Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 357 Workaround Suggestions

On the second day after accompanying his lovely wife back home, Fan Ning came to Da Nei and started working on official duties.

Apart from reporting his duties and getting married, he still has a lot of chores to deal with when he comes back this time. Kunzhou is not an independent kingdom, and many things must be approved by the court. For example, building a city and opening a mine must be approved by the court, like Fan Ning The third county seat, Jin County, which is planned to be built, is to apply to the Zhizheng Hall, and then approve it step by step. ,
However, Fan Ning is here today to build the military city of Jingzhou, which is of great importance. There will be two military cities built in Jingzhou. The southernmost one laid a solid foundation for the Song army to fully enter Jingzhou.

Tang County, the first county seat in Kunzhou, had to complete the formalities first, and Han County, the second county seat, waited for the formalities to be completed before starting construction. With experience, Fan Ning knew what procedures needed to be completed?

However, the establishment of three counties in Kunzhou is itself the opinion of Zhizhengtang, and it will be automatically approved without Fan Ning running. The key is the military city of Jingzhou. This is the plan proposed by Fan Ning. The application and plan were submitted to the The imperial court, it is said that many important officials in the imperial court raised objections, and they have been put there until Fan Ning reported his work this time, and the emperor personally approved the construction of the army city, and Fan Ning felt hopeful again.

He didn't expect to get it approved before he returned to Kunzhou, but at least he had to let himself know where the application had come.

Fan Ning first came to the Three Envoys' Office. Before Yuanfeng's restructuring, the Three Envoys' Office had always been a functional department of the Song Dynasty. The Six Departments of the Shangshu Province and the temple supervisor were basically empty shelves, and the official positions inside were all official positions in name. In fact, he served as various errands for the third envoy.

The Three Envoys Division is the collective name of the Yantie Division, the Duzhi Division and the Household Department Division. Various applications from all states in the world will be gathered here, and then classified and approved. There are many officials in each ministry, and the organization is bloated and complicated. If it happens, the administrative efficiency is extremely low. If an application is not delayed for two or three years, there will be no news.

Of course, if there is a relationship, the approval will be faster if you ask someone to urge you internally. This should have happened by accident, but now it has gradually become the norm.

The official office of the Sanshisi is the largest official office in the imperial city, covering an area of ​​more than 100 mu. It is divided into three courtyards, and there are countless small courtyards below. The wide range of functions and powers and the complexity of affairs are dazzling.

It can be said that the three ministers in the early Song Dynasty emptied the six ministries and temple supervisors, while the lower ones exercised the power of wealth, while the upper ones were directly responsible to the emperor, and the emperor was thus truly rich in the world.

Fan Ning was well-known, as long as he reported his name, no one would embarrass him. After asking all the way, he quickly found the Ministry of Household Department responsible for building the city.

The case is equivalent to a certain department of a certain bureau, which is a specific functional handling department. The officials here are not high-ranking, but they have a lot of power.

This is a very small courtyard with only five houses in it, but it controls all the construction items in the world.

Fan Ning walked into the yard, hesitated for a while, when a middle-aged official came out and asked, "Who is this official looking for?"

Fan Ning cupped his hands and said, "This is Fan Ning, the magistrate of Kunzhou. I want to ask who is in charge of the construction of the city?"

"It turned out to be Fan Zhizhou, I'm sorry, please follow me!"

Fan Ning followed the official to a house, and the official poked his head in and shouted, "Old Wu, business is here!"

There were four tables in the room, and only one person was seated at the innermost table. The other three tables were all empty, and the tables were rather messy. It seemed that the three officials had gone out temporarily.

The officer inside raised his head and asked, "Are you looking for me?"

"Of course I'm looking for you!"

The middle-aged official smiled at Fan Ning again: "This is the Kongmu officer who is in charge of the construction and repair of the city. His surname is Wu, and he is a member of the Ministry of Industry, Wailang."

Wai Lang, a member of the Ministry of Industry, is only the official position of this official surnamed Wu, but his real job is the Kongmu officer of the Department of Household Affairs, just like Fan Ning's job is the secretary, supervisor, and junior supervisor, but his actual job is the prefect of Kunzhou , has nothing to do with the secretary supervisor.

The officer surnamed Wu looked at Fan Ning, and saw that he was wearing a fifth-rank official robe, and his rank was higher than his own, so he stood up politely and saluted, "Your officer Wu Jun, may I ask what you want from me?"

The small power of officials is a major feature of the officialdom in the Song Dynasty, and it is also for the convenience of the emperor's control. For these officials with small official positions but powerful officials, the senior officials of the court are very polite. .

Fan Ning hurriedly saluted with a smile: "Yuanwailang, you are welcome. I am Fanning from Kunzhou. I am really sorry to bother you!"

Hearing that the official surnamed Wu was somewhat interested in Fan Ning, the famous Kunzhou prefect, he hurriedly replied, "I've heard the name of Fan Zhizhou for a long time, please sit down!"

He moved a chair for Fan Ning to sit down, and said with a smile: "It's also a coincidence, I happened to see an instruction yesterday about the arrangement of Jin County in Kunzhou. Did Zhizhou Fan come here for this matter?"

