After reading the document in his hand, Wang Xiaolie said to Chen Qiudao: "How are the discussions going on these days? Tell me about the important ones."
Chen Qiudao cupped his hands and said: "According to the observation, we have discussed these days and decided on a big framework. According to the observation, the number of seals is decided by the Secretary, so the person in charge of the seal is not very important. Just follow the orders. Deposit into three banks. How much deposit is deposited in which bank is very important. I'm afraid it has to be decided by the Production and Investment Department. "
Wang Xiaolie said: "Of course, this matter will be decided by the Department of Production and Construction. It is also related to the Department of Transportation. Which yamen has more, which yamen has less, and the number of states and counties below must be based on evidence and cannot be decided by temperament. So I It is said that each government office, state and county should make a five-year plan, and then make a one-year plan based on this. The plan will be submitted to the superior for review, and after review, the allocation of the money will be decided based on the reported plan."
Chen Qiudao nodded: "That's the best. However, there are not enough officials at the moment, and many people don't know arithmetic or accounting. They need to be trained. This is not a trivial matter. The Secretary of Construction must arrange for officials to learn in a unified manner."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Yes. I will start studying for the rest of this year. Once every three months, I will rotate. Those who study well will be promoted naturally, and those who study poorly can only do what they can do. ”
Wang Xiaolie did not have many official officials of the imperial court, and there were no fixed rules for which officials would be promoted and which ones would be demoted. After hearing this, Chen Qiudao had no objection. What he was worried about was that there were a serious shortage of officials according to the requirements.
Chen Qiudao added: "The people in charge of Yinhuizi are not important, but the people in charge of banks are very important. The money of all yamen, states and counties must come from them, and if something happens, it will have a great impact. These people should use Officials, the use of officials is inappropriate. And the level of these officials cannot be lowered, otherwise how can they intimidate the various yamen? They hold a large amount of money in their hands, which can be said to directly affect the food and clothing of the people under their rule, so don't be careless!"
Wang Xiaolie looked at Chen Qiudao and nodded: "Yes, the person in charge of the bank is very important! You can recommend who to use, there is no need to be rigid. There is no doubt that we are seriously short of manpower now, and we need to find a way."
Chen Qiudao nodded repeatedly: "These days, the most discussed thing is the candidate for the bank. All yamen, states and counties have to withdraw the money from the bank. If the candidate is not suitable, it will have a great impact. However, after discussing for a long time, we still haven't found one. suitable person."
Wang Xiaolie said: "There is no need to rush into this matter. After you go back, you can think about it slowly. Also, although the money of the yamen and prefectures and counties is taken out from the bank, it is not the bank that has the final say. It is the superior who deposits the money." You can only withdraw money if you go in, or if you have money to deposit in the bank.”
Chen Qiudao shook his head and smiled. After a while, he said: "Observation, you have made it very clear. What is the most important thing in a bank? Apart from letting people save money, it also lends money! So what if there is no money in the bank? Yamen can lend!"
Wang Xiaolie wanted to say that banks do not lend money casually, or that lending money at all levels should be regulated, but he thought for a while and stopped. What do officials do? All matters of a place, big or small, are in his hands. The bank had the audacity to go against them. No matter what the regulations are and how to take precautions, officials will always find a way to loan money out from banks. Not to mention this era, even in later generations, will it be difficult for the government to borrow money from banks? Later generations often talked about the rule of law, as if as long as the rules were set, there would be no trouble. But they don’t know that the world is ruled by humans. The so-called rule of law is nothing more than the transfer of power from some people to the hands of others. When it comes to governing by law, the most important thing is not the law, but how to govern people.
Seeing that Wang Xiaolie agreed, Chen Qiudao said: "The most important thing actually is how the people in charge of the bank behave. As long as this matter is settled well, there will be less trouble. The other thing is how the bank lends money. Observation said, we have discussed it over the past few days and divided it into several types. One is that the government wants to dig out canals, build bridges and pave roads, and the public will lend money. The most important thing is private loans. Observation has always said, In the future, the state army under the rule can no longer set up guilds, but must replace them with clubs. These clubs are government-run and private, and cover all walks of life. After thinking about it, the most likely customers of bank loans are clubs. What about clubs? Management? How to tax? How do they lend money? And various other matters. Everyone was talking about it, and they couldn't think of a specific charter for a while. They all said that this matter will definitely be complicated in the future. "
After hearing this, Wang Xiaolie smiled: "That's right. In the future, it will not be easy for the government to collect taxes. The biggest source is the club. It was very easy before. There were people in the countryside, clothes in the city, and roadblocks everywhere. . From now on, farmers will only pay grain taxes and no money for farming. Barriers have been abolished, guilds are no longer established, and tax collection is very different from before."
Chen Qiudao nodded: "Yes. We discussed that it will not be easy to be an official in the future."
Wang Xiaolie said nothing more. He just asked: "These are the things you have been talking about these past few days? Are there any others?"
Chen Qiudao: "The most important things are these. The other things are small things. Just observe and go back and read the documents."
