The central court of the Yuan Dynasty actually had very poor control over local areas.
In addition to the poor efficiency of the four-level administrative divisions themselves, the size and power of the first-level local administrative divisions and provinces is also an important reason.
In the end, the Yuan Dynasty could only be regarded as a grassland regime, and it never fully controlled the Central Plains region, nor was it fully integrated into the Central Plains region, just like the traditional Central Plains dynasty never fully controlled the grassland.
In fact, there was no need to implement four-level administrative divisions in the Yuan Dynasty. At most, the three-and-a-half-level model of the Qing Dynasty could be used to manage it.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were originally three levels of provincial, prefecture and county. Later, the middle level of Taoist officials was added. They were provincial dispatched agencies. They served according to the actual situation and were not completely fixed. They were similar to modern commissioners.
But now the size of the territory of the Ming Dynasty has far exceeded the size of the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and is an order of magnitude higher than all traditional Chinese dynasties including them.
Daming has now crossed the critical point and now has to make a choice.
Either increase the level of administrative divisions, re-establish states, or delegate autonomy to local governments.
The reference for adding administrative divisions is actually the Yuan Dynasty, and the reference for establishing feudal states is the previous Ming or Han Dynasty.
The reference object of local autonomy is the United States of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.
There are fifty states under the Commonwealth of the United States, and a normal-sized state usually has dozens to hundreds of counties.
Texas has the most counties, with 254.
There is no intermediate level between the state and the county, which is a de facto two-level administrative division.
The basis for the United States to maintain two-level zoning is a comprehensive and thorough original local self-government system.
The higher-level government in the United States is an agency composed of multiple lower-level local agencies through consultation.
Subordinate local institutions are the main body of politics.
Instead, the higher-level organization only plays the role of a public coordination platform similar to an association.
In a megacity like New York, several counties in the urban area unite to establish an organization to manage public affairs.
The New York City government is not an Eastern-style government agency at all.
State governments in the United States have no power to adjust county administrative divisions unless the county itself agrees.
The same goes for the federal government and state governments.
There have long been undefined state boundaries between states, and there have even been wars over land.
Because Michigan had few people in the early days, it was bullied by Indiana and gave up part of its land on Lake Michigan.
Michigan also bullied Wisconsin, which had a smaller population, and demanded a large chunk of Wisconsin's pioneer land across the lake.
At the same time, Wisconsin also ceded territory to Minnesota and Illinois, which was really the great injustice of the Great Lakes region.
For civil wars and disputes of this level, the federal government can only mediate.
When city and county governments go bankrupt, state and federal governments have no obligation to bail them out.
It is a natural result to go bankrupt and reorganize on its own like a business.
This tradition of self-government actually originated from British colonial management policies.
The development of the colony itself had a large number of commercial elements in the early stages, and there were also various models.
In addition to the land developed by the royal family, there are also many colonies built by commercial companies and even immigrants themselves.
The British mainland population is small, and the British royal family has gone through the bourgeois revolution and its power has been restricted.
Faced with a complex and vast colony, neither the royal family nor the court could have complete direct control.
Therefore, Britain took the initiative to adapt to the colonial system, actively promoted the establishment of local councils in the colonies, and promoted local autonomy.
But the political tradition of the Ming Dynasty was completely different from that of Britain and the United States.
The Ming court and royal family, which were in the process of dismantling vassals and establishing provinces, were unlikely to be willing to go back and continue enfeoffment.
The Shenzhou Dynasty also did not have the tradition of actively delegating power to local governments.
When this idea came to him, Zhu Jingyuan suddenly thought that his first period of political training was actually at the township level.
China’s mainland is not completely devoid of local autonomy traditions.
Before Emperor Shizu rebuilt the Ming Dynasty, except when Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, most of the feudal dynasties had a state where imperial power did not go to the countryside.
Locally, it is actually a state of gentry autonomy.
In other words, China has traditionally had local autonomy, but it is just below the county level.
After the arrival of Emperor Shizu, the township was officially transformed into an official administrative level.
Today's Ming Dynasty is actually at the provincial, county and township level.
So now there seems to be another way.
Abolish the townships directly under the central government and return to a state where imperial power does not go to the countryside.
After Zhu Jingyuan briefly entertained this idea, he quickly dismissed it.
The fact that the imperial power does not go to the countryside essentially means that the ability to rule is low. It is not that it does not go down but that it cannot go down.
Now that I can go to the countryside, I have no reason to give up.
