The government-run hospital in Datang is not a profit-making institution, but a welfare institution with relatively low fees. It would be difficult to maintain it by relying solely on fees, but they receive financial subsidies every year!
Therefore, various facilities are quite complete, and the treatment given to medical staff is generally not bad. More importantly, doctors in government-run hospitals, after reaching a certain level, can enjoy political treatment and are directly assigned to the grade.
Giving political treatment to medical staff in government-run hospitals and teachers in government-run schools was an attempt by the Tang Empire to solve the problem of treatment of employees in government agencies in its early years.
For example, the issue of political treatment of government-run hospitals and government-run schools.
These people receive salaries directly from the government, but they are not officials. At the same time, they also want to improve the social status of teachers and doctors and encourage students to teach and practice medicine. Therefore, teachers and doctors come to official schools and official hospitals.
It's classy.
However, this grade is just political treatment. There will be the word '同' in front of the grade. For example, a director of a provincial government-run hospital with the same fourth grade will enjoy the political treatment of a fourth grade official. If there is anything
For formal banquets and the like, in the Tang Empire, which valued etiquette, the director of a provincial hospital could sit on the same seat as the fourth-rank prefect.
Throughout the empire, the medical development of the Tang Empire closely followed economic development.
The empire's economy is developing well, and the corresponding health and medical development is also relatively rapid. After all, medical care can only be provided if you have money, especially universal medical services, which require huge financial support.
Otherwise, it will be of no use to ordinary people if they cannot afford to see a doctor.
But even though it has made many achievements in the medical field, the Ministry of Health still has no sense of presence in the empire's power structure.
This makes the officials of the Ministry of Health often want to make some big noise, and at least let the Holy Emperor take another look. Don't forget their Ministry of Health.
By the way, there are quite a lot of various institutions in the Tang Empire nowadays. The military institutions include the Privy Council, the Naval Command, and the Guards Staff.
Independent supervision agencies include the Royal Court of Justice, the Inspectorate of Inspectors, and the Defense and Security Supervision Commission.
On the cabinet side, after many adjustments, there are currently the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Patrol Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Army Department, and the Navy Department.
, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transport, there are fifteen ministerial-level agencies alone.
In addition, there are several independent departments and bureaus.
With so many institutions gathered in Jinling City, those of the third level are everywhere, and the fourth level is not as good as a dog...
It is not easy for even a second-grade official to gain a sense of presence, because there are hundreds of second-grade officials and above in the current Tang Empire.
Most of them have no sense of existence in front of the Holy Emperor.
Officials who are truly remembered by the Holy Emperor, high-ranking officials with influence in the empire, are either cabinet ministers who can enter the royal study, or are ministers of important institutions or provincial road governors. It is estimated that there are only a few dozen in total.
The first minister of the Ministry of Health could not even squeeze into the imperial study room...
There is a dignified minister, and there are two-level ministers in terms of grades, but let alone the minister on duty, he can't even get a minister in the royal study room. This shows how weak the Ministry of Health is in the high-level power structure of the empire.
Chen Bingquan, the second minister of the Ministry of Health and the current minister, was better. He served as minister for two years and initially established the rural doctor system. With this achievement, he was reluctantly ordered by Li Xuan to work in the imperial study.
What he didn't know was that this was because Li Xuan wanted to deliberately support the Ministry of Health. In addition, Chen Bingquan was also a Conglong. He entered the Imperial Hospital in the third year of Xuanping and worked hard for decades.
Now they are all veteran ministers in their sixties.
According to the official system of the Tang Dynasty, the age for officials to enter official positions was clearly stipulated. Those below the fourth rank were sixty years old, and those above the third rank were sixty-five years old.
Of course, the emperor's special purpose of retaining it is not among the restrictions.
Chen Bingquan obviously did not have the qualifications to allow Li Xuan to stay in office. Only a very small number of important ministers were treated, such as Liu Bagou and other important ministers who founded the country in the early years.
Seeing that he was about to retire, Li Xuan gave him the title of Minister of the Imperial Study. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Chen Bingquan to enter the Imperial Study.
Although the imperial study room of the Tang Empire did not have any stipulated capacity, theoretically the Holy Emperor could have as many duty ministers and walking ministers as he liked. However, in the past twenty years, there has always been a quota of nine on-duty ministers and walking ministers.
It's not fixed, but it's usually around 20 people. In some years there may be 18 or 19 people, and in many years there may be 25 or 6 people.
