Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 100 Separation of Powers
Even the reform of the imperial examination was discussed. Zhu Youjian struck while the iron was hot and appointed Yuan Keli as the examiner of Mingfa. Ask him to release the news about the Mingfa and Mathematical Sciences examinations next year and set the scope of the examinations.

Yuan Keli took over the appointment with a wry smile in his heart. It's not entirely a good thing that the emperor values ​​​​too much. Now he has too much work. Not only was he responsible for the Ministry of War, but he also had to assist in the restructuring of the Three Law Departments. He even had to preside over the first Ming Dynasty Law Examination and set the rules for future Ming Law Examinations——

How could he, a sixty or seventy-year-old man, be busy with so many tasks?

We can only hope that the emperor will have no new ideas and put more burdens on himself.

Zhu Youjian didn't put forward any new ideas, but even the old ideas were enough for Yuan Keli to drink a pot.

After the matter of Tingwei Department was settled, Zhu Youji thought of the local institution of Weiwei Temple that he had previously imagined, and immediately decided to settle it. The name was Weiwei Department, which was only one word different from Tingwei Department:

"Justice has the Tingwei Department, and law enforcement has the Weiwei Department, which is responsible for law enforcement operations."

"The dirty work of arresting criminals is not suitable for Jinshi, so let Weiwei Temple select guards officers to do it."

"In the future, the local Jinyi Guards will also work part-time in the Guards Office to facilitate local cooperation."

As soon as this statement came out, an idea flashed through Yuan Keli's mind, and he finally understood why the emperor insisted on obtaining the right to appoint officials under the Weiwei Temple and establish the Tingwei Office and the Weiwei Office in the local area:

The province has the chief secretary, and the state government has the government office; the province has the punishment and inspection department, and the state government has the imperial office; the province has the command and envoy office, but now it has basically been ignored, and the emperor established the imperial office in the provincial capital.

This is to replace the vacated Metropolitan Command Department with the Guards Department and establish a new balance at the local level.

Among the three local divisions, the Commander-in-Chief Division has the highest rank, up to the second rank. But what's the use of a metropolitan commander in peacetime? Military power has long been divided between governors and soldiers. Today's local officials are ranked in the order of governor, chief envoy, and inspection envoy. There is no such thing as a commander-in-chief.

Compared with the high-ranking Dusi, who has the rank of Zheng and Second Grade, the rank of the Weiwei Department is not high, but the law enforcement work it is responsible for is obviously more powerful in peacetime.

Therefore, the emperor wanted to use the Guards Office to re-divide local power into three parts and establish a new balance!

"Do you want to stop it?" 』

"Can it be stopped?" 』

Asking himself, Yuan Keli smiled bitterly and shook his head.

The emperor did not hesitate to give up the power to appoint Weiwei Siqing and Shaoqing, but also placed Weiwei Temple in the imperial court and obtained the right to appoint subordinate officials, which shows that he valued this matter.

If the ministers renege on what has been agreed upon, the emperor will definitely be unhappy, and he may directly replace Weiwei Temple with Jin Yiwei.

In addition, separation of the three powers and re-establishing balance are also necessary in Yuan Keli's view. His desire to prevent this matter is not that strong.

In the final analysis, law enforcement power cannot be compared with judicial power and is subject to great constraints. In order to avoid conflicts between the emperor and the ministers over this matter, Yuan Keli took the initiative to take over the establishment of the Guards Office and said:
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. There should be a local bodyguard office responsible for law enforcement."

"But official documents from the Weiwei Office should also be countersigned by the Tingwei Office. In particular, arrest orders need to be approved by the public."

"If there is a Jinshi who goes to the Guards Office to serve as an official, His Majesty will also appoint him."

This was a condition of exchange. Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement and said:
"Official documents from the Weiwei Office must of course be reviewed by the Tingwei Office to avoid violating the law."

"As for Jinshi joining the Guards Office, I'm not happy yet. How can I push it out?"

"I'm afraid that most of the Jinshi who join will be Wu Jinshi, or those in the Mingfa and Mingshu departments."

