I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 444 That's the deal

Liu Sheng has always recognized the combat effectiveness of the official position of Yushi Zhongcheng.

What kind of official position is Yushi Zhongcheng?
——According to the existing framework of the court system of the Han Dynasty, the imperial censor is the Sangong, who theoretically controls everything under the yamen of the imperial censor;
And Yushi Zhongcheng, as the No. [-] deputy of the Yushi doctor, theoretically only has the right to "assist the Yushi doctor in governing" and does not have much administrative autonomy.

From this point of view, the rank ratio of Cheng Qianshi in Yushi can also be said to be more consistent with his power.

After all, apart from the doctor Yushi, whether it is the prime minister of the Prime Minister's Mansion, or the Shaofu Supervisor and Prime Minister of the Shaofu, or the deputies of other Jiuqing, they are all about the rank ratio of Qianshi to Qianshi.

But actually?
Under the background that the censor doctor "only acts as an inferior minister, regardless of his own affiliation or his job", the real controller of the censor's yamen is actually the censor Zhongcheng.

In some extreme cases, Yushi Zhongcheng could make administrative decisions independently without the permission of his superior, Doctor Yushi.

This is a bit shocking.

Who is Doctor Yushi?

Yaxiang!

According to the political tradition of the Han Dynasty over the past few decades, it is even possible to directly regard Dr. Yu Shi as the number one candidate for the next prime minister!
Not to mention that the doctor Yushi was ranked among the three princes, with a rank of two thousand stones, a silver seal and a green ribbon, and even the title of the Marquis of Che at every turn.

Under such a premise, can the imperial censor Zhongcheng, who ranks thousands of stones, really resist the imperial censor with so many slash identities?

Obviously, this requires extremely high political wisdom and political skill.

Especially under the premise of the particularity of the censor's yamen, everyone in this yamen must pay great attention to personal relationships and contacts with other courtiers. Handle the relationship between yourself and Doctor Yu Shi carefully.

That's why Liu Sheng dared to say with certainty: Those who can be ranked as ministers in the Han family and wear gold seals and purple ribbons around their waists may not all be ruthless people.

But those who can sit in the position of Yushi Zhongcheng in the Han family and have been in office for more than three years must be veterans who have experienced the ups and downs of officialdom.

But even so, Liu Sheng also felt that his past self still underestimated Yu Shi Zhongcheng's combat effectiveness.

Just now, Yu Shi Zhongcheng put forward a few suggestions on the problem of official corruption, which is enough to see that Yu Shi Zhongcheng has endured these officials with dirty hands and feet for a long time.

Take a look at Chen Jianfang's proposals, how strong are they, even 'appalling'?
First: All agricultural taxes collected from the localities must follow the rules set by Emperor Taizu Gao, that is, 'pay out according to your income';
In addition to the needs of the daily operation of the county government, other expenses such as water canals and roads are no longer allowed to be intercepted by the local government.

After the agricultural tax has been fully paid into the national treasury, the local counties can apply for funds from the Xiangfu treasury.

What do you mean?
The so-called "paying according to the income stipulated by Emperor Taizu Gao" is actually a system similar to the "administrative budget" of later generations.

It's just different from the administrative budget that can be raised through accounting in later generations: the Han Dynasty's "accounting for expenditure" is based on the administrative expenditure of the past year.

That is, if a county spends 100 million yuan in administrative funds this year, the administrative budget that the county can retain in the second year is capped at 100 million yuan.

What is the upper limit?

——As long as this number can be reached, the officials will definitely strive for this number!

This alone, in fact, has a lot of room for maneuvering.

Just imagine: a certain place only has 100 million yuan in administrative expenses in a certain year, but in that year, the place directly spent 120 million yuan, what will be the result?
The answer is: instead of being blamed for 'administrative expenditure exceeding the budget', the county will get an administrative budget capped at 120 million yuan for the next year after a very perfunctory review.

In short, it's easy to get more administrative budget for the second year -- just spend a little more this year.

Even if you don't want more budget, you can deliberately spend the remaining administrative budget in a certain year to ensure that the administrative budget of the next year does not drop.

What does Chen Jian mean when he mentioned that the local counties should "pay according to their income" and no longer allow the local counties to increase the interception ratio independently?

