prosperous age

Chapter 1112 Complex System

Zhang Juzheng did not object to the first thing Wei Guangde wanted to do today. Although he had not made a clear statement yet, that was actually his intention.

If the situation on Ata and Ahai's side is true, it is inevitable that the Ming army in Liaodong will send troops to Honglizhai and Shaji City again.

Improving the capital's environmental sanitation is actually beneficial to everyone.

It's not surprising that the dirtiness and mess in the old city were mainly in the slums and streets, especially in the bustling commercial areas such as the Niuma Market and the Zhushi Street.

Yes, the more prosperous the commercial place is, the more animal power is needed. After all, it is unrealistic to rely on people to transport large amounts of goods.

Then there were herds of cattle and horses on the streets, and naturally the streets were already covered with a thick layer of manure.

It's usually fine, there's nothing wrong when you step on it, it's even a little soft.

But once it rains, it's simply indescribable.

Before, everyone was just used to it. It was the same in all the cities in the Ming Dynasty and even in the world, regardless of the East or the West.

The improvement of the appearance of Western cities actually began in the late 18th century. At that time, Westerners became aware of hygiene and began to build special toilets and garbage dumps in cities, and arranged special people to clean up garbage and feces.

Now that Wei Guangde has come through and realized the problem, he naturally has to solve it.

Well, history will record in the future that civilized China had already begun urban sanitation work in the late 16th century, 200 years ahead of the West.

Wei Guangde said goodbye to Zhang Juzheng's duty room and returned to his own duty room. He immediately sent a note to Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi, asking them to come to the cabinet in the afternoon to discuss matters.

However, when he actually started writing, Wei Guangde was in trouble. It can only be said that he seemed to have thought it was a bit simple before.

In this matter, Wei Guangde identified the main government offices responsible from the beginning, namely Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi, but he forgot the hostile relationship between the two government offices.

Shuntian Prefecture was responsible for managing the administrative affairs of the Beijing area, and had jurisdiction over 5 prefectures, 7 directly-administered counties, and 15 prefecture-level counties.

This position occupies a pivotal position in the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, and its responsibilities are extensive, covering public security, government affairs, judicial affairs and other aspects.

As the highest administrative officer in Beijing, the Shuntian Prefecture Governor was of the third grade and was a civil official. This setting reflected the Ming Dynasty's emphasis on the governance of the capital.

In the Ming Dynasty, the duties of the Shuntian Prefecture Governor were not limited to administrative management, but also included judicial and financial aspects.

For example, Shuntian Prefecture needed to handle criminal and civil cases in the Gyeonggi region, manage financial affairs, and be responsible for certain specific ceremonies and activities, such as welcoming the spring and offering sacrifices to the God of Agriculture.

These duties required the Shuntian prefect to have not only good administrative management skills, but also a certain understanding and ability to handle laws and finances.

The Five Cities Military Command was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Yongle, the Beijing Military Command was established. After Beijing was established as the capital, the Five Cities Military Command was divided into the Central, Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern Five Cities Military Command, which were the sixth-rank offices.

Each of the five yamen had a commander, four deputy commanders, and one clerk, who were responsible for public security, fire bans, and tidying up the streets of Beiqu. They were equivalent to the current Beijing Garrison and Public Security Bureau.

In the imperial era, the capital was the residence of the emperor and had important symbolic significance, political connotations and strategic position. A reasonable institutional setup was of great significance to ensuring the safety and smooth operation of the capital, and therefore it has always been valued by rulers.

The Ming Dynasty imitated the Yuan system and set up the Wucheng Bingmasi as a full-time governance agency in the capital, responsible for catching thieves, inspecting fire incidents, managing markets, cleaning streets and drains, inspecting corpses and injuries, reviewing shop owners, and providing relief to the disaster-stricken and poor.

In fact, whether it was the yamen runners of Shuntian Prefecture or the runners of the two counties of Daxing and Wanping under its jurisdiction, many of their duties overlapped with those of the Wucheng Bingmasi.

Not only that, in addition to Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi, there are also Jinyiwei and the East and West Factories that appear from time to time in Beijing. Everyone is actually responsible for the security of the capital.

Wei Guangde held the pen and thought for a long time, but he didn't know what to do.

Now the Five Cities Military Affairs Department is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, but the actual management power is in the hands of the city inspectors.

Even though the Censor is only of the seventh rank, he can still supervise the commanders of the sixth rank.

In addition, there is also the issue of factory guards. It seems that they also collect membership fees on the street.

Wei Guangde knew about this kind of money when he first arrived in the capital. Although commercial taxes were low in the Ming Dynasty, the expenses for merchants were not light.

But for merchants in the old city, they had to pay tribute to the Jinyiwei, the county government and the Bingmasi according to the rules, otherwise their business would be difficult.

Of course, if one has a strong background, such as the membership fees to the military department and the county government, they can just refuse to pay. They are intimidated by the people behind the merchants and dare not do anything.

