Zhu Jianyan, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who was sitting in his place, and the officials who participated in the discussion on the left and right sides had actually thought about the issue of the rank of officials after the adjustment of administrative divisions.

Theoretically, from a completely business-like point of view, this shouldn't be too big a problem at all, and even His Royal Highness Prince Daishi didn't directly express any opinion on this.

But the old bureaucrats on the scene actually knew that this matter must be a very troublesome big problem in practice.

The implementation of any decision will implicate a series of practical problems.

The grade of the officials of the agencies dispatched by the Central Government Office will not only affect the grades of the officials of the large regions to be newly established, but their grades will also directly affect the grades of the officials of the various ministries of the Central Government Office.

The organizational framework of the central ministries of the Ming Dynasty is basically one chief official Shangshu and two Zuo Erguan Shilang.

Then the following is the Department of Cleaning Officials, who is specifically responsible for all kinds of practical affairs, the person in charge of the Department of Cleaning is Lang Zhong, and the second official is the director.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and other central government offices will directly correspond to their subordinate provinces and set up a department of officials with the same name to be in charge of the finance, personnel, criminal prisons, and other affairs of the corresponding provinces.

Therefore, every time a province is abolished and a new province is established, these central government offices will correspondingly add a Qing Officials Division, and add a group of Qing Officials Divisions such as Langzhong and the chief minister.

Now the number of Langzhong and the chief of the Qing Officials Division in most of these departments has exceeded 100 people combined.

Moreover, these personnel are increasing very quickly, and the Shangshu and the squire of the corresponding department may no longer be able to recognize them.

This is actually beyond the limits of ordinary people's management.

The exponential expansion of this kind of institution is also the direct cause of the simultaneous expansion of the scale of the central government and the plummeting efficiency.

After the formal establishment of the provinces and the formal establishment of the large domain, should these Qing officials be changed from the surnames corresponding to the provinces to the direct corresponding to the large domains?

Corresponding to the large domain, the number was reduced to a dozen, and for the scholars, the world was suddenly clear.

However, if it is changed to correspond to the large domain, should the official grades of Langzhong and the chief of the Qing Officials Division be upgraded accordingly?

On the other hand, the original provincial-level political officials have already been converted from second-grade officials.

The main officials of the Great Domain, who manage multiple provinces, must be of higher rank than the political envoys, so they must be at least the second grade.

Moreover, it is customary to say that the rank of the chief officer and the second officer are two levels apart.

Political envoys are from the second grade, and left and right participation in politics is from the third grade.

The prefect is the fourth product, and the same knowledge is the fifth product.

According to this gap, if the grade is upgraded, then the chief officer of the Great Domain should be the first grade, and the second official must be the second grade.

And the grade of the chief official Shangshu of the various departments of the Central Government Office is also the second grade.

The official title of Zhengyipin is actually false, and it is usually an honorary title for the old ministers.

With their own thoughts in their hearts, everyone invariably looked at Wang Tingzhen, the new secretary of the ministry.

It's not that everyone is completely devoid of their own ideas, but this is a big problem, and it is obvious that the competent authorities should speak first.

After reading Zhu Jingyuan's suggestion, Wang Tingzhen also considered this issue from the perspective of his own work.

The addition of first-level administrative divisions will inevitably lead to a corresponding increase in officials, and it will inevitably lead to the adjustment of the existing official system.

Adjusting the rank of officials is obviously a very troublesome issue.

Troublesome in practice...... It's not something that can be considered right away, but only direction.

So Wang Tingzhen considered the language and said:

"The minister thinks that, according to the suggestion made by His Royal Highness Prince Daishi, the nature of the Great Domain is that of the central government agency, so there is no need to directly use it as an actual independent administrative level.

"The minister thought that he could fix the position of the governor and be responsible for the military affairs of a large domain, with the rank of the second rank being the second grade, and the second officer being the admiral, and the rank of the second rank.

"You can set up the left and right guards, responsible for the government affairs of a large domain, the grade is the second grade, and the second official and deputy are protected, and the grade is from the second grade.

"A criminal officer can be set up to be responsible for the affairs of a large area of criminal prisons, with the rank of the second grade, and the rank of the second officer and the deputy criminal officer, and the rank of the second rank.

"You can set up a large domain left and right imperial history, responsible for the supervision of the domain, the grade is the second grade, and the deputy imperial history of the second official is from the second grade.

"The Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs under the provincial departments of officials can be integrated into the corresponding departments of the major regions, and the grade of the chief official can be raised by two levels, which is the fourth grade.

"The local Zhili Province corresponds to the Qing Officials Division, and the rank of the chief official is simultaneously upgraded to the fourth grade."

