Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 205 Promotion and Reform

Shen Yikuan left Beijing, and an era had indeed passed.

Before he left office, the Ming Dynasty had not undergone any major changes for more than 200 years. As soon as he left office, the entire Beijing officialdom had to re-position itself with the establishment of the "One House and Four Courtyards".

At present, the Grand Secretaries of the Imperial Study and the Censorate have not yet taken office, but the Jinxian Academy, the Privy Council, and the Executive Yuan are about to start taking action.

The Executive Yuan remained in the original cabinet, while the Jinxian Yuan and the Privy Council were located in the Wenhua Hall and the Wuying Hall respectively.

Although the list of three new grand secretaries and the minister of war was directly determined by the emperor, this one house and four courtyards naturally could not be just an empty shell, with only the leading grand secretary and the assistant officials consisting of the heads of the departments under his jurisdiction.

There must be some experience, practice, and paperwork.

Or a higher level?
After adding officials to the local government, the Beijing official system will also start adding officials.

No one disturbed the emperor because the queen was almost full-term and was about to give birth.

So first of all, Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and Tian Le took the lead in discussing the affairs officers that their three colleges needed to be equipped with.

The Imperial Study and the Censorate were temporarily "leaderless", but Zhu Changluo had direct arrangements.

The first is the Imperial Study. The Hanlin Academy has a heavy workload.

Four academies had already been set up before, namely the Classics and History Academy, the Imperial Edicts Academy, the Painting Academy, and the Hundred Schools Academy. Now, another Tongzheng Academy will be set up.

"Let's set it in Hongqing Palace." Zhu Changluo ordered directly, "All historical materials in the Imperial Archives should be moved back to the palace and stored in the Huagai Palace."

Hongqing Palace has a great history. It is located in the southeast of the Forbidden City, where the East Garden is located. When Zhu Zhanji was a "good grandson", it became the Imperial Grandson Palace and was once called Chonghua Palace. Later, Zhu Zhanji's son Zhu Qizhen also lived there after returning from "studying abroad".

After the Coup of 1894, Hongqing Palace, also known as "Nangong", fell into decline. The most recent change was during the Jiajing period, when Zhu Houcong built a brick and stone hall there to store royal historical materials.

Now Zhu Changluo made full use of it and turned it into the Tongzheng Academy.

This is for the purpose of the many promotions and further studies that are sure to take place this year, such as the promotions and further studies for Beijing officials that will soon be brought about by the establishment of one house and four courtyards.

The Hanlin Academy has the greatest stake in this.

"I accept your order. Your Majesty, please allow me to report again. The Tongzheng Academy is a place where many officials are studying and examining. There are already four academies in the academy, and the official rank and qualifications are not enough to intimidate local officials above the fourth rank..."

Hanlin scholar Fan Chunjing said this nervously and looked up at the emperor.

Zhu Changluo looked at the five people in front of him.

In the formal system of the Hanlin Academy, the chief official, the Hanlin Bachelor, was only of the fifth rank, and then there were two each of the fifth rank Attending Bachelors and Attending Lecturers.

Below them, there were four readers and lecturers of the sixth rank, three editors of the sixth rank, four editors of the seventh rank, four reviewers of the seventh rank, nine doctors of the Five Classics of the eighth rank, two classics masters of the eighth rank, two secretaries of the ninth rank, and six attendants of the ninth rank.

The core is actually the review of the above twenty people.

Now, four fifth-rank bachelors of reading and lecturers are in charge of one library.

Hanlin scholar Fan Chunjing also served as the Junior Secretary of the Chancellery, which meant he had indirectly achieved the rank of fourth rank and wore a red robe.

But he was expressing that it was not enough.

Not only are their ranks not high enough, but the senior officials in the Hanlin Academy also lack qualifications and experience.

"In the Tongzheng Academy, all students are officials. What they need to learn is government affairs, and what they need to explain is the major policies." Zhu Changluo looked at them, "The Hanlin Academy is close to me, and all the imperial edicts are drafted by the Imperial Academy. Teachers are not subject to rank. Once you enter the Tongzheng Academy, you are a student. Besides, you can invite retired old officials and important officials in the court to be lecturers."

