Daming 1805

The discussion between Zhu Jingyuan and Xiao Jin'an determined the management ideas for the Nanyang Reserve.

However, Zhu Jingyuan did not set targets for the yamen at all levels, but set a rule that they should be dealt with at any time.

Moreover, during Zhu Jingyuan's tenure as governor, all relocation actions must be reported to Zhu Jingyuan.

If Zhu Jingyuan does not respond, he will wait three months before moving.

If Zhu Jingyuan responds within three months, he will be dealt with according to Zhu Jingyuan's order.

It's just that, in fact, Zhu Jingyuan usually responded "execute immediately" in the early stages of the relocation operation in the reserved area.

Therefore, in the early days of this operation, it was equivalent to the approval of Zhu Jingyuan for all relocation orders.

After the relocation of the reserved area became a routine matter, Zhu Jingyuan would no longer respond.

In fact, it will become the practice to wait three months after the issuance of the removal order.

This three-month period can be used by the corresponding personnel to correct errors.

After Zhu Jingyuan basically finalized this matter, he began to consider another issue.

After Zhu Jingyuan officially took office as Tongzhi of Johor Prefecture, when he began to directly participate in various affairs of Johor Prefecture, he received a series of approvals from the central court.

These are basically applications made before this year, or even in the first half of last year.

These include the approval of the Johor government's review application last autumn.

The death-row inmates who were supposed to be executed after last fall lived through last fall and winter.

It's summer now, and the Ming Dynasty's practice is to execute death row prisoners before spring and after autumn, and spring and summer are not executed.

So these condemned prisoners lived an extra year.

After Zhu Jingyuan saw these documents, he was a little taken aback.

"This reaction is too slow, the matter of Xintianfu will definitely not be delayed until the second year..."

So Zhu Jingyuan went to check the situation of more documents, asked the clerical personnel from the government office to the chief envoy's office, and briefly counted the transmission speed of various official documents.

Then Zhu Jingyuan discovered that the speed of uploading and distributing most of the official documents in Johor, Malacca, and even the entire Nanyang region was far slower than that in Xintianfu.

Many outrageous things have gone beyond the court's previous regulations and practices.

For example, the Autumn Judgment review.

However, after careful analysis, Zhu Jingyuan also found that the situation has gradually improved in the past two years.

Especially after I came to Nanyang, the efficiency of almost all affairs has improved.

Including the approval document that I didn't know when it came down, it was directly implemented when I took office.

This obviously has its own personal identity.

But even so, Zhu Jingyuan feels that this efficiency is still not enough, and still can't be compared with Xintianfu.

After Zhu Jingyuan had a basic understanding, he couldn't help feeling in his heart:

"The operating efficiency of this bureaucratic system is really a little low. In this case, Xiao Jin'an still said that there is no problem here?"

With such a judgment and emotion, Zhu Jingyuan sent someone to contact Xiao Jin'an proactively, wanting to know more about the situation from him, and also wanted to hear the chief minister's explanation.

Are these officials from the vassal state competent for the duties of the Ming court?

Is it because of a real lack of bureaucracy that unqualified corpses are given vegetarian meals?
Now Zhu Jingyuan is not only Xiao Jinan's subordinate, but also Xiao Jinan's immediate boss.

Coupled with Zhu Jingyuan's status as the prince and prince, Xiao Jin'an, the chief envoy, came to see him immediately after receiving the news.

The two sides greeted briefly, and after the servant brought tea, Zhu Jingyuan directly talked about his discovery.

After hearing this, Xiao Jinan was a little flustered, and quickly explained and asked:

"Your Highness should have already discovered it. The situation in this regard has actually improved."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly:
"I did find out that the affairs two years ago were in a state of chaos from top to bottom.

"The situation has improved a lot in the past two years, otherwise we wouldn't have met like this."

Xiao Jinan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately continued to explain and explain the situation:
"Because of the large expansion of the Ming Dynasty's territory and the large-scale withdrawal of feudal vassals and establishment of provinces, there was a shortage of officials everywhere a few years ago.

"We, the officials transferred from the vassal state, were also a little bit at a loss when we first took over the affairs of the central court system of the Ming Dynasty.

"Now we officials from vassal states have basically adapted to the logic of the central court's affairs.

"The college students who expanded their enrollment in the first year of the armistice have also started graduating in succession in the past two years, and they have quickly been added to the ranks of officials.

"At the same time, the imperial examinations have been continuously expanding in recent years, so the official system has basically been supplemented.

"So the operational efficiency between the internal levels of the yamen at all levels is also rising rapidly.

"After Tebin came down, the documents that needed to be decided by the court were quickly responded to.

"The situation in the future will definitely continue to improve, so I didn't report this situation at the beginning."

Zhu Jingyuan frowned slightly after hearing this:
"Has Xiao Buzheng considered how much of this is caused by my personal influence?

"What if I leave? Will the efficiency of the yamen at all levels here drop off a cliff?"

Xiao Jinan hesitated for a few seconds:
"Your Highness, with all due respect, our local affairs in Nanyang may not be greatly affected.

"However, things that need to be contacted with the court and approved by the court will definitely be affected."

