unpredictable (2)
Li Jinglong's guess was correct, Zhu Yunxi's intention was exactly like this.
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"After I went away, I discovered the hidden worries of the Ming Dynasty!"
In front of the emperor, all Zhu Yunxi's confidants were left behind.
But when he opened his mouth, these people were still shocked.
"The power of the chief secretaries of various provinces is too great!"
Suddenly, everyone's hearts trembled.
This is no longer a startling question, but an appalling one.
"The power of my emperor is only limited to the Forbidden City. But in such a large province, the chief minister of the province can cover the sky with one hand!"
Everyone lowered their heads, thinking about how to respond and not daring to speak easily.
"They can protect whoever they want to protect? They can use whoever they want to use?" Zhu Yunxi sneered again, "The peace that has been covered up in the place is watertight! But in fact? All kinds of scandals are endless!"
At this point, he snorted coldly and continued, "Wuchang, Jiujiang, this is such a big thing that I encountered just by looking at the flowers. If I were to send me to the thirteen provinces tomorrow, all the seven guards in Guanxi would be gone."
No matter what, I can be pissed to death by them!"
Everyone already understood what the emperor meant!
Indeed, the power in the hands of local feudal officials is too great. It is not that they are difficult to manage. Their power was given by the central government, and the central government can naturally take it back.
The difficulty is that the structure of power distribution has been like this since ancient times. The central government is beyond the reach of the central government, and local affairs must be handled by a provincial border with full authority.
Or how to say it is a border closure!
"I also fully understand what the emperor said!"
On this occasion, Zhu Gaochi had to speak first. Moreover, the fat man usually made slanderous remarks and said strange things, and occasionally he was arrogant.
But when it comes to military and national affairs, we never take things lightly.
"When the central government's decrees are issued to the localities, they are rarely out of shape." Zhu Gaochi added, "For example, the rules and regulations for commercial taxes have been set at the time of collection, but the tax items in each province are still uneven, and even...
"As he spoke, he paused, "There are many kinds of taxes, and some taxes are known to the central government, while others are not known at all!"
"The reason why it's out of shape is, as the emperor said, no one dares to limit the power!" Zhu Gaochi said, looking at Hou Yong next to him, "Hou Butang should also understand this!"
Not only did Hou Yong understand this, he was promoted from the post of Chief Secretary of the Henan Province, first as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and then as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
He sees the issue of excessive local authority far more clearly than others.
When he was serving as the provincial chief, he did not unconditionally implement every decree of the imperial court, because not all the decrees of the central government were good for the local area.
There are even government orders that will greatly damage local rights and interests.
For example, when there was a major disaster in Henan, when it was necessary to transfer grain from Shaanxi or allow the victims to enter Shaanxi, the Shaanxi chief envoy refused to agree even if he accepted the official document from the central government.
In addition, the most important point is that although the governors of each province are not locals, if they want to be secure in their positions and be able to speak for themselves, they need to safeguard the interests of the province they are in office.
Interest, to put it bluntly, is the distribution of power.
To put it bluntly, it is the support of others.
To put it simply, there should be no trouble.
Think about it, the Chief Secretary is the center if you go further up. Whoever sits in that position is willing to have something happen to him from time to time, affecting his or her career?
He understands, but his position is different now. When he was in charge, it was inevitable to struggle with the central government from time to time. But now that he is in charge of the central government, he hates this kind of thing.
"Let me take the affairs of this department as an example!" Hou Yong said in a low voice, "The candidates for official positions in various prefectures are all selected from the Ministry of Personnel, and the annual evaluation of officials is also done by the Ministry of Personnel!"
As he spoke, he smiled bitterly, "But every year, regarding matters such as the retention and transfer of officials in each province, we must also take into account the opinions of the Chief Secretary of each province... There is also the official assessment. Those submitted by the Chief Secretary will simply be excellent.
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"Every year it's time to collect taxes!" Zhang Yan also smiled bitterly, "The Ministry of Household Affairs and the provinces are all involved in lawsuits... back and forth!"
Zhu Gaochi was silent for a moment and continued, "In short, it's because they have too much power. What the emperor said was to strengthen the central government's jurisdiction." As he said that, he raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, how do you want to change it?"
Zhu Yunxi nodded, but did not speak. Instead, he looked at Xu Huizu, who had been silent.
"Although our Ming Dynasty does not value literature over military affairs!" Xu Huizu said in a low voice, "But the Chief Secretary is nominally in charge of three departments, including the Capital Command Department... Like Changhou of Huguang is a special case, and the Chief Secretary is not
Even if you come, I don’t dare to control you!”
"But in other places, the chief secretaries of various provinces also often point fingers at the commanding officers!"
Xu Huizu’s words have a different meaning.
At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the structure of each province was the three departments of Du, Bu and Ji... They were the Du Command Department, the Chief Secretary and the Jicha Department.
As the country became increasingly peaceful and wars decreased, coupled with the expansion of the civil service group and the demise of the Huaixi martial arts group, the Chief Secretary became the dominant family in the local area.
In Zhu Yunxi's view, there is another problem involved.
It’s a matter of decentralization!
If the country wants to be strong, it must focus on agriculture and economy. As a result, the power in the hands of the Chief Secretary becomes more and more prominent. After one family becomes dominant, the original three-legged structure, each of which performs its duties, will be broken.
It is not a good thing for local governments to have one dominant family.
If government affairs want to be smooth, they must be hierarchical. One province must not become a single hall.
"I..." Zhu Yunxi said, "I want each province to set up governors. The governors will have jurisdiction, administrative affairs, inspections, and command departments!"
Everyone was shocked!
The term "governor" was familiar to them. It existed as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was used to patrol the country to appease the soldiers and the people.
What the emperor meant was that the chief secretary's original official position and rank remained unchanged, but he could no longer dominate the family in terms of power.
The prosecutor is in charge of criminal law proceedings.
Dusi is the local bodyguard.
The Chief Secretary is only responsible for civil affairs.
In this civil affairs, commercial taxation was directly set up by the imperial court and the Taxation Department was set up, so he had no involvement. The only things he could manage were land taxes, the number of acres, and the power to evaluate county and state officials.
"It's not just a province!" Zhu Yunxi said sternly, "it should also be set up in border towns!"
Hearing this, Xu Huizu lowered his head.
The power of the commander-in-chief of each border town is definitely greater than that of the chief secretary of each province.
Otherwise, the emperor would not have started to dismantle the useless soldiers in the border towns a few years ago.
It has been abolished, but maybe more than ten years later, it will sprout again.
"The position of governor is from the second rank!"
Zhu Yunxi said again, "For the administration of each province, candidates will be recommended by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and then I will make the decision!"
"As for the governor of the border town, in addition to those three parties, he must also be recommended by the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office!"
Zhu Yunxi smiled and said, "You can't just let a nerd who doesn't know how to fight in a border town go there, right?"
Everyone felt like they were in the clear mirror. The key point of the emperor's words was the last sentence. It was up to him to make the decision.
The recommendations of others are just a formality.
"In addition..." Zhu Yunxi added, "For example, the province of Huguang is quite... bloated and complicated in my opinion!"
"I intend to divide it into two provinces, Hubei and Hunan... Of course, Huguang is familiar with the world... In addition to the governor of these two provinces, there will be a governor of Huguang!"
"It's the same with Guangdong, Guangxi and Zhili!"
Governor? What kind of official position is this?
Suddenly, Zhu Gaochi noticed something unusual in his heart.
"Tiedingshi has just been transferred to Huguang, and he has been transformed from chief executive to governor! He will be in charge of two governors by himself?"