There has always been a distinctive political phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty, that is, positions with supervisory power will, over time, become the de facto superiors of those being supervised.
This phenomenon is clearly reflected in many positions. For example, the governor was sent from the beginning by the central government to supervise the province as a censor of the capital (right deputy censor of the capital, censor of the capital, and other levels).
He appeared as a first-level administrative official and military general. Later, it became a practice and he was permanently stationed in the place, and he became the highest governor of a province today.
Another example is the inspector censor. Compared with the governor, this position still retains a stronger nature of "central special dispatch" or "imperial envoy", but its actual power performance in the local area far exceeds its own rank.
, so that some patrol censors with a slightly stronger personality can, with the status of the seventh rank, call around the dignified chief envoys of the second rank, just like subordinate officials.
As a result, when faced with such a patrolling censor, the chief envoys really had no choice but to obey. The slightest dissatisfaction might lead to impeachment, which would seriously affect their career or even lead to their downfall.
You know, what is the concept of second rank? The Liubu Minister is called a high official, but he is only a third rank! Even if there is no additional title for the six ministers, his original title is only a second rank.
If by chance, as Gao Pragmatic did a few years ago, the governor-general is away from the province and the governor is unable to take charge of the affairs for some reason, the censor can even perform the functions of the governor.
How much power does the governor have? The governor of the Ming Dynasty is not the governor of the Qing Dynasty. The governor of the Ming Dynasty can take charge of all local government affairs, military affairs, finance, and some related special affairs such as salt administration, tea administration, horse administration, etc.
!
Not only that, if some governors in border areas have strong personalities, they can even initiate wars - for example, the governor of Liaodong often did this, and Gao Pragmatic also did it when he was appointed governor of Liaoning.
Being able to wage war means that his position itself has such power. But the governor was originally just a civil servant. When did he have the power to wage war, which should logically only belong to the center of the imperial court?
The source of this power can probably be traced back to May of the second year of Zhengtong. At that time, Yingzong accepted the suggestion of the Sanyang Cabinet and appointed Wang Ji, Minister of the Ministry of War, as Prime Minister of Gansu Border Affairs. There are two sentences in the edict to Wang Ji: "Border Affairs,
It is a major national event, and Gansu Province is particularly important. The generals who compete are not his, and the military preparations are depleted. I have specially ordered you to go and discuss the war and defense strategy with the general commander and the garrison, and make arrangements for the divisions one by one. I will listen to your convenience and implement them. I still have a report.
"
Please pay attention to the sentence "meeting war and defense strategy with the general soldier and the garrison officer". As mentioned before, the three big bosses in the local area are the governor, the chief soldier, and the garrison eunuch. Since the governor had already overpowered the garrison and garrison eunuchs in the middle and late Ming Dynasty to control the local power.
Now, he went to have a meeting with the latter two. It was like a meeting between secretaries in later generations. It must be the top leader who can make the final decision. You two deputy secretaries can make suggestions, but it depends on whether the suggestions can count.
Does the secretary approve it?
So the governor has the decision-making power of this "meeting", and what is this meeting for? It is responsible for formulating the "war and defense strategy" - needless to say, defense is very powerful, because "war" means taking the initiative to start a war
.
Of course, according to the actual situation and mentality of the Ming Dynasty, to use a term from later generations, such proactive wars should all be classified as "preventive wars." That is, I judge from various situations and think that you may invade me, so I beat you preemptively.
Say it again to ensure that you will not have the ability to violate me.
Looking back, a position that was originally just for supervising local officials ended up with enough power to go to war with surrounding forces. It can be seen that the supervision system of the Ming Dynasty... was indeed very unique.
When we talk about governors and inspectors, we actually mean to talk about the new system of the Ministry of Household Supervision of Post Stations. This system is also currently developing in the direction of expanding the powers of governors and inspectors.
Especially after Gao Pragmatic gathered financial power last year, the officials sent out by the Ministry of Revenue to supervise the post stations in various places have already appeared to a large extent as the "top leaders of the provincial post station system", and the emergence of this sign itself has Gao Pragmatism
There is an element of deliberate connivance.
