Li Shimin raised his army at the age of sixteen and immediately conquered the world. He conquered the east and west and conquered all the wars. Even after he sat on the throne, the government affairs of the court were handled well.
But when it comes to finance and economics, it is not his strong point, and it is even something that gives him a headache and wants to avoid it.
Wu Huaiyu held a tea cup and sat on the side of a pile to warm himself over the fire. Faced with the emperor's questions, he actually had no good solution.
In fact, the empire's finances are a complete mess, unsystematic, chaotic, full of patches, and barely maintained.
It's amazing that it can run all the time.
You talk about reform, but you don't know where to start. If you just chop it off, you don't know which patch is broken, and it may cause the entire system to collapse.
Of course, it is possible to build a new system, but the problem is that this kind of thing is generally untouchable. It is too dangerous and may not cause the collapse of the old system and the country's shock. It is more likely to make oneself the target of public criticism. After all, everyone knows that any old system
Those are all groups with vested interests.
Breaking the old system will inevitably offend a bunch of vested interest groups.
Wu Huaiyu was so young, and even though he was the emperor and Pang Chen, he didn't dare to mess around like this.
Therefore, in the face of Li Shimin's expected inquiry, he could only talk in the same old way, saying, "Your Majesty, if you want the country to have sufficient finances, there are only two things to do: increase revenue and reduce expenditure."
Well, everyone knows and can say this, but the question is where the new sources come from and which old ones can be saved.
Wei Zheng stood up at the right time and said, "I think Duke Yi's words are very good. Nowadays, there are more and more officials in the court, and the number of officials has even become a disaster.
Officials are about getting people, not having too many people.
Nowadays, in addition to full-time officials, there are also many official positions in the imperial court, and there are even more than one official. There are also many officials who are over seventy years old. When they reach the retirement age, they still stay in office.
The imperial court should merge provincial institutions and streamline personnel.
There should be clear regulations on all levels of government offices, various positions, the number of officials, etc., and no overstaffing or arbitrary establishment should be allowed.
Now there are more than 2,000 officials in various departments in the capital. This has already caught up with the Sui Dynasty when there were too many officials. They must be streamlined, otherwise the national financial burden will be too great. I think that the quota of five or six hundred officials in each department will be laid off.
Three-quarters is enough."
Sure enough, it was Wei Laopao. He started shouting about merging provincial agencies and streamlining officials. He was going to offend all the officials. He wanted to lay off three-quarters of the Beijing officials. He was so bold.
If he really wants to do what he said, if the two thousand capital officials are reduced to one thousand and fifty, what will happen to these people?
You can't just go home and plant sweet potatoes. If you arrange to go to a place, it's still not enough. And if you only retain casual officials to be used by electors, you don't need to pay them a salary. But the question is, will they be willing?
Only a guy like Wei Zheng dares to say such things publicly, which offends others and even makes him an enemy of all officials.
After all, every quota is not easy. If you reduce one quota, there will be no official position. Originally, it was no better than in the early days of the Republic of China. At that time, there were wars and many people were unwilling to become officials. But now there are too many officials.
You even have to queue up to wait for a vacancy.
The imperial court has even had to issue new regulations. Officials below the sixth rank of civil servants cannot be re-elected after their term has expired, or they must be given new positions immediately and must remain elected.
Officials must be laid off in turn to create vacancies.
Officials take turns doing it, otherwise there will be too many officials and there will be a shortage of arrangements.
Wei Zheng ignored this and continued to fire off cannons.
"Your Majesty, there are too many candidates now. A large number of candidates have gathered in Chang'an, causing the price of grain in Chang'an to rise."
What Wei Zheng said is a bit exaggerated, but there are indeed many people to choose from.
"There are a total of 7,000 candidates for the capital in Qiu Zhi. Seven thousand people, Your Majesty, in the end, there are only 6,000 official positions in the Ministry of Personnel. There are 1,000 candidates who have obtained family background but did not get official positions, so they have to wait for the next year.
The selection.