After Wang Tingzhen finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Jianyan, Zhu Jianyan frowned slightly and considered:

"The four chief officials of such a large domain are at the same level as the Shangshu of the central ministries, and the second official is at the same level as the political envoys of the provinces......"

Zhu Jianyan didn't say a few words.

In this way, although the status of officials in the big domain will not be too low, the pressure on the political envoy will not be too great.

The chief official is only one level higher than the political envoy, and the second official is directly equal.

Moreover, within the Great Domain itself, the chief official is also the second official, and it is only one level behind.

The administrative officials are also divided into left and right protection, and the imperial history is also divided into left and right imperial history.

This made it easier for the emperor to regulate and control them, and to check and balance each other.

Of course, Wang Tingzhen thought the same thing, but he didn't say it either.

It's really all understood.

However, Zhu Jianyan was noncommittal about this arrangement.

Originally, it was because it could not be managed, and because the administrative efficiency plummeted, so the establishment of a large regional organization.

The addition of a level of administrative structure will certainly reduce the overall administrative efficiency.

There are still too many checks and balances to be used in large regional institutions, which will inevitably further reduce administrative efficiency.

In case of such a toss, the final efficiency is not much different from what it is now, then it will be in vain.

Zhu Jianyan is a little uncertain now.

Zhu Jianyan had already completely read through the last words left by Emperor Shizu.

But there's no way to deal with that.

Compared with before, many things that Emperor Shizu did not understand, such as aircraft carriers, battleships, atomic weapons, electronic computers, etc., his precious son Jingyuan has figured it out.

This makes Zhu Jianyan's sense of expectation for Zhu Jingyuan now higher than that of the ancestors.

So Zhu Jianyan is a little complaining now, why didn't this kid make the grade arrangement clear?

However, Zhu Jianyan did not show anything on the surface, and only continued to ask the opinions of other officials and scholars.

Several officials and scholars agreed with Wang Tingzhen's proposal.

But some officials raised questions, and even made it clear what Wang Tingzhen didn't say.

Lu Yinpu, the head of the household department, questioned Wang Tingzhen:

"Otsuka Zai, in the past, the governor sent by the imperial court usually hung the title of Shangshu, which was the same level as Shangshu, because the governor had full responsibility for handling a certain place or a certain affairs.

"And the Great Domain is a central dispatched agency, so the corresponding officials of the Great Domain should not have full decision-making power.

"Do you think that the left and right capitals are at the same level as the household department and the official department, the governor is at the same level as the military department, and the imperial history of the Great Domain is at the same level as the imperial history of the capital.

"When the region is docked with the central government office, how should it be coordinated? Who is it dominated by?

"Can the things that the protector and the governor can't decide, can they be handed over to Shangshu to decide?"

Wang Tingzhen is not a vegetarian either, and responded directly in the face of this questioning:

"Of course, it is Your Majesty who decides."

Lu Yinpu immediately continued:

"Your Majesty has a lot of opportunities, and you have to deal with the disputes of hundreds of Shangshu and Protectors and Governors, what else do you want us officials to do? How to solve the problem of declining efficiency now? ”

Zhu Jianyan also took this issue into consideration, and his own mediation can certainly allow all parties to check and balance each other.

But he is the supreme emperor, and he doesn't need too many people to coordinate.

At present, the number of bureaucrats in the Central Government Office has reached thirty-six, even if the number of scholars and military ministers is excluded, and the number of executives of the imperial consortium and the imperial system is not counted.

In addition, there are at least fifty people of the same rank as the University Scholar, the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Imperial Family Foundation, and the Imperial Village.

Zhu Jianyan sometimes can't remember how many there are for a while, and he may not be able to remember who the bureaucrats at the same level are.

In the future, each domain will add six bureaucrats at the same level, and the twelve domains will add up to seventy-two.

In this way, there are more than one hundred and twenty Shangshu-level officials

He directly coordinates the relationships and affairs of one hundred and twenty people, not to mention whether his identity is suitable or whether it is necessary, purely from the perspective of personal ability, Zhu Jianyan feels a headache.

Zhu Jianyan's throne is special, he didn't think he was the best, and now he has this kind of cognition as a matter of course.

Before the implementation of the large-scale reform proposed by Zhu Jingyuan, he was already quite difficult to face these 50 Shangshu-level officials.

After this kind of reform is implemented, it will definitely be completely impossible to manage itself.

After Zhu Jianyan had such a judgment in his heart, he continued to ask Lu Yinpu's opinion:

"Then what does Lu Aiqing think?"

When Lu Yinpu heard that the emperor really asked directly, he immediately panicked a little.

This topic is actually very sensitive, perhaps more sensitive than adjusting the rank of officials.

But since it's been brought up, it has to be finished.

