Chapter 416 Government:
"The Governor, this is the Ming court's personnel appointment in Shandong." The
Governor's Office in Nanjing received news from the capital court even faster than the local officials in Shandong.
With the Ming court's ability to keep secrets, the news spread throughout the capital shortly after the meeting in front of the Wenhua Palace that Xu Wenbi was appointed minister of the new army of the Ming court and was responsible for coordinating the entire Shandong army.
Lu Er from the Capital Intelligence Station quickly sent the news to Nanjing via clipper ship.
Xu Wei had already returned from Xuzhou. After receiving the information, he immediately rushed to the Governor's Mansion and reported the information to Su Ze.
Su Ze was still manipulating his strange machine. After listening to Xu Wei's information, Su Ze said with a smile: "Xu Wenbi is just the product of compromise. The internal struggle in the Ming court is almost unstoppable." Xu Wei naturally understood that Su
Ze What did he mean? He said with emotion:
"A few years ago, the civil servants could completely suppress the generals. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, the civil servants could no longer suppress the Ming court. It's over."
Su Ze continued to fiddle with the pipes and said, "It's normal, Chang Wen, times have changed." "
It's not just Mingting, it's the same here, isn't it the same here?"
Xu Wei fell silent.
In fact, the status of soldiers in the southeast has risen faster than that of the Ming Dynasty. However, under Su Ze's control, the military's influence is only guaranteed in the military system.
But Xu Wei knows that the Southeast can lock the influence of soldiers in the army. The reason is that there are not many professional veterans of the Southeast New Army. According to the treatment of veterans in the Southeast, once a large number of officers and soldiers retire and transfer to the local area, the influence of the army will be The power can even exceed that of a scholar.
Xu Wei was also worried about this.
Military men interfering in politics was a dark cloud hanging over civilian officials, and Xu Wei was also very wary of this.
Su Ze said: "The new army will inevitably bring about a new military class. This is a historical trend and cannot be stopped."
Xu Wei thought for a while and nodded in agreement.
Strong military groups have appeared in every dynasty, such as the Guanlong Military Group in the Tang Dynasty, the Bianzhou Military Group in the Song Dynasty, and the Huaixi Military Group in the Ming Dynasty.
But these noble groups formed through the marriage of military nobles are really nothing compared to the new army established by Su Ze himself.
There are two schools, the Army and the Navy, in the southeast, with a clearly hierarchical promotion system.
The Southeast Army has a high reputation and high salary, and has also attracted many young elites from the Southeast region into the army.
Su Ze also set up literacy courses in the military. Artillery officers also had to learn arithmetic and geometry, and naval officers had to learn even more subjects.
Su Ze said: "When a new class emerges, their agents will inevitably be elected to compete for more power and resources." "
Li Chengliang is the agent of this new class in Mingting."
Xu Wei nodded quickly.
Su Ze connected the pipe in his hand to the machine and said:
"The general trend of history is moving forward, and the new class will always be stronger than
the emperor, teachers, students and landowners." "Let Chen Lin concentrate his troops and give Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, a surprise. It is also a gift from us to Li Chengliang."
Xu Wei accepted Su Ze's order with understanding and immediately arranged for troops to be sent to Xuzhou.
Su Ze finally put down the parts in his hand and wiped off the oil in his hands, as if the Shandong military situation he just discussed was nothing more than a trivial matter.
He looked at Xu Wei sternly and said,
"The times have developed. If the system cannot progress with the development of the times, then all political forces will force progress."
"Wen Chang, our political system in the southeast must also be changed. "
How are the preparations for that matter?"
Xu Wei understood what Su Ze was talking about. He looked at Su Ze and said, "Grand Governor, do you really want to go this way?"
Su Ze nodded and said, "This Of course, we want to overthrow Zhu Ming Jiangshan, not to create a new one." "Besides, the
current temporary system in the Southeast already has many problems. If the system is not standardized as soon as possible now, there will be more troubles in the future. "
Xu Wei nodded and said: "The personnel have almost been decided, but this major event still needs to be announced by the Governor himself."
Su Ze wiped the oil on his hands and said, "Then make preparations as soon as possible."
In the second year of Longqing, Southeast this In the second year of the New Year (AD 1564), all newspapers in the southeast announced the big news.
Su Ze, the governor of the Southeast, announced the convening of a "Constitutional Conference" to convene representatives from all parties in the Southeast to formulate a fundamental law for the Southeast.
To ordinary people, the Constitutional Convention seemed to have little relevance to them.
A more important thing is that after the Constitutional Convention here, the first Southeastern Cabinet will be elected.