There are only twenty or thirty places in total, and these are not the places for the civil servants' family, but the places for both the civil and military parties. Even within the civil service, they have to be allocated with the Hanlin Academy, the Inspectorate, and the Supreme Court.
The number of ministers on duty in the Royal Study Room is basically limited.
There are two military units, one for the Army and one for the Navy.
Then there is one for the Hanlin Academy, one for the Inspectorate, and one for the Royal Court.
This brings us to five temporary residences, and the remaining four are ordinary civil servants.
Among the ordinary civil servants, generally speaking, there is one who is basically responsible for the administration and legal affairs, one who is responsible for industrial and commercial economic affairs, and one who is responsible for civil and political security affairs. The last one is usually a flexible quota.
Chen Lifu was appointed as the Minister of Commerce in the Imperial Study Room. In the Imperial Study Room, he was responsible for industrial, commercial and economic affairs. Chen Lifu was often called the Minister of Economic Affairs among the people.
Even for the relatively relaxed walking minister, the quota is quite tight.
According to convention, the military must occupy at least three positions, one of which is a general of the Guards system, one for the army, and one for the navy. Sometimes there will be a few more, five or six.
As usual, the cabinet will occupy at least a few positions on a fixed basis, mainly for ministers of important departments such as the Ministry of Commerce, Taxation, Finance, Personnel, Rites, Transportation, and Patrol who have not been assigned.
.
As for the remaining quota, there is generally no convention for who to choose. Li Xuan will adjust it according to the specific situation every year, but usually he will choose the chief officer or adjutant of an important organization. Finally, there will be a name that belongs to the reward.
Class quota.
Mainly for old ministers who have not achieved much through hard work and are about to retire. They have worked hard with Li Xuan all their lives. They have been staring at the Imperial Study Room for decades. They are about to retire but they can still get in.
Therefore, Li Xuan would choose one or two such veterans to enter the imperial study every year, hang out there for about a year and a half, and let them retire in glory. He did not even expect them to do much after entering, which was regarded as an honorary title.
It is a means to appease the ministers and show benevolence.
Chen Bingquan was able to enter the imperial study room just because of this.
But even if he enters the imperial study room as a walker, let alone the top bosses in the empire, the ministers on duty in the imperial study room. Even most of the other walking ministers are stronger than him. Every time he goes on duty in the imperial study room, it is...
Belongs to a marginal role.
It's not that he is of low rank or status, it's just that he doesn't speak loudly enough.
In terms of actual power, he is also a walking minister, but the Minister of Taxation next door has much more authority than him. Every time there is a meeting in the imperial study room, even a cabinet boss like Chen Lifu has to deal with the Minister of Taxation.
Politely.
There is no way, he is the God of Wealth in the Tang Dynasty, so how much funding each department can get every year depends on the performance of the tax department.
As for the Minister of Finance, who is actually in charge of the budget, he is not so powerful. On the surface, it is the Ministry of Finance that formulates the imperial budget, but it is only in name.
The annual budget allocation is determined by the big bosses of all parties after fighting in person. The Finance Department has nothing to do with it. Even the Finance Department's own budget has to be fought over.
If your Finance Department dares to directly determine the expenditure budget for the coming year, the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty will want you to look good every minute.
Especially those generals with bad tempers in the military dare to directly attack the Finance Department.
So even if you enter the Imperial Study Room, there are still hierarchies inside the Imperial Study Room.
Chen Bingquan has always wanted to improve his voice in the imperial study. After all, he is also a minister, but he has only been in the imperial study for half a year, but no one has taken the initiative to consult him in every on-duty meeting in the imperial study.
Views.
The few times he spoke, he shamelessly took the initiative to speak, but in the end, others simply ignored him.
Why?
In the final analysis, the presence of the Ministry of Health is too low. In the eyes of outsiders, the Ministry of Health, which is in charge of medical, health and epidemic prevention, is very powerful. However, in the power structure of the entire empire, it is only a marginal role, and its presence is even lower than that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the second-lowest ministerial agency in the Tang Empire. Although it was established early, it has always been a marginal organization. In the final analysis, the Tang Empire has no foreign affairs at all, and there is no need for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Those diplomats worked hard to fight for the interests of the empire in diplomatic situations.
