Chapter 0984 Separation of three systems and three powers
Some civil and military officials throughout the dynasty looked at Han Yang with envy, while others were indifferent.
The new censor, Zhongcheng Ouyang Xiu, came out and said: "The official family, I don't know what the regulations are for merging the Song Dynasty Bank into the Ministry of Husbandry. Is it a separate department, or is it included in the four departments under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Husbandry?"
As soon as Ouyang Xiu said this, Han Yang seemed to have been reminded and hurried out of work, "Yes, yes, yes, I wonder how the officials will arrange the situation after the Song Dynasty Bank is merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
Zhao Zhen did not answer Ouyang Xiu and Han Yang's questions. Instead, he looked at Kou Ji and said with a calm smile: "Fourth brother, tell me..."
Kou Ji nodded and said: "The Song Dynasty Bank is an important weapon of the country. It stores almost half of the money of the Song Dynasty. It connects the north and south of the Song Dynasty and is responsible for the circulation and issuance of coins.
It has gradually become a major lifeblood of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, the Great Song Dynasty Bank was merged into the Ministry of Husbandry, and merged into the four departments under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Husbandry. The four departments could not accommodate each other, and one was the only one, which created a little more disputes.
Therefore, after careful discussion with the officials, I decided to change the four departments under the Ministry of Household Affairs into three departments.
They are the Money Department, the Tax Department, and the Warehouse Department.
Da Song Bank will be settled in the Qian Division of the Three Departments of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development."
As soon as Kou Ji said these words, the civil and military officials in the court were shocked. They did not understand the deep meaning of Kou Ji's words.
I don’t even understand why Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen changed the four divisions under the Ministry of Household Affairs into three divisions.
Of the original four departments of the Household Department, the Household Department, the Cang Department, the Du Branch and the Finance Department, it seems that only the Cang Department has been retained. The functions of the other three departments seem to be split. How to decentralize power and how to re-establish the power structure of the Household Department?
Neither the civil or military officials of the court were clear about it.
Kou Ji knew that after he told this matter, the officials would have doubts, so he said calmly: "The specific political affairs hall will issue an official document to you later."
When the civil and military officials in the court heard this, they did not dare to speak nonsense, and they all bowed and saluted, "Here..."
Kou Ji bowed his hands to Zhao Zhen and returned to the train.
Zhao Zhen spoke slowly: "Han Yang and Han Aiqing have worked hard and made outstanding achievements. I am planning to transfer Han Aiqing to the post of Minister of the Ministry of Punishments. What do you all think?"
All the civil and military officials in the court were stunned, and the expression on Han Yang's face froze.
Before Han Yang could open his mouth to apologize for himself, Kou Ji shouted loudly, "The official sage..."
With Kou Ji taking the lead, Kou Ji's disciple Gu Jiu and a group of military ministers quickly agreed.
For a time, nearly 70% of the officials in the court praised Zhao Zhenshengming.
Han Yang's face looked uglier than if he had eaten a fly.
Seventy percent of the officials in the court agreed, and he had no way to defend himself.
"Then Han Aiqing will be transferred to the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment... and Fan Zhongyan, the minister of the Ministry of Hubu, will be appointed as the Shangshu of the Ministry of Hubu..."
Zhao Zhen quickly expressed his decision amidst the congratulations of civil and military officials from all over the court.
All the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty agreed.
After the next court.
Han Yang took the lead in leaving Chui Gong Hall with a sullen expression.
Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu arrived at Kou Ji's side amid the congratulations of the courtiers.
Kou Ji's eyes lingered on Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu for a while, and finally fell on Fan Zhongyan, "The burden on you has never been greater, you must work hard to shoulder your responsibilities.
After the official documents from the Political Affairs Hall are issued to you, you must quickly make adjustments to the household department based on the official documents from the Political Affairs Hall.
Set up the new household department as soon as possible, and at the same time make all local household officials, as well as the yamen related to the household department, familiar with the new regulations of the household department."
Fan Zhongyan bowed respectfully to Kou Ji, "I will definitely live up to the high expectations of my family and my husband..."
Kou Ji nodded with satisfaction, gave Ouyang Xiu a few more words, and then left Chui Gong Hall.
The next day.
