Chapter 424 Major adjustments at the end of Kaibaos ninth year
It has to be said that Zhao Laosan's political sense is indeed extremely sensitive, and his predictions basically came true. After the imperial banquet in Xiyuan, Emperor Liu's follow-up actions came true.
On the last day of the ninth year of Kaibao's reign, Emperor Liu got up early and came to the Qianyuan Hall to hold a dynasty. This was also the first dynasty after a long time. Before that, Emperor Liu had already held a dynasty in March.
No more court.
Thousands of princes, nobles, civil and military generals, officials from various ministries and government offices, and officials reporting on their duties in Beijing were sitting in the Qianyuan Hall, listening to the holy teachings. For such a large battle, the top elites were all gathered together to discuss the matter.
Naturally, it is a major national affairs and a major matter for the court.
Of course, everyone who understands understands that the so-called discussion is just a formality. The real decision-making has long been discussed in detail by the main ministers. What is discussed in the court is actually a large-scale briefing.
Emperor Liu didn't say much. The prince was absent, and Zhao Pu was mainly in charge. The duration was not short, from Chen hour to noon, a full two hours.
There are two themes for the court meeting. The first is to look back at the development of the Han Dynasty in the past year, sum up the gains and losses in finance, military affairs, civil affairs and many other matters. It focuses on reviewing several major events that happened in the people's livelihood of the Han Dynasty in the nine years of Kaibao, and to commend the role models.
, remember the lesson.
The second is to look forward to the future. The ninth year of Kaibao is the first year of the change of Han Dynasty's national policy and strategic transformation, and it is also the most important year. Although there are some problems, a good and good foundation has been formed.
Zhao Pu, on behalf of the imperial court, assured Emperor Liu that he would remain unswerving and continue to implement the policy of nourishing the interest, safeguarding the well-being of the people in the world and the development of the country and the people.
We will continue to further improve various policy reform measures implemented in the 9th year of Kaibao, promote good governance, make up for mistakes, and strive to restore the weakened national strength within three to five years.
Under this premise, Zhao Pu, on behalf of the Zhengshitang, reported to Emperor Liu the arrangements for government affairs formulated by the imperial court for the coming year. Of course, Emperor Liu's own will was clearly reflected in each plan.
Zhao Pu emphasized that in the future, the imperial court will strengthen official governance and cultivate officials' administrative capabilities, while also increasing spiritual construction such as ethics and character, strengthening supervision, and clearly improving the promotion system.
The construction of officialdom has never just been about fighting corruption, nor is it just about dealing with some corrupt officials. On the contrary, it is a systematic project, involving all aspects from talent selection and training, promotion assessment, official appointment, supervision and supervision.
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It took Emperor Liu more than ten years to truly understand this truth, so he built a relatively complete bureaucratic management system for the court.
However, completeness does not mean perfection. In the past few years, Emperor Liu has indeed spared no efforts in combating corruption, has a clear attitude, and has made many achievements.
The major cases that stirred up the government and the public, and the harsh treatment of criminal officials and criminals, are proof of this.
But similarly, in other aspects, although the political system has been continuously improved, there are still shortcomings and deficiencies. This time, Zhao Pu also plans to put some thought into this aspect and continue to improve and make up for it.
The end of the court meeting ended with the announcement of two decisions. One was that some people had expected it but were unwilling to face it, and limited their merits to the policy.
This policy, which had been brewing within the imperial court for many years and caused a lot of criticism and even several difficulties, was finally officially introduced after the great turmoil in the winter of the ninth year of Kaibao.
Of course, Emperor Liu's appearance was not that ugly, and Zhao Pu was always smart in his methods, and did not openly declare to the world that the imperial court would reduce the salaries of meritorious officials and restrict their privileged status.
Nominally, it was because the imperial salary system had many unreasonable features. In response to this, Zhao Pu led the Finance Department and formulated a complete set of adjustments to the salary levels of Han Dynasty bureaucrats, military personnel, and civil servants.
Just looking at the prescribed salaries for bureaucrats at all levels in the Han Dynasty, in the past, the overall level was on the low side, especially for those grassroots officials with lower grades.
Taking the capital as an example, many lower-level officials, with their annual salary, even with the annual welfare compensation due to their duties, it is difficult for them to live a prosperous life in the capital, and it is not even as good as some common people engaged in commerce and handicrafts.
