Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After the Third Ring Road was confirmed, it was clear what Zhu Youjian was going to do next:

"Outside each gate of the capital, we need to build a street that connects to the Third Ring Road."

"The names of these streets are called the streets outside the gate. The streets originally in the city are called the inner streets."

"We will set up outer blocks around the outer street, plan small streets and alleys in the middle, and allocate housing plots for existing residents."

Zhu Youjian used Deshengmen as an example to explain:

“The street south of Deshengmen was originally called Deshengmen Street.”

"From now on, it will be renamed Deshengmen Inner Street, corresponding to Deshengmen Outer Street outside the city, and together they will be called Deshengmen Street."

"Deshengmen Outer Street heading north connects with the Third Ring Road in the Jiandemen area of ​​Qianyuan. When conditions are ripe in the future, tracks will be laid and horse-drawn trams will pass through."

The invention of horse-drawn trams may not seem as impressive as trains, but it allowed urban public transportation to be established along fixed routes at a relatively low price.

The scope of a city's jurisdiction will also be expanded, and the population may exceed the million limit and develop into millions.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian included the entire area within the Third Ring Road into the Three Urban Districts:

"The nine gates on the three sides of the inner city wall, as well as the five gates outside the East Gate and West Gate in the South City, will all be built with a street outside the city and an outer block set up, and divided into three city districts according to the city gates."

This setting finally attracted objections. Yuan Keli said:
"In this case, Dongcheng District will have to add five more outer quarters: Donglu Gate, Chaoyang Gate, Dongzhi Gate, Anding Gate, and Beilu Gate. The area outside the city will even be larger than the area inside the city."

"If it continues to expand, won't it become the former Daxing County?"

Daxing County previously governed the area east of the central axis, and together with Wanping County, it was in charge of the east and west of the capital.

However, after the current emperor established the Three City Districts, the political affairs of the two county yamen, just like the political affairs that the Five City Bingmasi was in charge of, were transferred to the Three City Districts.

The emperor even set up Haidian District, Chaoyang District, and Nanyuan District outside the city, leaving Wanping and Daxing counties only responsible for the southwest and southeast of the capital.

If Dongcheng District continues to expand and becomes Daxing County, why separate it?

So Zhu Youjian said:
“The scope of Dongcheng District, Xicheng District, and Nancheng District ends at the Third Ring Road.”

“Outside the Third Ring Road, the northwest belongs to Haidian District, which, with University Town as its center, has become the cultural district of Beijing.”

"The northeast and east sides belong to Chaoyang District, which is connected to Tongzhou District and relies on the canal to become the industrial and commercial areas of the capital."

“After the Third Ring Road is completed, the boundaries of each district and county will also be delineated.”

"We also need to draw a precise map to see which areas can be developed and move the city's guard posts there."

This statement made Yuan Keli nod secretly.

We know that the emperor does not act on impulse, but has a complete plan.

So he took the initiative to say:

“There is a lot of undeveloped land between the city wall and the Third Ring Road.”

"For example, the Yuyuantan Lake in western Beijing, I think we can dig a deeper lake to reduce the swamp area."

"The guards in the city can be moved there to cultivate the land and build fields around the swamp."

Obviously, the Privy Council has not been doing nothing during this period and has done a lot of work.

Almost all the wasteland that could be developed in the capital was found out, in order to relocate the garrisons and complete the reform of the garrisons in the capital.

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, and was very satisfied with the Privy Council under Yuan Keli's control. He delegated his authority and said:
"You can discuss this with the Minister of Rivers and the Inspector of the Sea and Rivers. It would be best to sort out the lakes and water systems in the capital and determine the flood discharge areas and waterways."

"The tap water source and sewerage system in the capital also need to be determined and a complete plan made."

"I allow you to mobilize the military households to work and distribute the land after reclaiming the wasteland."

Yuan Keli had previously mobilized civilians to work in exchange for relief when he was concurrently serving as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, so he was very familiar with this.

His previous idea was to use these military households to reclaim wasteland and then divide the land among them.

At the same time, some land from nobles and temples was forced out to meet the needs of various guards in the suburbs of the city.

Perhaps they had heard the rumors and knew that the civil officials were sharpening their knives, but these nobles did not say much today.

In addition, the emperor left many garrisons in the city, which made it difficult for him to implement his plan.

At this time, Zhu Youjian was also thinking about which garrisons to keep in the city and which to move out. He looked at the map and said:

"A guard must be assigned to each city gate, and the jurisdiction of each district in the city must also be changed."

"We need to ensure that the alleys and lanes that each guard is responsible for are close to the city gates they guard. Those alleys with smaller areas should be merged for easier management."

This idea had long been lingering in Zhu Youjian's mind.

The three urban districts of the current capital city are still managed by the Wucheng Bingmasi and the two counties of Daxing and Wanping.

Although this allowed the government offices in the three urban districts to take over the work smoothly, it also brought along some long-standing problems.

When the police sent by the Weiwei Office to enforce the law in various districts, they encountered resistance from local tyrants, and some powerful relatives also obstructed their actions.

The Jinyiwei were very dissatisfied with this and reported the matter to the emperor. Zhu Youjian was also very dissatisfied with the fact that there were still people in the capital who dared to resist the court, and planned to launch another severe crackdown to completely clean up the streets.

