Chapter 1471: Knowing that there are tigers in the mountain
If government money can be transferred to the Railway Corporation in the name of subsidies, bonuses, etc., then a problem arises.
Since government money can be used to subsidize railway companies, can it also be used to subsidize steel companies and textile companies?
We can subsidize enterprises under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, but can we also subsidize royal enterprises, local government-run enterprises, or even private enterprises?
At the end of the day, what are the standards for subsidies, what companies can receive subsidies, and will these subsidies lead to corrupt transactions?
These are all potentially major issues that make a large group of big bosses extremely cautious.
It is precisely because of these potential problems that triggered a storm of high-level public opinion.
It's just that Chen Lifu is in Guangzhou now and doesn't know that Jinling has already made a fuss over his suggestion.
To be honest, he also knew the risks of this plan, but even so, he still wanted to do it. It didn't cost money. Could it be that he had to wait slowly for the Railway Corporation to repair the railway? It would take at least three to five years before construction could start.
.
By that time, Chen Lifu will probably not be working in Guangdong anymore. Even if the railway is built by then, who cares?
If you want to do something, and if you want to achieve results that will attract attention and make the Holy Emperor look at you differently, how can you not take some risks?
Chen Lifu, like most officials, can just muddle along, but he is unwilling to do so. He wants to be promoted, he wants to enter the imperial study and become the minister on duty!
It's just that it's too difficult to get to the top. Even if he is now the governor of a province from the second rank, if he wants to enter the imperial study room and become the minister on duty, he must make great achievements. If he just follows the steps, how can he rely on financing?
Speaking of seniority, I won't have this chance until I reach officialdom.
After all, there are quite a lot of officials in the Tang Dynasty. I will not talk about the middle and low-level officials, but only the senior officials. At present, the senior officials of the Tang Dynasty generally refer to officials from the third rank and above, and officials from the third rank and above can be seen nationwide.
There are thousands of people...
And these are all civil servants from the third rank and above who are currently serving in actual positions!
Naturally, those who have reached official positions cannot be counted, and professors who work in scientific research institutions, educational institutions, etc. and enjoy treatment from third grade or above are also not included.
Even if he is a second-rank official like Chen Lifu, he is already a minister or governor, and there are more than a hundred people across the country.
In other words, there are only a few senior officials of the second rank, with only about twenty people.
As for the first rank and the first rank, these two ranks are generally empty honorary titles. For example, Liu Bagou's bachelor's degree and Qian Qili's bachelor's degree are only two of them in the country.
Chen Lifu wanted to stand out among the more than a hundred people, be valued by the Holy Emperor, be promoted, and finally enter the imperial study room and become the minister on duty. It was not an ordinary difficulty.
You have to know that his competitors are actually not just these more than a hundred people, because no matter whether officials are promoted or demoted, they become official officials. This also means that every year, a group of officials of the third grade will be promoted to become official officials one after another.
From second-grade officials, there are a group of second-grade officials who become official officials. Only a very small number can go through the waves and continue to advance one step higher.
In fact, 9 out of 10 of them will stop moving forward, and in the end they can only end up working in a second-grade position.
There are many reasons for the large number of officials in the Tang Dynasty. As for grassroots officials, there is actually not much more than the traditional dynasties, because the traditional dynasties seem to have only a few officials in a county, but there are also a lot of official employees below.
As for the staff, such as government officials, in addition to a few serious government officials, there are also a lot of so-called helpers.
Therefore, in the traditional feudal dynasty, there were not many people who ate the royal grain, but there were only a few who were well-established.
Li Xuan's Tang Empire only gave these people who used to eat imperial food but had no official status a formal official status and incorporated them into the official system. This is why the Tang Empire has many eighth- and ninth-grade grassroots officials.
's sake.
In fact, most of the ninth-grade and eighth-grade grassroots officials are numerous ordinary clerks, patrol policemen, and the like. Although they have official status, their salary is at the level of ordinary people, and they do ordinary work.
There are many middle and high-level officials. This is because Datang has many official agencies!
The official system of the Tang Dynasty was different from that of traditional dynasties. The various institutions of the Tang Dynasty divided power into smaller parts, such as the cabinet ministries. In the early years, he directly split the traditional six ministries into nine ministries. Later, he continued to reform, merge and cancel the new ministries.
After the addition, today's Gyeonggi ministries and some agencies directly under the cabinet were formed.
As for the cabinet, there are now fifteen ministries in total.
Among the most important departments ranked first, the first choice should be the Ministry of Personnel, because this department is the agency responsible for personnel, as it is in charge of the evaluation, appointment and dismissal of officials, and is also responsible for research, reform and adjustment of administrative agencies, etc.
The second one should belong to the Ministry of Commerce. This agency is in charge of industrial and commercial development. Specifically, mining, manufacturing, various commercial activities, overseas trade, etc. are all under their jurisdiction. Datang is now engaged in special activities.
The influence of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has naturally increased.
Next, there are several departments such as the Taxation Department, the Agriculture Department, the Rites Department, and the Patrol Department.
Needless to say, the tax department was responsible for tax collection. It had great power in the early years. However, as the empire stabilized, its voice gradually declined.
