Emperor Hongzhi has made a final decision. In addition, the scale and population of Ming Dynasty are increasing, and corresponding changes are indeed needed. Liu Jin's proposal fully meets the current requirements, and naturally the ministers will not have any objections.
Opinions, shouted in unison.
"Your Majesty, during the Chinese New Year, the army cooperated with the factory guards to carry out severe crackdowns on the main roads and cities in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, clearing out road bandits and bullies, cracking down on illegal shops on the roads, etc."
After discussing the matter of government restructuring, Zhang Mao stood up again and talked about the implementation of crackdowns on gangs and evil during the Chinese New Year.
"Well, how are things going?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly. He also took this matter very seriously. Now after hearing Zhang Mao's report, he also asked.
"Your Majesty, after half a month of cracking down on gangsters and evil, a total of 278 road bandits and bullies have been eliminated, and more than 500 illegal shops have been cracked down. This has fully guaranteed the personal and property safety of migrant workers returning home during the annual vacation.
"
Zhang Mao took out a memorial and gave a detailed report.
This time, the crackdown on gangsters and illegal shops was very vigorous, because the power of factory guards and the army were mobilized. The factory guards provided accurate intelligence information, and the army directly used thunderous means to clean up.
Basically all the road gangsters were wiped out, the main criminals were shot on the spot, and the accomplices were basically sent into exile. As for the illegal shops, they were also wiped out.
"However, when we were carrying out anti-gang and anti-evil operations, we also discovered many problems."
"First of all, many of the road gangsters that appear now are formed by local clan forces. The entire gang has the same surname or people from the same township."
"Secondly, the imperial court has repeatedly issued orders to governments and post stations in various places along the route to provide free hot water and cheap food and accommodation to migrant workers returning home during the annual holidays. To this end, the imperial court has also allocated special funds to various places."
"But during the implementation process, we found that many local governments and inns not only failed to comply with the court's requirements, but instead took the opportunity to force passers-by to spend at high prices."
"Some local officials even completely ignored the imperial decree and did not set up places or inns that provided free hot water and cheap food and accommodation."
"In addition, the formation of many road bandit bullies has a lot to do with the inaction of local governments. Some local governments know that there are such road bandit bullies in their territory, but they ignore them, so that these young people become more and more rampant.
, arrogant.”
Listening to Zhang Mao's words, Emperor Hongzhi and everyone could not help but frown.
The problems reflected by Zhang Mao are some deep-rooted problems in the Ming Dynasty, such as clan power, which have existed since ancient times.
Imperial power did not go to the countryside, and all affairs in local towns and villages were basically controlled by the strength of local clans. This was something that had not changed since ancient times.
Only after the vigorous land reform was carried out in later generations can the basis of local clan power be truly dismantled and this matter solved.
However, the inaction of local officials was something that Emperor Hongzhi and the important court officials present could not accept.
The fact that imperial power does not go to the countryside does not mean that the imperial power does not leave the imperial city.
The emperor's imperial edict and the government's decrees must be communicated from top to bottom and executed, so that the entire huge empire can be truly controlled and run according to the will of the superiors.
"Your Majesty, I also have relevant matters to report here."
Liu Jin also stood up. When it came to this matter, Liu Jin felt that he also needed to talk about some of the problems existing in the administration of officials in the Ming Dynasty.
"Oh, tell me~"
Emperor Hongzhi raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at Liu Jin and said.
"Your Majesty, since I took charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, I have implemented civil service reform and assessment systems, and used data indicators to assess whether officials have performed well, including population growth, tax revenue growth, arable land cultivation, public infrastructure construction and many other indicators."
"Under the new assessment system, the Ming Dynasty's treasury tax revenue has increased year by year, the number of roads, dams, canals, reservoirs, bridges, etc. has increased sharply year after year. Grain production has increased year by year. Transportation conditions have been greatly improved. The people have enough food and clothing and a better life.
Becoming richer and richer.”
"However, during the implementation process, some officials are still inactive and doing nothing. At the same time, their ideas are outdated and backward, unable to adapt to the changes and development of the times. They still adhere to the old concept of governing by doing nothing, doing nothing, and doing nothing."
Study without making progress."
Liu Jin also felt a little helpless.
Although he is said to be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, known as the Heavenly Official, and is in charge of the appointment, dismissal and promotion of officials all over the world. It seems that he has great power, but he can only decide the appointment, dismissal and promotion of officials below the fourth rank. Officials above the fourth rank need to
It will be decided after discussion between the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, came up with a system that used small officials to make large officials more powerful. To put it simply, small officials can actually ignore those who have big officials. That is to say, the civil servants have greater power.
