Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

It was common knowledge among the government and the public that Shuntian Prefecture's governance was out of date.

Shuntian Prefecture had both a governor and a prefect. The governor was responsible for border defense and was in charge of the five military preparation roads of Jizhou, Changping, Yongping, Miyun, and Bazhou, and was stationed in Jizhou or Changping.

The prefect was in charge of government orders and had jurisdiction over five states and twenty-two counties, and his rank was the third grade.

There are also Five City Military Forces and Patrol Camp in the city, which are responsible for arresting thieves.

With so many officials, each in charge of military and political affairs, it stands to reason that Shuntian Prefecture should be well governed and become the best place.

But the reality is that before Zhu Youjian mobilized the Jinyiwei to crack down on bandits, bandits were rampant around the capital and their activities were extremely rampant.

Even after a severe crackdown, the bandits will only stop for a while. If they cannot be properly controlled in the future, there will still be bandits.

Zhu Youjian had previously changed the Wucheng Bingmasi into Sancheng Districts and reorganized the city.

Now he started to sort out the outside of the city and govern the entire Shuntian Prefecture.

Yuan Keli was concurrently the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture and was primarily responsible for this. After the emperor insisted on abolishing the prefecture level and linking it with the establishment of a parliament, he thought about it and said:

"There are five military prefectures in Shuntian Prefecture: Jizhou, Changping, Miyun, Bazhou, and Tianjin."

"We can set up a prefecture under the government to take charge of the affairs of the four directions."

“There is no council at the provincial level, and the jurisdiction can be changed flexibly.”

This proposal is innovative, but it is basically the same old story in a new bottle.

In the long run in the future, Shuntian Prefecture may become a three-level system of prefecture, circuit and county, compared to the past when it simply changed the state into a circuit.

Moreover, because it was changed from the Bingbei Dao, this level of Dao might have too much power and it might be difficult to get rid of it in the future.

Zhu Youjian was not satisfied with this and looked at other people.

Guo Yunhou, the Minister of Agriculture who also served as the Minister of Shuntian Prefecture, said:
"I think we can send officials from Shuntian Prefecture to coordinate with all parties."

"These officials all belong to Shuntian Prefecture and are sent out for a period of time every year to coordinate the affairs of the various counties."

"They don't belong to the local area, so naturally there is no need for suggestions."

This is more innovative than setting up a road, and it also has the meaning of an administrative office.

Historically, after the province-county system was implemented during the Republic of China period, it was found that it was inconvenient for one province to manage so many counties, so administrative inspection districts were set up and commissioners were sent to take charge.

This Administrative Inspectorate was abbreviated as the Administrative Office or the Administrative Office, which was the origin of regions and prefecture-level cities in later generations.

When Zhu Youjian thought about this, he was quite satisfied with Guo Yunhou's proposal.

Shuntian Prefecture has five prefectures and twenty-two counties under its jurisdiction, which is indeed a bit like a small province. Sending out offices from the Shuntian Prefecture government is conducive to local governance.

And as far as he knew, the Qing Dynasty's governance of Shuntian Prefecture was to set up four route offices and appoint four co-governors to be in charge of the East Route Office, South Route Office, West Route Office, and North Route Office to arrest thieves from all directions.

(Shuntianfu Silu Hall in the Qing Dynasty)
Moreover, because Shuntian Prefecture is not particularly large and transportation is convenient, even if the power of the four-way hall expands, it is unlikely that they will become an intermediate administrative level. Shuntian Prefecture can transfer them back at any time and reallocate their jurisdiction.

Therefore, after asking for the opinions of his ministers, Zhu Youjian decided:
"Shuntian Prefecture has added several Tongzhi and established an office outside the city to be responsible for arresting thieves and coordinating with districts and counties."

"These offices are branches of the Shuntian Prefecture Office, not local government offices."

"The Shuntian Prefecture's parliament only has two levels: prefecture and county. The district is a county-level institution, and its level is equivalent to that of the capital county."

“District councillors are directly elected by voters, while councillors are indirectly elected by district councillors.”

"Let's continue discussing which Tongzhis will be appointed after Shuntian Prefecture abolishes the prefecture level, and which districts and counties will be governed by it."

The purpose of setting up administrative offices is to replace states. After the establishment of administrative offices, the state level can indeed be abolished.

Seeing that he couldn't stop it, Yuan Keli could only say:
"Shuntian Prefecture has one third-rank prefect, one fourth-rank prefect, and one fifth-rank governor."