How to indulge? It's easy to handle.
For example, in his capacity as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Gao pragmatically appointed Zhao, a member of the Shanxi Qing Li Department of the Ministry of Revenue, to go to Shanxi to "audit the Shanxi Station" for one year, two years, or three years.
In this way, Zhao Yuanwailang has the power to comprehensively audit a post station in Shanxi Province within this "term". He is responsible for auditing the entire post station in the Shanxi Chief Envoy Department, which means that he has
Received the right to supervise the station in a fixed area.
Originally there were no Yuanwailang in the Ministry of Household Affairs, only Langzhong, with two levels of chiefs. Later, in the seventh year of Xuande, there were three Yuanwailang, one of whom worked as a miscellaneous person in the center, and the remaining two worked for the Sichuan Qingli Division and the Yunnan Qingli Division.
Suppose. However, these two positions were abolished not long after they were established. So far, there is only one Yuanwailang in the central department of household affairs, who has become a special existence sandwiched among a large number of doctors (superiors) and chiefs (subordinates).
Last year, Gao pragmatically consolidated financial power. In addition to establishing the system of four ministers in the Ministry of Household Affairs and the establishment of two new departments and thirteen departments, he also established a group of foreign ministers under the original structure of the Ministry of Revenue.
As an expatriate, go to the local post station to supervise.
Considering that there are only four officials in the Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War (two among the fifth-rank ministers and two among the sixth-rank chief officers), it is actually impossible to send external personnel to manage the various stations respectively. Therefore, these Yuanwailang sent by the Ministry of Household Affairs obviously become
The immediate superiors of the post officials under the provincial structure.
Because of this, this time "Innovation Station Shu" will be led by Gao Jingshi, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. In theory, the big boss of the station system, Zhou Yong, the Minister of the Ministry of War, can only sign a joint name - of course, this is not the same as Gao Jingshi.
The gap in prestige between Zhou Yong and Zhou Yong within the Practical School and even in the entire Ming Dynasty political arena also has something to do with it.
But things are not that simple, because as mentioned before, the Ming Dynasty's post station system is divided into "troikas". In addition to Shui Ma Post, there are also express shops and delivery offices.
This express shop is very interesting, but few people may have heard of it, so I want to focus on it.
The main responsibility of the express delivery shop is to deliver messages. Each shop has a special small house, which is very simple, but it has a unified system: "Every twelve o'clock sundial is laid to check the time. A wedge is placed at the door of the shop.
A pair of everlasting lamps and candles, and two calendars."
Chuowei is actually the official archway of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to later generations, the express delivery shop is the archway of the government office at the door. The room is brightly lit 24 hours a day, a clock is hung on the wall, and two notebooks are placed on the table. This is the basic
As for the situation, as for other facilities and equipment... they are not provided.
The delivery personnel of the express delivery shop are called Pubing, and the Yuan system has not been changed since the Ming Dynasty. The "Yuan History" describes the attire of Pubing like this: "Each Pubing is equipped with a plywood, a pair of climbing bells, a tassel and a spear, and a soft
Three feet of silk, one collar for clothes, and a Hijri calendar." He also said: "All the soldiers in the shop wear leather belts, hang bells, hold spears, and carry raincoats. They carry torches at night. If the road is narrow, they carry carts or horses. Those who carry the front
, hear the bell and avoid others, it will also scare tigers and wolves at night." The same was true in the Ming Dynasty, "Each person has a pair of plywood, a pair of bells, a tassel and a gun, a stick, and a Hijri calendar." "Ring the bell and go away."
Deliver".
So how does the express delivery shop operate? It is "when the front shop hears the bell, the delivery man must first leave the shop to deliver the goods, and then fill in the time and name of the delivery man in the cover box, and quickly order the delivery man to wrap it up with baggage and plywood
Hold on tight, take a small Hijri calendar and deliver it to the front store for delivery, and write down the arrival time on the Hijri calendar to avoid getting lost."