Wang Xiaolie said: "It's impossible to arrange everything properly. After discussing it, come up with a rough idea, then go back and start working on it. Find problems while doing it, and then slowly correct them. As long as the direction is right, make some mistakes. Mistakes are okay.”
Chen Qiudao said yes. After chatting about other things, they left.
Watching Chen Qiudao leave, Wang Xiaolie said to Chen Yuyi: "Now there are two supervisors on Jingxi South Road. Chen Qiudao is in charge of miscellaneous matters, especially money and food. Wang Ruohai is in charge of intelligence and establishing our guerrilla zones on various roads in West Beijing. .You serve as a counselor and your future thoughts will be on the army."
Chen Yuyi bowed his hands and said yes.
Among the staff officers of the Zhizhi Envoy Department, the staff officer is the highest, the counselor officer is the second, and below them are the administrative officers and so on. Wang Xiaolie started from scratch, and his staff structure was not so standardized. It was only recently that it began to be slowly completed. The current councilor of the Imperial Envoy Department is the second person under Wang Xiaolie.
As the territory gradually consolidated, Wang Xiaolie intentionally divided his generals and officials into military and political parts, with neither participating. In layman's terms, it means separation of civil and military affairs. Moreover, the separation is relatively complete. Unless there are special circumstances, there will no longer be transfer of duties to each other.
In the Song Dynasty, in addition to civil and military positions, there were also military positions. The distinction between civil and military officials is actually not too strict. Generally speaking, civilian officials have higher requirements, higher status, and faster promotions. Military positions come from a variety of sources, including transfers from military positions, favors, and various other ways. Military positions are relatively simple, mainly soldiers.
Whether in the court or in the local area, many official positions can be either civil servants or military attachés, except for special requirements. Military positions can be converted into military attachés under certain conditions, and military attachés can also be converted into military positions. To a certain extent, military attaches have the characteristics of both military and civilian positions. The distinction between civilian and military positions is very clear. Except for special positions, there is basically no overlap between the two.
Military positions are mainly official positions in the Forbidden Army. From the head of the capital, the commander and envoy, to the general, Yuhou, and the commander and envoy, their position is the official, and the official is the position. Unlike civil and military officials, they have officials in addition to dispatch. These are military positions. The highest military position is the general of the Sanyaguanjun, and the top is the inspection post in front of the palace. After Taizu came to Murong Yanzhao, there were no longer any checkpoints in front of the palace. After that, there were very few official positions of commanders in front of the palace. There were only eight positions of generals in charge of the army. The eight generals in charge of the army are more powerful than the prime minister and have a very high status.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the person who commanded the troops had a military position, and it was changed to a military position when he transferred to the local area. It is unreasonable to say that the Song Dynasty favored culture and suppressed military force. One of the reasons is that the military attache did not actually command the army. The commander of the imperial army was a military officer. The benefits of military positions are much better than those of military attachés, but there are too many officers and few, making it difficult to get promoted.
Compared with later generations, the military positions in the Song Dynasty were military officers in later generations, not military attaches. Some of the military attaches in the Song Dynasty actually became political officials and some became military officers in later generations. Similar to later generations, when one reaches a certain level of military service, he can be transferred to a military attache and serve in a local area. In fact, it is similar to the change of career in later generations. However, it was easy for military attachés in the Song Dynasty to transfer to military positions.
It is easier to understand the system of the Song Dynasty by pitting civilian officials against military officials, with the military attache as a transitional zone between the two. The army of the Song Dynasty was a mercenary army and a professional army. In terms of system, it could not be too chaotic.
The combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty's army was not good. It made no sense to say that culture was favored over martial arts, that society suppressed it, and that the status of soldiers was not high. In terms of institutions, the ancient Chinese Song Dynasty may be the closest to later generations. If it didn't work in the Song Dynasty, then it won't work in later generations either? Except for military dictatorships, most of the countries in the world are like this. Is the whole world out of their minds?
There are many reasons for the poor combat effectiveness of the army. There are institutional reasons, national policy reasons, emperor reasons, ministers reasons, and of course social reasons. There is nothing surprising about these reasons. Such an army is not effective in combat. Not only during the Song Dynasty, but also in many countries in later generations, many armies were like this. It boils down to advocating civility and suppressing military force. Then only a military dictatorship can fit what these people say.
There is no problem with the separation of civil and military affairs, and there is no problem with civilian leadership in national affairs. In fact, most countries in later generations did so. The status of military generals in the Song Dynasty was not low either. Not to mention the inspection in front of the palace, the three commanders in front of the palace, the cavalry army, and the infantry army have the same status as the prime minister. The Dragon God Guard, who has the lowest status, commands all four compartments, and his status is equivalent to participating in politics. How much higher status do you want? Do you have to be prime minister?
Transforming the old army does not mean changing the emphasis on civility and suppression of military force. How to transform it? Later generations of armies gave answers from their thoughts to their actions. If we fail to see these and just emphasize the distinction between civil and military affairs, we will go astray.
As the Song-Jin war entered a stalemate and began to ease, Wang Xiaolie also wanted to reform his army. The separation of civil and military forces and their respective transformation is the proper meaning.
