Chapter 159: Make money! Make money! Make money! Chapter 159: Make money! Make money! Make money! →:
At the end of November, the temperature in Bianliang was getting lower and lower, and the weather was becoming increasingly gloomy and cold.
There are often dark clouds in the sky during the day, and even if the sun comes out occasionally, the sunlight is pale and seems to have no warmth at all when it shines on people.
Today, the Sansiyuan Yamen began to pack up departmental documents.
Dozens of clerks packed up baskets of documents and carried them out towards the Daqing Hall.
The Bianliang Imperial Palace was divided into the front palace and the back palace. In the middle of the front palace were two main buildings, the Wende Hall and the Daqing Hall. In front of the Wende Hall were the Sansi, Privy Council and Zhengshi Hall offices.
In front of the Daqing Hall is a huge parade ground, which was used to receive foreign guests, hold grand celebrations, and host banquets and Cuju competitions for the emperor or other important figures’ birthdays. It was only used two or three times a year at most.
Zhao Jun always felt it was a pity to leave such a large area vacant. Coincidentally, after the new department was established, he asked the Ministry of Industry to rebuild some courtyards here to serve as office spaces for various departments.
It's not a large palace, just an ordinary courtyard.
This type of courtyard can be built very quickly, has three entrances and three exits, and does not take up much space. It can easily accommodate more than a hundred officials to work, so it is relatively economical.
It is indeed a bit shabby now, but the Ministry of Works and the Eight Works Bureau are already speeding up the work, and it is estimated that it will be renovated to the same level as the current Three Departments Courtyard by next year.
As for the Three Departments, it has now been reorganized into six departments: the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Taxation.
All that remained were the Ministry of Transport, which was originally responsible for roads, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which was responsible for managing industry and commerce (the Right Cao separated from the Ministry of Households, the Commercial Tax Case, Capital Salt Case, Tea Case, and Iron Case separated from the Ministry of Salt and Iron), and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The three important departments of Finance, Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Taxation were moved to the front of Daqing Hall. Together with the newly established Ministry of Police and Ministry of Education, they were only one hall away from the Political System Council behind Daqing Hall.
After the entire department was restructured, each department was replanned.
The original three ministries were already in name only, with no responsibilities, so they were simply abolished. The Privy Council still maintained its original structure, and the other ministries were dispersed or newly established.
Such separate departments plus newly established departments will undoubtedly increase the number of officials, thereby exacerbating the problem of redundant officials.
But the benefits are also obvious.
Currently, the highest administrative body in the Song Dynasty is the Council of Political System, under which are a number of first-level agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Taxation, and the traditional six ministries of Rites, Personnel, Military, Justice, Households, and Works.
The chief officials of these departments are slightly higher than those of ordinary departments. In addition to the title of Shangshu, they will also have the status of an observation candidate Tongzhi, which is equivalent to the second rank.
Then there are ordinary departments, namely the Dali Temple (court), the Court of Criminal Justice (Prosecutor's Office), the Censorate, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Communications, the Jinzouyuan (Propaganda Department), the Ministry of Statistics, the Ministry of Jiaozi, the Ministry of Geology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (integrated with the National Information Office, the Court of Protocol, the Tongwenguan, the Duting West Post Station, the Huaiyuan Post Station), etc.
Afterwards, the Constitutional System Yuan was directly under the jurisdiction of more than 20 secondary departments, including the Imperial College, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Works, the Military Equipment Bureau, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Liunei Quan, the Sanbanyuan, the Shenguanyuan, the Pinyuan, the Firearms Bureau, the Construction Bureau, the Imperial Decree Bureau, the Living Bureau, and the Etiquette Bureau.
In this way, the entire hierarchical power structure was established.
From the perspective of redundant officials, as the number of departments and personnel increases, idle officials are assigned tasks, exacerbating the problem of redundant officials.
However, from a practical perspective, the hierarchy was redefined, the organizational order was improved, and the superiors and subordinates of each department were clearly defined, so that they were no longer under the same jurisdiction as before, causing chaos.
At the same time, the three ministries, Taichang Temple, Zongzheng Temple, Guanglu Temple, Weiwei Temple, Taipu Temple, Sinong Temple, and Taifu Temple, which had no affairs, no power, and no responsibilities, were abolished, the functions of the original six ministries were restored, and the power of the Constitution Council was greatly strengthened.
In a sense, it is a bit like the three provinces and six ministries during the Sui and Tang dynasties, except that the three provinces at that time checked and balanced each other, while the three provinces now constitute the Political System Council, forming an overall force and strengthening the power of the prime minister.
And because the power of the prime minister and the imperial power are now connected, Zhao Jun compared the Constitutional Council to an institution similar to the cabinet and the Grand Council of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The power of the imperial power was also increased, and governance became more centralized.
The most crucial thing is that after the three originally extremely bloated bureaus were dismantled, although there are more institutions and departments, the overlapping and mutual influence of powers have been reduced. Everyone performs their duties and each department does its own work, which seems much easier.
This is what departmental weight loss means.
Perhaps the only ones who are dissatisfied are the new Finance Minister Cheng Lin and the Vice Minister of Education Xia Song.
Especially Xia Song, he thought he could get a ministerial position.
But unfortunately, he was suppressed by the Constitutional Yuan and failed to get the position.
Who made him so mean?
After the power was divided among the three departments, Cheng Lin, who was originally the prime minister, became a minister, which was equivalent to the deputy envoy of the three departments who was in charge of finance. How could he be satisfied?
He also wrote to Zhao Zhen many times in the morning court and afterwards to express his opposition, but unfortunately the situation could not be changed.
This bureaucratic reform was a carnival for idle officials, with supporters accounting for the majority of the court, so he alone could not change it.
And just like that, the entire Jingyou reform was successfully completed.
Personnel were redistributed, institutions were streamlined, and departments were coordinated and managed uniformly by the Constitutional Court, which was much more efficient than the previous chaotic system.
The Ministry of Justice has been working overtime to draw up charters for each department and establish a system of responsibilities.
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