——Liu Sheng can think of it with his knees: Chen Jian wants to retain the proportion of counties and counties, and he will directly die at [-]%!
Don't worry about drought, flood, let alone useless, no matter how much agricultural tax revenue is, only [-]% can be withheld.

As for natural disasters and the like, report them to the court;
Just call the court again.

If you want more administrative budget, then increase the base.

Under the fixed tax rate, try to reclaim more wasteland, let the people harvest more food and pay more agricultural taxes.

It has to be said that compared to this era, this kind of performance-linked measure is undoubtedly advanced to the point of being excessive.

But Liu Sheng was surprised to find that Liu Sheng was really moved by Chen Jian's first suggestion...

···
Second: All the funds allocated by the state treasury at the request of local counties and counties must be reviewed by the censor's office, and the censor will be sent to monitor.

For routine work, the Caifeng Yushi should be sent to check first, and then the payment should be allocated, and then the Caifeng Yushi should secretly monitor the progress;

For urgent matters, it is also necessary to send out the censors to check after the event to ensure that the funds allocated by the treasury are actually used.

If the first suggestion greatly restricts local counties from obtaining public funds by withholding agricultural taxes, then the second suggestion basically blocks the opening for local counties to apply for public funds at will.

The prime minister's application for appropriation from local counties needs to be reviewed by the censor's office?
——You must know that Doctor Yushi is a prime minister born to oppose the prime minister!
Although in fact, there is not much close relationship between the imperial censor and the subordinate office of the imperial censor, but the theoretical connection is enough to make the imperial censor's subordinate government have the ability to do everything that the prime minister should do. , direct opposition must be right' political stance.

This means that in the future, unless it is a large-scale project that has been specially discussed in the court and approved by the emperor himself, the Xiangfu will never get any approval for the allocation of public funds in the Yushi doctor's office.

In other words: Whether a certain appropriation is approved or not will no longer be decided by the Prime Minister's Office, but by the censor's office.

——Aren’t your prime ministers looking forward and backward?

——Isn't it necessary to "Xiao Guimou follow", because Xiao Xiangguo defaulted to approving the applications of all local counties?
It's ok!
Anyway, Xiao Xiangguo has never been a censor, and your ministers dare not refute the approval, and I, the censor, belong to the yamen!

···
Look at the third article again: All funds allocated by the court, whether it is transferred from the treasury of the Xiangfu or the internal funds of the Shaofu, should be posted in the local counties to clearly inform the people.

For the funds applied by the county government, the Lubu will be posted at the seat of the county government; for the funds distributed to the county government, the Lubu will be posted by the county seat.

Lubu should not only announce the amount of money, but also announce the details and whereabouts of the money after the event, and make it available to Caifeng Yushi for verification at any time.

Local counties and counties should fully cooperate with those who request to cooperate with the investigation, and should not obstruct them.

This is undoubtedly the original version of the financial disclosure system and 'accept public supervision'.

Liu Sheng dare not say to what extent this move can curb the trend of corruption;
But Liu Sheng is very sure: the cost of this initiative is very low, and it is so low that "as long as it is useful, it is necessary".

As for the last item: when two censors sent by the censors to collect winds from the yamen go out to collect winds, two people die at the same time in the same county, the Tingwei should send officials to investigate thoroughly, and let them go as soon as possible. The sheriff here has resigned and is pending investigation.

After the situation is clarified, proceed to the next step according to the situation...

"In the past few years, has there been a precedent of Caifeng Yushi's abnormal death in a local county, which caused something to go wrong?"

Liu Sheng asked tentatively, and saw that Chen Jian's eyes were red;

The hall was quiet for quite a while, and then Liu She shook his head with a sigh and said: "In the early years, it was a land of abundance and prosperity, and established the prestigious name of 'Yushi Tomb';"

"Since Emperor Taizong Gao, Qinghe County has gradually become a forbidden place where Caifeng Yushi would rather detour for thousands of miles than pass by casually."

"In recent years, whenever the errands of Qinghe County were reviewed, the court officials would all cry bitterly, and immediately dragged their families away with their seals on their mouths;"

"Even if there are those who are willing to go occasionally, most of them will tell their family members before departure: take care of the affairs behind them..."