He also ordered the three urban districts and each guard to re-count the population and collect taxes in order to eliminate the malpractices that had accumulated over two hundred years.

First of all, we need to start from the root, adjust the scope of the alleys and break the original interest relations.

Zhu Youjian pointed to the alleys in Dongcheng District:
"The alleys on both sides of the main street inside the city gate should be managed by two alleys as much as possible."

"The alleys between the two main streets inside the city gates are divided in the middle. Small streets or even main streets are set up as the boundaries between the two alleys."

"For example, the areas of Sichengfang and Nanjuxianfang between Chaoyangmen and Dongzhimen should be adjusted in this way."

"The area south of Chaoyangmen Street in Sichengfang has been completely given to Huanghuafang."

“Its jurisdiction extends to the north.”

"Build a small street extending eastward from Huangqiang North Street outside Bei'anmen, directly reaching Nanxincang."

"The southern part will be assigned to Sichengfang, and the northern part will be reserved for Nanjuxianfang. The shops will be re-determined according to the streets and alleys."

"Each block must send at least one thousand households, each pai must send one hundred households, and each shop must send one sergeant to be responsible for the recruitment of soldiers in several streets and alleys."

"The number of new card shops should refer to the number of guard posts."

"In principle, a shop's jurisdiction should not exceed five streets and alleys. The same is true for the number of shops under the jurisdiction of a brand."

"Each fangsuo can have more cards under their jurisdiction, but it's best not to exceed ten. After all, in principle, every thousand households has ten hundred households."

Some people think this adjustment is troublesome and unnecessary.

After all, each block has its own streets and alleys, and which shops and brands these streets and alleys belong to have already been determined.

The sudden change now is very puzzling.

Yuan Keli felt that the emperor seemed to have a deeper meaning, and pondered this adjustment and said:

"Your Majesty, do you want to use the guards to set up a baojia system, with sergeants as baozhang, and let the streets and alleys under their jurisdiction elect jiazhang?"

This was the policy implemented by Dongning Guard. After the change to military-civilian guard, the number of households increased, and the names of thousand households and hundred households were not worthy of their names, and they were no longer allowed to directly serve as officials. Therefore, the guard was changed to have a capital, and each capital had a baojia, and talents were selected from the guard to serve as baozhang and dubaozhang.

There are many households in the streets and alleys of the capital, and each shop may have more than a hundred households. In this case, isn't the duty of the soldiers to be the head of the village?
But this would allow the guards to invade the local areas. If the emperor really wanted to do this, he would not agree.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian did not have the idea of ​​using military control over the garrisons. He said:
“The idea of ​​nomination is correct, but it’s not about nominating the head of a neighborhood, it’s about electing the residents’ committee.”

"In the future, each shop will elect residents' representatives to form a residents' committee. They will be responsible for mediating disputes, helping to maintain public order, and making suggestions on behalf of residents. They are residents' self-governing units."

"Their duties are similar to those of the Baojia, but not exactly the same."

“After the council is established, specific scope should be set for the duties and powers of the neighborhood committee.”

"The adjustment of the card shop is not only to facilitate the conscription, but also for the future election of the neighborhood committee."

"We can't let the streets and alleys under the jurisdiction of the shop be too far away, which will be detrimental to the management of the neighborhood committee."

This reason made all the officials suddenly realize and excited at the same time.

Because the establishment of the neighborhood committee was obviously a preparation for the establishment of a parliament in the future. This meant that the emperor was not just talking about establishing a parliament, but was actually pushing forward.

However, Yuan Keli was still somewhat puzzled and asked:
"In that case, why send soldiers instead of soldiers? Why not let the neighborhood committee be responsible for recruiting soldiers?"

Zhu Youjian said:

"Sergeants are assigned to each shop to serve as security committee members in the neighborhood committee. They are assigned by their superiors."

"He will assist the police stations in each district in maintaining public order in their respective shops, and at the same time organize the militia in the shops to patrol and guard when something happens."

"For matters like this, the local neighborhood committee cannot be solely responsible. It must be assigned by higher authorities."

This statement finally made Yuan Keli realize why the soldiers were sent.

If even public security work and organizing militias are left to the neighborhood committees to manage themselves, then some local tyrants may be able to control these manpower and use violence to control the neighborhood committees.

Only soldiers sent by the court and replaced regularly can avoid this possibility and at the same time prevent evildoers on the streets from getting out of hand.

In particular, the soldiers belonged to the guards, not the local system. Even if someone in the jurisdiction had connections with the government, it would be difficult to interfere with them. This allowed them to be less cautious when maintaining public order.

Yuan Keli thought about the various benefits and felt that this was the emperor's intention, without any doubt.

Seeing that he no longer asked questions, Zhu Youjian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Because his purpose is not just to maintain law and order.

He sent soldiers from the garrison to go deep into each shop to assist the police station in its security work, in order to make these people familiar with security affairs and to be able to act in an orderly manner when enforcing martial law in the future.

At the same time, he also planned to recruit some outstanding security committee members into the Weiwei Temple to strengthen his control over this government office.

Ensure that the Jinyiwei has sufficient sources of talent to maintain the vitality of this organization.

In the future, the Jinyiwei will absorb more and more talents from the guards, not just from the capital. (End of this chapter)