I want to be emperor

Chapter 758
After the inspection in Xuzhou, Luo Zhixue's imperial special train continued to move north, left Jiangbei and entered the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong.

There is a big difference between the Yanzhou Mansion during the Great Chu Empire and the Yanzhou Mansion during the Ming Dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, Yanzhou Prefecture was very large, with 23 counties under the jurisdiction of Jining, Dongping, Cao, and Yizhou. The Great Chu Empire first continued the old Ming system, but later the Great Chu Empire reformed the prefectures and transferred all the prefectures The states were successively upgraded to provincial states, and the jurisdictions between the state capitals were adjusted.

Later, some of the provinces and prefectures with large areas, large populations, and relatively large economic aggregates were upgraded to prefectures.

For example, the Heyuan area, where Wang Tu worked, has gone through this process. At first, it continued the Ming system and governed one prefecture and ten counties. Later, Lianping Prefecture and Longcun County were merged into Fuli Prefecture and Heyuan Prefecture. Later, Heyuan Prefecture was changed to Provincial Lizhou. Separated from Huizhou Prefecture.

Later, Heyuan Prefecture was promoted to Heyuan Prefecture. During this process, Wang Tu also took a ride, from a fifth-rank prefecture affiliated to the prefecture, quickly promoted from a fourth-rank provincial affiliated prefecture, and then quickly promoted to The magistrate of the fourth rank.

Yanzhou Prefecture has also undergone similar jurisdictional adjustments, and the four subordinate prefectures have been promoted to provincial prefectures one after another, leaving only ten counties.

Immediately afterwards, the four provinces and prefectures successively merged with counties under other state capitals, and were finally upgraded to prefectures.

During the same period, the other five prefectural institutions in Shandong also carried out some adjustments. After some adjustments, Shandong also expanded from the previous six prefectures to twelve prefectures.

Similar situations also occurred in other provinces, not alone.

Although the methods may be different, the purpose is the same, that is, to expand the prefectures under the jurisdiction of a province from the single digits in the past to more than ten prefectures.

And cancel the prefectural and provincial prefectures that cannot go up or down.

Because according to years of research by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, if the area at the prefectural level is too large, it will be difficult for the magistrate to effectively govern all areas, and it is easy to ignore the head and the tail, leading to serious imbalances in local development.

For example, many prefects tend to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in areas under their jurisdiction that are easier to develop economically in order to gain political achievements in the development of local areas, but they will neglect other areas, especially remote mountainous areas.

At the same time, I also think that if a provincial governor's office only manages a single-digit mansion, it seems to have spare capacity and is redundant...

Therefore, after many years of research by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, around 15 years ago in Chengshun, the administrative reform plan to change the prefectures from Fuzhou to provincial prefectures was promoted. Adjustments, and ultimately the establishment of more government-level administrative agencies, and the complete abolition of provincial-level prefectures and prefectural-level prefectures in the process.

This entire process, also known as "abolishing the state and setting up the government", lasted for more than ten years before it was finally completed.

Now it has led to the current administrative structure of the provinces under the Great Chu Empire, which is very different from that of the Ming Dynasty. Basically, each province has more than ten prefectures, and provinces with large areas and large populations have more prefectures. A province with a small area and a small population has fewer prefectures.

As a result, the local administrative structure of the Great Chu Empire changed from the more complex local administrative organization of province-prefecture/provincial prefecture-county/prefectural prefecture (there are several counties under the prefecture)-town-village .

It has become a province-prefecture-county-town-village, with a total of five levels of administrative agencies, one level deducted by one level, simple and clear.

It's not like before, when you talk about Zhizhou, you don't know whether he is from the Zhizhou of the fourth-rank province, or the Zhizhou of the fifth-rank Fuzhou.

At the same time, in order to solve the problem that the promotion channels of local Shangzheng five-rank officials were interrupted due to the disappearance of a large number of prefectures and prefectures, and because the affairs of the local institutions of the Great Chu Empire were more complicated than those of the previous dynasty, they were more detailed. Well, the Great Chu Empire also added a number of regular fifth-rank officials in the first-level yamen of the government.

As for those who know the province from the fourth rank, this level is also the level of the same magistrate of each prefecture, and it is also the level of the deputy directors of the provincial governor's yamen, so there will be no problem of interruption of promotion channels.

Up to now, the officials of the Great Chu Empire on the ground have covered all grades from the second rank and below. From top to bottom, there are governors from the second rank, political envoys from the third rank, envoys from the third rank, and political participation from the third rank.

He is the director of each department of Zhengsipin and the prefect of the prefecture.

From the deputy directors of each department of Sipin, the magistrates and judges of all prefectures
Zhengwupin has the directors of various departments under the provincial department and the officials promoted by each government.

From Wupin, there are deputy directors of various places, directors of various prefectures, and magistrates of various counties.

That's right, now in the Great Chu Empire, the rank of magistrates is from the fifth rank, which is further improved from the sixth rank in the founding period.

The Great Chu Empire has always attached great importance to the authority of grassroots officials. When the country was founded, the rank of magistrates was positioned as the sixth rank, which was directly raised by two levels from the traditional seventh rank.

