After the inspection in Xuzhou, Luo Zhixue's imperial special train continued to move north, leaving Jiangbei and entering the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong.歂
The Yanzhou Prefecture during the Chu Empire was quite different from the Yanzhou Prefecture during the Ming Dynasty.
During the Ming Dynasty, Yanzhou Prefecture was very large, with jurisdiction over four prefectures and 23 counties: Jining, Dongping, Cao, and Yi. The Chu Empire first continued the old system of the Ming Dynasty, but later the Great Chu Empire reformed the prefectures and consolidated the prefectures. Prefectures were gradually upgraded to provincial prefectures, and jurisdictions between prefectures were adjusted.
Later, some of them were provinces and prefectures with larger areas, large populations, and relatively large economic aggregates, and some of them were upgraded to prefectures.
For example, the Heyuan area where Wang Tu served has gone through this process. At first, it continued to govern one state and ten counties under the Ming Dynasty. Later, Lianping Prefecture and Longcun County were merged into Fuli Prefecture, Heyuan Prefecture, and later Heyuan Prefecture was changed to Provincial Prefecture. It was separated from Huizhou Prefecture.
Later, Heyuan Prefecture was promoted to Heyuan Prefecture. In this process, Wang Tu also took a ride on it. He was quickly promoted from a fifth-grade prefecture to the prefectural governor, to a fourth-grade prefecture to the prefectural governor, and then to the fourth-grade prefectural governor. The prefect of the fourth grade.
Yanzhou Prefecture has also experienced similar jurisdictional adjustments. The four subordinate prefectures have been promoted to provincial prefectures one after another, leaving only ten counties.
Immediately afterwards, the four provinces and prefectures were merged with the counties under other state capitals, and were eventually upgraded to prefectures.歂
During the same period, the other five government agencies in Shandong also made some adjustments to their accounts. After some adjustments, Shandong also expanded from the previous six government offices to twelve large and small government offices.
Similar situations occur in other provinces and are not unique.
Although the methods may be different, the purpose is the same, which is to expand the number of prefectures under the jurisdiction of a province from the previous single digits to more than ten prefectures.
And cancel the prefectural and provincial prefectures that cannot be promoted or demoted.
Because according to years of research by the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, if the area at the prefecture level is too large, it will be difficult for the prefect to effectively govern all areas, and it is easy for the prefect to focus on the head rather than the tail, leading to serious imbalances in local development.
For example, in order to develop local areas and gain political achievements, many prefects tend to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in areas within their jurisdictions where it is easier to develop the economy, but ignore them in other places, especially in more remote mountainous areas.
At the same time, I also think that if a provincial governor’s office only manages a single-digit government, it will be superfluous and redundant...
Therefore, after many years of research by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, around the 15th year of Chengshun, the administrative reform plan was promoted to change the prefectures from prefectures to provincial prefectures. Starting from the 20th year of Chengshun, the provinces were gradually transferred to prefectures and prefectures. Further adjustments will be made, and eventually more administrative agencies at the prefectural level will be established, and in the process, provinces, prefectures and prefectures will be completely abolished.
This entire process, also known as "abolition of states and establishment of prefectures," lasted for more than ten years before it was finally completed.
This has led to the fact that the current administrative structure of the provinces under the Chu Empire is very different from that of the Ming Dynasty. Basically, each province has more than ten prefectures. Provinces with large areas and large populations have more prefectures. Provinces with small areas and small populations have fewer prefectures.
As a result, the local administrative structure of the Great Chu Empire changed from the previous province-prefecture/provincial prefecture-county/prefecture (there are several counties under the prefecture)-town-village, which is a relatively complex local administrative structure. .
It has become a province-prefecture-county-town-village, with a total of five levels of administrative agencies, one level is deducted from another, simple and clear.
It's not like before. When it comes to a magistrate, you don't even know whether he is a magistrate from a province of the fourth rank, or from a prefecture of the fifth rank.
