After Zhang Xi and Liu Ba explained the process of formulating the budget report of the Ministry of War, Liu Ba re-read the settlement documents of the Ministry of War and finally discovered some differences.
When Liu Ba first saw the Ministry of War's year-end settlement document and next year's request letter, faced with such detailed data support, he almost didn't need to think for himself. He only needed to compare it with what he knew and subconsciously approved it. These two documents gave instructions.
There are basically only a few matters under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and those related to the Ministry of Household Affairs are just the recruitment system and the cost of ordnance renewal and elimination. The documents are very short, and Liu Ba is really busy at the end of the year. Nothing new can be seen from the documents of the Ministry of War.
But now after listening to Zhang Xi's explanation and looking back at the documents of the Ministry of War, I suddenly felt that Zhang Xi was presiding over the affairs of the Ministry of War using a new method that was different from the current way of running officialdom.
This is not a big deal at first. Each chief official has his own political habits. Some people like to do it themselves, some people like to appoint assistants, and some people have their own little skills that can quickly handle documents. Scholars in this era, but It’s not just about studying. There are many experiences and methods of your own.
But Zhang Xi's new method provides an idea - a budget mechanism.
Everyone knows that before doing something, make a plan first.
But there are basically not many people who can actually do it.
Confucianism pays attention to moderation. Some things should not be taken too seriously or too carefully, otherwise it will easily offend others.
But now, Liu Ba feels that Zhang Xi's ideas and methods are very good.
It is true that Liu Ba is a child of Confucianism, but this era is a troubled time. If you pursue the mean, not only will the grass on your grave be three meters high, but you will also be truly mediocre, and you can only farm at home.
What's more, although the Zhongshu Ling of Zhongshu Province was also from Confucianism, the methods he used were Legalist methods.
As for the Shangshu Ling of the Shangshu Province, his surname says it all. He is even more Legalist than Legalist, so he will definitely retaliate.
Zhang Xi's method can not only effectively improve work efficiency, but will also be appreciated by the two bosses above.
Of course, the most important thing is that after Liu Ba read the documents from the Ministry of War, he no longer wanted to see this pile of stupid documents.
Why should he, the Minister of Accounts, receive the Ministry of Works' year-end settlement documents and next year's payment documents, and have to calculate for them what the money is used for, when it will be used, and how much should be set aside? !
Is this what Jian Yong, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, should do? !
What, Jian Yong, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, is a mascot in name only? !
Then the ministers under him are responsible for their own affairs, and the ministers and ministers can't do nothing, right? !
Why do you just give me a title, and let me, the Minister of Household Affairs, take care of the rest for your Ministry of Works? !
Just type back the documents from the Ministry of Works and rewrite them.
After doing this, Liu Ba did not deal with official duties anymore. Instead, he took Zhang Xi with him and began to write the memorial.
If this method of doing things is to be promoted, it cannot only be done in the household department. If only the household department does this, it will cause smooth connection between each other and affect work efficiency.
To change it, three provinces, six ministries, and even all local states and counties must change it.
Therefore, Liu Bala went to Zhang Xi and wrote a memorial to Liu Bei, suggesting that a budget system be added to the administrative system.
Because of this matter, no one among the important ministers of the Ji Han Dynasty had the intention to celebrate the New Year well before the end of the year.
Zhang Xi is self-inflicted. He used to live a leisurely life, and he could go to the Ministry of Finance to collect money to kill time. Now he is fine, and he is dragged to endless meetings.
According to Liu Ba, if this budget system is to be implemented thoroughly, it must be promoted uniformly from the imperial court to local governments. Promoting it alone will cause unsmooth connections between various departments and the three provinces, as well as the central and local governments, leading to low administrative efficiency.
Since this system is so troublesome, why did Liu Ba bother to write a petition to implement this system?
Because this budget system not only involves the Ministry of Household Affairs' approval of the budget, it also plays a very important role in all aspects of administration.
They are all mature politicians. As long as Zhang Xi takes a first look at some things, he can easily think of more if he thinks about them more deeply.
For example, Zhongshu Ling Zhuge Liang immediately realized after reading the memorial and listening to Liu Ba and Zhang Xi’s stories that this system played a very important reference role in Zhongshu’s decision-making.
In the past, the Ministry of Industry submitted a work report and said: Zhongshu ordered that water conservancy facilities should be repaired wherever they were, and roads leading to these areas were seriously damaged and should be rested.
At this time, Zhuge Liang could only calculate the amount of work by himself based on the situation described in the report, and then asked Liu Ba, the Minister of Household Affairs, to ask how much food he still had and how much food should be set aside to ensure the progress of these projects.
Everything had to be estimated by Zhongshu Ling, who was in Chengdu, without any reference.
But once the budget report is prepared, it must be clearly stated how many materials will be used, how long the project progress will take, and how much manpower and material resources will be used. This way Zhuge Liang can at least have an intuitive concept, which is very helpful for him to make decisions. of.
Shangshu Ling Fa Zheng also strongly supports this budget system.