Although Fan Ning is concerned about the military city, if there is any news from Jin County, he will also pay attention to it.

"Is the establishment of Jin County approved?" Fan Ning asked expectantly.

Wu Jun smiled and did not answer him directly, but took out an application form from the cabinet. This was the application form for the establishment of a county submitted by the Overseas Economic and Strategy Office two years ago. The government will apply on your behalf.

Wu Jun handed the application to Fan Ning, and said with a smile: "Basically, it has been approved, and the last step is the on-site inspection. After the inspection, it will be approved."

Fan Ning felt a little disappointed. The distance to Kunzhou is far away, and there are seasonal restrictions. Doesn't it mean that this trip will be delayed until next year?

"Is this on-site survey necessary? The situation in Kunzhou is special, and Tang County and Han County have no on-site survey. Is it possible for Jin County to do so?"

Wu Jun shook his head, "To be honest, I don't want to go to Kunzhou to investigate, but this time it was requested by Zhizhengtang. It is said that several ministers unanimously passed a resolution to strengthen the constraints on overseas states, so the establishment of Jinzhou The county can no longer follow the power as before, and the site selection, county size, population size, etc. must be reviewed and approved by the imperial court, but the opinion of the state government must also be consulted."

Fan Ning was really helpless. Of course he knew the Zhizhengtang’s decision to restrict the overseas states, and he went to Beijing to report on his work.

Wu Jun could see the helplessness in Fan Ning's eyes. Although he had real power, he would not easily offend high-ranking officials, especially a promising official like Fan Ning. Proper selling of favors would only benefit him.

Wu Jun smiled again and said: "There is a workaround for everything! For example, the site selection is mainly based on the convenience of transportation. The state capital can build the road first, and the final site selection will not be too outrageous. I think the state capital can completely According to my experience, towns are first set up in many places, and then after the approval of the imperial court, the towns are transformed into cities and counties."

Fan Ning nodded thoughtfully, and he asked again: "Apart from the Jin County incident, is there any news about setting up a military city in Jingzhou?"

Wu Jun shook his head, "I don't have any news here, but I know that setting up a military city is much more complicated than a county seat, and it needs to be approved by the Privy Council. Over there, it's called procrastination. It can't be approved within two or three years. If Fan Zhizhou has just applied for it, so don’t count on it for the time being, I still say that there is a workaround for everything.”

Fan Ning was still reminiscing about the words of the Kongmu official after coming out of the case of repairing by the Department of Household Department. There is no government office on the city wall, no county name, and everything else can be no different from the county seat.

This reminded Fan Ning that Mudu Town, his hometown, was surrounded by rivers. There were nearly [-] households in the town. It was clearly a county seat, but administratively it was a town.

The same is true for the military city. The Overseas Economic and Strategy Office has the right to set up a military camp, so it is better to build a slab-style military camp. The various facilities inside are the same as the military city, but it is still a military camp.

After figuring this out, Fan Ning's depression was instantly swept away, and his mood became brighter.

Fan Ning still has a lot of things to do next. He needs to finalize the number of immigrants for the next step, determine the number of gold and silver mines to be mined, determine the size of the Kunzhou garrison, and persuade the officials not to send people to Kunzhou. There are already enough officials in Kunzhou. If there are more people, they can only be sent to Jingzhou, which will definitely offend people. Fan Ning plans to go to Fu Bi for this matter. He is also very opposed to this kind of official going overseas to be gilded , but Fu Bi is not in the capital for the time being, so we will talk about it in two days.

Apart from official matters, another focus of Fan Ning's attention is immigration. Frankly speaking, Fan Ning does not want too many immigrants in Kunzhou. If it is too cold, if there are too many people, it will consume a lot of timber resources. Although Japanese laborers also consume a lot of resources, they are an important resource in themselves.

In the court room of Wen Yanbo, the right minister, the first prime minister with power in the government and the public is listening to Fan Ning's advice.

At Fan Ning's wedding five days ago, this Mr. Wen was not present, but Fan Ning still sent him an invitation. Although the wedding is a private matter, if only Fu Bi and Han Qi are invited and not the others It is really unwise to behave like a gentleman, so the five ministers, including the old one, Pang Ji, and Fan Ning all sent invitations. It was done, so today Wen Yanbo seemed to be in a good mood. First of all, he congratulated Fan Ning on his wedding.

"I can understand your concern. The imperial court also considers Kunzhou as a base for raising horses, but appropriate immigration is still needed. This is the guarantee of Song Dynasty's long-term rule of Kunzhou."

Wen Yanbo speaks very slowly, and he can speak carefully. This is certainly his style of speaking, but in fact it is because he has not considered Fan Ning's suggestion, so he seems a little cautious in his words.

"Then, as the chief official of Kunzhou, do you have any specific suggestions for the imperial court?"

Fan Ning nodded, "I suggest not to exceed [-] households, and the total number of households should not exceed [-]."

Wen Yanbo took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said back, "I will consider your suggestion, but as the suggestion of the chief officer of Kunzhou, I still hope that you will submit a formal written report before leaving."

(End of this chapter)