At the same time, in order to solve the problem of the promotion channels of local officials of the fifth rank being interrupted due to the disappearance of a large number of prefectures and provincial prefectures, and also because the local institutions of the Great Chu Empire had more affairs and were more detailed than those of the previous dynasty. , the Great Chu Empire also added a number of senior and fifth-grade promotion officials in the government-level yamen.歂
As for the fourth-level magistrate of the provincial prefecture, this level is also the level of the magistrate of each government, and the level of deputy director of each department of the provincial governor's office, so there is no problem of the promotion channel being interrupted.
Up to now, the officials of the Great Chu Empire on the ground cover all grades from the second rank to the second rank. From top to bottom, there are the second rank governor, the third rank chief envoy, the inspector, and the third rank political officer.
The fourth rank is the director of each department and the prefect of the prefecture.
From the fourth rank, the deputy directors of each department, the magistrates, and magistrates of each government
In the fifth rank, there are the directors of various departments under the provincial department and the recommended officials of each government.
From the fifth rank, there are deputy directors of various departments, directors of various prefectures, and magistrates of each county.
That's right, in the Great Chu Empire now, the level of county magistrates is from the fifth level, which is further improved from the sixth level during the founding of the country.歂
The Great Chu Empire has always attached great importance to the authority of grassroots officials. When the country was founded, the grade of county magistrates was set at the sixth rank, which was directly raised by two levels from the traditional seventh rank.
In the subsequent continuous reforms, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Dachu Empire believed that for most counties, the grade of the sixth-grade magistrate was still lower, because this grade was lower than the grade of the fifth-grade director in various prefectures. Even lower... This is obviously inappropriate.
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For this reason, during the more than ten years of Chengshun, the magistrates of some large counties and upper-level counties were successively upgraded. Later, the scope was expanded to medium-sized counties and then to lower-level counties.
In the twenty-eighth year of Chengshun, the comprehensive adjustment of the grades of magistrates in various places has basically been completed. Now, all the magistrates in the Great Chu Empire, except for a few who have been promoted to officials from various prefectures and have been appointed to the fifth rank, the other magistrates are all subordinates. Fifth grade.
Below the fifth rank is the sixth rank. This rank is the rank of the deputy directors of various departments of the government, the county magistrates, and the chief registrars of each county.
From the sixth grade, it is the grade of many officials in each county.
The seventh grade is the grade of the magistrate of each town and the grade of the director of each county.歂
From the rank of seventh grade, deputy director of various counties, Xie Zhen, Hui Zhen.
Further down, it is the most basic level such as Zhengbapin. The chiefs of various departments under the county office and the chiefs of various departments in the town are at this level.
From the eighth rank, this is the rank of deputy section chief of each county section and deputy section chief of each town section.
The next lower grades, Zhengjiu and Congjiu, do not have leadership positions and are all grades for ordinary staff members.
It is worth noting that many ordinary clerks, whether at the grassroots level or in the capital, will have high-grade clerks. Generally speaking, the grade of clerks in non-chief positions can reach up to the fourth grade.
This kind of high-level clerk usually appears when high-level officials are old and in poor health, so they take a back seat. This kind of person is very special, and they belong to a group that just gets paid and does nothing... They just come here. Those who provide for the elderly and those who will work as soon as retirement age is reached.
There are also some high-level officials who are unwilling to serve in local areas. They have to work in provincial capitals or capital cities because of connections, or they have made mistakes or other reasons and are willing to be removed from official positions, but they are not directly dismissed. The extent of removal from office, for these people, is often to retain their rank and then be demoted to ordinary clerks.歂
Some people can't stand it and will resign directly and go home, but some people who are thick-skinned, or those who hope to make a comeback, will work as junior clerks with high-level status. This kind of people are very special. Generally speaking, the number of people Very few, not considered mainstream.
The mainstream is still those who slowly improve their grades through qualifications.
