In the morning, Yuwen Wen was talking to Yang Ji in a wine shop in Luoyang City. He was not talking about the romantic relationship, but the "reform". There was no one else except him in the room.

The reason why the monarch and ministers went to this place to discuss official affairs was because Yuwen Wen wanted to avoid the diners and went out of the palace in a secluded manner, and had a secret conversation with Yang Ji in this mixed place.

The Living Man is responsible for recording the emperor's words and deeds, and then the officer will write the "Living Man Notes" based on the Living Man's records. Therefore, the Living Man is like a human-shaped recorder, following the emperor like a shadow, recording the emperor's daily words and deeds.

Of course, listening to the wall does not fall within the scope of the duty of the daily man.

Yuwen Wen and Yang Ji are "abnormal humans". Many of the conversations cannot be known to third parties. Although they can also send a guest to the daily neighbours when talking in the palace, it is not good if they are too many times. Therefore, Yuwen Wen will leave the palace today and discuss reforms with Yang Ji.

Talk about "administrative division reform".

The current local administrative divisions of the Zhou State are four-level systems: the general administration, prefecture, county and county. They have been implemented for many years. The chiefs at all levels have both civil and military ranks, civil and military ranks, and military ranks are combined into one. The governors of the state and county magistrates all have general names, and they are on horseback to control the army and off horseback to control the people.

This is the case in the local area and the central government. Being a general and becoming a prime minister is the norm in the officialdom of this era. The three high-ranking officials hold meetings in the Political Affairs Hall to handle major national affairs on weekdays, and they can lead troops to fight after taking military positions the next day. In fact, the distinction between civil and military affairs is mainly reflected in official positions.

Although the "division of civil and military affairs" in this era has taken shape, it is just a prototype.

In this regard, Yuwen Wen felt that appropriate reforms were needed, because "the economic foundation determines the superstructure". When the economic foundation changes, the superstructure should also change.

Taking the governor as an example, the governor's military and political efforts are of high efficiency. Whether it is to deal with the powerful under his rule, suppress rebellion or resist foreign invasions, the local chief holds military power, making it necessary to govern the military of a certain state with integrity.

The disadvantage is that once the governor has problems, it will be very harmful.

Someone needs to restrain this, that is, the governor's history (management), the prefecture of Sima (management), etc., and the governor's history and the prefecture of Sima must be appointed by the court, and the governor cannot conquer it by himself.

Such a system has been implemented for hundreds of years. Why does Yuwen Wen feel that reform is needed?

First of all, the general environment: the Central Plains is unified, and the strength of the official army is strong, equipped with cannons, muskets, fierce explosives, and new vehicles such as steamships, which means that as long as there is no problem with the center, the world will not be in chaos.

Since the world is peaceful, local officials can devote more energy to civil affairs, and there is no need to hold military positions while doing things and be distracted from the military.

Secondly, there are changes in the official selection system, and more and more imperial examination officials will be in the future. It will be difficult to get these officials to take charge of the army.

The reason is simple. When the imperial examinations become the norm, a large number of poor children enter the government and become officials in the local area. These people may be able to support a few aides (what later generations call them masters), but they may not be able to support a good fighter.

When a new official takes office, he has no troops (similar to later family members) to help manage the army. If he has no troops, he will go to the battlefield to fight for his life. Not to mention winning battles, it would be good not to be killed by soldiers.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was normal for the governors to take office with hundreds or even thousands of tribes (everyone even had horses). After these governors from major families and powerful people took office, they could definitely firmly control the state and the army.

Now, a poor family member who entered the imperial examination and entered the officialdom took office with a few small servants in green. Not to mention whether they would be cheated by the old official, just these thin and tender servants want to make the army use their fingers?

It is difficult to deal with soldiers or veterans.

Not to mention that there were only a few small servants in blue who accompanied him, maybe they were killed and then impersonated on the way to take office.

Therefore, Yuwen Wen's initial idea was to promote the division of civil and military affairs. Local officials (regardless of the general manager) tended to civil affairs, and at most they were managed by public security. Major public security incidents were handled by the military government.

Then, the "Entertainment of the Military Affairs of a State" in the title of governor should be cancelled.

Is this good?

not good.

Public security incidents can be big or small, but it is difficult to distinguish how to define them. Yuwen Wen has served as a state official and can imagine what will happen once the governor is stripped of the military power of the county magistrate.

For example, if there are armed fights in various clans and villages for the division of water sources or fields, is this kind of public security incident considered a big or small one?

