Ming Dynasty has always had a unique political phenomenon, that is, the positions with supervisory power will ferment over time, and over time will become the de facto boss of the person being supervised.
This phenomenon is clearly reflected in many positions. For example, the governor was sent from the beginning by the central government to supervise the province as a censor of the capital (right deputy censor of the capital, censor of the capital, and other levels). He appeared as a first-level administrative official and military general. Later, it became a practice and he was permanently stationed in the place, and he became the highest governor of a province today.
Another example is the inspector censor. Compared with the governor, this position still retains a stronger nature of "central special dispatch" or "imperial envoy", but its actual power performance in the local area far exceeds its own rank. , so that some patrol censors with a slightly stronger personality can, with the status of the seventh rank, call around the dignified chief envoys of the second rank, just like subordinate officials.
As a result, when faced with such a patrolling censor, the chief envoys really had no choice but to obey. The slightest dissatisfaction might lead to impeachment, which would seriously affect their career or even lead to their downfall.
You know, what is the concept of second grade? The Minister of the Sixth Division is called a high official, but he is only a third-rank official! Even if there is no additional title for the six books of ministers, the original title is only the second grade.
If by chance, as Gao Pragmatic did a few years ago, the governor-general is away from the province and the governor is unable to take charge of the affairs for some reason, the censor can even perform the functions of the governor on his behalf.
How much power does the governor have? The governor of the Ming Dynasty was not the governor of the Qing Dynasty. The governor of the Ming Dynasty could take charge of all local government affairs, military affairs, finance, and some special affairs related to them such as salt administration, tea administration, horse administration, etc.!
Not only that, if some governors in border areas have strong personalities, they can even initiate wars - for example, the governor of Liaodong often did this, and Gao Pragmatic also did it when he was appointed governor of Liaoning.
Being able to wage war means that his position itself has such power. But the governor was originally just a civil servant. When did he have the power of waging war, which by rights should only belong to the center of the imperial court?
The source of this power can probably be traced back to May of the second year of Orthodoxy. At that time, Yingzong accepted the suggestion of the Sanyang Cabinet and appointed Wang Ji, Minister of War, as Prime Minister of Gansu Border Affairs. There were two sentences in the edict to Wang Ji: "Border affairs are national affairs, and Gansu is particularly important. Anyone who compares will not be his. , the military preparations are depleted. I am hereby ordering you to go and discuss the war and defense strategy with the commander-in-chief and the garrison, and make arrangements for the divisions one by one. I will listen to your convenience and implement them, and I will still report it."
Please pay attention to the sentence "Consult the war and defense strategy with the commander-in-chief." As mentioned before, the three local bosses are the governor, the commander-in-chief, and the guarding eunuch. Since the governor had already overpowered the general soldiers and the guarding eunuchs to control the local power in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when he went to hold a meeting with the latter two, it was like a meeting between secretaries in later generations. It must be the top leader who can make the decision. You two deputy secretaries Suggestions can be made, but whether the suggestions will count does not depend on whether the secretary approves them?
So the governor has the decision-making power of this "meeting", and what is this meeting for? He is responsible for formulating the "war and defense strategy" - needless to say, defense is very powerful, because "war" means taking the initiative to start a war.
Of course, based on the actual situation and mentality of the Ming Dynasty, to use a term from later generations, such proactive wars should all be classified as "preventive wars." That is, I judge from various situations and think that you may invade me, so I beat you up first to ensure that you will not have the ability to invade me.
Looking back, a position that was originally just for supervising local officials ended up with enough power to go to war with surrounding forces. It can be seen that the supervision system of the Ming Dynasty... was indeed very unique.
Talking about governors and inspectors is actually talking about the new system of the Ministry of Household Supervision of post stations. This system is also currently developing in the direction of expanding the powers of governors and governors.