Zhongshu was spared the need to make decisions. He was responsible for carrying out the ministerial order and didn't know how to carry it out.
You don’t know whether you want to build a road, how long it will take, how to coordinate the various ministries, how much food and grass will be supplied, whether you need assistance from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, etc. You can only spend money while building it, and where will the money end up? There is only one running account.
But something went wrong. If you want to trace the stage at which the problem went wrong, you can't find any problem at all based on a running account. In the end, why should he, the minister, take all the blame? !
With this budget report, whether it is repairing the project or coordinating the various ministries, there are clear requirements and respective responsibilities. These things must be coordinated before the report is generated, and the progress of the project at each stage must also be Make a pre-plan and make it clear who is responsible if it is not completed.
As for the province, this budget report is even more needed.
The Menxia Province is the audit department, responsible for auditing the implementation of all administrative policies.
The budget report and the completion report are two things that the audit department must look at. This is how they were done more than a thousand years later.
There is no budget report, just a completion report. Who knows if any of you are cutting corners.
These days, it is impossible for the Menxia Province to review the progress of a project and arrange a supervisor at each large-scale project site. It can only conduct inspections after completion.
But with the budget system, the province only needs to compare the time points in the budget system and randomly check the progress of the project. Not only can it monitor the progress of the project at any time and monitor corruption, but it can also save a lot of manpower and material resources to do other things. .
Even Yu Fan from Yushitai thought this was a good thing.
In this era, the Yushitai did not have the right to hear rumors. They had to supervise all officials. They not only went to teahouses and restaurants to hear rumors, but they also needed actual evidence to impeach.
Forget about the central officials, they are all under their noses, and it is easy for people to know if they do something immoral. However, local officials and the Yushitai can only solve this problem by sending inspections to the Yushitai from time to time.
As for the political achievements of local officials, one is taxation, the other is the governance of Dingkou, and the last is how many things they have done to benefit the country and the people.
In the past, to monitor these things, one would listen to the official himself, and the other would go to the private sector to visit aristocratic families and village elders. But these days, the relationship between local officials and aristocratic hometown elders is basically mutual cooperation and interdependence. In the relationship, if you can find any problem, it will be a ghost.
Well now, if local governments also adopt these budget systems, whether it is financial budget or project budget, they must be reported to the central government, and the Yushitai sends inspection censors, and they don’t even need to go through local officials and village elders, they can go there themselves with the report. Look for it and go see it for yourself. You will know at a glance what these people have done, which ones are really serving the country and the people, and which ones are just pretending.
When this thing is impeached, it means that one bomb is accurate and no one can escape.
The four major authorities of the central government all strongly agree with this budget system and are determined to promote this system nationwide. This year, Zhang Xi did not have a good life at all.
Who made him the original proposer of this system?
Moreover, the implementation of this budget system is also different depending on the circumstances of each ministry.
For example, Jian Yong, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, asked Liu Bei to resign on the fourth day after a three-day meeting. The Ministry of Industry urgently needed to promote this kind of budget system, and Jian Yong believed that he was not capable enough. In addition to the ministers, most of them are craftsmen who will serve as supervisors.
Among the craftsmen who will serve as supervisors, except for Pu Yuan, the master craftsman who will be a Confucian scholar, he only holds this position because he likes fortifications. The remaining craftsmen don't even know a single Chinese character. How can they implement this budget system?
Everyone just knows that they should immerse themselves in work. I really don’t understand what the budget is.
Another example is Qin Mi, the Minister of Civil Affairs. He doesn't understand. Does his department, which is responsible for the promotion and transfer of officials, also need to prepare a budget? !
Whether to be promoted or demoted, whether to stay in the central government or leave the town, changes in officials at all levels, and salary adjustments. These things all need to be formulated based on the actual situation. How is it possible to make plans in advance and then decide on official appointments according to the plan? !
The Minister of Punishment also cannot understand the budget plan. Do we have to plan in advance how many people will be executed every year? If the number is not enough, do we just make up the quota? !
If the Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Industry, and Ministry of Rites do need to implement the budget system, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Punishment really do not.
In this regard, Zhang Xi had to patiently explain one by one.
It is true that the Ministry of Civil Affairs does not need to implement a budget system for the transfer of officials, but you have to have an idea of the total salary of officials, right? You can't just get promoted and raise your salary together just to be a good person, right? !
If you want to do this, do you believe that Liu Ba will be the first to fight for you? !
As for the Ministry of Punishment, all criminal cases across the country are brought together in your Ministry of Punishment. You really don’t need to budget for homicide quotas, but do you need to invest manpower and material resources in reviewing these cases? !
These are where you need to budget.
Finally, and most importantly, this is not a set target.
The budget system allows differences from actual results, as long as you can give convincing reasons.
The budget system is just a pre-plan. Everyone knows that plans cannot keep up with changes. As long as the reason can be clearly explained and it is due to force majeure factors, then even the Yushitai cannot use this to impeach people, right? !
(End of chapter)