Military generals have said it more than once: There is nothing to discuss with the indigenous people. If they don't agree, fight them. If they don't, they will kill them directly... No, the Tang Dynasty is a country of benevolence and righteousness and cannot do such things. Therefore, the policies of the Tang Dynasty are generally
It was to relocate these indigenous people who dared to oppose the Tang Dynasty to uninhabited islands deep in the ocean for free.
Well, there is an island for men and an island for women, so that they can enjoy island life happily and freely!
They don't like to have contact with the natives. This is not only the attitude of the military, but also the attitude of many people in the empire.
It is degrading to negotiate with the natives!
This can be seen from the fact that very few scholars apply for positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs every year. Many institutions in the Tang Dynasty have a lot of imperial examination quotas every year. Competition among other institutions is very high. Even the Ministry of Health is very competitive.
It was fierce, but not many scholars from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs applied for it.
To be a diplomat in the Tang Dynasty was to go overseas and deal with the indigenous people. Going overseas was not a big deal. People in the Tang Dynasty today have broadened their horizons, and steamships traveled around the world, so it was normal to go overseas.
But the Tang Dynasty people didn’t like to deal with the indigenous people!
In their opinion, even speaking a few words to the natives is an insult to politeness...
But even so, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done some major things in recent years. It has purchased overseas territories several times, allowing the Tang Empire to acquire large overseas territories at a very small cost.
For example, many places in the Americas, including South America, Panama, Cuba and other places, the western coast of Africa, and now West Asia, were purchased under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spent a small amount of money.
The Tang Empire's overseas expansion has always been very gentle, and it will not be like the European colonization in the early years, where it was easy to kill and kill.
Now the Tang Empire likes to spend money on buying and selling, and sometimes it also engages in relocation business. In this process, it can not only acquire a large number of overseas territories without losing a fight, but can also do a loan business, export a large amount of goods, and provide shipping services.
The company has attracted a large amount of transportation business.
Looking back, I realized that not only did I not lose money, I also made a lot of money!
In other words, this is also the reason why the military has such a big opinion against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
You don't do anything, you just talk and occupy overseas territories, and you do it easily, without any trouble, and you can still make money.
What do you want our more than two million soldiers in the army and navy to do?
Now every time the military wants to launch a Western Expedition or other large-scale military operations, those ministers will use the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' purchase of overseas territories to argue that it is better to buy than to fight.
You spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions to fight a war, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can buy it for just tens of millions.
You can gain a large overseas territory by drinking tea and eating melon seeds, and you can also make money along the way, so what kind of war is there?
The military was extremely angry!
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health are close friends in the imperial study, so Chen Bingquan, Minister of Health, and Wei Guangqing, Minister of Foreign Affairs, are also close friends.
Wei Guangqing had just arrived at the Imperial Study Room that day. Before he could sit down, he saw Chen Bingquan coming over and giving him a cigar!
Chen Bingquan said: "This is a product from Cuba in the Americas. It just arrived last month. It is in very short supply. I have found some talents to buy some. Brother Wei, please try it!"
Wei Guangqing took the cigar, looked at it briefly, and then nodded and said: "This is the best quality product from Wang's Cigar House in Cuba. It's really good. My man in front of me went on a business trip to the Americas and happened to bring back a few boxes. This cigar is full of flavor when I smoke it."
Everyone feels comfortable. If Brother Chen likes to smoke, I will send a box over later!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Bingquan cursed in his heart: "Asshole, you're showing off again..."
Wei Guangqing has always liked to show off. This is something that all the ministers in the imperial study room know. However, you are just a minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Go ahead and be able to enter the imperial study room as a clerk. This is because the emperor shows sympathy for your old bones. No.
If something unexpected happens, you will be retiring this year. Coupled with the special balancing policy, we are gracious enough to let you in.
Seriously speaking, Wei Guangqing is probably not even in the top fifty in terms of power ranking in the empire. He is worse than the Minister of Health. After all, I am still in charge of domestic affairs. You can only deal with the indigenous people...
What are you pretending to be?
However, in such a large imperial study room, Chen Bingquan is actually not very familiar with anyone else except Wei Guangqing, who is also a marginalized person. If he really wants to fall out with him, he is probably in the imperial study room on weekdays.
There is no one left to talk to. Those high-ranking and powerful ministers will not have nothing to do with these fringe characters. They are busy...
Not to mention the ministers on duty, apart from formal meetings, Chen Bingquan never chatted with Chen Lifu in private.
Alas, being an official is hard!
It’s even harder to be a minister in the imperial study room!