Fan Chunjing felt a little disappointed and responded with "I will obey the imperial edict."

"The Hanlin Academy has more affairs to deal with, so it's time to make some changes. The Zhanshi Mansion is a concurrent position, so it's time to make some changes as well."

Under the Imperial Study, the Tongzhengshisi will naturally remain the same as before, but how should the functions of the Hanlin Academy and the Zhanshifu be clarified?
This was a government office established in the early years of the Hongwu reign, originally responsible for the training of the crown prince and princes. But after Zhu Biao, where in the Ming Dynasty was there a crown prince who could properly teach and train a team according to this configuration?

When Zhu Gaochi was the crown prince, he was basically the regent, which was unnecessary; Zhu Zhanji was the crown prince for a very short time; Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne at a young age; Zhu Jianshen was in a difficult situation for a long time due to the back and forth between his father and uncle; after Zhu Youtang and Zhu Houzhao, father and son, the Taoist Zhu Houcong came and the two dragons did not meet; after Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at a young age, the dispute over the foundation of the country lasted for more than ten years.

So there was actually not much to do in the Zhanshi Mansion. There was a third-rank Zhanshi, a fourth-rank Junior Zhanshi, a sixth-rank Fucheng, and a group of fifth- and sixth-rank officials in the Zuochunfang and Youchunfang.

Therefore, the Zhanshi Mansion became a part-time job for many people in the Hanlin Academy. It was their "private reserve" that allowed them to raise their official ranks and advance into the ranks of the elite.

Just talking about the positions above the seventh rank, there are as many as thirty-seven official positions in the Zhanshi Mansion, far more than the twenty positions above the seventh rank in the Hanlin Academy.

After hearing this, Fan Chunjing and others became excited again, wondering what the emperor was going to do.

"As a general principle, the chief officials of the major departments under the one room and four halls should be no lower than the third rank." Zhu Changluo looked at Fan Chunjing and smiled, "The Zhanshi Mansion is in name only, so we might as well sort it out. Of course, Bachelor Zhu has not taken office yet, so these will be discussed later. Let's make one thing clear for now. Under the president of the Hanlin Academy, the Bachelor, there should be five fourth rank officials, each in charge of four halls and one garden." In addition to compiling conventional classic historical books, the Institute of Classics and History is now going to establish the local chronicles library that Zhu Changluo requested.

Although the Imperial Decree Office was simple, Zhu Changluo planned to let it manage the Ministry of Rites as well, as another channel for communication between the imperial power and the people below, with the Ministry of Public Security uploading information and the Imperial Decree Office issuing it.

The Zanhua Gallery is just a start-up now, but in Zhu Changluo's conception, it is the "political research secretariat" that he is most familiar with.

The Baijiaguan is responsible for a more ambitious technology tree, and there will be many more people and departments to coordinate in the future.

It is necessary to raise the level of each of them and gradually improve the structure.

As the rank here has been raised, the Zhanshi Mansion will of course have to reduce a lot of staff, and at the same time do another important thing: internal propaganda.

In the past, there were frontier reports, which mainly conveyed military information at the border. Because they were delivered by post, they could also report other things at ordinary times. Therefore, these post reports and post reports were indeed a channel for understanding the trends in various places.

But in the entire imperial system, Tangbao and Yibao only concentrated information from various places to the capital; the information from the center was then transmitted out mainly through imperial edicts, official documents and private letters.

Zhu Changluo planned to turn the Zhanshi Mansion into another government office serving the imperial power, starting with internal propaganda.

There was internal propaganda directed at officials and gentry, using a real newspaper as the medium; there was also internal propaganda directed at the common people, which provided more textual materials for the developing system of storytellers.

The former is serious, the latter is lively.

When the emperor asked who in the Hanlin Academy liked to listen to operas and watch plays, Fan Chunjing and others thought that he was trying to criticize someone, so they hesitated.

"It's not a bad thing. Go back and prepare first."

Zhu Changluo asked them to leave first before going to the Privy Council in Wuying Palace.