Only when the imperial power was sent to the countryside could the most basic contact between the emperor and the people at the bottom be barely established.
Only in this way can the bureaucracy and the people check and balance each other and slow down the corruption of the bureaucracy.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the administrative division level in the end.
But exactly how to add it is still a big problem.
Zhu Jingyuan was thinking about this issue in the following days when he had nothing to do.
After thinking about it for half a month, Zhu Jingyuan finally felt that this matter still had to be handled in a compromise.
Although the central or higher-level agencies are likely to gradually become de facto local agencies in actual work.
But in the early days, it was indeed possible to operate as a dispatch agency for a long time.
Theoretically, there were no "provincial" administrative divisions in the Ming Dynasty.
For example, the official name of Shandong is "Shandong and other places", and there is no such level of organization.
The three agencies of the Administrative Affairs Department, the Provincial Affairs Department, the Provincial Affairs Department, and the Capital Command Affairs Department are co-existing, rather than subordinate agencies of provincial-level yamen that do not exist in name.
Therefore, before the Renwu Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty actually had three-level divisions, but it was nominally a two-level administrative division.
Now we need to adjust the administrative divisions. We can implement "province" and then add "half level" above the province.
Although there is no direct reference in the original history, I can put together the solutions of countries and dynasties that have experienced similar problems and integrate suggestions for the current situation.
After carefully considering it for half a month, Zhu Jingyuan finally began to formally write a reply to his father.
First of all, it is recommended that in this administrative division adjustment, the official name of "etc. places" should be officially designated as provinces.
In private and official meetings, and even in imperial meetings, the emperor and most of his officials used to refer to "etc. places" as provinces.
It's just that the names of three divisions and other places are still used in official documents.
Rather than continuing to separate the actual and official document systems, it is better to adapt the official document system to the actual situation to facilitate officials and people.
Today's Ming Dynasty no longer needs to be taboo about the Yuan Dynasty.
There is no need to use the title "province". Ming Dynasty can just use the word "province".
At the same time, in order to reduce the impact of the name change, provincial institutions can continue to use titles such as Sansi and Xunzhi Yushi.
Secondly, I personally support the formal establishment of provinces in the north and south Zhili, and support the merger of some small local provinces.
Haidong Province can be merged into Fujian, Jiaozhi Province can be merged into Guangxi, the two Korean provinces can be merged, and the four Japanese provinces can be merged into two.
However, it is not appropriate to merge provinces as the primary means of reducing the number of provinces under direct administration.
The scale of the merger of the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiaozhi is too large. Over time, sub-provincial agencies will inevitably be set up. That would be repeating the past of the Yuan Dynasty.
Then, my suggestion is to consider dividing all provinces into about ten large regions, and arrange corresponding central agencies to be responsible for the main affairs of each major region.
The name of this large area can refer to the Duhufu in the Tang Dynasty, or directly use the "region" of the "Western Regions" in the Han Dynasty.
For example, Xianbei Protectorate, Nanyang Protectorate, Tiannan Protectorate, Tianzhu Protectorate, Dashi Protectorate, Mozhou East Region, Mozhou South Region, Mozhou West Region, Yinzhou South Region, Yinzhou Middle Region, Yinzhou Northeast Region Territory, northwest territory of Yinzhou.
In the future, the Central Government Office will directly connect with the dispatched agencies in major regions to reduce the number of matters that the Central Government Office needs to handle directly.
The organization method of the dispatched agencies can refer to the original bureaucracy of the Chief Envoy, or the bureaucracy of the Dao and Lu agencies in the Tang and Song dynasties.
The four systems of military affairs, government affairs, criminal and prison affairs, and censorship are separated, each is independent and directly responsible to the central government office.
Finally, the Ming Dynasty did not need to have a Protectorate or a large territory, and the local provinces were under the direct jurisdiction of the central government office.
The identity of the native provinces is similar to the former Zhili Prefecture.
After the adjustment of the entire division, it is equivalent to expanding the entire administrative division of the Ming Dynasty before the Renwu Dynasty by an order of magnitude.
Zhili Prefecture became Zhili Province, and other provinces became Dayu or Duhufu.
Two capitals and thirteen provinces became one capital and twelve domains.
The adjustment of administrative divisions is a big matter, and these personal ideas are just an idea and direction. The specific planning and implementation still need to be discussed and decided by the father and the old gentlemen.
Zhu Jingyuan sent his ideas to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
No matter how busy the capital's yamen are, Zhu Jingyuan's own news always has the highest priority.
