Daming 1805

Chapter 393

Zhu Jianyan looked at the documents sent by the cabinet.

The above plans are basically directly designated by himself, and the cabinet has a good understanding of his intentions.

So after reading it, Zhu Jianyan nodded slightly, expressing his satisfaction with the work of the cabinet.

Then shook his head again.

Putting his own plan in front of him with the surname of the standard document, Zhu Jianyan once again realized that this reform cannot be truly thorough.

Due to various reasons and special considerations, I couldn't assign all the affairs of the court to Jiuqing.

Things that are not suitable to be entrusted to Jiuqing, plus things outside the imperial court and the inner court, the things that I have to directly manage are still quite complicated.

As the emperor himself, it is obviously impossible to directly manage the entire world with just a dozen people.

Zhu Jianyan picked up the pen on his desk and carefully reviewed the distribution of powers and responsibilities of Jiuqing on the document again.

Look for possible designs that are not unreasonable

This document is not the final public document, but the first draft handed over to Zhu Jianyan for review. It will take at least two or three revisions before it can be finalized.

On the whole, Zong Bo seems to have a lot of work, which is basically the work of the former Ministry of Rites.

The Hanlin Academy and Zhan Shifu were handed over to Zai Zuo, which still looks very complicated.

The candidate for Zong Bo, Zhu Jianyan subconsciously thought of, was Huang Yue, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites left by the Taiping Dynasty.

I am about to turn 60 today, and I can retire directly at any time.

It is possible for him to continue to serve as Zongbo and use Jiuqing's official position to stay, so it is impossible for Huang Yue not to accept it.

Then let Shen Fu, who was born in Honglu Temple, take over...

But Shen Fu is not yet 50 years old this year, even if he is the next generation to become Zong Bo, he is only in his early fifties.

Is this arrangement reasonable...

Zukazai didn't seem to be in charge of many departments and things, but it was a very important and complicated job.

No matter how the size of the imperial court is adjusted, as long as its responsibilities remain unchanged, its position will always appear very special and detached.

Since the jurisdictional department is very intuitive, the candidate for the tomb minister is also very obvious. The natural choice is the current Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Wang Tingzhen.

But Wang Tingzhen is only 53 years old today, and there are more than one or two officials who are more qualified to be Jiuqing than him.

Moreover, Zhongzai is in charge of the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Officials also involves the prince's administrative training.

According to the previous practice, the next heir selected by the emperor will serve as Minister of the Ministry of Officials for one or two terms before ascending the throne.

After that, he will be his heir, and he will continue to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Officials and work under the hands of Zai Zuo.

Or should he be directly changed to be Tsukazai?
Then Shaofu was in charge of Qin Tianjian and Taipu Temple. Although it seemed that there were only two departments, the management of things was equally complicated, such as meteorology, astronomy, calendar, time service, resources, environment, transportation...

The two divisions appear to be split again.

Zhu Jianyan saw it for himself, thought about it in his own heart, and from time to time asked the suggestions of the great scholars next to him.

The responsibility of Jiuqing is the greatest, so there is no rush to finalize the draft.

Moreover, it is not necessary to implement it immediately after it is finalized, and it is difficult to implement it simultaneously in one breath.

If all the central government offices start large-scale institutional adjustments, the central court of the Ming Dynasty, whose administrative efficiency is already very low, may directly enter a state of near paralysis.

Therefore, it is necessary to start the pilot project from several departments, one or two in charge of Jiuqing, and then gradually complete the merger in turn.

If this process can be completed within a year, it is considered fast.

However, the assignment of duties to Jiuqing was decided through internal discussions between the emperor and the cabinet.

As the emperor, Zhu Jianyan still needs to find some work for the foreign court.

So in the morning court two days later, after the routine reports and discussions were over, Zhu Jianyan directly issued an imperial decree:
The general idea is that, taking into account the daily usage habits of the court officials and the common people, the "waiting places" will be officially renamed "provinces".

All official documents, memorials, mansion newspapers, official newspapers and broadcasts of the imperial court can directly use XX province to refer to XX and other places, and to refer to the three divisions of XX.

This decree can be regarded as very satisfying, and it is really a decision in line with public opinion.

The folks used to mean the two capitals and thirteen provinces, but in the official documents and official newspapers, there was always such an awkward term as "a place like so and so".

When officials scrap official documents and memorials, they also need to pay attention not to make mistakes in such places.

Now the official name has finally been changed, so you don’t need to pay special attention to it in the future.

So when the imperial decree came down, all the officials bowed and agreed in relief.

In fact, the awkward reference to "waiting for places" was still frequently used in official documents after the Qing Dynasty.

However, it is not aimed at the chief envoy and the province, but is used in the governor of Zhili, a place that is not a province, and other governors in charge of many places.

