Daming 1805

Chapter 390
Zhu Jingyuan, who was far away in Nanyang, was a little surprised after receiving the meeting minutes from the Secretary of General Administration.

The main thing is that the establishment of several senior responsible persons to take charge of all the affairs of the central government office seems familiar.

Zhu Jingyuan thought along this line of thought and discovered another set of management logic.

Although the current territory ruled by the Ming Dynasty is unprecedented, the population under its management is less than [-] million after all.

Compared with the populous country in later generations, there is still a certain distance.

If considered from this perspective, the experience of later generations can still be used for reference intuitively.

For example, the idea proposed by the officials of the Ming Dynasty, this can be said to be a plan that leads to the same goal by different routes.

As for whether to let the bachelors take charge, or to set up full-time officials, Zhu Jingyuan's tendency is to set up full-time officials.

As for the prime minister or something, if there are twelve prime ministers, then this prime minister is not a prime minister in the traditional sense.

In fact, it is closer to the meaning of the six departments and nine ministers before the reform of Renwu.

The six ministers, the capital censor, the minister of Dali Temple, and the general envoy are the nine officials of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, they cannot be completely regarded as a certain position in a certain modern department.

The positions of the six ministries and nine ministers may be exchanged with each other. When they participate in the discussion and decision of major issues, they are not completely limited to their own position restrictions.

They are actually members of the highest decision-making body of the empire under the emperor.

Now the establishment of a system in which chief officials are in charge of various ministries and large domains can simultaneously re-establish this group.

At the same time, the twelve large domains are just his own illustrations at the beginning, and the specific number does not necessarily have to be twelve.

The total population of Tiannan is less than 1000 million. There is no need to set up a large domain, and the establishment of a province is enough.

Tiannan can be managed by Nanyang Dayu, or it can be directly administered by the central court.

The same situation also applies to the Western Regions of Mozhou, which can be handed over to the jurisdiction of Dashiyu or even Yinzhou's Dayu, or directly under the central government.

Northeast Yinzhou and Yinzhou Central Region can also be merged, the Great Food Region can be changed to the Great Qin Region, and Persia, Anxi and other places can be handed over to the Tianzhu Region.

In this way, nine large domains have been formed, and the titles of the nine officials in charge can use the most traditional official names of the nine ministers of the Zhou Dynasty.

Zongbo, Zhongzai, Sima, Situ, Sikong, Sikou, Shaoshi, Shaofu, and Shaobao.

Officials of the Ming Dynasty used to call Da Zongbo Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites and Zai Otsuka the Minister of Libu. This is a traditional habit left before Renwu's reform.

However, the number of central government offices has already increased to more than 30, and it is inappropriate for six of the more than 30 ministers to occupy these traditional respectful titles.

It is better to take it out directly for the members of the decision-making group to use now.

As for the grade, Zhu Jingyuan thinks that it is fine to use the first grade or the first grade.

In the words of Cong Yipin, it is directly called Jiuqing, and Zheng Yipin is reserved as a vain honorary title.

The point is, it is just one level behind the existing Shangshu, and the existing Shangshu can be promoted directly, which is not considered a leapfrog promotion.

At the same time, after serving a full term, they can be "promoted" to a higher grade, and then retire after serving another term.

It can be seamlessly converted and upgraded with the existing bureaucratic system.

If you don't consider this kind of convenience, you can also use Zhengyipin directly to separate their status from the Shangshu.

At the same time, replace Shaoshi, Shaofu, and Shaobao with the three names of Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao.

After the reform of Renwu, Ming officials already had a retirement system, and the imperial court would not let these officials work until they were seventy or eighty.

Even if the emperor takes a fancy to a certain official, he will not promote the other party by skipping the rank, but let the other party be directly promoted to a more important position after his term of office expires.

In such an environment, civil servants need to enter the officialdom immediately after graduation, and they must basically make no mistakes during their tenure, and the promotion cycle basically does not stop, so that they can reach the rank of minister at around 50 years old.

It still takes three or six years to be promoted from Shangshu of the second rank to Jiuqing, the decision-making group of the first rank.

If these officials still retire at the age of 60, they can serve for a maximum of six to eight years, and under normal circumstances it is estimated that they will not exceed five years, unless the emperor specifically requires them to stay in office again after the age of 60.

Therefore, the current system of Ming Dynasty has already limited the special situation that there will be no special circumstances where there is no seal and no promotion.

Even if an official has made great contributions and needs special rewards, he can still use his title.

So Zhu Jingyuan felt that Zheng Yipin could be released directly.

Now that there are nine elders at the top, it will be no problem at all for the supervisor level of Dayu below to be the second rank, equal to Shangshu.

They should have been officials at the same level.

Their chief officials are the nine ministers of the decision-making group above.