According to the newspaper, the cabinet system established in the southeast is more like a return to the ancient political system of groups.
This is a system that was implemented in the early Han, Tang and Song Dynasties.
The cabinet ministers were the prime ministers at that time, and they sat down to discuss matters and formulate major policies in the southeast.
Under Su Ze, the southeastern governor, there were respectively established the chief minister, the minister of finance, the minister of transportation, the minister of education, the minister of justice, the minister of supervision, the minister of war and the minister of navy.
The chief minister is responsible for the daily administrative affairs of the cabinet, decides on the promotion and review of low-level officials, and establishes a staff department under the cabinet. The chief minister is in charge of the staff department.
Of course, the Ministry of Personnel is only responsible for low-grade officials and clerks, and there are other methods of selecting high-ranking officials.
During this special period, Su Ze, the governor of the southeast, also had veto power. If he was dissatisfied with an appointment, he could overturn the previous appointment with one vote and ask the cabinet to re-appoint new officials.
The Minister of Finance is responsible for the finance of the entire southeast and is responsible for the Department of Household Affairs under the cabinet.
The functions of the Ministry of Household Affairs include collecting money and grain taxes and supervising finance. The newly established post bank and the dock bank under the shipping department of each city were also assigned to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
In addition, the Chancellor of Finance is also responsible for reviewing the budgets of various departments and appropriating funds to each department.
The Minister of Transportation is in charge of the Ministry of Works. Su Ze separated the functions of the palace and government buildings from the Ministry of Works. Today, the Ministry of Works is only responsible for road construction and land and water transportation. At the same time, the Municipal Shipping Department, which was once an opposing department, has also included its docks under the Works Department. It is managed by the Ministry of Finance, and the customs for collecting customs duties is assigned to the Ministry of Revenue.
Water conservancy projects across the country are also managed by the Minister of Transport.
However, these projects of the Ministry of Industry are not built casually. The budget for the second year must be prepared before the year and submitted to the cabinet for approval before the Ministry of Household Affairs will allocate funds according to the budget.
Similarly, Su Ze also has veto power over the current Ministry of Industry plan.
The Minister of Education is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. The southeastern Ministry of Rites has separated out work such as sacrifices and sacrifices, and now it is a purely academic and educational department. The Ministry of Rites is responsible for schools in the entire Southeast, and also prepares for the new imperial examinations to be held in the Southeast next year. In addition, all future examination papers for official promotions will be written by the Ministry of Rites. Nowadays, the government-run newspapers in the Southeast are also under the Ministry of Rites.
The Minister of Justice is in charge of the Ministry of Punishment. The function of the Ministry of Punishment has been changed to one, which is to formulate new laws. However, the new laws must be submitted to the cabinet for review before they can be passed. Su Ze, the governor, also has veto power.
Ordinary people can also understand that the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy are equivalent to splitting the Ministry of War into two parts: the Army and the Navy.
At the same time, the Metropolitan Government also handed over workshops, docks, newspapers, and shops under the name of the Army and Navy that had nothing to do with the military to other departments.
In the end, the Supervisory Minister was under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Su Ze retained the system of Yan Guan and Yu Shi, but simplified the complex Yan Guan of the Ming court into a Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate is responsible for supervising the administration of other departments and also has the power to impeach cabinet ministers.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate also has the right to observe and veto the appointment and dismissal of senior officials and major projects of the Ministry of Industry.
According to the newspaper, the current cabinet in the Southeast belongs to the "teaching period", which lasts for about ten to thirty years. During this period, Su Ze served as the Governor of the Southeast, and cabinet ministers were still appointed by him.
However, after the "teaching period" ended, the newspaper did not mention what the policy was, and the entire southeastern high-level officials also remained silent on this issue.
But this system alone is enough to drive many people crazy.
The Ming Dynasty also had a cabinet, and the chief minister of the cabinet would also be called the cabinet minister, or even the prime minister. But everyone knows that since the Hu Weiyong case in the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has no prime minister.
Chen Ping of the Western Han Dynasty once defined the prime minister in this way: the prime minister serves the emperor, regulates yin and yang, coordinates the four seasons, and implements the suitability of all things.
In the early Han Dynasty, the prime minister had great powers, but during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the power of the prime minister would be usurped by the internal dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suppressed the power of the prime minister and began the era of emperor autocracy.
After that, the imperial power of successive dynasties was in confrontation with the power of the prime minister. Although later dynasties occasionally produced some relatively strong prime ministers, the overall trend was to strengthen the imperial power and weaken the power of the prime minister.
In the early Ming Dynasty, after a number of civil servants and generals who founded the country were eliminated through several major cases, Zhu Yuanzhang completely abolished the prime minister and established a cabinet, an institution with a shady name, to assist the emperor in handling government affairs.
