Chapter Separation of Powers
According to Zhao Bing's idea of the national system, it must be divided into two parts, namely the inner court and the outer court. The inner court does not have to say anything, it is his own back garden, and he can make corresponding adjustments on his own. The outer court is divided into five major aspects: decision-making, review, service, supervision and armed forces, which lead to corresponding subordinate agencies.
According to the experience of previous dynasties, the separation of powers of the three provinces often leads to disadvantages, especially the Secretariat, which holds the power to issue orders and the Secretariat, which holds the review of the government orders, and the Secretariat, which holds the different political views, often argue with each other and push the committee to evade the committee. The system of the Secretariat, which combines the two into one can improve administrative efficiency. Zhao Bing thought that it could be set up accordingly, but its functions should be adjusted.
As the highest administrative decision-making organ of the country, the Zhongshu Menxia Province is responsible for the formulation and revision of national laws and supervising the implementation of laws; formulating the country's development strategy and planning economic development goals; reviewing the appointment of officials above the third rank according to the emperor's nomination; reviewing and awarding the Duke of the State under the nomination of the emperor and the corresponding departments; being responsible for reviewing and approving local construction and zoning; reviewing and approving the national budget and implementation status; formulating foreign policies; making suggestions on issues related to the royal family, etc.
The Ministry of Justice of the Central Secretariat has a left and right prime minister, in charge of the affairs of the Central Secretariat and the Ministry of Justice, and is a first-rank official or a first-rank official. It has a state-level court, the State Council, the Law Office, the General Office, the Inspectorate, the Criminal Court and the Ministry of Affairs. The six courts and one department form the structure of the Ministry of Justice, and is divided into third-rank officials and third-rank officials. Each court has a governor and a subordinate official, and is known as a court affairs, and the courts and the courts have a case in charge of all matters, and the chief officials are responsible for it.
Zhao Bing used to control the budget and fund management of the General Department, which was in charge of budget and fund management, and became an institution under the Secretary of the Central Committee. He also managed the budget and final accounts of the state finance. He seemed to have given up his financial power, but in fact he also reduced his burden. Now the national finance has relied too much on the inner treasury. He asked him for money if he had something to do. In the long run, he could not afford it. It would be better to share it with two sides.
The Shangshu Province was a specific executive body of the state's administrative affairs, leading six ministries to handle one matter. However, in the past, Zhao Bing implemented a system of three provinces to improve administrative efficiency. However, the Shangshu Province became an institution that consolidated decision-making, reviewed and implemented the three politics. The power was concentrated in the past, which was not conducive to the development of the country in the long run. Moreover, the power of the Shangshu and the left and right prime ministers was too great, which was enough to threaten the emperor's status.
This restructuring is to separate the decision-making power and review power of the Shangshu Province, so that it can return to its original form and exist only as a business organization. After several adjustments, its institutions and affairs have been matured and maintained in the status quo, and there is no need to make major adjustments. The Shangshu Province is still divided by the left and right ministers, and the officials and political affairs assist the two ministers in their work.
However, in order to reflect that the Central Secretariat Menxia Province is the highest administrative institution in the country, the Shangshu Province is the rank of the left and right ministers, Zhao Bing lowered it to the first rank or the second rank, and the Six Shangshu Provinces also adjusted it to the second rank and the third rank accordingly.
The supervisory agency is naturally the Censorate. This agency has existed for a long time. Only partial adjustments are required, Zhao Bing restored the tradition of using the Censor as the main official. In the past, after the Tang Dynasty, there were many Censors and doctors, and only used for additional officials. The Censor Zhongcheng was the actual chief official. Moreover, the Censor was also a entrusted official, and ignored the affairs of the Censorate. In fact, the supervisor was appointed by the Ministry of Justice and the Minister of the Censorate, and the supervisor was appointed by the officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Minister of the Censorate.
This time, Zhao Bing reorganized the power of the Censorate, retained the establishment of the Taiyuan, the Censorate, the Palace Court and the Censorate, and placed the Dali Temple under its management. In this way, he truly achieved the ability to correct the emperor's mistakes, supervise all officials, and supervise and punish local clerks, and review the cases of prisons, thus achieving all-round supervision of power.
As for the armed forces of course, the administrative agencies could not intervene, Zhao Bing still retained the Privy Council to avoid repeating the mistakes of his predecessors. After the establishment of the system of the Secretariat, the institutions of the three provinces still existed, and the division of labor between the three provinces and the orders of the three provinces became more stringent and perfect in form. However, the separation of the three provinces from the prime minister made the Secretariat office of the Prime Minister’s Office and independent of the institutions of the three provinces.
Under this system, the minister of the Central Secretariat directly commanded the envoys, counties and troops to execute government orders. The minister's intervention in administrative affairs became stronger and stronger, and even went directly to the affairs handled by the six ministries of the Shangshu in the past. The prime minister and the monarch were more of the government officials who were "in charge of the general affairs" and were no longer consultants who "sitted and discussed the truth".
