national surname chiming

Chapter 518 Cabinet Ministers

After arousing the determination of the emperor Zhu Ciyu himself to reform, the follow-up matters will be easier to handle.

After all, Ming is now so powerful, and the progress of national power is obvious to all. The conservative forces have also been wiped out by Zhu Shuren's previous 15 years of tax reform and government reform. The law of the ancestors is not so important.

Of course, the direct cause of this reform is, after all, the invention and application of the Newcomen steam engine. Therefore, reforms must start from this starting point.

Zhu Shuren wants to reform the official system and laws of the Ming Dynasty, and he can't just say that he wants to rebuild the Law of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he wants to emphasize that the Law of the Ming Dynasty is always incomplete and the coverage is too narrow, so that the subsequent additions to the law are cumbersome and can only be added but not changed.

Zhu Shuren said to the emperor and the cabinet ministers in this way: "At the beginning of the "Da Ming Law" was enacted, a great disadvantage was that it only focused on official systems and criminal names, while other things were promulgated in it. To implement and implement the Daming Law, It is also dominated by the Ministry of Punishment.

Even if the part that the common people violated is the content of the "House Law", the Ministry of Household can only ask for correction, and the punishment still depends entirely on the system of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Redundant.

Now my Ming Dynasty is prosperous, and I have also carried out the separation of workers and peasants, and abolished the farmer household tax and worker's land tax. This is a great good governance that has not been seen in 300 years.Since the industry and commerce are so prosperous, it is really inappropriate for the punishment of private money disputes to still be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs.

Therefore, the future law must first be divided into "penals/civilians". Those punished by the state's public instruments are only crimes and punishments. There should be new laws on civil infringement compensation and industrial and commercial economic disputes. "

It is normal for Zhu Shuren to think of this, because one of the most important watersheds in the construction of the rule of law in a modern country is the complete separation of criminal law and civil law.For some matters, the government does not need to exercise the power of punishment. The government only needs to arbitrate to fair civil subjects.

But to separate the law from the root, first establish a brand new "Daming Civil Law", and then use it as an opportunity to abolish the household law part of the old "Daming Law" and other clauses of civil financial disputes Lose.

In the future, another "Daming Criminal Law" will be formulated, and other laws will gradually be supplemented to form a new unified code. These hundreds of additional regulations over the years no longer need to appear in the form of patches. Those that should be incorporated into the new laws of the Ming Dynasty will be directly absorbed, and those that should be abolished out of date will be directly abolished.

In this way, it finally appears that Zhu Shuren did not want to abolish Taizu's law, but that Taizu's law was really chaotic, and the rights and responsibilities of each category were not clear enough, and the division was not detailed. Now, some parts need to be independently refined. In the end, the old law could not be implemented, and it was naturally abolished.

……

After Zhu Shuren put forward this outline and road map, Zhu Ciyu, Zhang Huangyan, and Fang Yizhi were instantly impressed. They had to admit that this idea was very good and stable.

Even if the work is done, no one will think that this is "replacing Zhu with Shen", which thoroughly digs out the ancestral method of the old Zhu family, and at the same time keeps pace with the times.

Zhu Ciyu couldn't help but eagerly asked: "Since there is a need to separate punishment and civil law, I don't know how to formulate this new civil law and where to start? It will take several years to carry out subsequent reforms?"

Zhu Shuren had retreated for more than half a month in advance, so he had already thought through the problem thoroughly. When his son asked him for advice, he blurted out without thinking:

"The new civil law, of course, should focus on civil and commercial affairs, and mainly deal with money infringement, disputes, and contracts between ordinary people and businesses.

And this entry point, isn't it right now? You can learn from the "Monopoly Law" of the English country, and first set a "Scientific and Educational Monopoly Civil Law" by my Ming Dynasty as a chapter of the complete "Civil Code" in the future, and then Then gradually fill in the infringement, contract, and management parts of the civil law. After three or five chapters, the general "Civil Law Code" will be ready to come out.

Now my Ming Dynasty still lacks the legislative talent and experience to combine Chinese and Western styles and keep pace with the times, so I can save more time for the first "Law of Monopoly", and I can finish it within three to five years. There is no rush.