In addition, digging ditches and repairing canals seemed to involve the Ministry of Works. Wei Guangde knew that there was a Street Office under the Ministry of Works, which seemed to be doing the same thing.

All of the above can only mean that in this era, although China has a thousand-year history, it still has not formed a simple and effective management method for its increasingly large cities.

In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing had a large population and a vast area, and public security issues were a real headache for the imperial court.

Over the past hundred years, the number of government offices and people involved in public security and civil affairs management has gradually increased, including the government offices of Shuntian Prefecture, Wanping, and Daxing counties, the Five Cities Military Command, the City Patrolling Censors, as well as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Patrol Battalion, the Ministry of Works, and the Street Office, and the relationship between departments is complicated.

Well, now Wei Guangde finally remembered that there seemed to be something about the Ministry of Industry.

Just think about it, the sanitation work in Beijing alone involves the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, the Censorate and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It is no wonder that for more than a hundred years, the capital of the Ming Dynasty still used the foundation of the city built during the reign of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, involving too many government offices and covering too wide a range.

Even if some people below realize that there is something to be done here, they will back off as soon as they think about it carefully, because it is difficult to coordinate the people involved.

Not to mention anything else, even he, a deputy prime minister of the cabinet, felt overwhelmed and at a loss as to where to start when he really started to deal with this matter, let alone others.

What the hell is this?
It is no wonder that when the invaders entered Beijing, they were able to mobilize the people to work on sanitation with just one order. The organization of the occupying forces was simple, and all they had to do was a word from the commander.

They don't have time to meet with any corresponding departments, and they are under martial law.

However, if this kind of thing were to be done by the imperial court, it would be very troublesome, as it would require coordination among several departments.

Wei Guangde thought for a long time and finally decided that the matter should be handed over to Shuntian Prefecture, with the officials from Daxing and Wanping counties under Shuntian Prefecture being responsible for the specific implementation.

We cannot use the Five Cities Military Department. First, the Military Department looks like a government office, but it is divided into five parts: east, south, west, north and center. It is actually not easy to coordinate. Although there is a nobleman commanding these five commanders, there is still a layer between them.

Moreover, the rank of the commander of the military department is too low after all, and it is a military position. What is the use of a sixth-rank military position?

The Shuntian Prefecture Governor was different. He was a third-rank official and could be considered the real power in the capital. However, due to the gathering of powerful people, the position of Shuntian Prefecture Governor had always been notoriously difficult to hold.

With the Shuntian prefect in charge of the capital's sanitation, it will be easier to implement it in other places in the future.

At the local level, the people responsible for this matter are naturally the prefects and county magistrates, as there are not as many government offices there as in the capital.

There are six departments in the prefectural and county governments that connect with the six ministries. The sanitation work can be carried out with just a word from the magistrate.

It's not like the capital, where there are too many mothers-in-law. Wei Guangde sat in his seat and thought about it carefully. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it should be so.

The Street Office of the Ministry of Works was under the command of both the Ministry of Works and Shuntian Prefecture, so the governor of Shuntian Prefecture could coordinate the work of street ditches in the capital, while the two counties recruited migrant workers to be responsible for the sanitation work in the capital, and also directly collected sanitation fees from businesses to pay for this expense.

This is also the biggest difference between ancient economics and modern economics. In the era of small government, taxes are collected according to expenditures. If there is no expenditure, there will be no taxation.

One-time expenditure is taxed once, and long-term expenditure is taxed over the long term.

To people in later generations, it seems that in ancient times, a new tax would emerge from time to time in some places, and it seems that it was an exorbitant tax levied by the government, but this is not always the case.

Relatively speaking, the ancient taxation model could minimize the burden borne by the people.

No spending, no taxes.

Of course, it was impossible not to pay at all. Zhu Yuanzhang had long ago set the taxes that local prefectures and counties should pay to the central court as a permanent rule, and this tax could not be escaped no matter what.

In the modern era of big government, tax arrangements are made very clear. No matter how much the government spends, what is ultimately reflected is the fiscal deficit or surplus.

Generally speaking, the government will not increase or reduce taxes unless it has no other choice.

Wei Guangde was not going to leave the usual street sweeping work to the officers and soldiers of the Wucheng Bingmasi. They already had enough tasks to do, and if they could be solved by the government, there would be no need to mobilize soldiers, and it would also provide the people in the city with another way to make money.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde started writing quickly, writing down everything he had just thought of. This was to be handed over to the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, asking him to handle it accordingly.

With such a set of rules, at least the governor of Shuntian Prefecture would know what he should do and what needs to be done.

As for the Ministry of Industry, it naturally had to attend this meeting. The Street Office was changed from being managed by the Ministry of Industry to being co-managed with Shuntian Prefecture. It would not work without informing the Ministry of Industry, otherwise Shuntian Prefecture would definitely not be able to command the Street Office.