Regarding the bureaucratic setup of the large domain below, Zhu Jingyuan basically had no idea, the arrangement of the old gentlemen of the imperial court made it impossible for him to find any faults.

The left and right guards actually separate routine administrative affairs from finance, taxation, transportation, warehousing and other affairs.

The guards have no military power at all, they are purely political officials.

This kind of check and balance method is natural, but in Zhu Jingyuan's view, it is already a little too cautious.

In addition, Daming is now an industrial country, and the world has entered the second industrial revolution.

Now is no longer the time to find a group of blacksmiths, make a batch of knives, guns and sticks, and control a batch of farmland to grow food, so that you can pull up a team and go it alone.

The logistical demands of regular military operations have passed a breaking point.

Local military and government officials no longer have the ability to take their jurisdictions and troops out of the empire's industrial logistics system, and have no way to go out to fight independently, let alone fight against the entire empire with the locality.

If a fleet of the navy goes out independently, it may be enough to fight against the fleet of a medium-sized Western country.

But without Ming’s system, his fleet would be unable to run after burning the oil, there would be no place to resupply the shells after firing, no place to replace the barrels when their lifespan was exhausted, and if routine maintenance was not done, they would have to be scrapped within a few years.

However, it is always good to be cautious. If Jiuqing is set up to take charge, it happens to be able to manage it.

So Zhu Jingyuan's final reply to his father was very simple, and he wrote down the vision of the Jiuqing decision-making group.

Others just say "I think it's possible."

Zhu Jingyuan's reply was sent to the Ming capital in the evening, and Zhu Jianyan received the report when he was having dinner with his father.

Zhu Jianyan immediately read the reply and handed the telegram to his curious father.

Zhu Zhongliang also put down his chopsticks, took a look at the telegram, and said thoughtfully:
"This...Jiuqing's arrangement, is this a retro?"

Zhu Jianyan said with a smile:
"This is obviously new wine in old bottles. If you want to go back to the past, you should go back to the era of Liubu Jiuqing.

"Set up multiple government offices under the Sixth Ministry, and turn each department into a subordinate of the Sixth Ministry."

Zhu Zhongliang thought for a while and said:
"You mean, go back to the Six Departments, but add a first-level institution between the Shangshu, Shilang and Qinglisi?
"It seems that this is not impossible, but it is easy to be promoted and difficult to be demoted, so it is more convenient to add it to the above.

"Jing Yuan likes to be a good person,

"The addition of a first-level large domain to the local chief envoy has added dozens of real shortages of the first and second ranks.

"The central imperial court released the three officials and nine ministers of the first rank to use, and changed the first rank official position from an honorary title to an actual position.

"In the future, those who can take up these official positions, as well as officials who have the opportunity to serve, should all remember him again."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jianyan immediately said:
"This decision must be made by me. I will announce it. How can I give him all the benefits?"

The problem that has been worrying for a long time now has a basically definite solution, and Zhu Jianyan's mood is also relaxed.

Zhu Zhongliang sneered:
"You have to read him too, so you don't have to worry about dozens of ministers in your mind all day long.

"It's enough to understand Jiuqing, and you can basically control the situation, which is much easier than I was back then."

Zhu Jianyan smiled without saying a word, picked up the chopsticks and continued to eat, then suddenly stopped:

"Now I vaguely feel that there seems to be something wrong, but I can't think of it, I can't say it..."

When Zhu Zhongliang heard this sentence, his originally relaxed expression suddenly became serious:

"It's a very dangerous feeling, and you better just relax and think about it.

"You, the Ming emperor who is in charge of the overall situation, if you miss something, the impact will be fatal...

"If it doesn't work, then send another telegram to Jing Yuan and ask him to think about it for you..."

Zhu Jianyan also became serious:

"Well... I understand..."

Zhu Jianyan and his son finished dinner together, and Zhu Zhongliang continued to study his film facilities.

Zhu Jianyan returned to his office in the palace, continued to process various documents, and at the same time considered his own problems.

But until the end, Zhu Jianyan didn't want to understand what the doubts in his heart were.

Then the next morning, Zhu Jianyan sent a telegram to Zhu Jingyuan, asking Zhu Jingyuan directly:
"What do you think is Daming's biggest problem right now?
"Or, things that may not be obvious right now, but could have a big impact in the future.

"And, what impact will this reform of the local and central government offices have on the imperial court, the local government, and the common people?
"Conscientiously write a comprehensive and detailed analysis report and send it to me...

"Don't worry, you can write slowly.

"You don't need to just write a copy, you can write whatever you think of, and send a copy as soon as you write it.

"I heard that in Mozhou and Xintianfu, you developed the habit of writing various design records according to your grandfather's wishes.

"Now you can develop a habit of commenting on current affairs and government affairs analysis."

After reading it, Zhu Jingyuan was speechless.

Father, are you setting a question for me and asking me to write a paper?

