It must be said that Zhao Laosan's political sense was indeed extremely sensitive, and his predictions basically came true. After the imperial banquet in Xiyuan, Emperor Liu's follow-up actions came true.
On the last day of the ninth year of Kaibao's reign, Emperor Liu got up early and went to the Qianyuan Hall to hold a royal dynasty, which was unusual. This was also the first great dynasty after a long time. Before this, Emperor Liu had been absent from the dynasty for three months.
Thousands of princes, nobles, civil and military generals, officials in charge of various ministries and government offices, and officials reporting on their duties in Beijing were sitting in the Qianyuan Hall, listening to the holy teachings. In such a big battle, the top elites are gathered together, and naturally they are discussing major national affairs and court affairs.
Of course, everyone who understands understands that the so-called discussion is just a formality. The real decision-making has long been discussed in detail by the main ministers. What is discussed in the court is actually a large-scale briefing.
Emperor Liu didn't say much. The prince was absent, and Zhao Pu was mainly in charge. It lasted for a long time, from Chen hour to noon, a full two hours.
There are two themes for the court meeting. The first is to look back at the development of the Han Dynasty in the past year, sum up the gains and losses in finance, military affairs, civil affairs and many other matters. It focuses on reviewing several major events that happened in the people's livelihood of the Han Dynasty in the nine years of Kaibao, and to commend the role models. , keep the lessons in mind.
The second is to look forward to the future. The ninth year of Kaibao is the first year of the change of the national policy and strategic transformation of the Han Dynasty. It is also the most important year. Although there are some problems, a good and good foundation has been formed.
Zhao Pu, on behalf of the imperial court, assured Emperor Liu that he would remain unswerving and continue to implement the policy of nourishing the interest, safeguarding the well-being of the people in the world and the development of the country and the people.
We will continue to further improve various policy reform measures implemented in the past nine years, promote good governance, make up for mistakes, and strive to restore weakened national strength within three to five years.
Under this premise, Zhao Pu, on behalf of the Political Affairs Hall, reported to Emperor Liu the arrangements for government affairs formulated by the court for the coming year. Of course, Emperor Liu's own will was clearly reflected in each plan.
Zhao Pu emphasized that in the future, the imperial court will strengthen official governance and cultivate officials' administrative capabilities, while also increasing spiritual construction such as ethics and character, strengthening supervision, and clearly improving the promotion system.
The construction of officialdom has never just been about fighting corruption, nor is it just about dealing with some corrupt officials. On the contrary, it is a systematic project, involving all aspects from talent selection and training, promotion assessment, official appointment, supervision and supervision. .
It took Emperor Liu more than ten years to truly understand this truth, so he built a relatively complete bureaucratic management system for the court.
However, completeness does not mean perfection. In the past few years, Emperor Liu has indeed spared no efforts in combating corruption, has a clear attitude, and has made many achievements. The major cases that caused a stir in the government and the public are proved by the harsh treatment of criminal officials.
But similarly, in other aspects, although the political system has been constantly improved, there are still shortcomings and deficiencies. This time, Zhao Pu also plans to put some thought into this aspect and continue to improve and make up for it.
The meeting ended with the announcement of two decisions. One is that some people have expectations but are unwilling to face the situation, limiting their merits and strategies.
This policy, which had been brewing within the imperial court for many years and caused a lot of criticism and even several difficulties, was finally officially introduced after the great turmoil in the winter of the ninth year of Kaibao.
Of course, Emperor Liu's appearance was not that ugly, and Zhao Pu was always smart in his methods, and did not openly declare to the world that the imperial court would reduce the salaries of meritorious officials and restrict their privileged status.
Nominally, it was because the imperial salary system had many irrationalities. In response to this, Zhao Pu led the Finance Department and formulated a complete set of salary adjustments for Han Dynasty bureaucrats, military personnel, and civil servants.
Just looking at the prescribed salaries for bureaucrats at all levels in the Han Dynasty, in the past, the overall level was on the low side, especially for those grassroots officials with lower grades.
Taking the capital as an example, many lower-level officials, with their annual salary, even with the annual welfare compensation due to their duties, it is difficult for them to live a prosperous life in the capital, and it is not even as good as some common people engaged in commerce and handicrafts. .
