Song Gexing

Chapter 208 Comprehensive restructuring
"The Privy Council has jurisdiction over the Military and Political Department, the Weapons and Equipment Department, the Logistics Support Department, the Staff and Operations Department, the Military Officials and Officials Department, and the Training and Management Department."

"Each department has four departments. The Military and Political Department has the Military Disciplinary Department and the Propaganda Department... The Official Cleaning Department has the Merit Examination Department and the Civil Selection Department..."

Zhao Fang's big change this time was not decided by him. In fact, it had been planned for a long time. He had discussed it with the ministers when he first came to the throne. At that time, Wang Su even proposed to restore the three provinces and six ministries system and cancel the rest.

Although that matter was suppressed, the planning of the reform was handed over to the ministers, and Wang Anshi was involved.

Today's matter was nothing more than a suggestion. After he had just explained all the functions of the Privy Council, Wang Su came out.

"It is imperative to reform the government system. Since His Majesty proposed the reform of military ministers, let me tell you how to reform civil servants."

The ministers of the court looked at him in astonishment, "What are you going to do? The military commander has not implemented this yet, and you are impatient to start the civil service reform."

Wang Su ignored everyone and said to himself: "Abolish the political affairs hall and the three envoys, merge the powers and responsibilities into the six ministries, cancel the Tongping Zhang Zhongshu sect, and establish a cabinet..."

The ministers immediately looked at Han Qi. This guy had only been prime minister for a year, and he was about to be overthrown by his best friend. Now he was in for a good show.

But Han Qi half-closed his eyes and remained silent, which confused everyone, but quick-thinking people immediately realized that this matter seemed to have been discussed by the prime ministers and assistants a long time ago.

It was naturally negotiated, otherwise how could these people know about the cabinet system? This was what Zhao Fang suggested to them through Wang Anshi.

A cabinet was established to replace the prime minister and the political hall. The cabinet consists of five members, of which the chief minister is the prime minister, but there is still a gap between it and the real prime minister.

The chief minister cannot act arbitrarily, but is the decision-maker in cabinet meetings. Zhao Fang is not stupid to not use the cabinet from the early Ming Dynasty and directly use the cabinet from the later Ming Dynasty.

In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet had no power. It was just the emperor's staff advisory group. Zhu Zhanji's idiot allowed the cabinet to form powers, and gradually it became an organization that rivaled the imperial power.

To put it bluntly, it was because Zhu Zhanji himself did not want to work hard. Many matters that only the emperor could decide on were handed over to the cabinet for decision, so he could be lazy.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi all went to bed later than a dog and got up earlier than a chicken. How could they be as leisurely as him?

Zhao Fang didn't want to work hard. It was too tiring for an emperor like that, and he didn't want to be ignored by the cabinet, but he had a way.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty caused the power of the cabinet to evade the imperial power was because one party was dominant. The civil and military system they established now was to use military ministers to check and balance civil ministers. The cabinet could not be dominant.

The Ming Dynasty cabinet had all the military and political power in its hands. Now the system he has set up places equal emphasis on civil and military affairs. The cabinet is only responsible for government affairs and cannot intervene in the military. Naturally, he does not mind using the system of the later Ming Dynasty cabinet.

Although the Privy Council is now an administrative unit, and civil servants can still serve as Privy Council envoys, among the six departments, the Staff Operations Department and the Training Management Department are staffed by military generals.

He also did not abolish the promotion of military ministers to privy envoys. His plan was that military commanders must be restrained, but at the same time, their power must be delegated.

The restriction on generals is not because of their ancestors' emphasis on civil service over military force, but because the rules must be like this. Even in the 21st century, isn't it still the party that leads the army?

The army is a violent machine that must be put on a bridle. As a ruler, you must hold the reins tightly and control it, otherwise it will be easy to hurt yourself while hurting others.

But the reins must be in a relaxed state, otherwise they will not be able to fight. This principle is actually the same as riding a horse. You cannot hold it too tightly, otherwise the horse will start to run.

But if you hold it too loosely, you will be knocked off the horse. This will test the rider's skills, and it will also test the emperor's ability.The status of military generals in Zhao Kuangyin's era was not that low. Similarly, in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang and his son, both civil and military officials were emphasized. They talked about governing the country with civilized people, but in fact they did not allow civil servants to override military generals.

In fact, the reason is very simple. These three people are good riders. They can easily control their civil and military ministers, but Zhao Guangyi and Zhu Zhanji do not have this ability.

Zhao Zhen didn't have this ability, so he didn't dare to change. In fact, he had known the dangers of generals without knowing the soldiers, but he couldn't solve the problem.

The content of Qingli’s new policy included military training, and Fu Bi’s letter also included the Anbian Thirteen Strategies, all of which were to improve the treatment of generals and solve the disadvantages of generals who did not know how to fight. Unfortunately, they did not succeed.

Zhao Fang actually caught up with the good times. At this time in the Northern Song Dynasty, most people had actually realized the harm caused by the low status of military officials. It was just a question of how to change it.

Many people are not unwilling to change, but they do not want their interests to be touched too much. The biggest problem between Renzong and Shenzong is not the reform, but the lack of priority in the reform.

List all the problems at once and then reform them all at once. It will be strange if there are no troubles.

Zhao Fang is not the case. He has carried out the reforms over the years step by step, starting from the edges and corners to prepare people mentally.

And while taking away the interests of the vested interests, he also made good compensation for the aftermath, which allowed him to pass smoothly time and time again.

Of course there are opponents, but there are more people who support him. In addition, he is more shameless than Zhao Zhen and can use moral kidnapping to make people hate him but they are helpless.

"The original duties of the Nine Temples were restored, the Court of Punishment was abolished, the powers were vested in Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Punishment was responsible for review..."

This is another brand-new reform, but it is actually a return. The three provinces, six ministries and nine temples were the system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The so-called brand-new naturally does not copy the previous dynasty, but has adjusted functions.

In particular, the reform of Dali Temple directly abolished the Court of Punishment, but after Zhao Fang changed it, Dali Temple became a court, and the Ministry of Punishment became a combination of the Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security.

Because he established an arrest department under the Ministry of Punishment, which was also a department mixed with military attachés in the civil service hierarchy. Otherwise, it would be unfair to have civil servants in the Privy Council.

Although the arrest department is not an army, the arrests need to be skilled in fighting, so they naturally have to be people who practice martial arts. The best way is to recruit people from the army and recruit them from the rivers and lakes.

Reforms and new systems were proposed one by one, and then the ministers launched heated debates, which could not be resolved in a single court meeting.

A special court meeting was held for six consecutive days. Instead of asking people to go to court at the fifth watch, it was changed to start at the beginning of the Chen hour. After six days, the dust settled, but everyone was surprised to find that the morning court meeting could actually be later.

It turns out that the morning service is too early. Ministers who are farther away have to get up at the fourth watch, and those who go to work all day are in low spirits.

The Song Dynasty was similar to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The morning dynasty started at the beginning of the Mao period, which was around five o'clock in the morning. You had to get up at around three o'clock in the morning, otherwise you would be doomed if you couldn't catch up.

Although the morning court is not required every day, every morning court day will cause the ministers to be in low spirits and their work efficiency will become worse.

Now I find that if I go to court after seven o'clock and get up after five o'clock in the morning, I will sleep an extra hour or two, and my energy will be completely different.

(End of this chapter)