Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1410, the problem of official administration

"Your Majesty Shengming~"

Emperor Hongzhi has made a final decision, and now that the city size and population of Daming are increasing, it is indeed necessary to make corresponding changes. Liu Jin's proposal fully meets the current requirements, and the officials will naturally have nothing to say. Opinions, shouted in unison.

"Your Majesty, during the Chinese New Year, the army cooperated with the factory guards to crack down on the main roads and cities in various places in Ming Dynasty again, sweeping away road bandits and bullies, and cracking down on black shops on the roads, etc."

After discussing the reform of the government system, Zhang Mao stood up and talked about the implementation of the anti-crime and evil during the Chinese New Year.

"Well, how are things going?"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly. He also attached great importance to this matter. Now that he heard Zhang Mao's report, he also asked.

"Your Majesty, after half a month of campaigning against gangsters and bullies, a total of [-] road bandits and bullies have been wiped out, and more than [-] black shops have been cracked down on, fully guaranteeing the personal and property safety of migrant workers returning home during the annual leave. "

Zhang Mao took out a memorial and reported it in detail.

This time, the campaign against gangsters and black stores was very intensive, because the factory guards and the army were mobilized. The factory guards provided accurate information, and the army directly used thunderbolts to mop up.

Basically all the road bandits and bullies were wiped out. The main criminal was shot on the spot, and the accomplices were basically sent into exile. As for the black shops, they were also wiped out.

"However, when we carried out the anti-crime and evil operations, we also discovered many problems."

"First of all, many of the road bandits and bullies that appear now are formed by local clan forces. The entire gang has the same surname, or people from the same township."

"Secondly, the imperial court has issued repeated orders, requiring the government offices and post stations along the route to provide free hot water and cheap board and lodging for migrant workers returning to their hometowns during their annual vacations. For this reason, the imperial court also allocated special funds to various places."

"However, during the implementation process, we found that many local governments and post stations not only did not follow the requirements of the imperial court, but took the opportunity to force passers-by to spend at high prices."

"There are still some local officials who even completely disregarded the imperial government's decrees, and did not set up places or post stations that provide free hot water and cheap board and lodging at all."

"In addition, the formation of many road bandits and bullies has a lot to do with the inaction of local governments in various places. Some local governments know that there are such road bandits and bullies in their territory, but they ignore them, so that these small-timers become more and more rampant. , arrogant."

Listening to Zhang Mao's words, Emperor Hongzhi and everyone couldn't help frowning.

The problems that Zhang Mao responded to were some of the deep-rooted problems of Ming Dynasty, such as clan power, which has existed since ancient times.

The imperial power does not go to the countryside, and all the affairs of the local towns are basically controlled by the power of the local clan. This has not changed since ancient times.

Only after the vigorous land reforms were carried out in later generations can the basis of local clan power be truly disintegrated and this matter be considered resolved.

However, the inaction of the local government was something that Emperor Hongzhi and the court officials present could not accept.

The imperial power does not go to the countryside, but it does not mean that the imperial power does not leave the imperial city.

The imperial decrees of the emperor and the government orders of the imperial court must be communicated from top to bottom and have the ability to execute, so that they can truly control the entire huge empire and let the entire huge empire operate according to the will of the above.

"Your Majesty, I have related matters here."

Liu Jin also stood up. Speaking of this matter, Liu Jin felt that it was necessary for him to talk about some problems in the administration of officials at the Ming Dynasty.

"Oh, tell me~"

Emperor Hongzhi raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at Liu Jin and said.

"Your Majesty, since the Minister took charge of the Ministry of Officials, he has implemented the reform of the administration of officials and the assessment system, and used data indicators to assess whether officials have done anything, including population growth, taxation growth, arable land cultivation, public infrastructure construction, and many other indicators."

"Under the new assessment system, the tax revenue of the Ming treasury has increased year by year, the number of roads, dams, canals, reservoirs, bridges, etc. getting richer."

"However, in the process of implementation, some officials are still sitting on a vegetarian diet and doing nothing. At the same time, their ideas are outdated and backward, unable to adapt to the changes and development of the times. They still pursue the old concept of governance by doing nothing. Learn, don't think about making progress."

Liu Jin also felt a little helpless.

