Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 451 Personnel
After a full day of discussions with everyone, the central government system, with the Accounting Office, the Privy Council, the Secretariat, the Censorate, the Secretariat, and the Nine Courts as its core, was basically finalized.

The Accounting Office, the Privy Council, and the Secretariat each held the power of finance, military, and politics respectively, while the affairs of the Censorate and the Secretariat were slightly more complex.

For example, the Censorate had the power of supervision and impeachment, and supervised whether central and prefectural officials violated laws and regulations. In addition, it also had the power to inspect and supervise salt, grain transport, horses, iron, and military farms. The person in charge was the Grand Censor.

The Secretariat was responsible for receiving audiences in the palace, drafting memorials, and other duties. While not particularly high-ranking or powerful, it served Zhang Yu well. The head of the Secretariat, formerly known as the Grand Secretary, was now called the Secretary-General, and was concurrently held by Guo Tu, the Attendant-in-Ordinary.

The reason for selecting Guo Tu to serve as Secretary-General is not hard to understand. Guo Tu was a loyal minister of Zhang Yuyuan, with profound experience and seniority, no less than Zhong Yao. He must be treated as a meritorious official.

The Imperial Censorate under the Second Bureau underwent the most significant changes, with Zhang Yu reshaping the vertical supervisory relationship from the central government to the local level.

During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han established the position of Inspector (刺史) to inspect the governors of various prefectures. The Inspectors were under the leadership of the Imperial Censor (御史中丞), forming a system where the Censorate controlled the prefectures. However, with the restoration of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Inspectors evolved from supervisors to administrators, and their connection with the Censorate was severed. As a result, in the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the court lacked supervision over the prefectures and prefectures and needed to rely heavily on the Inspectors.

Now Zhang Yu has gone straight to the point, establishing the prefectural governor as the head of local administration, and in terms of supervision, the Censorate will send censors to supervise, in order to limit the prefectural governor and county officials.

In truth, if it weren't for the fact that the empire was not yet unified, Zhang Yu would have strengthened the power of the Court of Judicial Review, allowing them to send officials to the prefectures to directly handle criminal cases, thus dividing the power of the prefectural governors. However, given the current chaos of war, it is not advisable for the prefectural governors to delegate too much power; therefore, sending censors to supervise is sufficient.

As for the Sili Xiaowei, who was in charge of supervising the capital region, Zhang Yu originally intended to merge the Sili Xiaowei into the Censorate, but considering that it was not advisable to make too many changes, he abandoned this idea and instead had the Sili Xiaowei participate in criminal cases in the capital region.

Therefore, Zhang Yu appointed Lü Fan as the Commandant of the Capital Region, in charge of criminal cases in the prefectures surrounding the capital, to observe the effect of separating politics and law!
Through a series of reforms to central government agencies, Zhang Yu emphasized checks and balances and supervision, striving to prevent the growth of corruption and misconduct.

For example, the Accounting Office had the function of reviewing the economy and the right to combat official corruption; the Secretariat had the ability to evaluate the performance of officials and therefore had the power to dismiss personnel; the Censorate had even broader powers, including impeaching officials, inspecting local prefectures and counties for corruption, and supervising corruption in government-run taxation.

The Censorate was the main supervisory body, while the Accounting Office had a more singular supervisory role. Although their functions overlapped, this prevented the Censorate from becoming too powerful and ensured that the two checked and balanced each other.

As evening approached, Zhong Yao, Yu Yi, and Xin Pi each led their subordinates away, while Du Ji was kept behind because of issues involving local officials in the prefectures and counties.

Zhang Yu did not rush to discuss the matter, but instead asked, "During the political discussion, the Marquis was quiet. Now that all the ministers have left, I wonder if anyone has any insights?"

Du Ji cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness's established national system is comparable to the imperial system, with clear responsibilities and mutual checks and balances, making it even more outstanding than the Han system. In my opinion, the two prefectures, three ministries, six departments, and nine temples are a long-lasting system. Your Highness is truly as wise as Emperor Gaozu!"

Du Ji wasn't flattering anyone. After all, the system of the Han Dynasty itself was immature. Under the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers system, the responsibilities of the Nine Ministers were too broad, and the power of the Three Dukes was too great. Although the Secretariat, which emerged in the Eastern Han Dynasty, could check and balance the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers and achieve the goal of "the key to the world lies in the Secretariat," it was under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department. Its officials were of low rank but high position, and as inner court officials, they could hardly interfere in many matters.