"I think that the governors of Tongzhou and other prefectures can be promoted from fifth-rank prefects to associate governors, with the same rank as other prefectures, and can be designated as fifth-rank."

Minister of Personnel Yang Jingchen suddenly interrupted:

"Nowadays, officials are promoted according to the Mokan system. Without sufficient merit and Mokan, they cannot be promoted at will."

"I think the rank of the Shuntian Prefecture Tongzhi can be set as the fifth rank."

"The Tongzhi of all places should also be designated as the fifth rank, and the prefect should be downgraded to the fifth rank."

"According to the Mokan Law, a sixth-rank Tongpan can be promoted to a fifth-rank Tongzhi after the four-year Mokan period, and a fifth-rank Tongzhi can be promoted to a fifth-rank Zhifu after the four-year Mokan period."

"Instead of requiring two probation periods as before."

This proposal had a wider impact, involving all prefectural and associate prefectural levels.

However, Zhu Youjian agreed very much, because he had long felt that the rank of the prefect, which was the fourth rank, was too high. If the Mokan system was strictly implemented in the future, a fifth rank doctor in charge of a department might find it difficult to be transferred to the position of a fourth rank prefect.

How much power did the departments under the six ministries have? It was almost equivalent to a ministry in later times. If it was difficult for a doctor to be transferred to a prefect, it would make the communication between officials in Beijing and local officials less motivated, which would be detrimental to the transfer of officials.

So after Yang Jingchen raised this point, he immediately said:
"The prefectural rank should indeed be lowered."

"The rank of a common official should be set at the fifth rank."

"Important prefectural officials can be promoted to the rank of fourth-rank councilor or fourth-rank counselor and participate in the provincial government meetings."

"The ranks of Tongzhi and Zhizhou should be set at the fifth rank. In the future, prefectures will be changed to districts, counties or lower prefectures. Lower prefectures will only have Tongzhi, and Tongpan will serve as assistant officials."

This is what he thought of when he was thinking about how to arrange officials when abolishing the state level.

Originally, he planned to divide it into upper, middle and lower palaces, with the ranks set as fourth rank, fifth rank and fifth rank respectively.

Now that Yang Jingchen proposed to demote the prefects, he thought it would be enough to divide them into ordinary prefectures and lower prefectures. Prefects were all rated as the fifth rank, and important prefects were given additional titles. The chief officer of the lower prefecture was the Tongzhi, and his rank was the same as the current prefect, which was rated as the fifth rank.

This will make it easier to change a state into a prefecture in the future. You can even change it to a prefecture or county just by changing the name.

There were too many prefecture-level officials involved, and when the ministers heard about it, they immediately started talking about it.

Some think that it does not need to be changed, while others think that changing the level in this way is more in line with the grinding method.

It is impossible that it takes eight years for a Tongzhi to be promoted to a prefect, and sixteen years for a Tongpan to be promoted to a prefect.

Moreover, as officials of the imperial court, they instinctively wanted to suppress the ranks of local officials, so that when the imperial officials were sent to the local areas, they could take up better positions.

Therefore, after Zhu Youjian proposed a show of hands vote, not many officials in the court opposed it. Most of them silently accepted and acknowledged this matter.

Zhu Youjian immediately ordered:
"From now on, the rank of the prefect will be reduced from the fourth rank to the fifth rank."

"The rank of Tongzhi is downgraded from the fifth rank to the fifth rank."

"The existing prefects and co-prefects can be promoted to minor positions or given titles, while maintaining their original ranks."

“When vacancies arise in the posts of the Chief Secretary, they will be given priority for transfer.”

After deciding this matter, Zhu Youjian continued:
"Shuntian Prefecture's third-rank prefect, fourth-rank prefect, and fifth-rank governor remain unchanged."

"The ranks of the newly added associates are set at the fifth rank."

"These officials jointly served as the chief officials of Shuntian Prefecture, and held a prefectural government meeting at least once a month to discuss major affairs and promote lower-level officials." "Shuntian Prefecture was divided into three offices: the Political Affairs Office, the Court of Justice, and the Guard Office. The prefect was in charge of the overall affairs, the prefectural chancellor was in charge of the Political Affairs Office, the governor was in charge of the Court of Justice, and officials sent by the Guard Office were in charge of the Guard Office."

"The Tongzhi drew officials from the Shuntian Prefecture Office to build an office outside the city, responsible for arresting thieves and coordinating with districts and counties."

