Chapter 222: The former Minister of Justice expounds on the principles of selecting prefects; the reform of the Secretariat has a long way to go
Zhu Gang looked at Shang Hao meaningfully, "Master Shang, do you mean that Wang Chengji's official position was promoted too quickly?"

Shang Hao smiled and waved his hand, "The prefect has many heavy tasks to deal with, and the problems and situations he faces are often more complicated and changeable.

Therefore, it is necessary to select officials who have sufficient ability to handle affairs and have accumulated certain experience to serve in this position.

As far as the current situation in the Ming Dynasty is concerned, there are usually three ways to become a prefect. "

Zhu Gangdu believes that gambling is innate to human beings, and that gambling is actually a factor behind many major events.

The only difference is that some people bet wrong and some people bet right.

Some people bet on the fate of the country, while others bet on destiny.

Of course, this does not include people who gamble, because such gamblers are bound to lose!
As the most powerful vassal king in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gang has basically reached the point where there is no more title to be bestowed upon him.

In this situation, his greatest pleasure in life is to change the fate of others.

Moreover, if Wang Chengji was not promoted as an exception, Zhu Gang would have no idea how to arrange for Fang Keqin.

Of course, now that someone has raised objections, Zhu Gang decided to be a wise king who is open-minded and accepts advice.

So, encouraged by his eyes, Shang Hao continued, "In our Ming Dynasty, being an official requires experience both inside and outside the capital. This allows low-level officials in Beijing to go to the local areas to gain experience, while also allowing high-level local officials to have certain local service experience.

Therefore, the officials in the capital who were previously subordinate to the Six Ministries and the ministries, temples, and bureaus accounted for a large proportion of the prefectural government.

After all, as officials under the six ministries, they basically have rich experience in interacting with clerks.

They are good at making use of the rich administrative resources of officials, which is conducive to promoting the improvement of local administrative efficiency. "

Zhu Gang seemed to have thought of something. "From the perspective of appointing officials from the capital to other places, it can not only prevent officials from forming cliques and hindering each other, but also allow officials who are familiar with the court's policies to govern the local areas.

This will make it easier for the court's policies to be implemented in the local areas. The person who came up with this measure must be a great talent."

Shang Hao sighed, "In fact, our Ming Dynasty has never lacked talented officials, but the lower-level officials do not understand the intentions of Your Majesty, so they can only follow the routine to complete the tasks assigned to them.

Although they worked diligently for the Ming Dynasty, in the end they only got something in vain.

The end point that you reached with great effort in the last moment becomes the starting point for a new beginning in the next second.

In the blink of an eye, not only the hopes in their hearts were shattered, but also the dreams of these wise officials!"

Zhu Gang frowned and said, "Your Majesty originally planned to change the province into the Ministry of Civil Affairs next year, but this is not just a matter of changing the name.

The first thing to do is to take stock of the financial situation of each province, and then after comprehensive consideration, re-establish the powers of each provincial government based on these.

Therefore, the tasks in the hands of Fang Keqin and Zheng Shiyuan are particularly important. Unfortunately, none of them know how much the emperor values ​​the Ministry of Personnel's examination of money and grain this year."

While telling Shang Hao the hidden story behind the expansion of the "Empty Seal Case", Zhu Gang was having a headache over another matter.

After the "Hu Weiyong Case", Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the Secretariat had too much power and posed a serious threat to the centralized rule.

So he abolished the Secretariat and divided the power of the local Secretariat into three parts.

In this way, the three offices of the Provincial Administration, the Censorate, and the Military Command were formally established, replacing the Xingzhongshu Province and becoming the highest local administrative agency.

Since the Three Departments were in charge of local civil affairs, judicial affairs and military affairs respectively, the governor was only the highest administrative chief in the region.

Although he held administrative power, he did not have judicial or military power.

According to the plan made in advance, with the abolition of the Secretariat, the positions of Prime Minister and Left and Right Prime Ministers were abolished.

The third in command of the original agency, the Minister of State Affairs, was naturally changed to the Governor.

In other words, the Zhongshu Province was reduced in size and became the Chengxuan Zhengsi, and the chief of the department was the former third-in-command Canzhi Zhengshi. However, Zhu still felt that after the abolition of the Zhongshu Province, the local power was still too great.

So he downgraded the rank of the governor from the second rank to the third rank.

At the same time, the power of the governor was divided into two, with the left and right governors appointed, and the provincial government became a dual-chief institution.

However, after this series of reforms, a large number of vacancies appeared from the central court to the local levels.

Only Zhu Gang realized why it is always said that "governing a big country is like cooking a small fish"?
Because one move affects the entire body, until better policies emerge, the current policy is the best.

As the saying goes, there is no absolutely good system; good and bad are just people’s subjective judgments.

Only what is suitable is good!

If it is out of touch with the current stage of development, even the best policies will become a cancer.

The problem was that when these hidden dangers were discovered, Zhu Yuanzhang and Crown Prince Zhu Biao had already killed some of the officials.

The only thing Zhu Gang could do now was to select a group of useful talents from the local area while rectifying the administration of officials.

Find ways to fill the already broken Ming official system, at least to maintain basic normal operation.

Shang Hao saw that Zhu Gang looked absent-minded, and quickly reminded him, "Your Highness, Prince of Jin, if you are really too tired, I will compile what I just said into a memorial.

It will be presented to you tomorrow morning. If Your Highness has any ideas, you can summon me at any time."

Zhu Gang nodded and said, "Mr. Shang has been very thoughtful. Let's do as you say."

As a leader, you are not supposed to do everything yourself. It is the responsibility of the advisers around you to give advice and suggestions.

However, since Gu Xiuqi and Zhong Boxian were both transferred to the court by Zhu Yuanzhang and given important positions, Zhu Gang really needed an advisor.

Just then, Yao Guangxiao, dressed like a Confucian scholar, walked in from outside.

"Your subordinate Yao Guangxiao pays homage to the Lord."

Zhu Gang looked Yao Guangxiao up and down and said, "Wine is a poison that penetrates the intestines. It is not a good thing to indulge in it.

I haven't contacted you much during this period, how is the plan going?"

Without saying anything, Yao Guangxiao took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and said, "This is a selection made by me from among the officials who committed crimes. Each of them is a rare poor and corrupt scholar."

Zhu Gang took the paper and looked at it carefully.

There were only some names listed above, with a brief introduction about them next to them.

He looked at it and nodded slightly, indicating that he was very satisfied.

Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Gang and asked softly, "What do you think, lord?"

Zhu Gang raised his head and said with a smile: "Very good, these people's backgrounds and abilities are very suitable for our plan."

Yao Guangxiao nodded and said, "My Lord, what you said is very true. Although these people are poor and corrupt scholars, they are quite influential in the Jiangnan region.

If used properly, it may help us in the future.”

Zhu Gang laughed and said, "Haha, you are indeed Yao Guangxiao, you know my heart very well.

But we still need to be cautious and not act too hastily.”

(End of this chapter)