This can be called a major change in the relationship between the monarch and the operation of state power. In the early Song Dynasty, the prime minister was in charge of civil affairs, the Privy Councilor was in charge of military affairs, and the Three Divisions were in charge of finance. After the reform of the Shenzong official system, the prime minister actually also took charge of finance. After the southward transition, the prime minister also served as Privy Councilor, and also took charge of military affairs. In this way, the prime minister once again held the power of civil affairs, finance, and military affairs.
Zhao Bing also made the next arrangement for this. He retained the emperor's power to appoint prime ministers and further divided the power. The Monks and Secretariat of the Central Secretariat did not have a chief official, but the two ministers were divided to prevent the autocracy of the prime minister, which led to the problem of a unique prime minister. In order to solve the problem of separate departments, he followed the practice of the head office of the central department and the chief and deputy prime ministers collectively dealing with political affairs.
Therefore, in fact, the highest power of the country is in the hands of the "group ministers", and the Political Affairs Hall is the highest authority. Zhao Bing has been bothered with political affairs for a long time, so he has changed the day and morning court every day, five days, and the New Year and New Year. This is just a matter of using this to open a Political Affairs Hall to discuss national affairs and hold a grand court meeting. In this way, officials can have more time to handle official affairs instead of paying homage to the emperor every day. He can naturally take a break, and attending the Grand Court meeting is more about showing that he is still alive and is still the supreme head of the country.
Zhao Bing imagined that he could participate in the Political Affairs Hall meetings were divided into three types: one was daily meetings, the other was executive meetings, and the other was enlarged meetings.
The daily meeting was attended by the Minister of the Ministry of Menxia Province, the Minister of the Ministry of the Left and Right, the Minister of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry
As for enlarged meetings, it means that there is a big controversy at the executive meeting and it is difficult to make decisions, or when a major event occurs, the relevant departments need to provide reference opinions or participate in the decision-making, the number of participants will be increased, their opinions will be listened to, and the vote will be participated in. In order to avoid confusion, Zhao Bing learned from the experience of his predecessors and believed that the qualifications of participants must be limited.
Of course, no matter which meeting, when there is a debate, he retained the power to "make a decision". Zhao Bing also allowed the Privy Council to maintain independence, prevent the general's power from infringing on military power, and gave military personnel the opportunity to participate in political affairs, thereby preventing civil servants from launching wars or laying off troops regardless of the actual situation, reducing expenses, and causing irreparable losses to the country. The emperor and general's power is completely in his hands, and can balance the court and ensure an extra trump card in the power struggle.
Regarding judicial institutions, Zhao Bing basically followed the past practice. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the central judicial officer was named Dali, that is, "the official who sorts out the law", and this "Dali" is not the "Dali" in Dali Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. By the Qin and Han Dynasties, Dali was renamed the Tingwei among the "Nine Ministers". The function of the Tingwei was to take charge of the world's criminal and imprisonment affairs, and the Tingwei's office was also called the Tingwei Office.
However, several emperors of the Han Dynasty, such as Emperor Jing of Han and Emperor Xian of Han, wanted to carry out the retro movement and changed the Tingwei to Dali, but they were changed back every time. Until the Northern Qi Dynasty, the emperor finally changed the Tingwei to Dali and named it "Temple", making Dali Temple officially become a central judicial organ and one of the "Nine Ministers".
In terms of power, until then, the judicial powers for trial and verification were all in the hands of Dali Temple. The organizational setting was relatively simple, and the emperor could change its decision. The system of three provinces and six ministries began to be implemented during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The Secretariat and the subordinates became central organs, and the Ministry of Justice, one of the six ministries, was in charge of prison and punishment.
Logically speaking, the punishment should be taken care of by the Ministry of Justice, but at this time, the Ministry of Justice was just an agency that does judicial administrative work and rarely ruled specific cases. Not only was Dali Temple not abolished, its functions and structure were more complete, and together with the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, they called the "Three Laws" of judicial affairs in the Tang Dynasty. According to the Tang Dynasty, the rank of the Dali Temple Minister was the third rank, which was one level lower than the third rank of the Ministry of Justice Minister. He coordinated the criminal investigation and trial of the entire temple, and Shaoqing assisted the temple ministers in his work.
It is precisely because of the special nature of Dali Temple in charge of criminal investigation and judicial work, and people love to listen to the stories of reasoning and investigation, that in many detective costume dramas, Dali Temple appears very frequently and its image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Di Renjie, a famous Tang Dynasty minister who is well-known to modern people, once served as the temple chief of the sixth rank at Dali Temple, responsible for verifying cases reported from all over the country. The feat of clearing tens of thousands of cases a year was completed at this time.
In summary, the Dali Temple Minister organized members of Dali Temple to hear cases. If the crime reaches the point where it is necessary to be exiled or sentenced to death, it must be reported to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate for review. In addition to their own duties, the Dali Temple often tried complex and difficult cases with the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, which was called the "Three Secretary Magistrate". The so-called "Three Secretary Trials" in later generations came from this.
Chapter completed!