Song Gexing

Chapter 158 Zhao Fang Was Attacked by His Wives
"Your Highness, have you ever considered that many scholars know and even master the skills of agriculture, so why don't you consider restoring the chief minister of farming, and establish a so-called Ministry of Agriculture?"

Xiao Guanyin asked softly, leaving aside businessmen and starting with agriculture.

Zhao Fang shook his head and said: "My ideal Ministry of Agriculture and the Great Secretary for Agriculture are two different things. It is true that many officials from poor families know farming, and some can even compete with experienced farmers, but that is rare after all. "

Xiao Guanyin smiled bitterly and said: "Your Highness's idea is good, but have you ever thought about what it would be like to have those experienced farmers stand in the court?"

Zhao Fang was startled, and then he remembered that something was wrong. Song Dynasty officials could persuade farmers to teach mulberry cultivation, but it was impossible for them to become colleagues with farmers.

His ideal Ministry of Agriculture would be responsible for coordinating the country's agriculture. In addition to encouraging farmers to teach mulberry planting, it also has functions such as improving farm products and guiding farmers to plant.

This requires a large number of agricultural technical personnel, and in order to encourage people to study agronomy, he is going to reward with official positions, which is why the existence of the Ministry of Agriculture is necessary.

Because departments that are equal to the six ministries require a large number of officials, if they are just managed by scholar-bureaucrats, there is no need to establish a ministry at all.

As long as one department is established among the six ministries, other officials are sufficient to manage agricultural production.

Da Sinong is an official position that has existed since the Zhou Dynasty. He is one of the Nine Qings. He was initially a senior official in charge of finance, taxation and other functions.

It was not until the end of the Han Dynasty that he became the full-time secretary of agriculture in charge of agriculture, with five rights in Taicang, Junshu, Pingzhun, Dunei and Jitian.

After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Hubu, so the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu was also respectfully called Da Sinong, but it was no longer the same as the original Da Sinong.

In the Song Dynasty, there was also Si Nongqing, who was an official under the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Zhao Fang wanted to separate him. The idea is good, but it is not practical.

Regardless of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, farmers ranked second, but for scholars, the next three are actually the same, and they are not qualified to be tied with themselves.

The ancients valued agriculture, but that was just because people would die without food. Scholar-officials only valued agricultural results, not the people who produced agriculture.

Don't even think about letting these people stand in the court with them. Of course, the most important point is that ancient times was an agricultural society, and the majority of the population was engaged in agriculture.

The scholar-bureaucrats in the ruling class had to appease the peasants and give them a higher status than industry and commerce because they were worried about their rebellion.

As for the number of people engaged in industry and commerce, there are too few, and you don’t have the strength to rebel. This is the purpose of why scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are arranged in this way.

"Okay, the Ministry of Agriculture can temporarily remove it. I can't force it if the conditions are not ripe."

Zhao Fang shook his head in frustration and admitted his mistake. If you make a mistake, you should be a good boy.

This has to do with his status as a time traveler, which does not mean that the knowledge he possesses can be applied to reality in this era.

Except that technology could be accepted in ancient times, ideas were difficult to accept, not to mention that the ideas known to later generations were originally castrated.

Hundreds of years of Western learning spreading eastward have disrupted traditional thinking, but no outstanding person can understand it. Therefore, the knowledge he had in his previous life is actually a joke.

This kind of dissimilar culture cannot create a great nation at all. Of course, the advanced technology is definitely far ahead of this era.

It’s not that foreign culture cannot be learned, but it must be integrated into the culture of one’s own nation, otherwise it will be a disaster.

Buddhism is also a foreign culture, but it has completely become local culture. Even Manichaeism and early Catholic culture have entered China, but they were all integrated into local culture by our ancestors. "Let's talk about businessmen. The Song Dynasty did not prohibit the children of businessmen from taking part in the imperial examinations. Therefore, there was no shortage of business talents among officials. It was not that people could not be found to manage a department. It's just that your highness has never thought that all officials who are proficient in business are from big businessmen in their families. , if such a person occupies a high position, is it really good for the court?"

Xiao Guanyin asked the second question again. Zhao Fang understood that he was useless today. The fruits of several days of labor could not even pass the test, so how could he talk about arguing with the courtiers.

Seeing his embarrassment, Zhao Pan'er smiled and said: "His Highness's reform of the Ministry of War can be said to be a stroke of genius, but it seems that it has not been completed. Has His Highness not finished writing it yet?"

Speaking of the Ministry of War, Zhao Fang perked up. Indeed, his most important focus in the reform of the Six Ministries was the Ministry of War, but he had been hesitant about which system to use.

Hearing Zhao Pan'er's words, he nodded and replied: "This is the focus of my reform this time. The separation of civil and military affairs should not only improve the status of military ministers, but also restrain the rights of military ministers. After thinking about it for a long time, I still can't make up my mind. I just proposed Expand the powers of the Ministry of War.”

The Ministry of War in the Song Dynasty had very little power. It was only responsible for managing logistics and local military affairs. It was not even allowed to interfere with the assessment of officers. The Ministry of Civil Affairs was responsible for this.

Zhao Fang plans to return the selection rights of officers to the Ministry of War, which will create a situation of separation of civil and military officials. Otherwise, all civil and military officials will be evaluated and appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the suppression of military generals by civil servants will never be solved.

Of course, giving power to the Ministry of War will change the status quo that the officials of the Ministry of War have no military officials, otherwise it will not be changed.

He already has a countermeasure for this. Since the elimination of the three provinces is equivalent to the elimination of the prime minister and the political hall, the Privy Council naturally does not need to exist.

Otherwise, the Wuchen Yamen would be higher than the civil servants, which would also be a disaster. Even if the powers of the six ministries were increased and they would be on the same level as the Privy Council, the existence of this name would make people think that the Privy Council is one level higher.

If the Privy Council is abolished, then the Privy Council can be a military minister like Di Qing, why not the Minister of War, and Di Qing is not the first military minister in the Song Dynasty to serve as the Privy Council.

Before him there were Cao Bin, Cao Lili and others. The Song Dynasty did not explicitly state in the system that military ministers could not serve as privy envoys.

Of course, the main functions of the Ministry of War are logistics and the appointment and removal of officers. Civil servants can still serve here. This is not a purely military department.

This is what Zhao Fang is hesitant about now. What kind of military minister department should be established in addition to the three yamen of the Forbidden Army.

Is it the Five Army Governor's Mansion of the Ming Dynasty or the Military Aircraft Department of the Qing Dynasty?

In terms of power, the Military Aircraft Department naturally has great power, even exceeding the power of the cabinet. The Military Aircraft Department was originally established by the Manchu Qing Dynasty to replace the cabinet.

And from a structural point of view, the Military Aircraft Department is not an institution dedicated to military officials, but an institution that governs all major military and political affairs.

Zhao Fang will not copy the Military Aircraft Department, but he can use the Military Aircraft Department's decision-making power on war. Its powers are actually similar to the Privy Council.

What he is worried about now is how to allocate the power of the army. If the Military Aircraft Department is used as the staff department and the War Department is used as the logistics department, what about the three yamen.

Later generations of the Military Commission had fifteen management departments. It was impossible and unnecessary to subdivide them in this way in the Song Dynasty, but how to allocate them must be considered.

To balance the three military management departments, we cannot allow one to dominate, otherwise it will still lead to the dictatorship of military commanders in the future.

If you use the Dudufu of the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty, minus the same emphasis on civil and military affairs in the Ming Dynasty, the functions of the Dudufu of the Five Armies are actually not much different from the Sanya, it is a department that manages military training.

(End of this chapter)