The official document from the Political Affairs Hall was sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Fan Zhongyan broke into a cold sweat after receiving the official document from the Political Affairs Hall regarding the restructuring of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Fan Zhongyan took the official document and hurried to Zhuyuan to ask for advice.
After arriving at the Zhuyuan, they saw Kou Ji building a wooden building with Di Yong, Zhao Ze and Su Shi.
Fan Zhong was not focused on managing those wooden buildings. Instead, he came to Kou Ji with official documents and asked in disbelief: "Sir, does the power of the Ministry of Husbandry be too great? There are three divisions under the Ministry of Husbandry.
Qian Si not only controlled the money bank of the Song Dynasty and the treasury of the Song Dynasty, but also controlled all the expenditures of the Song Dynasty, including the salaries of officials, the expenses of various academic societies, the money and food for building bridges and roads, the payment of military pay, etc.
.
The Tax Department controls the world's commercial taxes, Dingkou taxes, and the supervision of all industries in the world.
Cangbu controls all Changping warehouses, government-run workshops, and all minerals in the world.
The Ministry of Household Affairs now not only has the functions of the original Ministry of Household Affairs, but also takes some functions from the Ministry of Works and the Yushitai.
Such functions have surpassed that of a ministerial-level yamen.
Aren't you afraid that the Ministry of Industry and the Yushitai people will cause trouble if you, sir, and the official family are restructuring like this?"
Kou Ji casually placed a wooden block on top of the building blocks Su Shi and the three little guys were playing with. He turned around and asked Fan Zhongyan with a smile, "How do you think the power in the court should be distributed to ensure stability?"
Fan Zhongyan was stunned, frowned slightly, and said, "Isn't the current distribution of power stable enough?"
Kou Ji smiled and shook his head and said: "Of course it is unstable. The two highest yamen in the court are the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council. Let's not talk about the Privy Council for the time being. Under the Political Affairs Hall, there are six departments, and each of the six departments has four small offices.
department.
Local government offices are basically built in this way.
When an official issues an order, there will be a situation where two people are fighting, or two people are agreeing.
If two people fight each other and fight to the end, it is very likely that there will be no result and it will delay the business.
Both parties agree that once something goes wrong, both parties will shirk responsibility.
As a result, whether it is a good government order or a bad government order, it will not be implemented from beginning to end.
Because it is very likely that government orders will not be conveyed to the right places and will be passed around by each other.
When it comes to accountability, there is also a push-over.
The final result is that nothing can be done, or each party is hit with a fifty-fifty defeat."
Fan Zhongyan said in a deep voice: "There are officials who will mediate..."
Kou Ji smiled and said: "The official's mediation is limited to the court. After leaving the court, can the official really mediate? You have also served as a local official many times. You should understand that the power of the official will
Where do you stop?"
Fan Zhongyan frowned and fell into silence.
Before the advent of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen's power was almost limited to the Kaifeng Mansion.
Zhao Zhen promulgated a decree and it would take three to five years to implement it in all places.
With the advent of the Song Dynasty's newspapers and newspapers, the Song Dynasty's newspapers and newspapers publicized part of the imperial government's decrees to the people, and the Song Dynasty's official newspapers and official documents clearly conveyed all the imperial government's decrees to local officials.
Under the supervision of the people, local officials had to push themselves to implement Zhao Zhen's decree as soon as possible.
Although there were many local disobediences, at least the appearance of the Song Dynasty's books and newspapers had a role in promoting the implementation of Zhao Zhen's decree by local officials.
But even so, arguments and blame-shifting often occur.
Local inspections and supervisions were carried out, and many letters were sent to the court for this purpose.
But both sides have their reasons, so the court can only play fifty cards each.
The fight has been struck, but there will still be pushback when it comes to key government orders at the local level.
And it is getting worse.
The imperial court has been raising scholars for decades, but it has not produced many scholars who are useful to the country. Instead, it has raised a group of scholars who are good eaters and lazy.
Local officials are far more interested in reciting poems and writing poems, playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and beauty and food than in governing the place.
Therefore, it has always been difficult to implement the imperial decrees.
Zhao Zhen's decrees can be sent to the desks of various local officials, but their implementation is almost always very slow, or they are not implemented at all.
