Chapter 153 The System Must Be Clean and the Responsibilities Must Be Clear

The Yuanfeng Reform during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty mainly focused on two aspects.

First, the "Ji Lu Ge" was promulgated. The promotion of officials must refer to the "Ji Lu Ge". The rank and salary standards of officials no longer need to be approved by the prime minister.

Second, under the name of restoring the old system, the three-province system of the Tang Dynasty was restored. After the Yuanfeng Reform, the power of the prime minister was divided into Zuo Pushe and You Pushe, who were responsible for the Menxia Province and Zhongshu Province respectively, and the emperor directly issued orders to the officials of the three provinces.

These two points can be summarized as weakening the power of the prime minister and allowing the emperor to directly participate in the government, thereby strengthening the emperor's personal power and strengthening centralization.

Although there are also changes in rank to make officials' positions consistent with their titles, reducing the phenomenon of officials not doing their job, and reducing the unclear boundaries of positions between officials, the imagination of shirking responsibility, thereby improving administrative efficiency and reducing unnecessary financial expenditures.

But in essence, the Yuanfeng Reform is still just a strategy of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty to strengthen centralization and weaken the power of the prime minister. Moreover, the impact of the Yuanfeng Reform was limited to the central government. For local governments, due to numerous obstacles, the effect was minimal.

Therefore, this reform was more of an excuse for Song Shenzong to expand the imperial power than a reform. It did not help much with the actual problems of low administrative efficiency and serious redundant officials.

In the Guanjia Hall, Zhao Jun looked around and said, "The Yuanfeng Reform only weakened the power of the prime minister and strengthened the central imperial power. What Wang Anshi's reform needed was to improve the administrative efficiency of officials and change the phenomenon of officials not doing their job. Unfortunately, Song Shenzong was too obsessed with imperial power, which made Wang Anshi's reform fail."

"Grandson, this is your fault. You yourself often say that strengthening imperial power is beneficial to the emperor, so why can't the Yuanfeng Reform strengthen imperial power first and then change the administrative efficiency of the government?"

Zhao Zhen raised a rebuttal and said, "Maybe Song Shenzong originally thought so."

"But his way is wrong."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "It is obvious that we need to cooperate with Wang Anshi's reform to improve administrative efficiency in order to complete the reform, but he only wants to improve his own imperial power. It's putting the cart before the horse, brother."

"Uh"

Zhao Zhen choked for a moment, not knowing how to refute, so he turned his head and looked at Lu Yijian and others.

Lü Yijian understood and said, "There's nothing wrong with strengthening the imperial power."

"Of course."

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said, "Look, in history, my brother's imperial power was supervised by the prime minister, the censor, and the censorate. He couldn't do anything he wanted and could only do nothing. But now that the Political System Council has been established, hasn't the imperial power been increased?"

Everyone rolled their eyes.

The establishment of the Political System Council did increase the imperial power in a sense.

Since the Political System Council controlled all officials and began to issue orders to the world, and the emperor could control the Political System Council, he controlled power through the Political System Council, just like the cabinet in the early Ming Dynasty and the military office in the Qing Dynasty.

But all this is based on the premise that the emperor can control the Political System Council.

Now Zhao Jun, the head of the Political System Council, has a one-handed control over everything, and Zhao Zhen listens to him. It feels that the emergence of the Political System Council only strengthens the imperial power on the surface, but actually strengthens the power of Zhao Jun himself.

However, since the Political System Institute increased the power of the prime minister, the emperor and the prime minister became a community of interests, and everyone suddenly became a vested interest, so they did not have to worry about being dismissed, so everyone just complained in their hearts and did not dare to speak out.

Zhao Zhen naturally knew that although the Political System Institute strengthened his imperial power, as long as he listened to Zhao Jun for a day, Zhao Jun would become the center of power, so he could only roll his eyes and swallow his anger.

There was no way.

Who made the Song Dynasty so damaged that it needed others to save it.

"Then what should we do now?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"The Jingyou reform requires the positions and responsibilities of officials to be determined, and the efficiency of each government office to be improved. The responsibility system should be determined, and the phenomenon of mutual buck-passing and quibbling should not occur again."

"Do you have any rules?"

"It's already done. This is the plan for each department."

Zhao Jun opened his notebook and opened the plan for each department that he had made these days in the form of a PPT document.

Everyone gathered around.