All the officials were afraid of Liu Jin, the official minister.
If it were the other five ministries, officials from all over the country might not be jealous of you. Under the system and tradition of using the small to control the big, even a fifth-rank censor can overthrow a dignified first-rank cabinet minister.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, party strife was serious. What the Donglin Party members were good at was to use censors and admonishers to constantly impeach the bosses of their rival parties. The censors and advocators were usually minor officials of the fifth or fourth rank, but the result was that
It was the important ministers who repeatedly brought down the dynasty.
Such a system has been implemented for more than a hundred years. When Liu Jin carried out administrative reforms and implemented the assessment system, many officials did not take it to heart at all.
There were even too many, too many officials who continued to impeach Liu Jin because of this restructuring and assessment system. Emperor Hongzhi had a special room everywhere to prevent memorials from impeaching important officials in the court, among which Liu Jin was impeached the most.
The systems and assessment systems formulated by Liu Jin will definitely be difficult for these officials.
In the past, they only needed to drink tea and review cases, and they could live a comfortable life. What they need to do is to use money to pave the way and open up the joints above, and then they can interact with officials of the same year, classmates, classmates, fellow villagers, etc.
Communication, exchange, and promotion will be no problem naturally.
But now, let's not talk about the promotion issue. Under the assessment system alone, they have a lot to do.
We need to be concerned about the issue of population growth, and we need to organize local gentry and ordinary people to build roads, reservoirs, dams, bridges, etc. with money and energy.
We need to tax more, because the growth of tax revenue is also one of the important indicators of assessment, and tax collection can easily offend local gentry, wealthy families, businessmen, etc., but they still need to organize and build infrastructure together.
In short, under the new system, these days as an official have become much more difficult, and they are not at all as free and easy as before.
When I was an official before, it was impossible for me to collect taxes.
Collecting taxes is plundering people's wealth. It not only ruins one's reputation, but also offends the local squires. It would be really difficult for an official to offend the local squires.
Therefore, in the past, before tax reform was carried out, the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue was less than three million taels of silver. No one could believe it.
You must know that the annual tax bill of any port is calculated as one million taels. For large ports, such as Tianjin Port and Songhu Port, the annual tax bill is tens of millions of taels.
In the past, being an official was easy and comfortable, and you could spend your days drinking poetry and enjoying the moonlight without offending the local squires. But now, life is very difficult. You are busy with many things, and you have to offend these local squires. This life is natural.
It’s not easy, it’s frustrating!
Therefore, there are many officials who constantly assess Liu Jin, and there are also many officials who simply don't bother to pay attention to these assessments formulated by Liu Jin. No matter what you do, just keep doing what you should do anyway.
At this point, those officials of fourth rank and above are the least cooperative with Liu Jin, because their official ranks are high, and their promotions are not decided by the Ministry of Personnel. They also need to go through the cabinet. Some third- and second-rank officials
, that’s even more so.
Liu Jin was also helpless sometimes. He still had his say in the promotion and appointment of local officials, but when it came to high-level officials, it was not so easy for him to make any move.
This can easily lead to the inability to thoroughly implement the policies that you have formulated. After all, officials in this officialdom are all inextricably linked. They are from the same family, hometown, same year, classmates, etc.
This is especially true for high-ranking officials, who have disciples and former officials all over the world, and they have to think carefully about any move they make.
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.
He knew about this matter. He knew best how many people had opposed Liu Jin's civil service reform and evaluation system. There were countless memorials to impeach Liu Jin. Liu Jin's position as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs was not that good.
Sitting.
But the first thing to govern the world is to govern the officials, because you control the world by controlling these officials. If the officials are disobedient and do not act, then no matter how many ideas you have, you will not be able to realize them.
This is the importance of officialdom.
Before the restructuring and the implementation of the assessment system, officials remained inactive and did nothing. In many cases, imperial edicts did not leave the capital. No matter how good the government decrees were, they would not be implemented at all. Even if you wanted to govern the country, you would not be able to implement them.
All I can do is stare.
Since Liu Jin restructured the system and implemented the assessment system, Emperor Hongzhi could clearly feel that the Ming Dynasty's decrees had become smoother, and local officials were more active and willing to do some practical things, such as building bridges and paving roads, building dams, building reservoirs, and coordinating