The only one who can truly strictly abide by Zhao Zhen's various government orders is Kaifeng Mansion.
When Kou Ji saw that Fan Zhongyan frowned and still didn't let go, he smiled and said: "When official or even government orders are issued to the local government, various problems will always arise, and even when it comes to accountability,
No one can be found. This means that the court's power distribution method is not stable.
Therefore, a relatively stable power distribution method must be implemented and the court's power distribution method must be re-established.
Be stable, effective and concise.”
Fan Zhongyan stared at Kou Ji and said, "Sir and the officials have a new way of distributing power?"
Kou Jixiao asked: "What kind of power distribution method do you think will be stable?"
Fan Zhongyan hesitated for a moment and shook his head slowly.
He actually had some thoughts in his heart, but he felt that the thoughts in his heart were probably very different from the answers in Kou Ji's heart, so he did not say them out.
Kou Ji patted Su Shi who was playing beside him and asked him to stand on the building blocks he had built.
Only then did Fan Zhongyan notice the building blocks built by Su Shi.
A triangle.
There was a corner missing, so Su Shi stood at the missing corner, smiling and looking at Di Yong and Zhao Ze who were building blocks next to them.
Fan Zhongyan stared at the triangle and fell into deep thought.
Kou Ji's voice rang in his ears, "You can also look for something to try after you go back..."
Fan Zhongyan is a smart man. He looked at the triangle and understood what Kou Ji was thinking.
Fan Zhongyan stared at Kou Ji and asked in a deep voice: "Sir, do you mean that the angular shape is the safest?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "To be precise, it is a triangle. If one corner is missing, the standing will be unstable. If both the Chaozhong Yamen and the local Yamen are triangles, then the situation of mutual blame will be greatly reduced.
After the complicated division of power in the DPRK is simplified, responsibility will fall on everyone.
It’s clear who has the problem.”
Fan Zhongyan stared at Kou Ji in astonishment, "Sir, you want to give the Ministry of Household Affairs such great authority..."
Fan Zhongyan did not say the next words.
Kou Ji nodded and said, "That's why I say you have a heavy responsibility and you should handle it carefully."
After Fan Zhongyan thought quickly, he solemnly said: "But in this case, a weaker party will appear."
Kou Ji was stunned for a moment and said, "Are you talking about the Privy Council?"
Fan Zhongyan nodded solemnly and said: "Civil officials are good at planning and fighting. When there are more civil servants in the court than military officials, the military officials will be overwhelmed.
The old situation of a hundred soldiers being weak may happen again."
Kou Ji said with a smile: "The power structure of the Privy Council in the future will not only consist of military ministers. More importantly, if the civil servants are not afraid of them acting arbitrarily, they can bully them at will."
Fan Zhongyan was shocked.
Kou Ji smiled and said: "They may be weaker in the court, but after they give up, none of you can stop them."
Fan Zhongyan said solemnly: "So we can't squeeze, let alone humiliate, we can only deal with him impartially."
Kou Ji smiled and nodded.
Fan Zhongyan cupped his fists and said, "Students understand..."
Kou Ji waved his hand and asked Fan Zhongyan to leave.
After Fan Zhongyan left, Kou Ji left Di Yong, Zhao Ze, and Su Shi to play alone, and returned to the study alone.
The power structure of the court was an issue that Kou Ji had been thinking about for the longest time.
Kou Jiqi thought of using the Ming Dynasty's cabinet system.
The cabinet system is a relatively complete system in the feudal dynasty.
It is far better than the system used today in the Song Dynasty.
But the cabinet system also has drawbacks.
So Kou Ji finally gave up.
Later, Koji thought about a constitutional monarchy.
But considering that it was impossible for the royal family to hand over power, and he was unwilling to meet Zhao Zhen's swordsmen, he gave up.
As for using Zhao Zhen's son to implement a constitutional monarchy after Zhao Zhen's death, Kou Ji never thought about it.
Because Kou Ji was not sure he could survive Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen is younger than him and has a tougher body than him. He is not a historical figure and can predict his own life span, so he can't bet on it.
So Koji gave up the constitutional monarchy.
Then I thought about the separation of powers.