Is this trying to teach me, or are you using me as your personal secretary?
But if you look at it from another angle, isn't this just asking me to key politics?
Zhu Jingyuan soon realized that sometimes he really had various thoughts.

It’s just that most of the time I just think about it and let it go, and I will just write these thoughts out in the future.

This doesn't seem like a very troublesome thing.

Think of it as a diary.

But who is a serious person to keep a diary?

With a few complaints, Zhu Jingyuan began to think about the problems raised by his father when he was resting, eating and drinking while dealing with the daily work in Nanyang and Johor.

"What is Daming's biggest problem now..."

"I just can't find the big problem that may exist..."

Zhu Jingyuan found the title of his first thesis in this somewhat awkward logic.

The dividends of the explosive productivity growth of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion and income dividends of the victory of the World War have been superimposed to cover up most of the problems.

Even the large-scale withdrawal of feudal vassals and the establishment of high-ranking officials seriously lacked qualified bureaucrats, and even the number of provinces and clean-up bureaus skyrocketed, leading to a sharp decline in the administrative efficiency of the central and local governments.

Before the reform of administrative divisions and the central government office, it did not affect the whole Ming Dynasty.

What other bigger problems than these could be uncovered in this case?
In other words, it is not discovered, but analyzed and judged, there should be problems, there should be problems.

The development of industry and commerce, the rapid expansion of urban scale, the subversion of social structure and interpersonal relationship, and traditional ethical habits.

The rapid expansion of the number and scale of private enterprises has led to the rapid growth of private capital.

The royal consortium will also expand by orders of magnitude with the technological revolution.

As for the impact of administrative divisions and the reform of the central government office, of course it can alleviate the current management dilemma.

This kind of reform and adjustment is also necessary, otherwise, once the technology and war dividends fade, the court may quickly collapse.

Increasing the level of management will inevitably reduce the actual management efficiency.

The will of the top decision-maker, in the process of being transmitted to the bottom, will inevitably decay with the increase of the administrative level.

However, most of the places where the management level has been increased are overseas vassal states with a high degree of autonomy, and the imperial court's control over the localities can only be regarded as "soft".

After being transformed into a province, the imperial court's control over the local area becomes rigid and compulsory.

Even with the addition of a large domain-level management agency, the imperial court's control over overseas provinces must still exceed the original vassal state era.

At the same time, the mainland provinces of Ming Dynasty will still maintain the status of direct jurisdiction, and the control power will not decline on a large scale.

The imperial court's control over the mainland remains unchanged, but its control over overseas countries has increased. On the whole, the power is also on the rise.

Naturally, the power of the Ming court also increased on a large scale.

However, private capital is growing by leaps and bounds, and the imperial consortium is also growing by leaps and bounds, and the growth rate must far exceed the growth of the imperial court's power.

In a comprehensive comparison, the power of the imperial court, compared with the folk and the royal family, will show a clear trend of decline.

If things go on like this, a more powerful royal family will try to completely suppress the imperial court, and the bureaucratic system will also accelerate its fall to private capital.

The stable posture among the court, royal family, and private capital will gradually become unbalanced.

Zhu Jingyuan's report or paper was conceived intermittently, written intermittently, and sent to Zhu Jianyan intermittently.

This whole process lasted more than a year.

When Zhu Jingyuan's final judgment was written, it was already August of the sixth year of Kang'an.

Zhu Jingyuan also really discovered a big enough problem.

The excessive expansion of the royal power may not be a good thing for the emperor.

The power of the imperial court is constantly weakening, which may not be a good thing for the emperor.

The ruling power of the Ming emperor comes from three aspects, not just one.

If the Emperor Ming was only the patriarch of the royal family, his control over the royal family would be much lower than it is now.

If there is no huge royal family and Huangzhuang, the emperor will be tormented by the bureaucratic system.

The emperor relied on the bureaucratic system to check and balance the royal family, and also relied on the royal family to check and balance the bureaucratic system.

With the continuous leap-forward development of industry and commerce, the connection between private capitalist bureaucracy will definitely become closer and closer, and the most direct result will be corruption and the decline of ruling ability.

And the divergence of the most important bureaucratic interests from those of the emperor.

When the bureaucratic system and private capital are fully integrated, and when the bureaucratic system fully represents the interests of private capital, they will no longer obey the will of the emperor for granted. At that time, they should demand the establishment of a parliament to limit imperial power.

At that time, the emperor will have to fully support the royal family, which will inevitably lead to the reduction of the emperor's control over the royal family, which will also aggravate the corruption of the members of the royal family, and intensify the contradictions within the royal family in advance...

Therefore, this process must be controlled, the power of the court must be strengthened, and the power of the bureaucracy must be strengthened.

Create a confrontation between the bureaucratic system and private capital, and strictly control the degree of peace between the two...

Try to maintain the balance of the royal family, the imperial court, and private capital as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)