This report was transcoded without any hesitation and sent directly to the Ming Emperor Zhu Jianyan.
After reading it, Zhu Jianyan pondered for a long time, and then asked people to summon his main staff, that is, the bachelors, and several of the most important and familiar ministers to come over for discussion.
In fact, within the Ming Dynasty Central Government Office, another reform has become increasingly urgent.
As the number of central government offices increased, it was difficult for the emperor himself to call all the ministers by name at once.
In the original history, during the nearly six hundred years of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the central government office maintained a six-department structure for a long time. At most, several other important agencies were added, and the total number was usually around ten.
The current Emperor Ming has to face more than fifty officials of the same level.
So much so that when the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted to discuss certain matters privately in advance and consult on the handling and response methods of certain matters on less formal occasions, he once again began to habitually rely on his academic staff.
Whether the ministers of foreign dynasties can be notified to participate in the discussion will seriously affect whether the impression on the emperor's mind is deep.
For example, Zhu Jianyan was born in Honglu Temple, and the current minister of Honglu Temple, Shen Fu, was his former deputy. Originally, the main task of the minister of Honglu Temple was diplomacy, but during such internal consultation and discussion meetings, Zhu Jianyan usually called him come over.
At this time, Zou Bingtai, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Liu Quanzhi, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Niansun, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, during the Zhu Zhongliang era, had all retired.
Huang Yue, Minister of Rites, and Dai Quheng, Minister of Military and Aircraft are both still there, but they have also turned sixty this year.
Most of the other ministers have also been replaced.
Lu Yinpu, who once served as chief envoy to Northern Mexico in the Dashi Kingdom, was directly promoted to minister of household affairs after serving as chief envoy for one term.
Although the current Minister of Household Affairs no longer cares about finance and taxation, but only civil affairs and household registration, its importance has dropped significantly compared to the traditional Ministry of Household Affairs.
But after all, it is also the department that has exposed the traditional No. 6 title, and is regarded by senior officials as a place with higher honor and status.
Lu Yinpu has just turned fifty this year.
Now many officials in the court have realized that in addition to the officials who once worked with Zhu Jianyan themselves were promoted very quickly, the officials who once worked under Zhu Jingyuan were also promoted very quickly.
Mainly because Zhu Jingyuan worked first and it was easy to leave an impression on Zhu Jianyan.
Therefore, the new Minister of Household Affairs, Lu Yinpu, also received this notice and went to Wenyuan Pavilion to attend the meeting.
As the relevant personnel rushed over, Zhu Jianyan arranged the documents around him, briefly processed the contents of Zhu Jingyuan's documents, and printed out several copies of the main suggestions.
When these officials arrived and each saluted, Zhu Jianyan asked someone to send the printed document:
"This is Jingyuan's views and suggestions on the difficulties currently encountered by the imperial court. What do you think?"
Shen Fu, who was most familiar with Zhu Jianyan, spoke first:
"His Highness's idea... is still as always. It is very unexpected at first glance, but if you think about it carefully, you will find it quite reasonable. The key is that it is incredibly mature and prudent.
“Everyone knows that reducing administrative levels can improve administrative efficiency, but in practice it often backfires.
“During the hundreds of years of the Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the separatist regimes fought endlessly, and a large number of prefectures and counties repeatedly changed hands and were divided, causing the number of prefectures and counties to increase to the point of overflowing.
"After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified the world, he began to merge states and reduce the number of counties. This is in line with the trend.
“But Emperor Sui Yang’s intention to abolish the state ministries and retain only the two administrative levels of counties and counties was obviously a great success.
“In the Tang Dynasty, inspection roads had to be set up, and in the Song Dynasty, roads continued to be set up, forming a de facto three-level division.
"Now the territory of our Ming Dynasty has been ten times that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Even the third-level divisions can no longer support it. Therefore, adding a first-level administrative division is also a very reasonable choice.
"I think His Highness Prince Dashi's suggestion is feasible."
Lu Yinpu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, as an official with highly relevant functions, followed Shen Fu and spoke:
"His Highness's suggestion is equivalent to enlarging the traditional Ming Dynasty divisions as a whole, and at the same time listing the mainland as an area directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.
“While accommodating the actual situation and minimizing unnecessary changes, this is indeed a mature and prudent plan.
"I also think it is feasible and we should start making adjustments as soon as possible to reduce the burden on the various ministries and offices of the imperial court.
"However, an issue that still needs to be considered is how to arrange the levels of officials in the large domain."
