Chapter 9: Who Gained Fat in the Great Song Dynasty
Only Zhao Si, Yu Wenxuzhong and Ye Xun were left in the cabin.
"What do you two think about Fan Baoyin?"
"It's true." Ye Xun replied.
"Your Majesty, after listening to Fan Baoyin's words, I finally understand why your Majesty wants to reform the official system." Yu Wenxuzhong replied.
"That's right. The previous reform of the official system was just the first step. It boiled frogs in warm water and allowed the officials in the world to adapt step by step. We will move forward step by step. Wang Jinggong's reforms were too drastic and caused too much backlash.
As a warning.”
Zhao Si said, "The next step of official reform will focus on two aspects. The first is the reform of local institutions and systems, and the second is the reform of occupational fields."
Yu Wenxuzhong quickly picked up a pen and paper and began to record.
"After ten years of reform and adjustment, the central institutions and systems have basically been finalized. All that is left is to make fine adjustments in conjunction with the reform of local institutions and systems. For example, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is split into the left and right chambers, the Supervisory Yuan and the Procuratorate.
It is under the control of the left and right Ducha Yushi, parallel to the Dali Temple, and unified under the jurisdiction of the Menxia Province."
"Local prefectures and counties simplify their institutions. Fan Baoyin proposed to set up only six bureaus, civil affairs, finance, civil affairs, culture and education, police and general affairs, which is exactly what I want. In principle, prefectures and counties only have these six bureaus. When it comes to counties, they can
Two to four more departments will be added. Local administrative agencies will be reformed and the system must also be improved."
"The responsibilities of the Ministry of Personnel are divided into three major parts. The first is the recruitment and training of officials, which is directly under the Shangshu Province, managed by the Ministry of Personnel, and supervised by the Imperial Academy. The second is the official administration after passing the exam; the third is the establishment
.”
"Establishment?" Yu Wenxuzhong and Ye Xun had heard this term before, but today they heard it being mentioned solemnly by an official, and they felt it was quite different from what they understood.
"Yes, establishment. Any organization and its affiliated officials, as long as they receive salaries and funds from the imperial court, must have establishment. The three levels of government, county, state, and county, have to establish how many organizations and how many officials each organization has quota must be approved by the Shangshu
The provincial Establishment General Administration shall review and approve it—the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel shall concurrently serve as the Director of the General Establishment Administration.”
"Of course, the county-level establishment is authorized by the Ministry of Personnel to be responsible for the county establishment office. The county establishment office is concurrently supervised by Deputy Chief Zuo."
Yu Wenxuzhong and Ye Xun heard that the officials were stricter about the establishment than the officials. Officials who passed the examination and were deposed as government officials at the state and county level could be authorized to be managed by the county government, but the establishment at the state level
, but was taken over by Shangshu Province.
"Just now Fan Baoyin said that the county censor did not act and could not play a role in supervising and clarifying the shortcomings of the county government. There are reasons such as the censor's incompetence and dereliction of duty, as well as unclear powers. Therefore, the county censorship department was reformed, and the censors were divided into censors and left envoys.
and the right envoy. The left envoy is responsible for the overall work of the supervision department, and the right envoy is responsible for the supervision of officials."
"The prefectures and counties are divided into the left prosecutorial censors and the right supervisory censors, who are directly appointed and managed by the prosecutor's office and are responsible for the prosecutorial and supervisory responsibilities of each prefecture and county."
"Your Majesty, where is the judge of Dali Temple?"
"Dali Temple has also made minor adjustments. There are seven chief ministers in Dali Temple, who are appointed by me personally. They lead the Dali Temple to recommend and terminate a number of prime ministers. They are in charge of a district, audit and final review. Important cases are subject to collegial consultation. The chief magistrate of each county
As the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, he is directly assigned by Dali Temple to be in charge of the county courts, and then appoints or designates the Tui Cheng, Duan Cheng and Sizhi of the state courts and county courts."
Yu Wenxuzhong asked in surprise: "Your Majesty, are you trying to ensure the independence of Dali Temple?"
"Yes, Dali Temple is a referee. How can we ensure its impartiality without maintaining independence? How can we gather prestige without impartiality?"
"I understand."
"Zhongshu Province, Shangshu Province, and Menxia Province each have their own establishment bureaus, which determine the structure and staffing of each department. The branch offices and county finance departments allocate salaries and funds based on these establishments. Therefore, the second step in the reform of the official system is to abolish
Job fields should be improved and the establishment system should be improved. If job fields are not eliminated, it will be difficult to implement the subsequent budget system."
Having said this, Zhao Si walked to the window and looked at the scenery outside. This was a small canal for transporting salt, with rural fields in Baoying County on both sides.
"Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong followed the old system of the former Tang Dynasty and continued the job-field system. In just a few decades, 'officials did not do their duty to the public, or they were doing things around, or they were doing things in a way that was harmful to their own people.' Not only officials
It is easier to slack off work and harm the interests of the people. Therefore, Emperor Renzong once abolished job fields during the Tiansheng period."