Because according to the official regulations of the Dachu Empire, ordinary civil servants can be promoted once every ten years even if they have no merits. Assuming that a young scholar enters the ninth rank of officialdom at the age of twenty, he will be promoted for the rest of his life. If you don't make meritorious deeds, you won't make mistakes, and no one will appreciate you.
Even if he will follow the path of most officials, he will be promoted to the ninth rank at the age of thirty, from the eighth rank at the age of forty, to the eighth rank at the age of fifty, and then wait until he is sixty years old. You can become an official from the seventh rank and enjoy the retirement benefits from the seventh rank.
This kind of promotion only increases the grade but not the position, and the salary will not actually be that much, because the salary of Dachu Empire officials is divided into two parts: grade salary and position salary, and the bulk is still in the position salary!
The Ministry of Personnel Affairs and the Finance Department are not stupid. How can you survive your whole life to reach the seventh rank, and then still get the salary of the seventh rank chief officer and retirement salary?
Don’t even think about such a good thing!歂
Officials in the Dachu Empire have high salaries, which refers to chief officials with management positions. Thirdly, you must also have the title of deputy section chief, right?
Otherwise, if ordinary staff members can earn high salaries despite their age, they will have to go bankrupt!
You must know that the number of officials in the Da Chu Empire is very large, and ordinary clerks account for the vast majority of them.
No matter what happens, once this base number increases, it will eventually evolve into a huge number.
Therefore, the financial personnel of the Dachu Empire have always strictly controlled the salary levels of officials to prevent excessive salary levels from causing local and even Gyeonggi financial collapse.
Because of the existence of high-grade section chiefs, in order to avoid the situation where the rank of the section chief is higher than that of the deputy section chief, high-grade section chiefs will also be transferred to departments with a higher chief officer level.
There will never be a situation where an ordinary clerk can rely on his higher rank to scold his superior.歂
The official system of the Great Chu Empire began in the Funiu Mountain Civil Affairs Office era, and it has been thirty years now, and various rules and regulations have been quite complete.
In this way, the political structure and official system of the contemporary Chu Empire were formed.
I can’t say how good it is, I can only say that with the changes of the times and the advancement of productivity. After continuous improvement, it barely adapted to the post-industrial Chu Empire.
The changes in a series of jurisdictions and administrative agencies of Yanzhou Prefecture are a microcosm of the reform of the local administrative structure and changes in the official system of the Great Chu Empire.
In the Great Chu Empire, almost all changes in local administrative institutions can be seen in Yanzhou Prefecture.
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After Luo Zhixue's special train entered Yanzhou Prefecture, it passed through three counties: Yixian, Tengxian and Qiu County, and finally arrived at Yanzhou Prefecture to govern Ziyang.歂
When passing through the three counties before, although Luo Zhixue did not get off the train for inspection, the train was refueling with coal and water at Hanzhuang Railway Station in Ze County and Teng County Railway Station, so Luo Zhixue still took advantage of this time and spent a few minutes to meet with these people. Magistrate of two counties.
This is also what Luo Zhixue usually does when he passes through some small places, especially those in counties.
When the train was adding coal and water, people did not get off the train, but spent a few minutes on the train to meet with local officials.
It's okay if you don't meet, but it's not necessary. The train needs to stop to add coal and water anyway, so it's not a big problem to spend a few minutes to see each other.
The technical level of trains these days is still not very good. Even if the special-purpose trains use the latest Guangzhou III series locomotives, the overall endurance is still not very good.
Passenger trains driven by Guangsan locomotives in normal operation need to add coal and water every 100 kilometers on plain terrain. If they are on terrain that requires climbing, the cruising distance will be shortened by dozens of kilometers. .
The cruising distance of heavy-duty freight trains is even shorter.歂
This is also the reason why the railway lines of the Dachu Empire often need a train station every few dozen kilometers. Sometimes even train stations are still set up in some remote and uninhabited areas... not for the passengers, but for the passengers. Add coal and water.
