Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1409, changing with the times
"Your Majesty, I think that what Liu Jin said is indeed the time for reform."

"The size and population of the capital are growing day by day, and the original establishment of Shuntian Prefecture can no longer meet the needs of urban management in the capital. There are hundreds of cases that need to be tried every day."

"There are routine civil cases, as well as a large number of criminal cases and commercial trade cases."

"In addition, the expansion of the city's scale, the surge in population, and the emergence of a large number of factories, workshops, commercial firms, etc., all of which require the government to carry out corresponding regulations and management."

"The traditional yamen structure has been unable to meet and adapt to the needs of new big cities."

Liu Jian pondered for a while, stood up and said.

His attitude is very clear, that is, he feels that what Liu Jin said is indeed necessary to reform the system. Over the past few years, capitalism has developed rapidly in Daming, and factories, workshops, and commercial firms have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

The consequence is that the population began to slowly concentrate in the cities, and the cities became larger and more densely populated.

If it weren't for Liu Jin's awareness of the emergence of these problems in advance and some planning in advance, many major events and problems would have occurred in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

Liu Jin is very clear that no matter which country is industrializing and urbanizing, it will encounter many problems in ancient and modern times.

Historically, when the British carried out the industrial revolution, a large number of people concentrated in the city, making the city extremely dirty and messy. At the same time, a large number of people formed a large number of slums because they had no housing, gangs were rampant, and many other problems.

On this point, even in the 21st century, there are still a lot of them.

At the same time, in the early stage of capitalist development, it was believed that the excessive exploitation and squeeze of capitalists led to the rapid development of many labor movements, social turmoil, and so on.

In addition, there are many accompanying problems such as environmental pollution, medical health, traffic congestion and so on.

Liu Jin knew about these problems, so he made a lot of preparations in advance.

In Beijing and Tianjin, a large amount of land is in the hands of Liu Jin, so Liu Jin plans and builds these lands intensively. The planned industrial areas and factories can be rented out, and they are all equipped with dormitory buildings, so that housing can be solved. Coupled with the development of real estate, the problem of housing can be solved very well, so that there will not be a large number of slums.

In addition, the statutory holidays were enacted early, and related relatively complete laws were formulated to protect the rights and rest of workers, and they took the industries under their command as representatives and examples to fully guarantee the freedom and rights of workers.

Vigorously open new schools and hospitals, etc., provide basic education, medical services, etc. Under these policies, the Beijing-Tianjin area, including Songhu, the three rapidly developing cities, will not have any major problems.

Otherwise, if we look at the development history of the Europeans, let alone the current population of several million people, even when the population exceeds one million, many big problems will appear in these big cities.

Cities in Europe are not large in scale, and a city with a population of [-] is considered a big city.

But even in a city with a population of only [-], it still stinks, is extremely dirty, has extremely poor traffic, and is extremely chaotic at the same time.

In comparison, the cities on the Ming side are much cleaner and tidier. Even the capital city with a population of one million is much cleaner and tidier than European cities.

Liu Jin made a lot of preparations in advance for these.

The development of capitalism and the industrialization brought about by the appearance of the steam engine will inevitably lead to the development of urbanization, and various new problems will arise.

Up to now, the population of the capital has exceeded [-] million people, and various problems have emerged. It has come to the time when the official planning must be carried out.

"Your Majesty, the capital, Tianjin, Songhu, and Nanjing of my Ming Dynasty all have a population of more than one million, and the population of the capital and Tianjin is even more than five million~"

"Songhu and Nanjing, although the current population is only three million, are developing rapidly, and it is estimated that they will soon exceed five million~"

"At the same time, there is a trend in all parts of Ming Dynasty. The population is concentrated in cities. Whether it is a small county town, or a state capital or a provincial capital, the size and population of the city are constantly expanding."

"Problems similar to those in the capital have appeared in many places, but because of the government structure in various places, the management of major cities can't keep up, so that many cities have become chaotic."

"I believe that what Liu Jin said has indeed reached the point where changes must be made."

"The setting of the government structure should be changed in real time according to the existing situation, in order to achieve the purpose of maintaining social stability and protecting the stability of the people."

Li Dongyang also stood up and expressed his attitude.

The things Liu Jin mentioned were all things that were going to be faced now or were about to be faced. He pointed out the current affairs, pointed out the things that Ming Dynasty would face, and put forward corresponding policies.