In the follow-up continuous reform, the Ministry of Staff Affairs of the Great Chu Empire believed that for most counties, the rank of the county magistrates who are the sixth rank is still low, because this rank is lower than that of the fifth rank directors in various prefectures. Even lower... This is obviously inappropriate.

For this reason, when Chengshun was more than ten years old, he successively promoted the grades of magistrates in some large counties and upper-class counties, and later expanded the scope to middle-class counties and then to lower-class counties.

In the 28th year of Chengshun, the overall adjustment of the ranks of magistrates in various places has basically been completed. Now all the magistrates in the Great Chu Empire, except for a few promoted officials from various prefectures, and appointed as fifth-rank officials, the other magistrates are from the fifth rank. .

Below the fifth rank is the sixth rank. This rank is the rank of the deputy directors of various places in the government, the ranks of the county magistrates, and the masters of each county.

From the sixth grade, it is the grade of many pawns in each county.

The seven grades are the grades of the town magistrates, and the grades of the chiefs of the counties.

From Qipin, the deputy directors of various places in the county, the ranks of Xie Town and Hui Town.

Further down, it is the most basic level of Zhengbapin, the chiefs of various departments under the county department, and the chiefs of various departments in the township are at this level

From the eighth grade, this is the rank of the deputy section chiefs of the county departments and the deputy section chiefs of the township departments.

The lower ranks of Zhengjiu and Congjiu do not have leadership positions, and they all belong to the ranks of ordinary staff.

It is worth noting that many ordinary staff members, whether they are at the grassroots level or in the capital city, will have high-level staff members. Generally speaking, the grade of staff members who are not chief officials can reach the fourth rank at most.

This kind of high-level staff generally appears in high-level executives who are old and in poor health, so they retreat to the second line. This kind of person is very special, and they belong to the group who only get paid and do nothing... They just come here Those who are old-age will retire as soon as the retirement age is reached.

There are also some high-level officials who are unwilling to serve in the local area. They have to work in the provincial capital or the capital because of their connections, or they have made mistakes or other things. The degree of dismissal, for these people, is often to retain the grade, and then demoted to ordinary staff.

Some people can't stand it and will resign and go home directly, but some thick-skinned people, or some people who hope to get back up again, will become a small section member with a high-level status. This kind of person is very special. Very few, not mainstream.

The mainstream is still those who have gradually raised their grades through qualifications.

Because according to the official regulations of the Great Chu Empire, ordinary staff can be promoted every ten years even if they have no merit or fault. Suppose a young scholar becomes an official at the age of 20 and ranks as the rank nine. Don't make mistakes if you do meritorious deeds, and no one appreciates you and can't climb up.

Even if he will take the path of most officials, he will be promoted to the ninth rank at the age of 30, the eighth rank at the age of 40, the eighth rank at the age of 50, and the seventh rank at the age of 60. You can become an official with the highest rank, and enjoy the retirement treatment from Qipin.

This kind of promotion is only for rank promotion but not for position, and the salary will not go there much, because the salary of the officials of the Great Chu Empire is divided into two parts: grade salary and job salary, and the big part is still in the job salary!
The Ministry of Official Affairs and the Finance Department are not stupid, how can you let you spend your whole life at the seventh rank, and then still receive the salary of the chief official of the seventh rank and the retirement salary.

Don't even think about such a good thing!

The salaries of officials in the Great Chu Empire are high, which refers to chief officials with management positions. Again, you have to have the title of deputy section chief, right?

Otherwise, ordinary staff members can earn high salaries through their age, and the finances will not have to go bankrupt!

You must know that the number of officials in the Great Chu Empire is very large, among which the number of ordinary staff accounts for the vast majority.

No matter what it is, once the base number comes up, it will eventually evolve into a huge number.

Therefore, the financial personnel of the Great Chu Empire have always strictly controlled the salary levels of officials, so as to avoid excessive salary levels leading to the collapse of local and even Gyeonggi finances.

Because of the existence of high-level staff members, in order to avoid the situation that the rank of the staff members is higher than that of the deputy section chief, the high-level staff members will also be transferred to work in departments with higher ranks as chief officers.

There will never be a situation where an ordinary staff member can rely on his higher grade to scold his boss.

The official system of the Great Chu Empire started from the time of the Funiu Mountain Officials Office, and it has been 30 years now, and various rules and regulations have been quite perfect.

In this way, the political structure and official system of the contemporary Great Chu Empire were formed.

It can't be said to be good, but it can only be said that with the changes of the times and the improvement of productivity.After continuous improvement, it barely adapted to the post-industrialized Great Chu Empire.

The changes in a series of jurisdictions and administrative institutions of Yanzhou Prefecture are a microcosm of the reform of the local administrative structure of the Great Chu Empire and the changes in the official system.

In the Great Chu Empire, almost all changes in local administrative institutions can be seen in Yanzhou Mansion.

——

After Luo Zhixue and the imperial train entered Yanzhou Prefecture, they passed through Yi County, Teng County, and Qiu County all the way, and finally arrived at Zhiziyang, Yanzhou Prefecture.