Yuan Keli also had the same idea, but he was not afraid of young scholars joining the Guards Department. As long as there are Jinshi who are willing to join and accumulate from generation to generation, one day the power of civil servants will infiltrate the Weiwei Office and even take over the Weiwei Temple completely.

This process will take a long time, and Zhu Youjian will most likely not be able to see it. Therefore, he is not worried about this at all. Instead, he looks forward to more Jinshi from Mingfa and Mingshuke to join, making Weiwei Temple's law enforcement more organized.

If a Jinshi who is good at calculations stands out, he can also be transferred to the Jinyiwei Statistics Department to improve statistical work.

Immediately afterwards, he began to draw up the level and establishment of the Guards Office in accordance with the three regulations:

"The rank of the State Guards Department is temporarily set at the sixth rank, which is equivalent to that of the governor. The chief officer is called the school captain, and he also serves as the commander of the capital, the seventh rank, and the deputy judge."

"The rank of the Provincial Guard Bureau is temporarily set at the fifth rank, which is equivalent to that of the Guard, Zhenfu, and the chief officer is called Duwei. He also serves as the commander of the capital and makes the sixth rank to judge affairs."

"In the future, the law enforcement and prison work of the Dusi Guard Office will also be handled by the Guard Office and will be connected with the military courts."

Deepening the power of the Weiwei Office into the capital's defense office, Zhu Youjian made specific arrangements for the Tingwei Office:

"As for the Tingwei Department in the state capital, the level is temporarily determined by the grades of general magistrates and magistrates, and is tentatively designated as the sixth-grade and seventh-grade yamen." "There is a Provincial-level Provincial Department of Prosecution and Prosecution, so there is no need to set up a Tingwei Department. The Sixth Grade Court is sufficient and is mainly responsible for the second instance of appeal cases.”

"There must be two full-time deputy inspectors, one responsible for imposing sentences, one responsible for inspection, and the deputy inspector responsible for general management."

"Yuan Qing needs to put more thought into how to set up the internal affairs and how to coordinate the various departments."

"I plan to start with the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division to test it first."

Speaking of his plan, Zhu Youjian said:
"The affairs of the Five Cities Military and Horse Department are too complicated now, and the powers and responsibilities are not clear, and the affairs of the capital are in chaos."

"I thought that the commander of the Sixth Grade Military and Horse Division could take charge of the general affairs and be mainly responsible for the defense of the city gate."

"There are four senior seventh-grade deputy commanders of the Military and Horse Division, and one is responsible for the daily work of the Military and Horse Division, especially the training of troops and horses."

"One is concurrently held by the seventh-rank governor, and the Government Affairs Department is established. It consists of the Personnel Department, the Civil Affairs Department, the Finance Department, the Education Department, and the Industry and Commerce Department. It is responsible for daily work and work related to official household rituals."

"One is concurrently served by the Zhengqipin City Patrol Censor, who established the Tingwei Office, which consists of the Criminal Division, the Judicial Division, and the Court, and is responsible for judicial work."

"One is concurrently held by the seventh grade school captain, and the Guards Department is established, which consists of the Public Security Department, the Criminal Investigation Department, the Patrol Department, the Fire Department, and the Health Department, and is responsible for law enforcement."

"With such clear division of powers and responsibilities, it is easier to govern the capital."

It is indeed easier to govern the capital in this way, and it is completely consistent with Yuan Keli's guess that the emperor will separate administrative, judicial and law enforcement powers.

However, he really couldn't accept the fact that the emperor had established three departments in one city and 13 department-level units under the departments, so he advised:

"Your Majesty, if there are all eighth-grade section chiefs, the capital will need too many officials."

"The five urban districts need sixty-five eighth-level officials, not to mention deputies."

"It doesn't matter where they come from, but the salary they need is not a small figure."

“It’s all borne by the capital, and the pressure is really too great.”

