During the morning court session on October 9th, the re-election of the Constitutional Yuan began.
Because the reorganization of the Constitutional Council was put on the agenda in October and was also mentioned during the regular meeting between the prime minister and the emperor in the afternoon, the specific regulations had already been discussed clearly.
Everything went according to plan. On the morning of October 8, Cai Qi and Song Shou resigned, stating that their term in the Constitutional Council had ended and that they were willing to retire and return home.
Zhao Zhen granted them an additional term on the grounds that both of them were still young. This was a special exception granted by the emperor and did not violate the Constitutional Council's rule that each prime minister could serve a maximum of two terms.
But this also makes them lose the qualifications to recommend candidates.
After they submitted their resignations and were dismissed, the re-election officially began. Zhao Zhen asked each prime minister to submit a list of candidates and announce it at the court meeting this morning.
So after a night of deliberation, the list had to be submitted this morning.
If a minister wants to enter the Constitutional System Council and serve as prime minister, there is a threshold first. He must be the head of a first-level agency under the Constitutional System Council and concurrently serve as the alternate director of the Constitutional System Council to be eligible for recommendation, and then he can be recommended by the current prime minister to be on the list of candidates.
As the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, a country with unprecedented power, officials naturally aspired to advance. However, the barriers to entry were high, and opportunities were extremely rare. Therefore, exchanges of interests and political alliances were undoubtedly involved.
Now, early in the morning, after the morning court time was changed, it would start at 7 o'clock when the sky was bright. There was no need to fill the house with candles like before, which wasted a lot of financial expenditure.
Inside the Chuigong Hall, although the doors and windows were closed due to the early winter and the cold weather, the room was filled with light. This was because the doors and windows in the palace were no longer covered with oil paper as before, but with transparent glass, which was bright and comfortable.
Most of the ministers in the room were wearing silk cotton-padded clothes with silk on the outside and cotton stuffed on the inside.
Compared with the ancients who used reed catkins or animal fur to keep warm, cotton is much more comfortable nowadays. It is also popular among the people. Cotton-padded clothes, quilts and other items also enable people to spend the winter safely.
The few people standing in the front of the officials were wearing elegant and luxurious dark purple robes. They were ranked in front of all the officials, led by a young man in his thirties, who looked quite high-spirited.
This group of people is the current prime ministers of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. They are Zhao Jun, the director of the Ministry of Political Affairs, Yan Shu, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Jia Changchao, Li Di, Zhang Shixun and Jiang Tang. Except for Fan Zhongyan who is far away in Youyan, there is one first-rank and seven second-rank prime ministers present.
The group of people below were wearing crimson robes, ranging in color from dark red to light red. These people were the chief officers and adjutants of the first, second and third-level institutions of the Song Dynasty. There were more than fifty of them, and their ranks ranged from the second rank to the fourth rank.
Behind this group of people in crimson robes was a group of officials wearing blue and green robes. They were officials from various departments who had lower ranks but greater power and could attend court.
After the Jingyou officialdom reform, Zhao Jun made subtle changes to the official system in many aspects.
For example, the weight ratios of the first, second and third-level institutions were increased or decreased. For example, there were only eleven first-level institutions at the beginning, namely 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.
Later, two institutions similar to the later department, the Censorate and the Remonstration Office, were added to increase supervision of Song Dynasty officials.
Now there are the Dali Temple (court), the Criminal Court (prosecutor's office) and the Kaifeng prefectural governor.
Adjustments were also made to official ranks and official uniforms.
For example, officials of the first rank wore purple robes, officials of the second rank wore dark red robes, officials of the third to fourth ranks wore light red robes, officials of the fifth to sixth ranks wore blue robes, officials of the seventh and eighth ranks wore green robes, and officials of the ninth rank and below wore light blue robes.
This was done on the one hand to improve the status of the prime ministers in the Constitutional Council, and on the other hand to roughly correspond to the corresponding levels in later generations.
This will clarify the ranks and functions of officials and detail their powers and obligations, thereby eliminating the confusion of official duties and unclear division of powers that existed before.
The only one of the first rank present was Zhao Jun.
Because the official system of the Northern Song Dynasty was that the Shangshu Ling, Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, Taiwei, Taishi, Taifu, Taibao, Shao Shi, Shaofu, and Shaobao were of the first rank.
However, these official positions were promotions and honorary titles, and it was basically impossible for them to be awarded while the officials were still alive.
Even senior ministers like Lü Yijian and Wang Zeng, who were highly regarded by the emperor, were only posthumously awarded the titles of Grand Tutor and Palace Attendant of the First Rank.
Zhao Jun actually started out as a first-rank official. His official position consisted of a title, an assignment, and an honorary position. His title was Duke of Song, his assignment was the director of the Ministry of Political Affairs, and his honorary position was the governor of the three towns.
There wasn't even a salary official representing the rank.
But since the rank of the Duke is the first rank, he is at the first rank.
After the Jingyou reform, the stipend officials and the dispatched officials were merged, and the director of his Political System Institute naturally became a first-rank official, and the associate director could only be a first-rank official.
At this moment, Zhao Zhenzhi was sitting on the dragon throne on the steps above the Chuigong Hall, looking down at the officials and ministers below.
Yesterday, news arrived that Zhang Kang and his men had captured Qingtang, Zhuolao and Henan. Zhao Zhen had even begun to consider what temple name he should choose for himself in the future.
You know, the credit for expanding the territory is second only to the credit for founding the country.
Moreover, if we have successfully taken over so many territories now, it means that the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia will probably be in our pockets in the future. This is not just about expanding territory, it is about rebuilding an empire.
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