This situation will become more and more serious, so I believe that not only must the provinces and agencies be streamlined and staffed, but we must also improve the background requirements for officials and limit the number of officials from the source. Otherwise, if you have a background, you will not have an official position, and you will be elected in turn.
, it’s not a big deal for people to gather in Chang’an every year.”
"I also suggested that people be assigned to Luoyang next year to collect the collection, which would also reduce the pressure on the capital such as food."
There are many officials, but there is a shortage. Although there is now a system of elected officials, taking turns to serve as officials, so that everyone has the opportunity to become an official, the problem is that more and more people are getting official positions, and there are always only so many official positions. Every year, more and more people fail to be elected.
coming more and more,
Those candidates who are tired of dealing with each other and wasting their qualifications will become increasingly dissatisfied.
There are many candidates but many losers. There are only two ways to solve the problem: increase the number of candidates, or reduce the number of candidates.
Currently, there are four types of people participating in the civil service election. One is officials who have expired or have been suspended from office for some reason, also known as former senior officials. The other is scholars who have obtained official status after being admitted to the imperial examination but have not yet been awarded official positions.
The third category is those who are qualified to run for election because of their family background, and the fourth category are those who are eligible to run for election because of their migrant background.
The number of candidates is increasing year by year, mainly due to the fact that more and more candidates come from family backgrounds and migrant backgrounds.
Wei Zheng suggested that the official establishment should not be added randomly, but should be streamlined, and temporary positions such as foreign officials, probation officers, etc. should not be added.
In addition, the best way is to reduce the qualifications for those who are born in a family background, and to reduce the qualifications for those who are born outside the country.
"Nowadays, Chang'an has only a few thousand money-grabbing officials. Every year, most of the candidates who are out of family are these money-grabbing officials. These people are not responsible for the affairs related to the government in various departments. They are only responsible for lending and collecting.
Interest rates, the interest rates for lending public money are too high, they are disturbing the people, and now they are still allowing these people to run for election.
This is very wrong. I suggest that the public money lending be cancelled, and all money-grabbing orders be abolished, so that the number of officials leaving the country can be reduced in one fell swoop."
Li Shimin actually quite agreed with Wei Zheng's words.
Last year, the imperial court merged provinces with prefectures and counties, and successively eliminated and merged many prefectures and counties that were added during the Taketori reign. The intensity was very large, with dozens of prefectures and hundreds of counties eliminated.
Up to now, the world has been divided into ten regions, with 360 prefectures, 1,557 counties, and 41 governor's offices. It is still in the process of merging provinces. The imperial court has merged many prefectures and counties, including one
The result was that a large number of officials lost their positions.
They became the selectors and were selected by the officials. If they could not participate, they would continue to be candidates.
There were so many candidates last year, which actually has something to do with it.
During the Sui Dynasty, it was said that too many officials were a disaster. At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, all prefectures and counties were divided into nine levels. The number of officials in Shangzhou was 323, and the number of officials decreased in sequence. There were still 167 officials in Xiazhou.
As for Yongzhou, where Chang'an is located, there are a total of 524 officials.
There are ninety-nine officials in the upper county, forty-nine in the lower county, and one hundred and forty-seven in the two counties of Chang'an Wannian.
In the early Sui Dynasty, when Nanchen had not yet been annihilated, there were 240,000 local officials in prefectures, counties, and counties in the country, not including those after Nanchen was annihilated.
Yang Jian later merged prefectures and counties, abolished the county level, and even abolished the power of local governors to recruit subordinate officials, brought them back to the imperial court, and streamlined a large number of personnel.
Now this trend is happening again in the Tang Dynasty. In the final analysis, it actually has something to do with Li Yuan.
Back then, in order to conquer the world, one of Li Yuan's important methods was to desperately reward and confer officials, dismiss them, and give away honors as if they were free of charge.
Passing by the countryside, the landowners and powerful scholars who came to greet them were also awarded the title of casual officers. They won the battle and captured a large number of officers and soldiers of the Sui Dynasty.
Give them to the fifth-grade loose officials and let them go back.
