The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 136: The Secretariat and the Qingli Division

Zhu Jianxuan is quite satisfied with the current population situation in Wu State.

The Ming Dynasty had more and more steam-sailing ships, and tens of thousands of people were sent over from the mainland every two months.

Since the floods broke out in Hubei and Sichuan two years ago, more than one million people have been sent here in less than two years.

By the end of this year, the total immigrant population should reach two million.

This population size is already quite large, especially the cities near the royal capital, which have a population of over 600,000.

Outside of China, it is already considered a megacity all over the world.

It is second only to London, England, and is on par with Paris, France.

Most of these new immigrants were disaster victims. They were sent here according to the organization of the garrisons and did not receive any actual military training. They were just used as farmers and workers.

At the same time, there are certainly many immigrants in the private sector who want to come to Australia to make a living, but now have no opportunity.

To come here in the form of a garrison, one must go through special organization by the central court.

The key point is that since I have come to Australia, I should start comprehensive development and construction and recruit as many immigrants as possible.

A normal royal court should be established.

Zhu Jianxuan continued to look through the civil affairs report and found the brief resume of the official at the back.

The civil servants who now nominally serve as officers of the Guard Corps, actually held a wide variety of official positions when they were in the Ming Dynasty.

From the most basic clerks and township heads to the common county magistrates and county magistrates, as well as the prefects, assistant magistrates and judges in the prefectural government offices, and even the councilors in the provincial administration office.

As well as a small number of officials from various departments of the central court, most of them were Langzhong, Yuanwailang and Zhushi of the Qinglisi.

Zhu Jianxuan looked at the list and thought for a while:

"Draft an edict to establish the Wu Kingdom Secretariat in the style of the Ming Dynasty Cabinet.

"There are secretaries in the Secretariat, who are responsible for drafting the imperial edicts. There is no limit on the number of secretaries, and there is no distinction between the chief and the assistant, and all of them are of the fifth rank.

"Duan Yucai, Yao Nai, Fei Chun, Shen Chu, and Song Wendao were transferred to serve as secretaries in the Secretariat.

"In addition, we will have a secretary to assist the secretary in handling documents. There is no limit on the number of positions, and there is no distinction between the chief and the assistant. All of them are of the eighth rank."

Since this Secretariat corresponds to the Grand Secretary of the Palace, its functions and powers are obvious.

No one cares about the fifth rank. The official rank of the grand secretaries of the central court is also the fifth rank.

However, other additional titles are usually added in succession to enhance the actual status and treatment of the Grand Secretary.

When the four officials in front heard the order, they came out without hesitation to receive it:
"I obey your orders."

Only Song Wendao was obviously very surprised:

"Your Majesty, this old minister... only knows how to do research, but not how to handle government affairs..."

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"Engineer Song can continue to do research on weekdays, and he can provide professional advice as a secretary when the Secretariat is involved in scientific and industrial affairs."

Song Wendao finally understood his own usefulness.

Putting a pure craftsman like himself into a secretariat similar to the cabinet would obviously improve the overall status of the craftsman system in the court.

They can directly participate in relevant decision-making instead of just watching professional bureaucrats give them orders.

Although I really don't like dealing with government affairs, I have to take on this job for the future status of the craftsmen:

"I accept your order and thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Zhu Jianxuan continued to give orders on the spot and drafted a temporary structure for the Wu central court.

Unlike the United States, the Wu Kingdom was a pure vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and a country composed purely of Ming people.

There is no need to accommodate European immigrants like the United States does.

You can build a new political structure with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty according to your own ideas.

The ministers of various ministries in the Ming Dynasty’s central court cannot actually be simply equated with the ministers of modern countries.

They are actually the heads of multiple departments.

Among the various ministries, the actual organization that does the work is the "Qinglisi" under each ministry.

The Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of War each had four Qingli Si, while the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice set up one Qingli Si for each province.

The population of Wu State is not that large now, and the central government does not have many affairs to deal with.

In addition, Wu was a purely vassal state, and the configuration of officials in the vassal state should be kept away from the officials of the central court. Therefore, Zhu Jianxuan decided to directly take out the Qinglisi and make it the highest-level independent department under the central court of Wu.

At the same time, some functions of the Qinglisi were adjusted and merged, and the total number of departments was controlled at around twenty.

In the future, the department will be upgraded according to the situation.