It is natural to support.

At this time, the advantage of the Ming Dynasty is here, and the party forces have not grown stronger. Unlike the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the party disputes are serious. In many cases, policies that are obviously beneficial to the country are met with hostility because of the differences between the parties. The opposition and obstruction of the parties made it impossible to change and remedy the problems of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the current Emperor Hongzhi is in power by himself, and at the same time he is willing to discuss matters with the ministers. This is a very good relationship between the monarchy and the prime minister. power struggle.

Generally speaking, in such an environment, policies and suggestions that are beneficial to Daming can basically be effectively implemented, which is why Liu Jin's success in proposing many reforms has been successful.

This is exactly what was expected to be difficult to achieve in other dynasties during the Hongzhi Dynasty.

"With the expansion of the city and the surge in population, it is indeed necessary to change the structure of the government. However, if the changes are made according to the memorial written by Liu Jin, will there be redundant officials?"

"In addition, the establishment of more yamen and officials, officials, yamen servants, etc. will inevitably increase the corresponding financial expenditure."

Hubu Shangshu Zhong Zhong thought about it and stood up and said.

What he is most worried about is that after there are more officials, the government's expenditure will increase. After all, he was poor before, and now he has not been rich for a few years. The money in the treasury is still very precious.

"Adding more yamen, setting up more officials, and increasing officials and yamen servants will definitely increase fiscal expenditures, but compared with the needs of urban development, these are all necessary."

"What's more, we set it according to the population size of the city. For cities that do not reach a certain population size, there is naturally no need to make relevant changes."

"As for the phenomenon of redundant officials, there is no need to worry about it. At present, the number of officials in my Ming Dynasty is still relatively small, and the people accumulated over the years have all been appointed as officials."

Liu Jin thought about it and replied.

There is no way around this. The problem now is that there are too many things. The number of officials, bureaucrats, yamen servants, etc. is too small to manage the increasingly large cities and population. Restructuring must be carried out. The easiest way is to increase Number of officials, bureaucrats, etc.

"According to what you wrote above, set up six yamen, the Police Bureau, the Taxation Bureau, the Litigation Bureau, the Health Bureau, the Industry and Commerce Bureau, and the Education Bureau, to divide the affairs of the original yamen."

"Is the Health Bureau a bit redundant?"

Xie Qian thought for a while and said.

"No, I don't think the Health Bureau is superfluous at all. On the contrary, it should be given high priority."

"When smallpox broke out in the Aztec Kingdom and the Inca Empire on the Golden Continent, everyone should still remember that a huge city became a dead zone almost overnight due to an epidemic."

"Our Daming's city scale is larger than theirs, and the population is even larger. Once the population is too concentrated, the speed of the spread of various diseases will be beyond imagination."

"In addition to developing advanced medical technology, we should attach great importance to this matter at the government level."

"For example, strict management of urban sanitation is strictly prohibited. Littering, littering, etc. are strictly prohibited. At the same time, garbage is dealt with in a centralized manner, and tap water, public toilets, etc. are built."

"The other thing is to promote vaccinia to prevent smallpox virus, etc., to prevent the emergence of various diseases as much as possible, and to take effective measures to remedy the diseases that appear in a timely manner."

"This is the matter of the Health Bureau, and it is also very important!"

Liu Jin shook his head again and again and said, the Health Bureau is too important, how could it be redundant.

"Hmm~"

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi and the others nodded straightly.

The events of the Aztec Kingdom and the Inca Empire are still fresh in everyone's memory. It is said that the smallpox epidemic that year reduced the population of these two huge empires by half.

If Daming hadn't dispatched a large number of medical staff to the Golden Continent in time, and used the method of vaccinia vaccination to prevent the spread and spread of the smallpox virus, these two huge empires might have completely disappeared.

Thinking about the history of the Black Death in Europe is even more chilling.

In medieval Europe, a black death almost wiped out the big cities in Europe, killing tens of millions of people, so much so that until now, Europeans have changed their faces when they talked about the black death.

"Just follow the suggestion put forward by Liu Jin. Of course, the specific situation needs to be done and analyzed in detail, and continuous improvement and supplement can also be carried out later."

"The duty of the government is to guard one side and maintain the stability of one side. Since it can no longer meet the needs, it must be changed."

Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a while and made a final decision.

(End of this chapter)