The appointment of members of the clan as governor was in Liu Ji's favour, which was completely in line with his vision for the Liu family.
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked again,
"Then, does the governor want to take charge of the army?"
Lu Pheasant's eyes widened, and it was hard to imagine how distrustful this generation of heroes was towards the bureaucracy, or in other words, how inexplicably passionate he was about his own family members.
She made a thoughtful look and pointed out the key points tactfully.
"We live in a deep palace, unable to see and hear far, and often blind. The purpose of setting up the governor is to be able to inquire about the truth and supervise the administration of officials from time to time with the help of the clan.
But if the governor, like the princes and kings, has the power to control the army for a long time, wouldn't it just increase the source of chaos? "
Liu Ji was such a thoughtful person. Hearing what he said was reasonable, he immediately listened attentively and chewed the words word for word. Lu Pheasant took advantage of the victory and pursued it, expressing his thoughts directly.
"In my opinion, the reason why the clan's appointment as governor is far superior to the previous county supervisors in the Qin Dynasty is because of three key factors. One is 'inspection', the other is 'inspection', and the other is 'envoy'."
She stretched out three white fingers, methodical and good at guiding.
***
The system of inspections by governors began in the Wenjing period of the early Han Dynasty. After the reform and improvement by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it gradually developed into a vertical supervision system directly under the central government and free from local interference.
Later, despite the changing of times and the passage of time, both the Sui Dynasty's Yezhetai, Jijie and Silitai, and the Tang Dynasty's patrol envoys were all derived from the original intention of the provincial governor in the Han Dynasty.
If a system remains timeless after nine hundred years, it means that it can solve the emperor's pain.
They were all former emperors. Within just a few steps after bidding farewell to Liu Fei, she was sure that Liu Ji would happily accept the appointment of governor. In the final analysis, it is nothing more than the word "fear" plus the word "defense".
The emperor wanted to manage more than fifty counties and counties in the country by himself, but he was destined to be beyond his reach and unable to intervene in everything. Therefore, he needed to find more help to praise the country.
In the city of Luoyang, this kind of help comes from the Prime Minister Xiao He and the officials of various departments; in the counties and counties directly under the imperial court, it is the governors and county magistrates who guard the people; in the vassal states, it is the princes and kings and the prime ministers of the kingdoms. .
The king of a country lives deep in the capital. Although there are constant court meetings and memorials, and the bottom-up plans of local counties and counties every year, there is an overwhelming amount of information from all directions. It seems that he knows everything and knows everything. They are often the most blinded people in the world.
Therefore, he needs to send someone he trusts to conduct an in-depth visit to every corner of the empire and bring him the most authentic feedback.
"Well, the governor of Zhou traveled to the prefectures, and those who traveled were on patrol.
Those counties and counties under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court must be visited. "
Liu Ji said slowly, his thoughts obviously still tied up with other matters.
A flash of light flashed in Lu Pheasant's eyes, knowing what was on his mind, he simply revealed it.
"What about the vassal states? Will the governor patrol?"
These words had a hint of deliberate provocation. She stood by the half-open window, feeling the coolness of the cold wind blowing against her face. She felt that she was smart in this life, the sky was high and the sea was vast, and she would definitely be better than before.
Liu Ji, who was on the couch, clenched his teeth and had blue veins pulsing on his forehead. He was silent for a long time and only whispered one word:
"patrol."
***
"Okay!" Lu Pheasant secretly applauded his determination.
Summoning the princes and kings to Luo for an audience, sending the prime ministers of the kingdoms to the princely states, and sending the governors to the country for supervision, may seem like only a small step in changing the bureaucratic system, but it is a big step for the central government to seize power from the local areas and seek to achieve its goals.
She then added,
"On patrol on behalf of the Emperor, wherever he goes, it is as if the emperor is personally present. This is a patrol.
There is another layer, if the governor can govern without permanent residence, pass the car around, and not stick to a fixed place of governance, and not stick to the prescribed time for inspection, it can still be regarded as the essence of the word "inspection". "
Liu Ji patted his thigh and said happily: "This method is wonderful!"
As the saying goes, running water is not rotten and door hinges are not beetroots. The governor conducts random inspections and inspections in various places in a flexible way. He has no fixed place to live and no fixed time to travel. This can greatly reduce the whitewashing of peace by local officials and officials, and can also prevent them from colluding and bending the law for personal gain. , affecting the monitoring results.
"Let's talk about 'cha' again.
Your Majesty thinks, where is the limit of the governor's power of inspection? "
Unknowingly, Liu Ji's thoughts were led by the Queen's continuous questions and spread out. He rubbed his brow in thought,
"Let them only watch but not herd.
You were right just now, the power of the governor must be restricted, otherwise it will be another group of lawless princes and kings. "
This clearly limited the scope of the governor's powers. As the emperor's eyes and ears, Liu Ji only gave them the power to discover problems, but did not intend to give them the power to deal with them.
Every time the governor went to a place, he would supervise the public affairs of the county governors, magistrates and vassal states. He would listen, ask, watch, visit, test and inspect. If he found any violation of the law, he could report it directly to the governor without any official's help. The emperor impeached the emperor, but he did not have the power to personally remove officials or directly interfere in government affairs.
That’s right. Lu Pheasant nodded slowly.
"What your Majesty said is absolutely correct. If you give too little power as governor, it will be bad, and if you give it too much, it will lead to bad things. The priorities need to be revised and adjusted from time to time according to the situation."
***
According to historical records, after four hundred years of development in the Han Dynasty, the governor's system gradually deviated from its original intention. The power of the governor expanded and transformed into a military and political officer with a fixed place of governance. The warlords on one side eventually separated themselves from each other and established themselves on their own.
Liu Ji shook his head and smiled bitterly, full of complaints.
"It's really hard to put into words how I feel now. I used to hear people say that running a country is like cooking small delicacies, so elegant!
I rather think that running a country is comparable to you women mending clothes, moving here and there, repairing them, taking off the cuffs to make plackets, and moving the linings to save face, so that you can survive one year and another. "
Is there any way to do this? Who told Han Chu to catch up with a piece of rags that was leaking everywhere? Lu Pheasant suppressed a smile and continued,
“Although it is a tattered robe, the power to mend it must still be firmly in the hands of the emperor.
This is the third point I want to make. The "envoy" of the governor is the same as flying a kite. "
"Well, what you mean is that even if they are members of the royal family, they are just envoys sent by me after all. The string of the kite is ultimately in my hands."
Liu Ji rolled his eyes several times. Even though this tattered robe was riddled with holes, he had gone through all kinds of hardships to get it.
"In the final analysis, the governor is just a temporary post. The rank should not be set too high. Just six hundred dan, which is the same level as the magistrates of several large counties, is enough.
Only when the official is young enough can he dare to speak out without shying away from anything. "
Hearing this, Lu Pheasant took a deep look at Liu Ji. This man's deep thoughts were rare to encounter in the ages. These few words seem to be said with ease, but they imply turbulent waves——
The position is low but the destiny is high, the official is small but powerful, the big and small are in control, and the inside and outside are in harmony.
In this way, the governor's seemingly direct power to Tianting came only from the emperor's appointment. Therefore, in order to save their lives, they had no choice but to obey the emperor's orders wholeheartedly.
Using the light to control the heavy, the emperor only used this move to completely turn the governor into a kite in his hands.