"It's a pity that the imperial censors and officials wrote letters one after another, saying that 'there are many losers who bribe officials', and that the job fields are not prosperous and it is difficult for officials to live. The public sentiment was fierce, so it was restored again, and several laws were enacted, 'There is no gain.
intruder
Households must not disturb the people. Tenants are still exempted from township and county labor, and farmers who participate in farmland farming can be exempted from labor. If there is a disaster, the rent will be fixed. If the harvest is not good in the event of a disaster, the rent can be exempted.
son."
"'Officials who occupy a large number of official fields or take rent are considered to be bribes.' Officials who occupy more than the quota are considered corrupt officials. 'Those who have no land but are responsible for assigning people to households are considered perverting the law.' Officials who do not have official fields but have
Those who take the interests of the common people are violating the law. From a legal point of view, the regulations are extremely strict. It is a pity that the efficiency of our Song Dynasty bureaucracy and supervision are in vain."
Yu Wenxuzhong continued: "Your Majesty is right. According to the information collected from various places in the past few years, there are many shortcomings, which not only fail to provide good salary and support integrity, but also harm the local area and make the people miserable."
Ye Xun had never paid attention to this aspect and was not very clear about it, so he said humbly: "Please ask Shutong to clarify my doubts."
"You're welcome if you succeed," Yu Wenxuzhong said slowly.
"There are several major disadvantages of job fields. The first is the forced suppression of land rent. Most of the job fields in our dynasty are not fertile farmland, but come from escaped fields or household fields (fields that no one can inherit after someone dies). These are
They are all produced from wasteland, which is laborious and time-consuming but yields little, and no people are willing to rent. So local officials use the power of the government to force the people to rent."
"Second, the rent is not reduced in the event of a disaster. Officials in our dynasty often conceal the situation of disasters and say, 'No complaints are allowed for floods and droughts.' They fail to report disaster losses. According to the law, the rent must be paid as usual."
"The third is not collecting rent according to the laws. Local officials privately stipulate that people rent farmland and receive one stone to a pound per mu. The farmland is originally wasteland with not much output. To charge such a high rent is equivalent to
It is about exploiting the people and committing corruption in disguise. According to the intelligence collected by the Secretariat, local officials in our country are full of tricks in this regard."
"Commonly used self-seeking methods include 'increasing quantity', 'increasing revenue and consumption', 'harvesting more noodles', 'privately collecting money', etc. In fact, there is only one sentence, 'if the state or county cannot provide for it, it will rob it from the people'"
'."
"Fourth is to occupy more or change job fields. The imperial court stipulates that there are only fifty acres, but local officials dare to occupy two hundred acres without permission. They even seize the common people's best acres of land as their own job fields. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the seventh
In 2009 and 2019, the joint inspection teams of the Secretariat Province and the Menxia Province found many cases of occupying more jobs or changing jobs."
"Typical incidents include Li Junqing, the magistrate of Jinzhou in Hedong County (the new name of Taiyuan Prefecture), and Liu Ke, the magistrate of Xiangling County in Songzhou, Henan County, who privately occupied five to seven times more work land; two prefectures and one county in Jiangxi County exchanged fertile farmland for work land.
...
Ye Xun was frightened when he heard this, but Zhao Si's face was as gloomy as water.
"Our dynasty treated civil servants favorably, with generous salaries and land support, which was unparalleled in all dynasties. During the Yuanfeng period, our dynasty had 2,348,697 acres of land. Yuan Fu San
A large search was carried out in 2001 and the first year of Tianqi's reign, and it was found that our government actually had 6,747,185 acres of farmland. In just a few decades, it has increased twice. It is shocking!"
"So many people have cared for the people, but what they have produced is a bastard official like Wu Zeli, who only cares about the wind, flowers, snow and moon, and does not care about the common people! Because I have two major foreign invaders, Xixia and Northern Liao, I have never taken any pains to eliminate the root cause. It is just a step.
Budi Buzi. Now, it’s time to straighten things out.”
Yu Wenxuzhong and Ye Xun heard the determination in Zhao Si's words.
The previous reforms of the official system were only adjustments based on Wang Jinggong's reform, changing various rules for the recruitment, training, examination, and removal of officials. It made it difficult for civil servants in the Song Dynasty to pass the examination and work, but it did not touch the old bureaucracy.
fundamental interests of the system.
Now, the officials are preparing to start a thorough reform of the official system of the Song Dynasty using job fields as an entry point. All benefits must be collected and redistributed, and the rules of distribution must also be greatly changed.
It is conceivable that the old bureaucratic group will definitely launch the most violent counterattack, but will it be effective?
The army was completely under the control of the officials, and their control was beyond that of any of the late emperors Taizu and Taizong.
At the same time, in the past ten years, the government has trained thousands of new officials through universities, Hanlin Academy training courses, Shuji Hall, and the Ministry of Secretaries, and they are waiting to take office. If the old bureaucrats dare to lift the table, the government will even demolish the entire building for you.
.
Suddenly there was a loud noise outside, pulling the three of them out of their own thoughts.
You are a genius, remember in one second: Red Oasis: This chapter has been completed!