When passing through the three counties before, although Luo Zhixue did not get off the train to inspect, but the train was refueling with coal and water at Ze County Hanzhuang Railway Station and Teng County Railway Station, so Luo Zhixue took advantage of this time and spent a few minutes to meet the trainees. The magistrate of two counties.

This is also Luo Zhixue's usual practice when passing through some small places, especially those county towns.

When the train was adding coal and water, people did not get off the train, but spent a few simple minutes in the train to meet the local chief officials.

It's okay if you don't see each other, but it's not necessary. Anyway, the train needs to stop to refill coal and water, so it's not a big problem to spend a few minutes meeting each other.

The technical level of trains these days is still not good, even if the latest Guangsan series locomotives are used for the imperial special class, the overall battery life is still not good.

The passenger trains pulled by the Guangsan locomotive in normal operation need to add coal and fresh water once more than 100 kilometers on plain terrain. If it is on terrain that requires climbing, the cruising distance will be shortened by dozens of kilometers.

The heavy-duty freight train has a shorter cruising distance.

This is also the reason why the railway lines of the Great Chu Empire often require a railway station at intervals of tens of kilometers, and sometimes railway stations are still set up in some remote and uninhabited areas... not for the purpose of getting on and off passengers, but for Add coal and water.

Of course, you can also carry more coal and fresh water from the beginning, or use light loads to increase endurance, but the cost of commercial operation will be higher.

The imperial special train is a train that carries more coal and fresh water, but in order to prevent accidents and avoid various accidents, it still stops at intervals of tens of kilometers to add coal and fresh water.

So you can also see the imperial special train of the Great Chu Empire and other accompanying trains, which basically stop to add coal and water after running for dozens of kilometers.

But it will start again soon and move on.

After all, there are mechanical equipment for adding coal and water in the railway station, and it is very convenient and fast to add coal and water.

When passing Qiu County, the imperial special train did not stop but passed directly, and then arrived at Yanzhou Mansion and stopped.

However, Luo Zhixue still had no plans to conduct a public inspection in Yanzhou Mansion. He still met local officials such as the prefect of Yanzhou Mansion and the magistrate of Qiu County in the imperial carriage. He left Yanzhou Mansion at about noon and continued north to Tai'an Mansion.

After receiving the local officials of Tai'an Prefecture on the train as usual, the imperial special train went straight to Jinan Prefecture.

Jinan Prefecture was Luo Zhixue's third inspection city.

The first stop is Fengyang, the second stop is Xuzhou, the third stop is Jinan, and Tianjin, Youzhou, Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, Liaodong and other cities will follow.

Luo Zhixue didn't say that he would get off the car to inspect the cities along the way, generally only provincial capitals or important cities, and cities with special significance would get off the car and stop for a day or several days.

In the small cities along the way, basically, when the train stops to add coal and water, it simply meets the local officials, listens to the report and is done.

After all, although the train ride is fast, it’s just that... The average speed of trains these days is only forty to fifty kilometers per hour, but it can’t be compared with the trains of later generations.

It is impossible for Luo Zhixue to spend a lot of time in some small cities on the road.

In the evening of the same day, the imperial special train, which traveled nearly [-] kilometers, arrived at Jinan Railway Station.

When the imperial special train arrived, the Shandong chief envoy, procuratorate envoy, and local officials who participated in politics all went to the train station to greet them.

As for the governor of Shandong, he is more of a thief. He had already arrived at Hanzhuang Railway Station in Zexian County in the south of Shandong Province and waited... The imperial train had just entered Shandong, and when the coal and water were being added to Hanzhuang Railway Station, he had already met with Luo Zhixue. , and went north along with the Queen's special train.

However, this can be regarded as a routine operation, and many officials will choose to do this: wait and greet at the train station along the way in advance.

This is to follow the tradition of going out of town to meet benefits.

It's just that when traveling by train now, the traditional out-of-town greeting is a bit difficult to do, after all, the distance between train stations is tens of kilometers at every turn.

This means that the level of officials is not enough. If the railway line in the jurisdiction does not have multiple railway stations, it is really impossible to do this kind of thing like traveling tens of kilometers ahead to meet people.

As for you running to the wilderness by yourself, dozens of kilometers away from the city, to meet him in a place without a train station...

The imperial special train will not even stop... If you dare to go forward to chase, the guards on the marching column can shoot you a round of guns on the spot.

After arriving at the train station, Luo Zhixue chose to stay at the local Jinan Palace, which was originally the Dewang Palace in the Ming Dynasty.

When the Chu Army captured Jinan in the Northern Expedition in the past, the Dewang Palace did not suffer much damage. Therefore, Luo Zhixue once used it as a temporary palace during the Northern Expedition, and called it the Jinan Palace. The battle of Shandong and North Zhili.

After the end of the Northern Expedition, it has been protected and repaired by the Zongwu Mansion as a temporary palace, and has not been abandoned.

This is also one of the few royal palaces in the Great Chu Empire that has been preserved and repaired in the name of a palace for a long time.

After staying here, when Luo Zhixue saw the unchanged Jinan Palace, he recalled the scenes of commanding a series of Northern Expeditions here.

(End of this chapter)