“Is this considered perfect?”

Yuan Keli had anticipated this, because the emperor had told him that the Tingwei Office and Weiwei Office would be established in the prefectures. When the Hujun Office was established, three offices were also set up under it.

Now, the establishment of the Shuntian Prefecture Government Affairs Office, the Supreme Court Office, and the Imperial Guard Office made him feel that everything was settled. He knew that in the future, all prefectures of the Ming Dynasty would have to establish these three offices.

Thinking about the hard work he had put in to coordinate the three agencies, Yuan Keli said:
"The various offices in the urban area are functioning well. Shuntian Prefecture should indeed establish three offices to govern the subordinate districts and counties."

"The capital now consists of three districts: Xicheng District, Dongcheng District, and Nancheng District. The government offices of Wanping and Daxing counties are still in the city."

"I think we should relocate and divide the district and county boundaries."

The Three City Districts were derived from the Five City Military Command, but they also took over the administrative rights of Wanping and Daxing counties within the city.

After no longer having the responsibility of governing the city, the government offices of these two counties should indeed be relocated, and they should be mainly responsible for the areas outside the city.

Yuan Keli's suggestion was to move the Wanping County Government to outside Fuchengmen and the Daxing County Government to outside Chaoyangmen to facilitate the governance of areas outside the capital.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youjian felt that Wanping County and Daxing County were still too large. According to the current situation of West Wanping and East Daxing, if there were bandits making trouble outside Deshengmen, it would take a long time for Wanping County to send out personnel after receiving the news.

So he followed the pattern of later generations and decided:

"Wanping County Office was moved to the Lugou Bridge area southwest of the capital, and a site was chosen to build Wanping City to assist in the defense of the capital."

"The West Route Administrative Office is located in Wanping City, coordinating the three counties and one district of Daxing County, Liangxiang County, Fangshan County, and Zhuolu District."

"The Daxing County Office was moved to the Huangcun area south of the capital, and the Nanlu Administrative Office was also set up here to coordinate the three counties of Gu'an, Yongqing, and Dong'an, as well as the Bazhou District, which was renamed from Bazhou, and Baoding, Wen'an, and Dacheng counties, which were originally under the jurisdiction of Bazhou. There are a total of seven counties and one district."

After confirming the location of the Wanping County and Daxing County government offices, Zhu Youjian pointed at the map and continued:
"The area around the royal palaces and university town needs to be established as a city district. The locals there call it Haidian, so from now on it will be named Haidian District."

“Haidian District is responsible for the northwest of Beijing, and Chaoyang District is located in the east.”

"To the south, Nanyuan will be built with Nanhaizi as the center, and Nanyuan District will be established in the future."

"The three outer districts of Haidian, Chaoyang and Nanyuan have the same status as the three inner districts of Xicheng, Dongcheng and Nancheng. They are the six urban districts directly under Shuntian Prefecture."

(Sketch of the six districts of Beijing)

(Schematic diagram of modern Beijing administrative divisions. The six urban districts are Dongcheng District, Xicheng District, Chaoyang District, Haidian District, Fengtai District and Shijingshan District.

Chongwen District and Xuanwu District together are equivalent to Nancheng District in the book, and have now been merged into Dongcheng District and Xicheng District.

Nanyuan District in the book roughly corresponds to the eastern part of Fengtai District and the southern part of Chaoyang District, the western part of Fengtai District and Shijingshan District and Mentougou District belong to Wanping County, and Daxing County is roughly equivalent to Daxing District)

This was a plan he made based on the capital city of later generations. Compared with the current rough "Wanping in the West and Daxing in the East", it is obviously more sophisticated to govern.

It was just that Wanping County and Daxing County were cut too much. Not only did the government offices have to be moved outside the city, but the areas they were responsible for were also greatly reduced.

However, Zhu Youjian would not care about the two counties' ideas. After discussing with his ministers, he finally decided to set up six Tongzhi in Shuntian Prefecture and send out six administrative offices:
"The Northern Route Administrative Office was set up in the north of the capital, responsible for the Changping District, which was renamed Changping Prefecture, and the three subordinate counties of Shunyi, Huairou, and Miyun, a total of three counties and one district."

"To the east, the East Road Administrative Office was established, which was responsible for the Tongzhou District, which was renamed Tongzhou, as well as its subordinate counties, including Huangxian, Sanhe, Wuqing, Baodi and Xianghe, a total of five counties and one district."