In any case, the superior of the Street Office is the Ministry of Works, which is a second-rank government office, and it is likely that it will give face to the third-rank Shuntian Prefecture.

As for the future work of sanitation inspection, the City Patrol Censor and the Five Cities Military Commander can get involved.

Cleaning Beijing is easy, as long as you get enough manpower, but maintaining cleanliness and tidiness is another matter.

With the people from Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Cities Army, it is estimated that no one would dare to urinate or defecate freely in the city anymore.

As for animal feces, I remember that in later generations people put bags on the animals to catch the excrement and took them home to deal with them themselves, so it was not a difficult task.

Soon, after a charter was written, Wei Guangde quickly sent a note to Wang Zhiyuan, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, and also to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, asking them to arrange a vice minister to come, who would mainly be in charge of the people from the Street Office and the Military Department, to come to the cabinet to discuss matters.

Although the Ming Dynasty's government should be said to be a very mature system, when faced with problems from later generations, Wei Guangde always felt that it was not as good as the government system of later generations and was not as easy to solve these problems.

Take sanitation for example. If it were the political system of later generations, they would directly ask Shuntian Prefecture to do it, and there would be no need to contact the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works for assistance.

But that's exactly the case. The canals and streets were not under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, but of the Ministry of Works. If there was a problem, Shuntian Prefecture or the Bingmasi would just write to the Ministry of Works and request a solution.

Then the official from the Ministry of Works approved it and it was transferred to the Street Office for processing.

Compared with later generations, ordinary government affairs were indeed handled very slowly and inefficiently.

"Someone is coming."

Wei Guangde wrote the note and shouted outside the house.

"master".

Lu Bu came in from outside, stood in front of Wei Guangde and bowed to listen to his orders.

Wei Guangde handed him the note in his hand and said, "Tell someone to deliver it. Someone will come in this afternoon to pick it up."

Lu Bu took the note from Wei Guangde, took a look at it, and naturally knew where to send it.

Only after everyone left did Wei Guangde continue his work today.

He has no way to change the government system. This is the ancestral system that has been formed over thousands of years. If it really were to be changed, I'm afraid everyone would not be used to it and there would be a big mess.

It's troublesome, but it also reflects the value of the cabinet.

Soon, Wei Guangde's note was sent to Shuntian Prefecture, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of War.

The prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was Wang Zhiyuan, whose courtesy name was Ershi and pseudonym was Jianfeng. He was from Xincheng County, Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province, and became a Jinshi in the 41st year of Jiajing.

Being able to hold a position like Shuntian Prefecture at such an age must naturally be due to the support of noble people.

However, his benefactor has now resigned and returned to Shandong to retire.

Yes, this person is naturally Yin Shizun. After leaving the capital, he wrote a letter to Wei Guangde when he returned to Beijing, asking Wei Guangde to take care of his Shandong fellow villager.

Wang Zhiyuan is very capable, otherwise Yin Shizeng might not have fully supported him.

After passing the imperial examination in the 41st year of the Jiajing reign, he was first appointed as the magistrate of Jingzhou Prefecture. In the first year of the Longqing reign, he became a censor in the Criminal Department, which was the chess piece that Yin Shizeng had started to arrange in the six departments.

While in the position of Censor of the Criminal Department, Wang Zhiyuan submitted a memorial proposing four suggestions for pacifying the people and strengthening the foundation, which were well received by both the upper and lower levels. He later served as the Right Censor of the Rites Department, the Left Censor of the Military Department, the Du Censor of the Rites Department, and the Du Censor of the Criminal Department.

In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, he was promoted to Shaoqing of Taifu Temple, and soon transferred to Honglu Temple as Qing. He managed his subordinates with a serious attitude, making the entire Honglu Temple in order.

During the Wanli period, because of Yin Shizeng's relationship, Wei Guangde, after obtaining his wishes, arranged for him to serve as the Right Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, the Left Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, the Minister of the Nanjing Imperial Equipment Temple, and the Minister of the Imperial Equipment Temple.

It can be said that during these three years, Wang Zhiyuan gained Wei Guangde's trust because of his outstanding abilities, and was promoted all the way, and finally supported him to be promoted to the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.

This position is not easy to fill, but it is of high quality, so naturally many people are eyeing it.

His promotion to the position meant that Shandong officials in the court had already taken him as their leader, which could be considered as Wei Guangde fulfilling Yin Shizeng's instructions.

This was a smart move by Wei Guangde. He did not push his fellow Jiangxi native to the position, but instead promoted Wang Zhiyuan, forcing Zhang Juzheng to accept it helplessly.

Although Wang Zhiyuan didn't know why Wei Guangde summoned him, since it was a cabinet meeting, he knew it must be a big deal.

However, he never imagined that it was just a sanitation job.

However, although the matter is small, if it is done well, he can also go down in history.

As for Zhu Heng and Tan Lun, it naturally doesn't matter. They just need to follow the arrangements.