As I said just now, there is a bell in the "equipment" of Pubing. This is a special bell, just like the car horn now. If you hear the car horn sounding from a distance, you won't think that someone is coming on a bicycle.
Yes, the same is true for the bells used to prepare soldiers.
For example, let's say you are now a soldier in Balipu, and you work in the shop. On this day, you are sitting in the house, and you hear a familiar sound of bells coming from far away. You quickly get up and go out to check, and sure enough, you see a person behind you.
A man carrying a baggage, a spear, and a bell comes to you panting.
What should you do at this time? First, take this buddy's baggage. Inside the baggage is a plywood, and inside the plywood is a written message - the message may be frontline military information, or it may be an emergency order from the court, but it has nothing to do with you.
Doesn't matter.
What you have to do is to take the baggage, carry it on your back, and sign on the small Hijri book that the buddy is holding to sign for receipt - it is the same as the express delivery sign in later generations.
The small Hijri calendar is the logistics order. You need to write the time you signed for it on it. As mentioned before, there is a clock hanging in the room. As long as your mind is not confused and your eyes are not blind, you will definitely not sign wrong.
Write the time clearly, and then write your name, such as "Shuntian Mansion Zhulu Ma Yi Bali Pu Gao pragmatic collection at three o'clock on the fifteenth day of August in the twentieth year of Wanli". After writing, take your hand on the wall
tassel and a stick, and then it's time to go out and run all the way to Shibalipu.
Why should we emphasize running all the way? Because you need to walk quickly - according to the regulations of one pavement and ten miles, the delivery time under this distance is fixed - according to the ancient method, when delivering official documents, it will take one hundred quarters a day and night, and every day
Every three quarters travels to a store, and one has to travel three hundred miles day and night. But when an official document arrives at the store, it must be delivered immediately regardless of the number of corners. The bell is rung and delivered regardless of day or night.
Converting this time and distance, it is roughly equivalent to walking five kilometers in about forty-five minutes. You can advance but not delay. The walking speed of normal adults in later generations is generally about five kilometers per hour, and the jogging speed is about nine.
It's about 12 kilometers, and the fast running speed is 12 kilometers. So based on the jogging speed of 9 kilometers per hour, five kilometers only takes about 35 minutes, which is enough time.
actually not.
You need to know that the prerequisites for this standard in later generations are very different. Modern people run on roads, hard asphalt roads or soft concrete roads. When they go out to exercise, the sun is usually right, the breeze is blowing, and they wear new clothes under their feet.
I wore sports cushioned running shoes and a breathable sweat-wicking and quick-drying sports T-shirt while listening to music and running comfortably.
However, it was during the Ming Dynasty that the soldiers were paved. Not to mention the terrain, there were many bad mountain roads. In terms of road conditions alone, many people could run on the dirt roads in their hometowns before roads were built.
It needs to be lowered.
The speed limit of one pavement every three quarters is fixed, and the standard is the wind and sunshine, and the storm is also the standard. No matter how legitimate the reason for your lateness is, since the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang are not flexible, you will have to pay the penalty.
As punishment, if you want to be reasonable, I'm afraid you have to go to Nanjing Xiaoling to "face the Holy Spirit."
Besides, this stipulates that you have to deliver not only in stormy weather, but also in the middle of the night if you receive something. In the worst case scenario, you, the unlucky courier, may receive the parcel at three in the morning and then risk it.
Went through violent storms, lightning and thunder, walked on the muddy mountain road for ten miles and passed to the next shop.
Therefore, it is very, very hard to deploy troops, and in exchange for this hard work, the message can be transmitted three hundred miles day and night.
As I said before, the cavalry can travel at a speed of seventy miles per day. If it goes faster, the horses may not be able to withstand it, and the horses are greatly affected by weather and terrain factors. For example, they may perform very well in Hebei, but if you switch to Yunnan, they will not be able to withstand it.
Pull the crotch directly.
Therefore, in this case, express delivery, a completely manual delivery method, has become the fastest and most timely method. It takes 300 miles day and night and 5,000 miles from Beijing to Kunming in 16 days.
