Chapter 206: Being Wealthy and Talented for Many Years (4)
Zhao Si set out from Xindu in October, taking the queen and other concubines with him, and went south along the canal, passing through Daming and Liyang, crossing the river at Baimajin, and going straight to Kaifeng City.
Zhao Si and his party set out in April and spent half a year making a long circuit in Hedong and Hebei counties. It was nearly November and they finally returned to Kaifeng City.
Not long after returning, Zhao Si attended the National Financial and Economic Work Conference held by Shangshu Province for the fourth year of Tianqi.
This meeting was proposed by Cai Jing.
He convened this meeting by taking advantage of the triennial capital inspection, when county ministers or envoys responsible for financial (taxation) work from counties or districts across the country came to Kaifeng City to report on their work.
The meeting was held in the auditorium of Shangshu Province next to Junyiqiao Street.
Everyone says that the biggest change since the new official took office is that the number of meetings in each yamen has increased, so each yamen has built auditoriums or auditoriums specifically for meetings.
Zhao Si accidentally heard about this meeting from Zhang Dun, was very interested, and actively asked to attend.
The level and structure of this meeting immediately rose, and Cai Jing was certainly eager to do so.
In an attic next to the auditorium, Zhang Dun, Xu Jiang, Han Zhongyan, Cai Jing, Cai Bian and other elders were accompanying Zhao Si and talking.
"Officials have a term of five years. There are pre-appointment candidate investigations and post-appointment inspections. In addition, there is a general inspection every three years. With a five-year term, you cannot avoid these three inspections. Inspection is an important part of the official examination.
The Ministry will now start to make great efforts to promote it.”
Zhang Dun laughed beside him, "Xigu has only been in office for two months and has already burned two fires. But in my opinion, Xigu's two fires have been burned just right!"
"The reform of the new political system is a time-consuming and labor-intensive matter, and it is also a major matter that must be adhered to. Your Majesty has chosen Chang Xigu to take charge of this matter, and I think it is a perfect fit. The most important thing about political reform is to use laws and regulations to manage the world's officials
, Xigu’s courage and means in enforcing laws and regulations are obvious to all.”
It is now November. According to the plan, on the first day of the lunar month, the official family will officially issue an edict, accept Zhang Dun's resignation, and appoint Xu Wei as the new Dazai to take charge of the country's affairs.
Taking this opportunity, both the old and new Dazai expressed their satisfaction with the new Minister of Civil Service selected by the officials.
Han Zhongyan and the Cai brothers looked on with smiles on their faces.
"I think this financial and economic work conference was well held. It brought together financial and economic officials from all over the country to convey the work arrangements of the Shangshu Province, clarify the goals, and unify the thinking. It was very good. No matter how diligent the paperwork was, there was no face-to-face conversation.
It's effective. It's just that transportation is inconvenient now, so it's not convenient for everyone to get together."
"Fortunately, officials from Lingnan and Minhai have to travel thousands of miles and take months to hold a meeting in the Central Plains. It is not easy. Taking advantage of the opportunity to report work in Beijing, this idea is to handle several things at once.
Okay. I think the Shangshu Province can be extended to the left and right, such as the official Jingcha from the finance and economic department this year, the political and legal department next year, the agriculture, industry and commerce department the year after that, and the transportation department the year after that. After the Jingcha report is finished, we will have a meeting together.
, how nice.”
As soon as Zhao Si finished speaking, everyone quickly praised in unison, "Your Majesty is far-sighted..."
General Xu looked at Zhang Dun and said alone: "Your Majesty, in this case, the Shangshu Province will follow the convention of this meeting. From now on, the servants in charge will take the lead in convening a national meeting of each country. The specific matters will be decided by Chengdu."
The government office and relevant headquarters are responsible. As for the rotation time and order, please let Rong Chen wait for discussion before deciding."
"Okay!" Zhao Si continued, "Have all the ministers read the text of "Further Promoting Political Reform" forwarded by the Ministry of Secretaries?"
That article is Zhao Si's summary of the governance of prefectures, counties and rural areas.
"I've seen it all."
After hesitating for a moment, Cai Jing couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, the new political reform will delegate many powers to the chief secretary of the county, and the power of the chief secretary lies in the hands of the county governor. In time, will the county chief be allowed to do so?
The authority is too heavy, and it seems that the tail is too big to be lost?"
"Your Majesty has considered this point carefully." Cai Bian, who was standing aside, glanced at Zhao Si and when he received a response, he answered for him.
"In the new political system, the county governors, ministers of various ministries, and deputy censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate can communicate with each other. There are also regular changes of guard among the county governors. Moreover, in the new regulations of the political reform, His Majesty granted officials of the third rank, direct
The power of writing governs the central bureau and the secretarial department."
After hearing this, everyone understood the meaning. This was a means of restraint.
From the third-rank officials, they are the deputy chief envoys and Zhili prefecture magistrates. They can write directly to the Dazai and His Majesty's staff - the Zhongzhong Bureau and the Secretariat Department, which means that they can directly report local situations, including the county governor's violation of laws and disciplines.
Matters will be reported to Dazai and officials through separate channels.
The postal system used by officials to write letters and petitions is under the control of the Ministry of War. This is a very independent department, and it has some connections with the Department of Military Preparation in various places. Therefore, it is impossible for the county governor to control the communication between the local area and the central government.
With this direct writing measure, it is impossible for the county governor to dominate the local area.
Besides, the county governor can control the personnel and financial power of a county through the chief secretary, control the officials and money bags of the entire county, states and counties, and can even mobilize the security police force with a certain deterrent effect.
However, the two major judicial powers of supervision/procuratorial and judicial, as well as local military and horse power, are in the hands of the Inspectorate and the Military Preparedness Department. Their immediate superiors are the Ministry of Menxia and the Privy Council, and the Minister of Secretariat cannot get involved, let alone the county governor.