Zhu Jingyuan suddenly thought of something:
"Xiao Buzheng means that the key issue limiting the efficiency of the current government office is the response speed of the imperial court?"

Xiao Jinan knew that this topic was more sensitive.

But it is this special topic that makes this special prince really care.

Only with his status can he really intervene in this kind of affairs.

If he can play a role in this matter, he can leave a good impression in his mind.

This will definitely be very beneficial to his future career.

So Xiao Jin'an carefully considered his language, and carefully explained his judgment to Zhu Jingyuan:

"Your Highness, with the continuous promotion of the policy of withdrawing feudal vassals and establishing provinces, the number of chief envoys and prefectures in our Ming Dynasty has doubled in the past few years.

"In the era of the vassal state, most of the internal affairs of the vassal state were decided by the king of the vassal state.

"Including the autumn decision to review such issues.

"There are not many issues that require direct response from the court, and most of them are handled by Honglu Temple.

"After the vassal state became the chief envoy, there are a lot of affairs that need to be decided by the court.

"A typical example is the review of the autumn decision.

"Looking at the re-examination of the Autumn Judgment, the number of review documents and cases that the court's relevant yamen need to process has also increased several times, or even more than ten times, in the past few years.

"Originally, the scale and configuration of the corresponding institutions of the imperial court were in response to the more than 20 chief ministers directly under the direct control of the Ming Dynasty.

"It now appears that it is not enough to deal with the current new situation.

"It is because the subordinates think that the policy of dismantling feudal vassals and establishing provinces has reached a critical point, and it is time to adjust the various ministries of the imperial court and the local administrative divisions.

"We local officials have no room to comment on such matters, but Your Highness can."

Zhu Jingyuan was already lost in thought.

What Xiao Jinan said is obviously reasonable.

He promoted the withdrawal of vassals and the establishment of provinces by himself, turning the vassal state into chief ministers, and the number of chief ministers in the imperial court soared directly.

Ordinary officials of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Household Affairs of the central court may no longer remember how many chief envoys there were, let alone the officials and general situation of each chief envoy.

These court agencies can no longer handle the information and files sent by the chief envoy.

Otherwise, the matter of the autumn judgment cannot be delayed until the second year.

It is very likely that I came to Nanyang by myself, so the relevant yamen singled out the matter of Nanyang and solved it in advance.

Even, the administrative efficiency of Xintianfu was high before. In addition to the fact that the local area was originally a Huangzhuang model, and the density of grassroots officials was higher than that of other chief ministers, there may also be factors such as the imperial court taking care of the places it manages. exist.

This kind of problem is indeed important, and it is true that it cannot be determined rashly.

So Zhu Jingyuan continued to discuss with Xiao Jinan for a while, asked for more details, and let him go back.

Then Zhu Jingyuan himself sent a telegram to his father, Emperor Zhu Jianyan of the Ming Dynasty.

Confirm the accuracy of the relevant situation directly with the central court.

The next morning, Zhu Jingyuan received a long telegram.

Zhu Jianyan first confirmed the guesses of Zhu Jingyuan and Xiao Jinan.

Now the central court really can't handle the daily affairs of the subordinate chief envoys.

This has been the case for a long time since the mass withdrawal of feudal domains and establishment of provinces, but it has only recently been recognized as a problem.

Previous years were overshadowed by the lack of officers.

In the past, Zhu Jianyan himself, as well as the people in the yamen headed by the Ministry of Officials, took it for granted that the yamen at all levels of the imperial court did not have enough hands, so they could not manage it.

After several years of continuous replenishment, the posts of bureaucrats at all levels have been basically filled.

Although the level of middle and low-level officials still cannot be fully guaranteed, at least some of the positions that should have been filled have been filled.

Then the imperial court discovered that even if the yamen at all levels had people, they still couldn't manage it.

There are really too many files, and I can't handle them at all.

Even if people are added to the central government office, the superiors of these people cannot manage them.

In the past, finance-related departments would set up a clean-up department for each chief envoy.

Now the number of clean-up departments has doubled, and the officials in charge can't even tell who is in each department.

Therefore, the Ministry of Officials recently put forward a proposal to abolish and merge part of the chief envoys and expand some of the chief envoys.

For example, the three chief ministers of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Haidong were merged, and the three chief ministers of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiaozhi were merged.

The three chief ministers of Burma, nobles, and Yunnan were merged, and the two chief ministers of North Korea were merged with the four chief ministers of Japan.

Northern Zhili formally set up the chief envoy, the northern Zhili merged with Shandong, and the southern Zhili set up the chief envoy separately.

The northern and southern Zhili of Ming Dynasty are not two provinces, but a large number of "directly governed governments", and the reform of the chief minister can reduce management pressure.

All in all, the suggestion of the Ministry of Officials is to reduce the number of chief envoys.

Now that Zhu Jingyuan asked about administrative efficiency, Zhu Jianyan directly threw the question over.

Ask Zhu Jingyuan what he thinks of this reform proposal.

After reading it, Zhu Jingyuan began to think.

It is very difficult to adjust the structure of the central court and the division of local administrative divisions.