Therefore, it is inevitable that some officials will take advantage of their positions to seek benefits outside the system, so as to make a living. In response to this, the imperial court has greatly increased the salaries of officials. The lower the rank, the higher the salary. At the same time, it has also opened up some occupations and property held by positions at all levels, all for the purpose of Improve the treatment of officials.
Of course, when the financial situation was not good, the imperial court was so kind to the bureaucrats, and naturally there were conditions. That is, it was explicitly prohibited from doing business by bureaucrats with official positions and their direct blood relatives.
Although it is very difficult and even unrealistic to truly ban it, a bill that can be referenced and used as a basis for law enforcement is clear. This will undoubtedly put a tight curse on the heads of officials all over the world, and it will somewhat reduce power corruption. Cool down.
On the whole, bureaucrats all over the world have benefited this time, especially those who are responsible for serving officials. In addition, due to the extremely uneven level of economic development in various regions of the Han Dynasty, the salary levels of officials in various regions also changed accordingly in view of the differences between the rich and the poor.
This article also formed a policy, instructing the various state governments to make adjustments. It was no longer like in the past, where the distribution was completely based on the grade of officials.
In conjunction with this, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will greatly relax the assessment and promotion of officials in remote and poor areas, and encourage aspiring officials to serve as officials in remote and poor areas.
As for the military personnel, it goes without saying that in the past twenty years, Emperor Liu has never treated the army badly. The same is true this time. Even the adjusted official salary is only equivalent to the army salary level. .
The adjustments to military salaries are limited to improving the internal salary system of the military, increasing the benefits of frontier troops and garrison soldiers, maintaining the level of dormitory guards and forbidden troops, and reducing local Taoist garrisons, making differentiation and hierarchy more obvious.
At least, even if the country basically enters a peaceful era, being a soldier is still a good choice.
Similarly, compared with official positions and military positions, the adjustment of the treatment of nobles is more targeted and weakened. It was completely in accordance with the provisions planned by Zhao Pu, and was promulgated with slight modifications by Emperor Liu.
The most intuitive thing is that from the king's level down, the salary is reduced every year. Taking the prince as an example, the annual salary was reduced from 8,000 guan of money and 1,200 shi of grain to 6,000 guan of money and 800 shi of grain.
Nowadays, the princes of the Han Dynasty, that is, the princes, starting from the sons, can really stop many people's mouths, making people irrefutable.
In contrast, the treatment of honorary ministers remains unchanged. After all, their ranks cannot be passed down, and they have all made great contributions to the country. Emperor Liu does not need to treat them badly. Of course, this is also a comforting approach.
Starting from the most direct title, the amount of tax-free land for nobles has also been greatly reduced. The 500 hectares for the Duke of the State has been directly reduced to 100 hectares. The remaining ones need to be re-registered with the local government.
In addition to direct benefits, there are restrictions on other explicit and implicit privileges of honorable nobles. Of course, they will ultimately be implemented in law enforcement. The construction of the law enforcement team is also the next key task of the court led by Zhao Pu.
If in the past, the imperial court had introduced such a malicious policy, the nobles of the Han Dynasty would have fallen out long ago, and their dissatisfaction would definitely be written on their faces and expressed in their words and deeds.
But this time, everyone was silent. No one had wiped Nanshi's blood. The imperial banquet in Xiyuan was even more shockingly cold. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he could only hold it in his heart and not dare to explode.
The powerful families such as Fu, Li, and Zhao took the lead in expressing their acceptance of the court's policy, and also expressed their willingness to accept the court's supervision and report local products. Zhao Kuangyin even offered to pay back the past land taxes, but without Emperor Liu's voice, Zhao Pu stated that the past grace was in line with the imperial system and there was no need to make up for it later.
The last move was to adjust the personnel of the imperial court. Murong Yanchao, Duke of Luan State, officially resigned, and the Ministry of Industry was placed in charge of the Minister of Industry, Pan You. This was a southern minister, a reformist, and a general under Zhao Pu.
At the same time, Cui Zhoudu paid homage to the prime minister, and was also in charge of criminal names and supervision, becoming the prime minister responsible for the judicial work of the Han Dynasty. In addition, Zhao Kuangyi's career as a Yin in Luoyang, which lasted less than one year, ended and he was transferred to Jinghu South Road as the chief officer.