Zhu Youjian thought about it and felt that it was indeed the case, and said:
"Then change the zoning. Nancheng District will remain unchanged for the time being. Zhongcheng District and Beicheng District will be divided roughly along the central axis of Chengtianmen and Di'anmen. Guixi City District in the west and Guidong City District in the east will be divided specifically according to road traffic conditions and actual distances. .”

"The palace gate is under the responsibility of the Jinyiwei Security Department, which takes over the military work of the former Central Military and Horse Command Department. For matters involving officials and yamen, each city district can ask the Security Department for help to prevent them from being unable to handle it because their level is too low."

"This leaves only three urban districts in the capital. Judging from the number of people in the capital, each district has jurisdiction over 200,000 to 300,000 people, which is almost equivalent to some state capitals——"

"Thirteen eighth-grade officials are not too many at all."

Thirteen department-level officials in one urban area were certainly not too many in Zhu Youjian's opinion. Yuan Keli disagreed and raised a question:
"Nanjing's Five Cities Military and Horse Department, should we make the same adjustment and set up so many officials?"

"As well as big cities in various places, should we also set up urban district yamen and appoint thirteen officials in the future?"

Zhu Youjian thought for a while and felt that with the spread of industrialization and urbanization, it would be possible to set up urban district yamen in every city in the future. There are thirteen eighth-grade officials, which is indeed too much.

Therefore, he did not arrange the arrangement in a uniform manner, and downgraded some official positions to full ninth-grade stock levels:
"The Human Resources Department of the Government Affairs Department needs to be responsible for the recruitment and assessment of staff, and the Finance Department needs to be responsible for financial revenue and expenditure. The levels of these two departments cannot be downgraded. The remaining three departments can be downgraded to the Civil Affairs Section, the Educational Education Section, the Industrial and Commercial Section, and the Nine-Pin Section He has long been in charge of management and is still responsible for relevant affairs independently.”

"The Sentence Section and the Judgment Section of the Tingwei Department can also be demoted to units to assist in the work of patrolling the city. However, the Zhengbapin Court cannot be demoted because some trivial cases may be submitted to the Dali Temple General Adjudication Office. Courts in every city need to divert those cases."

"The Public Security Division and Criminal Investigation Division of the Guards Department are important and cannot be downgraded. The Patrol Division, Fire Division, and Health Division were changed to the Patrol Team, Fire Brigade, and Health Team, and they were also downgraded to the stock level."

"The chief officers of these departments and divisions are mainly held by Jinshi and Shiguan. Jinshi are mainly the fourth and fifth grade Jinshis of Mingfa and Mingshuang, as well as the Jinshis who were reviewed and demoted by the eunuchs this time. Shiguan was demoted to three grades according to the hereditary grade. Appointment and promotion based on merit. Former officers of the Military and Horse Department should arrange their positions as appropriate."

"The deputy positions of the science and technology department will need to be appointed in the future. Juren supervisors who have passed the judicial examination and mathematics examination can be recruited to serve as officials of the ninth grade. Outstanding officials who have made meritorious deeds can also be promoted. Grade officials should avoid their place of origin and adjust their positions regularly .”

In this way, the official positions were reduced by eight, and the thirteen official positions of the eighth rank became five of the eighth rank and eight of the ninth rank. And because there are only three urban districts left after the merger of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division, a total of fifteen eighth-grade officials and twenty-four ninth-grade officials are needed.

This was easier to accept than the original 65 eighth-grade officials. Yuan Keli did some calculations and felt that this number would not cause much criticism in the local area. He also thought that he would serve as the examiner of the Mingfa Department. Next year's Mingfa Department Jinshi should not be thrown away, and some outstanding people should be arranged to serve as Beijing officials. Finally, he agreed.

As a result, the three districts in the east, west and south of the capital and the three government offices in each district were also determined. Zhu Youjian asked Yuan Keli to work with officials from the Sanfa Division, Weiwei Temple, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs to complete the restructuring of the Five-City Military and Horse Division as soon as possible, integrate the work of the three yamen, and later promote it to the northern Zhili Prefecture.

The separation of administrative, judicial and law enforcement powers, as well as professional urban management, will begin in the capital.

(End of this chapter)