However, the separation of administrative, legislative, and judicial powers proposed by Westerners does not apply to today's Song Dynasty.
More importantly, Westerners have implemented the separation of the three powers for many years, but they have not truly realized the separation of the three powers. The three powers are deeply interpenetrated.
So Kou Ji thought about it for a long time, and finally combined with the actual situation of the Song Dynasty, he formulated a three-thirds system based on the separation of political, financial and military powers.
The highest level of power is naturally the emperor.
Next is the Zhengshitang, which manages political affairs, the Household Department, which manages financial power, and the Privy Council, which manages military power.
Below the three major power yamen, there are three smaller power yamen.
For example, there are the Money Department, Warehouse Department, and Tax Department under the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Below the three small power yamen, there are three points again.
By analogy, a pyramid-shaped power structure is formed.
This is the three-three system and the separation of powers that Kou Ji specially designed for the Song Dynasty based on the current situation of the Song Dynasty.
There are checks and balances and interdependence between power and authority.
No matter which one is dominant, it cannot drive out the other two parties.
With two parties in check, even if one company is the only one, it won't be much bigger.
Kou Ji felt that in the feudal dynasty, infighting had always been one of the main themes in the court, and there was almost no way to avoid it.
Many feudal dynasties were ultimately defeated by internal strife.
Kou Ji felt that since it was unavoidable, he should simply establish a stable situation of internal fighting and set up a good hilltop for them, so that while they were fighting each other, they could not do without each other and reduce the harm caused by their internal fighting.
Kou Ji spent two years studying history books and finally came to a conclusion.
The civil and military checks and balances of the feudal dynasty were no longer applicable starting from the Song Dynasty.
Because starting from the Song Dynasty, warriors have been in a relatively disadvantaged position.
Therefore, without new forces joining the competition, it is only a matter of time before the literati family dominates.
The Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties almost all used practical actions to prove that the dominance of a literati family would cause problems.
So Kou Ji finally chose to add a force to it, forming a new system of checks and balances that was in line with the actual situation of the Song Dynasty.
After the system of separation of three powers and three systems was implemented throughout the Song Dynasty, Kou Ji could not guarantee that the Song Dynasty would continue to be strong.
But Kou Ji can ensure that the Song Dynasty will be stable for many years, and he can also ensure that the Song Dynasty will not be like in history, when it is bullied, it cannot even fight back.
As for a series of other systems to return power to the people, Kou Ji never thought about it.
The soil of the Song Dynasty is not suitable.
If Kou Ji enforced it, the first people to oppose Kou Ji would be the people.
Because the people do not have the sense of ownership in their minds, they do not think that they are the natural masters of this land.
They would only think that the emperor is the master of this land.
And he worked hard to get along with the emperor, helping the emperor manage this land while using the emperor's power to benefit himself.
It is precisely because of this that the system of returning power to the people simply did not work in the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, the three-three system and the separation of powers were the most suitable for the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty Bank was merged into the Ministry of Husbandry, and the four departments under the Ministry of Husbandry were changed into three divisions. This was just the beginning.
Fan Zhongyan was mature and prudent and had a good reputation. After being advised by Kou Ji, he returned to the Ministry of Household Affairs and vigorously and resolutely implemented the new policies of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The Hubu Yamen in Bianjing City completed the rectification in just half a month.
Then came the prefectures, states, and counties.
The local yamen had no plans for Hucao's rectification, and even liked it a little.
Because after Hu Cao's rectification, the local tax department completely became a subsidiary government office within the local government office, and the local government office had certain supervisory powers over other small banks other than the Da Song Bank.
Although it is only a small supervisory power to supervise the interest paid by small local banks when issuing loans, it is enough to make local officials crazy about it.
Local officials actively cooperated with the restructuring of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
It took the Ministry of Revenue only four months to complete the restructuring of the local Hucao.
The remaining more complicated government-run workshops, minerals, etc. need to be dealt with slowly.
After the Ministry of Household Affairs was completely restructured, Zhao Zhen ordered the Ministry of War to be transferred to the Privy Council, and at the same time made a new division of the Privy Council's powers.
The Privy Council has more departments under its jurisdiction: the Military Department, the Imperial Guards Department, and the Supervision Department.
