To say that Zhou Lang is not clear at all about the six departments of the traditional government, it is his dereliction of duty, but he has actually studied it.

It's just not that deep, because what Zhou Lang can get in touch with is only the six rooms of the county government, which are set up according to the six departments, and he thinks it is the same structure.

Who knows that the design of the upper power has completely followed another routine, which is the division of labor after the game.

Zhou Lang knew that the workshop in the county government was a department that managed all kinds of construction work, and that the local embankments were repaired, the ponds were repaired, and the wasteland was cleared, and the workshops could find suitable talents to guide them, but who knew that the power and resources of the Ministry of Industry in Beijing were squeezed very little.

Of course, the status of the county government's workshop is also the lowest among the six rooms, and the common people use the mighty rich and poor to describe the six rooms of the county government, and the power describes the torture room, which is in charge of the judicial torture of a state and county; Wu, referring to the barracks, is responsible for the local military, security, etc.; Rich refers to households, which not only manage civil affairs, but also collect taxes; Expensive, it is talking about the officer's room, which controls the local personnel; Poor describes the ceremonial room, the management of the table, etiquette, etc.

To describe the workshop, the word "cheap" is used!

Locally, the workshop is in charge of the construction and renovation of city walls, official buildings, bridges, roads, etc., sometimes using its own craftsmen, sometimes recruiting craftsmen, so Zhou Lang has always thought that the Ministry of Industry is a department in charge of national construction, and it is natural that the power of all large-scale projects should be attributed to the Ministry of Industry.

Who knows that the common people describe it really well, Beijing's Ministry of Industry is really one word, cheap!

The original design of the Ministry of Industry was in the Sui and Tang dynasties, integrating all the departments that were previously in charge of mountains, rivers, and mineral artifacts.

However, due to the lack of strong power in other aspects, such as the judicial power of the criminal department, the military power of the military department, the financial power of the household department, the personnel management power of the civil department, and even the power of the Ministry of Rites in charge of education are more important than the power of the Ministry of Industry.

Without power, in the dumping of power, you will become a weak person, unable to protect yourself, and even more will lead to the weakening of power. Step by step, the most important powers, such as the power to manage water conservancy, were snatched away by Caoyun and the River Yamen, two departments that were even more powerful than the Ministry of Industry.

The important functions of governing the river and managing the fertilizer and water of the water were snatched away, and the operational departments such as mining and logging were also robbed, and the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty went out to monitor the minerals; The Qing Dynasty's internal affairs office, with a large number of institutions, was in charge of the mountains and forests in the name of the royal family, and produced and operated goods.

This situation is not unique to the Qing Dynasty, but existed in the Song Dynasty, and Lu You recorded the evaluation of public opinion on the six hot and cold books at that time in the "Notes on Lao Xue'an": Shangshu Province is full of twenty-four Cao, which is complicated and simple. When I was in Beijing, there was a saying: "The official is sealed for the examination, and the pen does not fall." Hudu Jincang, busy day and night. The main meal of the ancestral hall does not know the inkstone. Soldier in the garage, pawn trousers. The punishment is more than the door, and it is always a wronged soul. Gongtun Yu water, see the hell in the daytime. ”

Lu You used the eight characters of "Gongtun Yushui, see ghosts in the daytime" to describe the four divisions of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Industry, the Tuntian Division, the Yu Division, and the Water Balance Division, describing the coldness of the Ministry of Industry, and also coined the idiom of seeing ghosts in the daytime.

Since it is a weak department, it is an institution inherited from ancient times, and it has to be given something to do, so some power that others do not look down on, and the drudgery that others are unwilling to manage, are handed over to the Ministry of Industry.

The main body of the Ministry of Industry in the Qing Dynasty was also composed of four divisions, namely the Yingqi Division, the Yuheng Division, the Dushui Division and the Tuntian Division, which basically evolved from the name of the Tang and Song dynasties.