The scope and size of the power of the Ming Dynasty cabinet was a Schrödinger question.
If you encounter some powerful cabinet ministers, you can train the Six Ministries and Yanguan in the military to control the government like Yan Song.
When encountering a weaker cabinet minister, he is a rubber stamp, and even his daily work is a mess.
The cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty was vaguely "good for the emperor", and its cabinet powers were completely "earned" by the cabinet ministers themselves.
When you encounter lazy emperors, such as Jiajing and now Longqing, you can give the cabinet more power.
If you meet a more diligent emperor, you can bypass the cabinet and take control of the government yourself.
The southeastern cabinet system legally stipulates the status of ministers and clearly stipulates the scope of authority of each cabinet minister. This is not a prime minister with an unjust name like the Ming Ting cabinet, but a real prime minister. Ministers who can participate in state affairs and make decisions about state affairs.
The cabinet, the five ministries of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Punishment, and the newly established Ministry of War and the Ministry of Navy were collectively called the Seven Ministries, which were the most important administrative departments in the southeast.
In addition to these seven departments, there are several independent departments directly under the cabinet but not under the responsibility of any minister.
Dali Temple has the "Autumn Trial Hall" and "Appeal Hall" under the Dali Temple.
Death row prisoners are all sentenced to death after questioning, and the Qiu Trial Office is responsible for the review of death penalty cases reported by local authorities.
The "Appellate Office" is the hearing department where those who are dissatisfied with the trial results of the prefecture and county courts make the final appeal.
Sinong Temple is responsible for promoting new food crops and promoting new agricultural technologies.
Taipu Temple is responsible for horse administration and fishery administration across the country.
Honglu Temple is responsible for receiving foreign envoys and dispatching envoys to foreign countries.
Zongzheng Temple is responsible for the management of monks and Taoists and other religions. It is responsible for issuing certificates and confirming the appointment and dismissal of important positions such as the treasurer of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples.
In addition to the five temples, there are two prisons.
They are the Ordnance Supervisor, responsible for the production of artillery, muskets and other ordnance. The ships produced by military shipping also belong to this department.
He will be the supervisor, responsible for the government-run mines, ironworks, and workshops, and manage the craftsmen and craftsmen in the government-run workshops.
The future cabinet ministers will be directly appointed by Su Ze, the governor-general.
The chief officials of the Seven Ministries, Five Temples, and Two Prisons were all elected through court recommendation.
The people who can decide the outcome of the court election are the cabinet ministers, the chief officials of the five ministries, five temples and two prisons, and the censor representatives of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Although Su Ze, the governor of the southeast, has the power to veto the results of the court recommendation, the power of the cabinet and the temple supervisors of various ministries has been greatly strengthened.
However, at the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate was also greatly strengthened.
The number of censors increased from a few dozen in the Ming Dynasty to a hundred. These people were not appointed, but selected by various prefectures and counties through various methods.
The status is not limited to scholars, including soldiers, farmers, and businessmen. As long as they can be elected, they can serve as censors.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate has the power to appoint and remove personnel of all ministries, temples, supervisors and other departments, as well as supervise and review financial expenditures. It can also propose a joint motion to remove ministers and the chief officials of various ministries and temple supervisors.
As for how these inspectors and censors will be selected, the newspaper did not say anything, and it will still depend on the results of the Constitutional Convention.
Regarding this news, various social strata in the Southeast have different attitudes.
Ordinary people don't feel much, after all, the senior officials are too far away from them.
For them, whether Su Ze is called Grand Governor, Emperor or General, he is the ruler of the southeast. As long as Su Ze is in this position, the people will not feel much difference.
But for those young scholars who have read Su Ze’s new ideas, this is a big difference!
From the breaking of the natural right of kings to the sovereignty of the people, to the implementation of the Constitutional Convention in the Southeast, some scholars have been reminded of a topic that has been frequently discussed in academic circles recently.
The "Republic" era after the rebellion of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Does Governor Su really have this idea?
Speculations abounded in the southeast, but the newly emerged classes took great interest in this constitutional convention. This may be an opportunity for them to enter the political stage.
However, this set of news that caused the southeast earthquake did not cause any waves among the military and political elites in the southeast.
Because Su Ze's ruling foundation is so solid, senior military and political officials are either his disciples or old friends, and the military is firmly in his hands.
In the eyes of some traditional officials, the so-called Constitutional Convention was just a formality. No matter what position Su Ze held, he was the leader of the Southeast.
It's a little late, this chapter is too difficult to write
(end of chapter)