Let the researchers of Nanjing University, by the way, study the methods available to the Western tribes.As well as the essence of the private industry and commerce part of the ancient Roman copper table law, learn while learning, learn from the middle school for the body, learn from the west for use, and strive for safety.After all, China has emphasized agriculture and suppressed business too seriously since ancient times, and I really lack experience in this area. European countries emphasize business. In terms of civil and commercial laws, we have something to learn from, and future criminal laws can be based on my Chinese tradition. host. "

Zhu Shuren is also very clear that the current Ming Dynasty is powerful and has no obvious internal and external troubles, so it is impossible to generally learn from Western methods like the late Qing Dynasty in a parallel time and space, and there is no need for this. Western France in the 1670s was indeed still very backward.

However, there is one thing to say, in the field of civil and commercial law, the West now has a corporate system and a banking system because of its emphasis on business, and there are indeed things worth learning.In this regard, Daming's absence from school was too serious, and he did not have his own historical accumulation.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren set the guiding ideology of "seeking truth from facts" of "only learning from Western commercial law, and basically not learning from Western administrative law and criminal law".

In addition, as a digression, in 1677, although England did not have a "Patent Law" in the modern sense (it was there when Newcomen invented the steam engine 30 years later), but today's Britain has promulgated it. From the Monopoly Act of 1624.

That's why in what Zhu Shuren said just now, he suggested that the responsible department of legislation should learn from this "Monopoly Law" in the future.

This thing has been published for 50 years, and it is in the form of written regulations. Zhu Shuren also borrowed a set of original readings from Newton, and compared them with later generations of codes in memory.

Compared with the "Monopoly Law" and the later British "Patent Law", the most important differences are that the current "Monopoly Law" does not seem to be valid for 20 years for technical protection, but can be longer.
Moreover, it is similar to laws such as the "Copyright Law" of later generations, which can protect the inventor for life. As long as the inventor is still alive, he can always monopolize the technology.In other words, if a person is very young when he invents a certain technology, and the follow-up life is still very long, far more than 20 years, then he will earn money, and they will eat for many years, at least until he dies.

(Note: However, in British history, from the late 17th century to the early 18th century, because of this system, there were many craftsmen who invented awesome technology. Because of their crimes, they often survived after 20 years of protection. In the end, he died inexplicably. The British probably also took this factor into account later, when the "Patent Law" was promulgated, no matter how long the inventor lived, it was uniformly protected for 20 years.

In contrast, the "Copyright Law" protects the author's life plus 50 years after death, so there is not so much moral hazard. After all, copyright was for literary and artistic works in the early days, and there is not so much economic benefit.No one thinks that Jin Yong's life is too long, just because he wants to invite people all over the world to read Jin Yong's martial arts novels for free. )
In addition to the protection period, there is another major difference between the 1624 "Monopoly Law" and the later "Patent Law", which is that the requirements for the degree of technical disclosure of patent applications are quite different.

The "Patent Law" of later generations requires "full disclosure", which is to ensure that others can counterfeit your invention after the protection expires.However, the requirements of the 1624 "Monopoly Law" are not so high. As long as you can produce samples and demonstrate your design indicators and functions in public, then the specific technical details and principles do not need to be fully disclosed.

However, Daming now draws on the "Monopoly Law", and there are similar considerations.Daming has so many scientific and technological innovations in the field of biochemical ring material formulations. If the formulations are disclosed for patent protection, then Daming will lose money.Originally, Daming could keep it secret for at least four to fifty years or even longer, just as long as the formula of Coca-Cola was kept secret.

Therefore, the early legislation of the "Monopoly Law" in the Ming Dynasty should also be made to focus on physical experiment review and light on principle explanation.If you can demonstrate in public that you can achieve this effect, you can authorize it.As for how to do it, you can keep a little secret.

(Note: This will also have disadvantages, that is, if someone later invents a way to use other principles to achieve the same function, but at a lower cost. But because the external functions of the two are similar, and the former does not need to publish the internal technical principles, This later cost-reducing and improved inventor may not be authorized.