"What's even more terrible is: most of the censors who have arranged for future generations in advance, most of them failed to return the whole body..."

Hearing Liu She's rather sensitive 'spoiler', Liu Sheng's brows were already knit together.

——Everyone knows that since Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's later years, Qinghe County has produced the "first plan" of the Han family's plan, that is, the first county to enter Beijing to receive plans, and it is also the county that has been the "best" for more than ten years.

But the world is equally clear: just like the place where the rich and prosperous dragons are, and the most solid foundation of the old Liu family-Qinghe County is the base of the Dou family of the current empress dowager.

Such a place can be governed very well—it is unbelievable that it can be governed well without the influence of power.

It's just that Liu Sheng never expected that Qinghe County's method of ensuring "government of Qingming" is actually to block the hearing...
"I, I know."

"The other few items still need to be discussed by the court."

"But the last one, I agree."

"——From now on, all those who collect wind and censors to go out on business, and find things on the way, will be jointly investigated by the three divisions of the prime minister, the internal historian, and the court lieutenant."

"Once an abnormality is found, be sure to chase after it!"

"Since the prime minister, anyone involved in it will be plotting against him!"

Facing Liu Sheng's indignant attitude, Chen Jian was already unable to utter a single word, only kowtowed in tears.

And on the imperial couch, Liu Sheng felt bad for seeing the unsmiling and selfless Censor Zhongcheng, who was usually stern and selfless, crying into tears at this moment.

What is the concept of the censor having an accident during his official business?
——Basically equivalent to the funeral affairs, the collective central working group is easily soluble in water!

If this is left behind, it is not a matter of dispatching the police force, but a matter of dispatching the army.

But in this era—in this era when officials are making a lot of money while still saying "I'll show you" at every turn, Liu Sheng just promised to strengthen the personal safety protection of the Central Working Group, which has already made Chen Jian cry .

Liu Sheng didn't know whether he should say that the officials of this era are too easy to satisfy, or the officialdom of this era is too smoky.

But Liu Sheng knows: starting today, there will be countless people with vested interests who will stand against Liu Sheng.

They don't want to fight against Liu Sheng openly, they only dare to hide in the dark and engage in small tricks and tricks.

But Liu Sheng is ready to fight a protracted war...

"On the issue of official corruption, Yu Shi Zhongcheng gave some good suggestions."

"Besides, I also have an idea, you can think about it for me: Is it appropriate to do so."

"—Once a year, review the officials' property and sources of property."

"The cost of this matter is very high, the resistance will be great, and there are too many loopholes that can be exploited."

"What should be done specifically - how to avoid this and become a thankless bad government, you need to think about it after you go down."

"As soon as possible, draw up the road memorial, and then discuss it in the court meeting..."

After explaining his supplementary opinion, Liu Shenglue looked at Chen Jian again with an unbearable gaze.

Even though this imperial censor, Zhongcheng, had already cried to tears in front of him, Liu Sheng could only show Chen Jian his anticipation again.

——The problem of corruption has a charter, and the problem of accepting bribes is an even more desperate mountain.

And for this mountain, the tolerance of the current Han social atmosphere is really high and a bit exaggerated.

"As for giving and accepting bribes, it's really a long-standing and deeply rooted problem of folk customs."

"Especially during Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, after the general Zhang Wu accepted bribes and was punished, he began to accept gold 'ashamed of his heart'. Accepting bribes and giving bribes became a common practice in our Han family."

"Everyone thinks that if they give and accept bribes, at most they will be like General Zhang Wu, who will be rewarded 'ashamed of their hearts'."

"Absolutely no one has ever thought that if you accept bribes yourself, you may be killed..."

···
"So in order to solve this problem, His Majesty may start from two aspects."

"One: readjust official salaries to minimize the possibility of officials passively accepting bribes."

"After all, during the time of Emperor Taizu Gao, thousands of rice stones were worth thousands of dollars, and a thousand stones of Lumi was a fortune in itself;"

"Nowadays, the price of rice and stone is [-] yuan, but officials' salaries are still half of rice grains. This means that officials' salaries have been falling along with grain prices since Emperor Taizu Gao."

"Secondly, His Majesty may need an opportunity to use a human head to tell the world that bribery and corruption will also lose their heads..."

(End of this chapter)