The Military Department is divided into the Military Registration Department, the Du Branch, and the Song Dynasty Local Military Department.
The Forbidden Army Department is divided into the Infantry Department, the Horse Army Department, and the Navy Department.
The Supervision Department is divided into the Meritorious Service Department, the Supervision Department, and the Recruitment Department.
Compared with the restructuring of the Ministry of Revenue, the restructuring of the Privy Council was much faster.
The number of local troops and imperial troops has not changed, nor has it been mobilized.
Only the positions of some officials were adjusted and some officials were added.
The Privy Council has always adhered to the practice of imposing military orders.
Therefore, one after another military orders are sent out from the Privy Council, and soldiers and horses from all over the world, as well as people from all levels of Yamen soldiers and Cao Cao, only need to obey.
Therefore, the restructuring of the Privy Council only took two months.
After the general framework is established, the remaining details are handed over to subordinate officials.
As long as the general framework is built firmly, the transformation is considered complete.
Due to the restructuring of the Privy Council, many officials were added.
Therefore, there was almost no objection from the top and bottom of the army.
On the contrary, some people in the court felt that it was inappropriate for the Ministry of War to be integrated into the Privy Council. Some officials, led by Han Yang and Song Chu, felt that after the Ministry of War was integrated into the Privy Council, they had completely lost their influence on military power. This move was very harmful.
Therefore, he repeatedly wrote letters to persuade Zhao Zhen.
But it doesn't have much effect.
After Kou Ji, his disciples, and the military officials all shut up, Han Yang and Song Chu's influence was very limited, and they hardly caused any big waves in the court.
Today, 90% of the power in the court is controlled by Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen.
No matter how loud Han Yang and Song Chu screamed, it had no effect.
After Song Chu realized that he had become a minority in the court, he decisively shut his mouth and stayed at home pretending to be sick.
Han Yang was so loud that he even wanted to challenge Kou Ji.
He didn't dare to embarrass Kou Ji, so he tormented Bao Zheng to a beauty.
"How many days has it been since Bao Zheng came to your house?"
Zhao Xu had completely grown into a big girl. She stood in front of Kou Ji and asked.
After being reminded by Zhao Xu, Kou Ji remembered that Bao Zheng had not visited his house for two months. He smiled and asked Zhao Xu, "What? Do you miss Bao Zheng?"
Zhao Xu laughed, "Do you think it's possible?"
Kou Ji shook his head and said with a smile: "A damn duck has a tough mouth."
Zhao Xu glared at Kou Ji and said, "Do you think I will miss him?"
Kou Ji smiled lightly and said, "I almost forgot about him, but you still remember him. Don't you miss him?"
Zhao Xu glared at Kou Ji fiercely without saying a word.
Kou Ji said with a smile: "How about you two live together? You are already a eldest brother..."
Zhao Xu shouted angrily, "Delusion!"
After shouting, Zhao Xu left angrily.
Kou Ji looked at Zhao Xu's leaving figure and smiled calmly.
After Kou Ji walked away, Kou Ji muttered, "It stands to reason that Bao Zheng comes to visit once a month. It has almost become a rule. Now he has not come to visit for two months. It is indeed a bit abnormal."
"housekeeper?"
"What are your orders, Master..."
"Go to Bao's house and see if that boy is having fun."
"I'm joking, Mr. Bao is reluctant to eat a piece of meat, how can he be willing to spend a lot of time and alcohol?"
"Just go if you are told to go. Where's all the nonsense?"
"The villain deserves to die, the villain will go now."
"..."
The housekeeper left the bamboo courtyard in a hurry, returned to the bamboo courtyard an hour later, went to Kou Ji's study, and reported to Kou Ji.
"Sir, Mr. Bao's house is full of official documents, and he is currently processing them day and night."
Kou Ji frowned slightly, "Logically speaking, he is already a minister, so he shouldn't be so busy. You didn't ask, what official documents are they?"
The housekeeper bent down and said, "Sir, these are old case files from more than ten or twenty years ago."
"Ten or twenty years ago?"
"Yes, I made some inquiries. Han Yang, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, felt that Shilang Bao liked to deal with old cases, so he gave the files of old cases from more than ten or twenty years ago to Shilang Bao and asked him to check them."