Accompanied by the sound of fireworks and firecrackers, the 21st year of Hongzhi has arrived.
Liu Jin was sitting in his study, thinking quietly.
With the arrival of the new year, many things need to be dealt with.
One of the things that gives Liu Jin a headache right now is the reform of the government.
The content of traditional government work in the Ming Dynasty was very simple. It was nothing more than reviewing cases, maintaining local security, and providing relief and relief when there was a famine.
In a traditional feudal society, there was naturally no problem.
Being able to avoid causing trouble for an official is already a high priority for the common people. Don't expect to be able to really do much for the common people.
However, with the rapid development of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty, the cities of the Ming Dynasty began to expand rapidly. Not only did the size of the city become larger and larger, but the population of the city also began to increase dramatically. A large number of people moved to the city to work.
began to gather in cities.
Take Beijing as an example.
Before the capital city, although it was very large, it was one of the largest cities on the planet at that time, with a population of over one million.
However, after just over ten years of rapid capitalist development, the capital's population now exceeds six million, which is six times the previous population.
In the traditional sense, the walled capital simply cannot accommodate such a huge population. A large number of people are distributed in the new districts in the four directions of the southeast, northwest and northwest of the capital.
The influx of a large number of people and the high concentration of the population will naturally bring about many problems.
Such as public livelihood, public order, transportation, medical care, housing, etc. These series of problems are problems that the government has never encountered before.
It is obviously not possible to continue to manage such a huge city in the past way.
This time, Liu Jin also walked around the capital during the Chinese New Year and saw many urgent problems that needed to be solved.
Although highways extending in all directions have been built, most people still have no awareness of traffic, so there are a lot of traffic problems. Traffic jams are still a minor matter. Traffic accidents often occur, and people are hit and killed by horse-drawn carriages.
hurt.
Public health in the city is very poor. Open defecation and littering are very common. Garbage is not cleaned up in a timely manner and piles up like mountains. In some places, spectacular mountains of garbage are even formed, emitting a stench that makes people avoid it.
In addition, a large concentration of the population will inevitably lead to security problems. Petty theft is very common and even very rampant. Gangs are rampant and robberies and fights occur one after another.
These problems have become more and more serious and have begun to affect the operation and image of the entire capital. They are also problems that urgently need to be solved.
However, the current government structure of the Ming Dynasty cannot effectively deal with these problems.
Even the Shuntian Prefecture at the foot of the capital city has a higher level than ordinary state capitals, and has more officials, including more officials, government officials, and official servants.
But after all, the number is limited, and they have been officials from the beginning. They have no intention of providing many services and conveniences to the people. Their main job is to hear cases and maintain law and order. As for other things, they really don’t think about it.
Do it.
Why do you ask the government to do sanitation?
Doesn't this make people laugh to death?
How can someone who worked so hard to become an official come and take care of such things as hygiene?
You should keep traffic in order. If there is a traffic jam, you can just solve it yourself. If someone is killed or someone is injured, you can go to the government to file a lawsuit and they will come out to hear the case.
Anyway, in one sentence, they are high-ranking officials and have no awareness of providing services to the people, and the traditional government responsibilities do not include these contents.
But even so.
With the expansion of the capital's population, Shuntian Prefecture is already extremely busy just trying cases.
The population is six times that of before, and there are a large number of immigrants. There are countless various matters. There are endless cases and endless matters to deal with every day.
In the past, there might only be a few murders in a year, but now, murders may occur every three to five. The workload at Shuntian Mansion has suddenly increased. How can we not be busy?
This is also the reason why Shuntianfu Yamen has no time to worry about other things, because they are indeed too busy.
There is a serious shortage of manpower in the government. The key is that the division of responsibilities is unclear. Linpan, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, has too many things to do alone.
I have to hear cases and investigate various things every day. In addition, I have to attend various activities organized by factories, workshops, firms, schools, etc. It can be said that I am so busy every day that I have no time to take care of other things.
things.
Generally speaking, the population is increasing, the city is getting larger, and things are changing more and more. However, the government has few manpower and unclear division of responsibilities. Naturally, it cannot adapt to urban development and changes, and must make corresponding adjustments.
reform.
"Big cities must carry out reforms. They should set up departments related to public health, public safety and order, and public services. They should subdivide the powers of officials. At the same time, they should add more officials, government officials, servants, etc. and assign them according to their responsibilities.
division."
