Chapter 288 Imperial System (3) - Local Administration
The three systems of Congress, Cabinet and Judicial were established, and the [Chinese Constitution] was also begun to be formulated, but all of these belong to the central institutions, and the new system of the empire also included readjustment of local institutions.
In principle, local governments, which are provincial local institutions, should implement the separation of powers, establish local councils, local agencies and local judicial systems, but the establishment of local institutions is far more than that of central governments. Much more complex, because the social and economic development levels in different places are different, and the understanding of the new system of the empire and the separation of powers is also different. Relatively speaking, places that were ruled by Shang Yi for a long time, such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu ,Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, and Taiwan, the eight provinces are developing rapidly, and they all know a little about the concepts of separation of powers, Congress, and democracy. They have been ruled by Shang Yi for a short time, and from the time of the northern region, they are It is much worse, so the adjustment of local institutions cannot be generalized.
According to Shang Yi's idea, first of all, a complete administrative system and judicial system should be established in the local area, and then a local parliament should be established slowly.
In fact, before Shang Yi became emperor, the local administrative system was divided into four levels: province, municipality, provincial capital, city, county, township, township, and township. Although compared with previous dynasties, there was one more township. The division of towns and the control of local governments has also been strengthened, but the administrative systems and the establishment of official institutions at all levels have not changed much compared with the Ming Dynasty, but the names are different.
One of the biggest characteristics of local administrative agencies in ancient China is that there are fewer officials and many officials, and they are all in charge of government, economics and finances. Moreover, the more they go to the grassroots, the fewer the number of officials. Taking the Ming Dynasty as an example, local administrative agencies at the provincial level There is also a certain administrative division of labor. Generally, the governor is in charge of administration, military and political affairs, the governor is in charge of finance, and the criminal law is in charge of investigation and envoy. There are at least three teams, but when the prefect is below the prefect, there is only one team left, and this one There are not many people who set up teams.
According to the Ming Dynasty's official system, the government officials of a government-level administrative agency were: one magistrate, no magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, one magistrate, The other magistrates with no fixed number are all added, which is only six people. Even if there are more magistrates, there will be only ten people who will have to manage the affairs of a government.
This is true at the prefecture level, and the county level is even worse. All the officials are: one magistrate, one county magistrate, one chief clerk, one clerk, and one clerk, and one county teacher. There are only five people in total, so the management of things comes. I had to grab my beard and eyebrows and care about everything.
Although the scale of ancient prefectures and counties cannot be compared with modern times, they cannot be managed by just a few people. Therefore, local officials can only rely on teachers, staff, yamen runners, troupe leaders, coroners, etc. A group of lower-level officials came to manage local administration, taxation, service, baojia, arrest, prison lawsuits and other matters.
As a result, although this group of people are not formal court officials, they actually firmly control the power of local grassroots, either overwhelming, or overwhelming superiors, or colluding with each other to get the card. You must have a lot of personal gain. All the shortcomings in the local area are created by this group of people. After the imperial officials arrived at the local area, they would have to have a good relationship with this group of people, otherwise it would be difficult When carrying out work, the best thing is to have different people, and the worst thing is to hit it off, and everyone makes a fortune in silence. After the term of office expires, they will leave and change to a local official, and everything will be the same.
Moreover, the officials of the court can be replaced one by one, but these officials are lifelong. As long as they don’t make any big mistakes, they can be treated until they die. What is the hereditary system? I die and my son takes over, but my brother doesn’t. If you are on the top of your brothers, the so-called "officials have no feudalism, officials have feudalism" refers to this phenomenon.
This is also a phenomenon that is difficult for later historians to understand. On the one hand, every dynasty has seen many idle officials. Since it was the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties after the improvement of the imperial examination system, the government will produce a lot of idle officials every year. At most, officials can reach tens of thousands of dollars, all of them are the ones who get their wages for nothing. Of course, it’s not that they don’t want to do it, but that the court does not have so many positions, and they can only rely on the government to support them and become heavy government. The finances are paid, and on the other hand, there are very few administrative officials at the grassroots level in the local area, and they can't control local affairs at all. They can only rely on a large number of officials to maintain the local administrative system. This is indeed incredible.
Even if you always have to support such officials, why don’t you just put them all at the grassroots level to be officials? At least it will not be worse than those officials, and the country will not support them in vain.
What is even more unimaginable is that the main contributors of officials, yamen runners, and servants were actually classified as untouchables in the Ming Dynasty, while the vast majority of farmers were considered good people and had political power. Besides, good people are bigger than untouchables, but in real life, good people are oppressed and exploited by untouchables. This kind of image may not be described as weird.
