Steel Dynasty - Chapter 464

[Chapter 464 Government Reform]

The atmosphere in Qingzhou Mansion Yamen was somewhat relaxed and happy at this time.

Three consecutive arms orders made the political officials headed by Pang Yukun breathe a sigh of relief. Now the fiefdom’s tight financial situation has finally been alleviated because of these orders.

One thousand five hundred artillery pieces and twenty-eight thousand matchlocks were purchased. These arms purchases were enough to bring more than ten million taels of silver to the fief.

“Don’t be too happy now. These supplies are not in our hands yet. Next, you have to make good arrangements with the court, King Zhao, and King Liang to hand over the supplies.” Xiao Ming reminded.

Just like the last time we did business with the King of Chu, silver, gold, and copper were only part of this transaction, and most of the silver was offset by materials.

In Dayu, King Zhao had the largest number of horses. After deliberation, King Zhao took out 100,000 taels of gold, 1 million taels of silver, 120,000 jins of brass, 92,000 jins of iron, and 1 million shi of wheat. Five thousand catties of silk, fifty thousand pieces of cloth, three hundred thousand guan of banknotes, and twenty thousand war horses.

The open-pit coal mines in Liang Wang’s fiefdom were rich, so they provided 50,000 taels of gold, 900,000 taels of silver, 62,000 jins of brass, 18,080 jins of iron, 1.2 million shi of wheat, and 1 million jins of coal. Six hundred thousand banknotes.

Compared with King Zhao and King Liang, the imperial court had the most diverse supplies, including 200,000 jins of saltpeter and 160,000 jins of sulfur.

The quantity of these materials may seem scary, but in fact, it is not much at all. For example, King Liang’s one million kilograms of coal is actually only 500 tons of coal, and the 62,000 kilograms of brass is only 31 tons.

One of his cast-iron artillery pieces weighs at least five hundred kilograms, and his heavy city defense cannon weighs even more than a thousand kilograms.

“Yes, Your Highness, I will ask the various treasuries in Qingzhou to prepare to receive these supplies.” Pang Yukun said.

Compared to silver, Pang Yukun prefers specific hard currencies such as grain, iron, and copper. After all, if there is a war, you may not be able to buy these things if you have money.

And even if the silver is traded, they still have to exchange it with merchants for these materials, so bartering directly is convenient and fast. The only thing needed is to control the quality of the materials.

Xiao Ming nodded, and he continued: “Our arms transactions will only increase in the future. Qingzhou’s treasury may not be enough, and the previous way of stacking everything needs to be changed. For different purposes, There needs to be a special warehouse for supplies. “

Pang Yukun didn’t think anything of it before, but now with the increase in transactions day by day, the warehouse of this government office is indeed gradually running out. He said: “Your Highness is absolutely right, but when it comes to this matter. The official remembered something. These days, the official read His Highness’s government affairs books at Bowen College and learned a lot. The official thought it was time for the fiefdom to rectify its government affairs. After all, there were more and more affairs in the fiefdom, and the government affairs should also be detailed. At the very least, we must imitate the imperial court and have its own official system. “

“Official system?” Xiao Ming showed a playful look. It seems that Pang Yukun has really learned some advanced government affairs experience from Bowen College.

Pang Yukun’s dull face showed an embarrassed look. Originally, he was not very sad about these government affairs books, but after accidentally reading them, he suddenly felt that many things in the books were very useful, so he re-examined the government affairs books that Xiao Ming placed in Bowen College. .

“Yes, Your Highness, I think the government offices should be rectified so that the government offices in the states and counties in the fiefdom can implement various policies of His Highness from top to bottom and handle different civil affairs at the same time.” Pang Yukun said firmly.

“Well, you are right. During this period, I have been busy with Dengzhou and have neglected this matter. In this case, I will put this matter on the agenda.” Xiao Ming said.

Generally speaking, his fiefdom is a vassal state. Since it is a vassal state, it must have its own complete official system, so that he can manage the fiefdom more effectively.

Secondly, the establishment of a complete official system is also to control newly acquired territories at any time, such as the current Ryukyu Island.

In the future, Xiao Ming will have more and more colonies, which requires the ability to establish government agencies in unfamiliar places at any time, so a mature official system is particularly important at this time.

Because this is not only to manage the current fiefdom, but the most important thing is to be able to reserve officials in case of emergency.

After deciding on this matter, Pang Yukun ordered to summon the chief officials of the various states and counties in the fiefdom to come to the Qingzhou government office to discuss the matter. At the same time, he and Xiao Ming worked out the specific institutions and scope of responsibilities in a few days.

Five days later, all the officials from various states and counties arrived in Qingzhou to participate in the discussion.

In the Qingzhou government office, Xiao Ming was in the chief position, and a group of officials were listed under Xiao Ming. The situation was like a court meeting.

Pang Yukun stood at the front as the head of the hundreds of officials in the fiefdom, followed by Zhan Xingchang, the governor of Qingzhou, Yang Chengye, the governor of Dengzhou, Chang Yuchun, the governor of Cangzhou, Yan Changhao, the governor of Yizhou, Kong Yong’an, the governor of Yunzhou, Wei Changming, the governor of Laizhou, You Han Jin, the governor of the state.

After the governors of each state, there are the magistrates in charge of the counties. There are hundreds of them in total.

Some of these officials were elected by Pang Yukun, some were promoted from former fiefdoms, and some were assigned by Bowen College.

Looking at the officials below, Xiao Ming suddenly smiled. At this moment, he suddenly understood Xiao Wenxuan’s obsession with imperial power.

Just imagine, with so many officials standing in front of you, everyone will feel like they are looking down on the world, right?

“Everyone who came to Qingzhou to discuss this matter must have heard about the government reform. Nowadays, the affairs of the fiefdom are becoming more and more complicated and changing with each passing day. The various states and counties must make changes in advance for future development. At the same time, this discussion is also to let Please clarify the official system of the fief, and who will handle the issues in government affairs in the future, so as to avoid the situation of buck-passing.”

Seeing everyone gathered, Xiao Ming said loudly at this time.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

All the officials immediately bowed and said.

At this time, Xiao Ming continued: “In this case, I will inform you of the government affairs and official system of the fiefdom. From today on, I will order Pang Yukun to be the chief minister of the fiefdom cabinet and establish a fiefdom cabinet. The cabinet will be composed of the chief minister. It consists of nine cabinet ministers, who are responsible for reviewing the government affairs of states and counties and discussing government affairs with the king. There are six departments under the cabinet, with the same responsibilities as the six departments. In addition, a supervisory council is established independent of the six departments to be in charge of the judicial and criminal laws of the feudal country. , supervise the fiefdom officials…”

Recalling the designed official system, Xiao Ming expressed his thoughts one by one. From now on, his fiefdom will get rid of the chaotic government management system and have a comprehensive management system like a small court.

(End of chapter)