Especially after Gao Pragmatic gathered financial power last year, the officials dispatched by the Ministry of Household Affairs to supervise the post stations in various places have already appeared to a large extent as the "top leaders of the provincial post station system", and the emergence of this sign itself has Gao Pragmatism There is an element of deliberate connivance.
How to indulge? Easy to handle.
For example, in his capacity as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Gao pragmatically appointed Zhao, a member of the Shanxi Cleaning Department of the Ministry of Revenue, to go to Shanxi to "audit the Shanxi Station" for one, two or three years.
In this way, Zhao Yuanwailang has the full audit power of a post station in Shanxi Province within this "term". He is responsible for auditing the entire post station within the Shanxi Chief Envoy Department, which means that he has Received the right to supervise the station in a fixed area.
The Ministry of Household Affairs originally did not have Yuanwailang, only two levels: Langzhong and Chief. Later, in the seventh year of Xuande, three Yuanwailang were set up. One of them worked as a miscellaneous person in the center, and the remaining two worked for the Sichuan Qingli Division and the Yunnan Qingli Division. set up. However, these two positions were abolished not long after they were established. So far, there is only one Yuanwailang in the central department of household affairs, who has become a special existence sandwiched among a large number of doctors (superiors) and chiefs (subordinates).
Last year, Gao pragmatically gathered financial power. In addition to establishing the system of four ministers in the Ministry of Household Affairs and the establishment of two new departments and thirteen departments, he also established a group of foreign ministers under the original structure of the Ministry of Revenue. As an expatriate, I go to the local post station to supervise.
Considering that there are only four officials in the Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War (two among the fifth-ranking officers and two in charge of the sixth-ranking officers), it is actually impossible to assign external personnel to manage the various stations respectively. Therefore, these Yuanwailang sent by the Ministry of Household Affairs obviously become The immediate superiors of the post officials under the provincial structure.
Because of this, this time "Innovation Station Shu" will be led by Gao Jingshi, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. In theory, Zhou Yong, the big boss of the station system and the Minister of the Ministry of War, can only sign a joint signature - of course, this is not the same as Gao Jingshi The gap in prestige between Zhou Yong and Zhou Yong within the Real School and even in the entire Ming Dynasty political arena also has something to do with it.
But things are not that simple, because as mentioned before, the Ming Dynasty's post station system is divided into "troikas". In addition to Shui Ma Post, there are also express shops and delivery offices.
This express shop is very interesting, but few people may have heard of it, so I want to focus on it.
The main responsibility of the express delivery shop is to deliver messages. Each shop has a special small house, which is very simple, but has a unified system: "Every twelve o'clock sundial is laid to check the time. A wedge is placed at the door of the shop, a pair of constant light candles, and two calendars."
Chuowei is actually the official archway of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to later generations, the express shop is the archway of the government office at the door. The room is brightly lit 24 hours a day, a clock is hung on the wall, and two notebooks are placed on the table. This is the basic situation. As for other facilities and equipment... they are not provided.
The delivery personnel of the express delivery shop are called Pu Bing, and the system has not changed since the Ming Dynasty. The "History of the Yuan Dynasty" describes the attire of Pu soldiers like this: "Each Pu soldiers are equipped with a pair of plywood, a pair of climbing bells, a tassel gun, and three feet of soft silk. A collar for clothes, and a Hijri calendar." He also said: " All the soldiers in the shop wear leather belts, hang bells, carry spears, and carry raincoats. They carry torches at night. If the road is narrow, those with carts or horses will carry the front. They will avoid the side when they hear the bells, and they will also scare tigers and wolves at night." During the Ming Dynasty. The same is true, "Each person has a pair of plywood, a pair of bells, a tassel and a gun, a stick, and a Hijri calendar" and "Ring the bell and deliver the goods."
So how does the express delivery shop operate? "When the front shop hears the bell, the shop clerk must first leave the shop to hand over the goods, and then fill in the time in the cover box, the name of the delivery soldier, and quickly order the shop soldier to wrap the bag tightly with a plywood, hold a small Hijri calendar, and rush to deliver When you go to the front store to hand over the goods, write down the arrival time on the Hijri calendar to avoid getting lost."
