My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 439 New System, New Outlook

"Since you mentioned the Secretariat and the Chancellery;"

"Then let's also discuss the reform plans for the government offices of dukes and ministers."

"——The end of the year is approaching~"

"It would be best if we could directly issue a decree to officially start the reform during the New Year's Day ceremony."

"After all, it would take more than a few days, or even a few months, to reform the government offices of dukes and ministers."

"Start early, end early, and get the court back on track to avoid political unrest..."

Seeing that the officials, ministers, nobles and relatives in the court did not react much - at least they did not realize that the future Shangshutai would pose a direct threat to the position and power of the prime minister;

As for Prime Minister Liu She, he pretended to be dumb and confused, and Liu Rong naturally didn't have the kindness to remind him.

Liu Rong immediately skipped over the Secretariat and the Shangshu Ling and turned the topic to the source of the reform of the Secretariat - a major reform that turned the court upside down.

Liu Rong originally gave a general idea of ​​the specific reform plan.

However, the specific details naturally need to be discussed and negotiated inside and outside the court, and ultimately a reform plan that suits the current situation of the Han Dynasty and will not cause acclimatization will be reached.

And Liu Rong's words were undoubtedly asking for a report - how did the discussion go?

Can you show me the results?
As expected, when it came time to give Liu Rong the "Government Work Report", the only person qualified to stand up was still Prime Minister Liu She, the head of all officials.

"Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty has given me your instructions. I have discussed with the officials in the court many times about the reform plan of the existing dukes and ministers of the Han Dynasty, and finally came up with a draft."

"Your Majesty, if you ask, I will present the draft to you and announce it to all officials..."

Obviously, Liu Rong had also informed Liu She about this matter before.

So when Liu Rong asked about this matter, Liu She had already taken out the bamboo slips from his arms and presented them.

Liu Rong had naturally read this scroll of bamboo slips - or rather this 'draft'.

So after just a symbolic glance, Liu Rong handed the bamboo slips to his side and asked the eunuch Ling Kuiwu to pass the bamboo slips to all officials for circulation.

At the same time, Liu She also began to report the specific contents of the draft without preparation.

"According to your majesty's order, the former Prime Minister's Mansion will remain the Prime Minister's Mansion."

"There will be no changes to their duties, powers and responsibilities."

"Only the expenditure of money and grain from the national treasury needs to be approved by the Imperial Censorate."

“Approval has two meanings.”

"——The first question is: Are the money and food expenses necessary?

"——The second is: Is the amount of money and food spent reasonable and in line with demand?"

"If both are correct, the Imperial Censor will approve it with the word 'yes', and the money and grain from the national treasury can be used."

"If there is anything wrong, the Imperial Censor will report it to the Emperor, or he may directly reject the allocation of money and grain."

"If the Prime Minister is dissatisfied, he can also ask the Emperor for a ruling..."

After Liu She said this, the ministers and officials in the court looked at him with strange eyes.

——This time, Liu Rong only had one thing to do in the reform of the Prime Minister's Office: to add a shackle called "approval by the Imperial Censor" to the treasury power that was originally completely uncontrolled and basically unregulated.

After all, in the past, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, the chief censor, of the Han Dynasty were said to check and balance each other, but in reality, the chief censor had no ability to truly compete with the prime minister.

On the contrary, the prime minister, who needs to be checked and balanced more, can rely on his natural status as the "head of all officials" to easily suppress the chief censor.

After Liu Rong's reform, the Grand Censor, who controlled the financial power of the Prime Minister's Office, finally had the concrete means to threaten and restrain the Prime Minister.

The Grand Censor can be regarded as the "sub-prime minister" in the true sense.

And there is another benefit to doing this.

- While letting the Imperial Censor supervise the finances of the Prime Minister's Office, he should also familiarize himself with the income, expenditure, and financial operation model of the Prime Minister's Office in advance, in preparation for the future "promotion of the deputy prime minister to the position of official prime minister".

That is why everyone looked at Liu She with such strange eyes at this moment.

Brother!

You are the prime minister!

The dog emperor reduced your power, and it would have been fine if you didn't resist, but you actually came up with a plan yourself?
Being sold out and still counting money for others, that's all...

The person with the most interesting expression was none other than the current Imperial Censor, Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi, who would succeed Liu She as Prime Minister in the near future.

——The Prime Minister’s financial power was seized by the Grand Censor, and the next to follow was naturally the Grand Censor himself, who was separated from the original Grand Censor’s office.

This was a good thing for Dou Ying, the Imperial Censor.

Because even if the original Chief Censor was not separated out from the Chief Censor's Office, he would actually not be much different - the internal and external affairs of the Chief Censor's Office had basically nothing to do with the Chief Censor himself.

From being unable to control anything before to holding the financial power of the prime minister's office, for Dou Ying, this naturally means that his power has increased.

But the sad thing is that Dou Ying’s career as Imperial Censor has entered the countdown.

In the foreseeable future, Dou Ying will be promoted from vice-chancellor to the prime minister, and his lifeline and financial power will be controlled by the future imperial censor...

