It is not the busy season for farming in the five northern provinces. Originally, the farmers are doing nothing. They either visit relatives and friends, or hang out to go to the market. However, the court is building roads on a large scale and they are not idle. They form the main road construction in the provinces. Army.
These poor and scared Ming people, in order to earn a reward for road construction, just chose to get rid of the habit of idleness before they were busy in farming. They were busy everywhere on the road construction site.
Zhu Youjian is even more busy. He has to draw up a route for the provinces and he has to keep his eyes open and stare at all those who oppose the reform, especially the clan and the hundred officials of the capital.
There is no cabinet now, and there are still many government affairs that he needs to deal with. Therefore, even if he leaves the capital to explore the route, it must not be too long.
On March 15th in the third year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1630 AD), it was the day of the court meeting. On this day, Zhu Youjian finally announced his political reform plan.
This reform has a far-reaching impact on Daming, and it can even change the direction of Daming's country.
However, for most officials, the political reform is just a change in position, or even a change in title. It has nothing to do with ordinary people, so Zhu Youjian did not have any relationship with the six bookmakers in advance. After discussing it, he basically intends to be arbitrary.
At the meeting, the Hubu Shangshu Bi Ziyan said: "Your Majesty, now the five northern provinces are building roads on a large scale, and the money of the Hubei is spent like running water. If it goes on for a long time, the Hubei is afraid that it will be unable to make ends meet again."
"Bi Aiqing doesn't have to worry about road construction in the five northern provinces, that is, one or two years. After one or two years, the road construction is completed, so naturally you don't need to spend so much money." Zhu Youjian also thought of the five provinces in the middle and the five provinces in the south. Roads were built, but at that time the imperial taxation was bound to increase. "Aiqing only needs to examine whether every expenditure is reasonable and strictly control the expenditure."
"Yes, your majesty, the minister understands, the minister will definitely control the expenditure strictly!"
Zhu Youjian saw that there was no sound at the court meeting, "Dear Aiqing, what else do you have?"
The ministers looked at me and I looked at you, but they were silent. They obviously had nothing to say.
"All the Aiqings have nothing to do, but I have something to talk to the Aiqings." Zhu Youjian looked at Huang Liji first: "Huang Aiqing, what happened to the national flag that I said last time? ?"
"Back to your majesty, the minister has already designed a model that is blue and white, but in any case, the moon cannot be added, because there is no final shape, so I did not report to your majesty." Huang Liji bowed his head, not for so long. He felt a little ashamed of completing the national flag.
"Blue sky and white sun?" Zhu Youjian pondered for a moment, "Yes, blue sky and white sun are a warning to Da Ming's hundreds of officials. With white sun on his head, behave like blue sky. When the dynasty is over, show it to me!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Huang Liji bowed and returned to the front of the group of officials.
"My love," Zhu Youjian's gaze swept across the ministers, "I have never had a cabinet since I became the throne. I often feel that without the assistance of the cabinet, I have been dealing with government affairs frequently and have been inconsistent. Therefore, I intend to recover. cabinet."
"Cabinet?" The ministers' eyes were bright. They didn't know who would have the honor to enter the cabinet. Although the cabinet is not high in rank and not as good as the ministers, their real power is enormous.
"However, my cabinet is slightly different from the previous cabinet. Because it handles government affairs on a full-time basis, this new cabinet is called the Council of State Affairs. The original chief assistant is now called the Prime Minister. All government affairs and all ministries of the Prime Minister are directly under the leadership of the Prime Minister. Responsible to the State Council, and the Prime Minister of the State Council only needs to be responsible to me."
"Cabinet Prime Minister?" This is a new term, and Huang Liji doesn't quite understand it, but he feels that the cabinet and the six ministries were originally restricted by each other. How can the six ministries now become under the leadership of the cabinet? "Your Majesty, why does this Prime Minister of the Council of State look like a prime minister?"
Wang Yongguang also has doubts: "Your Majesty, the six ministries are under the jurisdiction of the Council of Government Affairs, so besides your Majesty, who can restrict the Council of Government Affairs?"
"You don’t need to worry about the two officials. This government council is naturally restricted. I will explain it later.” Zhu Youjian intends to clarify the affairs of the government council first. "As for the six departments, due to the needs of the Ming New Deal, I intend to expand it to Ten ministries, these ten ministries are all under the leadership of the State Council."
"Ten? Your Majesty, which ten are they?" Li Chunye didn't know what new tricks Zhu Youjian wanted to make.
"In order to cooperate with the New Deal, I have integrated the original six ministries and other institutions designed by the imperial court into ten ministries." Zhu Youjian scanned the ministers again and fully mobilized everyone's curiosity. ."
"The Ministry of Personnel? What kind of organization is this?"
"It is the original staff department, responsible for evaluating and promoting officials, including the governors of various provinces, and the officials of the ten ministries except the ministers and deputy ministers."
This is similar to the previous responsibilities of the staff department, except that the name has been changed, and the ministers have no objections, but they are concerned about who the new head of personnel is.
"Minister Wang Yongguang!"
There is nothing surprising about Zhu Youjian's words. Wang Yongguang was originally the official secretary, and the ministers all congratulated Wang Yongguang.
"As for the household department, I intend to divide it into two, with the Ministry of Finance in charge of expenditures and the Ministry of Taxation in charge of collecting taxes from various regions.