Now, Zhang Yu changed the nature of the Secretariat, separating it from the Imperial Household Department and raising the salary of the Minister of the Secretariat to two thousand shi, equivalent to the Nine Ministers. He also established an administrative system with the Secretariat and the Six Ministries at its core, and the Nine Courts cooperating with it.

Furthermore, to prevent the Grand Secretary and the Chancellor from becoming too powerful, Zhang Yu creatively established the Accounting Office to check and balance the Grand Secretariat. In terms of oversight, he improved the central and local oversight systems.

Therefore, not only Du Ji admired him, but all the ministers who had just discussed the matter also admired the advanced nature of the central government system designed by Zhang Yu.

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yu laughed a few times and said, "The world is not yet at peace, so I dare not discuss the merits of Emperor Gaozu."

Having come this far, Zhang Yu's goals became even grander. He hoped to achieve greater feats than Liu Bang and Liu Xiu, and that his "Tang" dynasty would make future generations of scholars and people proud.

After a few casual words, we finally got down to business.

"Before I returned to Chang'an, you requested the division of Ji Province in Ye City. I wonder what your plans are?" Zhang Yu asked.

Du Ji took out a memorial from his bosom and handed it to Guo Jia to present to Zhang Yu, saying, "Your Highness, at its peak, Ji Province had a population of six million and was a combination of Xu and Yan Provinces. Therefore, it is possible to divide the two provinces and change their names to avoid the taboo of Taigong's name. The detailed division is in the memorial."

Zhang Yu's father was Zhang Ji, and during previous battles, for ease of address, he was always referred to as Jizhou. Now that Hebei is stable and Zhang Yu is about to declare himself king, keeping the name Jizhou unchanged would not only be seen as disrespectful to his subordinates, but Zhang Yu himself would also be suspected of being unfilial.

"Changing the state's name is acceptable!"

Zhang Yu reviewed the memorial and said, "In my opinion, Marquis Bo, we should take the western part of Yuanzhou, including the five commanderies of Zhao, Wei, Julu, Changshan, and Zhongshan, to form one prefecture; and the eastern part of Jiuzhou, which will govern the five commanderies of Anping, Bohai, Hejian, Qinghe, and Boling. I wonder how many households each prefecture will have?"

"The population of Dongzhou is about 140,000 households, the population of Xizhou is about 180,000 households, and the population of Jiuzhou is a total of 320,000 households." Du Ji said briefly: "The difference in population between the two states is due to the chaos of war. The population of Weijun was originally less than that of Bohai, but Bohai has suffered from war many times, so the population of Weijun is now greater than that of Bohai."

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Dongzhou is backed by the sea and close to Henan, while Xizhou is backed by mountains and close to Yan and You. Each of the two has five prefectures, and the difference in household registration is not significant. If you make proper arrangements, we can divide the two prefectures as you have suggested, making Dongzhou Haizhou and Xizhou Yinzhou, in place of the old prefecture names."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Du Ji said, "I have been transferred from Ye City to Chang'an. Now that both prefectures are without governors, Your Highness must appoint capable officials to these posts?"

After considering for a long time, Zhang Yu said, "Haizhou is adjacent to Qingzhou and needs to suppress those who are not loyal. I will now appoint Man Chong as the governor of Haizhou, with Nanpi as the capital. Yinzhou is adjacent to Yanzhou and can support Lü Bu. It looks south to Zhang Miao, so I will temporarily appoint Li Song as the governor of Yinzhou, with Yecheng as the capital."

"May I ask Your Highness, now that Guanzhong and Henan are under the jurisdiction of Sili, will Longyou and Hexi be merged into Liangzhou, or will they be established as separate prefectures?" Du Ji asked.

Longyou?

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "If I remember correctly, there are six prefectures in Longyou, which are temporarily governed by Zhang Ze, the Inspector General of Longxi!"

"Of course!"

Du Ji truthfully stated, "Zhang Ze has a formidable reputation. Since becoming the Inspector General, the various Hu tribes in Longyou have surrendered, and the powerful clans of the six prefectures dare not oppose him. The reason why Longyou is at peace is due to the continuous supply of military horses, which is entirely thanks to Zhang Ze's achievements!"