Then there is the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for all agricultural, mulberry, fishery, forestry and other affairs. It seems to only deal with grain, timber and the like, but from ancient times to the present, the institutions that deal with grain have always been powerful departments.
, because food is the most important thing for people.
Then there is the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty is somewhat different from the traditional Ministry of Rites, but there are also great similarities, because the Ministry of Rites in the Tang Dynasty is in charge of education, imperial examinations, etiquette, and publicity affairs. Speaking of which, it actually has a political status.
It is no worse than the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Taxation, etc., and because the Ministry of Rites is a traditional Qingliu institution, it is very popular among officials.
In addition, there are the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, the Finance Department, the Patrol Department and other agencies.
The Ministry of State-owned Enterprises is in charge of all government-run enterprises. To put it simply, it is the official asset management agency of Datang. It is an institution, but it is more like a group company headquarters for many government-run enterprises. Of course, they manage many government-run enterprises and influence
The strength is not too small either.
As for the Ministry of Finance, this organization in the Tang Dynasty was mainly responsible for spending money, budgeting, and disbursing salaries to officials and soldiers. In addition, the central bank was also under their control.
The Patrol Department is the agency responsible for national security affairs.
Waiting for a while are the Ministry of Household Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of War, Ministry of Navy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Legal Affairs.
The reason why they are ranked lower is because their influence is relatively average.
The Ministry of Household Affairs only had the power to manage civil affairs. In many cases, this was just a decoration. Later, Li Xuan increased the power of this agency and gave it the ability to manage the internal affairs of various agencies. To put it bluntly, it acted as the logistical steward of many agencies in the Tang Dynasty.
.
The Ministry of Industry, the most powerful organization in the Tang Dynasty in the early years, has completely degenerated into a large state-owned construction team. It only has the power to preside over various large-scale grassroots facilities, such as building water conservancy projects and building a palace.
What.
Many of the original functions of the Ministry of Industry were deprived of it. For example, the function of managing industrial and commercial affairs was deprived of its functions and became the Ministry of Commerce. For example, the functions of managing government-run enterprises were also separated and became the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises.
The traffic management function was also stripped away, and a separate Ministry of Transportation was established.
The newly established Ministry of Transportation has the power to manage national transportation affairs, including railways, official roads, urban transportation, shipping, etc.
The Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy at the back, these two agencies have never had much influence in the cabinet, because their main functions are recruitment, placement of veterans, etc., and they are more of a means for civilian officials to contain the military.
Then there are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. These two institutions have even less presence.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in charge of diplomacy and vassal affairs, but the Tang Dynasty basically had no diplomatic affairs to handle, and there were no vassal affairs, so it was a serious Qingshui Yamen.
The Ministry of Justice is better, but it does not have much power. This organization is responsible for drafting various legal documents and managing the legal profession and prisons in various places. The most important power among them is to draft various legal documents. In fact, they
There is no independent power, and they often collaborate with various departments. They mainly give some professional opinions. In the end, whether the law can be formed or not, they have the final say, and the emperor has the final say.
Basically, they have their heads buried in their desks all year round, reading and writing various legal documents.
There are the Patrol Department, the Law Department, the Personnel Department, the Rites Department, the Household Department, the Army Department, the Navy Department, the Industry Department, the Transportation Department, the Agriculture Department, the Taxation Department, the Finance Department, the Commerce Department, the Foreign Affairs Department, and the State-owned Enterprises Department, a total of fifteen
There are fifteen ministers and thirty ministers in fifteen ministries.
In addition, there are six departments, bureaus, supervisory departments, etc. directly under the cabinet, such as the General Administration of Customs, Health Bureau, etc. The directors of these departments and bureaus directly under the cabinet are also senior officials from the second grade.
Then there are the two major institutions, the Grand Court and the Supervisory Office. Their levels are also very high. After the restructuring, there was a censor of the Zhengdu, with a rank of Zhengdu (second grade). They were connected to the Shangshu, and then there were censors of the left and right branches, which started from
Second grade, connect with the minister.
The same goes for the Supreme Court.
At the same time, because both the censor of Zhengdu and the chief justice were admitted to the imperial study, their political status was higher than that of ordinary ministers.
In addition to the capital agencies, there are also local agencies. Datang now has 25 provincial roads, from north to south they are Northeast, Liaodong, Liaoxi, Hefeng, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan.
In addition to the twenty-five provincial roads mentioned above, there is also Chengtian Prefecture, which has a very special political status. Well, it is often referred to as Jinling City and the Capital. This is not included in the ordinary provincial roads, but is listed separately.
Then there are many overseas territories, such as Ryukyu Prefecture, Luzon Prefecture, Banten Prefecture, Malacca State, Gohe State, Tanxiang State, Xinjinshan State, Nan'ao State and more than a dozen overseas states with formal official administrative agencies.
, among which various state capitals have different grades, some are high and some are low.
Such a large number of Gyeonggi agencies and local agencies naturally resulted in a huge number of officials, resulting in the number of senior officials even from the third rank to several thousand.
It is not easy for Chen Lifu to fight his way through so many high-ranking officials!