The first page is a departmental framework diagram. The top one is a picture of the emperor, with an arrow next to it and the word emperor.

Below the picture of the emperor are several scholar-officials, with the word "Political System Institute" written next to them.

Logically speaking, there is no Internet access after passing through, so if you want to make a PPT, you must find pictures on the Internet.

But Zhao Jun couldn't help but take pictures of all the textbooks before, and there are also some normal pictures of historical figures in it, which can be directly cut with the screenshot tool.

Below the Political System Institute, there are a lot of arrows, and there are more than 20 or 30 departments such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Audit Office, etc., all with pictures posted.

Zhao Jun pointed to it and said: "If you want to streamline departments and determine the responsibility planning, you must first plan the various functional departments, and then arrange officials to go in, so as to clarify their responsibilities and obligations. So I made a government department planning based on the political system of later generations."

"Can you tell us about it?"

Zhao Zhen said.

Zhao Jun said: "This plan is to make the emperor the head of state, the Constitutional Council the highest administrative body of the country, and then each department below will perform its duties, so as to achieve the goal of streamlining government departments and improving administrative efficiency."

Lu Yijian thought for a moment and said, "It looks like the three-gong-nine-ministerial system of the Han Dynasty, and a bit like the three-province and six-ministry system of the Tang Dynasty."

"indeed."

Yan Shu also agreed: "The system of three ministers and nine ministers means that the nine ministers are the heads of various departments, commanded by the three ministers, who are in turn responsible to the emperor. In the Tang Dynasty, there were three provinces and six ministries, and the six ministers were commanded by the prime minister, who then discussed politics with the emperor. With this Quite similar.”

"Isn't it the same for me?"

Wang Sui wondered: "The prime minister, the three departments, and the Privy Council are responsible to the emperor and coordinate all ministries."

"The Song Dynasty is completely different."

Zhao Jun shook his head and denied: "The Song Dynasty was more complicated. There were too many messy official positions, which led to the problem of redundant officials, unclear responsibilities, and extremely low administrative efficiency. This made the emperor have little power and the officials had little power. Everyone If everyone starts to stop doing things, won’t the government be abolished?”

Lu Yijian said dissatisfied: "Who said we have nothing to do? The political affairs hall has to deal with more than hundreds of official affairs every day?"

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "Then, what's the point? Has the Song Dynasty strengthened its army or its country? Jingkang Shai is still waiting in front."

"I"

Lu Laodeng was choked again and was speechless.

"This framework is basically the most appropriate framework. In later generations of Britain, the British king is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of the government, and the British prime minister governs. The cabinet is formed below. The cabinet has many departments, and each department performs its own duties."

Zhao Jun continued: "The Ming and Qing dynasties were considered the pinnacle example of feudal power, and it was a similar concept. The emperor, the cabinet (Military Aircraft Department), the six ministries, and then to the middle and lower yamen agencies carried out standardized governance. In this way, if something went wrong, It will be possible to establish accountability at all levels and determine who is responsible.”

"Well"

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly and said thoughtfully: "Then how should each department be subdivided?"

Yan Shu thought for a while and said: "Hanlong mentioned it at the Political Council meeting before. At that time, he said that he would determine the functional planning of each ministry. Now I think it should have been done."

"Um."

Zhao Jun responded, then clicked the mouse, and the functions of each department appeared on the next picture of the PPT.

He said: "You see, the three divisions were originally used to contain the prime minister and make the prime minister lose financial power, but in this way, the entire fiscal power of the Song Dynasty was held in one division, including weapon manufacturing, fiscal revenue and expenditure, grain transportation, household registration, and taxation. , Qingjiu, salt and iron, etc. This is obviously unreasonable. "

Zhao Zhen asked: "What do you mean?"

"Abolition of the Three Divisions. When Yuanfeng was restructured, the Three Divisions were abolished and merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs. This is actually unreasonable, because merging it into the Ministry of Household Affairs just turned the Ministry of Household Affairs, which had no real power, into another Three Divisions. There was no substantial change in the Third Division.”

Zhao Jun said: "We can completely abolish the three departments and establish the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Taxation, etc. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is responsible for business management, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for fiscal revenue and expenditure, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Transport is responsible for household registration, the Ministry of Transportation is responsible for water transportation, the Ministry of Resources is responsible for minerals, and the Ministry of Taxation is responsible for taxation.”