Of course, you can also carry more coal and water from the beginning, or use a light load to increase endurance, but this will cost more during commercial operation.
The Royal Special Train is a train that carries a lot of coal and Danshui. However, as a precaution and to avoid various accidents, it will still stop every tens of kilometers to refill coal and Danshui.
Therefore, you can also see the imperial special trains of the Da Chu Empire and other accompanying trains. They basically stop for refueling and water after running for dozens of kilometers.
But it won’t take long to get back on the road and move on.
After all, there are mechanical equipment for adding coal and water at the train station. Adding coal and water is very convenient and fast.
When passing through Qiu County, the royal train did not stop but passed directly over, and then stopped at Yanzhou Prefecture.歂
However, Luo Zhixue still had no plans to conduct a public inspection in Yanzhou Prefecture. He still met with the magistrate of Yanzhou Prefecture and the magistrate of Qiu County and other local officials in the imperial carriage. He left Yanzhou Prefecture at about noon and continued north to Tai'an Prefecture.
After meeting the local officials of Tai'an Prefecture on the train as usual, the royal train went straight to Jinan Prefecture.
Jinan Prefecture is Luo Zhixue's third stop for inspection.
The first stop is Fengyang, the second stop is Xuzhou, and the third stop is Jinan, followed by Tianjin, Youzhou, Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, Liaodong and other cities.
Luo Zhixue did not say that people would get off the bus and inspect the cities along the way. Generally, only provincial capitals or important cities, and cities with special significance would get off the bus and stay for one or more days.
In small cities along the way, they basically simply meet with local officials and listen to reports when the train stops for coal and water.
After all, although taking the train is fast, it is really just that...the average operating speed of trains these days is only forty or fifty kilometers per hour, which cannot be compared with the trains of later generations.歂
It is impossible for Luo Zhixue to spend a lot of time in some small cities on the road.
In the evening of that day, the imperial special train arrived at Jinan Railway Station after traveling nearly 300 kilometers.
When the royal train arrived, local officials such as the Shandong Chief Envoy, the Inspector General, and various political advisors all went to the train station to greet them.
As for the governor of Shandong, he is a bit of a thief. He arrived at the Hanzhuang Railway Station in Ze County in the southeast of Shandong early to wait... The royal train had just entered Shandong and when he was adding coal and water to the Hanzhuang Railway Station, he had already met with Luo Zhixue , and accompanied the royal train all the way north.
However, this is considered a routine operation, and many officials will choose to do this: wait and greet them at the train stations along the way in advance.
This was to follow the tradition of going out of town to greet interests.
It's just that when traveling by train now, the traditional greeting out of the city is a bit difficult. After all, the distance between train stations is often dozens of kilometers.歂
This means that the level of officials is not enough, and if there are not multiple railway stations on the railway line in the jurisdiction, it is really impossible to travel dozens of kilometers to meet them.
As for you running to the wilderness, dozens of kilometers away from the city, to greet you in a place without a train station...
The royal train will not even stop... If you dare to chase, the guards on the marching column will give you a round of volleys on the spot.
After arriving at the train station, Luo Zhixue chose to stay at the local Jinan Palace, which was originally the palace of Prince De in the pre-Ming Dynasty.
When the Chu army captured Jinan during the Northern Expedition, Prince De's Mansion did not suffer much damage. Therefore, during Luo Zhixue's Northern Expedition, it was used as a temporary palace and was called the Jinan Palace. It was here that Luo Zhixue commanded a series of events remotely. Battles in Shandong and Beizhili.
After the end of the Northern Expedition, it has been used as a temporary palace by the Zongfu Office to protect and repair it, and has not been abandoned.
This is also one of the few royal palaces in the Chu Empire that has been preserved and repaired in the name of a palace for a long time.歂
After staying here, Luo Zhixue saw the unchanged Jinan Palace and recalled the scenes of commanding a series of Northern Expedition campaigns here.