As I said just now, there is a bell in the "equipment" of Pubing. This is a special bell, just like the car horn today. If you hear a car horn sounding from a distance, you wouldn't think it was someone riding a bicycle. Yes, the same is true for the bells of the soldiers.
For example, you are now a shop soldier in Balipu, and you work in the shop. On this day, you were sitting in the house and heard a familiar sound of bells coming from far away. You quickly got up and went out to check. Sure enough, you saw a man carrying a bag, a long gun, and a bell hanging out of breath coming towards you. .
What should you do at this time? First of all, take over this buddy's baggage. Inside the baggage is a plywood, and inside the plywood is written news - the news may be frontline military information, or it may be an emergency order from the court, but it has nothing to do with you.
What you have to do is to take the baggage, carry it on your back, and sign in the small Hijri book held by the buddy to sign for it - it is the same as the express delivery sign in later generations.
The small Hijri calendar is a logistics order. You need to write the time you signed for it on it. As mentioned before, there is a clock hanging in the room. As long as your mind is not confused and your eyes are not blind, you will definitely not sign wrong.
Write the time clearly, and then write your name, such as "At three o'clock on the fifteenth day of August in the twentieth year of Wanli, Shuntianfu Zhulu Mayi Bali Pu Gao pragmatic collection". After writing, take a tassel gun and a stick from the wall, and then it's time to go out. You must run all the way to Shibalipu.
Why should we emphasize running all the way? Because you need to leave quickly - according to the rule of one bunk for ten miles, the delivery time under this distance is fixed - when delivering official documents, according to the ancient method, one day and night will pass one hundred quarters, and one bunk will be carried every three quarters, day and night. Travel three hundred miles. But when an official document comes to the shop, it needs to be delivered immediately regardless of the number of corners. The bell is rung and delivered at any time of the day or night.
Converting this time and distance, it is roughly equivalent to walking five kilometers in about forty-five minutes. You can advance but cannot delay. The walking speed of normal adults in later generations is generally about five kilometers per hour, the jogging speed is about nine kilometers, and the fast running speed is twelve kilometers. So at a jogging speed of nine kilometers per hour, five kilometers only takes about thirty-five minutes, which is enough time.
actually not.
To understand this standard of later generations, its prerequisites are quite different. Modern people run on roads, either hard asphalt roads or soft cement roads. When they go out to exercise, the sun is sunny and the breeze is blowing. They wear newly bought sports cushioning running shoes on their feet and breathable, sweat-wicking and quick-drying shoes. sports T-shirt, while listening to music and running comfortably.
However, it was during the Ming Dynasty when we laid troops, and not to mention the terrain, there were many bad mountain roads of all kinds. Speaking of road conditions alone, many people's running speed would be reduced on the dirt roads in their hometown villages before roads were built.
The speed limit of one pavement every three quarters is fixed, the wind is sunny and the standard is strong, and the storm is also the standard. No matter how legitimate your reason for being late is, since the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang are not very flexible, you will have to be punished if you deserve it. If you want to be reasonable, you may have to go to Xiaoling in Nanjing to "face the saint."
Besides, this rule means you have to deliver not only in stormy weather, but also in the middle of the night when you receive something. In the worst case scenario, you, the unlucky courier, may receive the package at three in the morning, and then brave the storm, lightning and thunder, walk ten miles on a muddy mountain road to deliver it to the next store.
Therefore, it is very, very hard to deploy troops, and this hard work is rewarded with the efficiency of transmitting news three hundred miles day and night.
As mentioned before, the cavalry can travel at a speed of seventy miles per day. If it goes any faster, the horses may not be able to bear it, and the horses are greatly affected by weather and terrain factors. For example, they may perform very well in Hebei, but if you switch to Yunnan, they will not be able to stand it. Pull the crotch directly.