.
Want to dominate the place and dominate one place, haha.
It's just that everyone doesn't care much about these things now, but is just a little curious. Why are you two brothers pretending to avoid suspicion with us here? Don't you all know what you just said?
Zhao Si spoke.
"I know very well that the Song Dynasty has a vast territory and diverse terrain. This means that transportation is inconvenient, but in fact, various situations can happen at any time. Everything is decided by the central government. If it is slow to respond, it is meaningless;
Secondly, it violates diversity. This county is suitable, but that county is not."
"So local governments must be given a certain degree of autonomy. This autonomy can also be called autonomy, which means the right to allocate some resources in the region; the strategies formulated and the measures implemented can be adjusted within a certain range to suit the region.
.”
"But it cannot violate the national policy and the principles of provincial decrees... I feel that local autonomy comes from the county level, enters at the county level, and the state level, and more of the responsibilities are to be passed down..."
This is to take advantage of the gap before the meeting to communicate with several important ministers. Everyone is very busy. They gather at Chongzheng Hall and Chuigong Hall for imperial meetings, and there is also a lot of agenda. If you have the opportunity to get together, you will first think of anything that comes to mind.
Talk about it.
Just as he was talking, Tan Shiji came over and submitted an urgent military report.
It turned out that the Military Intelligence Bureau and the External Liaison Office acted quickly and quickly found Ashu, the leader of the Heshi Lie Tribe. They cooperated secretly to bribe a small Jurchen tribe. When Wu Yashu, the leader of the Wanyan Tribe, came back with his family members to worship their ancestors.
, specially invited to stop for a drink.
Then the special operations force of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Special Reconnaissance Battalion, disguised as the Heshi Liebu and the Liao Pishi Army, attacked and killed Wu Yashu and his party.
"Wu Yashu and his younger brothers Odai, Wu Qimai, Xieye, Osai, Wu Dubu and other six people, uncles Mapo, Ali Heman, cousin Pujianu and other three hundred and sixty-nine people were killed.
, only six people escaped, including his uncle Duhe, his younger brother Aguda, his mother, and his cousin Sagai."
"Ji Duhe killed his nephew Sa Gai and established himself as the leader of the Wanyan tribe. Many of the tribes were dissatisfied and dispersed one after another. Aguda and Yanmu fled north and attached themselves to King Tieli. Ashu of Heshilie tribe gathered all the Jurchen tribes and
A few days later, anti-Liao banners were raised again..."
The Tokyo Road was in trouble for two or three years, and the majesty of the Liao Kingdom was completely destroyed. The various ministries no longer regarded the Khitan as a tiger or wolf, but as a sheep. If they had any strength, they wanted to tear a piece of meat from it.
Poor nephew, he still can't concentrate on having fun anymore.
"It's okay," Zhao Si put the military report aside, "Is the time up?"
"Here we are, Your Majesty, gentlemen, please!"
Cai Jing led the way and led Zhao Si and others into the auditorium. The moment he entered the front desk of the auditorium, Cai Jing stood aside knowingly and gave up the first position to Zhao Si.
So Zhao Si was first, Zhang Dun was second, Xu Jiang was third, Han Zhongyan was fourth, Cai Bian was fifth, and Cai Jing was sixth. They filed into the front stage of the auditorium, and the venue suddenly burst into warm applause.
High fives are very popular in Kaifeng City now, especially in various arenas, where they are even more enthusiastic. I didn’t expect to be led to the welcome ceremony of a meeting.
Listening to the applause, Zhao seemed to feel a familiar feeling, but the clothes seemed to need some renovation.
Zhang Kangguo, Secretary of the Ministry of Planning, was the host and first asked His Majesty the Emperor to deliver the opening speech for this conference.
Zhao Si said a few words of encouragement and handed the meeting over to Zhang Kangguo amidst another warm applause.
He made an annual work summary on behalf of the Planning Department.
Listening to Zhang Kangguo's passionate speech and looking at his high-spirited appearance, Zhao Si sighed in his heart, he was right, he really couldn't beat Cai Jing!
After Zhang Kangguo finished speaking, he invited Cai Jing, the young prime minister in charge of financial work, to speak.
After Cai Jing said a few words, the topic suddenly changed, "It is very inappropriate to change the land tax from grain to copper coins, and change the material tax into a monetary tax. The people who own the land have to bear the tax burden, which is already very heavy. But the tax burden
If you don’t pay grain, you will pay copper coins instead. People must sell grain to merchants in exchange for copper coins in order to pay the tax..."
"We are not criticizing businessmen, but people always want to make money... But for the farmers, they are being exploited again. There is a more serious problem. If the land tax is changed into money, the farmers must
Selling during the autumn harvest when food is at its cheapest...this is another level of exploitation."
"Such a restructuring completely violates the original intention of your Majesty to reduce the burden on the people by enacting the restructuring and reform laws. It is not a good law, it is a bad law, and it is a serious mistake!"
After hearing Cai Jing's righteous speech, Zhang Kangguo's expression suddenly changed.
Why is this happening?
Changing the land tax from goods to money was something you, Cai Jing, strongly advocated when you were the Minister of Planning, saying it was His Majesty's intention. After you took over as the Ministry of Planning, you also promoted it as a key task of the Ministry.
Now we just change it no matter what we say, and we keep saying it is a bad law, as if this new reform law was proposed not by you but by me.
Zhang Kangguo thought about the fact that when he gave a speech on behalf of the Ministry of Planning just now, he specifically planned to pilot the reform of land tax and property tax in 14 counties as a political achievement, and he wrote about it. When he saw the officials sitting on the stage, he understood everything.
, his face became extremely pale. This chapter has been completed!