"However, this can easily lead to the phenomenon of redundant officials in future generations~"
Liu Jin thought carefully.
The reform of government offices in big cities has reached the point where it is imperative.
But Liu Jin was very worried about whether there would be changes. If the changes were made, the phenomenon would appear in later generations. In a small county, there were dozens of departments, large and small, supporting a large number of people who could handle everything.
The official who doesn’t do it.
"Big cities need to carry out corresponding reforms, while small places can still use the previous system. There is no need for a small county to support so many officials."
Liu Jin took out a pen and wrote it down on paper. He remembered that in later generations, a small county with less than 30,000 people also had dozens of large and small departments and supported thousands of officials. Liu Jin
I also feel that there seems to be nothing wrong with the current system.
In small places, there is no need to set up so many yamen and officials. It is enough to have a county magistrate and dozens of officials.
"The government offices in big cities are subdivided. According to the later generations, they can be divided into six government offices: Police Bureau, Taxation Bureau, Litigation Bureau, Health Bureau, Industrial and Commercial Bureau, and Education Bureau."
“The Police Bureau is responsible for public security and order, the Tax Bureau is mainly responsible for the collection of local taxes, the Litigation Bureau is mainly responsible for the trial of civil and criminal cases, the Health Bureau is responsible for public health and safety, and the Industry and Commerce Bureau is responsible for business-related matters.
, the Education Bureau is responsible for education.”
Liu Jin wrote out six subdivided yamen on paper. After thinking about it, he suddenly felt that it seemed a little insufficient. Compared with the dozens of subdivisions in later generations, it seemed that it was really not enough.
"The six yamen are all under the jurisdiction of each city and state capital. They have one chief officer, two adjutants, officials, and a number of official posts, depending on the size and level of the city. The chief officer with a city population of less than one million is the seventh grade. The adjutant is from the seventh rank. If the population is more than one million and less than five million, the chief officer is from the sixth rank, and the adjutant is from the sixth rank. For a megacity with a population of more than 5 million, the chief officer is from the fifth rank, and the adjutant is from the fifth rank, and the scale is based on the population. scale, increase the level and number of people accordingly.”
After dividing the yamen, it is natural to set up officials.
This involves the number and grade of officials. Compared with the settings of later generations, Liu Jin also made corresponding settings.
In later generations, the level of officials in big cities was higher than that in small cities and small places. Naturally, this was also set according to the size of the population.
On this point, the current system of the Ming Dynasty is also the same.
Like most state officials, they are all fifth-grade officials. However, because Shuntian Prefecture is at the foot of the emperor and manages the capital, the rank of the governor of Shuntian Prefecture is a third-grade official, which is higher than the officials of local prefectures. level.
In a big city with a larger population, the level of officials will naturally increase accordingly. There will be more yamen, and there will naturally be more officials and officials, yamen servants, servants, etc.
Liu Jin thought about it and recorded it in detail. Referring to the institutional settings of later generations, he could only divide, level, etc. He quickly wrote a memorial and prepared to present it to Emperor Hongzhi during the first morning court in the new year. Play on the side.
"Daming, Daming~"
"The territory is so big that it is not easy to manage it well. All kinds of things are happening in this vast land every moment."
"Fortunately, the country is now peaceful and the people are safe, the country is prosperous and the people are strong, there are few things, and there are not many headaches."
"Sometimes I really admire people like Zhang Juzheng and Li Hongzhang. It is really difficult for people like Zhang Juzheng and Li Hongzhang to do something under complicated circumstances."
After writing the memorial, Liu Jin looked at the huge world map. Most of the areas were already the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the Pacific Ocean had now become the inland sea of the Ming Dynasty.
With such a vast territory and huge population, the Ming Dynasty was still able to prosper and become more and more prosperous and powerful, and it was not in vain for him to travel across the country and work so hard.
Think about some of the famous figures in the history textbooks that later generations have studied, and then think about the position you are in now, which is also high and powerful. If you were in the other party's position, I am afraid that you really would not be able to be like these. Great people usually make some achievements.
The higher you are in a high position, the more great wisdom you need, especially when facing various difficult situations, in order to truly reflect a person's wisdom and talents. In comparison, life now is simply too comfortable.