Department of Culture: Responsible for ceremonial affairs such as crowns and robes, banquets, and posthumous titles, cultural affairs such as news, publishing, and copyright management, and diplomatic affairs such as foreign exchanges and receptions.

The Department of Honors and Conferments: Responsible for matters related to the conferment of titles, commendations, inheritance and succession on civil and military officials.

Department of Education: responsible for schools and imperial examinations.

Selecting officials: responsible for the selection, promotion and dismissal of officials.

Examination Office: Responsible for the assessment, supervision and punishment of officials.

Director of Taxation: Responsible for all tax affairs in the kingdom.

Financial Secretary: Responsible for financial budget and expenditure.

Civil Affairs Department: Responsible for household registration management, organizing immigration and land reclamation, land and housing property rights, social security assistance and other civil affairs.

Kunyusi: responsible for exploration, mapping, forest and mineral resources management, and climate monitoring records.

Military Affairs Department: Responsible for military skills, weapons, military examinations, conscription, training, garrison, rank, and salaries and other military-related affairs.

Department of Transportation: Responsible for the management of vehicles, ships, roads, ports, docks, and post stations.

Construction Department: Responsible for the construction of official temples, palaces, city walls, warehouses, barracks, roads, docks, mausoleums, tombs and other facilities.

Du Shui Si: Responsible for the survey, record management and repair of rivers, lakes, waterways, hydrology, reservoirs, dams, bridges and ships.

Department of Industry and Commerce: responsible for formulating industrial and commercial development plans, registration and management of factories and businesses, market supervision and management, patent registration and protection and other industrial and commercial affairs.

The Ministry of Criminal Justice: Responsible for drafting and revising laws, undertaking official impartiality and appraisal affairs, and responsible for the management of lawyers and prisons, but no longer responsible for trials.

The Ministry of Tribunals: responsible for adjudication and the de facto administration of the Kingdom's court system
Department of Health: Responsible for the management of national medical and health affairs, and for matters related to doctors and hospitals.

Reserve Department: Responsible for the integrated reserve of strategic resources such as gold, silver, minerals, steel, and grain, and responsible for preparing for the issuance of gold standard banknotes.

Security Department: Responsible for civil public security affairs, traffic command and public security management, official security alert, case investigation and search, disaster relief and emergency response and other police system work.

Intelligence Department: Intelligence collection and processing, intelligence-related security and defense work.

Department of Science: In addition to regular officials, there are special doctoral positions, which are filled by famous scholars and craftsmen from the government and abroad.

There is no fixed number of doctoral students. They are funded by the imperial court and specialize in research in science, technology, engineering, and culture. Their rank is determined by their achievements and contributions.

The craftsmen of King Wu's laboratory and Zhu Jianxuan's true disciples were all placed in the Science Department as doctoral students.

After the departmental organization was basically determined, Zhu Jianxuan looked at the personnel resumes in his hand and arranged officials whose original positions had a certain relevance to the current departments of the Wu State to act in various Qinglisi.

Whether to convert to a regular employee will be decided based on subsequent circumstances.

The rank of all the chief officials of the Qinglisi is temporarily set at the fifth rank, which is the normal rank of the Langzhong of the Qinglisi in the Ming Dynasty, and is the same as the secretaries of the Secretariat.

All the doctors were appointed by the King of Wu himself and they only obeyed the King of Wu.

At the local level, the temporary guard corps composed of disaster victims began to be integrated and gradually reorganized into a normal civil institution - the county.

It is tentatively decided that every four guard corps will form a county.

If the number of legions stationed in a place is less than four, it means that the local situation is rather special and the legions are also organized according to the specifications of a county.

There are only two guards on the Yingzhou and Baiyun archipelagos, and each of them has established a county.

There is only one guard post in the South Australia Islands, and also one county.

With the continued influx of immigrants into the Ming Dynasty, the population of these counties will develop.

At the same time, all counties are directly under the central court, and there are no branch agencies above the county level for the time being.

The commander of a guard was theoretically an official of the third rank, while the magistrate was only an official of the seventh rank.

Although the ranks of civil and military officials cannot be directly compared, the gap of eight levels is still quite large.

The immigrants from the first few guards that were normally organized would not be directly converted into counties.

Only the guard corps, which were originally managed by civil servants and quickly formed by the victims, were all changed into counties.

(End of this chapter)