Li Yuan did this, and all of a sudden, whether he was a rural landowner or an ordinary soldier, he had an official rank. Although he was only a casual official, in an era when status was the most important thing, this trick was invincible.
After all, in the era of identity system, everything is related to identity.
After Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he still made great gifts. Even the king gave many rewards to the heroes of the separatist regions.
Although the world was gradually unified later, Li Yuan also began to stop messing around, and even rearranged and adjusted the honorary titles, official positions, ranks, etc. in the early days of the country.
But there were still too many casual officers and honors awarded in those years.
A direct consequence of this is that these people are also eligible to stand for election. For example, a rural landowner with a casual official position can work as an official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs for a period of time every year. After he accumulates enough seniority, he can
If you are qualified to stand for election, you will be appointed if you are selected.
The same goes for those distinguished officers.
Even if these casual officials themselves are older, their sons have also obtained the right to serve as guards, or to serve as imperial guards, or to serve as warlords, deacons, etc. for the princes, or to serve as civil servants.
You can also choose to catch money or something, and the sex service is full, and you have a chance to gain birth status.
Anyway, Li Yuan's move was really powerful at the beginning and united a large number of people. He was happy at the time, but now Li Shimin has to wipe his ass all the time.
The increasing number of candidates every year gave Li Shimin a headache. Even if there is now a civil service for officials below the sixth rank, they must be selected as marquises, and it is not enough to arrange for officials to take turns.
In the Taketoku Dynasty, Li Yuan added a large number of new prefectures and counties and established new governor's offices, which were originally intended to arrange a large number of officials.
In fact, in any era, regardless of ancient or modern times, although this position is fixed, once the identity of an official is established, it is basically for life.
Only a very small number of people who commit serious crimes will be expelled from the civil service, deprived of their official status, and lose their qualifications to serve as officials.
Anyway, once you have obtained your family background, you will be an official for the rest of your life. Even if you don't have a job for a while, if you don't get elected this year, you will continue to choose next year.
Even if there is no official position, no salary and no professional land, as long as there are casual officials who have obtained their birth status, there are still official and permanent fields to be divided.
This is a privileged class, one can go up but cannot get down.
Even if Wei Zheng now fires weapons fearlessly, he would not dare to say that by dividing states and merging counties, merging provinces and institutions, and streamlining the officials, he would take away their official status and not give them permanent land.
Wei Zheng said there that there were too many money-grabbing orders and the interest on public money was too high, but he pointed out the problem but did not come up with a solution.
Without the history of money-catching orders, how to ensure the income of public money? Without public money, where would the income of court officials come from? The court had no financial solution in the first place, so it was left to the yamen to solve it themselves.
It's easy for you, Wei Zheng, to say a word, but where does this money come from?
There are indeed a lot of problems with the money-catching orders. Some people have even criticized them as paying for money and selling officials under another name. Moreover, they are particularly disturbing to the people. Those money-catching orders are all descendants of high-ranking officials and have great power.
When lending public money, they have to pay 100% interest to the government, so are they doing it in vain?
Although this was an errand, since the money was passed on, it must be earned, so the actual interest paid out was much higher. They even used more private funds to serve as money for the court and lend money to make money in the name of the court.
Wei Zheng was very dissatisfied with the money-grabbing order and loan sharking. He had suffered from loan sharking and was in such a mess that he hated it deeply.
"Mr. Yi Guo, I remember that Qin started his career as a Qianzhu Lingshi in Sanyuan County, right?"
"Your Majesty, when I first came down from the mountain, I had to do corvee work and was selected by the county magistrate to serve as the military attache's son and serve as the money-grabbing officer of Sanyuan County." Wu Huaiyu replied that as soon as he was the money-catching officer, he was specially appointed by the prince Li Shimin.
Granting the crown prince's right guard the rank of ninth-grade official to lead the military force is enough to make other money-making historians envious to death.
Li Shimin stroked his beard, "When it comes to the history of catching money, I guess no one here knows more about it than Duke Yi. How about Duke Yi tell me, should the imperial court keep the history of catching money?"