Everyone looked at each other, and Wang Zeng hesitated and said: "Wouldn't this separate the functions of the original three departments into six departments? Will it lead to further redundancy of officials?"

"There are already so many redundant officials. If we leave so many idle officials, we might as well find something to do for them."

Zhao Jun said happily: "Do you really want me to lay off a large number of officials?"

Everyone looked at each other, and then Lu Yijian was the first to stand up and said righteously: "Your Majesty, I think what the magistrate said is very reasonable. This official system must be changed!"

"That's right. Nowadays, most of the officials in the world are scattered. There are so many sects and scholars every year. There are simply not enough official positions. So many more departments are created to accommodate these officials. It is also a good thing for the Song Dynasty."

"I completely agree with Zhiyuan's idea. This is simply a divine idea!"

"I second my opinion."

Many prime ministers stood up and agreed.

joke.

Their prime ministers also have their own political groups.

Why was Fan Zhongyan opposed?

Didn’t it ruin the jobs of officials all over the world, and that’s why officials attacked in groups?

Now Zhao Jun has not only not eliminated redundant officials, but has also added so many functional departments to place idle officials. Isn't this a good thing for them?

So since it involves self-interest, why not do it?

Only Fan Zhongyan was confused.

What's going on, little brother?

He promised to support his Qingli New Deal to solve the problem of redundant officials.

Why did you change your mind again?

Wouldn't it make things difficult for yourself by doing this?

When Fan Zhongyan heard Zhao Jun's "wonderful thoughts", he couldn't help but look at him with a resentful look.

But he also knew that Zhao Jun might have other ideas, so he didn't object.

Zhao Zhen heard that many prime ministers agreed. He pondered for a while, then nodded and said: "Well, if the grandson thinks this can streamline the organization and improve administrative efficiency, then let's do it."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "That's definitely possible. The original department was too bloated. It would be good for administrative efficiency to clearly subdivide the powers and responsibilities."

"Apart from Sansi?"

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and asked tentatively: "Does the Privy Council want to be restructured?"

Zhao Jun glanced at him.

Obviously the military is Zhao Zhen's bottom line.

Although the Privy Council did not have the power to send troops, the emperor at that time had to go through the Privy Council to send troops.

The Privy Council coordinates soldiers, equipment, and provisions.

So in a sense, although the power to send troops lies with the emperor, the Privy Council is also required for military deployment.

If the Privy Council is decentralized again, the emperor's military power will also be affected, which is why Zhao Zhen is concerned.

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "If we don't change the military system for the time being, the problems in the army are too big. It is a powder keg that is more troublesome than redundant officials. Once it is ignited, the consequences will be disastrous. First, we should improve the official system, then carry out political reforms, and finally carry out political reform." Let’s restructure the army.”

"Well, this is the best and the safest way."

When Zhao Zhen heard that Zhao Jun did not plan to reform the military system immediately, he felt a stone fall in his heart, so he asked: "Is it only the third division that needs to be reformed? Is there anything else?"

"The judiciary must also be reformed to achieve judicial independence and separation of powers."

"Independence of the judiciary and separation of powers?"

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "The so-called judicial independence means that the power to make laws must be separated into an independent department. The separation of powers refers to one department for review power and arrest power, one department for trial power, and one department for supervision power."

"Elaborate."

Zhao Zhen said.

"The original censorship, arrest, trial and supervisory powers of the Song Dynasty were particularly confusing. Kaifeng Prefecture could arrest people and judge cases, Dali Temple could also judge cases and conduct audits, but the Ministry of Punishment simply existed in name only and had no effect."

Zhao Jun said: "This is very unfair to the judiciary and can easily lead to unjust, false and wrongful convictions. Especially for local officials, a county magistrate has the power to review, arrest, and try. The power is too great. For the people of the county, life and death are all matters." Isn’t it outrageous to have it in the hands of the county magistrate? That’s why the Ming Dynasty established the Metropolitan Procuratorate for the sake of judicial justice.”

"Then how to do it specifically?"

"The Ministry of Criminal Justice was changed to the Ministry of Justice, which is used to revise laws and regulations of various departments, formulate development plans for judicial administration and organize their implementation. The revised law will be reviewed by the Constitutional Yuan and the officials. If it is approved, it will be the law!"

"Is this judicial independence?"