The official title of the governor of Zhili is "Governor Zhili and other local admirals, military affairs, food and payment, management of rivers and governors".

Then Zhu Jianyan continued to throw out things that need to be discussed on the spot:

"In addition to changing the name of the three divisions to provinces, I plan to establish independent provinces in the north and south Zhili,

"Northern Zhili naturally has nothing to say. It can directly correspond to Henan Province and be named Hebei Province after the name of Hebei Road in the Tang Dynasty.

"After Nanzhili is established as a province, how should the name be determined? Do you have any suggestions?"

Officials in the early court may not have the opportunity to participate in the internal meetings hosted by the emperor.

Although officials at Shangshu level are basically qualified to go to the early court, there are still dozens or hundreds of people at the scene.

Most of the bureaucrats in the foreign court are still unaware of the large-scale reform plan planned by Zhu Jianyan and his son.

Without the recognition of large-scale reforms, the establishment of provinces in the north and south of Zhili is big news.

The situation of the northern and southern Zhili in Daming is very special. They are not two provinces, but a group of "directly governed prefectures".

The prefectures in Northern Zhili were directly managed by the Central Government Office of the Beijing Normal University, and the prefectures in Southern Zhili were directly managed by the nominal Nanjing Central Government Office.

Although they do not have the status equivalent to provinces of modern municipalities, they are still higher than ordinary prefectures.

In the classical era before the Renwu Dynasty, it was not too complicated for the central government office to manage the provinces of the country, plus a dozen prefectures in the north and south Zhili.

After the Renwu Dynasty, there were more and more affairs in the central yamen, and the batch of directly-governed governments in the north and south Zhili gradually became a burden.

At the end of the Taiping Dynasty, after the reform of withdrawing vassals and establishing provinces began, Zhili in the north and south became more burdensome, and more than one official mentioned the idea of ​​establishing provinces, either explicitly or implicitly.

For example, a fixed governor or governor-general was appointed to directly manage most of the administrative affairs of the northern and southern Zhili at the local level, instead of directly handing them over to the ministries of the Central Government Office.

But the emperor didn't respond all the time. He didn't expect that it would be done in one step now, and the province should be set up directly.

Wang Tingzhen, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, had been prepared for a long time. Hearing the emperor's words stopped, he immediately followed the emperor's question and said:

"I think that we can refer to the establishment of provinces in Nanzhili, and we can also refer to the name of the Tang Dynasty and directly use Huainan Province."

Then Lu Yinpu immediately stood up and asked tit for tat:

"I think it's wrong, the Huainan Road jurisdiction in the Tang Dynasty was all south of the Huaihe River and north of the Dajiang River.

"And the elite areas of Southern Zhili in my Ming Dynasty, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang and other places, are all in the south of the great river.

"So in my humble opinion, it is more appropriate to use the name Jiangnan Province after the establishment of Nanzhili Province."

Not to be outdone, Wang Tingzhen immediately pushed back:
"The essence of Nanzhili is in the south of the Yangtze River? Fengyang is in the north of the Yangtze River!"

The name given by the Qing Dynasty to Nanzhili in the Ming Dynasty was Jiangnan Province, probably because by the time of the Qing Dynasty, it was meaningless whether Fengyang was located north of the Yangtze River.

However, this kind of debate is actually guiding the discussion direction.

Instead of discussing the establishment of the province itself, we will directly take the establishment of the province as the premise of the discussion, and discuss the naming of Nanzhili Province, which is actually not very important.

However, this kind of guidance is actually unnecessary. The establishment of provinces in the north and south is in line with the trend, and Zhu Jianyan is also arbitrary. The officials below will not deliberately find fault with the modern emperor.

Zhu Jianyan waved his hand, stopped the meaningless bickering between the two, and looked at the 60-year-old Minister of Rites, Huang Yue:

"Won't Huang Qing express his opinion on this kind of thing?"

When Huang Yue heard the clarification, he immediately stood up and bowed:
"The old minister thinks that both Jiangnan and Huainan have some truths, but there are also inadequacies.

"My minister's idea is that it is better to compromise the two and call it Jianghuai Province, or Jianghe Province.

"Gein's Huaihe River and the Yellow River can actually be regarded as one river now."

The current Yellow River is still in the state of seizing the Huaihe River into the sea.

In the original history, the Yellow River broke through again in 1855 and gradually entered the sea channel of the later Yellow River.

In this world, since the Ming Dynasty has completed industrialization, its overall management and engineering construction capabilities are many times stronger than ever before in the feudal dynasty.

For the continuous management of the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins, the existing channels of the two rivers have been controlled.

If there is no accident, it is impossible for the Yellow River to follow the historical track and change its course to the north in a few decades.