Although he said that he was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, known as a heavenly official, and was in charge of the appointment, removal and promotion of officials all over the world. It is decided after consultation between the cabinet and the bureaucracy.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, came up with a system of using the small to control the big. To put it simply, that is, small officials can actually ignore your big officials. All officials are afraid of Liu Jin, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

If it is the other five departments, officials from all over the country may not be able to ignore you. Under the system and tradition of using the small to control the big, even a fifth-rank censor can overthrow the dignified first-rank cabinet ministers.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, party disputes were serious. The Donglin party members were best at using censors and eloquent officials to impeach the big bosses of their hostile parties. The censors and eloquent officials were generally small officials of the fifth and fourth ranks, but the result was It was the important officials who repeatedly defeated the court who were overthrown.

Such a system has been implemented for more than a hundred years. When Liu Jin carried out the reform of the administration of officials and implemented the assessment system, many officials did not take it seriously at all.

Even too many, too many officials kept impeaching Liu Jin because of this restructuring and assessment system. Emperor Hongzhi had a special room everywhere to prevent those memorials to impeach important officials in the court, among which Liu Jin was the most impeached.

These systems and assessment systems formulated by Liu Jin must be difficult for these officials and lords.

In the past, they only needed to drink tea and try cases, and they could live a comfortable life. What they need to do is to use money to pave the way, open up the joints above, and then get more officials from the same year, classmate, classmate, fellow villager, etc. Communication, communication, natural promotion is not a problem.

But now, let alone the issue of promotion, they have a lot to do under the assessment system alone.

We should be concerned about population growth, and we should organize the local gentry and ordinary people to build roads, reservoirs, dams, bridges, etc. if they have money, and if they have power, they will contribute.

We need to collect more taxes, because the increase in tax revenue is also one of the important indicators of assessment, and tax collection can easily offend local gentry, rich clans, businessmen, etc., but they still need to organize infrastructure construction together.

In short, under the new system, the life of these officials has become much more difficult, and they are not as chic and comfortable as before.

When I was an official before, it was impossible for me to collect taxes.

To collect taxes is to steal people's wealth, which not only ruins one's own reputation, but also offends the local squires. If an official offends the local squires, it will be really difficult to do.

Therefore, in the past, before the tax reform was carried out, the annual tax payment of the Ming court was less than three million taels of silver, and no one would believe it.

You must know that the annual tax and silver of any port is calculated at one million taels. For large ports, such as Tianjin Port and Songhu Port, the annual tax and silver are at the level of tens of millions of taels.

In the past, being an official was easy and comfortable, and the small life was comfortable, drinking poetry and enjoying the moon, and would not offend the local gentry, but now, life is very sad, busy, and there are many things, and it is natural to offend these local gentry. Have a hard time, toss!
Therefore, there are many officials who constantly assess Liu Jin, and many officials simply don't bother to pay attention to these assessments formulated by Liu Jin. Whatever you do, keep doing what you should do anyway.

On this point, those high-ranking officials above the fourth rank are the most uncooperative with Liu Jin, because their official positions are high-ranking, and promotion is not decided by the Ministry of Officials. It also needs to go through the cabinet. Some officials of the third and second ranks , even more so.

Liu Jin is also very helpless at times. The promotion, appointment and removal of local officials is what he says, but when it comes to high-level officials, it is not so easy for him to make a move.

This can easily lead to the inability to thoroughly implement the policies formulated by oneself. After all, the officials in the officialdom are inextricably linked. This is especially true for officials at the same level. They have students and old officials all over the world, and they think clearly about what they want to do.

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.

He knew about this matter. He knew how many people opposed Liu Jin's official reform and assessment system. He knew how many memorials were written to impeach Liu Jin. Liu Jin's position as Minister of Officials was not that good. sitting.

But the most important thing to govern the world is to govern the officials, because I govern the world by controlling these officials. If the officials are not obedient and do not act, then no matter how many ideas I have, I will not be able to realize them.

This is the importance of official governance.

In the past, before the restructuring and the implementation of the assessment system, officials would sit in their positions and do nothing. Many times, the imperial decree would not leave the capital. Can only stare blankly.

Ever since Liu Jin reformed the system and implemented the assessment system, Emperor Hongzhi could clearly feel that the Ming court’s decrees were running more smoothly, and local officials were more active and willing to do some practical things, such as building bridges and roads, building dams, building reservoirs, and coordinating The tax office collects local taxes and so on.

(End of this chapter)