"Further east, the Jizhou Administrative Office was established, which was responsible for the Jizhou District, which was renamed Jizhou, as well as the four subordinate counties of Yutian, Fengrun, Pinggu, and Zunhua, a total of four counties and one district."

"The Tianjin Administrative Office was established in the Tianjin area, responsible for changing the three guards of Tianjin into the Tianjin District, incorporating Jinghai County on the south bank, and establishing Binhai County in the Liangcheng area in the north, for a total of two counties and one district."

"So the entire Shuntian Prefecture, which has a total of 12 districts and 24 counties, will have six Tongzhis set up to coordinate management."

(Sketch of the Six Administrative Offices of Shuntian Prefecture)

After determining the administrative divisions of Shuntian Prefecture, Zhu Youjian heard Yuan Keli ask:

“Does the Shuntian Governor need to change?”

"The Yongping Military Preparations Department under its jurisdiction has now been handed over to the Great Wall Guardian."

"The jurisdictions of the four military prefectures of Jizhou, Changping, Miyun, and Bazhou overlapped with the administrative offices."

"And the six deputy governors of the prefectural government are responsible for arresting thieves, so they need to have military duties."

Zhu Youjian thought for a moment and asked:
"How many generals are there around Shuntian Prefecture now? Who are they in charge of?"

Yuan Keli replied:
"Your Majesty has assigned Xu Chengming to take up the post of Changping General, and he is now taking up the post."

"The commander-in-chief of Jizhen was originally Sun Zushou, but he was dismissed because of his failure in assisting Liao. His Majesty transferred him to Shanhaiguan to serve as the commander of the guard."

"So the post of Jizhen General will be filled by Zhao Lujiao, the General of Liaodong, at the recommendation of Liaodong Governor Sun Chengzong."

"Because the general of Shanhaiguan, Du Wenhuan, was ill, Zhao Lujiao was transferred to Shanhaiguan as the general."

"The post of Jizhen General is now held by Deputy General Ma Dengyun who was transferred from Liaodong."

This series of transfers was the sequelae of Zhu Youjian's previous establishment of the Liaodong Governor-General.

Zhao Lushio thought that his achievements were comparable to those of Man Gui, so he was naturally dissatisfied with You Shilu's appointment as the governor of Liaodong.

Seeing him like this, Sun Chengzong asked the court to transfer him away from Liaodong.

Then, because the general of Shanhaiguan, Du Wenhuan, was ill, the deputy general, Ma Dengyun, took over as the general of Shanhaiguan. However, Sun Chengzong thought that Zhao Lujiao was better at guarding Shanhaiguan, so he swapped the two.

Because of this, the general of Jizhen was replaced twice a year, from Zhao Lujiao to Ma Dengyun.

When Zhu Youjian heard that only Changping and Jizhou had generals, he decided:

"The Changping Military Preparation Department and the Jizhou Military Preparation Department will be retained, and a Guard Commander will be appointed to assist the corresponding generals."

"The Miyun Military Preparations Department will also be retained to assist the Great Wall Commander."

"The rest will be changed to garrison areas. The Zhuolu Garrison Area will be responsible for the defense of the Western Administrative Office, the Bazhou Garrison Area will be responsible for the defense of the Southern Administrative Office, and the Tongzhou Garrison Area will be responsible for the defense of the Eastern Administrative Office."

"The Tianjin Coastal Defense Zone remains unchanged and still belongs to the Navy, with the same rank as the garrison zone."

"The Shuntian Governor governs these military prefectures and garrison areas, and takes over the garrisons within Shuntian Prefecture. Military officers of the garrisons enter the district and county councils according to their respective territories."

"Retired military attachés should account for at least 15% of the parliament. They have the same right to express their opinions as other members of parliament."

This was a necessary measure to appease the military officers of the garrisons. Otherwise, it would not be easy to deprive them of the jurisdiction of the military households of the garrisons.

But there is also a problem, that is, some districts and counties do not have enough retired military attachés, and it is impossible to reach the 15% ratio.

Regarding this, Zhu Youjian said:
“Allow military attachés who have served in the local area to serve as councillors.”

"If it is really difficult to gather all the candidates, those who have served as civilian officers or in the military for more than five years can be treated as military attachés."

"In short, the ratio cannot be lower than 15%."

"In the future, we should impose military service requirements on members of parliament. After all, all citizens of the Zhou Dynasty have military service obligations." (End of this chapter)