This is to separate the tax collection, and it is in the same line with Zhu Youjian's idea of levying industrial and commercial taxes and expanding the collection of agricultural taxes.
"Minister of Finance Bi Ziyan, Minister of Taxation Huang Shijun."
Congratulations to everyone. Bi Ziyan is nothing. He was originally an official book of the household department. Now the household department has a tax department. His scope of power has become smaller. However, compared with expenditures, tax collection is more thankless. He arrived End up a little more leisurely.
Huang Shijun used to be a servant of the staff, now he is a minister, and he has been promoted by half a rank.
"The Ministry of Industry has been changed to the Ministry of Communications, and the Minister is Li Changgeng."
This is another change that does not rise or fall. Now that Zhu Youjian is building roads on a large scale, the Ministry of Communications has more prominent powers.
"In addition, create a Ministry of Water Resources, Minister Liu Rongsi."
Liu Rongsi is the best candidate for the addition of the Ministry of Water Resources. He is an expert in river management. When he was in Shandong, he was famous for the treatment of the Yellow River and the canal.
Liu Rongsi was promoted from Minister of Household Department to Minister of Cement, which was also a half-level promotion.
"The Ministry of Rites and Honghe Temple were abolished, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was renamed. Minister Fang Fengnian, and Deputy Minister Huang Xiaofu."
"Your Majesty, what does this Ministry of Foreign Affairs do?"
Judging from the name, the ministers are all foggy, and they have never heard of the term "diplomacy".
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the name suggests, deals with foreign nations, whether it is Daming's vassal state or Xiyi, Daming must contact them, understand them, and learn their language and strengths."
"Oh!"
The responsibilities were clear, but the ministers were surprised. Fang Fengnian used to be Zuo Shi Lang of the Ministry of Rites, and he was promoted to Minister of Foreign Affairs. What about Huang Liji, the original minister of Rites? He turned out to be the first minister of the cabinet, and he was not in the position to become an official.
Zhu Youjian ignored the questions of the ministers. He continued according to his own thinking, "abolishing the Imperial College and the Imperial Academy, and reorganizing the Ministry of Education, with Kong Zhenyun as Minister."
This is not an accidental decision. Kong Zhenyun is a direct descendant of Kong Shengren. He used to be the Imperial Prison to sacrifice wine. However, Zhu Youjian is now implementing compulsory education in the five northern provinces. This Kong Zhenyun may be reused.
Everyone congratulated again.
"The Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple were abolished, and the Supervision Department was renamed, with Shang Zhou Zuo as the minister."
Since the Supervision Department was the original Metropolitan Procuratorate, the ministers naturally knew the responsibilities of the Supervision Department, but Shang Zhouzuo was known for his uprightness when he served as the Secretary of the War Department during the Tianqi period. It seems that the life of the officials in the future will be difficult. .
The crowd reluctantly congratulated Shang and Zhou Zuo, and stopped.
"In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was added to formulate new laws and to popularize the laws of the Ming Dynasty, Minister Cao Sicheng; the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was added to be responsible for registration, supervision, and support of national industry and commerce, Minister Liu Zongzhou."
Zhang Sicheng was originally the Yushi Zuodu. This time he became Minister of Legal Affairs. This is justified. However, Liu Zongzhou, as the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, was promoted to the Minister of Industry and Commerce that Zhu Youjian most relied on. He immediately attracted a lot of envy. But Zhu Youjian What was announced was the final ruling, and everyone couldn't oppose it.
"The new ten departments are all under the leadership of the Government Administration Council. They usually have their own office space. Can you understand your responsibilities?"
"Understand!" The ten ministers replied in unison. In fact, they only understood a general idea.
Zhu Youjian is not in a hurry. The duties of the ministers will have clear and specific content in the future.
The ministers discovered that among the ten ministries, there was no Ministry of War or Ministry of Criminal Affairs, and Huang Liji, Li Chunye, and others whom Zhu Youjian relied heavily on, as well as the Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Qiao Yunsheng, were not among the ten ministers.
"Could it be that among them, there will be a Prime Minister of the Council of State?" Everyone whispered, "But there is only one Prime Minister of the Council of State, and the remaining two will not be an official?"
Zhu Youjian quickly gave the answer: "Prime Minister Huang Liji! Vice Premier Zhou Shipu!"
"Your Majesty Chen Xie trusts! The minister is terrified!"
"Huang Aiqing doesn't have to be too self-effacing. Regardless of qualifications or character, Aiqing's appointment as prime minister is what everyone expects."
The Prime Minister of the Council of State, this is a high-ranking official under one person and above a hundred officials. It is more powerful than the prime minister in the Han, Tang and even Taizu years. No wonder everyone is jealous.
"Your Majesty, I have no longer established a prime minister since Taizu, just because I am worried about the autocratic power of the prime minister. The current Prime Minister of the Government Council has too much power, in case..."
"I don’t have to worry about the Secretaries of Love. I have my own method of restraint." Zhu Youjian did not look at who was speaking. "What I just said was government affairs. In the future, the government affairs of Ming Dynasty will be under the leadership of the Government Administration Council. Its position, but my court implements the system of'Three Houses and Ten Departments'. You already know ten of them. As for the Three Houses..."
Zhu Youjian saw that the ministers were all pricked up, knowing that their appetites had been lifted, "The Government Council is one house, responsible for government affairs, and there are two houses, namely the Judicial Yuan and the National Defense Yuan!"