In actual operation, it is definitely not something that can be solved by changing a few names on the document, adding a few departments and personnel, or drawing a few lines on the map.

The point is that the current Ming Dynasty is completely different from any dynasty in history, any dynasty and country in later generations.

I couldn't find a completely corresponding situation in my previous history, so I had a way to directly learn from historical experience.

Zhu Jingyuan could imagine that Emperor Shizu couldn't leave direct guidance.

At most, it is to pass on the experience of modern management to future generations.

According to the modern management experience in Zhu Jingyuan's memory, it is the most efficient for an organization to manage five to six subordinate institutions, but the cost will also be relatively high.

Usually it is more appropriate to manage about ten subordinate organizations, but it is more difficult to manage more than 20 subordinate organizations.

As for more than [-], or even more than [-] subordinate organizations, it is basically impossible to manage them.

The number of chief envoys in Ming Dynasty has far exceeded this level.

There are usually two directions and ideas for the solutions that management science can provide in later generations.

One direction is grading.

For example, if there are 36 subordinate organizations, then set up six branches, and each branch manages six subordinate organizations.

This will inevitably increase the number of managers and correspondingly reduce the overall operating efficiency.

After all, there is an extra layer of middle layer that conveys information and commands.

Corresponding to the centralization of power in ancient times, to the unified system of modern times.

Another direction is decentralization.

More powers should be given to subordinate organizations, and some matters that should have been under the jurisdiction of higher-level organizations should be left to subordinate organizations to decide on their own.

Reduce the number of things the parent organization needs to deal with.

This will inevitably reduce the control of the superior organization over the subordinate institutions.

Originally, because there are too many subordinate organizations, the relevant personnel of the higher-level organization can't remember who is under it.

Delegate authority to the subordinates to reduce the chances of the subordinates to show their presence at the top. After a long time, they can go their own way.

Corresponding to the ancient feudal state and the founding of the country, as well as the modern system of local self-government.

After Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, the dynasty's ruled area expanded on a large scale, and it truly controlled all the core areas of China.

However, in terms of system, the system of prefectures and counties is still implemented nationwide.

That is, two levels of administrative divisions.

Just after the reunification, Qin State had a total of 36 counties, which was later adjusted and increased to more than 40 counties.

At this time, it was difficult for Qin Shihuang's central court to accurately control the situation of all counties.

Qin Shihuang's frequent tours were due to intuitive reasons for controlling places.

By the time of the Han Dynasty, feudal states and state-building coexisted with prefectures and counties in the early days. In fact, the method of enfeoffment and decentralization was adopted to help control the vast land that the central court could not directly control.

In the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the whole country was officially divided into thirteen departments (states), and each department began to have a governor.

The governor was originally an inspector sent by the central court. In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, he gradually became the chief executive of the local government, and his name was changed from governor to state pastor.

So far, the administrative division of the core area of ​​China has officially changed from two levels to three levels.

Since then, the more successful emperors in the past dynasties have tried to change the three levels back to two levels more than once.

Because they all know that two levels are more efficient than three levels.

But all of them, without exception, failed to some extent.

At the same time, it is constantly repeating the process of changing the central dispatched agencies into local administrative agencies.

The "Tao" in the Tang Dynasty, the "Road" in the Song Dynasty, and the "Governor" and "Governor" in the Ming Dynasty.

They were originally dispatched agencies, but they all eventually sank and became local agencies.

At the same time, the two-level administrative division that was intended to be implemented was simultaneously changed to three levels.

The last attempt to change from three levels to two levels was when Datou first changed the prefecture to Taoism, and then the bald head tried to abolish Taoism and retain the provincial and county levels.

In the end, the government was changed into a road, and the road was finally changed into a city.

It has no practical effect except for the disappearance of the "Fucheng" that is customarily called in history.

It is very natural to say that the county seat and the provincial capital, but it is very awkward to say the city city, because it was originally called the prefecture city and the state city in history.

Now, in order to reduce the number of chief ministers, the officials of Ming Dynasty naturally want to merge the existing chief ministers.

But to do so is to expand the scale of the chief envoy, and the number of states and counties under the chief envoy has skyrocketed.

This is to move down the pressure of superior management.

In the past, the number of prefectures managed by a chief envoy was usually only a few to a dozen, which was less than that of the chief envoy directly under the central court's direct jurisdiction.

But at the same time, it must be taken into account that the level of the local officials of the chief minister and the ability of the officials of the central court cannot be compared. The number of more than a dozen prefectures is already quite a lot.

If several densely populated chief ministers are merged, the number of governments under the chief minister will exceed twenty or even thirty.

This way the government will definitely not be able to manage it.

In order to manage subordinate governments that have exceeded their management capabilities, the chief minister needs to set up dispatched agencies internally, such as the "Tao" used in the provinces of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

The final result is likely to be an additional level of administrative agency under the chief minister.

From the three levels of chief minister, prefecture, and county to the four levels of chief minister, province, prefecture, and county, except for the provinces that have become chief ministers, the rest have returned to the model of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

After studying the graphics card for most of the day, I found that now is not the time to buy a graphics card.