Chapter 2303 The new financial source of the inner government
But if the Empress, the de facto leader of the inner court, is directly allowed to intervene in the affairs of the outer court, even if she just listens to it, the outer court will feel offended and will inevitably express dissatisfaction.
So I had no choice but to let Lechang wait in the carriage.
Lechang was happy with this.
She is not the kind of person who has a great interest in power. The biggest motivation for her to sit in the position of queen is actually the mentality of being the only lady Li Xingchen is married to.
I'm obviously the eldest in the family, why should I be the youngest?
At the same time, Lechang must shoulder the responsibility of the queen.
However, in fact, the scale of Li Xinchen's harem was not large, and there was not much that the queen needed to do. Li Xinchen also knew Lechang's character, and did not let Lechang be responsible for many matters in the inner palace at the beginning.
Of course Lechang had objections to this. She was actually not interested in the power of the inner government, but what she cared about was that Li Xingchen put her aside when she needed someone. So in the end it was Lechang who stepped forward to take charge of the work of the inner government.
This naturally gave the Queen a headache, but she had to grit her teeth and do it.
Fortunately, the internal work of the inner palace has been clearly organized with the help of Li Xingchen. Lechang is in the middle, and plays more of a role in supervision, mediation and distribution. Especially in mediation, the concubines in the harem have different relationships due to their birth status.
, geographical and other reasons, they naturally stick together, and there are many criticisms and dissatisfactions between each hilltop.
Therefore, it is natural that there needs to be someone who can convince the public and be impartial to mediate.
Lechang is obviously the most suitable to play this role.
I am the first to know His Majesty, I have a gentle temperament, and I had the highest status before. Neither Xiao Xiang nor Yuchi Chifan is qualified enough.
Therefore, since the inner government was formally established and gradually expanded outward with the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, Lechang has been very busy.
There are really too few days like now where I can be lazy and read a book or something.
"Go to the inner palace." Li Xingchen said directly.
This is another reason why I brought Lechang here.
When His Majesty inspects the inner palace, the boss of the inner palace must always follow him.
Lechang also sat up and straightened out his somewhat messy clothes.
The inner palace mentioned here is not the inner palace next to the palace, otherwise Lechang would just be waiting in the palace. The inner palace is more like a yamen stationed in Beijing, and its main responsibility is to simplify the following information
After sorting it out, it was transferred to the palace and decided by the empress. It was somewhat similar to the secretary prison of the Han Dynasty or the previous province.
The real inner government office is located in the new city southwest of Luoyang City, covering an area of several hundred acres.
Nowadays, the businesses of the inner government include academies, hospitals, charity halls, teahouses, restaurants, inns, monasteries, Taoist temples, etc. Even the brothels and Chu palaces are under the command of the inner government and managed by female officials dispatched by the imperial court.
Although the academy and the hospital have been allocated to the inner government and become an independent entity, the inner government still has half of the jurisdiction. Naturally, these two institutions have administrative offices in the inner government.
As for the brothels of the Han Dynasty, the original practice of forced buying and selling has also been banned. Employees must be voluntary and have employment certificates issued by the court. Otherwise, the local internal government agencies are qualified to directly ban them.
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This is also a disguised manifestation of the improvement of women's status. After all, Li Xingchen has no intention of abolishing all these in one step, and... from the perspective of the majority of male compatriots, there are still some legal institutions here.
If necessary, some vicious incidents can probably be avoided.
Tea houses, theaters, restaurants and inns, etc., whether they are public or private operations, are ultimately under the unified management of the internal government, and industry systems and policies are formulated by the internal government.
These are all aspects that the six ministries of the imperial court had not considered before.
In the previous dynasty, this was actually nothing. After all, the vast majority of people in the world were still hard-working people who farmed the land. There were not many consumption places in these cities. And in troubled times, most people
I don’t have the spending power.
The group of people with spending power often already have many entertainment facilities at home and do not need to go out to enjoy them.
So as long as the local and state governments take charge, it will be fine.
But this also means that the development of these restaurants, inns and the like is very disordered, each has its own rules, and even taxes are just a formality.
As the economy of the Han Dynasty took off, brand-new towns sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Caravans traveled across the land of China. Exchanges around the world were far more intensive than before. Naturally, these restaurants and the like became more and more popular.
If there are too many, the court cannot turn a blind eye to this like it did before.
The so-called industry has rules and regulations, and there must be a management agency responsible for mediating conflicts, allocating resources, and formulating rules and regulations within the industry to make everything orderly.
For commercial operations, there is the Ministry of Commerce, for taxation, there is the Ministry of Household Affairs, for legal matters, there is the Ministry of Punishment, and for the management of these industries, there is the Internal Affairs Bureau.
The imperial court divided these matters into different departments according to their respective powers, which naturally avoided the dominance of one family and the collusion between superiors and subordinates.
What? You want to pay a bribe?
Then look at how many departments in the imperial court have something to do with you. You either give it to them all, or you don’t give it to one. Otherwise, if you give this one, the other one will have no objection? So in most cases, people who intend to bribe
So I gave up.
As long as it's not a big deal, there's no need to drain your entire family fortune.
In Li Xingchen's view, the role played by the inner government is actually somewhat similar to that of guilds and labor unions in later generations. It solves daily problems that do not need to be brought to the attention of the local state government or even the Ministry of Justice.
In order to support the operation of these institutions, part of the taxes paid by these restaurants, brothels, etc. must be allocated to the inner government, which can also be regarded as a new financial source for the inner government.
In this regard, the Ministry of Revenue does not have much opinion.
After all, the inner government really maintains the daily operation of important parts of these cities, and it is appropriate for some of them to be given to the inner government.
What's more, there is no internal government supervision and management. It is unknown how much tax evasion occurs in these places. If the guarantee is not enough, the Ministry of Household Affairs will get even less than it does now.
Li Xingchen did not enter through the front door, because there were many people queuing up outside the front door to apply for business licenses and the like, which are also necessary for opening a shop, and even trademarks. The inner government has also joined forces.
The Ministry of Commerce is promoting it.
After all, these matters involve commerce, and the Ministry of Commerce is also responsible. Currently, there are many officials from the Ministry of Commerce who are responsible for handling licenses and the like in the inner government. After all, the approval of these licenses requires the Ministry of Commerce.
But subsequent supervision and the like require internal government.
This is also part of the cooperation between the inner government and the outer court that Lechang deliberately created.