The power of large-scale projects was robbed, and the Ministry of Engineering was responsible for the construction of palaces and other projects, which could be strictly controlled, and every project must follow the rules, that is, it was built according to the old conventions, and the Ming Dynasty built a palace with 100,000 taels, and you can't exceed this precedent; If it is a project that has not been built by the Ming Dynasty, it cannot be designed by the Ministry of Engineering itself when it is built, and it must be negotiated by the six ministries. And expenses in excess of one thousand taels must be approved by the emperor.

The little power of construction cannot squeeze oil and water.

In order to get oil and water, the officials of the Ministry of Industry tried all kinds of crooked ideas, and the camp department built a timber yard and a glazed kiln in the name of saving materials; The other three divisions followed suit and built ice cellars, ship yards, paint yards, etc. The Ministry of Industry has also obtained some of the taxes that are not in the corner, and the Department of Camp and Renovation can collect part of the wood tax and the reed tax on the northern coast, the former is levied on timber, and the latter is on reeds, both of which are related to the project. Over the course of a year, the camp division was able to collect a tax of more than 20,000 taels of silver. But those who really have oil and water, such as salt production, let alone salt taxes, and even the Ministry of Industry is not allowed to manage salt production.

Yu Hengsi's own job is to be in charge of the world's weights and measures and mountain products. But he couldn't compete with the Internal Affairs Office at all, and the real profits were owned by the royal family, and Yu Hengsi didn't dare to get involved. Yu Hengsi retained the power to manage the architectural decoration and office supplies of the various yamen in the capital, but the local government could not control it. He also interfered in the supply of ordnance, flags, and clothing for the Beijing garrison, but he had to handle it with the military department. Yamazawa products are the main duty of the Yu Heng Division, and the "Dongzhu" that is paid tribute to the Northeast every year can be managed, but it is also assessed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Yu Heng Division together to handle the tribute affairs.

The Metropolitan Water Division is an ancient yamen, known as the "Ministry of Water", which is in charge of the water conservancy of the world's rivers. As a matter of fact, the Metropolitan Water Division could not manage the water conservancy of rivers at all, and the special yamen for rivers and water transportation had already taken these affairs into their pockets. The latter are all of a much higher level than the Metropolitan Water Division. The power retained by the Metropolitan Water Division is only a little ship tax and wood tax, this ship tax is not a tariff, but a shipbuilding tax, but in the era when the board was not allowed to enter the sea, the shipbuilding industry really couldn't give them much tax.

The Tuntian Division is a chore, but because the field is an important source of wealth, the result is either managed by the army or the local government. Then they could not support this department in vain, so they were assigned a job, and they were responsible for the construction of the royal tombs and the tombs of the princes and ministers, and the official was in charge of most of the departments in the world, and finally became a gravedigger. The Tuntian Division also levies a small part of the wood tax and ship tax, and the annual income is 10,000 taels of silver, which is the leftover food of the six other departments.

In short, almost all important powers have been taken away, and only some marginal powers remain, which are not even managed by those skilled craftsmen, who are under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After Zhou Lang learned about this, of course, he immediately protected the assets he valued from other departments, such as the skilled craftsmen managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, these people can be called artists in later generations, and Zhou Lang first raised them to prevent them from being in danger or being trapped in their livelihood and changing careers; Those technicians engaged in water conservancy, whether they are old craftsmen or officials, are protected, and these people are worth reusing.

However, Zhou Lang has not forgotten the problem of the Ministry of Industry, and he feels that this department, which has been hollowed out of all powers, can serve as a pilot for his own modernization and reform.

Well, it's because the Ministry of Industry is cheap that Zhou Lang dares to try.

But as long as Zhou Lang's experiment was successful, the Ministry of Industry would completely turn over, because Zhou Lang planned to transform the Ministry of Industry into a professional and technical department that manages various engineering technologies, including formulating technical standards and supervising construction quality.