After fully explaining his meaning, the biggest changes to the Privy Council system occurred.

The five prefectures actually represent the five major military regions. At present, the Left Military Governor's Office mainly governs the Liaodong frontier army and the local guards in Shandong and Zhejiang, the Central Military Governor's Office governs the local guards in Henan and the southern Zhili and Jiangbei, the rear military governor's office governs the Xuanda border, Shanxi, and northern Zhili, the front military governor's office governs Huguang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and the southern part of the southern Zhili, and the rest of the western region is governed by the Right Military Governor's Office.

This division of the military district system will need to be adjusted in the future.

In order to ensure future needs, military preparations, logistics, staff, promotion of military officers, military settlement economy, military discipline inspection... many things cannot be supported well by the original system scattered among the Ministry of War, the eunuchs, and the local areas.

There is also a balance between civil officials, old meritorious officials, military generals and eunuchs in the Privy Council system.

For this reason, Zhu Changluo said directly after he arrived: "In fact, the Privy Council is headed by the emperor. Wuying University Scholar is in charge of daily affairs, and major matters are decided at the Privy Council Military Affairs Meeting. The five governors are all aware of military affairs, one military and one civil, and have offices in local areas. In the Privy Council, each of the five provinces has a grand governor..."

It is only the framework that has been determined, and real military reform has not started immediately.

But once the combat forces are sorted out and the scope of assignment is clarified, then, apart from the easiest one, the Central Military Governor's Office with the Beijing Camp as the core, some preparations can be made in advance for the other four aspects.

In addition, we need to sort out the current military system's Bingbei Hall, the Zhifang Hall that specializes in food and other logistical affairs, the Wuxuan Hall that specializes in selection, promotion and merit, the Taipu Temple's horse politics and economy and the military settlement economy's Tunmu Hall, the military discipline inspection office that manages the police and punishment within the military system, and the Junlue Hall that specializes in providing advice for the Privy Council's military affairs meeting...

"In the future, the Ministry of War will only be responsible for two things. One is recruiting soldiers, and the other is coordinating with other government offices and localities." Zhu Changluo looked at the civil officials who had arrived at the Privy Council, "The civil officials in the Privy Council also have military ranks. Before we can truly organize the armies of various parts of the Ming Dynasty, we need to have a clearer set of systems, including all military ranks from generals to new recruits, and the system of joining and retiring..."

Military positions are hereditary, making it difficult for others to get ahead.

The martial arts examination is in decline, with too few new recruits.

Military service has been going on for generations and is becoming increasingly rigid.

The Ming Dynasty has serious problems with its army and its finances. Now Zhu Changluo has gathered all the military-related offices into the Privy Council, and there is too much information to convey to them.

It even includes the way for military civilians to leave the Privy Council system in disguise after they retire in the future: over a long period of time, they will gradually replace the three shifts of yamen runners in the prefectures, counties and districts of the entire Ming Dynasty.

The most despairing thing about being a soldier in the Ming Dynasty was, of course, that the status of a military household could not be changed by joining the army, and they were considered "slave soldiers" for generations.

How can one have particularly strong combat power like this?
How could the Ming Dynasty survive mainly by relying on the "private soldiers" raised by some generals through bloodsucking and some elite troops won over through favoritism?
The Privy Council is both closed and open, and it is here that the deep waters of the military are stirred up.

Doing this is much more dangerous than strictly enforcing exemptions.

The interests of everyone in the military must be taken into consideration as much as possible, and the dangers must be controlled.

"After the summer and autumn harvests this year, all provinces have reported their figures. You should be mainly concerned about one item." Zhu Changluo looked at Tian Le, "First, calculate the silver for the grains of military farms managed by the local governments!"

Tian Le had been shocked many times by the emperor's endless and self-contained ideas in recent days, and now he asked solemnly: "Silver for the grains of military farms?"

"That's right." Zhu Changluo nodded affirmatively. "Zhifangtang, Tunmutang, and Junjiduchaoshu should all keep an eye on it secretly. I will suppress the old system of the officials in charge of the Ministry of Revenue!"

(End of this chapter)