This feeling~
how to say……

"As for the Imperial Censor, they will be separated from the original Imperial Censor's Office and will still be one of the Three Dukes, with a rank of 2,000 stones."

"A new subordinate office will be established, named: Yushitai."

"The Censorate is responsible for supervising officials in the Prime Minister's Office and approving the expenditure of money and grain from the national treasury."

While everyone was marveling at the situation, Liu She also proposed a reform plan for the office of the Grand Censor.

——There is nothing much to say about this. It is basically the same as the solution Liu Rong gave earlier, and everyone is mentally prepared.

The most important thing is: the prime minister's office has been deprived of financial autonomy, so the new censor, as the recipient of this power, must naturally have corresponding reforms.

After the prime minister and the chief censor reported on their reform plans, the most noteworthy and powerful reform among the three officials was also unveiled.

"Except for the prime minister and the imperial censor, the position of the Grand Commandant, one of the three highest officials in the world, will be abolished."

"A new position of Grand Marshal will be created, with duties, powers and responsibilities similar to those of the former Grand Commandant, with a rank of 10,000 stones, and will be the highest among all generals in the world."

"As for the former Grand Commandant's position as one of the Three Dukes, the former Chief Censor will take over."

"——Change the title of Chief Censor to Grand Marshal, with a rank of 2,000 stones."

"The duties, powers and responsibilities are similar to those of the former Chief Censor, with the additional powers and responsibilities of supervising all officials in the court, the three dukes, the nine ministers, and the officials and clerks in the counties, prefectures, and local areas, as well as the relatives and princes of the country."

"The number of the imperial censors who were originally in the Imperial Censorate's office was doubled;"

"New posts such as the Inspection Censor and the Supervisory Censor will be created, with the rank of 600-stone or 1,000-stone officials, to supervise local counties and states."

Liu She had not yet finished speaking - to be precise, every time Liu She spoke a word, a slightly noisy conversation would be heard in the hall.

There is no other reason;

Compared with the minor adjustments of the prime minister and the chief censor, the major adjustment of the position of the chief censor - or the 'grand marshal' to replace the three highest officials - was too big and had too far-reaching an impact.

First of all, the official supervision department replaced the status of the three highest officials in the military. This undoubtedly revealed a very clear political signal: official supervision and monitoring will become the top priority of the internal work of the Han Dynasty court from now on!

How heavy?
——It is necessary to set up a special department at the level of "three publics", "public officials" and "public servants" to take full responsibility for such an important task!
In the past, especially since the reign of Emperor Taizong, bribery and corruption have always been rampant in the Han Dynasty, and have become increasingly serious. In this era, the former Chief Censor and current Grand Chancellor was promoted to the level of the Three Dukes, which undoubtedly turned the cart around in terms of anti-corruption.

From the original: If you are greedy, no one will care;

It becomes the later part: Still greedy?
I'm here to collect you~
Secondly, the so-called "supervision of all officials" by the original Chief Censor was limited to random inspections by the censors at irregular intervals and locations, in the style of public-funded tourism or sightseeing.

In the future, in addition to doubling the number of censors who collect folk songs on a random basis, we will also have to establish touring censors and supervisory censors.

It is not difficult to see from the names of these two positions: the inspector censor, the main character is "inspector";
But it is different from the random inspections by the Imperial Censors - the Imperial Censors for Inspection must follow a strict route, or even conduct targeted inspections with a purpose and goal.

For example, if the people of a certain county filed a complaint in Chang'an, they would send an inspector to investigate.

Nominally the mission was to 'inspect Kanto', but the censorate actually did cover a large area.

But the real target was actually the problematic county where the people complained about their grievances and filed complaints in Chang'an.

As for the Censors, they are easier to understand - they are stationed directly in counties, prefectures, or vassal states to supervise officials on a long-term basis.

With this two-pronged approach, Han officials would not dare to be corrupt anymore, but at least they would not dare to be corrupt too blatantly or excessively.

Another thing is that the Taiwei was renamed Da Sima, and the positions of the Three Dukes were replaced by the Da Sikong, who supervised all officials.

——Moreover, the new Grand Marshal’s duties, powers and responsibilities are the same as those of the former Grand Commandant, and he still has a salary of ten thousand stones!
The rank of Wanshi means that even if the future Grand Marshal is no longer one of the Three Dukes, he will still be the only official position with a rank of Wanshi in the Han Dynasty's official system, except for the prime minister.

To put it more bluntly, only the Grand Marshal can be on par with the Prime Minister, and the rest are just younger brothers!

Even the Grand Censor and Grand Chancellor, who were both among the Three Dukes, were the same!

This is very fatal.

For example, in later generations, departments that are not in the government system will inevitably be in the party system.

The same principle applies - in this era, departments that are not under the court system must be directly under the emperor.

The most straightforward way to express it is: the Taiwei in the past was the Taiwei of the Han Dynasty;

The future Grand Marshal will be the Grand Marshal of the Han Emperor...

Liu Rong certainly would not tell the officials of this era what separation of government and military meant, or what the army should follow the emperor.