So now the Yellow River and the Huaihe River can be regarded as one river.

So after making a compromise, Huang Yue gave two candidates, Jianghuai and Jianghe.

Zhu Jianyan heard Huang Yue's unreasonable statement, and said directly with a smile:
"As expected, everyone likes a compromise, so let's call it Jianghuai Province.

"There has been the Huaihe River Basin since ancient times, and the Yellow River is an outsider despite its size.

"The Hebei Provincial Government Office is directly stationed in the capital, and the Jianghuai Provincial Government Office is also directly stationed."

This matter was settled just like that, and no officials came out to question whether Jianghuai Province was too big or too strong, and whether it should be split into two provinces or other topics.

Now that the imperial court can no longer manage it, the current mainstream opinion is to merge the chief ministers and reduce the number of lower-level agencies.

Jianghuai Province is a bit difficult to manage, but it is easier to manage than splitting it into two.

Because it was difficult to manage, the Sansi yamen were directly placed in Yingtian Mansion and Shuntian Mansion, under the nose.

Now Yingtianfu still has the status of the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the de facto economic center of the southern part of the Ming Dynasty.

The issue of the establishment of provinces in the north and south of Zhili was basically determined, and Zhu Jianyan followed this direction to formally throw out the large-scale reform:
"In order to solve the problem of too many provinces and too much management pressure, I plan to do a pilot in the Nanyang region.

"The merger of Nanyang and Tiannan into a new large-scale administrative level, tentatively named Dayu.

"The framework structure of the government office in Dayu can be set up with reference to the former three divisions and the censor system.

"After the establishment of the Great Domain, the ministries of the imperial court no longer directly connected with the Sansi Yamen in the provinces of Nanyang and Tiannan, but connected with the officials in charge of the unified Nanyang Dayu.

"If this plan is feasible, it will be gradually promoted throughout Daming, and all overseas provinces will be integrated into about nine large domains.

"At the same time, adjust the local provinces and select some of them to be directly under the central government office, which is equivalent to the former northern and southern Zhili.

"This matter cannot be completed overnight. Everyone can start to conceive and discuss now, and actively offer advice and suggestions."

The matter of Dayu was thrown out, but there was no discussion on the spot.

Today is to vaccinate the officials first, and give the officials who have not received the news time to think.

At least start formal discussions after tomorrow morning.

In the next few months, Zhu Jianyan, with the assistance of the cabinet's academicians, gradually determined the adjustment plan of the Central Government Office and the plan for the establishment of Jiuqing.

At the same time, with the cooperation of officials from the outer dynasty, they began to promote the adjustment and reform of local administrative divisions.

After the northern and southern Zhili provinces were named, other provinces also began to officially change their names.

The titles of other places, chief envoys, and third divisions called in official documents are replaced with the names of provinces.

Then began to discuss and determine the scope of provinces directly under the imperial court, and at the same time make small-scale adjustments to the divisions of existing provinces.

This is a question that is both simple and complex.

The most traditional two capitals and thirteen provinces, Hebei and Huaihai, are Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and other places that must be directly administered by the imperial court. Everyone has no doubts.

However, different people have different ideas about the adjustment of divisions between provinces and whether other provinces are directly under the central government.

Does Fujian Province want to merge the Haidong Chief Envoy, which has just been established a few years ago, that is, Dongning Island and the Ryukyu Islands.

Does Guangxi Province want to merge the Cochin Chief Envoy?Is it even necessary to continue to merge the Lancang and Chenla chief envoys?
Was the Liaodong chief envoy established after the Renwu Dynasty merged into Shandong Province?

In the era of the two capitals and the thirteen provinces, Liaodong only had the commander and envoy, who was responsible for managing the local guards and garrisons.

Liaodong Civil Affairs has long been managed by Shandong Chengxuan Political Commissioner, so it is no problem to say that Liaodong belongs to Shandong.

Since then, to the east of Liaodong Chief Commissioner, Lelang Chief Commissioner in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and the coast of Jinghai, Kuwu Island and the surrounding Kuwu Chief Commissioner, and the Huntong River (Heilongjiang) in the north ) Heishui Chief Envoy, should it be listed as a direct jurisdiction?
Will the six chief envoys of North Korea and Japan in the east be merged, and will the chief envoys of Burma and Siam in the south also continue to be merged, and should they also be directly governed?Should Mobei, Xijiang, and Xueyu in the northwest be directly governed?

There are more provinces directly under the central government, which is equivalent to more subordinate institutions that the central government office of the imperial court has to directly face.

There are fewer provinces directly under the central government, which may lead to the weakening of the core strength of Ming Dynasty.

How should one choose on this issue?

(End of this chapter)