"Yes, Dali Temple was transformed into a court, focusing on trials. Learn from the Ming Dynasty, remove the trial court and change it to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, focusing on supervision. In this way, each local yamen will only have the power of review and arrest, but no judicial power. , will also be supervised and will reduce the occurrence of unjust, false and wrongful convictions.”

"Various places?"

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes wide and said, "Is it necessary to set up subordinate yamen in various places?"

"What if?"

Zhao Jun shrugged and said: "This is how we will be in later generations. The central government has the Supreme Court, the provinces have high courts, the cities have intermediate courts, the counties have grassroots courts, and even our towns and villages have branch courts of the grassroots courts. This can solve the problem to the greatest extent People’s legal difficulties.”

Zhao Zhen looked at each other and saw the shock in everyone's eyes.

This organization can actually go to the countryside?

Really exaggerated.

"But if that's the case, how many people would be needed if there are so many agencies in each county?"

Zhao Zhen hesitated and said: "You are like this in later generations because there are so many people in later generations. Doesn't the Song Dynasty's doing this aggravate the redundancy of officials?"

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "No, these institutions already existed in the counties when our country was founded in later generations. At that time, it was 9.6 million square kilometers and more than 500 million people. The Song Dynasty was 2.8 million square kilometers and 100 million taels. With a population of tens of millions, the ratio is actually about the same.”

The Song Dynasty was a typical one with more people and less land. Although it was not like when the country was founded in later generations, the population density in the hinterland of the Central Plains was much higher than that of the Song Dynasty. However, after the agricultural revolution in the Song Dynasty, it became possible to have branches in every county.

And it can be said that preparations are being made in advance. In a few years, ships going out to sea will bring back high-yield crops. These crops have been adapted to local conditions for decades, and perhaps there will be a population explosion in the future.

At that time, it will be a matter of course for all counties to carry out judicial refinement.

"Well."

Zhao Zhen thought about it and felt that this seemed to divide the power of local officials and had nothing to do with imperial power, so he nodded and said: "Then let's do it."

"In that case, wouldn't the county magistrate lose any power?"

Lu Yijian wondered: "Isn't the power of arrest exercised by the county magistrate? If the county magistrate does not have the power of trial, what else can he do?"

"Executive power."

Zhao Jun shrugged and said: "Focus on the development of the county. From now on, just implement the decrees issued by the imperial court and avoid any minor tweaks."

Good guy, wouldn't the power of a county magistrate who has the power of life and death be much reduced in this way?

Everyone looked at each other.

But it doesn't seem unreasonable.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, county magistrates had great powers. There was a saying that the county magistrate broke up the family and the prefect wiped out the family.

Dividing their power is indeed not a bad thing.

Anyway, as long as their power is not divided, as for the lower-level officials, it has nothing to do with them.

"Anyway, the judiciary in the Song Dynasty felt confused just by hearing about the mess of institutions. After the restructuring, the county lieutenant in the county was responsible for arrests, the county's Metropolitan Police Bureau conducted reviews and then filed lawsuits, and the court accepted the handling."

Zhao Jun said: "Afterwards, a state-level review and arrest department will be established at the state level to separate the original powers of magistrates and general judges. The states will also set up state-level courts and prosecutors' offices. Finally, the state-level prosecutors will be sentenced The separation of departments achieves the separation of judicial powers among counties, states, roads and finally the central government.”

This method is not unique to our country in later generations. It has already begun in the ancient Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the Ming Dynasty established the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the judicial power was separated into three branches. It was composed of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple and the Criminal Department, similar to the procuratorates, courts and public security bureaus in later generations.

In this way, the judicial system in the Ming and Qing dynasties was far less chaotic than that in the Song Dynasty.

"When Song Ci was the judicial officer, he uncovered so many unjust, false and wrong cases. But there was only one Song Ci in the Song Dynasty, so it was obviously impossible to rely on one person to achieve judicial justice. It could only rely on the system."

Zhao Jun finally looked around at everyone and said: "The system must be clean, the duties must be clear, and the responsibilities must be implemented to individuals. In this way, when the Song Dynasty implements new policies in the future, such as promoting cotton planting, promoting corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other grains, or carrying out reforms and construction at the national level, there will be fewer obstacles and more smoothness!"

After listening to this, everyone felt that it was deafening and thought-provoking.

There is only one chapter today. I should have the latest mycoplasma pneumonia. I have been feeling unwell, coughing non-stop, and there are signs of fever. I may have to go to the hospital tomorrow.