But there is no doubt that from now on, the army of the Han Dynasty - the gun - will be separated from the administrative system more thoroughly and more clearly...

At this point, the report on the reform plan for the three public sectors and the first level has been completed.

According to the earlier agreement between Liu Rong and Liu She, the reporting work was temporarily suspended, and the court conducted a formal vote on the reform plan for the three highest officials, namely the third reading.

As the name suggests, the plan was read out three times by the imperial officials.

If anyone raises an objection during the process and does not receive a satisfactory response or interpretation, or the plan is adjusted to the satisfaction of this person, the plan will be deemed to have been rejected.

Finally, the court passed the third reading of the reform plan for the existing three officials at the highest level.

Next, Liu Rong will formally issue an administrative decree, which will be sealed by the prime minister and the empress dowager respectively, and this decree will then officially have legal effect.

Of course, the reality is that a policy that can be passed after three readings is unlikely to be opposed by the prime minister or the empress dowager.

Therefore, the moment the third reading was passed, the reform plan actually had legal effect.

——The Three Dukes of the New Han Dynasty: Prime Minister - Prime Minister’s Office, Chief Censor - Censorate, Grand Marshal - Marshal’s Office!

After the Three Dukes are completed, the next step is naturally the Nine Ministers.

Liu She took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and continued to report: "When the Nine Ministers are reformed, the Internal History will be the first."

"The original Nei Shi - that is, the Zhisu Nei Shi was abolished."

"A new position of Minister of Agriculture was created, with a rank of 2,000 stone, as one of the Nine Ministers, responsible for agriculture and farming throughout the country, as well as the collection of agricultural taxes."

"Originally a lieutenant of the Internal History Department, renamed as the Imperial Guards, a 2,000-stone official, one of the Nine Ministers."

"The five officials who were originally under the jurisdiction of the Internal History are now under the jurisdiction of the Langzhongling."

"It was originally under the command of the commander of the internal historian, but was changed to the commander of the Dali (Tingwei)."

...

"The craftsman was the Shaofu, and still one of the Nine Ministers."

"He was originally a duwei of the nobility, and was promoted to the rank of Jiuqing, with a rank of 2,000 stone, in charge of salt, iron, and grain, and also in charge of the purchase and sale of various utensils in the Ministry of Finance."

"The East and West Weaving Rooms, which were originally under the Shaofu, are now under the newly established Weaving Department. The East and West Weaving Commanders are 2,000-stone officials, and the Weaving Department Supervisor is 2,000-stone officials."

"It was originally under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu, but was later changed to the jurisdiction of the Taichang."

"It was originally under the Taicang of the Shaofu, but was changed to the Da Nong."

"The six Shangs of the Forbidden Palace, which were originally under the Shaofu, were changed from Shangshi to Yushenfang, Shangyu to Tangmu, Shangyi to Yutai, Shangxi to Yuxi, and Shangguan to Yuguan."

"Shangshu was changed to Shangshutai, which was an independent department and not under the jurisdiction of Shaofu. It was equivalent to a 2,000-stone official."

...

"The Weiwei is no longer one of the Nine Ministers, but remains a middle rank of 2,000-stone officials."

"Dismiss the general."

...

"The Minister of State Affairs is no longer a Nine Ministers, but a 2,000-stone official."

...

"The positions of Grand Master of the Imperial Household, Grand Master of Rites, Grand Master of Imperial Clan Affairs, and Imperial Doctors remain unchanged."

Compared with the major earthquake at the level of the Three Dukes, in which the Chief Censor was renamed the Grand Marshal and replaced the position of the Three Dukes, the changes at the level of the Nine Ministers were not big, but definitely not small.

——Say it’s big?

The five departments of Taipu, Taichang, Dali, Zongzheng, and Langzhongling remained unchanged, and even received some benefits;

For example, the Minister of Rites was given the post of East Garden, the Minister of Agriculture was given the post of Taicang, the Minister of Internal Affairs was given the post of General of the Five Officials, and the Minister of Justice was given the post of Commandant of Preventing Bandits, etc.

But it’s not big, right?

The two most important among the Nine Ministers - Nei Shi and Shao Fu - were torn apart beyond recognition.

But overall, the reform plan for the Nine Ministers level is basically the direction that Liu Rong had previously revealed, without much unexpected new content.

In the end, it was passed in the third reading, and the reform plan for the nine ministers also officially took legal effect.

At this point, the reorganization of the dukes and ministers in the court has completed all political procedures.

The new Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty: Prime Minister, Chief Censor, and Grand Marshal.

Nine Ministers: Shaofu, Da Nong, Taipu, Taichang, Dali, Zongzheng, Langzhongling, Zhijinwu, and Zhujueduwei.

Quasi-Nine Ministers: Dianke, Zhibusi, Shangshuling...

The procedure is completed, the formalities are gone through;

Next, half a month later, the emperor held a meeting on the first day of October in the winter of the third year of the Xinyuan period of the Qing Dynasty and announced the matter to the world.

As for the specific reform, it will start directly after today's court meeting.

(End of this chapter)