In other words, such a law is very stimulating to encourage humans to invent products with completely new functions from scratch, but it is very detrimental to encouraging humans to invent 'low-cost improved models of existing products'.It's just that the Ming Dynasty has not yet reached the era when striving for industrialization to reduce costs is the main contradiction, and there are not many "cost-reducing and efficiency-enhancing inventions", so it is possible to choose the lesser of two evils. )
As for the future "Monopoly Law" changing with the times to the "Patent Law", it will be at least a few decades later. Let Daming first eat up the dividends brought by Zhu Shuren himself to maximize the benefits.

……

A timetable was set for three to five years to slowly learn and enact the "Monopoly Law", and then spend another three to five years to initially complete the "Daming Civil Law".

In the end, it will take several years to complete the "Daming Criminal Law" and "Daming Administrative Law" and completely abolish the old "Daming Law", then it is estimated that the entire time period will take 20 years.

What will happen in 20 years?Zhu Shuren is now 53. If he can live another 20 years, he will be 73—even Confucius died when he lived to 73. This is already the lifespan of a saint.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren knew very well that the comprehensive discipline revision and keeping pace with the times he set for the "Third Seven-Year Plan of Ming Dynasty" would definitely not be completed within seven years, and would have to be delayed.So there is no need to think about the "fourth seven-year plan" in the follow-up, just follow the inertia and see the tricks down, and stabilize the overall direction, and this life will be very good.

However, since the laws were to be revised in an all-round way, the reform of the official system and divisions of the Ming Dynasty also seemed imminent.

Just as the Ming Law is about to separate the civil law from the criminal law, don't you think it's strange that in the future it will be in charge of civil and commercial cases under the name of the "Ministry of Criminal Justice"?

The six-part system adopted by the Ming Dynasty from the Sui and Tang Dynasties has been stumbling for 100 years.If you count from the time when the Eastern Han Dynasty divided Shangshutai into six Cao Caos, it would be 600 years. This way of dividing power is really old and awkward.

There are several government departments, powers and responsibilities are unclear, and everything needs to be resolved urgently.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren suggested that while preparing for the revision of the new law starting this year, the six departments of the Great Ming Center must be re-divided and split.

Zhang Huang said that Fang Yizhi was also in favor of changing this issue, because the Ministry of Industry that Fang Yizhi is currently in charge of is also in chaos. Obviously it is only the Ministry of Industry, but the Academy of Sciences has to be under his control.

This is not counted, because it has been seven or eight years since the establishment of Nanjing University, and Nanjing University mainly focuses on science and engineering, and the education and appointment of students here are mostly managed by the Ministry of Industry.

However, the education work was originally owned by the Ministry of Rites. Many mathematics talents taught by the Ministry of Industry, if they take up financial management positions or go to the taxation department, they will be managed by the household department.

In short, Daming has accumulated too many new things over the years, all of which did not exist when it was divided into six parts.

The little emperor Zhu Ciyu also deeply agrees with this.In the end, the Ming court focused on these issues in the spring and summer of the 15th year of Xiaokang.

While preparing the members of the legislative team for the new law, they discussed the splitting of corresponding departments according to the future work responsibilities of the new law.

After five months of intensive discussions and repeated deduction and running-in.Cabinet finally announced:
The original six parts were split and renamed into ten parts.

The Ministry of Rites is divided into three departments: the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Fan.

The old Ministry of Rites was only responsible for royal affairs and all other etiquette activities of court sacrifices.

The dismantled Ministry of Education is in charge of all education work, regardless of liberal arts and science, all are under the management of the Ministry of Education, and scientific research is also under the management of the Ministry of Education, which is equivalent to the "science, education, culture and health" of later generations.

The vassal department is equivalent to being in charge of diplomatic work in later generations, and the task of "vassal tribute" of the old Ministry of Rites was removed.

The Ministry of War is still the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Officials is still the Ministry of Officials. These two remain unchanged.

The Ministry of Punishment was renamed the Ministry of Justice. From now on, it will not only be in charge of criminal justice, but also civil and commercial disputes. It is just all the judicial work.

The Ministry of Households is split into the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.Needless to say, this finally separates tax collection from household registration management and population management. Those who manage people are in charge of people, and those who manage money are in charge of money.

