"Even if the imperial court discovered this act in the future and responded immediately, it would only be considered delayed justice."
"So, to nip this problem in the bud, we must increase oversight. In addition to the oversight by the Censorate, the Imperial City Administration, and local authorities, we must also provide channels for the public to appeal, as well as dedicated personnel. Not only the public, but also the many officials with a sense of justice must be given the power to appeal directly to the emperor."
Zhao Jun concluded, "Although this may not completely resolve the problem, it at least gives the people a place to seek justice. I believe it will significantly improve the current predicament of having no recourse."
The Song Dynasty court seems very close to the people of Song Dynasty, but in fact it is still too far away.
If the people were bullied by evil forces, in the era of underdeveloped transportation, if the county lieutenant in charge of this matter did not take care of the matter, or even acted as the backstage of the evil forces, then the people basically had no right to appeal and had nowhere to turn to.
Although the Imperial City Administration and the Censorate existed, as in Fengqiu, the Imperial City Administration neglected its duties, and the Censorate focused mainly on the river repair project. When the number of people increased, there was chaos, and the local county magistrates and county magistrates did not do their job well, which led to the proliferation of evil forces and countless people became victims.
If Zhao Jun had not been stopped by these evil forces on his way to inspect the Yellow River, it is likely that they would have no idea how long they would have stayed here and how many people they would have harmed before they were eradicated.
Therefore, Zhao Jun believed that the Constitutional Court had neglected the grassroots people.
In other words, the ancient feudal dynasties were basically not rooted in the masses and did not reach the grassroots people.
To this end, he must, like later generations, provide the people with channels to speak out and a platform for the people to reach out to the emperor, so that these high-ranking prime ministers can listen to the voices of the people. Only in this way can he truly govern the people and the country well.
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other. This suggestion did not harm their interests. Moreover, it was also what Zhao Jun meant, so they naturally had no reason to object.
After a moment's thought, Yan Shu asked, "What kind of department should be established, and what positions should be set up?"
"Let's do it layer by layer. Let's first establish a national inspection team of the Song Dynasty."
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "Previously, before being promoted, the ministers and chancellors of various departments were all sent to the four capitals to serve as prefects. This has almost become a common practice, to the point where the deputy governors of various prefectures have become the chief officials. This is definitely not acceptable. In the future, when meritorious officials at the provincial level are promoted, they will be appointed as leaders of inspection teams, half a level higher than the transport envoys of various routes. They will be stationed in each route every year to monitor the situation in each area."
The official system of the Song Dynasty is somewhat similar to that of later generations, but also different.
In later generations, it was basically divided into township level, county level, city level, senior officials and national level. However, in addition to the division of counties, states, roads and the court in the Song Dynasty, there were also various ministerial levels in between.
Simply put, in later generations, a province was on the same level as the various ministries, but the chief officers of the Song Dynasty were not on the same level as the various ministries.
Under normal circumstances, except for the temporary third-rank general, the chief officials of the other four traditional departments, namely the Transportation Department, the Pacification Department, the Prison Department, and the Grain and Balance Department, are all fourth-rank.
As for the central ministries, the heads of the thirteen first-level agencies under the Political System Council are all second-rank officials who are alternate associate governors of the Political System Council. The heads of the second-level agencies are third-rank officials of ordinary ministries. Only the heads of the third-level agencies are on the same level as the heads of various routes.
Therefore, there is a situation where high-ranking officials are not of equal rank. For example, the rank of Xia Song, the Minister of Finance, must be much higher than that of Yang Cha, the Transport Commissioner of Guangnan West Road.
Previously, the selection of assistant ministers of various departments was actually mostly from the subordinate agencies of various ministries of the court and the heads of the four departments of each route, but there was usually a transition in the middle. This transitional position was the fourth-rank prefect of Kaifeng, Yingtian, Henan, and Daming.
Zhao Jun was planning to raise the status of the four capitals and promote the governors of the four capitals to the second rank. So he might as well go with the flow and break the transition convention, allowing these people who were promoted for their outstanding political achievements to inspect the local areas.
In this way, they became the eyes of the Constitutional Court, entering the public on behalf of the Constitutional Court and giving the public a channel to complain to them.
"But given the country's vast size, even if we send a large number of imperial envoys every year, how many problems can they solve?"
Wang Zeng raised an objection.
"So we need to increase the communication channels between subordinates and superiors."
Zhao Jun pondered for a moment, then said, "It's time to establish a national postal system starting next year. Every county, state, and prefecture will have a post office. Then we should set up reporting boxes and establish reporting agencies at all levels to oversee the system together with the Imperial City Administration and the Censorate."
"Hmm"
Everyone looked at each other, and Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly and said, "I think it's fine. This way, we can provide more channels for the people to report crimes, and we won't be like the deaf and blind people who can't see the situation among the people like we are now."
"In addition to official oversight bodies, private oversight is also essential. Next year, we will open up the private press, allowing media oversight and encouraging frontline investigative journalists to search for evidence."
Zhao Jun continued, "With this multi-faceted approach, I think it won't take so long for local evil forces to be discovered in the future."
The evil forces are like a cancer that has taken root among the people.
But the Constitutional Yuan is too high up and too far away from the people.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide communication channels for the people so that they can report to the court any evil forces among the people.
This is also done in later generations. In villages, counties and cities, various banners against criminals constantly remind people how determined our country is to crack down on gangs and evil.
As a good young man of the new era, Zhao Jun naturally could not turn a blind eye to the increasingly rampant evil forces among the people in the Song Dynasty.
So he decided to copy the homework of the future.
Communicate with the people and hope that the people will tell the court where the evil forces are and who the evil elements are.
After all, as ordinary people, they are the first to be harmed by evil forces.
No one knows better than the victims who are the evil forces and who used violence and coercion against them.
So this time, he wants to fight against crime in an all-round way and make sure that the people live in peace and harmony before the Song Dynasty fully enters the industrial age!
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