Therefore, in this case, express delivery, a completely manual delivery method, has become the fastest and most timely method. It takes 300 miles day and night and 5,000 miles from Beijing to Kunming in 16 days. In other words, in the Ming Dynasty, if there was an unexpected military situation in Yunnan, the emperor would be informed of the news as soon as sixteen days later.
But here comes the problem. All express delivery shops are manned, and each express delivery shop cannot be short of people at 12 hours a day. N shifts of people are required to be on duty, and the density of installation is as high as one shop every ten miles. So how many people are needed for urgent delivery across the country? Only shop service is enough? How much salary is needed to maintain such a huge staffing?
What's worse is that the express delivery shop is different from Shuimayi. Shuimayi has a certain ability to generate income after Gao pragmatically's previous "Yiyi Road Clearance" reform - it is run as a state-owned guesthouse along the way. However, Express Shop does not have this ability. If we look at it as an enterprise, it is still in a state of pure loss so far and has no profitability at all.
Gao Pragmatic clearly pointed out this point in the "Innovation Station Book" this time, and proposed that express delivery shops must have their own financial resources and cannot always be maintained solely by financial allocations.
But if that's all, or even if he thinks of a solution, Wang Xijue's praise of his talents as Wang Zuo is completely enough. He won't use Cao Zhi's words of "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not powerful, harmonious but not "Profanity" to praise his conduct.
The reason why Wang Xijue praised his political opponents so much is because the method mentioned by Gao Jingshi in "Revolutionary Station Shu" was to actively give up one of the capabilities that Jinghua itself has become the best in the world.
Gao Pragmatic said that Jinghua has relied on its own logistics system in recent years to implement a set of "postal delivery" methods, that is, uniformly accepting letters and limited-weight packages within a certain area, and then according to the sender's requirements. Corresponding fees will be charged depending on the weight of the letter or package and the distance traveled.
Jinghua will agree with the sender in advance to ensure that the letter or package is delivered intact to the target person within a certain period of time. Gao Qingshi believes that relying on express stores to have the advantage of being spread all over the country, this postal business with free delivery is completely feasible, and express stores will have some advantages over Jinghua's logistics system.
What are the advantages? The first is to spread this advantage across the country. As a "private enterprise", Jinghua cannot open one store every ten miles across the country no matter how strong its financial resources are. However, this advantage of express delivery stores already exists naturally.
Secondly, Jinghua's mail delivery relies on its own logistics system. It is not professional, so the speed is not really fast. For example, when delivering goods from Suzhou to Beijing, you may need to wait until several cargo ships are basically full before setting off, because this can ensure safe navigation, and this requires a certain amount of waiting time.
If an express delivery shop does postal delivery, there will be no such disadvantage. Soldiers across the country are actually engaged in a "relay race" and can be sent as they come.
Or even if you consider that people need to rest, you can also set a limit, such as at least five or six stores in a day. Each soldier can be paid individually for each delivery. This reward can be divided between the soldier and the express delivery shop. For example, 70% for the soldier and 30% for the shop. The specific ratio can be negotiated separately. ...Such a monthly settlement benefits all three parties: the court, the shop, and the army. The sender and recipient also gain convenience, and everyone is completely happy.
Of course, the only person who should be unhappy is probably Jinghua itself, because once this innovation is implemented, it will obviously be the only one whose interests will be harmed.
This is what Wang Xijue admired. Cutting one's own flesh to improve the country's system. Isn't this "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not authoritative, harmonious but not obscene"?
And the things that should be praised are not over yet, because Gao pragmatic innovations for delivery stations have not yet been mentioned.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Cloudy Good Mood", "KIKI Kai", "Ling Qi Zhao Bi Xin", and "Old West of Altay" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: This book involves the various policies of reform, which is really an aspect that I pay special attention to. In particular, you may find that when I write about certain wars that are not personally directed by Gao Pragmatic, I often use the "blank" writing method. If you compare it, you can see that I am really serious about writing about reform.