To be big, people don’t want to rebel, resist taxes, and fight against the government, and cannot be dealt with as rebellions. Moreover, clan fighting has been common since ancient times. To be small, people who "participate in the war" may not be able to deal with thousands of people, and many people may die, and then local officials will not be able to take advantage of it.

However, how can the county magistrate stop the armed fight without soldiers?

If the military government is responsible for the solution, first of all, the military soldiers are both farmers and soldiers. They have to farm and train slack farming on weekdays, and they are engaged in wars. What if the military government recruits military soldiers to mediate armed battles during busy farming, and misses the farming season?

Armed fights may occur at any time every year. In order to resolve public security incidents, government soldiers from all over the country have to gather to attack from time to time, delaying the farming season and training. What should I do if the local government soldiers "come" and are no longer in the local area?

Institutional reform is to solve problems, not to trigger new problems. The existing system may have many inappropriate points and may be somewhat unsuitable to the new situation, but the ruling party cannot reform for the sake of reform.

Local officials can ensure the central control over the local area by dividing civil and military officials, but the cost is to reduce administrative efficiency. The increase in officials leads to redundant staff. This must be clearly understood.

Regarding Yuwen Wen's pros and cons, Yang Ji's solution was very direct, that is, "learning from history."

The first level of the General Administration is the largest administrative system. There are now 38 General Administrations in the country, and appropriate abolition and merger are laid off and merged, such as reducing it to about twenty, just like the "road" in the Song Dynasty and the "province" in the Ming Dynasty.

The military and political integration of the General Administration was necessary when the Three Kingdoms were in power (Western Wei, Eastern Wei, Southern Liang, and later Zhou, Qi, and Chen), but now the Central Plains are unified and can be adjusted appropriately.

The system of the General Administration can be retained, but the General Administration is only responsible for civil affairs and military power is divided, and the Chief Commander Office is in charge of military power. The Chief Commander Office is under the Chief Commander Office. At the Yingzhou level, the Chief Commander Office is responsible for public security within the General Administration, including quelling rebellions (small-scale), civil rebellions, and armed fighting.

The country is so big, and there are so many prefectures and counties. If the center wants to supervise local officials, it must set up supervision agencies in various places. Since there is an administrative division of the General Administration, it will be a one-to-one configuration to set up a Censorate for each General Administration.

Of course, there is a difference between the Mainland General Administration and the Frontier General Administration. After all, the situation faced by the Frontier General Administration is different. If the military-political system is maintained, it is not impossible to improve administrative and military efficiency.

When Yuwen Wen heard this, he snorted: "Then, the mainland governments are actually in a state of three departments, right?"

Du, Bu and the three departments refer to the Du Commander and Commander, Chengxuan and the Criminal and Criminal and the three highest power institutions parallel to the provinces in the Ming Dynasty. Yang Ji saw Yu Wen Wen and nodded:

"Yes, the separation of civil affairs and military affairs, supplemented by supervision, can prevent the general administration from being too large and ensuring that local officials will not lead to a significant decline in administrative efficiency, but this will increase the number of institutions and officials, which is also an inevitable problem."

"Your Majesty wants to divide the roads between civil and military affairs and to prevent the local government from growing, he has to bear the various negative effects and pay the price. In comparison, whether it is the General Administration, the road, the road, or the province, it has different names, and it doesn't matter."

"Your Majesty wants to subdivide local government agencies and strengthen the adaptation of the center and local governments to the new situation. This is not a problem. Whether it is a humble minister or a minister, you can propose good reform ideas. The only problem is money and food."

"Preventing local governments from growing bigger will inevitably implement decentralization and civil and military divisions, but at the same time, it is necessary to ensure administrative efficiency. This will inevitably lead to bloated institutions and expanding the number of bureaucratic groups, and then a sharp increase in fiscal expenditures..."

"So, the reform is actually nothing, it's just how much fiscal expenditure is willing to pay."

"Your Majesty said that as long as the problem can be solved with money is not a problem..."

When Yang Ji said this, he looked at Yuwen Wen with anticipation: "Your Majesty has always been good at making money and will not be short of money and food. So as long as the money and food are prepared in place, it is enough to support the large-scale fiscal expenditure, then the success of the reform is just around the corner."

Yuwen Wen was drinking tea, and almost choked when he heard this: "What? When did I say such a thing?"

"Your Majesty, I can hear it clearly..."
Chapter completed!