In other words, in the Ming Dynasty, if there was an unexpected military situation in Yunnan, the emperor would be informed of the news as soon as sixteen days later.
But here comes the problem. All express delivery shops are manned, and each express delivery shop cannot be short of people at all times of the day. N shifts of people are required to be on duty, and the density of installation is as high as one shop every ten miles. So how many people are needed for urgent delivery across the country?
Is the shop service sufficient? How much salary is needed to maintain such a huge staffing?
What's worse is that the express shop is different from Shuimayi. Shuimayi has a certain income-generating ability after Gao Pangshi's previous "Yiyi Road Clearance" reform-it is to operate as a state-owned guesthouse along the way. However, express delivery
The store does not have this ability. If we look at it as an enterprise, it is still in a state of pure loss so far and has no profitability at all.
Gao Pragmatic clearly pointed out this point in the "Innovation Station Book" this time, and proposed that the express delivery shop must have its own financial resources and cannot always rely solely on financial allocations to maintain it.
But if that was all, even if he thought of a solution, it would be enough for Wang Xijue to praise him for his talents as Wang Zuo. He would not use what Cao Zhi said: "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, lawful but not powerful, harmonious but not
"Profanity" to praise his conduct.
The reason why Wang Xijue praised his political opponents so much is because the method mentioned by Gao Jingshi in "Revolutionary Station Shu" is to actively give up one of the capabilities that Jinghua itself has become the best in the world.
Gao Pragmatic said that Jinghua has relied on its own logistics system in recent years to implement a set of "postal delivery" methods, that is, uniformly accepting letters and limited-weight packages within a certain area, and then based on the sender's requirements.
The corresponding fee will be charged depending on the weight of the letter or package to be sent and the distance of the journey.
Jinghua will make an agreement with the sender in advance to ensure that the letter or package is delivered to the target person intact within a certain period of time. Gao Pragmatic believes that relying on express delivery stores to spread across the country has the advantage that this
Postal transactions for paid delivery are completely feasible, and the express delivery shop will have some advantages over Jinghua's logistics system.
What are the advantages? The first is the advantage of nationwide rollout. As a "private enterprise", no matter how strong its financial resources, Jinghua cannot roll out its stores all over the country. However, this advantage of express delivery stores already exists naturally.
Secondly, Jinghua's postal delivery relies on its own logistics system. It is not professional, so the speed is not really fast. For example, when delivering from Suzhou to Jingshi, you may need to wait for several cargo ships to be basically full before setting off.
, because this can ensure safe navigation, and this requires a certain waiting time.
If an express delivery shop does postal delivery, there will be no such disadvantage. The delivery shops across the country are actually engaged in a "relay race" and can deliver goods at any time.
Or even if you consider that people need to rest, you can also set a limit, such as at least five or six shops need to be delivered in a day. Each soldier can be paid on a piece-by-piece basis for each delivery.
This remuneration can be divided between the Pubing and the Express Delivery shops, for example, seventy-three percent, the Pubing gets 70%, and the shop gets 30%. The specific ratio can be negotiated separately... In this way, it is settled monthly, and the court, the shop, and the Pubing all have benefits.
, and the sender and recipient have also gained convenience, and everyone is completely happy.
Of course, the only person who should be unhappy is probably Jinghua itself, because once this innovation is implemented, it will obviously be the only one whose interests will be harmed.
This is what Wang Xijue admired. Cutting one's own flesh to improve the country's system. Isn't this "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not authoritative, harmonious but not obscene"?
And the things that should be praised are not over yet, because we haven’t talked about Gao Pragmatic’s innovations in delivery offices.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Cloudy Good Mood", "KIKI Kai", "Ride Alone to Shine the Blue Heart", and "The Old West of Altay" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: This book involves the various policies of reform, which is really an aspect that I pay special attention to. In particular, you may find that when I write about certain wars that are not personally directed by Gao Pragmatic, I often use the word "remain"
"White" writing method, a comparison shows that I am really serious about writing reform.