The Ministry of Industry is split into the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce.Separate the Ministry of Industry's original vehicle and ship construction and transportation authority, and hand it over to a department similar to the Ministry of Commerce of the later generation. The Ministry of Industry itself can add another authority to the planning and management of domestic industrial construction, similar to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of later generations. some functions of the Bureau.

At the same time, the department similar to the Ministry of Commerce that was removed at the same time has authority, and can be in charge of foreign trade import and export, and the development of navigation and colonization. achievement pursuit.Zhu Shuren believes that this demolition will definitely greatly enhance the strength of overseas development work.

Li, Bing, Li, Wen, Fan, Law, People, Finance, Industry, and Commerce.

These ten ministries, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is independent of the ten ministries system, have a total of eleven ministerial-level units. According to the old law, the ministers of each ministry were brought into the cabinet for government discussions, which seemed too bloated. It will also be less efficient.

Moreover, considering that in modern times, the professional span of work is greater, and officials are transferred across departments and systems, it is easy to have the problem of "experts managing experts".

Future officials are not just rotten Confucians who can only read the Four Books and Five Classics. You have to know more and more professional knowledge. In many cases, the ability to work in a position cannot be simply transferred.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren pointed out that we must avoid the problems of "chicken talking with ducks" and "layman directing experts", and we can no longer drag eleven officials at the ministerial level into the cabinet for discussions.

The solution to the final discussion is to set up "cabinet assistant ministers" on top of each ministry, similar to the previous "cabinet assistant ministers", except that there can be three to four cabinet assistant ministers now, and then they are no longer equal. The assistant ministers are random, but the division of labor is clear. Each associate minister is only in charge of a certain number of ministries (similar to the deputy associate ministers of later generations, some are in charge of science, education, culture and health, and some are in charge of foreign affairs)

Four cabinet assistant ministers, the first one is in charge of the three ministries of rites, literature and feudal affairs;
The second in charge of officials, law;

The third is in charge of military affairs and merchants (that is, the foreign maritime colonization and national defense are handed over to the same assistant minister. This is considering that most of the colonization in this era is armed colonization, not peaceful business, and requires force protection)
The fourth is in charge of civil, financial, industrial and internal affairs.

As a result, the head assistant of the cabinet was renamed the "Cabinet Prime Minister", and there were four "Cabinet Assistant Ministers" below the deputies. These four Cabinet Assistant Ministers were in charge of two to three ministerial units.

The existence of eleven Shangshu ranks will no longer directly enter the cabinet in the future.

However, under special circumstances, the Prime Minister or the Associate Minister of the Cabinet will be allowed to directly serve as the secretary of a certain ministry at the same time.In this way, if a minister is also a cabinet minister, he can still join the cabinet to discuss politics.

After the system is finalized, in order to allow a smooth transition to the new system without encountering resistance, the first batch of candidates must naturally be cautious.

In fact, Zhu Shuren himself has not been directly in power at the front desk for many years, and he didn't care about these titles at first, so he wanted Zhang Huangyan to be directly transferred from the chief minister of the cabinet to the prime minister of the cabinet.

But Zhang Huangyan resolutely declined, saying that after the reform, the power of cabinet ministers has actually been improved compared to before.During the critical period of this reform, people who can stand up to the scene are needed to stand on the platform.

In the end, Zhu Shuren, who retired for several years, had no choice but to act as the first Prime Minister of Ming Dynasty first.Stand for this post and increase the confidence of people all over the world.

He didn't care, but the people all over the world forced him to calm people's hearts, and he couldn't help it.

After Zhu Shuren, the four cabinet assistant ministers (in order of ranking, the higher the power, the higher the power) are:
Zhang Huangyan, First Assistant Minister of the Cabinet, in charge of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Law;
Fang Yizhi, the Second Assistant Minister of the Cabinet, is in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
The third assistant minister of the cabinet, Zheng Chenggong, is in charge of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Commerce;
Gu Yanwu, the fourth assistant minister of the cabinet, is in charge of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Fan.

The above-mentioned adjustments to the power structure were finally completed within 15 years of Xiaokang.The various ministries and teams have also taken advantage of the trend to complete the split and reorganization, new manpower should be added, and professional talents should be introduced.Everything went very well.

(End of this chapter)