Lu Yinpu cautiously explained:

"Your Majesty, the minister's idea is that you can refer to the model of the Great Domain, and also set up several chief officials in the central government, each of whom is in charge of several departments, and they can be in charge of a large domain at the same time......"

Zhu Jianyan didn't change on the surface, but he was actually nodding secretly in his heart.

He can arrange twelve people to be in charge of all the more than fifty Shangshu and more than sixty officials in the twelve major domains.

Each of these twelve people is directly under the supervision of a dozen people.

In this way, the Great Domain has a chief official, but this chief official is not in the place, but stays by the emperor's side.

It can only help the emperor with affairs, but cannot control the resources of a large domain at the local level.

But Wang Tingzhen, who had just been scared, couldn't help it at this time:

"Set up officials to directly manage various ministries and localities, Lu Yinpu, do you want to set up another prime minister!"

This topic soared directly to the ancestral system, or the ancestral system of Zhu Yuanzhang, the earliest Taizu Emperor:

"The descendants of future generations are not allowed to pre-appoint the prime minister, and the ministers who dare to speak out will be beheaded."

However, during the Renwu Dynasty, Taizu's ancestral system had been almost changed.

Otherwise, this topic is really sensitive to the extreme.

Zhu Jianyan glared at Wang Tingzhen, Wang Tingzhen immediately shut up, and Lu Yinpu, who originally wanted to respond, also kept talking.

However, Zhu Jianyan still did not express his position directly, firstly, he wanted to listen to all the opinions before deciding, and secondly, he wanted to ask Zhu Jingyuan's opinion after the meeting.

So continue to ask all the officials on the scene noncommittally:

"What else do you think? Continue to speak freely, without any worries, and do not ...... for the crime of speech"

The officials at the scene hesitated for a while, and Shen Fu stood up and spoke again:

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the strategy of division is not necessarily impossible, but there is no need to create a new position separately.

"You can directly select twelve scholars to sort out the affairs of a large domain and assist Your Majesty in handling them."

When this topic came out, Zhu Jianyan and the other officials all subconsciously looked at the scholars.

This is equivalent to letting the scholar serve as the chief official of the domain, at least let the emperor be the chief official, and the scholar should be the second official.

Even, since the university scholar is in charge of the local region, can he also be in charge of the various ministries of the Central Government at the same time?

The scholars were quite helpless when they heard this topic, maybe some people had expectations in their hearts, but they didn't dare to pick up the stubble.

This is actually subverting the ancestral system, and this time it is still the ancestral system of Emperor Shizu.

Emperor Shizu knocked the cabinet back from the government agency to the secretarial body, and now delegating power to them again, isn't it subverting the ancestral system?

The topic of today's meeting seems to be inseparable from various ancestral systems and conventions.

However, reform is true, always adjusting existing conventions and traditions, otherwise how can it be called reform.

Zhu Jianyan thought about it for a while, and finally didn't ask the scholars.

Including the establishment of officials in charge, or the establishment of scholars in charge of the domain, in this level of affairs, these officials in front of them can only make suggestions.

In the end, you can only decide by yourself.

At most, it refers to the opinions of Emperor Zhu Zhongliang and his son Zhu Jingyuan.

So Zhu Jianyan was still noncommittal, and continued to ask about the time.

After the officials on the scene basically said a few words, it was noon that the internal meeting ended.

Zhu Jianyan took the minutes of the meeting printed out on the spot, and asked the General Administration Department to send a copy to Zhu Jingyuan first, and at the same time took a copy to the palace outside the city to find the Emperor Zhu Zhongliang.

Zhu Zhongliang, who was making a movie, took the time to flip through the meeting minutes, and then shook his head directly and said:

"I have as much experience in this kind of matter as you do.

"Your situation is much more complicated now than it was then.

"The number of political envoys has indeed exceeded the limits of what the current imperial court framework can manage.

"There is nothing wrong with the idea of setting up a large domain proposed by Jing Yuan, and the idea of setting up a sub-official proposed by the courtiers is also not wrong.

"I won't interject about how to choose.

"My understanding of the current Da Ming is no longer as good as yours.

"But you should also ask Yasugaki what he thinks, he may have more and more useful ideas."

Zhu Jianyan was also a little helpless after hearing this.

Although his father has the intention of shirking, what he said is indeed reasonable.

He's been retired for five years and has been running overseas for more than three years, thinking about playing all day.

He has completely detached himself from the court and government affairs.

If you want to say who knows the whole Ming Dynasty best now, it is really yourself.

And then there is his precious son Zhu Jingyuan.

Zhu Jianyan chatted with his father for half an afternoon, and then lived directly in the palace.

However, he told the people accompanying him to report himself immediately after receiving Zhu Jingyuan's reply.

(End of chapter)