Zhang Ze was originally the governor of Liangzhou. After Zhang Yu pacified Longyou, although Longyou and Guanzhong were combined into Yongzhou, considering the stability of Longyou, a special supervisory commissioner was appointed, with a position equivalent to that of a governor, so as to reward Zhang Ze and govern Longyou.

Since Zhang Ze took office, thanks to Shi Yi's presence, there were no rebellions by the Hu people in Longyou. Under Zhang Ze's governance, many Di people migrated to the plains, which greatly increased the population of Longyou.

Furthermore, Zhang Ze relied on the salt from Hedong to trade with the Qiang and Di tribes, obtaining large quantities of horses and grain to support Zhang Yu's campaign against Hebei. When Shi Yi led his army south to relieve Hanzhong, Zhang Ze also provided the horses and grain along the way. Therefore, Zhang Ze's achievements in Longyou were truly remarkable.

Zhang Yu tapped the table with his finger and asked, "What are your opinions, gentlemen?"

"Your Highness, Longyou is a vast and sparsely populated region, serving as the gateway to Guanzhong. It is advisable to establish a prefecture there. Zhang has rendered meritorious service and may be transferred to Chang'an. We should also send another loyal and capable official to take up the post," Du Ji said after consideration.

“Zhang Ze has served in Longyou for many years and is a veteran official of the Han Dynasty. If he is not detained in Chang’an, I fear there may be unforeseen changes in the future!” Guo Tu advised.

“In that case, let Zhang Ze serve as the Minister of the Imperial Household,” Zhang Yu said. “Establish Yongzhou in Longyou, which governs Hanzhong Commandery, and appoint Sun Zi as the Governor of Yongzhou.”

Zhang Yu originally intended to reassign Sun Zi as the governor of Hedong Commandery, but since Longyou was short of personnel, Zhang Yu had no choice but to appoint Sun Zi as the governor of Yongzhou.

As for why Zhang Ze was appointed as one of the Nine Ministers, Zhang Yu actually intended for the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers to become honorary positions held by veteran officials or surrendered officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty. For example, Wei Duan was appointed Grand Commandant by Zhang Yu, Liu He was appointed Minister of Works, and Wang Hong was appointed Minister of Education. The Nine Ministers were appointed or held remotely by people such as Feng Fang, Zhang Ze, Ma Teng, and Cai Yong.

Although it's unclear whether people would be willing to appoint former Han dynasty officials to honorary positions like the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, it would certainly bring Zhang Yu considerable political prestige, given the endorsement of former Han dynasty officials.

"Your Highness is wise!"

Du Ji praised him and asked, "Now that Zhang Ze has been appointed as the Minister of the Imperial Household, there is still a vacancy for the Grand Master of Ceremonies among the Nine Ministers. I wonder who should be appointed?"

"Zhang Lu!"

Having sat all day, Zhang Yu's buttocks ached. He got up from the couch and paced around, saying, "Now that Zhang Lu has submitted to me, I must grant him a high-ranking position. Since he is the Celestial Master, let him serve as the Grand Master of Ceremonies."

After careful consideration, Zhang Yu, to avoid the possibility of Zhang Lu rebelling again after surrendering, planned to appoint Zhang Lu to a high-ranking official position after Zhang Lu entered the court, and keep him in Chang'an. As for Hanzhong, he would send a person skilled in both civil and military affairs to take charge of both military and political matters.

As he spoke, Zhang Yu, recalling the past with Du Ji, asked, "Were you formerly the Prefectural Assistant of Hanzhong?"

"Exactly!"

Upon hearing Zhang Yu mention the past, Du Ji sighed slightly and said, "In the past, Liu Yan occupied Yizhou and had the idea of ​​annexing Hanzhong. I foresaw Liu Yan's intention and advised the governor, but the governor did not listen, so I fled to you, my lord. The ones who killed the governor were Zhang Xiu and Zhang Lu. Later, Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu and appointed himself governor of Hanzhong."

As he spoke, Du Ji cupped his hands to Zhang Yu and said, "Hanzhong is surrounded by dangerous terrain, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. If Your Highness wishes to control Hanzhong, you must repair the roads. Once the roads are open, Hanzhong will be difficult to rebel against."

Zhang Yu nodded and smiled, "Since you have lived in Hanzhong for a long time, I would like to trouble you to write to your old friends. Firstly, to reconnect with old acquaintances and learn of your current wealth and status; secondly, you can recommend virtuous men from Hanzhong so that they may serve me."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)