Therefore, since Shang Yi became a powerful force, he has made a lot of changes in this regard. After the founding of the Chinese Empire, the distinction between untouchables and good people was abolished, and the principle of equality among the people was implemented. At the same time, all officials were included in Among the ranks of government officials, administrative agencies at the township level were added to strengthen the control of local administration. In the eight provinces that Shangyi first ruled, the administrative systems at all levels of local areas were basically Established completed.
However, since it was in a war period and the lack of talent for officials, Shang Yi did not further build local administrative agencies. It was mainly in administrative functions, and the prefect, prefect, and county magistrate were all in charge, and only local areas at all levels were managed. There are more staff in the organization.
Then it is time to build all local administrative agencies, so Shang Yi decided to set up a Ministry of Finance in township and town-level administrative units; county-level administrative units will add a Ministry of Culture and Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Organization Department, and publicity. The Ministry and the Secretariat have a total of seven departments; while the provincial, provincial capital, municipal administrative units have a total of twelve departments, including the Engineering Department, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Transport, and the Office of Audit. In addition, according to the actual situation in various places Situation: provincial, provincial capital, municipal administrative units can also add other departments such as the Ministry of Marine Development, the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs, etc.
In terms of management, a dual management method is adopted, that is, the administrative departments at all levels must pay responsibilities to local governments, and at the same time they must be managed by their respective superior authorities. The responsible officials of each department shall be handled by local officials at all levels. Nominations will be submitted to the superior departments of each department for review and approval.
At the current stage, the highest administrative officials in various places are recommended by the emperor or the cabinet, and then submitted to the Congress for voting and approval, and then they can take office, and the term of office is four years ; County-level administrative units shall be recommended by their directly subordinate superior departments and handed over to the cabinet for approval, and the term of office is three years; while town-level administrative units shall be selected by the directly subordinate superior departments and handed over to the provincial departments for approval, and the term of office is three years .
In this way, coupled with the local judicial system, the entire local government administrative agency can be fully established, and local governments can each pay their responsibilities, and better manage the local area. In addition, it also increases The position of a large number of grassroots officials can not only digest a large number of officials, but also provide new officials with opportunities to train at the grassroots level and cultivate more useful materials for the empire. What should be done below is to follow the local area. Such standards will be improved separately, and local councils will be established after the conditions are ripe.
However, the Chinese Empire has just been established for a short time, and it has been less than a year since the national reunification was completed. The development process of various places is different. In addition, the empire is indeed lacking corresponding talents. Therefore, the improvement of local administrative agencies at all levels also requires considerable results. For a long time, Shang Yi decided to adopt a gradual implementation method, first starting to improve administrative agencies in the eight provinces he had ruled, and also making a model for other provinces, while other provinces are now taking this. In the old ways of the eight provinces, first establish four-level local administrative agencies, incorporate officials into government agencies, and then gradually build all departments.
But this requires a large number of grassroots officials, so Shang Yi also ordered that the imperial examination system of the empire was officially launched, and that the provincial examination will be held in all provinces of the empire this year, and the provincial examination will be held next year, and the imperial examination will be held the year afterwards.
Carrying out imperial examinations was a major event in ancient China. Although the empire's education system has not been fully established, the provincial examinations are basically the traditional content, and there is only one more arithmetic, which does not defeat most candidates. It was only after the provincial examination that the so-called study of studying things and applying them. From now on, there are still nearly two years left. It is still time to start from now on. And as long as the imperial examination is held, it means that there is a There was an opportunity. If you didn’t get the first exam, you could take the second or third exam. Therefore, all the students and scholars of the empire were happy and encouraged, and they were ready to start studying hard, and they would become famous overnight by hoping that they would win one goal.
Just as the imperial examination began, another new examination for selecting officials, economic specialties in various departments also started.
The Economic Special Economics Department is an examination for selecting local grassroots professional officials. There will be no provincial examinations, but the provincial examination will be conducted directly. After the examination is approved, you can participate in the second year's examination. You can also register in the province and wait for the allocation. Working in the county, township, and local departments. Although this is at the grassroots level, it can also be regarded as a government official. As long as you work hard and study hard, you will still have the opportunity to be promoted to the municipal level, provincial level, and what is the central level. If the relevant departments pass the Economic Special Economic Department examination in the second year, they can be assigned to municipal and provincial local departments to work, and the starting point will be improved one step further.
However, compared with the imperial examination, the economic special examination is much more professional, and many of them still need to be taken. They cannot be dealt with in a few days. However, an effective supplement to the imperial examination also makes ordinary civilians become officials. The chances have increased greatly,
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