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Therefore, it is inevitable that some officials will take advantage of their positions to seek some benefits outside the system, so as to make a living. In response to this, the imperial court has greatly increased the salaries of officials this time, the more low-grade and low-ranking they are
, the higher the range, at the same time, the job fields and occupations held by various levels of positions are also opened up, all in order to improve the treatment of officials.
Of course, when the financial situation was not good, the imperial court was so kind to the bureaucrats, and naturally there were conditions. That is, it was explicitly prohibited from doing business by bureaucrats with official positions and their direct blood relatives.
Although it is very difficult and even unrealistic to truly ban it, a bill that can be referenced and used as a basis for law enforcement is clear. This undoubtedly puts a tight curse on the heads of officials all over the world, and it can somewhat reduce power corruption.
Cool down.
Generally speaking, the bureaucrats all over the world have benefited this time, especially those who are responsible for official duties. In addition, due to the extremely uneven economic development level in various regions of the Han Dynasty, in view of the differences between the rich and the poor in their positions, the performance of officials in various regions
Salary levels have also changed accordingly.
This article also formed a policy, instructing the various state governments to make adjustments. It was no longer like the past, where the distribution was completely based on the grade of officials.
In conjunction with this, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will greatly relax the assessment and promotion of officials in remote and poor areas, and encourage aspiring officials to serve as officials in remote and poor areas.
As for the military personnel, it goes without saying that in the past twenty years, Emperor Liu has never treated badly the military. The same is true this time. Even the adjusted official salary is only equivalent to the military salary level.
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The adjustment of military salaries is limited to improving the internal salary system of the military, increasing the salary of border troops and garrison soldiers, maintaining the level of guard and forbidden troops, and reducing local Taoist garrison, making differentiation and hierarchy more obvious.
At least, even if the country basically enters a peaceful era, being a soldier is still a good choice.
Similarly, compared to official positions and military positions, the adjustment to the treatment of honorable nobles is more targeted and targeted. It is completely in accordance with the provisions planned by Zhao Pu and was promulgated by Emperor Liu with slight modifications.
The most intuitive thing is that from the prince on down, the salary is reduced every year. Taking the prince as an example, the annual salary is reduced from 8,000 guan of money and 1,200 shi of food to 6,000 guan of money and 800 shi of grain.
grain.
Nowadays, the princes of the Han Dynasty, that is, the princes, starting from the sons, can really stop many people's mouths, making people irrefutable.
In contrast, the treatment of honorary ministers remains unchanged. After all, their ranks cannot be passed down, and they have all made great contributions to the country. Emperor Liu does not need to treat him badly. Of course, this is also a kind of appeasement.
practice.
Starting from the most direct title, the amount of tax-free property for nobles has also been greatly reduced. The 500 hectares for the Duke of the State has been directly reduced to 100 hectares. The rest must be re-registered with the local government.
In addition to direct benefits, there are restrictions on other explicit and implicit privileges of honorable nobles. Of course, they must ultimately be implemented in law enforcement. The construction of the law enforcement team is also the next key task of the court led by Zhao Pu.
If in the past, the imperial court had introduced such a malicious policy, the nobles of the Han Dynasty would have fallen out long ago, and their dissatisfaction would have been written on their faces and expressed in their words and deeds.
But this time, everyone was silent. No one had wiped Nanshi's blood. The imperial banquet in Xiyuan was even more shockingly cold. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he could only hold it in his heart and not dare to explode.
Fu, Li, Zhao and other powerful families took the lead in expressing their acceptance of the imperial policy, and also expressed their willingness to accept the supervision of the imperial court and report local products. Zhao Kuangyin even proposed that he was willing to pay back the past land tax, but Liu did not need to do so.
When the emperor spoke, Zhao Pu stated that the past grace was in line with the imperial system and did not need to be taken back later.
The last move was to adjust the personnel of the imperial court. Murong Yanchao, Duke of Luan State, officially resigned, and the Ministry of Industry was placed in charge of the Minister of Industry, Pan You. This was a southern minister, a reformist, and a general under Zhao Pu.
At the same time, Cui Zhoudu paid homage to the prime minister, and was also in charge of criminal names and supervision, becoming the prime minister responsible for the judicial work of the Han Dynasty. In addition, Zhao Kuangyi's career as a Yin in Luoyang, which lasted for less than one year, ended and he was transferred to Jinghu South Road as the chief official.
